Abyssal Phoenix – Multiverse

Jinah stands in front of her front door, weighing her options. On one hand, she could leave and become a strong hunter, standing with or even ahead of her brother. Unlike her brother, she has the blessing of an ACTUAL goddess! Now that she knows her own strength well enough, she’s confident she could absolutely destroy an F-rank dungeon. Hell, deep down she isn’t even scared of a C-rank one.  However, she isn’t too sure of the actual strength of the goddess. She knows that Seraph is stronger than her brother, but she doesn’t know by how much.

She’ll have to ask him when he gets back. Though, she has a feeling that her brother may already know about her awakening. Due to her connection with the abyss, she can feel that an inferior abyssal being is attached to her shadow. However, she feels no malice being aimed towards her, so she assumed it was from her brother.

Finally, she makes the decision. She enters her shadow, and slips through the underside of the door. She stays in the shadow, as that’s the quickest way for her to travel, and uses the mana sensing method Seraph taught her. She can feel various gates all across the city, however, they’re all F-rank, and Seraph is requiring her to find a D-rank dungeon and clearing it. Though, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get some training in before that.

As she heads to the nearest F-rank dungeon, she thinks back to a question she had asked Seraph during their training.

<First flashback of the story>

Jinah lays in a puddle of sweat, having just finished with the mana sensing training. She complains inwardly, forgetting that Seraph can read her mind,

‘Ugh! Why do I need to train anyways?! It’s not like I’m gonna get any stronger!’

Sera chuckles,

“Haha, indeed, other hunters aren’t able to grow stronger without a second awakening. You, however, are different. Your strength doesn’t come from some system made by a false god. Your strength comes from your belief in me. Your limits compared to even your brother is like comparing a pebble to a mountain. No, more like comparing a pebble to a planet. Your brother has a hard limit to his strength, as he’s merely borrowing a dead man's power. The power you gain from me is yours and yours alone. As your faith in me grows, so too will your power. The only limit for yourself, is my own strength.”

Sera looks at Jinah with a confident smile. She looks up at the stars in this alternate dimension and begins speaking once more,

“When I was born, I was nothing more than a mere crow. I hunted razor mice and worms. However, over many million years, I eventually grew to be at about the same level your brother is now. Then, I left for the stars. I found strength there. Unbelievable strength. The strength to destroy all life, and create it anew. The strength to absorb the galaxies dotted around the universe. Hell, I even found a way to break the barrier between dimensions.”

Sera kneels down next to the prone Jinah, poking her on the nose and smiling widely at her,

“If a lowly crow can grow to become a god, why the hell wouldn’t you be able to? Just believe in me!”

<End of Flashback>

Jinah smiles as she reaches the gate entrance.

‘Believe in you, huh? Alright then, I’ll believe in you.’

She takes a step in the large blue portal. As she comes out the other side, she finds herself in the middle of a gigantic cave. She’s never seen the inside of a dungeon in person, so she feels a bit of apprehension towards the dark caves. However, she’s surprised to find glowing stones lining the walls. She had always heard about how dark the caves were in F-rank dungeons, but this is surprisingly bright.

As she walks, she finds a split off point that leads to three different directions. She’s about to take the middle one when she hears something…

“Grrrrrrrrrr!”

Coming from the left path, a thin, sickly looking wolf growls at her. She freezes. Suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation. She’s putting her life on the line! Not just playing a game!

Without warning, the wolf charges her.

*HOWWWWWWWL!*

She jumps as the wolf howls out and turns to run away. She takes a few steps before hearing Sera’s voice echo through her mind,

“Believe in me!”

She freezes for a second. Her face goes from scared to a scowl as she turns around and faces the beast. The wolf, however, is a wolf and continues running towards her. Jinah follows Sera’s training and covers her body with abyssal mana. Despite its rather dumb and ravenous nature, the wolf can feel the change in her.

Jinah laughs and says,

“HAHA! No! Don’t run away now, mutt!”

She runs at the wolf and makes it in front of the creature within a split second. She pulls her leg back and kicks forward with all her might. The starving wolf looks at her foot coming towards it as a single tear falls from its face.

Jinah’s foot tears through the wolf’s head, splattering brain, blood, and bone dust all across the cavern. The kick continues through, ripping down the creature's spine and organs, splattering its entire body into dust. Her foot eventually comes to a stop.

Jinah looks down at her footiwork. The body of the wolf is now spread along the walls and floor of the cave, painting a gory and visceral work of modern art that would most definitely be bought by some rich asshole.

She feels something well up inside her stomach… And lurches over as the putrid smell of rancid wolf innards hits her nose.

“BLEEEEEEGH! Ugh. Fuck. Why is it so disgusting!? Why can’t it just smell like cookies or something!”

Jinah curses the wolf for stinking so bad and vomits up more of the delicious bibimbap her mom had made. As she’s leaned over, she begins to laugh.

“Hah. Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHA! You were right! I should’ve just believed in you! Hah! I guess you really are a goddess!”

A small spark of darkness lights up in Jinah’s soul as her faith in Sera is solidified.

AN: I started a patreon! Woo!