Chapter 9

The room fell silent. Every tutor stared at the one who had spoken, not because his idea was absurd,but because they suddenly felt he might be right. Cillian's divine world, the Endless Abyss, was overflowing with creatures of every shape and kind. Its biodiversity dwarfed that of any other candidate. 

Its creatures didn't just fight with brute force,they used poison, illusion, disease, metal, rage, and even psychic attacks. Some mimicked others. Some evolved mid-battle. And yet, despite the sheer madness and terrifying utility of what he'd already made, Cillian didn't stop creating. He just kept going, designing more and more creatures. As if none of them were enough. 

What kind of creature was Cillian looking for? What kind of lifeform could live up to a world designed only for killing? What level of horror would it take to satisfy the Abyss?

While the tutors above were still arguing about the purpose behind his creations, Cillian himself was deep inside the bottom layers of the Endless Abyss. He'd long since merged with the will of his divine world and sat in silence on a bed of black stone. His gaze was fixed on something wriggling in his palm. A bug. Small. Ugly. Harmless. But in Cillian's eyes, it might be the most promising thing he had seen since the Abyss began.

It was extremely cowardly, had no natural weapons, no magic, and no strength. It survived by hiding, burrowing, and running. It didn't try compete. 

They could transform not like shapeshifters. Not with magic and the transformation wasn't immediate. It happened slowly,over time.

When one of these bugs fed on the corpse of a more powerful creature, it stored the genes within itself and if it lived long enough, it would form a cocoon. What came out wasn't the same creature it came out stronger, smarter.

It was a new form that resembled the thing it ate, it retained the powers, often even improved on them. Some had armor stronger than the original creature others learned to use energy in ways their predecessors never could. Some even began using basic combat skills.

That was when Cillian interest turned to focus.

This was… evolution.

Real, functional evolution. Driven by need. Based on survival.Some larvae even started a second transformation, tried evolving again and most failed. They'd mutate, explode then die screaming.

But a few survived, their new forms were grotesque and broken, unable to live long, they weren't ready for a second evolution.

Still, Cillian was thrilled, he saw the Devil in them not a literal devil,but the beginning of one.The potential for infinite adaptation.The seed of chaos that could someday become a true apex predator.

He studied one of the larvae crawling in his hand. It was small, blind, and weak. But its DNA carried more promise than anything else he'd created.

"Maybe… this is it," he murmured. "Maybe this bug… is the start of my Devil race."

He gripped the squirming thing tighter.

They weren't perfect. They needed help.

The abyss wasn't enough to push them to evolve again, he needed something more extreme. Something they couldn't hope to survive, unless they changed.

Cillian pinched the larva gently and muttered, "Maybe the next assessment will do it."

While he planned to throw his larval creations into even worse conditions, the rest of Grimstone was only now catching up to what he'd already done. The new graduate leaderboards had been released. A crowd gathered. And when they saw the name at the top they froze in place.

"Cillian?! First place?!"

Gasps spread through the hall. Whispers turned to shouting.

"He broke the composite plane record,sixty-six layers!"

"His divine fire value… it's already near the Godhead threshold"

To the students, that meant everything. To condense a godhead was to enter the divine ranks for real. It meant recognition, the right to claim a divine title and priesthood. But failing the process was a death sentence. You'd be left with a ruined divine world and a shattered soul. 

Most students waited years,sometimes decades,after graduation to even try. For Cillian to be this close already… it was terrifying.

And among the crowd, one man stared at the screen in silence. His fists clenched, jaw trembling. Second place.

Zach was certain he'd be at the top. He'd spent months shaping a massive world tree, whose roots held his plane together. He'd designed elves, druids, tree spirits. His lands were lush, pure, and growing fast.

But none of that mattered now. Cillian had outpaced him.

Zach Kingston stepped away from the board, heart pounding. He muttered, "Calm down… I can still win."

He returned to his dorm and connected to his divine world. The giant tree towered before him. He stared at it, then a crazy idea came to mind, "If I cant win conventionally… Then I'll go to war."

Wars between the top students had occurred before, they said a genius and a lunatic are just two sides of the same person,after all.

And just as the prodigies ambition turned dark, far below in the deep, deep layers of the Abyss, Cillian's second assessment began.

The alien legion had returned. And this time, they brought more than orcs.