When Zac opened his eyes, he found himself falling.
"Shit!"
Just before he hit the ground, he opened his wings, catching the air and slowing his descent though not fully stopping it. Before impact, Zac leaned into his new instincts, stabilizing his flight.
Zac looked at his reflection in a puddle. He was handsome, though not an absolute stunner. Two majestic black dragon horns rose from his head, deep red scales wrapping around their bases. He studied his wings, which had a creamy tone covered in constellation-like patterns that pulsed with black light. His eyes were mesmerizing gold with slit pupils.
Hovering slightly above the ground, Zac scanned his surroundings. He was in an abandoned alleyway, and judging by his earlier trajectory, he had nearly crashed into a reeking dumpster. The environment was anything but welcoming. In the distance, he heard screams and gunshots. The sky was a dark shade of red, dominated by an ominous pentagram. Nearby floated a small, moon-like white sphere with wings.
"That must be Heaven," Zac muttered to himself.
He also noticed a forest in the distance, surrounded by a semi-abandoned part of town. Flying slowly at first, then gradually speeding up as he became more comfortable, Zac decided to head toward the forest to test his abilities.
Just as Zac was about to enter the forest, a ding echoed in his mind, startling him so badly he nearly fell out of the sky. He caught himself just in time.
"Your Random Gacha System has finished installing. Would you like to check it now or later?"
Flying a bit deeper into the forest, Zac landed in a clearing.
"System," Zac thought, causing a translucent screen to appear.
"Welcome to the Random Roll Gacha System. Certain actions and interactions will grant you a roll."
"Is there anything else you can do?" Zac asked.
Another message appeared.
"Yes. The system can answer certain questions about your powers or the universe you are in."
Zac paused, then asked, "What did the god mean when he said the Void Vessel would integrate well with my body?"
"Insufficient data. You will need to transform into your true body for a scan."
Zac nodded. "Alright then, let me try."
Zac attempted to transform, but at first, nothing happened. He let out a heavy breath.
The system chimed in again. "Try releasing it like imagining you're holding down a weight and letting go."
Zac followed the advice, sitting down and meditating. He imagined releasing the weight.
Suddenly, pain spread throughout his body. It was intense, but bearable like the moment just before cracking your knuckles. His skin transformed into red scales with black-tipped edges. A tail grew longer, sprouting sharp spines, and his body expanded massively until he reached a length of 47.5 meters from head to tail. His underbelly remained the same creamy colour as his wings, and his golden eyes gleamed with even greater majesty.
Then the pain vanished.
Zac opened his eyes and observed himself. He noticed the same star patterns on his wings along with several new ones. Testing his strength, Zac swung his tail into a 50-meter-tall tree, sending it flying into another. The second tree cracked, splintered, and collapsed with a thunderous boom.
Zac spoke aloud by accident, his voice deep, ancient, and powerful.
"Okay, system can you answer my question now?"
A screen appeared.
"Analysing host body… Ding."
"It appears the Safi'jiiva ability of drawing bioenergy from the environment has evolved. You can now also draw void and space energy, converting it into your own power. Your bioenergy has adapted to this universe and is now Hell energy. Your ultimate attack, Safi'jiiva: Sapphire of the Emperor, can now be used with normal energy, void energy, or space energy."[1]
Zac nodded slowly, his massive dragon head dipping. "That makes sense. I kind of want to test it."
As he said that, Zac began drawing in vast amounts of energy. The grass around him dried up, and space itself seemed to bend inward. He converted all of it into void energy, causing the star patterns on his wings to glow brighter with black light streaked with red.
"This should be enough."
Zac rose into the sky, energy building in his mouth as he fired a concentrated beam of void downward. The power reached critical levels one mistake could cause it to detonate prematurely. Then Zac released it: a small, deceptively harmless-looking ball of pure void, resembling a miniature black hole.
Just before it hit the ground, Zac's instincts screamed at him to fly higher. He shot upward, barely reaching a safe distance as the void sphere struck the earth.
The explosion shook half of Pentagram City, nearly half a kilometer away. When the dust settled, all that remained was a massive black hole that erased the clearing and over 250 meters of forest, leaving behind a crater of pure destruction—the only sign that anything had ever been there.
"Damn… I'd better save that for emergencies," Zac muttered. "I'll call it Onyx of the Ruler. And I should leave before anyone investigates or worse, before Lucifer checks it out."
Zac flew toward the city, taking a roundabout route and transforming back into his human form to stay hidden.
Ding.
A system message appeared.
"By using your ultimate and transforming for the first time, you have gained a roll. Would you like to spin it? Yes or no."
"Yes," Zac said immediately.
The screen flashed, showing an animated egg cracking open. Inside was a new ability: the power to store one basic ultimate attack for later use. However, it would require double the energy to store.
Landing on the edge of town, Zac thought to himself,
"Time to find somewhere to call home… for now."
[1] he also has the ability to heal himself with the bioenergy/hell energy