It had been two months since leaving on Xaneranths leveling expedition. My starvation felt like I was dying over and over again and the only reason I could go on is from the energy of the monsters I slew. I found that with my skill “Devour” I could eat anything to gain energy of equivalent value, I ate anything dead as if it was the tastiest morsel in the world. Though I haven’t been able to eat anything in the past few days because there is nothing in the blazing plains but sand as far as the eyes could see, and the other slaves we replaced two weeks ago were already dead.

We had been wandering the blazing plains for seven days and the knights said that we were almost at the hidden demon checkpoint. All of the freshly acquired slaves had died yet again and left me to trail behind the carriage alone.

The hot wind blew by, carrying sand in its wake and making it nearly impossible to breathe. My original clothes of a white jumpsuit were unrecognizable and all that remained of them was a tattered shirt tied around my waist to retain my decency.

I needed a monster or person to cross paths with because of my hunger, but nothing was in sight.

Just as I thought that, the sand shifted and beneath where the carriage was moving and the four knights jumped off of it, seemingly waiting for something. One of the knights yelled for Xaneranth while the others drew their weapons.

“Xaneranth! There is a dune wyrm be prepared!!!” The normal-looking knight warned.

“Dune Wyrm? As long as it is just one you four should be enough to handle it. Let me see how far you guys have come,” as soon as he finished the sentence a huge sand-colored legless centipede with a massive head appeared. Its body was completely armored in the hard exoskeleton and its mouth was a hole with endless rows of rotating fangs.

It lept out of the sand with half of its gigantic body and dove headfirst onto the soldier who had warned us of the beast. The man disappeared Into the wyrm’s and the rest of its body crashed down through the sand

“That’s not a Dune Wyrm you idiot! That’s a Dune EATER!” Xaneranth replied, readying his spear.

“N-no way!? A Dune Eater? How can this be?” The only female knight voiced in horror.

Judging from the reaction I could tell the Dune Eater was an opponent they couldn’t handle. This would be my only chance to escape before Xaneranth would be able to command me to stop. For two whole months, I have suffered. For two whole months, I have endured this pain with but one goal in mind. Revenge. Revenge on the demons who enslaved me. Revenge on the slavemaster who controlled me and those he held dear. But most importantly, Revenge on the goddess Terim who killed my sister and put me in this situation. Each day I spend in this hell, will be a day she begs me for death.

Xaneranth charged at the twin knights just in time for the Dune Wyrm to pop out for its next attack. The dark spear burst into red flames and sunk into the beast’s body. The Wyrm was seemingly unfazed and its endless rows of teeth spun faster and faster. One of the twin horned knights took a swing at its enormous body as well and was surprised to find his sword bounce off of its hardened carapace.

The beast thrashed its head around and took off the knight’s arm with its outer fangs. It advanced upon the wounded knight and swallowed him with a gulp of sand. Puffs of red sand escaped the beast’s mouth as the knights’ armor was slowly destroyed by the rotating fangs and the unfortunate man was minced into pieces. His screams lasted for nearly ten seconds until the knight ceased to live.

Xaneranth’s fists were engulfed in the red flame he used to fight and he proceeded to punch the spear deeper into the wyrm’s body. The Wyrm let out a horrifying screech, like metal dragged across concrete and lunged at Xaneranth.

This was Xaneranths demonic energy. Demonic energy was something every demon had. Most lesser demons like the imps could only use it to strengthen themselves for a while, but once it reaches a certain level, you unlock your unique demonic element. Xaneranths is Hellfire, a dark red fire that is a bit less hot than regular fire but strengthens him immensely.

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The dark spear was more than halfway through the beast’s body but seemed to not harm any of its major organs. The half-horse half-man covered his entire arm in hellfire and gave the spear one last punch. The black spear ripped through the other side and fell to the sand-covered in green blood.

I was standing opposite of the female warrior and the remaining twin. The battle was one of the most intense I had seen so far but all I could think of was how good the wyrm would taste. Or how good the knights would taste if the wyrm didn’t get to them first. The other slaves died many days ago, and I had nothing to eat. I was supposed to already be dead but God’s gift to me in the form of this demonic race had given me two more months of this torturous hell.

The injured wyrm dove now towards the other two soldiers. The distraught twin and the startled knight readied their blades. The Longsword and the twins’ knife clashed with the wyrms gaping maw and held its advance. Xaneranth ran over and shouted orders while readying another spear.

“Nite! Use your fire. X, prepare to follow up. I’ll send this giant earthworm to the next world!”

Nite removed one of her hands from the longsword desperately fighting the wyrms approach and held it out palm first. An orb of small blue flames appeared in front of it and started to grow in size.

“IGNITE!”

As she shouted the words, the fire in her hand shot forward into the wyrm’s mouth in a sea of blue flames. Although fully armored, her long blonde hair flared brilliantly in the wind caused by the explosion-like spell. X jumped in afterward and performed a mid-air spin that dragged his dagger through the gums of the creature. Three rows of jagged teeth got sliced off before the wyrm gave up on the spin and opted to swallow the man whole.

“Nite one more time! It’s almost dead!” Xaneranths flames burst from his legs and arms as his charge picked up in speed. To this, Nite chanted out once again. The fire had less of an effect on the already medium-rare wyrm and it dove down on the fully armored woman. Its remaining rotating teeth shredded her armor apart and started to cut her skin when Xaneranth came in.

“DIEE!” Xaneranth screamed as he hurled his flaming spear with the momentum of his charge. The spear tore through the wyrm’s left eye and flew out the right side of its head. The severely injured Nite fell out of the beast’s jaws as it turned towards Xaneranth.

Xaneranth halted his charge after the throw and was standing at the base of the towering monster. Time seemed to stand still, as both Xaneranth and the beast were staring at each other from mere feet away. Just as the Wyrm started to move it let out a sharp gurgling sound and paused yet again.

The wyrm fell ontop of Xaneranth and crushed him to the ground. The beast had died at the end of the battle and took Xaneranth with it.

The horseman’s upper body was poking out from below the monstrous mass. He was unmoving, and the ring around my neck disappeared.

I raised my hands and looked at myself. I couldn’t contain my laughter, and a huge smile plastered my face. I was free! I could leave this place and have my own life. First, however, Xaneranth made me go through so much for him. Maybe he could serve as my nourishment for his final grace. I hoisted the upper half of his cold body from beneath the wyrm and bit down into his neck. Something about this felt gross and wrong to me, but I’m a demon now and I accepted it. To survive this hell. You had to be worse than it. After finishing the visible parts of Xaneranth, I moved onto the wyrm. Before I could get there, My devour ability notified me to be worthy of the inheritance of Enslave. The ability that put me through this was now mine as if proving my Ideology. The wyrms’ shell was hard, and its meat was as well. After about five minutes of eating, I heard a moan of agony. The girl, I had completely forgotten about her. Anyways, it’s time to test my new ability, the stronger I am the easier my life will become.

Nites’ armor was completely destroyed, and her clothes were thoroughly shredded. She looked more human than I expected. She was pale white with long blonde hair and curved backward-facing horns, almost as if to push her hair back. Her sword was still in her hand, it was broken at the base and had only two inches of blade left on it.

She had nothing on her, but her fire would be useful for me. As I approached, she opened her eyes and tried her best to cover herself. I walked up to her and crouched down in a squat.

“How’s it hangin?” I asked while obviously knowing the state she’s in.

“Get a-away from me p-please” she managed to rasp out, she pushed on the sand with her hand to push herself away from me and coughed out some sand as well.

“No,” I said and cast my hand above her.

“Enslave.” for a second nothing happened, then instead of her neck, her chest started to burn an imprint onto her. Starting at her sternum and reaching to her stomach, a front-facing dragon was etched in. Its head was located above the sternum and its wings reached just above her breasts and to the end of the torso.

Nite cried out in pain as the brilliant tattoo was being branded on her and tears dripped down the side of her face. It was amazing. Watching someone in this much pain and embarrassment wasn’t something I thought I would like. But I loved it.

[Nite has been successfully Enslaved]

When it was over she had given up on running away and tightened her grip on the broken sword. She reached both hands onto it and thrust it at her heart. I was a bit startled by the move and stood there to see what happened. The blade reached the hilt and Nite let a few more tears roll. Despite using the full two inches, she was still alive.

Realizing what had happened, I laughed in astonishment.

“I guess having large breasts doesn’t always come in handy! Hahahahahh.” The blade of the sword didn’t reach her heart due to the cushioning of the blow.

I pulled out the sword and took off my shirt. Nite’s eyes widened and she started to retreat yet again.

“Chill out, I’m not that type of guy. Put this on,” I said to her and threw her my shirt.

“We have a long way to go.”