The Hunger That Devours

In the depths of a foreboding medieval castle, its stone walls stained with centuries of darkness, a lone warrior stood amidst the wreckage of a fierce battle. Her name was Zara, blue hair tied back in a messy ponytail, fierce determination in her eyes, and a body honed by years of combat. Blood-soaked bandages wrapped around her torso, evidence of the grueling fight she had just endured.

The warrior stood amidst the wreckage, her body battered, her breath ragged. Blood soaked the ground, mingling with the ashes of the fallen. The battle had ended. And yet, the enemy remained.

The chamber, once grand, now lay in ruins. Shattered pillars and crumbled stonework littered the floor, mingling with the ashes of the fallen. The air hung heavy with the metallic scent of blood and the acrid stench of dark magic.

Before Zara stood a creature that defied explanation. It was a cat, but unlike any she had ever seen. Its body seemed to shift and waver, as if it were made of smoke given form. A wide, unsettling grin stretched across its face, reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. But its eyes—one emerald green, the other a sickly yellow—held an ancient, unfathomable intelligence that sent shivers down Zara’s spine.

The cat sat atop a small, ornate pedestal, casually licking its paw as if the carnage around it was of no consequence. Zara tightened her grip on her sword, her knuckles white with tension.

The warrior tightened her grip on her sword, her knees trembling as she struggled to stay upright. Her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper. "So what you're saying is… there is no demon king?"

The cat tilted its head slightly, its grin widening. "True."

"And you made up that story," she continued, her voice trembling with fury and disbelief. "You spread the prophecy about the Six Legendary Warriors, the Heavenly Armaments, the Demon King—"

"Yes," the cat interrupted, its tone calm and almost amused. "All of it. Every last detail."

A cold shiver ran down her spine. Every moment, every sacrifice, every ounce of strength she had poured into this quest—it had all been a lie.

"Then… all the training I did… all those years…" She swallowed hard, the words sticking in her throat. "It was all a waste of time."

The cat neither confirmed nor denied, but the silence that followed was answer enough.

"And my friends… the warriors who were supposed to bring peace to the world, to end all suffering… all the effort we put into honing our skills, heightening our magic, becoming the best versions of ourselves… was it all just useless?"

"It was," the cat said simply, its mismatched eyes staring at her with an eerie calm.

Her chest ached, and her vision blurred with tears. "Then tell me—at least explain why. Why did you do this? Why did you trick us, only to bring us here to kill us? What exactly are you?"

The cat sighed, slowly rising from its seated position. Its movements were almost lazy, but there was an eerie grace to them, like a marionette controlled by unseen strings.

"Why did I do this?" it mused, its voice dripping with mockery. "A dying wish, is it? The last time I honored one, it was for an elvish warrior… what was her name? Sigrid, I believe?"

"Sigrid… the Divine Archer," a voice chimed in. The warrior turned to see a girl with large round glasses and a frilly, aristocratic dress, She balanced precariously on an ornate umbrella that had been impaled into the head of one of the fallen warriors., her dress a patchwork of noble finery and jester’s motley. Her hair, dyed in vibrant hues of pink and blue, framed a face painted with intricate designs

 "I seem to recall she kept shouting each one of her moves every time she fired an arrow. 'Divine Arrow of Wind,' I think she called it. She said she was the greatest of the Six Legendary Warriors at the time."

"Ah, yes. That was it." The cat chuckled softly. "She did have a rather large bow."

The warrior clenched her fists. "Even after killing my friends, you insult their legacies. The fallen archer you killed is not Sigrid. Her name was Aria."

"I was referring to one of the other Six Legendary Heroes that came before you," the cat said dismissively.

"Not your companion Serene over there murdered," the girl with the umbrella added, gesturing to another figure. Serene, a girl with short, dark hair and eyes as pale as the moon.

, this girl exuded an aura of barely contained bloodlust. In her left hand, she cradled a massive scythe, its blade gleaming with an otherworldly light but in her right hand

She held the decapitated head of an elf formally known as aria. The archer of one of the six legendary heroes., she kept poking at its eye with childlike curiosity

"Serene!" the cat shouted. "Put the head down. Now."

"Sorry, boss," Serene said sheepishly, dropping the head and wiping her hands on her dress.

The cat turned back to the warrior. "What do you mean, 'before me'? I know we are the first and only Legendary Warriors."

"Ah, never mind," the cat said with a dismissive wave of its paw. "You wouldn't be able to recall something that never existed. Besides, don't forget—I'm the one who made the legend up."

The warrior's mind raced. Up until now, the cat had not moved from its pedestal. It was its two servant girls—the one with the umbrella and the one with the scythe—who had disposed of her and her friends. The cat looked completely normal, aside from the stitches and its unusually wide mouth. But the fact that these two girls had defeated her and all her companions so easily were heading all its commands meant it was the most the one in charge.

"Then tell me," she pleaded, struggling to remain standing. "Show me what it is I died for. It couldn't have been for nothing. My friends… they couldn't have died for nothing."

Tears spilled down her face as she lifted her head, locking eyes with the cat.

For a moment, the cat regarded her, its grin fading slightly. Then it turned to the girl with the large glasses and umbrella

 "What do you think, Nyriphim?"

The girl with the umbrella, Nyriphim, straightened her glasses and adjusted her fluffy dress. "Compared to the others that came before, this group fought particularly hard. That girl over there," she said, gesturing to the warrior, "even managed to land three hits on Celest. And, I must admit, shamefully so, her fallen comrade with the spear landed one hit on me."

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"It was only because I let her," Celest interjected, waving her scythe around like a child with a toy. "The last time—"

"I can feel a slight increase in strength compared to those that came before them," Nyriphim continued, ignoring Celest's interruption. "I guess she somewhat earned it."

The cat nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. If it pleases you, my liege," Nyriphim said, her voice trembling with excitement. Her legs began to shake, and sweat dripped from her face. The visage of a cold, pristine noble lady had now gone, replaced entirely by that of a blushing, wide-eyed pervert. Her nature as a half-succubus was beginning to show. "If it pleases you… release your restrictions in me. Enter inside me."

Everyone present—the cat, Celest, and even the warrior—stared at Nyriphim in bewilderment. Realizing her outburst, Nyriphim immediately composed herself, smoothing her dress and speaking in a calm, dignified tone. "Only if it pleases my liege, of course."

In a moment, Celest grabbed the cat, lifting it to her eye level. "Why do you have to make it weird? Please, boss, don't go inside that pervert. She might infect you with her lewdness. Please, boss, let me do it. I promise this time I'll do it right. It won't be like last time."

Nyriphim rushed forward, yanking at the cat, trying to release it from Celest's grasp. "Know your place, you cretin! Don't listen to her, my liege. You nearly destroyed the entire fortress last time."

The warrior was in utter disbelief. She had lost an arm in the battle with these two women. They had fought ferociously, like demons from hell, countering her every move. But now, the demeanor they displayed was akin to that of two bickering housewives. Worse, it was as if they had completely forgotten about her—an 8th-tier aura user, a warrior whose blade could part rivers and slash mountains in two. And they didn't even recognize her as a threat anymore.

Just then, the cat began to flail its arms rapidly, clawing at the two girls, causing them to release it and retreat into fetal positions.

"Could you not embarrass me like that again?" the cat said, sighing. "Huh. Celest makes a good point. I only used her once before. Even though she nearly destroyed the fortress, she has to practice somehow."

Celest picked up the cat and began to spin around. Nyriphim clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "Put me down," the cat said, clawing at Celest, prompting her to stop spinning. She now held him calmly at eye level. "Let's begin before the warrior over there bleeds to death."

The warrior, still kneeling, stared wearily, unable to comprehend what was going on. Whatever the cat was planning, she would not let them go through with it. She thought to herself that as soon as they let their guard down, she would overload her own aura core and release every bit of energy inside her. Obviously, this would kill her, but after fighting the two girls, she knew even an explosion of this nature wouldn't be enough to kill them. But maybe she could take out their master.

Celest knelt down and placed the cat on the ground. The cat then told her to close her eyes. "I'm going to release the restrictions on your mind now." He placed his paw on her lap, and she immediately fell to the ground, her body going limp. Her skin turned pale, as though she had died instantly.

The warrior couldn't even feel a sliver of the immense amount of mana that the girl had previously exuded. The cat then slowly walked towards her and began to enter her mouth. It was a horrific sight. Her mouth began to stretch unnaturally, causing lacerations and tears to appear at the sides. The cat continued to force its way in, causing her eyes to roll back, leaving only the whites visible.

She began to shake violently as the cat forced its way into her. At this point, half of its body had already entered her. The other noble woman, Nyriphim, looked on enviously, almost obsessively so. But she was distracted. The warrior thought to herself that the cat had now almost fully entered; only its tail stuck out from her mouth. The warrior then began to pour all her aura into her core. She only had one arm, but she mustered all her strength and directed it towards her legs. Everything she had, all these years of training, was now concentrated in a single leap.

She lunged, causing a large crater to appear where her foot once was. Even the pillars of the fortress vibrated at the sheer force she used. She reached out her hand, ready to grab the now-encapsulated girl who lay on the floor, but just then, she could feel a looming shadow over her neck. It was the axe of Nyriphim, the noble lady, barreling down towards her, ready to relieve her head from the rest of her body.

The warrior couldn't make it in time. This was the end. The last image that flashed in her mind was that of a girl who looked exactly like her—her twin sister, smiling, seeing her off on her journey to defeat the Demon King with the other heroes. Her most cherished memory.

All this happened in one-tenth of a second.

The warrior opened her eyes, expecting to find herself awake in the afterlife. But she was still alive. The axe had not reached her. Celest, who had previously lain on the ground, was now standing, her hand between the axe and the warrior's neck. She had also held her other hand out, seemingly absorbing all of the warrior's aura.

"It's alright, Nyriphim," Celest said. Her voice was no longer her own. It was a merging of her voice and the cat's, creating a hideous shriek. "I'll take it from here."

When she spoke, it wasn't the voice of the girl the warrior had fought. What emerged from the body was that of the cat. Looking up, the warrior saw that Celest's eyes had changed. They were now green and yellow, and her mouth had all the same stitches and sewn patches. Her smile and teeth had changed to mimic that of the cat.

But it wasn't the same aura as before. It wasn't even the presence that a human being should have.

"Before, you asked me if you and your friends had died for nothing," the cat-possessed girl   said. "Actually, it was all for nothing. But not nothing as you humans understand it."

The moment it spoke, her vision twisted. Reality melted away, replaced by an endless expanse of shifting lights, celestial bodies, and incomprehensible shapes.

"You see," the cat's voice resonated in her mind, "there is never truly *nothing* in the realms. Even in a barren wasteland, there is something. Even in the vast ether, in the deepest void, there is always *something*. The very concept of *nothing* is paradoxical, for its mere thought gives it existence."

The warrior gasped, her mind struggling to comprehend the vast cosmic dance unfolding before her.

"Hold out your hands," it instructed.

The warrior, now aware that the being that now possessed Celest was no mere cat nor demon but something more ancient, more powerful—perhaps a god—obeyed, cupping her hands as though cradling water.

"What do you see?"

"Nothing," she whispered. "I'm not holding anything."

"Look closer," the cat urged. "See through my eyes."

And suddenly, she did. Tiny dots, almost imperceptible, shimmered in her palms. They spread outward, filling the air, woven into the very fabric of existence.

"They are all around us," she breathed. "We are made of them."

"Good," the cat said approvingly. "Now, look deeper."

She did. And within each speck, she saw more—infinitesimally smaller dots, whole universes nestled within them, an endless fractal of existence.

"*Nothing* can never truly exist," she murmured. "Its very existence defeats its purpose."

The cat chuckled darkly. "For a human, you catch on quickly."

A terrible realization gripped her heart. "Then… what are you?"

The cat exhaled softly, as though amused. "In the beginning, before life, before thought, before light and darkness, before even *time*… all was nothing. It's hard to grasp, so let's refer to it as the Void. The Void was eternal. It was all there was, all there is, and all there ever would be. But the Void made one fatal mistake. It became *aware* of itself. It thought, therefore it was. And in that moment, the first *something* was born. Awareness."

The cat's paw rested lightly against her head, and she gasped as her eyes turned pure black, and a dark liquid began to trickle down from her nose and eyes.

"The Void," she whispered with a weak smile. "It's… beautiful."

The cat let go, and her head slammed to the ground.

"It *was*," the cat agreed.

A voice interrupted the silence.

"I think she's gone, boss," Nyriphim said, moving a portion of her hair to reveal parts of her face.

"Huh. Her mind probably broke," Celest said, peering at the girl with mild curiosity.

The cat sighed. "A shame. I didn't get to finish my story."

"She seemed stronger than most before her. I was wrong in my assessment," Nyriphim said.  I must have

overestimated her strength.

Then the cat heard it—a faint whisper.

"...why…"

The warrior was still breathing, her body limp, but her lips barely moved.

The cat raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're still here?"

Her broken voice barely formed the words. "Why… why… why…"

The cat studied her carefully, then gently knelt down and lifted her head onto its lap. Something about her felt *different*.

"Okay," the cat said. "I suppose I can finish my story."

Nyriphim smiled, delighted at the fact that she wasn't wrong with her initial assessment.

"Now, where was I?" the cat mused. "Ah, yes. The Awareness. It began to create things. It created the Abyss, the Ether, and began to fill it with things. Balls of fire and light. Large masses of rock."

The cat leaned back, its stitched face tilting toward the Abyss.

The warrior stirred slightly in its lap. "...You're a god, aren't you? The God of Creation? The Awareness?"

The cat laughed softly. "There are many gods. Gods of light, water, wisdom, creation… but no, this Awareness is not like them. It's a function, an abstraction, and I am not it.

"You see, while the Void had accidentally created this abstraction, it also gave birth to me—to consume it. Ironically, like a cat chasing its tail.

"Consume," the girl whispered.

"Yes. Feed. Everything that the Awareness creates will always feed. Time consumes every moment. Space consumes the Abyss. Your gods consume prayers, your praise and adulation. Others demand sacrifices and feed on that. Your goddess of wisdom? She devours knowledge. Stars and planets feed on energy. And you humans and plants feed on each other."

The warrior, who lay on the ground, wore a pendant that glinted in the dim light.

"And you will feed and feed until nothing is left, and the Void will return once more. That is my function, child.

"I am not a god, nor am I the Awareness. I am an appetite. The appetite of everything in existence. I am that function, to return everything back to the Void.

"That's what I am. That's what I was. Until one day, I opened my eyes, and I was a cat. Why? I couldn't tell you either. I just was.

"I still serve my function, but now I also exist in the material plane. Exciting, isn't it? That's what I am. And in order for me to keep existing in the material plane, I have to consume. Enormous amounts of energy from warriors like yourself.

"If I eat too much or too little, I lose control of my form in the material plane and revert back to merely being a function. Six warriors of every race is just about the right amount. Does that answer your question as to why I created the legend?"

The girl didn't speak or show any signs of response. Her mind had been fully broken.

The cat's fingers brushed against the stitches on its face.

"And you, my dear, are the 210th cycle of this legend."

"You're not the first Six," it murmured. "You won't be the last."

"When I consume you in this form, I consume not just your bodies," the cat whispered. "Every memory of you, every song about you, even statues in your honor, your legacies, your existence itself. When I consume you… it will be as though you never lived at all. You go back to the Void.

"There is no reason you would understand," the cat said gently. "Nor is there a need."

Slowly, the cat peeled away the stitches from its face. The skin came loose, like a lid lifted from a pot, revealing an endless river with a myriad of eyes and stars.

"You ask why?" the cat said. "Simply because I am hungry