Can Only Be Devoured!
"I... paid a lot for this... it was supposed to kill a Crabstynian realm opponent. But... but you will suffice!" The aged man's tongue moved between his wide open mouth. His jaw was still dislocated, and it was like a ghost's image with his flaming red tongue covered in blood dangling about while his lips covered and uncovered his teeth. Heian Ciemnosc watched in tranquility as his enemy's crooked fingers began to wither as more and more darkness gathered between his palms.
Heian Ciemnosc could look farther than any other eye could and what his Spirit Sense was currently incapable of, like the inner body of his target. At this moment, the aged man’s life essence was being consumed. His body wasn’t shriveling just because of the strange pseudo-Art employed. It was disappearing and converging to the tips of his fingers.
At that moment, Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes no longer narrowed and slowly, naturally opened wholly. His voice was calm, soft… and quiet. It was also hoarse and dragged on. Feeling terrifyingly enchanting, hypnotizing, and irresistible.
“Oh, darkness? How… how familiar.” Heian Ciemnosc’s mouth revealed his canines. His fully opened eyes to a darkness so consuming one’s thoughts could be gone forever. His lips crooked into a smile, with mixes of blood and saliva separating from the upper or bottom lip.
Whiiiiip-laassh.
Heian Ciemnosc brandished his Vocón Link again, which had shortened to a 3-meter length after being struck by that powerful attack. Heian Ciemnosc’s sternum was opened, and part of his left face was pried open, his left eye almost about to dangle out. The aged man’s collarbone was caved open and spread apart, revealing his upper spine from the front and upper sections of his lungs and some muscle with whatever thin flesh was left.
As the Vocón Link came to life again, it returned to a 16 meter length and broke all the rotted wooden floor behind him, with the ground shaking lasting for an instant. This Middle Kingdom was ‘strong’ everywhere, no matter where he hit or stomped hard against it. The aged man grew concerned. Something really alarming was seeping into his heart. He didn’t want it to be authentic or recognize these feelings, and he… feared it!
“Throw that. Out. To me.” Heian Ciemnosc sent his left arm backward, still holding the Vocón Lnk and letting it slide like a snake behind him for over 16 meters on the broken floor and ground. Heian Ciemnosc’s voice was the same as before, and it only brought some more fearsome sensations into the aged man.
“!” The darkness within the aged man’s palms was almost complete. He could feel it, and so could the pale teenager who looked at it as if suddenly becoming lusty for it. But for some reason, Heian Ciemnosc’s enemy abruptly felt like he shouldn’t do it. However, if he didn’t, what about his spent life force? And his cultivation base halting?! Probably for good at that! What then?
“Grrh- GHAAAAAAAGGGH!” The aged man became too active inside his head that he could only roar in reaction. Thoughts churned the center of his brain, and he became increasingly unstable. Heian Ciemnosc was about to witness an ever-so-incredible deviation in one’s heart and mental state!
“Take that, mongrel, ingrate wretch!!” The aged man barked these words in a single breath’s worth of time. Thereupon, letting the vortex, full of darkness within his hands, loose as it streaked across the air and space between Heian Ciemnosc and the aged man! In the sudden deep silence that followed such notions, Heian Ciemnosc grinned.
The vortex faced Heian Ciemnosc as its center rotated and seemed to eat up air and even the black that the night sky gave down below. It had a few steep, irregularly shaped limbs sticking out from the middle occasionally, and it seemed to cut through something other than air and the fabric that the Wind element is always present in. Even destroying it and the tiniest particles of Water element in the surroundings.
‘Darkness elemental… poisoning?’ Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes srhunk, a little. He thought in his head. He was confused, as there is no such thing as Darkness elemental poisoning. But it could only be described like that presently with his current knowledge. However, it still represented a greediness he seemed incapable of overcoming. He could only slowly close his eyes as the vortex came right at him…
… It didn’t seem to make any noise, as silent as whenever his Vocón Link was summoned, and reminded him of the times he used that ‘sphere’ of darkness before. But his instincts and nature seemed king right now as Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t help himself!
Step, step step step step- dash~ fwuosh… … … …
Abruptly opening his eyes, Heian Ciemnosc’s eyebrows sank. His chest was shoved forwards voluntarily. His shoulders followed, in succession by his knees, as he ran for it and dashed at the last meager meter before the vortex could hit him square on the chest again! Heian Ciemnosc immediately disappeared into that vortex, smaller than his torso’s width. Yet his body disappeared from the naked eye and invisible from Spirit Sense, startling the aged man.
‘Ha- haha…’ The sight of Heian Ciemnosc’s body going head first into the vortex, successfully disappearing into it, leaving the aged man feeling breathless. It succeeded! He wanted to look around! He desired to look at others as if they were watching to gloat. But he knew nobody was, and his organization’s people were dying instead. ‘... hahaha-kak- kuku. Euh?’.
The aged man suddenly mollified his thoughts. The vortex was halted without his notice, which was expected considering it wasn’t ‘his’ doings completely, at least not to 100%. But similarly, without his notice, a thin streak of dark that appeared like 2D came out from the vortex’s back. When the aged man noticed, it was already a couple meters before him.
‘What?! Why does it feel this way?’ The aged man saw it swaying to the left and right, up and down and felt as if it was harmless and couldn’t harm him. But when it came incorrigibly closer, he felt something about that dark streak that simply left him feeling creeped out. ‘Why does it feel real? No, it was moving. How could… it… !!’.
There was this sensation like seeing a rat trying to rush to one’s feet, hoping to bite them so that one’s fear could make one stumble down. The rat could then eat as much skin and meat as it would want, while one could only feel fear and want to run away instead of simply smashing the rat’s head repeatedly. It gave the aged man a feeling that this dark streak was doing the same. Except, it wasn’t trying to instill fear, only reach his side and… fight.
“Gaasp! Nooo-!” The aged man wasn’t just old-looking. He thought of the worst and prepared for it, but it was again too late. The dark streak slammed against his chest, and directly from that collision, 5 dark claws puffed into existence, with the darkness disappearing. Like smoke, but like black water, the darkness revealed in its vanishing moments Heian Ciemnosc’s battered, cut, and bloodied body with the left side of his face entirely skinless except from his mouth below.
Time seemed to stop again but didn’t at all. Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes looked up, emerging with an unstoppable momentum as his left knee was bent and close to his stomach, his back leaned forwards slightly, and his right leg stretched fully out and backwards. Meanwhile, his right hand was beside his right ribs, his mound of venus lightly feeling his jacket, which had become torn after so much fighting, and his Claws Out shone darkness as if it had a different light of its own.
His lips puckering a tiny bit, Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head and rotated it to the right. His left hand covered the skinless section of his face, leaving only his mouth uncovered, but he still didn’t speak. The aged man was paralyzed, seemingly. And as he looked at Heian Ciemnosc’s actions, his mind turned blank.
“!” Heian Ciemnosc then lowered his hand, revealing a more or less healing skin, rosy and already growing its paleness back. He… the aged man… he became terrified like never before.
With his eyes, Heian Ciemnosc seemed to tell the aged man one thing. ‘Thank you for the meal’.
Phhshk! “NOOOOO-! Aaaah!” Heian Ciemnosc’s left hand returned to poke the aged man’s collarbone with the tips of his claws. But this time, he didn’t waste a second and immediately penetrated his enemy’s skin, burying those Claws Out completely. And to Heian Ciemnosc’s delightful surprise, the aged man explosively responded with all remaining Power Energy in his body bursting out.
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The aged man’s hands grabbed Heian Ciemnosc’s left wrist as the latter smiled darkly, enjoying the sight. Facing the sky and his head thrown backwards, the man roared as bursts of his translucent whitish Power Energy came out of his body and began slamming Heian Ciemnosc away, but Heian Ciemnosc simply smiled harder!
Sweep- cuuh phhshk!
Heian Ciemnosc’s right claw-like hand came to the aged man’s left arm, aimed at the nook on the other side of his elbow… and clawed! The forearm was torn off, and Heian Ciemnosc was finally slammed away. His body flew backwards a couple tens of meters in a couple seconds before stopping. His body remained stagnant as it bounced back. He glided safely onto the ground as the vortex behind him grew chaotic.
Click, click, click. Heian Ciemnosc snapped his right-handed claws together. The sound didn’t reach the aged man’s senses, who blurted Power Energy from even his eyes as they became glowy. Heian Ciemnosc could tell his enemy’s life was sipping away… but slowly. The glow was flickery, but the aged man seemed to gain enough energy to move like a young man instead.
Step, step, step. The aged man ran towards Heian Ciemnosc, not even floating anymore, nor that it mattered much within this small space. At this moment, Heian Ciemnosc’s skin was fully healed. But the injuries behind his skin were still far from healing, not even halfway there.
Bam!
Suddenly, the vortex behind Heian Ciemnosc imploded, followed by the invasion of black smoke corroding all light and vision over the surrounding 30 meters. More than enough to cover the light green barrier. The aged man only had thoughts of and wanted to kill Heian Ciemnosc, but he couldn’t see a thing after the vortex’s implosion. He could only run about to keep searching for him.
But Heian Ciemnosc, on the other hand, could perfectly see everywhere he set his eyes. Yet, as he could play around with the aged man until he tired himself out. He remembered a few words his enemy was about to speak before coughing blood after being caught off-guard by his Vocón Link the first time. ‘He said… he wanted… to eat… me?’
Heian Ciemnosc’s thoughts became very dangerous as soon as he realized this much… it was enough to unleash his wrath! He lunged at the aged man with his fangs, showing how much blood and flesh he wanted!! It was time… time to feast!!!
Pom pam, phhshk phhshk- crreeshhk, ckrsheerr- crreeshhk crreeshhk… pam bom bom bam- pum… bam pam pom bom pum pom bom bom… ckrsheerr, phhshk phhshk…
… Whooooosh, whoooosh, whoooosh, whoosh.
… After 30 minutes, figures flew from all over the besieged organization, now lifeless of any remaining members, towards the central building. Some were slightly injured, bleeding on their uniform and jacket, but only a little. With even fewer having cuts or openings on their fabric. Most were bloodied from others’ blood, their enemies’.
Looking at the black smoke, they witnessed nothing and couldn’t even hear a thing from the outside. They could only give each other a glare while waiting for the mission leader to make a decision. Finally, the mission leader nodded and opened his mouth, allowing the rest to speak in return. “Clear the black smoke away. It isn’t harmful.”
Wheesh wheesh. Several heads nodded. They then went down to fling their Powerful Energy, taking into the shape of the Wind element and working together to dissipate the black smoke. Over 3 short seconds, Heian Ciemnosc was revealed with his bum on the ground. Holding onto an aged man’s neck from behind and tore his remaining left ear apart before chewing on it once a layer of dark Power Energy showered it.
“Grwwaawh… nak kack, knack knack!” Heian Ciemnosc puckered his brows down and scrunched his nose up. Savagely and blatantly manducating the ear before swallowing. He was just about to go for another bite, holding the aged man’s still strong and vigorous movements with his left claw still trying to penetrate via the several layers of Power Energy, protecting it from his clutches.
“...” When, suddenly, he looked up and saw a dozen figures nearby looking at him wordlessly. Further up, the mission leader and a few others also watched with blank expressions. Heian Ciemnosc no longer aimed at the aged man’s head despite having showered it with his dark Power Energy and stared back at them with a pair of innocently and simply lovable eyes.
“Let me,” The mission leader flatly said. He took a javelin from his Covert Space bag and aimed at the aged man. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t move away, still holding onto the strong, struggling man, and waited for the mission leader to proceed.
Whiistle. The javelin came shooting down at the aged man. In but a second, it hit his chest before immediately vanishing, turning into light purple Power Energy that flowed within the man in Heian Ciemnosc’s hold. Heian Ciemnosc quickly felt his enemy stop resisting, his body felt like resting, but he kept holding tight onto the fucker’s body, just in case.
“Dead. Um… you may… have the corpse as a spoils of war. This… we took too long. There were a few thousand more than expected at the Spirit Birth realm.” The mission leader said after seeing Heian Ciemnosc keep holding onto the lifeless body, embarrassingly misunderstanding the pale teenager during the process.
But Heian Ciemnosc didn’t mind and even felt thankful. Better yet, he frowned and demanded. “I will still get my pay.”
“Of course, we’ll even pay you as a Student would… It seemed we received outdated information, and even this organization’s leader was 3 stages above the accorded intel. It is my, the Saberbone Diabolical Club, and the Wrath Nihility Academy’s fault. We almost lost a Sub Student because of negligence… sigh.” The mission leader explained as he rubbed his forehead somewhat for the troublesome paperwork to come.
“Hmmf~,” somehow, Heian Ciemnosc felt really glad inside. As if just these words were enough to nearly make him smile in satisfaction. But he ended up not smiling like so. He stood up, revealing more of his and the aged man’s bodies.
His left arm was showing all bone and nothing more except some cracks at his bones around the elbow. His right forearm’s veins were gone, replaced by some flesh and blood still coming out. His sternum was no longer bleeding, but a thick blood stain remained as it reeked even above in the air. All his blood was dark, so it was so simple to recognize one from the other, amazing the onlookers.
His back was almost like a puddle of meaty blood. Heian Ciemnosc could only keep wearing his jacket due to the shoulders remaining intact. His legs had several spots where fist-sized holes revealed bones, even showing many of those holes bones broken to the point Heian Ciemnosc shouldn’t even be able to move, let alone walk.
Crack, crrrrr-acck… “Do you need help?” Seeing Heian Ciemnosc brutally bend and fold the aged man’s corpse like it was nothing made the already speechless club members feel like they were doing something wrong. But respect grew in their hearts. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t kill this aged man and was still in danger before they came, but the state they both were at the end… that was… beyond commendable!
“Nope, just need a ride… and, can you bring me to shop around?” Heian Ciemnosc looked up after putting his backpack of meat, bones, and organs on his back. Then he asked the mission leader, who, after lifting his eyebrows, nodded and sent his Power Energy down to help Heian Ciemnosc fly up.
Heian Ciemnosc appeared to be all alright. He was bleeding more even as they spoke, and nobody could deny it. And despite being able to chat now, nobody wanted to talk. They were… ‘respectfully’ silent. Thus, they made their way back to the city, but they still had to spend half the night to return to the Wrath Nihility Academy’s territory.
On the other hand… After simply biting off the aged man’s few fingers and both ears, and after the helluva crazy fight. Heian Ciemnosc felt like his cultivation base was trembling… trembling in excitement and so robust he could already be called Fatty Ciemnosc from now on. A breakthrough to the 2nd stage was near. But Heian Ciemnosc focused on maintaining himself firm and resisted the urge. He should first heal up. He wasn’t against time, nor would he die tomorrow if he didn’t do it.
As Heian Ciemnosc kept his thoughts and body’s state to himself. He was so injured he didn’t notice the several fellow club members take turns to help him fly. They were careful with his body, wrapping him up entirely but only outlining his body, protecting him from the wind as they streaked through the air. And later on, as they went through portals, they treated Heian Ciemnosc as a VIP, guarded by even the mission leader, and threw deadly glares even to other fellow students on other missions nearby and in other Cities.
Heian Ciemnosc, the Fool, was so injured he couldn’t even tell they were hurrying back to the Academy’s territory so much they only needed a couple hours before getting there. But through the journey, he did manage to remember their faces, voices, names, and care for him. Even though it was all foggy and he was hurting.
They fed him some pills, but mostly some that counteracted the pain, like the ones he saw the aged man take from time to time during their fight. Saying a few things like never expecting to have been ‘fooled’ like this and committed a grave mistake against the Academy. But they never said sorry. Somehow, once again, Heian Ciemnosc felt that them not apologizing was just right.
The males took one of his arms over their shoulders, sometimes even carrying him on their backs, including the mission leader for the latter. The females were more careful, holding one arm into their chests while the other behind their backs. And despite bending their backs, they weren’t neglecting their every moment with Heian Ciemnosc to help him if to just breathe better.
Some let him rest on their juicy lap or bosom, which he recognized by smell, the fucker. Treating him like the lil’ brother that big brothers have to worry about whenever their bad girlfriends visit their home. But those images were, instead, tender and memorable as they walked through the Cities or just flew.
The mission group swiftly returned to the Wrath Nihility Academy, carrying with them vital information.
…
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This is the end of Volume 3 — The End and Beginning of Change.