Kita peeps into the soft plastic window of the tent she'd chosen. They're definitely a few rich snobs- she can see all five of them sitting around a dinner table. A dinner table! Why even bother trying to be so fancy? Are they too good to eat that delicious food with their hands? The food deserves better. Around them are a few servants, waiting on the family as they feast. More for me, She smiles.

In her excitement, a strange urge has overcome her the more she's thought about taking souls. Like a predatory instinct, she wants to consume now and think later. Part of her is concerned about getting caught or even facing resistance, but that urge just doesn't care- If she gets a few souls, she's happy.

She pulls out the little pocket knife strapped to her belt and carves an incision into the tent- slowly, cautious of making a sound with the slit. Once her blade reaches the base of the tent, she crouches her way through the gap. Using the various drawers and seating of the living room as cover. She peeps over the back of a couch to see the family on the left side of the space, surrounded by four servants. On the right-hand side of the tent is a staircase that leads upstairs, presumably to the sleeping quarters. This is the cleanest Kita's ever seen a tent. This is more than a tent, this is an entire home suspended against a cliff face. Moving this place during relocation must be one hell of a mission for their servants.

Okay, Kita stops herself amidst her marvelling at the home. It has tiled floors! How?

She's starting to regret not thinking this through first, realizing strategy is an important part of infiltrating. She peeks over the couch again, deciding to prioritize the servants. She crouches her way around the couch, trying her best to stay in the farthest servant's blind spot. Slowly approaching the back of the nearest servant she rises to her feet and reaches around the nearest servant to grab her face.

The three other servants and the family all panic as they watch Kita grab the servant.

"How does this work?" She shuffles, trying her best to hold onto the struggling young servant lady's face.

"What do we do?" One of the servants yells, watching Kita grip their partner.

"We go to plan B," Says a big man, one of the servants. His buffness catches her off guard.

The sudden performance anxiety makes her nervous as she sees the other three servants slowly raising makeshift pistols they must have had hidden away.

"Ahh fuck, I just wanted some souls," Kita sighs, "How does this shit work?" She questions, shifting the position of her hand on the lady's face multiple times, but to no avail.

"Let her go," The big servant demands as the three of them hold their guns up. "Or we'll kill the family,"

"What?" Kita asks, stopping her frantic hand poses to peek over the shoulder of the servant girl that she's now using as a shield.

"If you don't want us to kill the family, you better let her go," He responds.

"I don't care about this family," Kita scoffs.

"What?" The man stammers, confused by Kita's response. "How did you know we were robbing them?"

Kita rolls her eyes, realizing she walked into some raiders that marked their territory all over this family, pretending to be their servants.

"I'm robbing them too," Kita chuckles, "This is pretty awkward, huh?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The third bandit pipes up. A slender dude, not much older than Kita but way more nervous. "We've been on this job for eighteen rotations,"

"Eighteen?" Kita whistles in shock, "Yeah, my bad about that,"

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"Fucking kill her," The slender kid barks.

The mess of the situation is much more thrilling than worrying. She's in the thick of it now, so why not just go all out? It'd be best to figure out this magic shit. She can't die-die anyway- Do I need to chant something? She spins the captured servant to face her and re-places her hand on the girl's face.

"Hi, uhmm," Kita stammers, now looking into the servant girl's foresty eyes before she sheepishly tries the first spell that comes to mind… "Consume?"

Her question registers, and she feels a satisfying tingle ring throughout her body. The vegetable soup the old lady made for her doesn't even hold a candle to what she is feeling now- No orgasm or taste could ever feel this way. A large shadow starts to eject out of the servant girl's mouth and streams its way through Kita's hand.

It's like her body is being filled with light…. Energy. But not the type you regain through resting. No, this is different. Every part of her body feels bliss as the consumed soul spreads throughout every corner of her skin.

"Aahhh," Kita moans with her eyes closed as the servant girl drops to the floor, unconscious or dead? Kita has no idea but can't be bothered to find out.

She wants more.

"Holy shit," The nervous kid mumbles with a look of pure terror smeared on his face.

The three raiders raise their guns after each having a brief moment of shock. Kita licks her lips eyeing the rest of them, and the five family members. "So much for being a hero, I guess,"

Her words don't register with the raiders, and they all rapidly fire their pistols. Without a moment's delay, Kita intuitively rotates the wrist of her right arm to expose its palm. This triggers an energy-like sphere to expand around her instantaneously. Each of the raiders' bullets stops in their tracks once they collide with the shield and simply fall to the floor.

Kita tilts her head when she hears the click of each of the raider's guns. "Ncaaw, out of ammo?" Kita asks menacingly. Dropping her shield and walking over to the nearest servant- The bulky guy. He shudders and steps backwards as Kita approaches him.

He's never been this afraid before, she can see it in his eyes. She feels a burst of confidence at the thought of making someone as large as him fear her.

Still a few steps away, she raises her hand. A certainty lies within her now. She doesn't need to say it. Only think. The large man's body tenses up as he freezes in place. A choking sound emanates from his open mouth as the same black fog exits his body and passes into Kita's arm.

The satisfaction flushes through her- It feels just as good as the first time!

She raises both hands this time. Each one aimed at the remaining two raiders. Consume. Her mind confirms as the abyssal smoke draws from the last two servants' bodies. Each of them chokes and squirms as their essence is removed from them.

Their bodies thud to the ground.

"We have coin," The father of the family pipes up with a shaken voice, interrupting the pleasure that never ceases.

"Where is it?" Kita asks politely.

"It's upstairs, please just let us go and it's all yours,"

Kita grins at the man. She has his life in her hands. He knows it. They all do. Unfortunately for him, he has no real bargaining power right now.

Kita doesn't say a word, and simply raises her hand at the man.

"No, please!" He screams- But it's too late.

Each of the family members starts choking as she draws all five of their souls to her body- shuddering as the vibrations of them entering spread all across her body.

Muscle memory. She was right- this all seems so familiar, so effortless, now that it's begun. The bounds of her magic are unending. Limited only by the range of her imagination… And the number of souls she consumes. She'd started with nine but she can only feel eight left within her. That basic defence spell came at the cost of one soul. She'll need to be careful. This only means she has eight or so spells left- Larger, more demanding spells require more souls to achieve. So depending on what she casts, she may have far less than eight available to her. But that's a concern for future Kita to deal with. At present, this power surges within her like an uncapped faucet. She feels stronger than ever before with only eight souls.

She makes her way up the staircase to retrieve the coin that no longer interests her as much as it did. Leaving the family slouched in their seats around their dinner table. She's going to collect it anyway, because normal people value this concept of currency much more than she understands. As she makes her way up, she can't help but have one recurring thought looping in her mind-

I want more.