Within an empty field, in the center of several empty spawning pits. Our demon friend is seen sitting on top of a small mound of corpses, leisurely separating the flesh and bones of these cadavers into separate piles. He seems to elicit joy from this slow deliberate act, finding the repetitive work satisfying. The only other sound to be heard in this flat valley other than the sharp shlik of his claws on flesh are the soft drawling howls of wind whistling around him. Tirelessly he works for hours, no sun or moon to gauge the passing of time.
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Shlik... shlik... shlik...
Peel, toss, grab another body.
Repeat.
The demon is close now. Soon he will have separated all the bodies into a few neat piles. Separating the bodies by the type of demon they were. Truthfully he has been experimenting with the way he eats due to the presence of a problem he has recently met.
His growth has slowed down considerably even though the amount of foes he has consumed has increased tremendously.
Around the seventh or ninth spawn pit, he has noticed that his strength has reached a sort of precipice or a peak. Some invisible wall was preventing him from advancing further in his growth. Stopping his work for a moment, the demon scratched his jaw and searched his mind for the word he was thinking of. The consumption of the 'Pit Wardens' situated around the pits has also granted him another boon instead of purely strength. He has also been granted knowledge, information, and higher thoughts he couldn't even think of before. Though eating the 'Pit Wardens', another concept he has gleaned from their minds, the demon has managed to scrape some scraps of thoughts, words, emotions, and concepts to add to his mind. The digestion of these scraps of self takes a different approach than he is used to. Properly understanding the information takes time, and mental effort on his part, to integrate smoothly. It was one of the reasons why he thought to take his time with the dismantling of the demon corpses around him. It did allow new ways of thinking into his mind, like sneaking up on an enemy for an easier kill. Never would the demon have thought of something as sneaky as this! It was simply beyond what his mind could previously entertain the thought of. It was way too fun to just viciously maul, and rend his enemies. These new ideas were very useful to him though, especially with the disposal of the other 'Pit Wardens'. Getting the first strike, letting them bleed themselves out after a right neck gouging, while he easily dodged about their strikes and sweeps. Such trickery was useful against opponents that matched or outpaced your strength. This brought up another thought that currently perplexed our purple-skinned friend. Some of the 'Pit Wardens' were superior to the others, the range of power between the eight additional 'Pit Wardens' was quite wide. A few of them were so weak he could crush their ribs under his foot, akin to how one squash a 'bug', while others were so strong he was forced to employ the various 'tactics' and 'techniques' he recently absorbed from the other 'Pit Wardens' lest he is crushed into dust. He could feel some sort of disparity between himself and the stronger 'Pit Wardens', they were on another 'level' that he could only barely keep up with. If only he could get even stronger, there must be something that is holding him back, he must have hit some sort of-
-Oh, he found the word he was looking for.
"Bottleneck, I hit a bottleneck." The demon mused, yes, the reason for the gulf of strength between him and the stronger 'Pit Wardens' must be because of something they have done, that I haven't. He just didn't know what to do to cross this 'bottleneck' to stride towards greater peaks of power.
None of the 'Pit Wardens' he has eaten so far had any scraps of information on this subject. Only random words and meanings, rarely some bits and pieces of techniques he has since adopted into his fighting style. But the stronger 'Pit Wardens' must have some info on this 'bottleneck' he is experiencing, how else would they become so strong? The only solution he can come up with for this problem is to continue with his previous path, just keep eating more 'Pit Wardens'! One of them has to have the knowledge he craves!
With this final thought, the demon felt his hands suddenly very empty. He looked down to discover that he has just finished separating the last corpse and hadn't even noticed. So deep in his thoughts, he completed his work subconsciously!
"Oh good I'm done, I was starving!"
Soon after he partook in his most recent experiment he thought of, maybe the way he eats would affect his growth. He thought that maybe if he just ate a very large amount of demons of one type of power it would enhance his own more than before. The flesh and bones of particularly strong, agile, and intelligent demons were separated into six tidy piles. The separation of their bones and bodies was also another idea he had. Noticing the strengthening of his claws, teeth, and bones when eating the skeletons of other demons, deciding to see what would happen if he separated the flesh and bone and ate them separately. Soon enough though he was finished with his feast, where six small hills of cadaver once sat, now only his bloated frame remained. He could feel the weight of so much food within his frame, he even sported a rounder stomach that was quickly shrinking back down into a flat muscular surface as the absorption of the other demons' strengths took place.
His muscles widened abruptly, then started to shrink. Alarmed, the demon flexed his arms and was surprised to find them even stronger than before! His muscles were 'condensing' he soon realized, and the same was also happening to his skeletal structure. He rapidly grew in height, then rapidly started to get shorter, his bones also 'condensing and strengthening, making him now 6'2 from his previous height of 6'8. Spitting out a mouth full of his fangs, he opened wide to let a new set grow in their place. Thicker and sharper, these new fangs were pure white and almost seemed to glow. The surface of his claws soon started to crack and peel away to reveal far more angular claws in their place. Like small curved swords upon his hands, they more resembled steel than anything naturally occurring. Moments later he was finished, done with his transformation he was now shorter and slimmer but felt far faster and way stronger. He took a stance to test his new strength.
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Back straight, shoulders relaxed, feet spaced evenly, he let loose a few wayward slashes, some piercing stabs, a few very fierce stikes, and noticed that the difference was palpable. Where before his claws would whistle through the air as he cleaved his enemies, now they howled. So heavy and swift were his blows they created slight changes in air pressure, he was now strong enough to affect the air around him. Causing small gusts of wind to blow as he struck the air. Smiling he made his way over to a large boulder that sat some distance away, a final test of power it would be.
Drawing back his fist he aimed right at the center, muscles tightening, contracting, ready to let loose a powerful strike, and when seemed his muscles would sooner rip themselves apart, body quivering in anticipation, he released.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
The boulder crumbled beneath his fist. Rock near the impact site was reduced to dust almost instantly, a spiderweb of deep cracks abruptly covered the boulder, slightly falling in on itself from the sheer weight his fist imposed on it.
Satisfied with this sight, he proceeded to get back into his stance, positioning his arms up above him, ready to bring them down to test the cutting ability of his new claws. Pupils dilating, hands flexing, arms twitching, so focused on the boulder, that the background of the endless grey wasteland seemed to fade away. It was just him, and the boulder. A few moments passed, absolute silence for a few seconds. Faster than a human eye could witness, the demon swung down.
SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHH........
If not for the sound his claws made cutting through the air, the attack he made would have been almost silent. The boulders tough scraggly exterior was nothing to the sharpness of his claws, giving way like a child's hand through play-dough, the rocks already cracked and ground surface soon resembled gravel with how finely it was cut. Truly his weapons of choice have reached another level!
This showcase of power left the demon quite 'happy' and further enforced his desire to breach his 'bottleneck', speaking of which. He was feeling the limits placed on his being far more than before, where before it felt as if his skin was too tight. Now the feeling this 'bottleneck' was giving him felt like he was bigger than his own body, exceeding his limits from wolfing down all that food made him feel like he was trying to push himself through some sort of wall. He felt great disappointment cling to his mind, he really hoped that if he just kept eating he could forcibly break through his 'bottleneck' but now it was obvious that there was some method that he had to partake in to break this ceiling he's found himself under.
"I don't think eating anymore is gonna help my growth, no matter how strong my opponent is. I'm gonna have to track down and keep eating these so-called 'Pit Wardens' to find the information I need." He huffed ruefully, "Eating an entire 'Pit Warden' would be a waste, so I'll just bite off their heads instead!" Smiling at this thought, he stood up and walked toward the smell of bloodshed, surely the birth of more demons was happening nearby, and that meant more 'Pit Wardens'!
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Deep within the dark rotting castle that sat upon the third ring of The Spire, a slithering serpentine demon was rushing towards the throne room in search of her lord, the deep crease upon her forehead telling of the nature of what she would tell him. The halls she passed by, gothic and ornate, far more regal than the rotting exterior of the castle would suggest. Tables upon tables of food lined the halls around her, vast feasts of meat and delicacies you and I could easily identify. Plates of whole roast chicken and every entree imaginable stacked as high as the ceiling, but on the other tables sat exotic foods and bizarre stuffed creatures that would befuddle the mind of any mortal. Many legged beasts sewed together and fried, bowls of eyes of varying shapes and textures from creatures of the void. A few bowls held tiny rocks that resembled candy that seemed to flicker in and out of existence at a whim, surely a favorite among the phase demons. An oddly shaped skull that seemed to endlessly vomit disturbingly malformed fruit that seemed to twitch in place. Far above her racks of meat from creatures not of this realm hung, the saturation of smells would be sickening for the sinuses of a lesser being, but for demons this hall of feasts was paradise. It tempted the snake demon greatly, she oh so desired to take in the vast bounty of food before her and stuff herself silly. She shook herself out of such thoughts immediately, it was not her place to take from her lord. With this in mind, she hastened her pace, scales sliding across the glossy black tiles.
Soon the serpent had arrived at her destination, a large and dominating doorway stood before her. Cast entirely of malachite the door stood three stories tall, and shaped on its surface was a depiction of many demons attempting to climb over the door. The snake could not open the door herself, it was far too heavy, and to do so would be an affront to her lord, so she was forced to wait for her lordship to allow her within.
Fidgeting with her tiny claws, pacing back and forth in front of the door, in her mind she was wailing.
"Oh shit, oh fuck! I hope his vastness is in a good mood today. If he isn't I'll surely be devoured if I tell him that the demons we were expecting are nowhere to be found!" "The disappearance of the army he was expecting is really gonna piss him off!"
"We were almost ready for the invasion of the new realm he claimed, and now we'll be set back for another three cycles at this rate!" How she was going to deliver this news to her lord without him bursting another boil escaped her. She could imagine it now, the look on his face when she told him. The rage he would release would freeze her in place, and when he gets mad the only thing that makes him feel better is a snack! He would reach down at her prone form, scoop her up in his massive hands, bring her to his gaping maw, and-
"Come inside Lauzefel."
She froze in place. Interrupted from her internal ramblings by a booming voice and oppressing presence. Her scales bristled in fear, incapable of moving while the aura pressed down on her. The presence leisurely regressed and retreated back into the throne room.
The massive doors slowly opened on their own, and Lauzefel slithered inside.