บท 46: Devour

An irresistible opportunity had presented itself to him, but there were high risks at stake—a gamble. A gamble which he lost.

Though his outward appearance was serenity, the roaring storms surrounding his throne revealed his boiling rage. He had used a decent chunk of his faith reserves to magnify the bloodline purification Lazaro's anger had triggered, allowing him to unlock the Storm Dragon's core ability, Storm.

But the lizardman had been killed before he could fully display the powerful temporary enhancements Storm granted to its user. What made matters worse was that the filthy demon was aware of his involvement, going as far as to mock him for his loss. That was what really set him off.

Tydon had been a god for a few decades now, this was the second planet he had invaded with his faith. His first attempt at conquering a planet ended with him having the kingdom he had carefully raised destroyed by the followers of another god. They had gone as far as eliminating all of his traces, probably the orders of their god, leaving him with no choice but to move to another planet.

Even with his defeat the god didn't lose the pride that many higher beings carried themselves with, it was why the scum's taunting words roused his wrath. The smirk perfectly etched into the contours of her face, he wanted nothing more than to erase it along with her. But there was nothing he could do, his influence in Genesis was not at the stage where he could send down divine punishment. That was him, his apostle, on the other hand, there was a lot the dragon could do on his behalf.

He had underestimated his opponent's pieces once already, the same mistake wouldn't happen twice. If Tydon was unsure whether Lazaro could have won, he was certain his blessed would crush the demoness. This wasn't arrogance, this was confidence. Observations of the battle showed the devil's apostle was just above an untrained elite in combat ability, the thought of even battling a being with a full draconic bloodline of any kind should be the last thing on her mind.

Now, the real question was, should he strike now?

His opponent's apostle was right next to his Territory, seriously wounded and weary from her battle, it was easy pickings. With her dead, his followers wouldn't have any difficulty culling off the devil's followers and destroying his Territory. But, unlike his opponent, Tydon had little to no information about the enemy forces, who was to say they didn't also have the very same trump card his followers had acquired? Furthermore, the Merman god didn't have any ideas about the divinity the devil commanded. The only clue he had was the decay ability the demoness had used to bring an end to his believer.

As much as it angered, Tydon knew it wasn't wise to strike yet, there were too many unknowns. And unknowns were what could be the end of both his faith and him. He couldn't run away like the last time, the Primordial World demanded the lives of the vanquished. It was a gamble he couldn't and wouldn't lose.

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A fleshy sac of muscle and sinew drew ever closer to her gaping maws as her soul vibrated with intense longing and hunger, the frequency only increasing the closer it got. The entire sac disappeared into her mouth, the reds being engulfed by the blacks of the darkness. The flavours that danced on her tongue as she chewed faded into oblivion along with her mind. There was no explosion, just the blankness of the all-consuming void. And something else.

The faint sound of a pulse, slowly beating with every breath she took, pulled her from the void and into a dark space. Her eyes struggled to process what they were seeing, there was nothing to see but they were picking up on something. Woven into the fabric of her surroundings was a disordered mess of existence, she could barely see it but with the knowledge of its presence, it suddenly grew clear to her eyes.

A jumble of white lines. Her expectations crumbled under the lacklustre reveal, there was no forbidden knowledge or great secret for her to learn, just some lines. Despite these running through the depths of her mind, she knew this place was anything but ordinary. A soul was an existence's truest form, it contained the unfiltered desires that one didn't know they had. And her soul was calling her to this place, to the lines that filled her vision, to the truth that lay hidden in the chaos.

Each thought brought a change in the space, filling the nothingness with shades of red - fragments of her truth.

Hatred.

Wrath.

Madness.

Pleasure.

They were core parts of her existence, without them, she was not Faye, and without her, they were not themselves either. These concepts were Faye, and Faye was these concepts. It was an unequivocal fact. A truth. But one that was incomplete.

Broken locks lay scattered across the floor along with shredded chains, they were the human morality that had sealed away her true desires. Faye was sure she had freed herself from these restrictions but the chains slowly becoming visible to her said otherwise. In the centre of these chains was a black lock oozing with ominous, blocking off access to the mysterious lines.

It appeared she had yet to let go of her morality, tiny pieces of her mind stubbornly held onto it, leaving her to live in falsehood. The red cracks fissuring the lock's surface, however, showed that these treacherous rebels were being put down, pushing her closer towards completion. But it was too slow, and she would not wait any longer, this time Faye would truly become who she was meant to be.

A fierce aura exploded from her form, its red darker than that of the concepts floating in the space. From the gaps in the chains, the demoness could see the lines beginning to rearrange themselves as they bathed in the strange aura. Crunching filled Faye's ears as the chains dissolved at a snail's pace upon contact with the thickening reds. A closer inspection of the chains would reveal thousands of tiny bites being taken by invisible beings hidden in the dense aura.

Faye could feel an uncontrollable desire being satiated but at the same time, it grew stronger. With heavy steps, the Asura closed the distance between her and the lock all whilst she drooled hungrily at the coming meal. She pulled away the loose chains the devouring force had already torn through, a redundant task as they were already falling away themselves.

As the last of the chains disappeared into the ravenous aura, Faye noticed something she had missed, or rather it was something she wouldn't have been able to see in the first place. Even with all the chains gone, the path to the shifting lines was still blocked by a barrier of the same colour as the lock. It was obvious that the lock was the main mechanism behind the seal, however, what was the point of all the chains then?

An answer came together in her mind as she watched the lock float towards her of its own will. This entire setup was like a test and the chains and the lock were different stages, with one needing to pass the chains stage to reach the lock stage. The devouring force was likely the only thing that could get past the chains, so this stage of the test probably showed her that she had an initial understanding of the concept. Faye was sure breaking the lock would require a near-full understanding of the concept and the shifting lines, something told her it needed only one word. The concept's name.

At this point, if it was any other person, they would surely be panicking, wondering if they sufficiently understood the unknown concept let alone know its name. But Faye had her classic grin streaking her face, she was very familiar with this concept. It was only her defiant human remnants that refused to accept such a desire was a part of them, a part of her. It was high time she rid herself of them.

The locks had been created by the morality she had let go of, so only by destroying said locks would she truly be free. It was a good thing the demoness already knew what she needed to do for this test.

Her grin vanished, replaced by an expression of feral resolve, as she grabbed the lock with great force. Bringing it to her lips, she paused for a moment, lost in thought - something she had been doing a lot recently. A soft chuckle left her lips, completely unlike her bloodthirsty personality. It sounded innocent. Pure.

"Finally, I'm going to be free"

The lock flew into her mouth, melting away the moment it touched her tongue along with the barrier that sealed the shifting lines. Well, they weren't shifting anymore, around the same time the barrier fell away, they had halted their movements leaving an esoteric rune in their place.

Seeing the rune, Faye couldn't help but smile, it was like meeting a long-lost sibling after years of separation.

'Knew it'

"Come to me…"

"Gluttony"