(VOL.1) Devourer

Content Warning🚨💀: Cannibalism, Extreme Gore

Devour.

This was Lux's innate ability, and also the curse that accompanied her throughout her life.

She could transform the dead bodies of animals or raw flesh she consumed into magical accessories imbued with special abilities.

At the same time, this ability could also allow her own wounds to recover.

The more powerful the devoured creature, the stronger the effect of the transformed accessory.

Conversely, if the amount of flesh and blood devoured was scarce, she could only obtain partial, incomplete abilities for a short period.

However, this ability had a fatal limitation—she could not directly devour living beings, unless… unless she could personally tear the flesh and blood from that living creature with her own mouth!

Lux was doing just that at this very moment.

She bit down viciously, forcefully tearing a bloody chunk of flesh from Rio the Shadowmancer's shoulder.

Almost simultaneously, at the wound on Lux's thigh previously pierced by the black thorn, fine, blood-colored granulation tissue began to sprout, healing at a bizarre speed.

But this healing process… was accompanied by an indescribable, excruciating pain.

It wasn't just the agony of flesh and blood growing wildly like crazed seaweed at the wound site, but more so because her body, which had almost never been exposed to refined magical power, was now being forcibly infused with it.

The piece of flesh in her mouth, imbued with the Shadowmancer's magic, was like an entire bottle of ignited, scalding hot oil, instantly exploding and spreading throughout her limbs and bones.

"Bastard!!" Rio the Shadowmancer let out a roar of pain and fury.

His back suddenly exploded, and countless sharp black thorns, like the quills of a porcupine, grew out madly, then transformed into an impenetrable black storm, frantically stabbing, tearing, and destroying Lux's body.

At the critical moment, a pitch-black cloak suddenly materialized behind Lux.

This cloak, as if possessing its own will, instantly tore in half, narrowly protecting Lux's vital areas.

However, the other parts of her body were mercilessly shredded and pierced in this storm of black thorns.

Her clothes were torn to pieces, revealing Lux's female body.

"What?! You're fxxking… a woman?!" Rio the Shadowmancer's voice was filled with incredulous shock, rage, and a hint of even more pathological madness.

However, Lux gave him no more time to think or react.

She was now like a completely frenzied wild dog, her eyes crimson, with only one thought—to tear apart the enemy before her.

She pounced, one bite, then another, and another.

Frantically tearing at Rio the Shadowmancer's body.

His neck, his shoulders, were instantly bitten into several bloody pits deep enough to see bone.

His flesh and blood continuously filled Lux's mouth, then were devoured.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!!" Rio the Shadowmancer felt like he was about to be driven completely mad by this rabid dog.

He desperately manipulated the black shadows, trying to shred and pierce Lux's body, but Lux always managed to bizarrely use the cloak transformed from his power, or rely on her inhuman resilience, to barely block or endure the fatal attacks.

And now, this girl, this damned mad dog, was clinging to him like a maggot on a bone, frantically tearing at his flesh and blood.

No matter how he struggled or counterattacked, he couldn't completely shake her off.

[No… if this goes on… no!] After having several more chunks of flesh viciously bitten off, an icy, bone-chilling cold suddenly gripped Rio the Shadowmancer's heart.

It was the fear of death.

He seemed to vaguely see his own miserable fate of being devoured bit by bit by this monster.

He was scared.

"Get off!" He used his last ounce of strength, mobilizing all his shadow power, and abruptly raised a thick, solid black wall between himself and Lux, trying to block Lux's pursuit.

Then, he turned without hesitation, intending to take the opportunity to escape.

However, the moment he turned, an excruciating pain shot through his knees.

Two pitch-black shadow lances, condensed to the extreme, had, at some unknown point, pierced through both his legs.

It was Lux.

The instant that black wall rose from the ground, she had forcibly extended her remaining left hand beyond the wall, condensing her last bit of shadow power in her palm; even though her arm was immediately severed by the rising black wall, those two shadow lances, imbued with all her hatred, still successfully shot out, accurately nailing the Shadowmancer's legs.

The black wall crumbled with a roar.

Behind the wall, Lux, having lost her right arm and left hand, her legs also pierced, could only support her battered body with her remaining left arm, crawling with difficulty on the ground, inching closer to the fallen Rio the Shadowmancer.

Rio the Shadowmancer looked back in terror—she was crawling fast, astonishingly fast even with only one arm.

Her tattered body and messy, matted hair made her look like a vengeful demon just crawled out from the depths of hell.

And her crimson eyes were fixed deadly, unblinkingly, on Rio the Shadowmancer, seething with bone-deep hatred, endless fury, and… a madness that wanted to devour him alive, to gnaw him to pieces.

"Monster! Demon! Stay away from me! You stay away from me!!" Rio the Shadowmancer let out a hysterical scream.

He desperately manipulated the remaining black shadows, transforming them into countless tiny sharp spikes shooting towards Lux.

But Lux paid them no heed, allowing those black spikes to pierce her body, her speed not slowing in the slightest.

She crawled to his side, abruptly grabbed his ankle, then opened her mouth and bit down hard.

"No—! Don't come near me, ahhhhh!" Rio the Shadowmancer let out a despairing howl more terrifying than death itself.

It was the ultimate fear of being devoured bit by bit, mouthful by mouthful.

Flashes of his past suddenly appeared before him: his past of being sold by his prostitute mother to a brothel to become a male prostitute, his past of having his testicles cut off in that brothel just to make the customers feel 'cleaner', his past of erupting with magical power when he was almost beaten to death and then being taken away by a mysterious cloaked figure to learn magic, his past of disfiguring his own face after being violated by other so-called 'classmates', and his past of killing his mother and those enemies after becoming a Demon Hunter… all burned and danced in his mind like a winter hearth fire.

Lux continued to crawl upwards, and at the same time, continued to tear and bite, until Rio the Shadowmancer's breath completely ceased…

The moment Rio the Shadowmancer died, his mutilated body suddenly and bizarrely melted and writhed, finally transforming into streams of ever-changing pitch-black sludge, which, as if alive, scrambled to drill into Lux's body.

Excruciating pain.

A pain far surpassing the sum of all her previous injuries, a heart-rending, lung-tearing agony instantly swept through Lux's entire body.

Her body, which had never undergone systematic magical tempering, was now being forcibly infused with Rio the Shadowmancer's vast and impure shadow magic.

These violent powers surged and crashed within her body like uncontrolled boiling water, causing her blood vessels, bone marrow, and even the depths of her soul to endure unimaginable agony.

Her entire body erupted with red magical power, her eyes and hair turning as crimson as blood, and her previously severed hand also regenerated.

Amidst this extreme pain, a brand-new black cloak slowly condensed and fully formed behind her.

[Shadow Cloak: A tattered-looking cloak. When worn, grants the ability to control low-level shadow magic.]

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Lux let out a nearly hoarse, beast-like roar.

Her physical body, under the impact of this sudden, immense magical power, was constantly being torn apart and forcibly reforged.

She struggled to stand up again, then collapsed heavily, only to stagger to her feet once more.

And her originally short black hair, deliberately cut to just cover her eyebrows, also grew at a visible speed amidst this painful transformation, eventually falling to her shoulders.

"Mitty… Mitty…" The dual agony of body and spirit almost completely crushed her, but a single obsession supported her.

She abruptly turned, staggering towards the dying figure in the corner.

"Bro… ther…" Mitty's eyes could barely open, but upon hearing Lux call her name, she still used her last ounce of strength to let out a faint breath, and a broken sound like a leaking bellows.

"I'll take you to a doctor… No! I'll take you to the Grace Bathers of the Holy Light Church! You'll be fine! Mitty! You'll definitely be fine!" Lux babbled incoherently, comforting Mitty, but more so, desperately trying to comfort herself. She laboriously draped Rio the Shadowmancer's black robe over herself, tore off strips of cloth to crudely bind her and her sister's wounds, then, with her newly healed hands, carefully picked up Mitty, and using all her strength, rushed out towards the direction of the Holy Light Church she remembered.

Lux was nearly insane at this moment.

She ran through the dilapidated streets at a speed that seemed to burn her very life force.

She no longer cared if the Grace Bathers of the Holy Light Church would discover she was a Cursed One, if they would kill her for it.

There was only one thought in her mind—her sister was dying.

Only those people could save Mitty.

"Get out of the way! All of you, get out of my way!" Lux roared, running.

Her arms held Mitty tightly in her embrace, like a pitiful stray dog protecting its only treasure, refusing to let go no matter what.

"Brother… I can't see… I can't see anything anymore…" Mitty's originally weak voice now seemed to have regained some strength.

But this abnormal phenomenon made Lux's heart even more flustered, more terrified.

Because she knew, this was a sign of a final rally before death.

When people were about to die, they sometimes suddenly became more lucid.

"It's okay! Mitty! I'm here! Soon… soon I'll take you to the Grace Bathers! Soon you'll be okay!" Lux gritted her teeth tightly, forcing herself to speed up.

The vast and chaotic magical power from Rio the Shadowmancer was still rampaging within her body, not yet fully digested.

She felt her consciousness beginning to blur, her head throbbing with a splitting pain as if it were about to explode.

"Brother… it's so dark… I really… can't see anything anymore… I want to… touch your face… okay…?" Mitty struggled to open her mouth, her voice as faint as a thread.

"Touch it! Mitty! Touch it!" Lux's voice was choked with sobs.

She abruptly rushed through another intersection.

The vendors and pedestrians on the roadside, seeing her blood-soaked, ghost-like appearance, all recoiled in terror, merely casting uncertain, frightened glances at her back before returning to their own business.

Mitty used the last ounce of strength in her life to slowly raise her small, cold hand and gently caress Lux's cheek.

It was a cold, small hand, a pair of hands that had once been so nimble, that could sew beautiful clothes and cook delicious meals.

"Lux… Brother… you're so beautiful…" A gentle, yet incredibly weak smile appeared on Mitty's face. "Clearly… you're so beautiful… but for me… you became 'brother'… for me, this… burden…"

"No! Mitty! You are… you are the most important thing to me…" Lux choked out, no longer having time to look at Mitty again, because their destination was right ahead.

Just a few more streets.

Soon.

They were almost there.

"Brother… in the future… you have to… eat lots and lots of cake for me…" Mitty seemed not to have heard Lux's words, just continuing to speak in an increasingly faint voice.

[Almost there! Almost there!] Lux screamed frantically in her heart.

Just one last street.

"Bang!" Lux used her last ounce of strength and slammed her head hard against the tightly closed main door.

Then, she screamed at the top of her lungs towards the inside of the door, "Please save her!! Please!! Open the door and save her!!"

This was a small, temporary chapel established by the Holy Light Church in Purple City, for the purpose of expanding their congregation, and thus a small number of Grace Bathers were stationed here.

After Lux had run to the door with all her might and slammed it open, the hurricane-like headache she had been forcibly suppressing finally erupted completely, engulfing her entire brain.

Her vision blackened, the world spun, and she almost fainted on the spot.

But she held on with her last shred of will, continuing to scream towards the inside of the door.

"No clamor in this sacred place!" A stern and solemn voice came from within the door.

Then, the door was fully opened, and a Grace Bather wearing a golden star mask and a pure white priest's robe appeared before Lux, the star pattern on the mask emitting a faint, soft glow.

"Please! Please save my sister! I'm willing to pay all my money! I have ten shining gold coins! I'm willing to do anything! I'm willing to pay any price!" Lux pleaded incoherently.

The Grace Bather's expression behind the mask did not change when he heard about the money, but when he heard Lux cry out "any price," he seemed to nod slightly, then said in an emotionless, icy tone, "Silence. Let me see your sister's injuries first."

"Yes! Yes! My sister… my sister, she…" Hearing the Grace Bather agree to examine her, Lux's heart suddenly eased, as if grasping the last straw of hope.

She hurriedly lowered her head, looking into her arms.

However, her arms… were empty.

Only a few tattered fragments of a purple cloth dress, stained with large patches of blood, lay scattered on the ground at her feet.

"Mitty…? Mitty…?!" An icy, sharp pain, as if about to tear her brain apart, suddenly struck her.

She seemed… not to know what had happened… And yet, she also seemed… to vaguely know something… She couldn't believe… couldn't believe what had happened…

She slowly lowered her head, her gaze falling vacantly on her chest—there, at some unknown point, a small red flower meticulously sewn from cloth had been pinned, the edges of its petals carefully outlined with emerald green thread.

[Flower of Healing. A red and green cloth flower. When worn, allows use of healing magic.]

"Ah—!" Lux let out a heart-wrenching wail, her hands flying to her face. Her sharp fingernails, heedless of pain, dug deep into her flesh, crimson blood instantly welling up, yet she seemed to feel nothing, only roaring in absolute despair, allowing the torn flesh and skin to fill the crevices beneath her trembling nails.

"What's this? A madwoman?" The Grace Bather commented coldly, then slammed the church door shut with a "bang," shutting out the desperate roar. "Stay away from here."

Lux clutched her head, kneeling on the ground, repeatedly and violently banging her forehead against the cold, hard flagstones of the street.

Blood soon flowed from her forehead, mixing with the dust on the ground.

Gradually, she stopped moving, just kneeling there in a daze, kneeling beside that pile of scattered, bloodstained purple cloth fragments, like an empty shell that had lost its soul.

She stared deadly at those tattered clothes, then looked down at the cloth flower on her chest, which still looked somewhat vibrant amidst the bloodstains.

"I ate… my sister…" Lux muttered to herself, her voice hoarse and broken. "Mitty… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

Scalding tears, like the blood that had flowed continuously just moments before, finally surged uncontrollably from her empty eye sockets.

Perhaps, she should find a place to properly bury these clothes left by her sister.

Perhaps, she should flee immediately, escape this city that had brought her endless pain and despair.

But, Lux did nothing right now.

She just knelt there, for a long, long time, then extended a trembling hand, bit by bit, and with extreme care, picked up those tattered fragments of Mitty's clothes, holding them tightly in her embrace.

Then, she stood up, like a wandering spirit, and aimlessly, step by step, walked towards the city gate…

Time seemed to lose all meaning, flowing by rapidly in numbness and despair.

When dusk fell, the surviving ordinary citizens in the city were preparing simple dinners, or busy tidying up their shops, preparing to close for the night.

Life seemed to be trying to restore its fragile and false peace.

Suddenly. From the city center, in the direction of the most prosperous inner district, came a deafening, violent explosion.

This explosion, like a sharp blade tearing through canvas, instantly shattered this false peace completely.

The still-shaken citizens, curious and fearful, pushed open their windows or ran into the streets, looking towards the direction from which the explosion came.

Lux, however, did not look back.

She continued to walk numbly, unsteadily, like a purposeless ghost.

Until… she discovered with horror that the bloodstained purple dress fragments of Mitty in her arms, had actually begun to… burn for no reason.

No. Not just the dress.

It was everything purple. It was all burning.

Those purple bricks that made up the city's buildings.

Those wooden materials painted with purple paint.

The purple clothes worn by the pedestrians.

Everything. As long as it was purple, at this moment, it began to burn fiercely.

"No! Don't!" Lux screamed, trying to extinguish the flames on the clothes in her arms with her remaining left hand.

But, the flames were like maggots on a bone; no matter how hard she tried, even when her palm was burned until it sizzled and her skin broke, she could not put them out.

The flames, instead, burned even more fiercely.

Terrifying flames, tinged with an ominous purple, erupted violently from within all the purple objects in the city, like the karmic fires of hell.

Unimaginably high waves of heat wantonly swept through the entire city.

The air was scorched until it distorted, boiled.

Piercing wails, desperate cries for help, futile attempts to flee… instantly resounded through every corner of the city.

But, there was nowhere to escape.

Because, wherever there was purple, even hotter, even more violent flames would erupt.

This city, once proud of its purple, had now, at this moment, completely transformed into a blazing, wailing… inferno on earth.