Devour Vol 2 Ch 24: Elaras Pride, Death Of A Devourer!

Elara blazed through the emptiness of space, her fury burning so hot it made her body glow like a newborn star. Light rolled off her skin in waves, searing bright, her hair a halo of fire trailing behind her as if the void itself recoiled from her presence.

Her thoughts spun like storm winds. Who did that little mortal think he was? A speck, a flicker, a fragile thing that would wither in seconds without her—daring to defy her, daring to mock her, daring to make her question whether she was wrong.

Her hands clenched into fists so massive they could crush whole systems in her palm. Planetoid-sized rocks drifted across her path, silent giants of ancient stone, but her glowing body struck through them like they were dust motes. The collisions sent the debris scattering into rivers of rubble, but Elara never slowed, never flinched. The void bent to her rage.

She was infinite compared to him. A goddess incarnate. He was nothing more than a whisper in a storm, a breath of air lost in the roar of her cosmos.

"He should consider it an honor," she muttered darkly, voice carrying into the silence as her smirk slowly curved back onto her lips. "That I didn't eat him alive like the little speck he is."

The thought of devouring him lingered—oh, how easy it would be to snuff him out and let his memory melt into her flesh. But no. That would be too merciful.

Her smirk sharpened as she tilted her head slightly, closing her eyes. She let her senses stretch inward, slipping through the vastness of her own body. She searched, sifted, narrowed—until at last she felt him.

There.

Her awareness zeroed in on her right ear, and the tiniest ripple of satisfaction passed across her features. Inside, Conrad struggled against the sticky golden labyrinth, wading and clawing through the built-up wax like a man lost in a swamp. His tiny shouts of frustration brushed faintly against her awareness, no louder than a gnat's buzz.

Elara giggled softly, a sound that rippled space itself. "Maybe where I've put him will teach him some manners." Her words purred with venom and amusement alike.

She continued on her path, streaking like a comet across the black ocean of stars, the rage inside her tempered now by cruel satisfaction. A smile rested on her lips, one that widened each time she thought of him thrashing in the warmth of her ear, smothered by the proof of how insignificant he really was.

For she would not—could not—be disrespected.

***

The void stretched endlessly around her, stars scattered like cold embers, but the Darkness Devourer moved through it with arms folded across her chest and an expression of utter disinterest. Her black hair flowed like a cloak behind her, a streak of void darker than the space it passed through.

Her dark purple eyes half-lidded, she let her thoughts drift. The gnawing ache in her chest—hunger—was clawing at her again, deeper and sharper with every passing hour. Her body demanded more. A planet would do. Any planet. She could almost taste the warmth of a living world breaking against her lips, its lifeblood flowing into her veins.

Still, she held back, smirking faintly.

"Maybe later," she muttered. "After all, it wouldn't do to show up to the Mother with crumbs on my lips."

That thought brought an actual grin to her face. The family reunion was close—she could feel it, the faint pull of her sisters across the galaxies. One in particular: her golden-haired younger sister, the reckless one. And the human she'd brought with her. A mortal, traveling with a Devourer. Darkness chuckled under her breath, shaking her head.

"That should be... entertaining."

But then—everything changed.

She froze mid-flight. Her smirk vanished as her eyes widened. Just ahead, something drifted through the void. Something vast. Something wrong.

Her heart lurched.

"Sister!"

Her voice thundered through the stars as she surged forward, closing the distance in an instant. Floating before her was the lifeless body of one of her own kind, a Devourer whose golden hair was tangled and matted, whose immense frame was broken in ways Darkness had never believed possible.

She caught her sister's body in her arms, cradling it with uncharacteristic gentleness. Golden blood spilled in long, shimmering streams, thick and radiant, staining the endless black. It dripped across her hands, glowing like molten sunlight.

"No... no, no, no..." The word broke from her lips, softer than she had ever spoken. Her chest tightened, and for the first time in her existence, she felt it—fear. A trembling, alien fear that crawled down her spine. Since when... since when could one of their kind die?

Her breaths came shallow and uneven. She had never feared anything, not the void, not armies, not gods. But this—this was different.

A flicker caught her eye.

Movement.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze toward the horizon of stars and saw them: a small fleet of ships hovering a few dozen leagues away, tiny compared to her, fragile and insignificant like insects. And yet—there they were, watching.

Her eyes narrowed. She could feel their shapes with her senses, the crude shells of their technology, the faint sparks of mortal life flickering within. They had weapons, yes, but nothing that could possibly rival her. And yet her sister was dead.

Her body trembled with rage.

"What..." she whispered, her golden eyes burning hotter. "What are you staring at?"

Her voice broke into a roar, a bellow so immense the vibrations cracked invisible waves through the void itself. Stars quivered. Entire clusters shuddered in her fury.

The ships flinched. She could sense it—their fear, their sudden panic. Engines flared bright, turning, twisting, fleeing.

"Oh no you don't," she hissed, letting her sister's body slip gently from her arms, leaving it to drift in the emptiness. Her lips pulled back in a snarl. "You won't get away."

With that, she launched forward, her body blazing through the void like a living storm, her fury driving her faster than light, faster than thought.

The ships scattered like frightened birds. But the Darkness Devourer was already on the hunt.