slifer274

Demonic Devourer ch. 58

The containment facility is only about thirty feet wide, so my skills are strong enough to rock the very foundation of this place. I have half a mind to take this fight outside, away from the still-prone Sierra, but I’m running out of time and magic and my opponents are picking themselves up quickly.

I dive towards Rin first. I don’t know Simon’s capabilities, but I know Rin’s, and she’s mobile. I can’t let her get active. Siphon has a limited numbe...

Demonic Devourer ch. 57

Sierra, Adrian, Simon, and Rin are all within a hundred feet of each other. They’re at the edge of the range of Locate Person, barely within range of my skill, but they’re up there somewhere. The “levels” underneath me have been ill-defined, thanks mostly due to the disrepair.

Interestingly enough, less than a quarter of the rusted towers have fallen. Evidently, very few of them are actually built on the ground. The city’s wide enough that I can’t see the wa...

Demonic Devourer ch. 56

I think back to the unfathomably powerful being that dragged me into its personal world. I think of the overwhelming force that its mere presence in a soulspace had, of the monsters it unleashed upon us even hundreds of miles away.

There is nothing in the description about controlling it, but the wielder of this item has access to what is essentially a nuclear strike writ larger.

The primary downside, as far as I can tell, is everything.

Still, this is valuable. Up ...

Demonic Devourer ch. 55

With one mockery of a god dead and another one subdued, I have a lot more power to bring to bear.

I need to figure out what to do with it.

A glance up at the ceiling reveals that yes, it’s starting to cave in. Pieces of rubble tumble from the dark stone above. Each building-sized chunk of brick and steel has the slowly-dimming flesh of the Forgotten Queen attached to it. As one falls past me, I realize that the divine corpse has woven itself into the material.

For a moment...

Demonic Devourer ch. 54

Oh, now this is interesting.

My passenger doesn’t react to the new skills, but this is… truly something.

Heretic is a trait, and it doesn’t seem terribly interesting at first. The others all do something passive, and they all have boosts that always apply. This is a one-time benefit, not something that’ll last forever.

But granting me new affinities is incredible. Prior to the application of Heretic, I had two magic affiniti...

Demonic Devourer ch. 53

You may also evolve your class.

Try as I might, the text won’t go away. The voices, at least, only speak every now and again rather than remaining as a constant drone in my head.

I wonder if there’s any merit in listening to it. Last time, the thing in my dream-space took over my body, but I was able to wrestle myself back. Now, I have even more skills to fight against it along with a bevy of traits, and I’m more prepared.

Most importantly, I still hav...

Demonic Devourer ch. 52

“My… people?” the dweller asks, confused.

I activate a Blood Echo and end my control over her instantly, using Shape Blood on the resulting mass of fluid in order to get a general sense of what’s around me. There doesn’t appear to be anything around us, but I’m well aware that there are monsters here that I might not be able to perceive if I’m not directly looking at them.

Still, I’m generally confident enough in my perception to s...

Demonic Devourer ch. 51

Steel punches through the center of my back and out from where a human heart would be. The sensation of being stabbed in the chest is getting uncomfortably familiar.

Lethal in a human. Still lethal for me, but not immediately.

Instinctively, I try to return to my Bloodpath, but I find I can’t. The world obstinately remains in shades of grey and beige, and my form remains ever so humanoid. My skin tingles, and I’m reminded of the brief moment before my dream-co...

Demonic Devourer ch. 50

“Welcome to Tsubera!” Sierra says, gesturing grandly at the metropolis around us. “The capital city of Novarath, to be precise.”

“You can drop the cheeriness,” Adrian grumbles. “This place is a shitheap.”

Getting around the city is harder than I first thought. Then again, I didn’t put much effort into that first thought, so…

Anyway, the point is that there’s bridges everywhere. The buildings at the height we’re at have to be built on something , and f...

Demonic Devourer ch. 49

“Four of them got away,” I sigh, bunching up my undershirt and wringing it. Seawater splashes to the deck of the ferry, joining the rest of the slowly-draining deluge. Adrian uses his skills to send the flood overboard, but there’s so much water here that I’m sure it’s going to be wet until the day we arrive.

The currents aren’t subsiding, either. Before we got into the fight against the pirates, one of whom was evidently linked to the Titan of the Nameless Sea in some way, ...

Demonic Devourer ch. 48

My Diamond tier Devour is an offensive skill now, but it’s still stuck at level 1. I didn’t open with it because I haven’t proved its effectiveness in battle yet.

Its utility, however, is vastly improved from what I’ve grown used to. From Bronze to Gold tier, Devour required me to take time to stop fighting and physically take a bite out of my unfortunate victim.

At Diamond, however, crackling black and red magic tears parts of the pirate�...

Demonic Devourer ch. 47 (start of book 2)

Three days into our boat ride, I’ve come to the realization that I deeply dislike enclosed spaces that don’t allow any opportunity for advancement.

That’s not to say that this place is particularly drab or anything—far from it. If I were anyone else, I’d probably think that this ship is fantastic. It’s nearly a thousand feet from end to end and is chock-full of amenities. I’ve eked out some entertainment from their facilities, but it’s very clear that this is a luxury sh...

Demonic Devourer ch. 46

Lothel, the Crowned City

“We have sent the First Elite Company into fire and flame. We have sent them to end wars before they can start. We have sent them into a hell. You’re telling me they failed?”

“Forgive me, your majesty, but they did,” Ashley Kane says, bowing her head as she kneels. “Killed almost to the last man.”

She lets the king process that. King Lysander, first of his name, has only reigned over the Crowned Islands for hal...

Demonic Devourer ch. 45

Patch Notes: chapter 44's ending has been slightly tweaked to reflect skill ups

I open my eyes to find myself looking into a sharp green stare. For a second, I wonder why Marie’s gaze holds so much concern for me. Before panic and confusion can set in, I register the rest of the body, remembering who else holds the same features.

One of Sierra’s eyes still holds light traces of crackling blue power, while red sparks drift around her green iris in the other. Th...

Demonic Devourer ch. 44

I won’t let this opportunity go to waste.

As branches crumble away under the force of her magic, I carry myself forward, lifting my broken body on a platform of blood. Demonic Heritage does what it can to keep me together, but it’s not strong enough to immediately heal my fractured spine.

I remind myself to pick up a healing skill if I can get it. For that to happen, I’m going to have to fix my soul so that my level-ups actually get me something, th...

Demonic Devourer ch. 43

Demonic Heritage is beginning to work, but healing comes slowly. It’s not going to repair me to a fully functional state before I make my way to the tree. As soon as I enter combat again, the trait is going to become inactive.

And it’s looking more and more like I’m going to be fighting sooner rather than later. Demonic blood flows across the land, mixed with the same oily substance that coated the demons that spawned from the spores.

Everywhere the fluid to...

Demonic Devourer ch. 42

Irrational hatred fills my body, pointed rage directing me to abandon my spot and kill the woman who’s partially responsible for shaping me into what I am, but I separate myself from the anger and prepare to fight the demons encircling me.

Encircling Sierra.

While I’ve made the decision to violate my core tenet and modify it, that doesn’t mean I’ll just be giving into emotion. I refuse to lose control over myself. While anger can be a useful tool, blind rage is on...

Demonic Devourer ch. 41

I tumble ever deeper into the watery darkness, a prisoner in my own body.

At the surface, something wearing my skin propels itself forward.

No. The thing driving me is every bit as Evelyn as I am, just… made more. As much as I hate to admit it, I am still here. It’s just a different facet of myself, mixed together with something other.

The darkness my splintered soul swims within is an ocean, buoying me up one moment before sucking me into its smothering abyss t...

Demonic Devourer ch. 40 (Sierra)

When Evelyn literally melts before her and dives towards their mutual adversary, Sierra is close behind. She glances once at Adrian. He’s already halfway to the tree, leaving the Blue Mage and the Relentless Demon behind him. Jets of water propel him, and Sierra can almost hear him whooping as he leans back into his signature magic.

It’s been nearly two years since she saved the Hydrokinetic’s life, and they’ve been traveling ever since.

Sierra knows him well enough. She d...

Demonic Devourer ch. 39

This chapter may be edited before being posted. If you've got feedback, I welcome it.

Patch notes 4/9 1:05 AM EST: Added detail to the ending.

The upgraded skill isn’t the only source of power coursing through me. Relentless has returned, though it provides me embers where once it was a raging wildfire. Does it give me diminished returns if it comes into play too soon after the last time it was used? The trait description doesn�...

Demonic Devourer ch. 38

As it turns out, the only last words the bowman has to offer me consist of incoherent screaming.

I cock my head. “I haven’t even set you on fire yet.”

That seems to spark the bowman into action. He draws and fires in one quick motion, but Knifefighting is still active. It overlays phantom images of possible attacks he’ll make, but they all boil down to the same thing.

I bring my arm up as he looses the arrow. Despite my enhanced speed, I’m still no...

Demonic Devourer ch. 37

Noren’s statement takes both of them off guard, though Adrian physically recoils while Sierra just tilts her head.

“So that’s how it is, then,” Sierra says neutrally, eyeing me. I have Bloodstep prepared, but if she chooses to attack me, this will quickly become unwinnable.

Her fingers twitch, and I tense, but no magic sails towards me. No attack flows forth from her graceful hands.

She inclines her head ever so slightly towards me. ...

Demonic Devourer ch. 36

If the demons in the water weren’t terribly keen on attacking me before, they practically flee before me now. Using Wraithfire to its fullest extent is deeply draining on my magic power, which I need to keep my Phantom Shape running, so I limit the former to a tiny wick of a flame at the tip of my finger, no larger than what I might find on a candle.

Of course, that tiny wick is enough to ignite the water behind me, leaving a burning ...

Demonic Devourer ch. 35

Leveling up begins to restore me to full health just like it’s done before, but it’s slower. I don’t think that the slowed healing has to do with my soul damage—last time I leveled up, my soul was severely damaged, and I still got a full heal.

No, it’s rather obvious that the hardened earth currently impaling me is an issue.

The inside of the whale isn’t much more pleasant than the outside. Its gullet is as full of barbs as its exterior is, and they separate my flesh f...

Demonic Devourer ch. 34

River water has been splashing onto me this entire time, so the chill isn’t unexpected, but the sheer force of the Ravendale river throws me off, threatening to send me tumbling downriver.

The forty-foot barbed tentacle slicing through the water faster than I can sprint on land doesn’t help matters either. I have no proper way to propel myself through the water, no skill to aid in swimming apart from raw muscle memory, and that’s not nearly enough to push me out of the way of the ...

Demonic Devourer ch. 33

This is a bit of a sticky situation. On the one hand, I’d much rather avoid having to avoid joining the company of men and women that very much want Evelyn Carnelian dead.

On the other, the Baron’s man’s tone brooks no argument. He’s made it pretty clear that it’s his way or the opposite direction.

Still, Acting compels me to try anyway. If I was an independent adventurer, out here fulfilling quests and looting corpses, I might say something like…

Demonic Devourer ch. 32

Bloodstep makes me much faster than they can run, and a single usage of it no longer magically exhausts me, so I activate it immediately.

My first target is the Thief. All three of my enemies have basic classes, no evolutions to their name, but the Thief is one that may actually cause me irritation if I let him.

Thanks to my demonic body, I can see sharper in the dark, which has so far enabled me to keep a tab on him. If his Stealth trumps my abil...

Demonic Devourer ch. 31

I think neither Sierra nor Adrian have chosen to follow me—I planned on this, given that they’ve freshly recovered from demons taking up residence in their body—though I can’t bring myself to care.

Having allies is helpful, but I need to advance. There are cases where others may be conducive to that, but tonight?

Tonight, I hunt.

I hope I haven’t vastly misjudged myself here, but I think I haven’t. While Sapphire might be a little irritating wit...

Demonic Devourer ch. 30

“Much to discuss,” I say. “Does that, perhaps, include why these two are knocked out and…”

Possessed is the word that jumps to mind, but I let the sentence trail off.

“Corrupted, possessed, glassed,” Saph says, raising a finger with each word. “Common names for the affliction.”

“Demonic influence,” I say. “You did this?”

Her very presence exudes danger. I know that her level is vastly above mine, since Appraise doesn�...

Demonic Devourer ch. 29

Ah. That… changes things, doesn’t it? As it turns out, while I thought I had all the pieces to the puzzle, I was still missing one or two.

“Not a gang leader, then,” I mutter.

What does the role of baron entail here? Relevant political information travels through my mind, reminding me of what the powers vested in them generally include. My knowledge isn’t localized to the Crowned Islands or anywhere in particular, though, so I’m not sure if it fits for these circumstan...