Blood Essence and Soul

The trees in Ilex Forest were packed so densely that it was nigh impossible to see the sky through them during the day.

At night, it became the synonym for Darkness.

The buzz of bug-type Pokemon and the stirring of leaves where even the wind couldn't come, brought such a deep sense of terror with it, that few could've coped with it. In this darkness, on the ground covered in dead and rotten vegetation, slithered the foulest creature known across many worlds. Every time this creature breathed, a rattling noise reverberated as if it was trying to suck in more than just air. A black hooded cloak with long tattered strips billowing at the end covered this creature like mist rising from the depths of an unknown realm.

This creature was a Dementor.

Kai extended his shriveled, skeletal-like right hand. Despite its white-gray appearance, one could see long finger-imprints on his forearm where the real Dementor had grabbed him before succumbing to his Blood Devour.

Selene's head came out of his bony palm and touched the ground.

-Follow me, master- she hissed, slithering out of him.

Kai glided behind her noiselessly. He could sense it. The sheer amount of Mana and Breath here was overwhelming. On every corner was life. Kai just had to see it, sense it, and devour it.

'But first, I would suck out their soul,' Kai thought.

-There. I can taste it, master- Selene hissed, coming back to him.

Kai was hovering over the ground like a black, horrifying, rippling carpet. He craned his neck up and saw the Pokemon, then. Some 20 meters up, perched on the branch, was an owl-like Pokemon. It was standing on one leg, and its body was round with a brownish color. It was cocking its head in a rhythmic pattern in all directions.

-Selene. Go!- Kai hissed.

The Ghost Serpent burst into a mass of silver mist and entered the trunk. Simultaneously, Kai glided up as if he was nothing but air. Air froze around him, a deathly cold spreading outward. Like the hands of frozen death, it crawled its way up on the tree towards the branch.

When Kai was some 5 meters below the Pokemon, Selene descended over the Pokemon from above. She hissed so loudly that the Pokemon cried and lunged away from her. It… flew downwards.

"Hooot… Hoothoot…" It was fast. Big and fast, an odd combination. Yet, in its flight running away from the predator, it forgot to sense Kai.

Dementor-Kai's fingers touched its feathers, and the cold-suppression exploded like water from a broken dam. A blue-white layer of frost appeared on the Pokemon instantly, freezing it in the clutches of death. Kai brought the wild Pokemon near his face and saw that there was still a fight in its eyes. So he sucked deep. Happiness left the Pokemon as fear and sadness replaced everything that it had ever known.

But just before Kai could finish the emotions in it, the round eyes of the 2 ft large Pokemon shone blue. A combined wave of SP and MP rocked Kai's head and soul.

[Damage Taken: 20 (HP) 30 (SP)]

"Ugh!" Kai grabbed his head as the frozen Pokemon slipped out of his hand. The pain was unbearable, and all things were becoming blurry. The effect didn't last long, though. Kai shook his head, furious at his inability to expect the move.

'That was some kind of SP-based attack,' he thought, remembering the blue-colored shine in the Pokemon's eyes. 'There are too many moves I know nothing about. I will make Item-M tell me everything once this is over.'

Kai looked down and saw Selene coiled around the Pokemon, which was coming out of its frozen state.

-Don't kill it- Kai hissed, approaching them. He hadn't devoured the Pokemon instantly because he needed to know what special moves it had. This Pokemon, though, failed to attract Kai's greed.

Not giving the Pokemon another chance, Kai used the Skill.

[

Skill Dementor's Kiss Activated

Time Limit: 30 seconds

]

An unseen, pure trail, like liquefied air, left the Pokemon and entered him as he kissed its beak. If joy had a taste, then this was it, Kai reflected.

[Soul Points: +0.6]

The husk, that was a Pokemon a while ago, looked vacantly at Kai. And when he spoke those abysmal words that could put fear in all living things around him, the soulless Pokemon didn't even flinch.

"Blood… Devour!"

Selene let go of the Pokemon as Kai's Dementor-form receded and his body became red hot, letting out steam. The tear on his chest appeared, and black tendrils oozed out, lunging at the Pokemon. But the moment they touched the husk, the all-annihilating tendrils returned, the tear on his chest sealing itself as if whatever the Pokemon was now wasn't worth it to even look at.

'What?!' Kai's eyes widened. 'What happened?'

"Blood… Devour!" he growled again, gritting his teeth. Right away, the hotness returned, his body steaming along with it. The thing within him ripped his chest apart, tearing it vertically. But this time, it didn't even come out. Not a single tendril. And everything went back to normal as it was before.

'This?! What's happening?' Kai asked himself. 'How can the Blood Devour fail? No. Wait! The Blood Devour didn't fail. It worked. It just rejected the magical beast.'

Kai knew what his Glitch failing felt like. So he calmed down and analyzed the queer circumstance.

-It's soul, master- Selene hissed, repeating Kai's inner thoughts.

-Yes, Selene. But I never thought Blood Essence had to do with anything with Soul- Kai hissed. He took out his Saber and plunged it into the Pokemon's heart.

[

Your Title Status is updated…

Title: Poacher

…

]

'Oh! It was a comparatively strong one,' he thought, patting Selene's head.

Selene took that as Kai's permission to have the food for herself and lunged at it.

As she swallowed the Pokemon, Kai recalled the theory behind the Blood Essence from his previous life. But no matter how he thought, he couldn't remember it being mentioned anywhere that the Blood Essence had some connection with Soul. The concept of soul wasn't some unknown and unpracticed in his previous life, where Beast Essence Cultivators cultivated using the principles of Yin-Yang.

'This isn't the time,' a voice roared in his mind. 'Hurry!'

Kai put the matter back to his mind, and the moment the Ghost Serpent swallowed the Pokemon whole, he called it back into him.

-Time to move on-

Only the hiss slithered for some time at the crime scene as Dementor-Kai glided away for another prey.

*

*

"Pineco…!"

Boom! Boom!

Kai got thrown off by the chain of explosions. In front of him, hanging from a tree, were many pine cone-like Pokemon. The moment he sucked the Soul out of the first sleeping one, getting 0.3 Soul Points, more of these Pokemon dropped and self-destructed. Even the cold he spread out couldn't do anything against those explosions.

'Fuck!' Kai cursed, leaving the blasted area. Selene had gone to sleep after having her meal. So he had decided to just hunt by himself. But his lack of knowledge about Pokemon moves was becoming a great hindrance. 'Let me get a Pokedex, you stupid creatures! Humph!'

Kai slithered far in search of the Pokemon he could make sense of. The speed of his gliding was fast too, but compared to the flying-type Pokemon, it couldn't be mentioned in the same breath.

Suddenly, a cacophony of tweaking noises reached his ears.

Kai glided upwards, his hooded head blending masterfully in the dark shadows. When his head came out of the canopy of the tree, he saw the hundreds of Pokemon flying over a cave, taking sharp turns now and then. Now the nature of these Pokemon was such that even he could tell.

'Bat-like Pokemon,' Kai concluded. They had purple-blue bodies with two long tails. With fangs in their open mouths, Kai guessed like any bat-based organic form, they were using echolocation too.

The creepiest smile crept on his rotten face. Kai knew the sheer amount of despair he could spread among these Pokemon amass. His heartbeat sped up as he thought of the number of Soul Points he could collect.

Not even trying to hide anymore, Kai left the trees and flew towards them. He looked like a bloodthirsty wraith as the wind hit him, picking up the tattered strips of his cloak.

But before he could enter the thick of this Pokemon Colony, a notification popped up.

[

Party Member Morning Mist has shared her location with you

She is requesting an audio call…

Do you accept it?

]

Kai stopped immediately.

He accepted the request, and a map appeared in front of him, as Item-M's voice entered his ears.

"Master, hurry! I found them. The 3rd Contestant is indeed a Pokemon Trainer, and he has an evolved Pokemon. This is the best Pokemon you can get in this region. I am challenging him so that when you arrive here, it is already out of the Pokeball, and you can just attack and devour it. I am going in" - Item-M shouted out her message.

Kai's eyes widened. A Pokemon which a previous 13th-floor Contestant like her thinks is best for him? The question made him shiver with excitement.

'Item-M, don't die!' Kai thought, licking his dry lips, knowing well that she wasn't a match for three 4th-floor Contestants. He had an idea how she would challenge the Pokemon Trainer when she didn't have a Pokemon.

He turned around and flew to the highest mountain in the distance. That was the location shared by Item-M. Kai's heart thumped as he thought about the identity of the Pokemon.

'A Pokemon! A Pokemon! Haha!' Kai's mind roared in triumph.

And the grin on his face was devilish enough to scare the very air away from him.

15 minutes to Glitch's Hibernation.

*********

AN: Image Reference and moves used by the Pokemon is available on the Discord