Devouring II — Ambrosya

It only served as a deterrence.

Yes...

Those flames blessed me with an opportunity so great I would be stupid not to take it.

—Hisss!

Aventine could feel my bloodlust, and he hissed in excitement. Like a snake, my right arm curved and slithered forward. I cut through flesh multiple times, allowing Aventine to sink his fangs and spread his venom.

Blood flew through the air as I cut Yannia in multiple places. Her arms, thighs, chest, and stomach.

In that one moment, I was able to deal damage unimaginable for an F rank fighter to deal. Aventine was simply a cut above all the other daggers out there.

Yannia staggered back with every slash I made. She could probably feel the instantaneous numbing effect brought about by each strike I dealt.

She turned back to flee, and I chased after her like a ghost.

In terms of speed, my Rushing Shadow Art allowed me to accelerate like a rocket. These short dashes were my forte, and Yannia had already been poisoned.

"It seems like victory was still within my grasp," I chuckled.

Ssuk—!

My blade found its way into Yannia's heart.

—Hiss!

Aventine immediately sensed the dying human before me and transformed back into his original form.

A small black hole had appeared in front of Aventine's snout. It curved the space around it and sucked in all things, including mana.

[ Devour ].

Whooosh—!

Yannia's body disappeared before it even fell to the ground. She was devoured in an instant. Body, clothes, weapons, items, everything.

This was the unfortunate side-effect of Aventine's abilities. It didn't allow me to loot things. He would turn everything into nutrients. Well, at least, he would try to.

Anything that wasn't organic matter would be digested and turned into mana that Aventine would release out into the world. Mana was useless to him, after all, he wasn't of this world.

Thus, if I wanted something from the bodies of those that I killed in the future, I would have to strip them of the said item before they reach death's door. Aventine liked to swallow living things, after all. Things that were a few steps from death were the best, and he was hard to control when he was hungry.

I shivered at that moment.

Imagine if I hadn't made a connection with Aventine properly. He would probably consume me if I was severely injured, not leaving me a chance to heal myself.

I glanced at Aventine who was looking back at me curiously.

"There's more for you to eat," I smiled at the little serpent and beckoned him to return to me.

"The night is young."

...

I only barely made it to my next assassination job. I was breathing heavily from all the running I had done, and my target was just about to enter his car.

We were in a slumbering street in the metropolis. In a residential pocket where quite a few families lived in relative peace.

I was able to get in only through a few employees of the Information Veil. The amount of influence King's organisation had was astounding.

Anyways,

I hurriedly rushed towards my target. I was a blurry shadow that was difficult to spot in the darkness of the night.

My footsteps barely made a sound, and I had my dagger at the ready.

This time, the element of surprise was on my side.

Like a compressed string finally being released, I lunged forward and pierced into my target's heart. My entire body whistled in the wind as the man in black slowly turned around in shock.

A dagger was sticking out of his back.

I then decided to add a little more flavour to my strike.

Mana Programs lit up around my wrist. They shimmered with bloodlust and a great desire for death.

Boom—!

A burst of bright orange flames came blasting out of the man's chest like a fiery rose in full bloom. It was a beautiful sight to behold when seen from afar. The heat singed my skin and boiling blood rained on the asphalt.

The man fell to his knees. Without his heart and a portion of his chest, he was just a moment away from death.

Aventine reverted back to his serpentine form and made quick work of the man.

[ Devour ].

Whooosh—!

Just like that, all traces of the man's existence was gone. Save for his car, of course.

"The keys... Aventine—"

I sighed. I was in too much of a hurry at that time.

...

I was able to make three more assassinations as the night grew deeper. The first of the three happened inside a club full of half-naked women, the second happened inside an elevator, and the third happened in the target's room.

Aventine's hunger was being transmitted to me, making me wish to kill more. I started eyeing the many citizens of Aelthrie.

—Hisss!

Aventine had fallen in love with the taste of humanity.

But, I would not succumb to such a temptation. I had no desire to make an enemy out of the Valorous Government just yet. Devouring a city would happen... perhaps in the future.

"There are better delicacies out there, Aventine." I calmed the serpent's ravenous nature.

"Gods, Fairies, Giants, Behemoths..." I enumerated a few tasty races and Aventine was convinced. He probably felt my own hunger and how much I wanted to kill a few for their body parts.

The desire to kill all these citizens dissipated ever so slightly.

After perceiving this change, I left with a chuckle. I returned to my dorm room and reviewed my gains. I also considered the next items on my To Do list.

First and foremost, I was able to feed Aventine with five humans.

I estimated that it would take about 45 more humans before he grew into an Adolescent Beast Weapon Spirit. Or the third growth stage out of eight.

Mind you, Aventine's growth stages as a Beast Weapon Spirit were as follows,

[]=[]=[]

Stage 1: Hatchling

Stage 2: Juvenile

Stage 3: Adolescence

Stage 4: Adulthood

Stage 5: Mutation

Stage 6: Metamorphosis

Stage 7: Evolution

Stage 8: Final Form

[]=[]=[]

Later and tomorrow, Friday, I was going to look for some stealth-based spells for Saturday's endeavour. I had to engrave a few to enchant myself as much as I could.

As for my studies, that was a no-brainer. I had to complete all of them first before I got to spell engraving. I had to study for both school and Miana's Mana Core.

"...The Demonic Tome is giving me a headache... I think I need to prioritise that later."