Evil Craft

'What is this place…?'

Regis wondered as his eyes darted around.

It was a dark room with torches providing some slight illumination from the side.

A fairly simple altar stood in the middle.

The demonic human leader led them here after their meal.

Regis had been expecting to see statues of devils and demons littered around, but he had not seen any of the kind on the way.

The simple furnished altar really surprised him.

However, there was something he was quite uncomfortable with.

In fact, not only him– all the children were uncomfortable.

This was because they were asked to carry the corpses of the people they killed with them.

Not that they could complain.

Therefore, the children left a long trail of blood as they walked while dragging the corpses behind them.

In Regis's case, he tried his best to handle the old lady's corpse with care.

Still, the practice of dragging the corpse of someone he killed did not sit right with him.

In fact, it did not sit right with any of the children.

There were even some who vomitted along the way.

"We're here." 

The demonic human leader said as he walked towards the altar.

He then knelt and bowed his head, seemingly paying his respects.

After a short while, he stood up.

"Leave the corpses in your place and form a line."

The children followed his orders.

None of them were in the mood to speak, so the room was submerged in an uncomfortable silence.

"Come."

The demonic human leader said to the child at the front of the line.

The girl flinched a little, but still went to the leader.

He then picked up a small bowl from the side and went to the altar.

Using the small bowl, the demonic human leader went and filled it with blood from the small pool of blood at the center of the altar.

He then handed it to the girl, "Go back to your place."

The girl did not protest and only did as she was told.

Thus, holding the small bowl filled with blood, she went to the side of the corpse that belonged to the person she killed earlier.

She had tears threatening to fall from her eyes as her hands trembled, yet no one paid attention to her.

"Next…" The demonic human called the next child in line.

This process repeated for quite a while.

Regis was at the back of the line, he used this chance to count just how many children the demonic humans kingdom.

Counting the child before him, Regis discovered that there were more than a hundred children. 

113 to be exact 

Soon enough, his turn came.

He received the small bowl of blood from the demonic human leader and went back to the old lady's corpse.

The demonic human then spoke.

"Now, drink it!"

The children all had hesitant expressions on their faces as they looked at the bowl of blood in their hands.

Seeing this, the demonic human leader frowned.

However, just this small action of his was enough to make the children scared and heed his orders.

'Here goes nothing…'

Regis thought.

Although he was worried that it might contain something dangerous, anything that could delay his death was fine.

Slurp~

Upon drinking the last drop of blood, he felt the demonic power in his heart go crazy.

'S-Shit—'

Ba-dump!!! Ba-dump!!!!

The same pain he experienced when he first awakened assaulted him.

However, to his surprise, the pain left as quickly as it arrived.

He looked around and saw that the other children were still screaming and convulsing in pain.

'The demonic humans might suspect me…'

Thus, he made a decision immediately.

He "collapsed" on the ground and began convulsing.

"Arghhhh!!!"

He also screamed in pain to look the part.

'What's happening?' Though Regis as he continued his act.

In the split second that the oain disappeared and he saw the other children still in pain, he racked his brain and came up with a conclusion that there was something wrong with him.

'Something that only I have… that's it! The gift!'

'The blood must've been something that required our body to adapt and therefore—'

However, before he could think any further, information became ingrained in his memories once again.

"Hmmmm…"

Looking at the children who were in pain, the demonic human leader had a solemn expression on his face.

However, a particular child caught his attention.

A boy with snow-white hair and blood-red eyes who was the last one in line earlier.

Raising his brows slightly, he said, "Isn't that boy's seizure much worse than the others?"

He was aware of how painful the process of receiving an evil craft this way was, but in comparison to other children, that boy really seemed to be over reacting.

"Well, maybe he just has a weaker mentality…"

The demonic human leader oaid no attention to him anymore.

Instead, his eyes turned to the little girl who was in front of the line earlier.

"Vanessa, huh… Let's see what use I have for her…"

She was also the one who awakened a Platinum-grade Gift through the demonic power.

After a short while, the children began calming down one by one.

Huff— Huff—

The sound of heavy breathing echoed in the room as they all had visibly exhausted expressions on their faces.

Regis also stopped his act and noticed the strane gazes he was receiving.

'I might have overdone it…'

Clap— Clap—

"I see that you have finished absorbing the blood from the Blood Pool. I'm sure that all of you are confused, so browse your memories to find out."

The demonic human leader said with a smile on his face.

Soon enough, the children could be seen to be in a daze.

[Indiscriminate Absorption]

As Regis browsed his memories, he could detect some information that wasn't there before.

'This is… an evil craft!?!'

Regis had a shocked expression on his face.

Those in the path of aura had Aura Arts.

Those in the path of mana had Magic Spells.

And those in the path of demonic power had Evil Crafts.

'Let me take a deeper look…' Regis thought as he proceeded to analyze the evil craft in his mind.

Indiscriminate Absorption was a lowest tier evil craft that even demons would not choose to use.

This was because it was a technique that absorbs 100% of a corpse, meaning that not only the life force and vitality, but also the impurities in the corpse's body would be absorbed.

100% would also mean that everything that the corpse has would be absorbed through the evil craft.

Although this would make one's demonic power to be incredibly powerful, it would also make it extremely corrupted which would be detrimental in the long run.