The Goblins and Ogres froze in place, just gazing upon the face that was smiling upon them.

Among them was a certain Ogre that looked just as scared but it continued to walk towards him with small steps in a cautious manner. The others started to look at her as if she had some sort of mental illness.

Tremis could hear heavy steps coming towards him so he opened his eyes but kept his freaky smile. The Ogre gulped when she saw Tremis’ face up close. It was like staring at the Devil’s face as he made you a deal. After a while, the Ogre’s mouth opened.

“U-”

Before the Ogre could continue, Tremis wrapped his large wings around the Ogre’s body. The Ogre’s body was constricted and she screamed. She could hear the bones in her arms slowly starting to break and when she was pulled closer a loud crack came from her back. Tremis opened his mouth wide and a loud crunch could be heard.

Blood flew everywhere.

The walls started to become even more crimson while some landed on the other Ogres and Goblins. The ones with the weak stomachs immediately started to throw up upon sight especially the creatures who actually got blood on them.

As they started to freak out about their comrade’s head getting bitten off, the Demon started to savor the taste.

The rough but chewy outer layer of skin, the crunchy skull that contained the smooth and creamy brain. The teeth were like little sprinkles just adding to the flavor and the tongue had a strange but likable taste. Don't even get started on the eyes. They popped and a sweet but slightly bitter liquid came out almost like a gusher. It was an array of flavors that just warms your heart and reminded you of your grandmother's cooking.

Tremis continued to chew and chew as the others looked on. A stench started to waft throughout the whole cave. The stench of 35+ goblins pissing themselves. Even though Tremis could smell it, it didn't distract him from his meal.

A blaring gulp could be heard through the cave.

The first thing I've eaten in this world is a head, but I want more.

If Tremis’ penis was visible, it would be uncomfortably erect.

The Demonic Behemoth’s brow started to furrow and he looked quite mad. Suddenly, sharp objects that looked like horns started to grow from every one of his fingers in a grotesque manner. The sound of bones being pushed aside and skin being torn through could be heard. The skill was not supposed to be used this many times but he didn't care. Two more curved horns started to grow from his skull forming a crown-like shape. The same gory sound could be heard.

Tremis’ head was turned to the sky as blue flames came out of his mouth as he screamed from the immense pain. The stone when it made contact with the blue flames promptly turned red hot signifying its extremely high temperature. He could feel the horns coming from out of his skull. Then when the horns bent it felt as if his bones were liquified and suddenly became a solid entity.

Suddenly, crackling could be heard. Small sparks of lightning started to appear around the Giant’s body and lightning bolts started to fly in multiple directions. A single Ogre was hit and then was immediately burnt to a crisp.

“I'm still hungry.”

That whole display cost Tremis around 1000 mana but he didn't care. As long as he looked cool. If other mages heard about this they would probably die from coughing up blood. Wasting 1000 mana just to look cool will lead to you getting hanged by them in the most gruesome fashion. If he had the Acting Tough System he might have gotten around 1M right there.

Inside the group of creatures, there were three loud distinct ‘THUMP’s. Some of them looked towards the noise and found three separate goblins on the cold stone floor. Their eyes had rolled into their eyes and they laid still. It seemed as if they had heart attacks.

They froze momentarily and then began to run. Some lower-ranked Goblins didn't even try to run as they had already accepted their fate while others tripped and fell on the large amounts of piss on the floor.

They ran with their tail between their legs and a mass amount of screaming was produced. If the people listening to this were anyone but Tremis they would probably be bleeding from their ears but this Long-Haired Harbinger of Death found these screams pleasing to the ear. Tremis found this display of cowardice extremely entertaining and he allowed them a five-second head start.

“1”

“2”

“3”

“4”

“5”

As soon as the number five left his smiling lips, he began to follow after him. A large ‘BOOM’ could be heard as a large amount of air had just come from behind Tremis. He had just broken the sound barrier. In fact, he was going 1307 mph with both his {Principium Sanguis Evangelium} and {Lightning Body Enhancement} (which gave another 1.5 multiplier).

The Demon first aimed for the remaining 7 Ogres who were all running for their lives.

The first Ogre was trailing behind everyone else. With barely any steps, Tremis was right beside him. Tremis’ body began to spin clockwise and then he opened his right leg far out. Just like that, a spin kick was delivered to the back of the Ogre’s head. Its head couldn’t withstand the force and blood, bones, and brain matter just flew all the way down the long hallway out of his sight.

Tremis realized that he couldn't hear the screams anymore. In fact, he couldn’t hear anything anymore. After breaking the sound barrier it was just peace and quiet. It was relaxing in a strange type of way. It felt almost as if he could be like this until the end of eternity.

He thought this as he shish-kebabed another Ogre through the heart. He ran with the Ogre still stuck on his left index finger and simply threw him towards the 3rd Ogre. With only one finger he threw the Ogre with so much force that it simply broke the back of the unfortunate Ogre.

When the now crippled Ogre’s head made contact with the floor it was caved in. That Ogre was definitely dead at that point.

Tremis stopped for once and looked ahead for the remaining Ogres. All 4 of them were at the far end of the hallway. He smiled as he started to get into a runner stance. He flexed his leg muscles as he began to take off making another tremendous gust of wind. As he ran he slowly began to run on all fours before making all of his limbs lift off in the air.

Then with a flap of his wings, he was now heading towards them at Mach 2. He was now basically flying or as some people might say, asking to die.

Now he realized the fatal flaw in his plan. He was going way too fast, he could have easily caught up to them with a light jog but instead, he wanted to be a badass and glide towards them. He thought he might as well kill 4 birds with one breath.

He realized his flaw in a few milliseconds so he still had time to execute his plan. He shifted his head down and opened his mouth. As he flew by all of the creatures, blue flames started to spew out of his mouth. In only a few seconds, all of the previously alive creatures were now either burned to a crisp or stepped on when he went after those first three Ogres.

Nevertheless, he was still going Mach 2 down this hallway and he had practically no way to stop it. Of course, he could flap his wings backwards but that won't do much good. After a few moments, he could see the end of the hallway and there was a..throne?

He saw something sitting on top of the throne but he couldn't make out the figure as he came flying into it. Right before he hit the throne, he could feel a strong whisk of air on his right cheek before something landed right into it.

Just like that, all of his momentum was gone and was instead reversed. He hit a wall and he could feel his spine crack. All of the air in his lungs had escaped from his body and it took him a moment to regain his composure. He looked down and he saw that half of his left horn had fallen off.

“Who dares invade my Tribe!” A booming strong voice came from in front of Tremis.

Tremis looked and there he saw.

A 7 ft tall orc-ish looking female stood right in front of the throne. Her originally bright green skin now turned dark from living in this cave. Her black hair waving down on the left side of her head. Those blue eyes of hers gleaming in the dark cave. Two tusks escaped from the side of her mouth and two additional tusks from an unknown source acted as her earrings. She wore leather bikini armor leaving most of her body exposed with only a cloth covering her bottom half. The only real armor she had was the worn down iron pauldron resting on her right shoulder. Many scars laid across her battle-ridden body. A mark of fire was on her stomach, almost as if it has been brandished onto her skin.

“Yo, what's going on?” Tremis said as he flipped back onto his feet. His cheek stung a bit but it was nothing he hadn't felt before.

“How dare you invade my land of prosperous origin you foul demon!”

As she said that, she used her right hand to pick up a large wooden staff that was just as big as her which had been chipped away little by little over the years.

“Demon? I'm not a demon. Well, my species is not a demon I should say.”

“You dare take me as a fool? You say that to my face as you show your true form!” She shouted at Tremis as she started to walk towards him.

“Oh, you mean the wings and stuff? Well, it was more for an aesthetic of looking cool. It hurt a lot too so I would appreciate it if you would respect my style.”

“It seems this Mighty One has come across a retarded demon, this battle shall be swift and easy. I, Victus the Flame Queen, the Monarch of the Stuprum Cobalus Tribe will strike you down and lay the foundation of my future followers off your corpse. Your body will soon become waste, more worthless than the ants that roam across the lands.”

“People said that yet they ended up being fertilizer for the trees that are spread across the land!”

Wait, no one has ever said that to me.

This woman has even infected me with that advanced way of speech! Truly preposterous!

Before Tremis could even react, a 3 ft diameter fireball came towards him at breakneck speed. Only a little time was provided for him to dodge the comet that was right in front of him.

With the only time he had, our Demonic Heroine lifted his left arm covering his face and activated his skill {Harden Scales}. Orange scales with a blue tint started to secrete from under his skin, looking at it almost gave off a disturbing feeling.

The transformation began at his left shoulder and was almost completed by the time the fireball hit. The only spot that was left uncovered by the lizard scales was his palm.

An extreme sense of heat and pain hit Tremis’ palm as the flaming ball of mana made contact. His brain turned on to overdrive as he screamed from the amount of pain. The feeling of his skin, nerves, and muscles burning from the flame began to turn him crazy. The lingering mana seeped into his bloodstream and wreaked havoc inside his body.

His heart started to flame up and beat at an irregular speed, his body began to feel lazy and accompanying it was the feeling of drowsiness.

He fell to his knees and his head went down…

Suddenly, his brain started to pulse painfully as he screamed further. His spine started to arch whilst his head faced upwards. Those feelings started to escape him.

Victus merely looked at him strangely. She thought that the beast would put up a much greater fight after being able to take out a large number of her tribesmen. She was about to order one of her hiding followers to finish him off but discomfort started to creep up her spine.

A howl of laughter spread throughout the throne room.

The scales that were covering his arm started to turn into a coal-like color. A ‘fwoosh’ sound came as his arm was lit on fire. Stygian flames flowing freely on his arm slightly burning his scales, causing a wave of heat to spread across the room almost like a tidal wave.

[Skill Granted! Upon reaching the second stage of the Devorare Faegir Bloodline the skill {Devorare Mana Manipulation - INCOMPLETE} has been given to you.]

[Devorare Mana Manipulation - INCOMPLETE: Although this skill may be incomplete, it is essential on the path of godhood. The host after absorbing a God’s energy through any means has taken control of the supernatural configuration found in the energy known as Mana. Your Mana Body is now capable of synthesizing unique energy only found in you which can be granted in amounts to your followers.

You have only unlocked [1/4] of the potential of this skill.

Godly Flames of Laerata: You have absorbed mana through the spell of a devout follower of Laerata who has been granted an infinitely small amount of his energy. When using your own energy, it will take on the appearance of a flame. CAUTION: DUE TO THE SKILL BEING IN ITS INFANCY STAGE, YOU ARE NOT INVULNERABLE TO YOUR OWN FLAMES.]

Tremis slowly began to stand up again, continuing to laugh.

“You have helped me on my way to becoming a God, I thank you so much. How should I thank you? Maybe I should bite off one of your arms, a leg would be fine too. I could even eat you alive, oh that sounds fun. Im getting aroused just thinking about it.”

The left side of Tremis’ face grew scales, revealing only his deep red eyes. He touched his left side of his face with his flaming arm and opened his mouth, saliva started to drop down on the floor in large amounts. He began mumbling to himself.

“I can’t wait to tear off your skin… I could even roast it until its juicy and a little crispy...Wouldn’t that be fun for you... Oh, that doesn't matter, it would be fun for me.”

“What are you whispering demon? It seems my flames have yet to strike you down. What is that weird thing amongst your arm? Answer me you foul beast!”

The salivating beast stopped and closed his mouth looking towards Victus.

Scales started to take over the rest of his body, even his hair started to glisten after miniature scales were laid across the strands. The Symbol of Devour slowly started to walk towards Victus whilst flames consumed his entire figure, the sound of scales scraping on the hard floor resounded.

“What are you doing! Back away from me! Cease your actions!” Victus the Flame Queen started to panic, every time Tremis walked closer, the heat increased by an abnormal amount.

With three knocks of her staff on the cold stone floor, three Flame Lances of identical size sped towards the approaching Fire Demon. They came from the North. East, and West. Spotting the danger, Tremis leaned back almost creating a 90-degree angle while his hands were up. The Flame Lance that came from the North was narrowly dodged. The other two were caught inside his scaly grasp.

The heat he was feeling from his own Purgatorial Flames was already a lot, the Flame Lances barely contributed to the heat.

He stood up straight again. The red eyes stared at the corporeal flames and the fire that layered his body started to flicker again menacingly. The black flames started to infuse themselves into the already present embers making a flowing mix of colors.

His right hand went behind his back to charge up his throw and with a step forward, he threw the Stygian Flame Lance towards the terrified Flame Queen.

A dome of pure inferno encased Victus almost instantly before the Lance hit. Right as the Lance made an impact, an explosion of sorts occurred. A blinding light followed by the whole throne room being lit ablaze in almost an instant. The dome weakened to only a few embers.

Just as Victus was about to dispel the Inferno Dome, another Purgatory Lance had been thrown.

The shield was completely destroyed, although it did weaken the Lance somewhat before it hit Victus. The pauldron was hit spot-on, the Lance went right through it and went through the tip of her right shoulder. The right side of her face was singed being as black as soot.

Molten pieces of iron sank into the wound leading to screams of pain echoing throughout the cave almost like a symphony of suffering. The staff that was previously in her hand had dropped to the floor.

She clutched her right shoulder trying to stop the bleeding somehow. Casting a healing spell would take too long and she would be killed by then if she didn't act in some way immediately. Under her breath, she started to chant unbeknownst to Tremis.

“Oh, I got some metal in my meal, that's unfortunate. I didn't expect you to be so weak that, that the Lance would chip off some of your shoulder.”

After displaying his confidence, Victus looked towards him and sneered.

“Summone Ignis Golem!”

A large magic circle with incomprehensible scribings appeared within the air and rocks located around the room started to shake little by little before being pulled to the center of the magic circle. Tremis noticed the oncoming peril he was about to face so he tried to run straight in the magic circle to somehow stop it. Unfortunately, a barrier of sorts stopped him from coming any closer but instead flung him back a few meters.

He ran straight back to the barrier and started pounding down on it to no avail. Within the barrier, the rocks gathered making a muscular stone figure. The figure that was currently forming was on its hands and knees as rocks kept gathering towards its body. Red Mana flowed out of Victus gathering within the creature. Inside the many cracks and crevices that made up its body, lava started to pour within them almost as if they were blood moving around independently.

Ignis stood up slowly revealing all of its muscular glory. Standing at the same height as Tremis, looking straight into his eyes with his lava-filled pupils. Its jaw was open revealing the endless pit of dripping magma. The sweltering substance constantly dripping down onto the floor.

“Attack this foul demon Ignis!”

The Flaming Dreadnought roared at the top of its non-existent lungs. An outcry similar to a bear boomed towards Tremis. His hair flying back from the air produced.

“It’ll be so fun to devour you!”

While Ignis was still roaring, Tremis sped towards him. With a boom coming from behind him he reached the Golem in almost an instant. Crouching down slightly, Tremis jumped and stuck his right hand up. Ignis’ jaw quickly snapped shut when it connected.

Ignis was thrown high up into the air. A large amount of rock that made up its chin degraded some leading to little pebbles falling down onto the floor. A flap of the wings was all it took for Tremis to meet him as the Colossus ascended high almost hitting the ceiling of the cave. He put his arms around the Titan’s legs and wrapped his legs around its rocky chest.

They quickly descended. In only a matter of moments, Ignis’ head connected to the ground. Its head moved in almost a 90-degree angle. The crash caused rocks on the floor and Ignis’ head to be damaged.

Ignis fell onto its back when Tremis had let go. Without hesitation, the Obsidian Goliath started stomping its head without hesitation. After approximately four stomps, Tremis’ right leg was suddenly taken a hold of.

His entire body was thrown into a wall. Not a lot of damage was caused but it was surprising, to say the least. Tremis looked back up at Ignis and it was back up, in fact, it was running towards him. His wings touched the ground and he used it to stabilize himself and stand up without using his hands.

He had dispelled the horns that were on his fingers back when he gave the Walking Mana Pool an uppercut. He formed his hands into fists, his left arm in front of his chest whilst the right arm was protecting his head.

He flapped his wings and his right arm went to his side ready to punch the non-living shit out of this hunk of rock. The Golem was very slow compared to Tremis with only around 400 Agility while Tremis currently had 1307. The fastest was already determined.

His fist connected with the rock and it slid back a meter. He started running around the Golem somewhat taunting it for its slow speed.

Ignis was getting confused trying to follow the blurry figure. Suddenly, a large hit connected to its left cheek. Its head snapped to the right while its cheek cracked. Another ‘BOOM’ reverberated as its right cheek was then hit.

Although it couldn’t show its emotions, Ignis was starting to get pretty pissed off.

It started to wildly swing at wherever it thought Tremis would be. Missing every hit wasn’t helping its gradually declining confidence. Tremis started to run away from the Goliath trying to go quite a ways away. Then after he got far enough away, he started to run straight for the Goliath.

Ignis could obviously see the blurry figure coming towards it so it got ready to punch. Tremis smiled. He hopped a little and put both of his feet in front of him preparing to dropkick Ignis’ fist.

The soles of his feet connected with the rocky boulder. Tremis at the time had the tougher body and more impact behind his attack so obviously, he overpowered Ignis’ punch. Its fist started to shake and multiple cracks could visibly be seen spreading across its rocky knuckles.

He again used his wings to stand up straight as he got ready to punch the Golem. The Golem with its left fist threw a jab towards Tremis’ sides. He quickly shifted his body weight to his right. The Golem’s knuckles partly hit his side but it was all good with his scales protecting him.

Tremis started to forget about everything except the Golem in front of him. His mind was running on endorphins and adrenaline since he found something he could punch and toy with for a little while. He didn't use his full speed since he didn't want the fight to be too easy, he couldn’t bear to end it that quickly.

Ignis launched another left jab but it was caught within Tremis’ grasp. It then threw out a right jab but again it was caught. More cracks spread throughout its already heavily damaged fist from the tight hold.

Tremis’ flames around his body started to flicker again as he tried to infuse the Golem with his flames. The flames around his hands moved to the golem and tried to seep into the lava within the crevices.

Ignis roared loudly as it could feel some of its energy draining away from its being. It tried to pull on its hands but there was no luck in getting them free. It swung its head forward and bashed into Tremis’ armored skull.

A sudden headache attacked Tremis as he loosened his grip on the Titan somewhat. Ignis took his left hand out of his hand and gave a heavy punch to Tremis’ chest.

At this point, Tremis relinquished all strength he used to keep Ignis’ right hand in a hold. All the wind was knocked out of his lungs and he could feel a crunch when he was punched. He was sure one of his ribs was either fractured or broken.

Immediately, he launched a left straight right to Ignis’ head. Its head snapped back and Tremis used the opportunity to hit it right in the core. The Rocky Goliath’s back arched somewhat and Tremis started wailing on its chest. Eventually, it put its rock arms in front of its chest to block some of the blows.

A few moments past when Tremis’ fists started to hurt after punching so much. He stopped for a moment and that's when Ignis started to attack.

It brought its right foot up and delivered a roundhouse kick aimed for Tremis’ skull. With some time, Tremis put his left arm up covering the left side of his head and his other hand in front of his face while he crouched down some.

Tremis could feel another crack in his forearm as he slid to the side. A piece of bone was somewhat sticking out of his skin but it couldn’t be seen by the scales covering it but it sure could be felt.

Tremis ran straight back to Ignis and delivered a right elbow straight to the side of its face.

…

Tremis felt like a long time had passed but he couldn’t really tell. He was enjoying the fight so much that he didn’t concern himself with other matters. The only thing he was focused on was what attack he should do next.

Ignis had gotten a few more hits into his legs and arms over the course of time passing. Tremis’ other horn was broken within the same time frame. Tremis was sure that when the adrenaline wore off, all the injuries would hurt like a bitch.

Right in the middle of punching Ignis in the shoulder, Tremis suddenly felt weak. Most of his energy started to leave him and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

His body suddenly stopped right when the punch was about to connect. His chest started to cave in. His arms started to disappear and dispersed to gather within his chest. His body got on its knees as they soon too disappeared. What was left was a 7 ft tall Tremis on all fours with his blood-stained pants on.

[+94 Strength +41 Agility +48 Defense +16 Intelligence]

Out of my face.

Ignis was confused as to why the Demon birthed a smaller Demon. It paid it no heed as it kicked Tremis in his side.

A multitude of cracks could be heard as 5 other ribs had just broken. He started to roll across the floor getting a multitude of scratches on his skin.

He tried to get up but he had some difficulty breathing and the pain was almost too much. After some tries, he got back up but he was swaying side to side as he looked at the Golem.

No more playing around, if I don't finish this right now then im a dead man. This is what I get for being too confident and playing around for a bit. But it was so fun!

Tremis’ wings grew back again as he used them to flap towards the Golem. He was still quite faster than Ignis but just in case he activated {Lightning Body Enhancement} giving him an Agility of 933. He also activated {Harden Scales} again so he could be ready for what he was about to do.

He leaped straight for Ignis’ face and wrapped his arms around its head. He grew the horns on his fingertips again causing a fair amount of pain but he was numb to it at this point. He stuck the horns inside the crevices in the rocks and the magma within them start to burn the horn increasing the amount of pain he was feeling.

Ignis started to panic as it had a fair idea of what Tremis was trying to do. It grabbed his sides and tried to pull him off but Tremis just held on tighter and activated {Constrict} making sure he couldn’t be pulled off. The Stygian Flames flickered and appeared on both of his arms.

Ignis started to panic even more and grabbed Tremis’ wings. With all the strength it had, it ripped off his wings causing a grotesque tearing noise to resound. Tremis screamed as loud as his lungs allowed him to. The pain that just increased incentivized him to continue without passing out.

He stuck his hands in deeper causing his horns to be fully submerged in the lava as he started to infuse the flames into the Golem again. With more focus, Tremis created more and more flame to be submerged into the Golem’s body.

He could feel his Mana quickly draining.

Ignis roared starting to fumble around and flail around its arms. It kept tried to pull off Tremis and even started to slam its fist into his back but although a few cracks were heard, nothing stopped.

Tremis’ whole body was then set ablaze as he tried to put more flames into the Mana Being. He looked straight into the eyes of the Golem and activated {Eyes of True Terror}.

“Look into my eyes.”

The roaring continued until it finally stopped. The Golem stopped moving and small cracks could be heard. The number of cracks slowly started to increase until the Golem’s body just fell onto the floor with its back touching the floor. The magma that was inside the Golem started to turn dim and gradually hardened.

[{Eyes of True Terror} has leveled up!]

Tremis looked down at the corpse of Ignis and sighed.

That's that problem dealt with… Wait, wasn’t the-

Before Tremis could finish his thought he felt a sudden heat throughout his body and pain through his chest. He looked down and he saw a giant corporeal Flame Claymore stabbed through his chest. In fact, it had gone right through his heart.

He coughed up the hot blood that was coursing through his body. His mind was soon fading consciousness after his brain was not being provided oxygen.

“Have you forgotten about me, dear?”

Fuck, such a cliche...