Chapter 50

With a scream that tore across the Black Moon, Wil unleashed the hunger within him. The winds howled, kicking up black dirt, creating a swirling vortex that reached the sky. The obsidian pillars wailed, a high pitch shriek from the vibrations Wil’s power created.

Erebus shouted, cursing Wil as his power swept over her. She could feel his mana pressing down on her, seeking out the infection from within her body, a hunter stalking its prey.

On and on Wil’s scream lingered, growing stronger as the hungry void within him took control. To Secundus, huddled against the ground, her hands pressed against her ears to protect from herself from the noise, it was as if she were witnessing a battle between two behemoths, the hungry beast that Wil had become, against the tidal wave of infection that covered the black moon.

The stalemate lasted only moments, but felt as if they stretched for eons. In the end, against Wil’s endless hunger, nothing could resist, and the obsidian pillars were the first to succumb. They crumbled, turning to black dust, the vibrations destroying them from within. Their shrieking remained, echoing for long moments after they had disappeared.

His mouth wide open, his double set of teeth white against the black, Wil inhaled the black dust. It swirled into the sky, forming a black cloud that funnelled into his open jaws. The void within trembled at the taste, the delicious sweetness of the infection nearly threw him into pleasurous delirium.

Erebus’s shout turned to a scream of agony as Wil’s mana dug into her body, pulling the infection that rampaged within her out of the wounds on her side. Streaks of black tar flowed, not touching the ground as it shot towards the Wil’s waiting mouth. She collapsed onto the ground, sinking into the soft black soil, unable to stand without the obsidian pillars support.

The other gods fell to the ground, released from their bindings, laying prone and unconscious. Black tar flew from their bodies, a steady stream as Wil cleansed their forms.

More and more of the infection left Erebus, devoured by Wil. As it did so, her body took on her former appearance, before the black tar had ravaged her body. Her pale skin, unblemished in the starlight, shone beautifully. Her black hair framed a perfect face, highlighted by a pair of blue eyes.

As the infection fled, her mind recovered, the horror of what she had done, the betrayal she had committed, pressed down upon her. The guilt ripped her apart, and she cried as she relived her crimes. She was shaken from her memories by Wil’s scream, the roar growing in power as he consumed the infection from the gods.

New power raged through him. The black mana inside his core, balanced by crimson and gold, began to overtake the others. There was too much darkness, too much infection, for even him to consume. In response, he funnelled everything into the void within, all his mana, everything that he had, went into his hunger.

He devoured himself, leaving nothing behind.

The ocean of black tar, bubbling and burning, was swept away from Wil’s power, a cleansing wave that consumed everything in its path, leaving only bare, black soil in its wake. Throughout the Black Moon, devouring mana drank the oceans, a purifying surge of magic that gathered the infection, engulfing it and carrying it back to Wil.

The void within Wil grew wildly, surpassing the boundaries he had established to contain it. It was fierce and chaotic, wild, and completely out of control. He didn’t even both trying to rein it in, he let it run free. It consumed the infection in his body, taking it away. Where it all went, he didn’t know, the void was endless, the power it contained as vast as the universe itself.

The black moon, once covered in oceans of black tar, was swept clean, not a trace of the infection that once plagued it remained. Wil roared, the void within him surging with power, so much that he could not contain it. His gold and crimson mana swirled slowly in its vortex. His draconic bloodline was gone, the essence drained and consumed.

His scream cut off as the last remaining dregs of infection was devoured. Like a ravenous beast, the void turned on him, searching for more to feed on. It soon found the remains of his mana core, the golden mana within leaked into its blackness. With the draconic essence gone, it latched onto his Archdevil remnants, taken from Mammon.

Wil collapsed onto his knees, his body reverting to being truly human once again. As the last of his mana was devoured, he found himself weaker than he had ever been before. He was Rankless, less powerful than ever, even when he was at the academy. He had truly become a waste once more, Wilhelm the Wastrel had returned.

Despite his weakness, the void within him grew, feasting on his former powers.

“Wil!” Secundus screamed, dashing forward, and leaving the spot where Wil had commanded her to stay. His magic had failed, freeing her. Reaching his side, she knelt beside him, gripping his arm and shoulder to prevent him from falling.

“What have you done?!” She whispered, horrified at the state he was in. His mana was gone, and she could feel the darkness within him growing. His body was changed, reverted back to the appearance she had known him by. His hair was no longer white, his skin pale and drawn, his teeth ordinary. The devilishness was gone, stolen by the hunger, along with his draconic heritage.

“What was necessary. Don’t worry, Secundus. What is broken, can always be mended.” Wil whispered.

Ignoring the goddess by his side, he focused his piercing blue eyes on Erebus. The goddess of the Black Moon stared in horror. She felt the hunger within him, raging out of control. Soon, it would consume his body, and once it was unleashed, nothing would be left.

“The Pact, Erebus. This is your only chance. Form the pact with me, relinquish your powers to me, or nothing will remain.” Wil stated simply, wincing in pain as the void within fed.

“What are you…?” Secundus started to speak, before Wil raised a hand to shush her.

“Choose. This hunger cannot be contained by a mortal. Once it’s free, you, this moon, even Secundus, will die. It will devour everything. Do what is right, Erebus.” Wil said, waiting. He could see the struggle on the Night Goddesses face, her unwillingness to give in, to die. But he left her with no choice.

“Do it, Sister! For once in your life, think of someone else!” Secundus shouted, turning to her sister with spite. Erebus flinched at the words.

“I…very well. I, Erebus of the Black Moon, enter a Pact with Wilhelm Brookmoor.” Erebus said, regret and reluctance plain to see on her face and in her words. With the sentence complete, she closed her eyes, feeling a profound sense of loss.

From her body, a single spark of light, a shard of divinity, rose slowly. It spun, sending streaks of light across the black ground. Like a star, it sparkled in the Night sky, before shooting downwards towards Wil.

Snatching it out of the air, Wil breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a small shred of divine mana emanate from the shard. Opening his white robe, Wil winced as he used his free hand to feel along his belly, searching with his senses for the void within him.

It was easy to find, the black void of hunger had consumed his core, replacing it.

“Step back, Secundus.” He advised, holding his hand with the shard aloft. Gripping the light, he slammed his hand down onto his belly, the divine mana within the shard splitting open his body. With it, he grasped the void tightly, wrapping it with the divine mana, clamping down on the darkness and ripping it from his body.

With a scream of agony, Wil pulled his bloody hand from his stomach, the shard’s light died crimson. Pulsating, he lifted it to his eyes, seeing the crimson light containing a swirling black vortex, a void of hungry energy that his devilish transformation had created.

It was only due to his Pact with Erebus that he could contain it, but even then, his hold was tenuous, the vortex too dangerous to leave exposed. He would need to use it, to forge it into an item of extraordinary power, but connected to him. To do so, he would need…

Standing, gripping the vortex in his bloody hand, he channelled his mana, drawing on his knowledge of conjuration to create a container capable of containing the void.

With a scream, he slammed his hand into the black soil, burying the swirling void into the surface of the black moon. The moon shuddered in response, cracks appeared on its surface. Waves of mana shot out from his hand, the ground undulated in response, like a wave across the ocean.