Part I — The Hunger Within
DING.
The familiar sound echoed inside my mind.
I frowned.
> [Bloodline Devouring System Online.]
I stopped mid-flight.
The words remained suspended before my consciousness.
Something felt wrong.
The system had already activated when I entered Neraphyx.
So why was it repeating itself?
Then—
DING.
> [Bloodline Devouring System Online.]
My expression hardened.
The red interface appeared before me again.
It wasn't the blue interface I had grown accustomed to.
This one was different.
Deeper.
More ominous.
Then another notification appeared.
> [Passive Bloodline Ability Activated.]
My eyes narrowed.
Another line slowly formed beneath it.
> [Devour.]
For a moment...
Nothing happened.
Then I felt it.
A strange sensation spread through my body.
It started deep within my chest.
Then spread through every vein.
Every muscle.
Every cell.
My expression changed.
What was this?
Then—
Hunger.
Not ordinary hunger.
Not the kind that came from an empty stomach.
This was something deeper.
Something primal.
Something that seemed to come from the very foundation of my existence.
A ravenous hunger.
My body suddenly felt like a black hole.
The surrounding Energy began rushing toward me.
WHOOSH!
The demonic Energy in the air twisted violently.
It was pulled toward my body from every direction.
I didn't absorb it.
I devoured it.
There was a difference.
Energy normally entered the body gradually.
It was refined.
Purified.
Controlled.
But this...
My body swallowed everything.
Like a bottomless void that could never be filled.
I widened my eyes.
"What..."
The moment the thought appeared, the hunger became stronger.
More.
I needed more.
My instincts screamed at me.
DEVOUR.
My body responded.
The surrounding demonic Energy surged toward me even faster.
I finally understood what the new system meant.
Devour.
It wasn't an ordinary absorption ability.
It was a command.
A fundamental instinct.
My body was treating the Energy around me as something that belonged inside me.
Something that needed to be consumed.
But there was something strange about the Energy itself.
I had always called it Demonic Energy.
But perhaps that name was misleading.
It wasn't naturally demonic.
Not originally.
My eyes narrowed as memories surfaced.
From the information the system had given me when I entered Neraphyx, fragments of knowledge began connecting together.
In the Primordial Chaos...
When Zeraphyx was first formed and continued expanding...
Neraphyx had not yet existed in its current state.
There had been no demons.
No civilizations.
No endless battlefield.
No Land of Endless Death.
There had only been an endless void.
A vast, empty expanse containing neutral Energy.
Then Zeraphyx was formed.
And something changed.
Negative Energy from Zeraphyx began flowing into Neraphyx.
It polluted the neutral Energy.
The once-balanced Energy became violent.
Unstable.
Aggressive.
Then the first creatures emerged.
Creatures born from rage.
Hatred.
Hunger.
Destruction.
Negative emotions.
And they polluted the Energy even further.
Generation after generation...
The corruption continued.
Until the Energy itself became what the inhabitants of Neraphyx now called—
Demonic Energy.
My expression became thoughtful.
So this wasn't simply Energy belonging to demons.
It was Energy that had been transformed by countless ages of negative influence.
And now...
My body was devouring it.
The amount entering my body continued increasing.
My stomach didn't feel full.
My body didn't feel satisfied.
If anything...
The more I consumed...
The hungrier I became.
I frowned.
That wasn't normal.
I had absorbed enormous quantities of Energy before.
Yet there had always been a limit.
Eventually, my body became saturated.
But this ability had no such limit.
It simply kept asking for more.
Then—
CRACK!
Red lightning erupted around my body.
I immediately felt something change.
The impurities contained within the Energy were beginning to settle inside me.
My expression turned serious.
So that was the problem.
Demonic Energy might be useful for cultivation.
But it wasn't pure.
Its violent nature could affect the mind.
Too much of it could overwhelm one's consciousness.
That was how demons were born.
Powerful creatures reduced to mindless beasts.
And now...
My own ability was forcing enormous quantities of that Energy into my body.
My jaw tightened.
"Not good."
CRACK!
Another bolt of red lightning exploded across my skin.
The burning sensation spread through my body.
The red stripes on my skin began moving.
They spread across my chest.
My arms.
My legs.
My neck.
Then my face.
The markings burned like living flames.
My right blue iris suddenly changed.
The blue vanished.
Red replaced it.
My two eyes were now crimson.
For an instant...
I couldn't recognize myself.
Then the hunger surged again.
Stronger.
Much stronger.
DEVOUR.
The voice wasn't coming from the System.
It was coming from somewhere deeper.
Somewhere inside me.
DEVOUR.
My fingers tightened.
DEVOUR EVERYTHING.
"Shut up."
My voice was low.
But the hunger didn't listen.
It grew.
My body filled with overwhelming power.
Too much.
Far too much.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A violent explosion erupted from me.
The shockwave tore across the surrounding landscape.
Dust and debris were launched into the air.
Red lightning crawled across my body.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
The lightning struck the ground.
Then the air.
Then even my own flesh.
It wasn't simply attacking the surroundings.
It was tearing through me.
My muscles tightened.
My veins bulged.
Every cell screamed beneath the pressure.
I clenched my teeth.
The hunger was beginning to affect my mind.
Thoughts became slower.
Instincts became louder.
I wanted to consume.
Everything.
The mountains.
The Energy.
The demons.
Anything that contained power.
Anything that could satisfy this emptiness.
My breathing became heavier.
Then—
THUD.
My left heart beat.
THUD.
Again.
THUD.
Again.
Each beat sounded like a war drum.
The violent Energy within my left side surged.
The red stripes burned brighter.
A beast seemed to awaken within my blood.
But my right heart answered.
THUD.
Calm.
Steady.
Controlled.
Like a beast that had awakened from sleep...
And was now watching its enraged counterpart.
The two forces collided.
BOOOOOOM!!!
More Energy erupted.
My body shook.
I lowered my head.
My hair fell over my eyes.
For several seconds...
I remained completely still.
Then I whispered—
"I'm hungry."
That was the only thought left in my mind.
Hungry.
The word repeated.
Again.
And again.
And again.
My senses suddenly sharpened.
The world became clearer.
I could hear distant movements.
The wind brushing against the barren earth.
The movement of insects beneath the ground.
The faint vibrations of creatures thousands of meters away.
Even their Energy signatures became clear.
My sense of smell became absurd.
Blood.
Sweat.
Demonic Energy.
Life.
Everything became distinct.
My brain processed the information at an incredible speed.
A thousand times faster than an ordinary supercomputer.
The knowledge the System had given me when I arrived in Neraphyx began organizing itself inside my mind.
Maps.
Terrain.
Demon classifications.
Energy concentrations.
Possible threats.
Resources.
Everything.
My eyes slowly opened.
Then—
ROOOOOAR!!!
A roar erupted from the depths of my soul.
But it didn't come from my mouth.
It came from my bloodline.
A phantom appeared behind me.
A massive tiger.
Red.
Its body covered in burning crimson stripes.
Its eyes glowed like two miniature blood-red suns.
The phantom opened its enormous jaws.
DEVOUR.
The surrounding Energy suddenly collapsed inward.
Thousands of miles of demonic Energy were dragged toward me.
The barren wilderness trembled.
The sky distorted.
The land shook.
Then—
WHOOOOOOOM!!!
The Energy disappeared.
Every trace of it was swallowed.
Gone.
Yet the result was completely different from what I expected.
I should have felt satisfied.
Instead...
My hunger became even stronger.
My expression darkened.
"So that's how it is."
The more I devoured...
The more I wanted.
A vicious cycle.
A power that could potentially make me stronger at an incredible rate...
While simultaneously turning me into the very thing I hated.
A mindless beast.
I closed my eyes.
I forced my breathing to slow.
I forced my mind to remain calm.
The beast inside me continued roaring.
But I refused to surrender.
I had spent seven years forging my body.
Seven years forging my will.
Seven years surviving situations where one mistake meant death.
I wasn't going to lose my mind because of hunger.
Not now.
Not ever.
My eyes opened again.
The crimson stars within them burned brighter.
"If you want to devour..."
I clenched my fist.
"...then I'll decide what you devour."
The hunger went silent.
Only for a moment.
But that moment was enough.
My senses swept across the wilderness.
Searching.
Finding.
Until—
Something caught my attention.
A presence.
Powerful.
Alive.
My eyes narrowed.
A target had entered my range.
The hunger inside me immediately responded.
My lips slowly curled into a faint smile.
"Found you."
My body leaned forward.
The red stripes across my body burned like flames.
The crimson tiger phantom behind me disappeared into my body.
Then—
BOOM!!!
I exploded forward.
And for the first time since arriving in Neraphyx...
I began my first hunt.