Demonic Devourer's Development

As soon as I heard that, I grabbed Aivena and bolted. My heart caught in my chest when I approached the invisible border… and then leapt with joy when I crossed it without a hitch. Only now did the feeling of freedom hit me fully. Freedom! I still had the Twelve Bastards on my tail, but who cared if they caught me tomorrow—I was free now!

Filled with elation, I flew in a straight line, enjoying the icy winds, the speed, and the pure lack of obstacles in my way. Only mountains below and the sky above—no walls, no cages, nothing to stop me.

Then suddenly, a deafening sound of thunder threw me to the side, almost making me let go of Aivena. I got too distracted in the end, and WAS able to cast spells silently… but she was wrong if she thought that a single 'Thunder Call' would save her now.

I grabbed Aivena by the throat again and closed my fingers until her face, already pale from pain and cold, began to turn bluish from the lack of air, too. It was time for her punishment. The air, though, wasn't the most convenient place for it. It was only a matter of time until I would have to fight off some bird or a griffin or another monster.

I gave Aivena just enough air to not kill her too soon and glanced below me. I didn't have to look hard to spot a triangular crack in a cliff, big enough to fit both me and Aivena. Not a cave, but a decent shelter.

Soon, I found it was free, too. It wasn't big enough to save those inside from the wind and snow fully, though. I could've made a web cover for the entrance, but with Aivena around, I didn't want to risk her gathering concentration for another spell.

Now she looked worse than before. The cold hardened her nipples into tiny pebbles and whitened her leftover fingers and toes. I couldn't leave her like that if I wanted her to not die in the next half an hour… She didn't even have clothes.

'Pest, I remember you could create magic fire… can you warm Aivena up with it?'

'I sure can… do we need to, though? I'd like to see her freezing to death…'

'That's too easy for her. Heat her up, Pest.' I didn't want Aivena to see his abilities if I could avoid it, but it was more important to keep her alive for now.

'Fine, Master.'

While Pest did his magic, I put Aivena to the floor and glued her to it with my web. Even then, she was visibly shivering, and her skin was covered in gooseflesh. Some blood dripped out of the wound left by my teeth to the cold ground, but it was a tiny amount. No, she wasn't going to bleed to death—not with me putting tourniquets on her.

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should take off her gag. She could cast spells with it, but it seemed to be harder for her. It wasn't as nice to gloat when she couldn't respond, but… I will live. She won't.

"Alright, Aivena. You've been a good girl and opened the barrier… but before that, you've been a total bitch. So what I will do with you now is purely for my pleasure." I grinned at the fear in Aivena's eyes. "You kept me hungry, Aivena, when you shouldn't have kept me at all."

Out of nowhere, tongues of flame appeared in the air around Aivena. Pest's magic. They were small, but their heat was tangible and spread evenly. Aivena's shivers lessened almost immediately, but her visible surprise at the sight of the fires was replaced with fear again when I lowered my mouth to her mauled wrist.

It was absolutely deserved.

I went good on my promise. I bit off her flesh in small pieces, and the tourniquets didn't let Aivena bleed out. She won't live long after that treatment anyway, I knew that much, not without medical attention—but I didn't need her to live. I needed her to die, but slowly.

I wanted to break her mind before letting her go. This was the only way I could erase myself from Aivena's memory, and to destroy her as a witness. And it only helped that I enjoyed the process immensely.

Aivena's flesh tasted like the sweetest honey on my tongue, even though objectively it wasn't different from that of any other young and healthy human woman. Soft, but not as soft as a pig or a cow raised for slaughter. Her muffled screams, her tears, her wordless pleas were what made me savour each bite.

Then, I drank her tears, too.

The scent of her blood in the air attracted animals. A few times, I was distracted by predators and scavengers looking for food, but I scared them off with wind blades without moving away from Aivena.

I had to give it to her—she held admirably. Her cries turned into quiet sobs by the time I finished both her hands. She fainted a few times now and then, but it was nothing some snow in the face couldn't cure.

Aivena was still here when her only limb left was her right leg, but I didn't reach her knee when she went just… blank. Quiet. I've seen a state like that before—on souls that couldn't bear the tortures of Hell anymore, who lost all their memories and was one breath away from flying off to reincarnation.

I imagined, if Aivena died now, she could skip afterlife and go straight to the Wheel of Reincarnation, too. Which could only work well for me.

I still didn't hurry as I finished the rest of her leg and didn't hurry when I began to gnaw on the rest of her. Only when I noticed Aivena wasn't breathing anymore, did I swallow what was left of her in a few bites and flew off.

Now I was acting on borrowed time.

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