Depthless Hunger

Kai had been concerned about finding the right timing, but he got an opportunity almost immediately after leaving the city. Krugbash was traveling off on his own, hunting some sort of sacred beast. Time to finally pay his dues and eliminate a problem in the same stroke.

"Alright." Kai turned back to the demon beside him and braced himself. "Make it realistic."

"You bet!" Gorutiel created a blood scythe and tore through his stomach.

"Not... that realistic..." Kai staggered back, only his hands preventing his guts from spilling out. Fuck, that hurt. Since he wasn't in the middle of battle he wasn't prepared for the pain and couldn't push through in the same way.

Still, it was what he wanted. He stumbled away, toward Krugbash's path. The injury wasn't quite as bad as it looked, and Behemoth's Heart was already beating to heal him, but it was easy to pretend to be half-dead. When he got close, Krugbash saw him and stared.

"Help..." Kai took another step and then dropped to one knee, grimacing.

"What happened to you?" Krugbash took a step closer, looking around the area to see if anyone was watching.

"I need help..."

"Looks like you didn't really learn the Savage Creed." Krugbash grinned down at him and transformed one arm into a serpent's maw again. "Like I always said, you're soft. I'd like to take my time making this painful, but maybe I'd better just finish it."

In theory, that was the moment Gorutiel was supposed to step in. But there was no sign of the demon and no one to stop Krugbash from attacking.

Kai grabbed the man's wrist before it could strike his neck, but the serpent's head twisted, burying fangs into his arm. He just barely managed to push back to his feet, and in that time Krugbash transformed his other arm into a claw and swiped down. It was the most Kai could do to block it with his forearm, and the claws cut to the bone.

They staggered a moment, both locked in place. Krugbash moved first, kicking Kai in his injured stomach. He fell back, almost giving way... but he hadn't been working this long on his monstrous abilities for nothing.

When Kai's leg swept up, a Tyrant's Claw exploded from his foot. It tore through his boot and ripped three slashes through his opponent's chest.

That nearly took out Krugbash, but then he let out a roar and transformed fully, fur sprouting over his body. Two arms lashed out as serpents, binding Kai's arms in place before he could defend. Krugbash grew nearly a foot and his face distorted into jaws, massive fangs glistening before they opened in another roar. Kai could barely keep his balance and didn't have another trick, but he roared back.

Hands clapped around Krugbash's head, crushing it. Kai recoiled from the gore and winced as the fangs tore their way out of his arms.

Gorutiel stood behind the Savage Heart user, cheerfully wiping off his hands. "That was great!"

"Why'd you wait so long?" Kai demanded. The pain had been off his mind during the battle, but now all those fang-stabs were aching something fierce. Presumably some sort of venom that Behemoth's Heart had to work to purge.

"Come on, where's the fun if you don't work for it?" Gorutiel stepped close and clapped him on the back. "I love seeing you in combat, man! You seem so weak, then damn!"

There was no sense arguing with the demon when he was like this. Kai retreated a step and focused on recovery while Gorutiel bent down next to the corpse. The demon stiffened his fingers and then stabbed them into the fur-covered back. He drew something out of the body, blood red and pulsing with chakra, and pulled it toward his face. Gorutiel's eyes were always red, but now they glowed enough to illuminate his entire face in hellish tones.

When he swallowed the crimson mass, for a moment his body seemed to glow and then all the light vanished into the darkness. Gorutiel let out a long, low chuckle as if he'd just heard a joke that was growing on him. He shifted his weight back and forth, rolling his shoulders, and let out a low hiss.

Despite himself, Kai set his feet and prepared to fight if necessary.

"Ahhh, that was worth it." Gorutiel hadn't even seemed to notice Kai's discomfort and was grinning broadly. In front of Kai's eyes, the demon's power rose another point closer to a thousand. "The Savage Heart isn't all that, but it makes for some good prey."

"So you got what you wanted? I filled my end of the deal?" Kai asked.

"Sure, whatever." Gorutiel's expression shifted to more of a smirk. "What about you, are you satisfied? You couldn't bring yourself to just kill an enemy in cold blood, so you had to let him try to kill you first? That's pretty funny, man. Ballsy, but funny."

"Yeah, I've been mocked before. I had to give him a chance, no matter how stupid you think it was."

"Nah! A man's gotta have a code, even if it's 'fuck codes, I'll do what I want!' At least you've got the guts to back it up."

"So glad to get your approval." Kai was feeling physically better, which always lifted his spirits as well. But there was one major problem left. "I hope the fact that you got what you wanted won't mean the whole deal is off."

"Might as well. Anything that pisses Lilaetiel off is worth doing." Gorutiel folded his arms lazily, as satisfied as a well-fed predator. Or perhaps there was no simile, that was literally what he was. "You going to stick around here? I'd bet you could do a lot more with the Savage Heart than this idiot."

"You're the only one who thinks that way. I still can't push through."

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"If you ask me, you need to forget about all their nonsense. Spirit animal this and sacred beast that. You've got a lot more in common with a demon. It'd be great if you were one, actually. Could treat you like a little brother instead of getting hungry."

"Demons don't eat each other?"

"Of course they do!" Gorutiel laughed. "So much worse than humans, who never kill one another, right?"

Despite himself, Kai laughed too. He would never have guessed it at the beginning, but he actually liked the demon - certainly more than Krugbash or most of the other Savage Creed followers. And he actually made a good point: humans could be monstrous on their own. Someone like Kai, whose soul was separated even from demons, wasn't going to judge everyone so quickly.

"Well, I already pointed out that you're moving faster than I did at your age," Gorutiel said, "so fuck what I say. Keep doing what you're doing. But don't let these animal heads get you on the wrong track, alright? You gotta be yourself in the end."

He disappeared into dark smoke, leaving Kai contemplating his words. Back when he'd first tried to adapt to chakra on Rosemount, he'd needed to ignore the normal paths and pursue something more personal to him. An advanced ability like the Savage Heart couldn't be equally simple... could it?

.

..

.

Three days later, Kai was ready to test his theory. In the time it'd taken him to fully heal, he'd planned out his next attempt, and now he was fully gorged on the meat of sacred beasts. Chakra was pumping through him, trying to ignite into a Savage Heart just like it had before.

But this time, Kai didn't reach for any natural emotions. Chakra was intuitive and embodied, which he'd been taking wrong. He'd never planned to imitate sacred beasts or adhere to some stupid code. This had always been a means to an end.

So Kai reached for the hunger in his soul and drew it over to the other side.

Instantly his body convulsed painfully. He'd frequently used his mana and other human energies to fuel his monstrous abilities, but he'd never done the reverse before. It felt wrong at first, then suddenly right: as if he'd tied his soul into a tangle that, when pulled, swiftly condensed into a tight knot.

A sound emerged from his soul, not a howl but a monstrous growl. He could feel the new power inside him, but his pulse was pounding too much to focus on it. Instead of another heartbeat, he still felt Behemoth's Heart inside him, but its sound rushed in his ears so violently it threatened to overwhelm his mind.

Suddenly he had to eat something. Kai tore off into the wilderness, hunting for his prey. One of the twelve sacred beasts was called a bloodprong. Just a month ago, it had been his most difficult quarry, but now he pinpointed one almost immediately.

As he ran it down, Kai could feel that something was shifting in his legs. Every time his feet hit the earth, other muscles flickered around his legs, as if there was more power driving him on. It wasn't a full transformation and it didn't tear his pants apart, it was more like the transformations from the Savage Heart users. Not exactly the same, because it was drawing out monstrous power, but it finally worked.

When he ran down the bloodprong he was almost disappointed how easy it was. Instead of just pinning it, he reached out his arm and swung a Tyrant's Claw to finish it instantly.

To his shock, in that moment his hand became a true claw. He saw the gnarled black flesh of a monster, ending in taloned fingers that reminded him of the Claw Tyrant, but it was more than that. His joints were more like the Rockspider that he had fused into that ability, and there were other pieces that seemed to be unique. The transformation disappeared a moment later, but the sight was seared into his mind.

Kai was so distracted that he completely forgot about his prey. Fortunately, it was currently falling in dead pieces.

He lunged down beside it and nearly tore into it with his real teeth before regaining control. The Savage Heart ability was definitely influencing his mind while he used it and he needed to keep an eye on that. As an exercise in control, Kai restrained his hunger and carefully injected the bloodprong with Omilaena's syringe before he ate his fill.

Now that he was sated, Kai's mind felt still again. He turned his spiritual sight inward and looked at his soul for the first time since the change.

Name: Kai Clanless

Total Power: 436

Cultivation: Body Refinement 47% (109)

Savage Heart: 4 (43)

Physique Level: D-4 (220)

Soul Level: 8 (64)

Monstrous Hunger - XI (lambda)

Behemoth's Heart - VIII (theta)

Direboar's Strength - XI (lambda)

Isulfr's Bite - VIII (theta)

Tyrant's Claw - IX (iota)

Thunderbird (???)

-

Void Gaze - VI (zeta)

Baleful Breath - IV (delta)

Sahagin's Soul - VII (eta)

Garuda's Wing - VII (eta)

Pegasus's Grace - VI (zeta)

Mutefang's Stealth - IX (iota)

Lizarkyl's Tail - V (epsilon)

Direurchin's Spikes - V (epsilon)

Wallcrawler's Feet - III (gamma)

Crystal Slime - I (beta)

Dreamleech - I (alpha)

Abominalgum - I (alpha)

Rose Piranha - II (beta)

Bloodtrap - III (gamma)

Deathvine - I (alpha)

Banchlain - V (epsilon)

Unicorn (???)

Bloodprong (???)

>

The new strength was his largest jump in Power in months, putting him well over 400, but what mattered even more was the potential. With this he could use his monstrous abilities more effectively, and even more importantly it granted access to new growth. His human soul had opened up new space for monstrous abilities, which would only help the Savage Heart grow, which would just give him even more options.

"You actually did it." Tyorcut jogged up beside him, eyes wide. "Did I see your body already shifting?"

"Is it not supposed to?" Kai asked. Even trying to focus on his hunger, he wasn't able to shift his hands stably - either it had to be in combat or he needed more practice.

"Usually people develop the Savage Heart first, then once it's built up enough strength they start to change." She shook her head. "But you came to us with more knowledge of beasts than most. You're finally one of us for real now. Feel like celebrating?"

"I feel like training. How long will it take me to fully transform?"

"That's the most powerful ability of Savage Heart! You're not going to master it for years. Besides, the more you transform, the more your bestial mind is in control. You need to build up more control first."

Kai grinned and he thought his teeth changed just a little. "Try me."

Over the next weeks he tested his new abilities to the limit, slowly gaining confidence along with strength. The transformation increased the intensity of all his abilities, but he couldn't manage a stable shift yet. Maybe that was for the best, because he wasn't entirely sure how his mind would change once he managed it.

Tyorcut seemed to believe that he'd be overcome with desire if he did, because she kept pressing him with her lingam exercises. No matter how many chakra aphrodisiacs she fed him, however, he stayed firm. Kai wasn't good with flirting or women in general, but "don't have sex" was an attainable goal.

He was far more interested in his own training. When he was alone, he tried to draw on the Thunderbird essence and see if he couldn't grow wings. Sometimes he thought he saw a flicker of something, and he would burst into the air as if he'd caught a draft, but it never lasted.

Clearly he needed to finally formalize the Thunderbird essence into an ability, but Kai was glad he'd waited. Now that he understood just how flexible his body could be, he could use more of its power. It was going to take a lot of work, but it would be worth it. Given two more months training in the wilderness, he thought he could raise the Savage Heart's power substantially and fuse his final Thunderbird ability.

He didn't have two months. Two days after Kai made his long term training plans, Ceryyn appeared in front of him surrounded by teleportation winds.

"Kai!" She was panting for breath, but forced herself on. "You have to... come back now... or your friends are going to die!

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