Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 92 Hunger

"Greetings, young demo--What??? What is a human doing here?!! HOW DARE YOU!!! INTRUDER!!! DIE!!!"

Disoriented by the entry into the soul world of the memory core, Lars' head was spinning as he heard the furious voice roaring at him - then Lars' eyes bulged as he saw a flaming sword descend straight towards his spirit body!

All he could see in his eyes was that one magnificent blade strike, all he could see was the furious scowling expression of the wielder of the sword!

'LARSSSSS!!!!!' Kizorik whose mental state was already reeling and dizzy from the translocation also hollered at the top of its lungs and screamed out to the boy!

At that moment, the entirety of the youth's vision was captured by the mighty and weighty sword strike, blazing with orange and red tongues of fire as it soared towards his face...! He craned his neck madly, in a desperate struggle to avoid it - but it was already too late! The moment he began to even try to move, the blade had already arrived!!!

And the 1 millimetre long sword singed the tip of his nose, causing Lars to yelp in pain!!!

"OUCH DAMMIT! MY NOSE!!! MY BEAUTIFUL NOSE!!!!"

Enraged at his perfect complexion being marred by the little wisp of fire held by the mini-sized demon, Lars slapped out with a backhanded hit and sent the little fairy flying in the illusory world!

"AHHHHHH!!! EVIL HUMAN!!!!" The bug sized demon twirled through the air and slammed into the soft, fluffy grey-cloud walls, then fell like a swatted insect to the floor, twitching every now and then in shock! His purple hair was messed up like crazy, spreading over the ground around him like a snow angel!

'LARRSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! DON'T!!!!! Oh, no, you already did it... Oh no, oh no, oh no...' Kizorik's teeth chattered frantically and shivered in distress.

'What? What's wrong, buddy? Oh my nose...' Lars spoke as he channeled his healing and mana to restore his skin. He calmed down slowly as his flawless nose was restored, then frowned as Kizorik hurried over to the fairy's side to help him up.

"Wooo... Woooo... You... You wretched human... Wooo... I, Velzash will never forgive you... Wooo... Wooo..." The beautiful male fairy-like demon emitted piteous sobbing sounds as he covered his face with his hands and cried. Kizorik trembled slightly and comforted him, bringing out a tube of paste from who knows where to apply on the tiny demon's bruised body!

Lars looked on silently, not sure what to think of the situation. So he took the chance to observe his surroundings.

Then he realised he didn't have to - the mental world he had been sucked into upon touching the wisp of flame within him was bare and small, perhaps merely 50 square metres in area and completely grey. There was no sky; instead, they were surrounded on all sides by the cloudy, slightly soft grey substance that reminded him of rough unprocessed cotton before the material was bleached.

'Kiddo... Psst... Here's a tip... RESPECT THIS LITTLE DEMON!!! DON'T ANTAGONISE HIM!!! IT'LL DO YOU HELLA LOT OF GOOD, OKAY???!!' Kizorik "whispered" through their mental link, causing Lars to flinch in discomfort at the shouted words.

'Hey man... You don't have to be so rude about it... He's the one who poked my nose with that match-stick earlier... And who is he, anyway? Some kind of bigshot?' Lars rubbed his nose resentfully at being reprimanded by the penguin - though the skin was now healed, it was still slightly off-colour when compared to the rest of his face. It might even take days to be back to normal, entire long days when he would have to live with his marred appearance!

'Sigh, kiddo... Yup, you'd definitely be entirely okay if someday a demon waltzed its way into an inheritance you've prepared specifically for your descendants... I'm sure you'd be 100% OK without a care at all and just directly hand over everything you know, yup! WHAT A LOAD OF BULLCRAP!!! OF COURSE HE WAS MAD!!!' Kizorik was still showing a compassionate and gentle face as he succoured the no longer sobbing Velzash who was now seated against the cloudy walls. Every now and then, the fairy-demon would shoot fearful but also angry glances at Lars, making him feel like the male demon was, well... A bit too sensitive...

'He was just bruised, right? I didn't use my full power... And yeah yeah, I understand, I'm the intruder in here, I'll apologise. Does he like candies...? Or sweets...? Or a kitty treat...? What should I use to--'

'WHAT DO YOU THINK HE IS, A BABY??? A PET??? YOU IDIOT YOU--Oh...' Kizorik clammed up and shut up when he saw Velzash acting tsun-tsun as he refused to look at Lars but greedily grabbed the lollipop Lars offered him and then began licking at the candy that was almost as big as himself!

"Hmmph!! Don't think I've forgiven you *LICK LICK* so easily!" The exquisitely perfectly handsome fairy-demon fluttered his translucent wings and angrily continued to attack the lollipop in his hands.

'...Maybe he has a sweet tooth. Alright, lemme tell you, this guy is a real big deal in the universe! He's still alive nowadays, so make sure you don't piss him off or his real body might just decide to delete us from the universe along with the entire planet!'

'....And kiddo...?'

'Why do you carry lollipops along with you...? Are you really, seriously, truly a PAEDO???'

'No! C'mon, that's just, it's just something I picked up from the market today, when-- Well, I was planning to drop by one of the kid's homes today, one of those that I'd saved and I thought... I'M NOT A PAEDO OKAY??? Let's get back to the point - Who. Is. That. Bug-sized. Demon??!'

Lars finally lost his temper as Kizorik kept wasting his precious time. He was sleepy by now and hoped to get things settled quickly. And... He was hungry. Ravenous!

'Natural Disaster Velzash, one of the few demons of the ancient generation who is still alive until now! Previously I wouldn't have known this but from what I understand from that Demon-Hunter Marzinus, the ancient generation should mean those demons who were around when the Wyrm at the End of the Far corrupted the entire race...'

'To keep it short, Velzash is called such because, every planet he goes to will be wiped out... The land and the planet will remain pretty much untouched, but his passing means only one thing for the dwellers of those wordsl: Unconditional Death!'

'As for what his powers are or how he does it... You'll have to ask him... But as far as I know, his powers have to do with Devouring...'

'Like yours...? You're supposed to be the Devouring Demon God, right...?'

'...Yeah, but I haven't unlocked my powers yet! I'll need at least 500,000 Abyss Points (AP) more until I can emerge in the real world and use any of my powers!'

Hearing that, Lars thought about how to apologise to this Natural Disaster Velzash and explain himself for swatting his earlier. But he also thought about whether the AP that Kizorik received would even be saved up and used for anything other than gambling on slots or Gaccha games...

So Lars kneeled down and leaned closer to the sulking bug-sized demon and delivered his carefully crafted, meticulously prepared apology speech.

"Erm... Sorry for hitting you."

"Hmmpph!!! The vengeance of I, Velzash, endures for as long as the sun, moon and stars of the Heart of the Cosmos prevail! I shall never forget your impudence! I know! You just want to butter me up until I'll hand over the inheritance to you, right!? Don't bother! It's impossible, way way way impossible!"

But unexpectedly, the demon's mood suddenly turned mellow as his eyelids drooped and he sighed then spoke again.

"Sigh... Not that it's useful anyway... My inheritance is worthless, just a load of crap no one wants....." But just as suddenly as he began to look down and sad, he shot a fierce glance at Lars out of the corner his eye and glared at him, adding, "...Even then, don't hope to get any of it! It's impossible for you, stinky human!!"

Lars, as always, sniffed himself to make sure there were no unusual odours, then realised that this was a spirit body; it was impossible for him to smell!

Then he sighed in disappointment, before producing a box jam packed with candies, chocolates, sweets and more lollipops!

Which he found strange, how did it work? For him to bring in physical items to the real world, perhaps this wasn't just a normal mental world...

He cast those thoughts to the back of his mind as the angry gaze from Velzash turned into one of undisguised longing! His narrowed eyes changed from thin, beady slits to large round almonds in two breaths, burning with desire! Pure, unadulterated desire!

".....!!!!!!!!!" Yet Velzash struggled against his ego, morals and dignity, gritting his teeth and forcing himself to stay angry by sheer willpower!

...Which lasted for 4 seconds, before he dashed over, ready to fight the golden haired boy to the death for the box of sweet delights!

"..." Lars grinned as he flashed a victory "V" sign to a speechless penguin.

* * * * *

"Don't look down on me for craving food and sweet things! It has to do with the inheritance I was talking about!" Velzash calmed down significantly after finishing off half the food stuffs and begging Lars for more.

Apparently he wouldn't age or starve or waste away in any way in this high-tech pocket world formed by cutting edge magic arrays, however, this split off bit of consciousness still kept the appetite and hunger of the main body. Which meant that he had gone without food and had to endure the ravenous cravings all these hundreds of years!

Lars had long realised the implications of the hunger he felt and what Velzash mentioned. He, too had begun to wonder if something was wrong with him - he had never felt so hungry ever before and it was only getting stronger!

Somehow he felt like he just had to eat something chunky and meaty, and fast!

Velzash continued to speak as he started yawning, looking sleepy and about to nod off. This made Lars realise that he was also veeeeeery sleepy as well, and decided to quickly get out of here and sleep. To eat something first, or course. Something big!

"It's really impressive that a human could make it through the training rounds I designed! It's definitely not easy to display such great combat power that lets you cross two whole large realms and defeat a Master level with just an Adept cultivation! I created so many of these arrays back in the day, but even with the difficulty, I didn't expect that it would take so long for someone, anyone to pass the test!"

Lars nodded, afraid that if he spoke, it would trigger the dainty little demon to talk even more.

"Very well, as long as you keep to your part of the deal and bring me a box like that every week, I'll let you have the full inheritance, even if you *ARE* a human! Deal?"

Lars nodded again, stifling a yawn and ignoring the rumbling of his stomach.

"First off, as far as I know, it's a completely useless thing. Serious! It's not just some joke to discourage you from it! All it's ever done is afflict me with permanent hunger, one that can never be satisfied..."

"...And that hunger is what gave me the moniker of Natural Disaster and Devourer..."

Somehow at this moment, Lars felt a tremor of fear shake his heart while Kizorik's eyes were glimmering with admiration as he had the chance to hear his idol's personal testimony!

"But don't judge me!!! I've never, ever, ever eaten a single living creature ever before!!!"

Lars blinked curiously. Wasn't it extremely normal for a demon to eat other creatures...? Even Kizorik's wide open eyes began to narrow slowly at these words, listening attentively as Velzash continued.

"...Because I'm vegan! Yes! I'm a vegan demon, okay??? DON'T LAUGH!!!"

Despite Velzash's admonition not to laugh, in truth, neither Lars nor Kizorik actually found it funny. Instead they were incredulous - how was it even possible???

'I don't even... How can it... What in the... How is it possible?????' The demon penguin exclaimed, while Lars began to imagine the scene of the poor planets despairing when Natural Disaster Velzash descended... And wiped out every tree, plant and shrub of vegetation, every last blade of grass from their world...

His eyes widened as he thought about just how cruel and heartless that was - wasn't eating every single vegan-permissible item just as good as damning the entire population of the planet to oblivion??? Without any plants left, herbivores would perish, then soon after, carnivores and omnivores would cease to exist as well!

Until finally, probably only a handful of survivors would remain to repopulate the entire world... Just with no more herbivores in the entire ecosystem? Wouldn't that lead to a global inability to recover...?

Lars refused to think about it anymore and just looked on with a gaze of fear towards this cute and lovely fairy-demon!

"...And I set this inheritance array up and split off parts of my soul which held the hunger based on advice from the Wise Woman... She said that this was the only way to ever truly be rid of the incessant hunger, and maybe someone else would find a use for this seed of hunger! Okay, that's my story... *Yawnnnnn!* now, now go away! It's... Bedti...." Fairy-demon Velzash couldn't even force himself to finish the last words as he drifted off to sleep right before their eyes and snored on the soft floor.

Leaving a starving Lars and a speechless penguin to their own devices.

'.....F*** this sh*t, I'm going to sleep!' Lars scowled as he felt he had wasted his time and gained nothing from the conversation, he had already received a certain growth in his sensitivity to the laws of the universe even if he hadn't entered the pocket world within him!

'.....Me too. Yaaaaaawwwwn!'

'I thought demons don't get sleepy....? Ah, nevermind... Goodnight buddy... But I'm gonna eat first, 'kay.'

'.....'Kay...'

* * * * *

[Back in the present, after Lars was spirited away by Sand Crab Byrus while Charley was dragged away by Masra, Private Lyam and the City Guards]

Sand Crab Byrus cursed.

What was going on...? Why was there another Grandmaster level swordsman hot on his tail??!

For what reason did this random bystander immediately get up from his meal to chase after him in hot pursuit???

Byrus glanced back over his shoulder again and again at "Blacksword" Susano's brown-clothed figure racing madly after him and cursed once more!

'Just what backing does this kid have...?? First some mysterious master? Who looks just like me?? And now a mysterious protector at the Grandmaster stage??! Just what is going on??? Curses, curses, curses!!!'

The worst part was - Byrus was clad in his full heavy plate wyvern-hide hybrid armour, had to drag along the boy with him to dispose of after questioning him later, AND in the first place he was not focused very much on speed or agility!

Whereas the pursuer was unencumbered by armour of any sort, being dressed in a very functional brown shirt and pants, had no burden of carrying a person and looked to be a speed-type combatant!

Which meant he was closing the distance between them by the second!

And when there were only 30 metres left between them, Susano growled and roared in a harsh, gravelly voice as he lashed out in fierce attack!

"STOOOPPPP!!! DON'T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY SO EASILY AFTER CROSSING THE FOUR PATHS OF THE UNDERWORLD!!! I, SUSANO OF THE FOUR LORDS, SHALL EXECUTE PUNISHMENT ON BEHALF OF LORD LAUGHING MAN!!! DIE!!!"

Neither Lars nor Byrus were aware of the truth of the situation, that Susano was hunting down Lars! Both of them thought that the man was going after Byrus, and the swordsman's next move did not help at all in clarifying the situation.

Susano did not wait to draw nearer, but immediately unsheathed his blade in a resplendent display of Iaido, and elegant and deceptively beautiful Battojutsu - sword drawing art!

Deceptively beautiful... Because everyone who saw it would soon have their heads separated from their bodies in a horrific piece of art - flowers blooming in the battlefield - flowers of blood!

Which prompted Susano to give it the name that he called out:

"BLOOD FLOWER DRAWING ART!!!"

The "Blacksword" of the Underworld released a mighty sharp sword light arcing straight at Byrus and Lars!

And while this happened, Lars looked on cynically and irritatedly at the new developments, watching with boredom and trying hard to stifle a yawn and the grumbling of his stomach as he watched the drama unfolding before him.

And Lars furrowed his brow and mustered all the willpower he could... So he wouldn't just bite into Byrus arm and start eating human flesh....

'Hurry up... Please.... Finish your useless childish fight.... I'm... Hungry....'

Chapter end