Zell's body shot through the city streets, ignoring the broken concrete, damaged cars and fallen trees, his movements agile like a cat avoiding objects along an alleyway.
'This feels so good.' He thought, his foot stomping down, crushing the skull of a weaker demon, unable to make a noise before its brains seeped onto the ground.
His body felt refreshed as the demon's essence flowed into his body; he felt a tinge of pain, like a refreshing zing, as his muscles began to transform, contort and finally restore to normal before stepping away.
A pile of corpses behind him, mangled as if tortured to death, their faces filled with human-like despair and unwillingness to die.
"Let's keep moving; I need more!"
Throughout the night, he hunted like a prowling hunter stalking prey, crushing many small groups of demons to increase his power. However, there were more than 30 so far; he was yet to find their demon guardian or anything beyond a whelp.
It was strange; surely there shouldn't be this many demons on the first merger, which caused Zell to feel alert because they were in such high density close to where he lived; call it a persecution complex, but his mind kept ringing with alarm bells.
'They are aimed at me or those around me!?'
In his original life, only a few small imps appeared in the first merging close to his home, while the rest were aimed at the world's capitals, hoping to cripple the human infrastructure and stop them from fighting back with a united front.
Little did they know, this wasn't even needed, as the humans quickly turned on each other because after today, all players could use their powers in the real world after the chaos died down, criminals and the young who believe themselves to be a protagonist start to roam the streets.
"I should have the girls travel in pairs or groups of three from now on..." Zell whispered as he stood on the roof of an apartment complex near Anya's, his eyes watching the ground as a group of demons began to tear apart and devour several drunken human males.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtZell didn't jump out; why would he? When these humans had set the perfect distraction for him, he pushed his left arm forward, the black-scaled gauntlet glowing with an eerie red and black flame, slowly swirling around his hand, growing faster and more intense with each revolution.
The demons below were completely unaware of the searing hot flames being bundled together high above their heads, only content to devour the delicious flesh of the humans while enjoying the sensation of a human woman; unlike the demon females, they were soft and easily accepted them without trying to tear off their members like a violent vice.
"G-god... anyone please..... kill me... Ughhh!?" A girl with dull eyes whispered before the lower body of a demon covered it.
She and her friends were celebrating her birthday and thus ignored the earthquake and decided to enjoy a drink, it was now late, and most of them were a little tipsy when a strange child-like creature appeared.
Her boyfriend Scott wanted to help the child home before watching it merely swipe its arm across Scott's chest blood and organs started pooling onto the ground, and before she could even let out a shriek, Scott had died.
This scene wasn't something special for Zell, reminding him of those days he lived like a rat unable to do anything, just like these poor people.
Yet he felt no guilt or desire to save them.
'It's every man for himself, sorry and thank you for giving me so much free prey!'
The blazing ball of flames, now larger than a watermelon, began to pulsate. At the same time, Zell pulled his arm back slowly, the sheer weight and force of the flames too strong for even him to manage easily, a feeling of emptiness filling his body before he threw his arm forward.
Zell used so much force it made his entire upper body lunge forward before the flame crashed towards the ground at incredible speed like a meteorite, the sizzling of the air and crackling of flames still audible in his ears.
"I might have burst an eardrum..." Zell muttered, reaching towards his right ear, feeling a slightly damn feeling, while his entire right arm was charred from the flames, with slightly cracked scales.
In a moment of reprieve, the girl saw a figure on the building above, his figure illuminated by a golden red flame, a beautiful black-scaled body, and a dragon-like helmet, as the flames that she perceived as judgment and salvation began to close in on her, no longer focused on the pain in her body, she stared at the figure, before his divine wings spread out, floating into the air.
'Ah, he must be an avenging angel, sent by god to get justice...'
A moment later, the very oxygen in the air began to burn, a loud crackling the last thing she could recognise before everything disappeared.
Boom!
Huge clouds of smoke rose into the air, the buildings shook from the impact of his flames, while countless windows began to shatter and smash.
Zell used the method of Metalmancy to change how his Flambur was used; rather than a close-range burst, it was more like those old mages in fantasy games, where they would launch a devastating fireball that destroyed friend and foe alike.
"Sorry, I cannot save and protect you; the least I can do is end your suffering and kill those vermin who destroyed your peaceful life."
Although he became a demon, that didn't mean he lost all feelings of a human; dragons were passionate more than any other existence, thus thanks to his dragon blood, his former beliefs and thoughts were unable to be quenched.
He didn't want to be a saviour, but he refused to watch people suffer and, if given a choice, would end their life to stop it.
Fluttering his large black wings high in the sky as his eyes peered down, Zell's only desire was to grow stronger while killing any demons close to his women and friends.
"Friends..."
It was almost time for his friends to start making names for themselves in the district beside him; due to this event, they won't be able to return for a long time as many countries would close their borders and restrict travel to try and contain the problems.
'Let's make a note to try and contact them; those guys didn't abandon me, even when I held them back so much, almost causing them to die...'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThis night was more important as he focused his mind, now floating over the city's top, watching as groups of demons roamed the streets as if this was no longer Asteria and instead a demon planet.
"These bastards think that they own the place!"
Zell saw the huge number of corpses close to the larger demon guardian, which was chewing on the head of a dead female worker; the sickening crunch reached Zell's ears up in the sky, causing him to stop movement instantly.
A raging fire began to build in his chest, despite not wanting to care; how could he ignore these scene's that could be his mother if she lived, or Anya's mother if she never played the game; torches were used to sear humans corpses as the demons were constructing a throne from their burnt corpses.
His arms began to glow with a black flame as it billowed and smouldered under his scales, before seeping through, like his very body was now aflame, those ruby red eyes, sometimes gentle and affectionate, now cold, with a golden light that locked onto the demons below.
Countless flaming threads of magic began to swarm around his body, forming a mantle of black fire, its intense heat burning his own body, yet the pain kept his anger and killing aura contained, so his mind could work fluidly with clarity.
"Let this be my gift to your demons; this isn't your territory, but mine!" His voice distorted and sounded over the skies, forcing the demons to look upwards at the flaming object.
Like a falling star, Zell dropped down, his huge flaming claws with sharp black claws down by his side as he shot towards the guardian; it was just like Yinfra and Yanfra said, each time the demons appeared, they were stronger, and he might have died tonight if he didn't evolve his bloodline and become more demonic.
A fierce wind blasted against his face, two wings flapping with brutal velocity as he swooped down like a bird of prey before holding out his claws, tearing apart any demons not smart enough to move out of the way, the sensation of their skulls being sliced, brains and flesh churned by his claws felt amazing to Zell.
He began to doubt his orientation as he felt his member getting erect.
The thrill of fighting began to dominate his body; the more demonic he became, his body delighted in death, murder and women.
Zell's body ripped through the imps and air with a violent boom before he flew towards the demon guardian, still ignoring him as it chewed on the woman's torso, a distorted grin on the demon's face.
In sheer anger and a sensation of euphoria, Zell thrust his left hand forward like a knife, attempting to rip the guardian's face from its body, a brutal and vicious light filling Zell's golden eyes beneath the mask.
While the flames billowed, flowing around his body, burning and cremating anything that came into contact with his body, melting the ground, vaporising the lesser demons.
As the demon guardian's four eyes looked upwards to meet him, the mouth of the demon changed, showing a huge smile before tossing the woman's body towards Zell and grabbing a huge club.
Zell's fingers pierced the woman, melting her bones and flesh before ripping through her as he shot forward with one last powerful flap of his wings towards the demon guardian, while under his mask, he was smiling like a madman.