Demonic Devourer's Development

One of my hearts exploded. It was about as painful as if someone minced it with a spoon, but in a span of a second. Despite that, my malleable flesh reformed in a moment. My other heart was beating just fine.

I grasped for my chest with all four arms and coughed—not blood, just coughed. It was such a nice act, if you asked me—but Goddess of Wizards found it overdramatic and obviously fake, so I didn\'t continue with keeling over.

Instead, I threw a volley of wind blades at her.

She began to cast a defensive spell even before they left my fingers. I found from her thoughts that she saw them before—in fact; she saw everything that transpired in Aivena\'s valley. Everything I went through. And she was disgusted by it.

This made my belly burn hotter than the lava it was made of. That rage, though, didn\'t make me rush at her. I could control it, make it into a fuel. I had experience, and my soul was forged from steel.

But I swore that if I would have an opportunity, I would make Goddess of Wizards\' death both slow and shameful. Rape her, maybe? I was ready to bet she wasn\'t used to being treated that way.

My wind blades shattered on the shimmering blue barrier that appeared around the goddess, but before they even reached the target, I followed with open jaws. It was the same tactics I used on Aivena, and I knew it, and Goddess of Wizards knew it and was ready to retaliate.

Before I could reach her, she cast another spell, and knowing what it was from her thoughts gave me a precious time to change my trajectory. When a bolt of lightning seared the air with a thunderous noise, I was already not there. Even so, it came so close to me that the hair on my body stood up on its ends.

Now that would\'ve been much deadlier.

Goddess of Wizards frowned. Lightning was almost instantaneous—she was sure I won\'t be able to dodge it, and the fact that I could even though she didn\'t telegraph her aim confused her. She concluded that my attack was a feint, and now looked at me with narrowed eyes, studying my movements.

I fed her theory by making some wild zigs and zags in the air, as if dodging spells that didn\'t come out yet.

She responded to that with the most obvious solution—a spell with a wide area of effect. There was nothing I could do except for brace myself when the lightning blasted for several dozen meters around.

The bitch didn\'t differentiate. Critters died, plants burned, sand turned to glass, water in the creek near which we were boiled, and I was electrocuted and thrown a dozen meters away, where I landed in a heap on the ground.

It was much less painful than I expected. The lightning did strange things to my nerves, making my body wobble and my heart catch, but there was no burning from it. Of course. I was fire resistant now, and electricity killed with heat, didn\'t it? Or at least I thought so.

Did Goddess of Wizards know it? She should\'ve known that electricity is hot, right? Or did she operate on medieval fantasy logic that electricity was a completely different type of damage, like in some video game?

There was no answer in her thoughts as she stood in the middle of a devastated crater she created, looking at me. I rose—

Only to be immediately sent back to the ground, writhing in pain. Goddess of Wizards decided if lightning didn\'t affect me, negative energy might, and poured it generously at the surrounding area in a form of a spell that drained life from everything.

There wasn\'t much of anything left around after her previous spells besides myself, and I was… not powerful enough to defend myself. My HP faded like morning mist in the rays of sun, and the pain of it was so excruciating that it filled my entire world, making it impossible to think about anything else, to resist or to move.

But I, apparently, was given a divine power to make impossible a possibility. I couldn\'t die, not yet, and not now. My world was pain… but my soul pushed on, regardless. The torment might\'ve not left anywhere, but I found myself able to act despite it.

I was still too far to attack and stop the bitch goddess from channeling her spell. The only thing I could do was born from desperation. It could\'ve easily not worked.

I lifted myself up on elbows and shouted as loudly as I could, "The curse of Willorio, do you want to die?!"

Goddess of Wizards faltered in her spellcasting, giving me a brief moment of respite. The name was familiar to her.

I waited with bated breath for an answer. There was a moment of stillness in the fight, and I was afraid to break it if I moved too hastily. Then, a disembodied voice appeared in my ears, as if someone were standing over my shoulders, making my heart soar. It was neither male nor female and sounded as if the speaker was talking through a metal box.

"What? What are you talking about? How do you know I\'m here? Are you going to out me?" the voice asked frantically. "Wait, don\'t answer. You are breaking my cover!"

Too bad, I was going to answer, anyway.

"No matter who wins, you will die! And not because of me. Do you want to be shackled forever, or do you want to spite your jailers before finding freedom in nothingness at last?"

"What are you even talking about, Devourer?" Goddess of Wizards frowned. "The pain must\'ve turned you mad. If you weren\'t before. Doesn\'t matter…"

I knew she was going to keep on with killing me, so I didn\'t wait for Willorio\'s curse to answer and dashed towards the bitch with a grin.

\'Pest, if I die, after all, avenge me!\'