Chapter 126: Sin of Hunger
As Alze-beus got up, his massive body reduced in size. Now standing six feet tall, his injuries healed at a visible rate. Injuries like this were easy to heal, and he also possessed many self regeneration skills that speed up the healing.
He looked at [Dream], who looked back at him with a blank face.
Though it looked like he was done for, he knew there must be a huge cost for whatever this Goddess was doing.
He guessed if he managed to stall or make her exhaust her resources, he didn’t doubt she would leave. When that happened, he could claim the boy. The boy must have the plant in him.
[Dream] could read the Devil like a book.
What he had guessed was the truth: she was on a timer. At the same time, every move she made cost a tremendous amount of Divine Source, because of which she was not willing to commit more than necessary.
Alze-beus fired a yellow beam at her, which she dodged with minimal movement. Following that the Devil kept attacking using variety of ranged attacks.
Each attack flowed seamlessly like a chain reaction keeping her on her toes. One wrong move could cause devastating damage.
[Dream] knew if this went on, she would lose more than she was willing to. Just as she was looking for a way out, she felt something try to connect to her. Upon realizing what it was, she smirked.
Alze-beus kept raining the area [Dream] was in with laser attacks, elemental attacks, and curses. Throughout his long life, he had acquired more skills than he could count; every enemy he had defeated and devoured, became fuel for his growth.
Though Alze-beus knew she was at a disadvantage, he would not stay in one place; he kept teleporting around her after every single attack. He was vary of her retaliation.
Hence, that was why he was surprised to see her right in front of him when he teleported after releasing a barrage of poison bombs.
Instead of attacking head-on, he tried to teleport back right now was not the time to commit fully, but it was already too late.
A sharp black blade reached his neck with the intention of beheading him. He tried to back away, but the blade followed him like it had an eye of its own.
The thing that gave him chills was that he felt no danger from the blade, as if it was not a real weapon but an illusion.
Just before the blade reached his head, he used a curse doll substitution technique. When he finally thought he had escaped, he watched as the blade smoothly removed the head of the doll, and his own head flew from his body at the same time.
Alze-beus cursed. Shit, the attack followed me using my link with the doll.
Just as he tried to move, he found his body refused. The same was true for his soul.
Confused, he used the eyes on his severed head and the body to look at the Goddess.
[Dream] smiled. "I see you are confused."
Looking down at the Devil, she said, "The attack I used just now is a famous sword art from the Mortal God."
"His art had a peculiar way of inflicting mortal wounds on Gods." She smiled softly. "Of course, for such an art to work, you don’t just need to learn the art, but you must be in possession of a weapon that can actually support an attack like that."
As she spoke, she looked at the black blade with yellow eyes in admiration.
She hadn’t expected Blade to become so strong after evolving into a real weapon.
She had withstood a God Grade technique with her own body; any other mortal blade would have crumbled mid-swing if this art was channeled through them.
Alze-beus was stunned. He hadn’t expected such an art to exist. To check if the Goddess was telling the truth, his main body in Hell tried to exert his influence on this incarnation but failed entirely.
He could feel this incarnation rapidly losing life like a mortal who had just been beheaded and it showed no signs of healing.
Alze-beus felt pure rage when he understood there was no hope anymore. A single strike had ended his opportunity to ascend and become a True Devil. He had been careless, he underestimated the means of a god.
His mind went blank as he remembered all the torment he went through because of [Zethe-thoth], and all the resources he lost today to sustain a Devil Monarch level incarnation on the Surface World.
He knew that if he didn’t return the favor, he might lose his will to grow from all the repeated losses he took today.
With his dulling vision, he saw [Dream] walk up to his fallen body with a triumphant smile.
With the last of his will, he glared at [Dream] and cursed, "+#+#+#+/&+#-". It sounded like gibberish, but [Dream], who had lived long enough, understood it immediately.
She tried to dodge, but by then it was already too late. The curse hit her pointblank.
As the curse hit her, she felt her stomach growl. She suddenly felt like she was starving, like she hadn’t eaten in months.
Looking at her twisted expression, Alze-beus closed his eyes with a smile. At least this way, he got the last laugh.
Because of his dwindling strength, he knew he couldn’t cast a strong damage curse, but he also knew it couldn’t be a weak one either. If it was a weak one, the Goddess might have a way to suppress it easily.
What he used was the [Sin of Hunger], often known as a blessing to the Devils on the path of Gluttony. But to others?
It was far worse than a curse. It made the victim want to eat everything they came across. If they didn’t keep eating continuously, the curse would drive them mad and most of them ended up eating themselves to death in the end.
Since it was technically considered a blessing, he was able to give it in full force. Hence, it became an extremely potent curse, and to make it worse, it was cast by the strongest being on the path in this world.. Alze-beus himself...
It was something even a Devil like him wouldn’t wish on his worst enemies. But this situation left him with no other choice; it was either that or die silently.
[Dream] tried to suppress the [Sin of Hunger], but she failed. Because of the nature of the curse, Night’s body accepted it fully.
It was similar to how a body would allow good bacteria to exist in the gut but would fight off harmful bacteria. Night’s body considered the [Sin Of Hunger] ’good bacteria’ and hence, it refused to suppress it, even when [Dream] tried to force it.
She looked around and saw that [Zethe-thoth] had already left. The only things in the surroundings were her and the dead Devil.
Before she could think of a solution, she felt dizzy as her control over Night’s body rapidly weakened.
She wondered why... only to realize it was Night. The [Sin of Hunger] had somehow forced his consciousness to wake up.
No wonder I am being pushed back.
She didn’t want Night to wake up to such overwhelming hunger. It was already taking everything for a Goddess like her to stay sane under its effects.
But reality had other plans. She felt another hit of dizziness, lost full control of the body, and was forcibly returned to the Soul Space.
...
What the...
Why does my stomach hurt so much...? That was the first thought Night had as he felt his vision return.
He looked around and saw he was standing in a massive crater. Immediately, he spread his Spirit Sense and saw broken mountains and barren forests. The whole region he was in looked like an apocalyptic danger zone.
Some parts of the region were burning, some parts were filled with poisonous water, colorful gases lingered in some areas, and others bore scorch marks of various kinds.
And right in front of him was the Devil with its head and body were split apart.
It was the exact same Devil who had killed Sara.
Immediately, rage filled his chest, and the piercing hunger he felt moments before was momentarily suppressed.
But just then, a wave of memories washed over him. It included everything that happened after he lost control.
His main body killing millions of monsters and beasts as it expanded without stopping. Alze-beus and [Zethe-thoth]’s fight. Ouroboros trying to save Sara’s soul. The Devil Empress who helped revive Sara, Blade, and Death’s mother. [Dream] possessing him. The Tower of Games. And finally, the death of the Devil... no... his incarnation, just before he cursed him.
It was way too much to process. His head hurt as the memories came flooding in, but when the memories crossed the part where the Devil Empress revived Sara, Blade, and Death’s mother, he felt relief wash over him.
Vivianne... The Devil Empress...
He had never felt so genuinely grateful to someone in his entire life. He had assumed all Devils were good for nothing and purely evil.
His heart skipped a beat when he recalled her appearance as she revived Sara and Blade. The more he thought about her, the more he felt this was a truly good Devil.
But before he could enjoy this new sensation, he felt his stomach riot.
Rumble...
Clutching his stomach, Night looked around desperately for food, and then his eyes landed on the Devil’s body.
Lucy always said raw food tastes the best... he mused internally.
He immediately slapped his cheeks hard when he realized how stupid and grotesque his thoughts were.
Unfortunately, the thought refused to leave his mind, and a certain curse made sure of it.
Walking up to the Devil’s body, Night gulped loudly as thick saliva leaked from the edge of his lips.