A Maiden's Growth

"Ah, this..." Memories of the succulent lamb seemed to whisk Kai'Sa away momentarily as she unconsciously swallowed.

Watching her lapse into reverie, Kane placed his hand on Kai'Sa's flat stomach, massaging it as he tempted her with a voice thick with hunger: "I know you fancy these goats, but how do you plan to sustain them? There's no grass to feed them down here."

"Moreover, if we don't consume them, the void creatures will eventually feast on their remains. We cannot let those monsters benefit from our inaction!"

"Eat them, imagine the long-lost savory meat tantalizing your taste buds."

"Eat, for wasting food is a cardinal sin unforgivable."

"Eat, eat..."

Kai'Sa could ward off the hunger pangs emanating from her second skin, but she was unguarded against Kane's seduction. Her resolve waning and her lips twitching in anticipation, she agreed: "Alright, you wait here. I'm stronger, I'll carry one up."

"No, I'll come with you." Kane, with a hint of something more in his tone, insisted on joining her.

"Oh, then let's see who's faster."

Kane released his grip, knowing he'd lose the race and taking his time.

Kai'Sa agilely leaped between the rocks, reaching the ruins below in the blink of an eye. She turned back, waving at Kane to notice her.

Kane smiled softly, his eyes filled with pride.

Now diligent and capable, loyal and protective, Kai'Sa was like an angel when she listened. Was this the making of a beautiful maiden? He was enamored.

Tucking away his inappropriate grin, Kane carefully descended the slope and navigated the ruins.

As Kai'Sa tried to free a goat trapped under a rock, the animal panicked at her approach, bleating in terror as if it saw something worse than a predator.

Frozen by the shrill cries, Kai'Sa doubted herself, standing helplessly amidst the debris.

Expecting such a reaction, Kane advised her, "Kai'Sa, it's the scent of your carapace..."

Sniffing her arm upon Kane's remark, Kai'Sa detected no unusual odor, yet any normal creature would be overwhelmed by the stench of fear from her carapace.

An odor palpable without even needing to trigger olfactory receptors — even a slug by her feet would slither away in revulsion.

"Let me handle this." Kane approached another goat, a male with horns and no pendulous udders.

His own "void scent" was faint, so the goat remained calm until he grabbed its horns, causing it to buck and thrash wildly against him.

Kane, still a boy of eleven summers, nearly lost his balance from the goat's struggle. Clinging to the horns to avoid being thrown, he accidentally snapped them off.

"Are these supposed to come off?"

Staring at the horns melting like ice cream in his hand, absorbed by his carapace, Kane admonished himself, "Don't assimilate everything strange!"

The absorption was involuntary. As Kane tried to cast it away, his hand sprouted a bone protrusion.

Thirty centimeters long, curved forward with a sharp tip and spiral pattern, reminiscent of a unicorn's horn.

Moreover, his carapace writhed, and more curved spines emerged along his arm, giving it a more fearsome appearance.

Displeased with the impractical additions, he fixed his Abyssal Eye upon the carapace and the spines retracted, ceasing their growth.

"Is that an ability of your carapace?" Kai'Sa inquired.

"Seems so. Assimilate, then mimic?" Kane was unsure. His carapace seemed to learn through absorption, replicating the structure of consumed organisms on its surface.

Only goats had been encountered so far; he'd need other living creatures to confirm his theory.

"Enough of this. Let's catch the goats. It's not safe here." He urged, sensing danger by the abyss.

"Leave it to me; you lack the strength."

Kai'Sa approached the goats again, intending to knock them out before dragging them away, indifferent if she accidentally killed them.

But as she neared, the goats, terrified, struggled violently. One lightly injured goat kicked off its rocky burden and bolted away from Kai'Sa, directly towards the abyss...

In that instant, Kane debated whether to have Kai'Sa intercept and kill the goat to avoid drawing out void predators.

But events unfolded too rapidly for words, and Kai'Sa, oblivious to the threat, wouldn't necessarily act without hesitation even if instructed.

Helplessly, they watched the goat charge toward the edge, summoning a terror from the surging void.

Crack!

A translucent tentacle, alight with black flames, erupted from the pool of energy, impaling the goat's chest in a mere moment!

"Hiss..."

As if a taboo had been breached, the energy's ripple brushed against Kai'Sa, compelling her to step back.

The goat, deprived of even a death cry, was hoisted into the air. The tentacle coiled and contracted rhythmically, twisting its limbs into unnatural angles.

The black flame spread over the goat, igniting everything—fur, flesh, bones, hooves—all dissolving into a pale, reflective liquid.

Under the tentacle's compressing force, this amniotic-like mass stretched out malformed limbs, revealing a ghastly embryo.

Dissolve.

Remold.

The term "Nüwa shaping humanity" flashed through Kane's mind, yet this profane act bore no resemblance to divine creation—it was a desecration of life.

Suppressing the bile rising in his throat, Kane rasped out Kai'Sa's name, urging her to leave immediately.

Hearing Kane's call, Kai'Sa cautiously retreated, keeping an eye on the abyss's tentacles while feeling her way back through the rocks.