Chapter 6: Devouring is too broken.

"There is a lost Magic known as God slayer, which is said to have the strength to fight a God and the magic contained in the Hell cross is Death God slayer magic, Death magic in its own is already terrifying forbidden lost magic, and Death God slayer magic is even worse, I theory every living being that comes in contact with this kind of magic will die instantly with no chance to defend or cure themselves, hence why it's forbidden magic." Maltus answered Natsu's question then started drinking from a cup that was on the table.

"We have to destroy this thing! It's a threat to Fairy Tail." Natsu seemed to have his resolve steadied.

"Aye, sir! That thing's scary." Happy added.

"Yes, I agree that it has to be dealt with." My final response was to accept the mission.

My objective is quite obvious, I want to devour the Hell cross and get the Death God slayer magic, I was interested in that wand from the beginning but now I know I must eat it no matter what. Besides by eating it, I can make sure no one else gets it.

I walk towards Maltus and extend my hand to receive the wand.

"Be very careful with it, even though we want to destroy it we don't want it to get damaged before you throw it into th volcano." Maltus had different eyes this time, I could feel that he was being very serious about this, not only that, it felt like something about him changed for a second.

"I'll keep it very safe with me... Actually, I know special space magic that allows me to store items, and nobody but myself has access to it." I make sure I'm audible when saying this.

"Then I'll trust you, for now, take Hell cross and 50,000 jewels, you'll get the rest of the payment once the quest is complete." Maltus finally gave me the wand and I stored it in my inventory.

"Is there a bathroom around here?" I ask with a slightly troubled expression.

Maltus shows me the bathroom and I go inside then lock the door.

(Time to eat.) I get the wand out of my inventory and inwardly chant 'Gluttony Dragon's hunger' then eat the Hell cross in one go.

I could have waited until we reached mount Fira and devoured the wand not having to talk about my inventory ability, but that would have been too risky and it could have ended up being snatched from me. I could also have lied about how I would hide the wand, but if I have to do something that troublesome, might as well just tell them now and eat it with no further risks.

[You have consumed and assimilated the item 'Hell cross(weakened, damaged)' and have gained bountiful benefits from it. You have gained 'Demon Duke physique', 'Demon Duke bloodline', 'Death dragon bloodline', 'Death God slayer magic', 'sacrifice', 'self-destruction', 'Death Aura', 'Instant Death', 'Mass-instant Death', 'life-drain', 'mana-drain', 'Soul consumption']

I was surprised by this as it was much more than I expected, but before I could even celebrate something else happened.

[You have acquired many skills related to the path of Death, as such you are given the chance to merge these skills into one to obtain a more powerful skill. Do you wish to do so? Y/N. Note: All the skills used in this process will be lost.]

Yes! Was my answer once again, after all, there's no such thing as too many unique skills.

[The skills 'sacrifice', 'self-destruction', 'Death Aura', 'Instant Death', 'Mass-instant Death', 'life-drain', 'mana-drain', 'Soul consumption' have all been merged to form the Unique skill 'Deadly Null Reaper']

Just when I was about to start celebrating when.

[You have acquired 'Demon Duke physique', 'Demon Duke bloodline', 'Death dragon bloodline', these will strengthen your body and you shall rise reborn into something more glorious. Do you wish to integrate them? Y/N. Note: The process will be extremely painful.]

Devouring is the most broken thing, that's my conclusion. The happiness of acquiring all these benefits isn't small, but I don't know if I should risk it and get the physique and the bloodlines now, after all, it's bound to be painful but leaving it for later might be more dangerous since the enemies are a Dark guild and I'm not strong enough yet.

(I'll just take it all now, let's I'm not the type to keep these things for later, it would be a waste to do so.) I make my decision and tell the system.

[The process of integration will begin, please be ready for the pain that will come.]

Similar to how it happened when I strengthened my body, just much worse. Waves of pain invaded every inch of my body and I thought I could have prepared mentally but feeling it, it seems I was wrong. I clenched my teeth with all the strength I could muster and a sea of veins covered me budging up and down. My eyes were slowly reddening as blood flowed out of them like a river. The skin was ripping and tearing while the bones were cracking. I was changing.

My mana ran amok in my body and began to traverse aimlessly with no signs of stopping any time soon as the pain I felt kept intensifying.

Blood was running on the floor and I slat more of it as my felt every bit of me vibrate. The blood soon began to boil from the sheer heat coming from my body.

Eventually, the process ended and I could still feel the faint pain in all of me as if I was beat up feed up to beasts reconstructed, rinse and repeat.

*Cough*

A last bit of blood left my mouth before I got up, and unlike before I didn't faint, not because the pain was lower it was quite the opposite in that regard, but even still, I was much more resist now and even had the effect of mental fortitude that was now linked to Gluttonous Void Devourer, so I could survive it.

"I never want to do this again... But I'll probably have to." I could help but feel terrified whenever I have to experience these horrible moments again.

[You have consumed the item 'Hell cross' and duo to its immense quantities of Ethernano, your Ethernano pool(mp) will be greatly expanded commencing process.... Process failed, individual 'Kaory' does not currently have a body capable of supporting such a large quantity of Ethernano. Adjusting Ethernano expansion by individual 'Kaory's' current standard... Process complete.]

"Status." I command as I'm dying to see the changes that occurred.

[Status]

[

Name: Kaory Gluttonics

Gender: Male(?)

Age: 13 years old

Race: Void half-dragon(Humanoid)

Class: Guild mage(Fairy Tail)

Physique: Gluttony void dragon(Awoken, incomplete), Demon Duke(Awoken, incomplete)

Bloodline: Demon Duke(Awoken, incomplete), Death dragon(Awoken, incomplete)

Magic: Gluttony Dragon slayer, Death God slayer

Mana control physiques: Type-1(mana circuit), Type-2(Mana core), Type-3(Non-personal)

Magic efficiency: 50%(Speed 50%, output 50%)

NMC(natural mana corrosion):0%

Affinity: Null, Void, Death

Status: Excited

Title: None

Rank: D

Level: 1

HP: 50/50 |Ethernano(mp): 50

Attack:4.5

Defense:5.0

Intelligence:5.0

Speed:4.0

Unique skills: Gluttonous Void Devourer, Deadly Null Reaper

Skills:

Active:

Passive: Language comprehension, Mana sense, mana manipulation, mana corrosion barrier

Resistances: Pain tolerance, Physical attack Tolerance, Magic tolerance, Natural elements tolerance, Status abnormality immunity, Disease/sickness immunity, hybrid attack tolerance, Holy and Demonic Attack tolerance, Spiritual attack tolerance, Temperature tolerance, Mental attack tolerance, Rot tolerance

Magic:

Basic spells:

-Gluttony Dragon's roar(Null), Gluttony Dragon's claw(Null), Gluttony Dragon's devouring fist(Void), Gluttony Dragon's hunger(Void), Gluttony Dragon's vacuum(Void), Gluttony Dragon's stomach(Void).

-Death God's sweet touch, Death God's reaping scythe, Death God's Omnipresence, Death God's piercing eyes, Death God's revival.

Advanced spells: Unknown]

"Despite not having leveled up once, I'm already rank D, and I can now fight with my powers directly(not counting spells) for about 1 hour and 40 minutes. This is a great improvement and to think I almost didn't eat that wand, it would have been an absolute waste." A smile surfaced as I marveled at my gains. I couldn't help but feel excited about the situation.

Looking at my status made me wonder just how strong I would be in comparison with the rest, I'm still behind but the difference should be that big.

(System, do you have a way to quantify other people's strength?) I asked as I put my clothes in the inventory washing machine and wash my face.

I really need to stop doing this with my clothes on.

[It is possible to analyze the targets, but the information is limited to their level, and an estimate of their power level. Anyhow, it would be completely useless in your hands since it requires you to be less than thirty levels lower than the target or of a higher level. Currently, it would have no use because of your extremely low level.] The system's monotone voice was as cold as always.

"I understand that I'm pretty weak right now" I respond, then I look at the sink before moving closer and turning on the faucet then.

I wash my hair, my hands brushing through the orange strands and the blood that was on my hair going down the drain, the cold water let me get off reality for a bit. Memories of my lost past flashed by, smiles, tears, and disappointment, I could see them vividly, then I turned off the faucet and slap both sides of my face.

It was not the time to go have doubts or to miss my new intangible past life, forward is the only path I can follow now. I can't let things stay out of my control forever, but will I be able to go against the system's Owner if I try?... Only the future will tell.

There are no towels or anything like that in the bathroom, so for a while, I just let the water fall from my face while I think a bit of what I'll do in this world. The first thing was for me to accumulate some money, and there won't be much to worry about in that regard as long as I improve my magic abilities and become stronger, but what then? Will I stay in Fairy Tail?... After giving it some thought, I believe I should stay in Fairy Tail at least until they go to the Rank S exam, that way I will get to meet Zeref and eat his magic, there's also Acnologia and that would be two birds with one stone. There are also a few other occasions before where they will come in contact with things worth eating, so I'll stick to the Guild for now and after the Seven-year Gap, I'll go my merry way. The only problem is that to get to Zeref and Acnologia I'll have to either befriend one of the Rank S candidates or become one myself... That's going to be a bit tricky.

Then focusing on more immediate situations, if I'm not wrong the Eisenwald arc should start soon and I could improve my Death God magic by eating the flute or at least get new abilities and some extra power. Yeah, I'll think more about this later. I've already been in the bathroom for quite a long time, I should leave before-.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Hey! Are you ok?" Natsu knocked on the bathroom's room.

"Maybe he fell off the toilet." Happy came in with his own theory.

"Did you fall off? Just tell me if you need any help." Natsu then added.

I could only sigh then ask the system if my clothes are ready, but apparently, it will take a while so I had no choice but to answer before he does something crazy like breaking the door, my back on earth would do something like that, it was the kind of house where the policy is no locked door, I can't get over how many awkward moments that caused, but it's all in the past now and there's no use thinking about it.

"I'm fine! Just wait for me outside, I'll be done in a few minutes." It wasn't the first time I had to do this so it didn't really bother me, and it could have been much worse, so this is acceptable.

"Ok, we're going to look around this place!" Natsu said in response. "Happy, let's go."

They left and I waited around for a bit for my clothes to be ready. While doing so, I used my void aura to direct the blood on the floor down the toilet and then flushed.

The waiting didn't take that long and I got my clothes clean again after I dressed up I left the bathroom, I didn't see Maltus when I was leaving so I grabbed the map I found on his table with mount Fira's location marked and just decided to look for Natsu and Happy.

(This place is pretty big, it might take a while...) I started to look around and then.

"Hahahahaha!" I heard the laughter I could recognize and went there.

"I would like to say I'm surprised, but I'm really not." What I found was Natsu and Happy dancing on top of wooden tables while the people of the tribe were watching.

"Natsu, let's get out of here!" I call him out.

"Oh, you're back. Ok, where's that mount Pira that Mordus was talking about?" They jump off the table and come to me.

"I found a map at Maltus' place and we should be able to get there from here, we don't even have to go by foot this time." After receiving 50,000 Jewels from Maltus, it wouldn't be necessary to travel on foot the whole way.

"Great!... Wait, are we going with a carriage?" Natsu already looked nauseated just by mentioning it, I really feel sorry for him as I somewhat understand it, I would get motion sickness on long car trips, it's the worse, and I never recovered nearly as fast as Natsu, I mean in the show his motion sickness was nothing more than a gag, but here it would be more serious, I actually feel sorry for him.

"We can go on foot if you prefer." I say as an act of mercy.

"No! There carriage is fine!" Natsu immediately replies.

After shrugging it off since it's more convenient this way, we get to the gate of the village.

"Oh, you're finally here and you already have the map, that cuts us some trouble. I was waiting for you here. You probably remember her from before." Maltus was at the gate apparently waiting for us, then then he pointed at the girl named Cira from before. "But I'll introduce her again just in case, this is Cira and she's the guard captain around here, she's also the best fighter and a mage. I talked to her and she wants to accompany you in your quest, I believe she'll be of great help if you take her."

"We appreciate but we Fairy tail mages always complete our quests, thank you but we won't need the extra help." Natsu declares with a lot of confidence.

I was about to refuse anyway so this works. This Maltus guy has been giving me bad vibes from the beginning and I've tried a few times now, only to not feel a single spect of Ethernano from him, normally if someone isn't a mage, you'll feel a weak signature of Ethernano that just lays there untouched, but I don't feel anything from him, meaning he's a mage and a powerful one at that if he can just conceal his Ethernano so well. I would have left before if not for the high pay and the Hell cross.

We could just leave with this much, but I want the rest of the money, and also, if the Lava in Mount Fira is special, it would probably give me some good abilities. The only problem is the threat of those so-called Anarchy Kings, but they shouldn't be too strong, at least I hope they aren't.

Now about this Cira woman, it's pretty simple, I've watched enough anime to know, that a partner recommended by the person who gave you the mission is an absolute 50/50, they will either be very helpful or be useless... The worst is that 8 out of 10 times when they are competent they're also secretly an enemy. I'm not taking such risks unless necessary, I'm already risking enough just by deciding to go to mount Fira.

Maltus is already suspicious, if we take someone he's recommending... I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about this.

"I understand that, I'm not doubting your ability or the competence of your Guild. I just like you to take Cira because of the seriousness of the situation, if it were not for that I would have never suggested it." Maltus explained his intentions and seemed to be very sincere about it, but I wasn't buying it, and it only made me warier of the situation.

"What do you think Kaory? It's your quest." Natsu turns to me and asks calmly which surprised me a bit.

"Since the client recommending her and it's a sensitive situation, we will accept your help." I say a bit worried, but I don't want to make Maltus suspect anything. Cause if I'm correct about him, Natsu won't stand a chance much less me.

"Great, I must thank you again for your help, and good luck on your quest." Maltus leaves after saying those words.

"We meet again, it will be my pleasure to work with you. If you are not familiar with the area, I can guide you there, I know a shortcut." Cira came and greet us instantly making herself useful. It's not a good sign, if she's too competent she's definitely going to be evil.

"Good, please guide the way." I say as I internally hope she's not evil.

We all go on with Cira leading the way and making the map basically useless, but I still keep it in my inventory just in case. While we are walking to our destination, I start getting hungry again, so I pull out the rocks I collected on the way here and eat them.

The rocks taste like hard candy for some reason and I just end up eating all of them without even noticing. At some point, Natsu got curious asked what I was eating but happily, at that point, I had already eaten them all, I just said I don't have any more which leaves him disappointed. In all of this what surprised me was the notification I got after a bit.

[You have consumed a large amount of the mineral 'rock' and have assimilated some of its characters and turned them into your own. You have gained the skills 'Stone skin' and 'harden']

(So, even from a simple rock I got skills... Going to mount Fira is definitely going to bring me some great skills, I might even get another unique skill... Aren't I getting them too easily? Devouring is too broken!) While I was having some useless thoughts, Cira and the others stopped walking.

"Who are you?! It doesn't matter, get lost! Mount Fira is Anarchy Kings' property!" A man with a green mohawk yelled at us as he pointed at the hundreds of people behind him.

"And who let you people take this place?" Natsu asked as he does warm-up exercises, it seems he's getting ready to fight.

Cira tightened her grip on the spear, while Happy walked next to me.

"Nobody!! Cause we at Anarchy Kings!!!" The man started yelling louder and this time raised his hand to make a weird hand sign.

"MAKE OUR OWN RULES!!!!" All the hundreds of people behind the man with a green mohawk shouted at the same time with an impressive synchronize.

At the same time on our side, both Natsu and Cira seemed ready, as he was letting flames out his mouth and fists while she took a battle stance and had her spear positioned.

Me and Happy slowly backed away.

It seems this is going to be troublesome.