Chapter 2: Feed me

She contemplated the beast in front of her, it was an impossible task.

- Are you crazy ? How could I kill something like that…

Electra weighed about 60 kilograms for 1m73, she was nothing beside the thing that stood before her. She couldn't help but to feel powerless. Even armed, she would have been swallowed in a few seconds.

For the time being at least, she had to be safe, the demon was immobilized by the four walls of the corridor. But he was shaking the structure every time he struggled. It wasn't unimaginable that he would manage to free himself. "But how long would he need?" Thought Electra

And when he would gain his liberty, what would he do ? He would be probably looking for a meal.

Electra returned to the stairs, she might be fearless, but she was not suicidal. She had to back to her mother's house to see if she was okay. But she didn't dare to push the door, she stood in front of it, hesitant.

She spoke aloud to herself, because in her heart, she still had not yet accepted the angel in her reality.

"If I leave now, things will only get worse. Won't they?"

The angel did not answer, he just smiled.

- People will die., she said

- I guess so.

"There must be a solution, you say it was a game. And since this is the beginning, the difficulty shouldn't be too high. At least for now, it should be doable, that's how games work."

"In other words, thought Electra, this demon must have a huge weakness, something who make it easy to kill for a newbie. It's his lack of mobility, in which case I couldn't do anything. Or it's something else, like a weakness against the multiple opponents, in which case, I would need to bring other people to fight."

But her instincts told her the monster stuck here was not a coincidence.

- If my assumption is correct, his weak spot should be somewhere else! It has to be somewhere else.

She turned around to look for something she could use in the hallway, there were only chairs and benches available. Not something she could use as a weapon, but she had nothing to lose by trying. She remembered how the monster greedily swallowed a bulletin board one minute ago, and that gives her an idea.

She grabbed a chair, gained some momentum, and threw it toward the monster's mouth. It bounced off the wall of hands and fell to the ground.

"Fuck," swore Electra.

The Monster's arms flailed all the more to find the projectile, but they could not reach it. She cautiously took a few steps, to push the chair towards the giant mouth, with the end of his foot. The monster must have been blind, because it took him a few seconds to get his hands on it. But when he did, he swallowed it immediately, and his arms slowed down.

"What are you playing at?" asked the angel, looking fascinated.

- I'm feeding him, don't you see he is hungry ?

She grabbed another chair and threw it to him, then she did the same with a bench. Then she turned to the angel, her brows frowned.

- If you want to follow me everywhere, can't you come and help me? "

"No, sorry but that's not in my abilities," smiled the angel.

- What is your name?

- I don't have one, you can call me whatever you want.

As she continued to throw all the furniture's to the demon in the hallway, she made up her mind.

- Your name will be Toutou from now on.

- Like the dog you had as a child?

Electra glared at him; he knew too much about her. Maybe everything, apart her thoughts.

"You chose these appearances to make us feel confident?"

He took a while to answer, as if he was thinking about what he could or could not reveal.

- Yes, humans discriminate a lot based on appearance.

- You know what else doesn't make us feel confident? Stalker behavior.

- Gee... Did I seem a little out of place to you? he asked sincerely annoyed.

She had finished clearing the hallway and was now looking for an open classroom. She founds one a little further, in the opposite direction of the monster. She grabbed a table for two and dragged it to a reasonable distance from the hands. She managed to push it to him without getting too close. It was the biggest object she had used to feed him until now, so it took time, but he also managed to swallow it. So she ran back to the room to repeat the process with chairs, and others tables. She only had to drag them, it wasn't exhausting, but she was worried about the others. The college, her family and her friends, she hoped they were fine. She could not spare more time, she had to accelerate. To erase the existence of this demon of this world, to protect the others.

"I have to hurry," Electra thought. "This thing is probably not alone, there must other monsters outside."

The angel who followed her everywhere, never going more than three meters away from her, seemed perplexed.

- I don't understand, why are you feeding it?

- I'm going to blow it up!

He laughed indelicately, "how? "

- I don't think this thing have a developed brain, it swallows everything I give it without spitting them out. Chances are I can feed it until it dies. Look at her, It already lost its strength.

It was true, her arms moved only limply, but she did not stop engulfing every chair Electra threw at her with conviction.

"What if it just ended up throwing up ?" The angel says. What if it growth stronger after swallowing all the food you gave it ?

Then I'll just have to leave... But it's improbable, he must have a weak spot. It should be his eyes or his heart or something, but there's nothing like that about this monster. I can't miss this opportunity; I have to try. I bet two more chairs will do it.

It took six before his arms collapsed without a gasp. Part of the last chair could still be seen at the entrance to his mouth. He had not managed to swallow it whole, but silence had returned to the hallway. Everyone could have guessed the thing was dying.

"See, I told you so."

The thing seemed to be in agony for a short time, before its huge carcass began to release a large amount of smoke as it melted away. It gathered above the corpse, forming a sphere.

"What is that?" she asked while turning over towards Toutou.

But she moved back of two steps by seeing it, surprised by the angel strange shape. If its body had not changed, its face, did not look pleasant anymore. His jaw had dropped about ten centimeters and let flow huge streams of drool. A small puddle had formed at his feet, and his stooped shoulders were no longer that of the ephebe of earlier. His eyes, once blue, were now red and occupied a good third of his face. His gaze and posture screamed animal hunger, almost demonic.

"You are not an angel at all..."

Despite her current appearance, Electra did not feel in danger with Toutou. She had noticed that he was not paying attention to her. It was obvious the object of his desires was the demon she had just finished, more precisely the smoke its death has created.

When the sphere had finished forming and the carcass had completely disappeared, Toutou opened his mouth even wider. It was so wide that it could have swallowed a human skull in one go. In less than a second, he sucked up all the smoke condensed in the sphere.

After swallowing it, he immediately resumed his original appearance. If we omited the drooling at his feet and the traces of saliva on his chin, he was back to the perfect being who had presented himself to her a short time ago.

"It was a good meal, I am lucky I fell on you."

Electra stared at him, he was still showing a little satisfied look. But beyond the pride she took in her victory over this monster, she still had a doubt. A feeling that something was wrong. She thought about the game rules, convinced that the reason for her trouble was there, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

Suddenly she had a strange feeling, she looked at her own hands and arms, as if she had new limbs transplanted. Her tiredness had evaporated, she had a new energy.

- So you start to feel the effects ?

- How is this possible? What have you done to me?

- I already explained everything.

Electra concentrated for a few seconds before whispering, "The rules ! What was the second rule".

- It was something about eating hearts, and the thing you swallowed must be a heart. So this game is about killing demons, and eat them to growth stronger.

- Once I swallow a sphere, it takes me an hour to digest. But this cute little demon you just killed had four hearts, that's why you already start to feel a change

She crumbled on the floor, her back against a hallway wall.

- So In one hour, I will have superhuman strength ?

- Well, I guess you can say that, the progression gave by the hearts is decrescent, so the first hearts you have must represent a huge gap of power.

- In this world, you just have to kill these pieces of shit to growth stronger, isn't it too easy ?

The angel seemed to think about it, "honestly, I don't think what you just did was an easy task. Normally, beginners would have to fight together to defeat one monster, and they wouldn't even be sure to survive."

- And what about you and your kind ? What is you role in that shitty game, is that your creation ?

- I'm your guide, nothing more. I'm here to answering your questions and to keep your score.

- If your work is to answer my questions, why don't you do it better ? you're so fucking elusive.

"I can't answer to everything, your level is too low, if you want to learn more, you will have to become stronger. It's give-and-take, feed me well and you will hear everything from me." Says the angel mischievously.

- So it really work like a game.

She finished gathering her thoughts, and stood up. "Now at least, I have a plan," she says, and for the first time, he saw her smile. Despite her youthful beauty, Toutou thought that she had nothing to envy a demon