32 Consumption

It's night, and I'm sitting alone on a pile of tires kept inside the ruins of an abandoned factory. I'm wearing one of the finer yukatas I have; given to me when I'm forced to attend some sort of important event.

I'm trying my best to remain calm, but it's hard when I know that Hanezu's diligently preparing my meal. He's having some trouble deciding how to bring over 200 victims he's going to hand over to me, but it isn't long before he finds a way.

And in these last few minutes of calm, I find the time to think.

Over the course of the past two years, I've learnt something very important about Primal Energy, and why Senjutsu is, perhaps, its best partner.

I've noticed it in the past, but Primal Energy has a cleansing effect. Whether it be poisons, curses, or even things like bacteria and parasites are killed when Primal Energy comes into contact with them. In a sense, my Primal Energy acts as a sort of defense mechanism, cleaning my body of dangerous intrusions. It's why I've never truly gotten sick since I came to this world.

Except that isn't true.

It's less a 'cleansing' and more a 'deconstruction'. Those unwanted intruders are torn apart by my Primal Energy, broken down to its general components, before assimilated into my body. The growth I experience from it far exceeds the usual growth I get from absorbing pure Primal Energy.

Senjutsu is the perfect partner in this regard. Just by using it, I absorb the corruption in the air, birthed from the darkness of being alive. The corruption enters me, and my Primal Energy goes to town on it, tearing it apart like a pack of rabid dogs. And before long, instead of feeling tired, I feel even more refreshed.

It's a dangerous slope though. I might gain more energy, but the feeling is…euphoric, to say the least. It's nothing compared to the enthralling madness of being corrupted, but it's still pretty bad. I've always managed to hold due to a combination of discipline and headaches from using my eyes.

Akeno…did not have that same luxury. Granted, that only happened once, but it was enough to paint me a reason why losing control isn't a good idea.

Even now, I can still remember the way she tore those Fallen apart, laughing maniacally as she stomped on their already crushed heads over and over as corruption swirled into her body. She was still very much conscious, but the high she experienced had only intensified her hatred for the Fallen, and I had to knock her out lest she cause a dispute between the supernatural.

I grimace. That had not been a good day.

My thoughts are cut short when the large open space before me suddenly lights up. The emptied factory is lit for the first time in years, and when the light dies down, I come to see an entourage of over 200 people. It's a group made of a number of teachers and a large group of highschoolers.

They're all dressed in a medical white gown, and I can see collars outfitted around their necks. The collar seems to be some sort of magical tracking device. It's a simple tool, but an effective one. Maybe I'll keep one of them to study for later.

But it's hard to notice all that. Because I'm immediately drawn to the phantasmal beings clinging onto each of their backs. They take on all sorts of shapes; from lizards to lions to strange living mushrooms, all with half their ghastly forms sunk into the bodies of their hosts.

It's a sight only I can see at the moment. It's a haunting one, I suppose. Or at least it should be.

But my eyes are more than happy to show me their makings, and I find myself…fascinated.

There's an art to these things. They may be simple replicas based on sentient Sacred Gears, but the way Hanezu and his people weave magic and curses into one another is interesting. To know that they'd done this through hard work and trial-and-error; it almost makes me feel bad that I could cheat so easily.

Almost. Because I don't really care that I can cheat. Not when most people in this world are cheats in the first place.

"Hyoudou-san."

I blink, and finally realize that Hanezu had been standing in front of the group. He's been staring at me for quite a while, it seems. I hope I didn't look too weird while I was admiring his creations.

I cough. "Ah, fair night, isn't it?" I begin, smiling politely. "I must thank you for bringing these people here." I turn my eyes to one of the Utsusemis. "They look…filling."

Hanezu manages a nod. "Are they to your liking?"

I grin. "Oh, very!" I don't bother containing my excitement. He's getting the wrong idea as to why I'm so happy. It makes him uneasy, but it only makes me happier. Then, channeling some of the acting I've learnt, I put on my best haughty expression. "Now, go." I say, shooing him away. "I don't like eating with an audience."

Hanezu seems more than happy to do just that, and he quickly reactivates the teleportation array he used. A burst of light fills the abandoned factory, and as quickly as he came, he's gone.

All falls still for a moment, before I let my smile drop. "Shikaku-san."

A moment later, I hear footsteps, and Shikaku walks out from the darkness. He has an 'Invisibility' Ofuda stuck to his shoulder, but I can see him perfectly. "Yes, Issei-sama?"

"Have you prepared a space for these people?" I ask. He nods, and I smile back. "Good. Then I'll begin purifying now."

"I pray for your success." He says, before he walks out of the abandoned factory, taking guard just in case someone comes here.

And once he's far enough, I pull out an 'Isolation' Ofuda and place it on the ground, the characters begin glowing an ominous purple, and the world around us seems to darken.

I finally stand up. I give my knuckles a few cracks, rolling my sleeves and tightening the sash around my waist. Then, the world glows gold as I activate the Eyes of God. The world drains of its color, turning all but the collars around their necks monochrome.

With a deep breath, my body comes to life. Primal Energy and Ki are infused into the fibers of my muscles.

Then, with a step forward, the earth cracks,

And I'm flying forward, zipping back and forth between the unmoving group, tearing the collars from their necks with a single swipe of my hands. Bits and pieces of metal fall onto the ground in droves, and in barely a minute, all the tracking devices are broken.

Of course, I do want to study them, and so I grab one of the larger pieces and place it on the stack of tires I'd been sitting on. That one I'll bring back once this is all over.

With that done, I turn my eyes to one of the victims. It's a girl with brown hair and green eyes. She's quite pretty, though that doesn't really mean much. This world has a lot of beautiful people in it.

What interests me though is the small tie between us. It's similar to the one I have with Serafall, denoting that we're fated to be affiliated in some way, even if only in rare chances.

Toujou Sae is her name. She's a highschool student who was kidnapped months ago, having disappeared in an incident known as the "Heavenly Aloha Incident", where 233 students went missing after going on a luxury liner.

In retrospect, I suppose it was quite suspicious for a normal school to have been granted 233 tickets to such a luxurious liner. That ship was obviously Hanezu's property.

I shake my head. I can consider these ideas later. These people have suffered for long enough; it's about time I save them from these phantasmal beasts.

I turn to Utsusemi clinging onto her back. It takes the shape of a ghastly lion, its eyes boring into mine. Yet I can see it shaking slightly, as if trying to run away. But it won't be able to. Hanezu had instructed them to remain here, and they will do nothing else.

I approach, reaching out towards the phantasmal lion. It tries squirming away, but it can only go so far.

Then, inevitably, my hand grasps its ethereal body, made completely by magic and curses.

And my arm glows white as Primal Energy surges out of my skin, with my Ki acting as a bridge to the outside world. It surfaces into the world as white tendrils of power, and like sharks to water, my Primal Energy senses the accursed creature, and it lashes towards it.

The ghastly lion lets out a silent scream as it begins decreasing in size. The curses that make up its body quickly being purified and consumed, the energies being dragged back into my body.

In seconds, the Utsusemi is completely purified, and his energy is added into mine. Now freed, Sae begins to stagger, her listless eyes finally closing as she topples forward. I quickly move to catch her, before slowly setting her down onto the floor.

Slowly, I take a few steps back, taking mouthfuls of air. Those few seconds felt like minutes to me, and the electric feeling echoes in the back of my mind. I have a large, silly smile on my face, and I can't stop smiling no matter what I do.

This is bad. Really bad. Because I still have over 200 curses to purify, and I'm not sure what will be of me when this is all over.

But I do so anyway. So like a man possessed, I continue on this damned path. I walk from person to person, using my Primal Energy and Ki to purify the Utsusemis and drag their energy into my body. Time stretches in my mind, my perception dulling as my brain is blasted with waves of euphoria.

It's overwhelming. Hundreds of curses are slain and assimilated into my being, accelerating my growth beyond what should be natural. It feels amazing, too amazing, and it feels like my will explode any second now.

But I remain conscious still, through a combination of willpower and pain. Multiple 'thresholds' are broken through during all this, and doing so feels as painful as ever. Except I'm grateful for that, because it shocks my mind back to lucidity.

And eventually, my task ends. Over 200 curses slain, their energies purified and assimilated into my body.

I've passed over a dozen 'thresholds' in minutes, and it shows. I feel exhausted, more tired than I've ever felt in the past two years. I haven't seemingly changed after all those breakthroughs, but that's because my most excessive change happened inside my body.

My bones. I'd struggle to call them human now. They're thicker than any human bone, and packed with so much Primal Energy and Ki that they look like giant light rods to me. And more than anything, they now serve a similar purpose to my heart; my bone marrow now stores and generates some amount of Primal Energy and Ki.

It's something I derived from the Oni's special technique. It's a ceremonial ritual, done when a child Oni becomes an adult. Using the tainted magma of the Underworld, they would bask their young, drowning them in a torrent of curses. Those too weak will die and be eaten alive. Those that live are those who weathered the storm, assimilating the curses into their very bones.

I did something similar, just using Primal Energy and Ki instead. It was the first time

I attempted controlling the flow of Primal Energy and Ki during a breakthrough, and I'm almost tempted to never do that again. Just breaking through a 'threshold' hurts badly enough; trying to control it hurts far more. Even now, my body feels terribly hot, as if I have magma coursing through my veins.

I take a deep breath, and I release a flare of Primal Energy into the air. It soars towards the 'Isolation' barrier, and the barrier shatters on contact. The world turns just a little lighter, and I can now see the moonlight peering through the few windows in the abandoned factory.

"Issei-sama?" I hear someone say. I turn to the right to see Shikaku standing there, with a group of other Ungaikyos.

I can feel myself slipping, but I can't help the small smile pulling on my lips. "I'm…going to dip now." I manage to say with the last dregs of my fading consciousness.

I collapse to the floor seconds later.