First Kill

'This is strange'

Edin was sure that the girl had awakened but what confused him were the cracks that marred her visage. Cracks were the best way to describe them, they weren't markings that had appeared on her face, the skin had split to reveal the blackness that hid underneath. Across his time, the Knight had seen many awakened candidates but not a single one of them had these strange cracks, and there were some with unique physical traits but these traits enhanced those candidates' strength in some way. However, from what his mana sense was telling him, the cracks were only there for aesthetic purposes.

'First, the goblins and now this, something big is brewing behind the scenes and this girl is important to whatever it is'

Moving his right hand towards his sword, Edin decided to not waste any more time and execute the demon, he was sure this would somewhat delay the plans of the being behind these incidents, the Knight was not so foolish to believe that he could thwart the schemes of a being that was likely on the same level as his Goddess. Suddenly, the Knight punched out with the hand originally reaching for his sword, his fist colliding with Faye's stomach as her balled fist fell just short of the Knight's helmet. The abruptness of the situation surprised everyone, the captain included, one moment the candidate was kneeling on the floor and the next she was pouncing on him.

Adding to the surprise was the sensation the captain felt when he struck her, it was like punching a pillow, soft. Was this girl crazy? Turning his eyes towards the body sailing through the air, Edin wouldn't be surprised if the candidate were near death, despite the abnormal strength the villagers talked about, her body was at the same level as an ordinary person's. But there was something that the girl had along with her strength, and that was speed. The pace at which the girl had moved was similar to that of those with a 4th stage Agility node, this observation caused Edin's eyebrows to furrow as he realised that this meant that it was likely that the girl possessed strength of a similar level. She was essentially an 8th-stage High Knight without the strengthened mind and physique and more importantly, without Aura, which meant that if he had to fight the demon, Edin was sure that he could easily bring her down.

Despite all this, something was bugging the Knight but he couldn't put his finger on it, what was it? Then it hit him. Her grin. That wild grin was still plastered across her face. Pushing his brain into overdrive, the Knight tried to work out what he had missed, his eyes rapidly scanned the scene before him, searching for the detail that would clear things up for him.

'I see'

He had found what he had been looking for. It was the area that the demon was going to land in, her father was in the same area. Thinking back to the moment, the Knight recalled that she had pounced towards his right side, forcing him to strike out with his right hand, which resulted in the force behind the punch sending her straight towards her father. There was no doubt about it, she had planned this, Edin was sure of it since it killed two birds with one stone: One, he was unable to draw his weapon, buying her a small amount of time and Two, she was able to reach her target without alerting him. The demon was going to kill her father, and while others may think it was an act of revenge, with the knowledge of the demon's plan Edin concluded there was another reason behind it.

Drawing his claymore, the Knight sighed as he signalled his men to follow his example, he could only hope that whatever came out of the murder of the man, it wasn't something that would cause him to regret not instantly executing the demon.

'He's realised, but it's too late'

As this thought passed through Faye's mind, she shifted her attention away from the group of knights who were drawing their weapons and focused it on the twisted face of the man she used to call father. Her usual kind eyes were gone replaced by two hate-filled orbs that dripped with rage, while the words of the darkness were constantly on repeat in her mind as if she was trying to etch them into her soul.

'Slaughter them'

'Bathe in their blood'

'Feast on their flesh'

'Become the truest version of yourself'

Two pairs of eyes met. Both were filled with hatred, however, one pair had a trace of fear lurking within the hatred. The fear in those eyes, Faye loved it, her deranged grin widened attesting to her enjoyment of her father's terror.

"Hello father", the demon snickered, watching in amusement as the man's face further contorted, his loathing temporarily overpowering his fear as he raged in reply,

"YOU FUCKING BITCH, I'LL KILL YOU"

Reaching her destination, Faye reached for Articus' throat, aiming to drag him to the ground with her which she succeeded in. Both father and daughter were slammed into the ground, the father ironically cushioning his daughter's landing. Throughout the entire fall, the brown-haired girl had not let go of her father's neck, she had already decided how she would kill the man lying beneath her. Picking herself up, Faye positioned herself beside Articus' head, ensuring that the last thing that the man saw in this world was the person he hated the most. Drawing all the strength from within her body, the demon squeezed her father's throat, instantly crushing it, leaving him gasping for air. However, the demon was not done.

Her hand let go of the throat before moving to the side of the neck where she then dug her nails into the flesh, her fingers slowly piercing through the skin. A maniacal glint flashed in the girl's eyes at the sight of blood spurting from the wound, prompting her to remove her fingers so that the blood could spray without obstruction. Ignoring the energy entering her body, Faye indulged in the euphoria of her first kill unlike others the demon didn't suffer from the typical psychological impact of killing a person, part of the reason was due to her corruption which would have made the act of killing more bearable for the girl, the main reason was due to the energy entering Faye's body. 

It was for this energy that the girl killed her father, the darkness had told her that she needed more strength to fight against the Knights and this strength that she needed would come from the murder of her father. This energy was Life Essence, Faye had already drained her mother's Life Essence and now she had done the same with her father's, although the enhancement she received wasn't on the same level as her first enhancement, it was enough to deal with the Knights that stood in front of her. Now, most of the Life Essence had been used to strengthen Faye's body whilst a tiny slither was directed towards her brain. This minuscule amount of Life Essence played around with Faye's brain chemistry, causing her to feel pleasure and joy from two things: murder and pain. She had been essentially turned into a sadomasochist.

Slowly standing up, the demon turned towards her next set of prey as she felt a burst of pain from her stomach, her body had only just registered the attack she had taken earlier on. But her grin only widened as her body radiated a faint red aura, the pleasure and the strength that came with the pain was worth it.

And she wanted more.