Slaughter

Scattered in a pool of deep red were four chunks of armoured flesh of varying sizes. The previously high-spirited Knight Seedlings stared at these pieces of flesh, their brains were overwhelmed by the scene before and the implications that it brought with it. The young men and women had been mistakenly led to believe that a Knight was an unbeatable being, it was a stage that many had repeatedly praised them for having the potential to reach. But today, not only had they witnessed a Knight get overpowered in one-on-one combat, but they had also witnessed the death of a being at this so-called prestigious stage of power—a brutal death. None of the warriors had seen where the flying claw mark had come from, but they knew who was behind it, and this person stood a few metres away from the Captain's dismembered corpse. Her bloodied body was covered in the remains of a dress, parts of her bare body visible to the onlookers, though neither she nor the spectators seemed to care about her partial nakedness.

The villagers, who had remained in their spots throughout the entire ordeal, had seen how the demon had summoned the flying claw mark, their pale faces and stiff bodies attesting to the terror brought by that sight. Why would they care about the uncanny beauty of her blood-stained body? That thing was a beast wearing human skin. 

When Edin had repelled the demon, as she was flying back, the sanguine aura concentrated around her body, temporarily unsealing all the wounds that covered her body. The sight of her figure spraying blood everywhere did not attract the attention of the villagers, instead, it was the demonic arm that had replaced one of her upper limbs. Unrestrained power radiated from this arm. This power left the villagers frozen in place, the evil nature of the power petrifying their bodies with terror. They could only look ahead and hope that they were ignored by the wielder of this power, for they knew that a gruesome end was what awaited them if they weren't. The monstrous hand clawed at the air, forming four giant tears in the space, for a moment the crowd believed that the hand had actually torn part of the space away. Relief filled the crowd when they realised that their assumptions were incorrect, this relief was further accentuated by the demonic arm dissolving into the dark red aura which quickly once again sealed Faye's wounds.

At the same time as the arm disappearance, the giant claw mark zoomed towards the giant Knight who was preparing his final move. The untrained eyes of the villagers only saw a blood-red flash. And the next second they saw the dismembered corpse of the large Knight floating in a pool of his blood.

The silence of the village was broken by hysterical giggling, the origin being the demon who slowly walked towards the remains of her enemy. Not a single soul moved from their spot. The knight group were still dazed, trying to comprehend the reality of their situation while the villagers felt that even the slightest twitch would send them to the afterlife. They simply watched as Faye kneeled in the blood that continually seeped into the ground, her hands clasping themselves around one of the deceased Captain's arms. She didn't do anything other than stroke the arm, but the bestial glint in her eyes paired with the savage grin plastered across her face suggested that she wasn't going to stop here.

And stop she didn't. Tearing away the remaining armour that covered the arm, she sank her teeth into its flesh, ripping a large chunk of meat off the very bones of the arm which disappeared into the deranged beast's mouth. The rubbery texture of the flesh didn't seem to put her off, neither did the metallic taste of the red liquid that exploded in her mouth as she chewed away. From the expressions that the demon made, you would think she was savouring some rare delicacy but the traces of vomit trailing down the sides of the villagers' mouths said otherwise. Swallowing the delicious snack, Faye's tongue slowly trailed along her lips, seeking to clean the traces of blood that had dripped out of her mouth. She felt free. Devouring her enemy's corpse, this act, it felt like she had acted like her normal self for the first time. 

The words of the darkness were still repeating in her mind, they were like a mantra, to remind herself about the path she had chosen, to remind herself what sort of being she was. And out of instinct, she decided to act upon one of the lines, a decision she would never regret, after all, it introduced her to the joys of consuming the raw flesh of your enemies. And she wanted more. One tasting wasn't enough. But she didn't want the flesh of the captain anymore. Surveying the prey around her, she wondered,

'Does every person's flesh taste the same'

'Well, there's only one way to find out'

Slowly, Faye stood up while throwing away the arm that she had eaten from, her eyes searching for her next victim. Wait. Why was she searching? All these people were going to die anyway. With this epiphany, the demon charged towards one of the knight groups, the clawed gauntlets forming around her hands once again. 

One step away from becoming a Knight, that's how close Celine was, she was planning to use the exploration to gain enough experience so that she could push herself to the next stage. The instructors were always praising her, constantly telling the young swordswoman how skilled she was, that she would be a strong Knight. Where was this skilled swordswoman now, where was this soon-to-be strong Knight now? All Celine could now see was a weakling praying that she would survive this catastrophe. She could only watch as the demon appeared before her as claws buried themselves into her chest, ignoring the breastplate that was supposed to protect her. 

Dead eyes silently gazed at the demon feast on what appeared to be a heart, the demon's free arm casually grasped the swordswoman's neck, she could feel her claws digging in. Celine had accepted her fate. This was the destiny of the weak. To be mercilessly crushed under the might of the strong. Faye tore the woman's throat out before smacking the standing corpse out of her way, she liked the taste of the dead woman's flesh. If it was different from the large knight's, more tender and flavourful, was this because women tasted different from men or did each person have their distinct flavour? There were still quite a few test subjects left for her to test her hypothesis. Time to get to eating.

A few corpses later, Faye had got the result she wanted, it turns out each person did have their own taste, it seems she would have a feast after the slaughter. The demon let out all her aura, now she would kill, slaughter and butcher. It would be an absolute massacre. For no reason at all. She was a demon. A being that wasn't chained by morality, they lived by their desires. And that's how she would live out her life.

Heads flew, organs were crushed, intestines were torn out; there wasn't a single intact body in sight. A heavy metallic scent hung in the air, the red fluid trickling from the dismemebered bodies responsible. There wasn't a single spot that remained dry. Or untouched. Everywhere the eye looked, there would be something to see, whether it be brains spilling out of a crushed head or a limbless corpse, the remnants of a brutal massacre could be seen everywhere.

It was carnage.

And in the centre of all this carnage was a girl, her nude, red body hunched over a corpse.