Chapter #7 - Bite

Pain.

An uncomfortable yet itching pain, similar to a fly bite, caused Kizuna's mind to open and created the opportunity for him to look around. The moon was overhead as usual, adding an uncomfortable monotony.

He stared at the moon until the pain recurred once more and it wasn't long before he realized he couldn't move. When he tried to lower his head slightly, he saw two wide, crescent shaped blades trying to tear his neck off!

At first he thought it was dangerous, but then he realized how absurd the idea was and made no move. He was enraged. They had been disturbed in their sleep.

Had he just thought in the plural? Whatever it was, it must have been a weird side effect.

The razor blades, under the influence of his strange thoughts, struck his neck and there was a metallic sound.

Ding!

Scolopendra's head was pulled back and a few drops of poison dripped from its mouth.

Hiss!

'That fly bite again.'

That was his first thought. He didn't know what it was, but it was indeed an annoying poison that penetrated his skin. He frowned and looked at the face of the scolopendra that had completely enveloped him. Scolopendra looked surprised.

Naturally bewildered. The amount of reiatsu Kizuna emitted was ridiculously small. It had thought of it as an extremely ordinary but weird type of hollow. Come on, who would refuse such easy prey?

In this hellish place where the strong ate the weak, it was necessary to be smart, but because it was necessary didn't mean that everyone was smart. Fools were destined to be defeated and that was how they lurked, how they caught and ate their prey.

This had always been the case for it and its scorpion companion. Beware of the strong and clever, ambush and sneakily prey on the weak and stupid. In this way they continued to thrive. But before they knew it, they had hit solid rock.

Kizuna's eyes sparkled for a moment. He was not hungry. He didn't feel hunger, but he had a feeling. He felt he had to attack them. When this was combined with anger at their disturbance, he didn't hesitate for a second.

Completely ignoring the scorpion that hesitantly stood there, Kizuna grabbed the large centipede by the head. He didn't care about the difference in species. The centipede was a centipede. Then he separated it from his body as if it were nothing.

"What, what are you!?"

This was the scolopendra's first reaction. It was angry and scared. It tried to struggle, but Kizuna's iron hand refused to let it go.

Following this, the scorpion, which had been standing to the side, tried to stab at him with its tail in a strange slope.

"Leave Loly alone!"

This shouted attack was ridiculous and helpless. Instead of even bothering to glance at her, he deflected the scorpion strike with the back of his hand. The form he was in now was his original form, which he called his werewolf form.

From this he deduced that he had shifted to this form when he ran out of energy. This was bad. It destroyed the possibility of his dream of coexisting with the people. It also meant that he could transform if there was trouble.

Thinking about it left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. His eyes were fixed on the scolopendra. He sniffed her lightly. It didn't smell bad.

"Did you try to eat me in your helpless state?"

The scolopendra was long enough to wrap around him, but that was all. Strength? None. There was nothing useful about her, except her venom that hurt him. He felt no pity. He had learned in his time here that beings like this did not even deserve to live.

This scolopendra, whose name was Loly, was struggling now. Her pathetic struggles and her attempts to bite with her crescent-like blades were fruitless. It was as if she was trying to bite those trees made of quartz. It was only hurting herself.

So, at the risk of hurting herself, she began to form a cero in her mouth, but before she could, Kizuna tightened his grip. He growled as his mouth opened.

"Don't even try."

With his growl, a massive silver reiatsu shook the area. The white scorpion that had formed a cero behind her froze in place. Her body trembled as the red cero dissipated. This reiatsu should not have been in an hollow. She could feel a huge mountain collapsing on top of her!

Which was lucky for this scorpion because there was some distance between them. Scolopendra's situation was much more pathetic. She was just frozen. Her personality was filled with a strong determination to attack even the stronger ones, but this... This was on a scale that even she could not react to!

Kizuna glanced at the scorpion out of the corner of his eye, then back at the centipede. His instincts screamed that he should bite this centipede, even though he was not hungry. The voices inside him were trying to tell him something. Unfortunately, he didn't quite understand what it was.

What was certain was that he had to eat her. There was no need to think too much. He could have just ripped her head off, but instead he pulled himself a little bit closer and put his mouth closer to a part of her neck - at least where he hoped so.

When this happened, the scolopendra panicked. To be bitten, that was the worst thing that could happen. She thought he wanted to kill her, kill her. She struggled. With wiggling limbs and feet that she had to wrap tightly, struck this abnormal werewolf!

But it was not much different from hitting an unshakable wall. It was incapable of moving an inch. Despair and jealousy filled her heart. Why wasn't she like the others? Why was she so weak? Why was she-

And the pain suddenly recurred in her mind. Kizuna's sharp teeth tore off a large, wide chunk. She could feel the teeth sinking into her body. The pain.. A very intense pain enveloped her body!

As it happened, Kizuna threw it into a corner and turned towards the scorpion, frozen with fear. His gaze was steady, his expression emotionless, but that emotionless gaze gave the scorpion an intense pressure.

"What is your name?"

Leaving the suffering centipede as it was, he turned towards her. She should have attacked him. He had attacked her best friend, hadn't he? She had to do something. She knew that, but... But she couldn't. Her body wouldn't listen to her words.

It was the first time she had ever experienced something so horrible that it left a scar on her mind. She just stared blankly, unable to make a sound out of fear. Well, considering the emptiness of her eye sockets, it could be said that it really suited her.

Kizuna looked sideways at the suffering centipede before renewing his question. The centipede was trembling and screaming. As it continued to tremble, he saw a piece of silver fur coming out of a piece he had torn off. He did not understand what it was.

Before he could renew his question, he realized he was still applying pressure to the scorpion, and with a sigh he hid it again. This caused the scorpion to relax for a moment, but then it tensed even more. Kizuna was expressionless as he looked at her.

"What's your name, didn't you hear my question?"

The scorpion hesitated before speaking. Then she could barely speak.

"M-My name is Menoly... Menoly Mallia."

Somehow the name sounded familiar. But it was only familiarity by ear. And that sense of familiarity made him think he should pay attention. He felt he should trust even the slightest feeling.

He nodded his head in agreement and asked.

"And I'm Kizuna. Just Kizuna for now. Did you try to kill me?"

He waited for her confirmation, even though he knew the answer. If she tried to lie, he thought he would lose interest and kill her.

But Menoly did nothing of the sort. Come on, who would lie about something that was already obvious?

"Y-Yeah. Let my friend go! We just-"

Kizuna interrupted him.

"You were just hunting. You saw me weak and tried to kill me. Okay."

He waved his hand nonchalantly. Then he turned his gaze to the centipede in front of him. He didn't trust the scorpion. He thought there was a chance it might try another sneak attack.

"Before you ask. Your friend is alive. She's just having some kind of… Evolution. Or should I say change or mutation, I'm not sure."

The centipede, originally five meters long, had already shrunk to two meters and had become a kind of ball of fur. It didn't seem possible to understand what had happened. He had already guessed what it was by the color of its fur and the connection he felt.

It was progressing really fast. He sat down and took a hollow out of the inventory and started eating. He threw a piece to the scorpion, who looked hesitant and questioning.

"Whatever is happening will end in fifteen minutes. You can attack me senselessly if you want, or you can eat this and get some sustenance. Your choice."

Then he ate disinterestedly and waited for the transformation to end. He was curious to see what would come out.

The scorpion was afraid for her friend but helpless. She could attack, as he said, but she had already realized that her attacks made no sense. She had to sit and wait, even though she didn't want to. She stared at the hollow corpse thrown in front of her.

'It could be poisoned.'

She thought at first, but then dismissed the idea. If he wanted to kill her, she was sure there were simpler ways than poison. So he had clearly left this Hollow, which she had no idea where it had come from, for her to eat. And he had done this even though they were trying to kill him.

It was extremely weird, but the more Menoly thought about it, the more confused she felt, and she buried herself in her food.

Meanwhile, the size of the centipede grew smaller and smaller and the amount of reiatsu increased. Although still ridiculously small, it was at least comparable to the level of Adjuchas, and it was getting higher!

As it continued to rise, the fur ball of silver furs slowly began to dissipate. The cries of pain had already disappeared. In its place was a humanoid looking around in astonishment.

A part of her mask covered her eyes. But the rest of it was not much different from a human being. The long, two-tailed black hair that fell down her back was striking. Her fair skin shone with a healthy glow.

An interesting and remarkable detail was that her ears were wolf ears rather than human ears.

She had a weird expression on her face as she looked at her hands in confusion. Her body was naked. Her breasts were small but proud, and she had the youthful physique of a teenager.

Behind her, a large, tail-like, bony protrusion with weird little joints swung from side to side.

"This power..."

For the first time she felt something like this. There was a heat, a power surging through her. She curled her slender fingers into a fist and squeezed. She could feel it.

Kizuna, standing in front of her, had already shifted into human form. His lips formed an "o" in surprise at the sight.

The sight of his eyebrows raised and his mouth open was too comical.

He had been hunting for many years. His previous life felt faded to him, like a source of information.

So for the first time in a long time he saw a woman in the flesh, especially a woman in the prime of her youth!

The scorpion standing next to him was just as puzzled as he was. Was she... her friend? The reiatsu overflowing from her told her it was her, but something, something was different.

Kizuna pulled himself together and stood up, ignoring the notifications from the system. His eyes were on the scene in front of him.

He walked to her and stopped when they were a few feet apart. Kizuna could feel a connection coming from her. A closeness. The kind of closeness you feel to your kindred.

Loly felt a similar sensation. Her little heart began to beat rapidly the moment she saw Kizuna's face as the heat she felt inside her rose.

The feeling of closeness and the heat was undoubtedly the effect of the transformation, but the speeding up of her heart had nothing to do with it.

Looking into his eyes, she asked.

"Wh-why?"

Kizuna held out his hand towards her. He answered with a smile on his face:

"Just a feeling. Apparently I have really good feelings. Do you feel it? That bond."

Loly hesitated before taking his hand. Just a few minutes ago she was about to die by his hand. But the same person had given her strength instead of killing her.

She had many questions, but she was sure she could trust.

So she took his hand and let herself go with his flow. Not knowing that this was a historic moment for her.