Loose Ends

He nervously shuffles towards the only way out that the hulking figure of my body is currently blocking. As he nears, I move slowly out of the way, allowing him passage.

He continues towards the door and as he passes, I begin to follow. He pauses, "What are you doing?"

"There's no reason for me to stay here as well. I'm just leaving." I respond, getting inches away from him.

He backs away from me, "Save your tricks, we have a deal in place that you have to honor." He demands, slowly backing into the wall.

I turn my back to him, making it seem like I'm uninterested with him. "Indeed. I have every intention of honoring it, I don't want to risk the wrath of your god." That seems to alleviate some of his fear as he stands more confidently and begins to walk towards the door.

When he nears the door, he walks past the rest of my bulky figure with as is mind is clearly on something else. Somehow not expecting my treachery, I spin around, raking my claw against his leg, leaving a huge gash as he falls to the floor.

Rubbing his head, he turns to me, "What is this? You have to honor our deal." I lift him up into the air easily with a claw. As I pull him close to me, he begins to speak in a language I recognize as the one that first brought me here, as a power begins to surround his body.

Knowing it would be foolish to let him finish, I drop him, and he shuts up as he once again lands on his head. As he lands on the ground at my feet and a power begins to flow towards me. Only then do I notice that my hunger hasn't been present at any time during our entire encounter.

Putting that thought aside, I address the minor problem in front of me. "I did honor my word. I let you free and you answered my questions. Our deal is done. As well as your life."

Understanding that he got tricked, he can only manage to get to a crawl as he slowly backs away from me. "No, free me, as in let me go. That was our deal, you'd dare risk dishonoring it?" 

I stab into his shoulder and begin lifting him into the air. He cries out in pain. It would have been clever of me to say something in retaliation, but all I could think about was how badly I wanted to eat him.

As he struggled futilely to escape my grasp, I raise my other claw and swipe it down on his neck. I watch as the fear of death takes hold as he clutches his neck, and I watch as he looks me in the eyes in his final moments.

He gurgles on his blood trying to say something. "Shhhh. Wait a couple of seconds and then I'll understand you fine." As the last of the life leaves his eyes, I let his body fall to the floor as a wispy version of him emerges from his dead body, and I quickly grab him.

He looks at me in absolute surprise as he realizes he's once again caught. "What is this madness? A spirit is supposed to be intangible with anything in the physical world. How are you able to restrain me?"

"I actually can't answer that. Nor what will happen to you when I eat you." I respond nonchalantly.

"Wait? Eat my soul? Impossible! You couldn't possibly be able to. Even if you could, such a thing would be the highest insult to not only the church, but creation itself."

I start to grow tired of his rantings and start to bring him closer to my mouth. Noticing, he starts to panic. "Wait! Stop!". I ignore his pleads as I proceed to eat him.

As the last of his body disappears into the abyss of my mouth. I can suddenly feel a power surging through me as I can feel my hunger subside as it returns the moment he no longer around me.

His mana was around ten times the amount compared to the knight, but I had a feeling that I would be extremely foolish to listen to his boast about being the strongest on the planet.

Plus, if what he said was true, then someone stronger could just as easily arrive. That being the case, I need to press my advantage while I have the opportunity.

My despite my bulky frame, I easily navigate out the door, trying to find a way out of the prison.

On a C tier planet...

A totem began to burn in unholy black flames before crumbling to dust. A figure notices and stands from kneeling, making sure to brush down her black dress before leaving the room as another takes her place.

She walks directly to the Priest's office, nodding to the men who stood guard outside. She was a nun, a servant in the order, and they knew that if she was approaching the Priest, it was important, so they let her in without a word.

Entering the office, she bows in respect before a powerful man of their god. He just joined the faith months prior, but with his potential he was quickly climbing the ranks. It was projected that he might even be the fastest man to achieve the Bishop title.

He turns to face her, returning her bow with a respectful nod with his head. Seeing that he accepted her, she began, "Good evening, Priest Rowland."

"Good evening, Sister, how can I help you?"

"It grieves me to inform you about the loss of former Deacon Michael. He has just passed moments ago." She says, performing a gesture from her forehead to her stomach then from shoulder to shoulder to form a cross.

He also performs a gesture, "Yes, indeed it is sad to hear. But it was the consequences of his own actions that lead to his fate. He was too trusting in a demon of all creatures. He was to be executed for his failure on some D planet today, yes?"

"You are correct, milord; he was to be executed." She simply confirms.

"By you being here, I can assume it wasn't that simple?" He asks.

"You are once again correct, milord. His totem burned the black flame before it crumbled." She says.

He turns away, thinking. "So, he was killed by a demon instead of the people."

"Most likely sir." She affirms.

"The demon there that he failed to kill, what was its name?" He asks.

"Silverfoot the Coward, milord." He pulls out a book and sets it on the desk. The nun averts her eyes, not daring to take a peek at something only his ranking and above can see.

He flips page after page until he finds the information he's looking for.

"The demon has only been there for barely a century. There's no way it could have acquired enough mana to take on former Deacon Michael in a straight confrontation. It must have gotten him while he was imprisoned and weakened from captivity.

Nevertheless, we can't let this go unpunished. I think it's the perfect opportunity for some of our new initiates. Send Deacon Briar with them just in case." He orders.

She nods and turns to relay these orders. She agreed with his decision. A demon of this low caliber didn't need such a high response. Anyone that's Rookie B and above could easily deal with it. Even her.

In her opinion, having Deacon Briar join was unnecessary, but her opinion didn't matter. He was a Proficient D level mage who insisted on remaining at the Deacon title because of his love of banishing demons.

He could just as easily become 'Clercici Vagantes' as a Priest, but he didn't want the responsibilities that came with the title. With a man like that and new recruits, that demon wouldn't stand a chance.