He wasn't just killing it. He was eating it. Not with his mouth, but with his magic. The black smoke, the very essence of the spider's life force, was flowing into him, a stream of raw, untamed power. A slow, satisfied smile touched his lips, and I could feel a change in the air. The pressure that always surrounded him, the aura of danger and contempt, intensified. He was getting stronger. Feeding on the creature's death. The thought was so monstrous, so alien, that it made my stomach clench.
[Violet! He's absorbing its magic! 🤢] Angus's text box appeared, the little angel icon looking green around the gills. [That's a forbidden art! A super-duper-forbidden art! It's like... magical cannibalism! So gross! (×﹏×)]
Magical cannibalism.
It sounded too ugly for someone as pretty as him.
But it did fit his personality. He didn't just want to win. He wanted to consume. To dominate. To leave nothing behind.
The spider's body deflated completely, its form collapsing into a pile of glistening black dust. The last wisp of smoke coiled around the demon king's hand, then sank into his skin.
He stood there for a few moments, before glancing over his shoulder at me.
His expression was somewhere just shy if disinterested annoyance.
"The way you're staring, you're not about to start moralizing over a spider which sought to devour you now, are you?" He asked, the barest hint of a smirk touching his lips at his own lame joke. "I'd hate to have to lecture you on the food chain."
"I wasn't."
Not that it wasn't disturbing.
And probably more than a bit alarming if I thought about all the connotations and possible consequences.
But it was an absolutely eldritch, disgusting spider.
And it definitely would have made an entire planet's arachnophobia well justified if it could.
But a part of me had the temptation to complain anyway just because he accused me of thinking about doing so. I resisted the urge.
"Then do stop looking at me like that. You look like a fish." He turned and started walking. "Come on, wretch."
I followed him. I didn't want to. My feet felt like lead, and every instinct I had was screaming at me to turn and run in the opposite direction. But I had nowhere to go. The forest was a maze, and he was my only guide. And... and the alternative was to be alone in a world filled with things like Shadow Spiders.
And without him, it's not much likely I'll ever get out of this world. Until we defeat that Demon Lord here it's either death or being stuck in this world.
And it's...
Dangerous.
I'm hoping that, if nothing else, success here will let me choose my own world next time.
I'm thinking a cozy otome game scenario where I get to be the heroine and gather all the hot men in the kingdom for....
Some kind of magical ceremony that requires a lot of one on one private time with the men and very little clothing. That's the kind of scenario I could get behind.
The path ahead was clear now, the sticky web and the pile of black dust the only evidence of the spider's existence. The demon king strode ahead, his steps sure and confident. He was different now. The raw, restless energy that had simmered around him before was gone, replaced by a deeper, more controlled power. He was no longer just a caged beast; he was a well-fed one.
I didn't like it.
I didn't like it at all.
"Feeling better?" I asked, my voice a little shaky.
I didn't particularly want to dwell on the spider sipping, nor did I want to provoke him in the middle of the forest.
But talking about it is how I cope with awkward discomfort.
If I didn't say something I'd probably break somehow. The temptation to run back into the woods and hide in a hole for the next two weeks until the world forgot about me was extremely high right now.
But that would have been a poor survival strategy.
He didn't even turn around. "My well-being is none of your concern."
"I think it is," I retorted, my voice gaining a little strength. "Considering I'm the one who's stuck teamed up with you. If you burn yourself out or something, I'm in trouble. And if you get stronger... well, I might be in even more trouble." I walked a little faster to catch up to him, my boots crunching on the fallen leaves. "So, yes. I'm concerned. For purely selfish reasons."
His response was a slow, deliberate turn of his head. His purple eyes narrowed. "Your concern causes my soul to retch." He looked down at me, "Your existence is a chain of iron around my throat-"
"The necklace is that." I interrupted, gesturing to the golden chain. "My existence is inconvenient, maybe, but the chain is that one." I point out.
He stared at me in disbelief.
There was...
Visible lag. Like a processing error in a video game that took way too long to fix the visual glitch.
"...You..." He started, then stopped. Then he turned away and continued walking. "Your capacity for observation is less than that of a gnat. Yet you focus on such trivial things."
He was not amused.
He was not amused at all.
But I was.
And that.
Was something.
The small victory was a fragile thing, a bubble of warmth in the cold, damp dread that had become my constant companion.
No doubt short lived, as well.
But at least if the forest dragged on for a while, he'd have little to take it on on me with.
I counted that a small victory, too.
Not that I imagined I'd get to hold it very long. But then again...something about transient delights and...
The ether.
Truthfully, those kinds of statements and sayings I just never really had a purpose to remember. But at least that was a private embarrassment.
Small wins.