Revenge wasn’t the only thing on his mind as Arden prepared to hurt Yaan. He had a new power, and he had almost no idea how to properly use it. Devour was an ability that devoured the biomass of whoever Arden attacked. He could devour Yaan’s arms even more. He could devour his legs as well, but he was more interested in getting more bang for his buck.

  Who said that he could only eat body parts?

  Arden was gravely injured, and for a potion to be effective, he needed to be passed the worst of it. He needed a lot of biomass to heal his body, and it just so happened that a villainous walking protein shake was right in front of him.

  If Arden could use his power to target certain places in the body to devour, not just appendages, then we would be able to get more use out of his ability. Arden focused on Yaan’s physique. He was a slab of muscle.

  ‘Perfect,’ Arden thought.

  The predatory smile on Arden’s face ignited Yaan’s fight-or-flight response. Flight was out as Arden already stopped him from doing that before, so it was down to the former option, even if he was cut off from his powers, essence, and Satellites.

  Without hesitation, Yaan threw one of his arms forward, determined to break through Arden’s smugness. He heard a crack, and for a moment he thought that he had done it, until the pain reached his brain. He yelled from the pain of having his arm broken at the elbow.

  Arden ignored the screams and broke Yaan’s other arm, and then both of his legs. Despite being the one to cripple him, Arden still felt a small amount of disgust from the sound of the bones cracking. He decidedly did not like the sound. It didn't stop him, though.

  But what else could he do? He needed to cripple Yaan so as to prevent from escaping or fighting back. For Arden’s ability experiment, he needed Yaan to be still and not resist.

  Yaan’s pained wails gave way to snarls. He felt his limbs throbbing in burning pain, and desperately missed having the ability to circulate his own essence to heal

  Arden smacked him in the side of his head, eliciting a soft groan.

  “That’s just sad. You’re breaking at just mundane injuries. Didn’t they teach you to keep your eyes open in a combat scenario?”

  “Fuck…you…”

  Yaan wanted to raise his arms to protect his face, but they wouldn't listen to him. The damage to his arms was too much.

  Arden, with a smile like he had the most satisfying sneeze ever, wiped his forehead with the back of the gauntlet, then dismissed his Bone Talons in front of the suddenly submiasive Yaan. He felt a deep hunger from his soul as he prepared to use devour again.

  “Can’t move, can you?” Arden asked his victim, lying on his back with blood covering his face from Arden’s attacks. “Good. Stay still. I want to try something.”

  Arden placed his hand on Yaan’s chest. Yaan attempted to shake it off by writhing around, but it wouldn't work. He was stuck here beneath this pseudo-cannibal.

  Tendrils burst from Arden’s hand, and Yaan could do nothing but scream and watch as the countless thin tentacles pierced his skin. With closed eyes, Arden held his hand still as he attempted to specify what to devour.

  Arden was extremely pleased with how simple it was. He was expecting to have to pay constant attention to it, but once he thought of what he wanted to happen, his power followed through. He figured that because he was using his powers, and thus his soul, that he was in total control of his power.

  With Devour being activated, Arden felt the voracious hunger deep within him again. It was like there was a devil on his shoulder, ordering him to devour everything, and grow fat with strength. He acquiesced.

  Malice shined in Arden’s eyes as he watched Yaan’s buff appearance begin to shrivel. This time, Once he got a taste of Yaan’s biomass, he felt an otherworldly bliss envelop him. It was pleasure and intoxication combined but on a higher plane.

  Arden wanted more.

  He said earlier that getting stronger was intoxicating. Addicting. What he said was true.

  But as he greedily devoured Yaan, Arden realized what true intoxication felt like. The pleasure he felt threatened to melt his mind, and he wanted it to continue.

  “More!”

  Arden’s tendrils dug deeper into Yaan’s body that had already lost a lot of its mass. There was no feeling of satisfaction from having revenge on the one who had so often beaten him within an inch of his life. There was only the endless hunger, a voice in the back of his mind that told to keep devouring.

  Arden looked down at his meal. It was still alive, though barely. Yaan had the appearance of a living mummy. His herculean physique that had allowed him to overpower everyone in the slums was gone. In its place was a hollowed out person. Most of his muscle mass was gone, devoured by Arden. His skin hung loosely off of his bones.

  Arden licked his lips, eager to finish the job, but felt a shiver run up his spine that stopped him from continuing. He paused for a moment with his interest piqued for this new feeling.

  All at once, the spell fell away. With the trance broken, Arden’s eyes widened in shock. He staggered backwards and fell to the ground, and he felt his wounds radiate pain, but he ignored them.

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  Sweat poured off his pale face in buckets as he looked at the drained Yaan. He looked like clinging to the last threads of his life. Only the enhanced physiology of a Starborn was keeping him alive for now. His eyes were closed, but the faint breathing told Arden that Yaan was still, barely, alive.

  Arden, on his hands and knees dry heaved several times before slowly rising to his feet. His heart beat wildly in his chest as he realized how close he was to crossing the point of no return.

  He wasn't worried about killing someone. He wasn't even worried about devouring them. What scared him was how insatiable he was. In the moment, he didn't look at Yaan like a person. To Arden, he was just a meal.

  Arden couldn't describe what had stopped him from finishing. It was just a vague feeling, but it had saved him. He knew that if he had finished, Yaan wouldn't be the last to be devoured in that moment of gluttony. The thought of devouring the people upstairs made him shudder.

  Arden’s worried expression morphed to one of resolve. He got to one knee and took several steady breaths. When he felt he was finally in a better place mentally, he stood up all the way.

  He looked down at Yaan who had regained consciousness. Yaan looked up at him and shook from fear. He no longer believed Arden to be just another slum rat. He was something else entirely. Something stronger than him.

  ‘I…I can't beat him. My lady was right.’

  Arden glared down at his incredibly thin victim. He held his hand above Yaan's chest again in a threatening manner.

  “We've established a hierarchy now, Yaan. I am stronger than you. I can finish the job whenever I want. You know that now, right?”

  Yaan didn't say anything, but he eagerly nodded his head up and very quickly. Anything for Arden to leave.

  “Then don't get in my way. I'll give you one last chance. There won't be another. If you antagonize me or my friends again, you will die in pain as your body is assimilated into mine. You will be nothing more to me than fuel.”

  Arden withdrew his hand and turned away from Yaan’s broken form. The door to his cell opened up, allowing Arden to leave. Before he did, he looked over his shoulder and spoke to Yaan for what would hopefully be the last time.

  “I want to kill you, Yaan. I really do. Don't give me a reason to do so.”

  Arden left the cell, and the door was sealed shut behind him. The agonized moans of Yaan didn't cause him to stop or even slow down.

  As the elevator started to ascend, Arden finally let the tension out of him with a heavy breath as he slid down the wall of the elevator. He glanced up at the harsh fluorescent glow of the light and shielded his eyes with his hands.

  As the elevator was brought closer to the first floor, Arden glared at his hands blocking the light. He clenched them and stood up once more. He didn’t want the people helping him to see him as weak. Or something worse.

  “I won’t become a monster,” he whispered.

  The journey lasted a few more seconds until the elevator slowly came to a stop, and the doors opened with a ding. Arden quickly lowered his hood, and stepped out into the empty atrium. This place wasn’t just empty of people, but also amenities. There were no decorations and no furnishings. Only a hallway that led to a more populated part of Miasma’s headquarters existed here. Very few people were allowed in this part of the building, but few was not nobody.

  As if to prove that point, Laurent approached Arden from the hallway. The well dressed man in a suit was a stark contrast to Arden, who was wearing tattered black robes stained with dried blood. Whether it was Arden’s or someone else’s he didn’t know. Nor did he ask. Laurent learned very early on in his career that asking questions like that was a dangerous gamble.

  “I’m done here, Laurent. You can take me to Chorzo now. I know he’d like to know what I did.”

  “Actually, the guildmaster gave me new orders.”

  Arden glanced at the man in the suit, trying to pick up on any body language that seemed out of place. He didn’t notice any bloodlust, but he didn’t stop observing. Laurent didn’t appear to have any weapons, but that didn’t matter when it came to Starborn.

  “Is this the part where you silence me? Tying up loose ends and all that?”

  Laurent raised an eyebrow.

  “No? I was told to bring you back to the med bay and let you rest. Master Chorzo said that he’d debrief you later once you are healed up. By then, he should have enough information from the other rogue.”

  Arden nodded his head. He didn’t know if it was good to be wary for thinking that Miasma would try to kill him or if he was just being paranoid.

  “Alright. Let’s go.”

  They took a few steps down the hall before Arden remembered something.

  “Oh right. You should probably send a medical team down there. I roughed Yaan up pretty bad.”

  “How bad?”

  Arden thought in silence for a moment before giving his estimation.

  “The lucky to be alive kind. I think he’ll need to be hooked up to an IV drip or something for a while. He lost a lot of mass.”

  “Do you mean he lost a lot of weight?”

  “That too. Make sure he’s alive and healed as best as can be.”

  “The first part would be done even if you didn’t tell us,” Laurent said, pulling out his phone and typing a message to someone. “But are you sure you want him fully healed? What if he tries to bust out after healing?”

  “Then I follow through on my promise. The whole reason I did what I did was to send him a message. He knows now that he is weaker than me. More than that, he’s terrified. Plus, would Chorzo really let his nephew live as a cripple, even if I wanted it? Chorzo would probably agree and help me, then once me and my friends are gone, Yaan would be healed.”

  “He doesn’t want to see his family suffer,” Laurent said, trying to defend his boss.

  “Neither do I. Same goes for most well-adjusted people. Do you have a family, Laurent?”

  “Yes. I have a wife and a three year old daughter. I’d do anything for them.”

  Arden nodded.

  “For the longest time, I only had my sister. When I got back from my trial, I couldn’t find her, and I almost lost myself. Now, I know that she is one of Yaan’s victims. I’m willing to do anything to get her back. I’d do the same thing for Vera. Just like how you’d do the same for your family, and Chorzo would for his.”

  After a few minutes of walking, Arden was back in the infirmary and was led to a simple hospital room. The antiseptic smell pervaded his nostrils, but he didn’t mind. He was just glad to be out of intensive care. He sat down on the bed, dismissed the Setting Sun robes, and began to circulate his biomass. He didn’t think he devoured enough to fully heal him, but it was enough to start.

  Laurent watched him enter the infirmary and sit down before turning away.

  “Did he forget that we can't heal the injuries he causes?”