Death didn’t smell like death in downtown. Ownership.
Austin hopped over the guardrail. Broken asphalt and glass crunched softly under his boots. The closer he got to the black towers, the more intense that smell became. It wasn’t copper blood. It wasn’t sulfur Gore-Hounds. Shadow scent was a weight against the back of his throat, behind his
eyes; a viscosity to the very air around him that he could taste like iron and death sentences.
He looked down at his wrist. The violet sigil branded into his skin pulsed softly with light keeping time with his heartbeat.
"System." He growled, voice gravelly from lack of speaking. "Run Shadow Scent. I want to know what’s going on. It’s evolving."
[Trait: Shadow Scent active.]
[Detected: High- density Abyssal influence.]
[The host is sensing the Authority of Lord Malrec. The scent is the manifestation of spiritual dominion over this area. Saturation: 64%.]
"Authority..." Austin mouthed softly, repeating the word to himself. Saying it out loud again, he felt its weight in his mouth. Thick. "Contract perception?"
[Function: Contract Perception active.]
[Mapping local hierarchies.]
His eyes blinked. Colors fluttered before his vision cleared, settling to reveal nothing around him had changed—the wreckage was still gray and decayed at his feet—but translucent tendrils of sickly green light slashed across every street-corner, binding invisible chains between buildings, sidewalks, even shadows.
They all pointed at the tallest tower on the skyline.
One twitched.
Austin dove behind a severed bus-stop sign to kneel in the dirt. It took all of half a second for Austin’s mind to register what his instincts were telling him to do. Fight or flight kicked in under endorphins fast-tracking through his bloodstream. He went autopilot; hunter focus taking over and throwing a heat-map over his field-of-view. There was something sprinting down one of the green ribbons...
It wasn’t human. The thing was well over seven feet tall, easily, bipedal, and carrying a large humanoid bound to its back that thrummed with energy.
[Entity Detected: Malrec Boundary- Guard.]
[Classification: Lesser Enforcer.]
[Threat estimate: High.]
[Status: Patrolling. Detection Chance: 42%.]
"A big’un." Austin breathed quietly to himself. He wasn’t going to wait around and see if it noticed him. Six years skulking in the gutter had finally caught up to him tonight. God help him if Malrec found out he’d broken cover. Tonight would just have to be different.
Springing back to his feet, Austin launched himself from cover. His boots kicked up dirt as raw kinesthetic strength rocketed him forward before his brain could register movement. The enforcer rotated to face him, swinging its weapon in a wide arc. Bright plasma spewed from the tip; green sparks frying chunks of asphalt as the weapon slashed through the air.
Rolling under the swing, Austin could feel the heat from raw energy grate against his spine. Rolling over on the other side of the beast, he came up behind it and thrust his knife into the joint of its bone-armor surrounding the back of one knee.
The bone shattered.
Tiny shards of metal danced under the streetlights. His knife had finally given out. Reinforced through scavenging and six years worth of abuse, Austin’s faithful blade met its end when it punctured supernatural thickness of this lesser demon’s hide. Austin stared at the broken hilt for a moment before getting smacked upside his head.
Hard.
Austin went sprawling backwards. Momentum slammed him into the brick wall behind him. He honestly thought he died. Knew his old self did, anyway. If he hadn’t gotten that slight vitality boost tonight his time would have come. Austin coughed, trying to ground himself under the new cocktail of unfamiliar blood boiling in his veins. New lungs tasted like acid. Kheberos wasn’t finished fortifying him yet.
[Impact Trauma: Moderate.]
[Armor Integrity: 0%. Blade destroyed.]
[Recommend immediate use of Kinetic Strength through blunt force or attempt to Devour.]
The demon staggered back to its feet. Green slit laser-focused on Austin’s twitching body. Growling some unholy, draconic language Austin thankfully couldn’t understand, it charged forward.
"Blemished..." it spat, blade swinging at Austin’s head. "by the Weaver..." Came another swing.
Austin met the weapon halfway.
Hands pressed against the shaft. Green lightning singed through his fingers and the smell of roast meat filled his nostrils, but he didn’t wince away. Clenching his fingers into a fist, Austin pulled with every ounce of kinetic strength his arms could give him. Electricity crackled around his wrists but he hung on. Somehow.
Something in him flared. The world snapped slow as Austin yanked the weapon away from him.
Body twisting, he used its momentum against itself, slamming the tip of the blade into the ground and sending the lesser enforcer stumbling. Already off balance, Austin rammed his forehead into the demon’s bone-mask again.
Crack.
Sound swallowed by the visceral explosion of pain Austin felt in his skull.
It screamed. Just awful, guttural tearing that Austin imagined was some sadistic language of ozone and misery. He pulled on the polearm, lightning lashing out at his grip like knives but Austin didn’t care. Didn’t stop running his hands up and down the shaft until he could reach its waist, thumbs digging into unnatural ribbons of bone.
"SYSTEM!" he screamed silently. "DEVOUR MEAT."
[Devour Engaged.]
[Targeting: Contractual Link.]
[Warning: Devouring active authority will result in backlash from your Source.]
Devour.
Something inside Austin’s chest roared. Indescribable hunger tangling itself around the green lifeline keeping the lesser demon’s arm connected to its master. Screams tore through Austin’s mind as electricity burned in the opposite direction, taking the weapon with it. Green lightning hit the ground beside Austin, snapping black and throwing embers in the air.
It fucking burned.
Swallowing, Austin felt like he was crunching glass. Every fiber of his body fought against the storm of Malrec pressing to incinerate him from the inside out but it wasn’t enough. Not today. Kheberos graced him with skin hard enough to resist being burned away by raw, unfiltered demonic power.
That cold abyss of grace coursing through his veins wrapped around the tether of light linking the lesser enforcer to its master, severing it completely until—
Disconnect.
It hit Austin like his chest was ripping apart. Cold shocked his entire body, dropping him limp at the enforcer’s feet. Its bone armor turned gray and webbed with hairline fractures. Green light fading from its "eyes" until there was nothing left to see. Black.
He fell to his knees from exhaustion, chest heaving.
Blood was leaking down his torso, burning his skin where he collided with the wall. Streaks of green mana leaked from his fingertips, dying when he curled them into useless fists.
[Malrec Authority Devoured.]
[Trait Assimilated: Lesser Command.]
[Trait Assimilated: Bone-Plating (Passive).]
[Humanity: 96.8%.]
[Demonic Assimilation: 3.2%.]
Rubbing his fingers across his jawline, Austin stared. Where were his scars?
His jaw felt funny. When he pressed down, his finger sunk into his skin slightly. There was new muscle there, sturdy and rippled with the nicks and cuts of battle. Bone-plating.
He shook his head, looking down at the demon kneeling next to him. It was still twitching, eyelids fluttering like it was trying to wake up.
"What...what did you do to me?" Weak voice choked out.
Austin straightened his back, fists clenched at his side. Wanted to feel something. Pride. Victory. He didn’t.
"System," Austin sighed, voice empty. "What did I become?"
[A new Path has been unlocked: Subjugation.]
[You have successfully hijacked a Lesser Contract.]
[The individual is now linked to your signature.]
[Warning: An Alert has been triggered. Lord Malrec has been notified of a Breach in his territory.]
Somewhere a mile away, green flames blasted through downtown Los Angeles in the direction of the tallest tower.
"Hey." Austin turned to his new thrall, smile small and unfamiliar tugging at his lips. "What’is your name?"
"I... do... not know names..." It garbled. "...that my Master condones."
"Then you ain’t gonna now." Austin said, holding up a finger. "You’re Seven."
Seven stared up at him with dead black eyes.
"...That’s what you’ll be."
The new Devil stalked back towards the outskirts of the towers. Hunger twisting in his gut.
Demands pressing down on his chest.
He would own this city. Someday.
He had eaten seven out of ten bars of freedom regarding this post.
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