Kenji kept eating until the last corpse in the clearing lost that living taste.
Only then did he stop.
He stood among the torn remains, blood dripping from his mouth and claws, while heat spread slowly through his body.
It was different from before.
Not as violent as when he had eaten that tall creature in the mist.
This time the growth came in smaller waves.
A tightening of muscle.
A faint pressure beneath his skin.
A sharper awareness of everything around him.
He could hear the mist shifting.
Hear distant movement far beyond the clearing.
Hear the wet crack of cooling flesh.
Kenji wiped his mouth with the back of his arm and glanced at Vargan.
The massive demon still stood there, motionless.
Watching.
That alone was irritating.
"...You planning to stare forever?"
Vargan replied without expression.
"For now."
Kenji clicked his tongue.
Creepy bastard.
Still, he did not attack.
Not because he wanted to hold back.
Because he had eyes.
The difference between them was too obvious now.
If Kenji was a predator, then Vargan was something that fed on predators.
That much had been burned into his head already.
Kenji rolled his shoulders and exhaled.
"Alright then. Since you're so interested in me, tell me something useful."
Vargan waited.
"How do I get stronger faster?"
The answer came immediately.
"Hunt things stronger than you. Survive. Eat before they die."
Kenji's face flattened.
"Yeah, no shit."
Vargan continued anyway.
"But not blindly."
Kenji narrowed his eyes.
Vargan slowly pointed one thick claw toward the corpses scattered around them.
"Most things here rush at hunger. They smell blood and move. They sense weakness and move. They see motion and move."
His hand lowered.
"That is why they die."
Kenji went quiet.
He hated listening.
But he hated useless death more.
Vargan looked directly at him.
"You are fast. Harder than you should be. Your flesh changes quickly."
Kenji folded his arms.
"You're still on that 'something mixed' thing?"
"Yes."
"Annoying."
Vargan ignored that.
"But your mind is loud."
Kenji's brows twitched.
"...What does that even mean?"
"You think too much when you should kill. And you kill too easily when you should think."
That shut him up for a second.
Because, again, it was true.
When he first got here, he had been weirdly calm.
Then the hunger started growing.
The pleasure too.
Now there were times his body moved before he finished deciding anything.
And other times, moments like now, where his thoughts lagged behind everything else.
He clicked his tongue and looked away.
"So basically you're saying I'm a mess."
"Yes."
"You're really pissing me off."
"I know."
Kenji stared at him.
Then let out a short, dry laugh.
For some reason, that made things worse.
Vargan turned and began walking toward the far end of the clearing.
Kenji blinked.
"...Where are you going?"
Without turning back, Vargan said, "To show you."
Kenji stood still for half a second.
Then followed.
Not because he trusted Vargan.
He absolutely did not.
But if this led to something stronger, something useful, then there was no reason to refuse.
The clearing stretched farther than it had first seemed.
As they moved through it, Kenji noticed more details.
The corpses here were not random.
Some had been torn apart.
Others had been crushed.
A few had only a single fatal wound.
That told him enough.
Vargan did not fight wildly.
He killed however he pleased.
Efficiently.
That annoyed Kenji too.
At the far edge of the clearing, the land began to rise.
The red ground gave way to dark stone, jagged and uneven, like the bones of the world were pushing up through the earth.
The mist thinned more here.
Not completely.
But enough that Kenji could see what lay ahead.
A long slope.
At the top of it stood a wall of black stone.
No, not a wall.
A cliff.
It stretched high into the crimson distance, disappearing into the haze above.
And cut into that cliff was a narrow path.
A path going upward.
Kenji stopped.
"...So that's one of the ways up?"
"One of them," Vargan replied.
Kenji stared.
The path was thin, steep, and covered in claw marks.
There were dark stains on the stone too.
Some old.
Some fresh.
A few bones lay near the entrance, crushed and scattered.
Kenji frowned.
"Looks welcoming."
"It is not."
"Yeah, figured."
Vargan looked at the path.
"Many things climb. Many things fall."
Kenji snorted.
"Very inspiring."
Then his expression shifted.
Because he could feel it.
From the path.
Presences.
Not one.
Several.
Some weak.
Some not.
All above.
All moving.
All alive.
His mouth watered slightly before he noticed.
He wiped it with an irritated look.
"...So what, I just start climbing and killing everything in the way?"
"No."
Kenji glanced at him.
Vargan pointed toward the slope leading up to the cliff.
"You are not ready for the path."
That irritated him instantly.
"And how exactly did you decide that?"
"Because if you go now, you die."
Kenji's eye twitched.
"Can you stop saying that so casually?"
"No."
Kenji stared at the cliff again.
He wanted to deny it.
Wanted to throw himself upward just to prove something.
But the pressure drifting down from above was real.
There were creatures up there stronger than the ones below.
That much was obvious.
Vargan stepped closer to the slope.
"The lower grounds are wide. Most feed and wander without purpose."
He pointed farther out, away from the clearing, toward a region where the mist seemed thicker and the ground split into deep trenches.
"But there are hunting zones."
Kenji followed the direction of his hand.
From here, he could barely make out movement in the distance.
Something large passed through the mist, then vanished.
"Places where stronger prey gather," Vargan said. "Places where weak things avoid going."
Kenji grinned slightly.
"Now we're talking."
Vargan turned his head toward him.
"If you go there carelessly, you die."
Kenji sighed.
"Of course."
For a few seconds, silence settled between them.
Then Kenji asked, "Why are you even telling me all this?"
Vargan looked back toward the path.
"Because you want to go upward."
"...And?"
"You are one of the few here who might."
Kenji blinked.
That answer landed strangely.
Not because it sounded kind.
It didn't.
Coming from Vargan, it sounded more like a statement about a thing he found interesting.
Still.
Kenji shoved his hands into his fur and looked away.
"Don't say stuff like that so seriously. Makes it weird."
Vargan said nothing.
That somehow made it worse.
They stood there for a while longer.
Kenji stared up at the narrow path carved into the cliff.
He could almost imagine it.
Climbing that thing.
Fighting all the way up.
Reaching the next level.
Then doing it again.
And again.
The thought should have felt tiring.
Instead, it made his blood stir.
Not just from hunger.
Something else.
A direction.
Until now, he had only been wandering and eating.
Moving because there was nothing else to do.
Now there was somewhere to go.
That alone changed something inside him.
Kenji let out a slow breath.
"...Fine."
Vargan looked at him.
"I'll stay down here for now."
"Yes."
"But not for long."
"That depends on whether you live."
Kenji smirked.
"There you go again."
He turned away from the cliff and looked toward the distant trenches Vargan had pointed out earlier.
A stronger hunting zone.
That was enough for now.
As he prepared to move, he paused.
Then glanced back over his shoulder.
"Hey, Vargan."
The horned demon waited.
"If I get stronger..."
Kenji's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Strong enough to stop being weak to you..."
Vargan remained silent.
Kenji grinned.
"I'm gonna hit you at least once."
For the first time since meeting him, Vargan's mouth shifted slightly.
Not quite a smile.
But something close.
"You may try."
Kenji laughed.
That answer felt right.
Then he took off.
The ground cracked beneath his feet as he sprinted down the slope and away from the clearing.
The mist swallowed him quickly.
But his mind stayed sharper than before.
Upward.
That was his direction now.