Chapter 5
"ARRRGH!"
Felix screamed as he collapsed to the filthy ground. The demonic energy raging inside him felt like molten lava tearing through his veins. At this point, anything drawn by his cries would come running — and he no longer cared.
His eyes rolled back into his skull. His head slammed repeatedly against the stone floor.
Ahhh! I'm going to die! I'm going to die!
He tore frantically at his own chest with broken nails, drawing fresh blood.
"Get it out of me!" he wailed. His scream was hoarse, dreadful, the cry of a soul already halfway to hell. "Get this thing OUT!"
His injured abdomen began to bulge unnaturally, rising and falling as if something beneath his skin was writhing, trying to break free.
Soft footsteps echoed through the tunnel.
The demonic beauty — his so-called benefactor — strolled into view, hips swaying lazily. She looked down at his convulsing body with a sweet, poisonous smile.
"Oh my… look at you," she purred, voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Still alive? How pathetic. I thought you'd be dead by now, little worm."
Felix's vision blurred. He tried to focus on her face as another wave of agony ripped through him.
She crouched gracefully beside him, tilting her head like a mother watching a sick child.
"You really are worthless, aren't you? Even after I kindly stitched you up… this is how you repay me? Squirming on the floor like a gutted pig." She laughed softly. "Humans really are the lowest creatures. No wonder your kind gets abandoned so easily."
Wasn't your village abandoned.
The voice echoed in his mind.
You were abandoned by humanity.
His heart burned.
Now again… you've been betrayed at your lowest.
"Don't you hate me?" the voice whispered.
He gritted his teeth until they ached.
"I… hate you…" he rasped.
The demoness leaned closer, her breath hot against his ear. "What was that, darling? Speak up. I couldn't hear your weak little voice."
"I HATE YOU!" Felix screamed with everything he had left. The sound tore out of him like the howl of a wailing ghost.
She smiled wider, clearly delighted.
"Oh? How adorable." She gently brushed a strand of hair from his sweat-soaked face. "Don't waste your energy, darling. You'll soon become just like the rest of your pathetic brethren — food. Fertilizer. Nothing."
She traced a finger slowly down his bulging abdomen, pressing lightly against the writhing mass beneath his skin.
"This is how I lure all you worthless humans here," she whispered lovingly. "I treat your wounds… I whisper soft words… I plant my precious little parasites deep inside while you're too weak to notice. And then…" She licked her lips. "I get to watch you break so beautifully."
Her hand slid down her own body. She touched herself shamelessly right in front of him, eyes half-lidded in pleasure.
"Mmm… Do you really think I'm vile?" she asked, voice thick with arousal. "Tell me, little human. Does it make you angry? Does it make you want to cry?"
She leaned in and dragged her warm, wet tongue slowly across his tear-stained cheek, savoring the taste of his suffering.
"Delicious…"
Unknown to her, Felix had been desperately restraining the madness boiling inside him.
Kill her.
Kill her.
KILL HER.
His mind finally snapped.
With a burst of unnatural strength, his hand shot up and seized her face. His fingers dug viciously into her cheeks, nails drawing black blood.
The demoness froze.
Felix's eyes — once filled with fear and pain — had turned pitch black. The same abyssal shade as hers.
For the first time, genuine shock flashed across her beautiful face.
Impossible—
That was all she had time to think.
Felix's grip tightened on her face, nails digging deeper into her demonic flesh. For one brief, glorious moment, he felt power surge through him.
Then she smiled.
A beautiful, terrifying smile.
BAM!
Her fist slammed into Felix's face with terrifying force. The punch sent him flying backward, crashing hard into the tunnel wall. Blood sprayed from his nose and split lip.
"I'm not weak, darling," she said sweetly, wiping the black blood from her cheek. Her voice was honey laced with venom. "I'm ranked 664 in this pit. Did you really think a filthy, half-broken human like you could touch me?"
Felix staggered to his feet, vision swimming, but the black in his eyes only deepened. Without a word, he charged at her again.
The demoness's eyes narrowed. She leaped back gracefully, putting distance between them.
He's following me…
This human was different. She remembered how he had brutally killed the demonic child despite being on the verge of death. His recovery speed was unnatural. His body… it was starting to feel almost like one of their own.
Nothing adds up.
She dodged his wild swings with mocking ease. "I will be stupid of me to fight you head-on," she murmured to herself, a cruel smile blooming. "Let's play a different game."
She brought two fingers to her lips and whistled sharply.
From the shadows above, something grotesque answered the call.
A skinless humanoid figure dropped from the ceiling like a nightmare given form. It landed with a wet, heavy thud right in front of Felix. What was once human had been twisted beyond recognition — its body was mostly an exposed, pulsing red muscle pouch, covered in a hard, glossy black exoskeleton. Six insect-like arms extended from its torso, each ending in razor-sharp claws. Its head was a twisted fusion of human skull and mandibles.
It let out a high-pitched screech that echoed through the tunnels.
Felix's maddened mind barely registered the new threat. Fully adapted to the darkness after days of torment, he could now see every detail clearly. Rage had consumed him completely. He forgot about the demoness entirely.
He only saw something that needed to die.
With a feral roar, Felix lunged at the creature, jagged femur still clutched in his bloodied hand.
The insect-human hybrid moved with horrifying speed. Two of its arms slashed across his chest, reopening his wounds and carving deep gashes. Felix screamed but didn't stop. He swung the bone club with all his strength, smashing it into the creature's exoskeleton.
CRACK!
A small fracture appeared, but the monster didn't even flinch. It countered by slamming two arms into Felix's side, lifting him off the ground and throwing him against the wall.
Pain exploded through his body. His bulging abdomen throbbed violently as the parasitic energy inside him churned.
Not yet… I'm not dead yet!
Felix rolled away just as a clawed arm stabbed into the ground where his head had been. He grabbed a loose rib bone from the floor and jammed it into one of the creature's joints. Blackish-green ichor sprayed out.
The hybrid shrieked in fury. Its mandibles snapped forward, biting deep into Felix's shoulder. Flesh tore. Blood poured.
Felix howled in agony but used the pain. He drove his fist repeatedly into the fracture he had made earlier on its chest plate. Again. Again. Again.
CRACK—CRUNCH!
The exoskeleton finally shattered. He shoved his hand inside the opening and tore at the soft, pulsating organs beneath. The creature convulsed wildly, its six arms flailing and slicing across Felix's back and thighs.
He was losing too much blood. His vision flickered.
But the demonic energy inside him refused to let him fall.
With one final, desperate cry, Felix ripped out a handful of the creature's innards. The hybrid let out a dying screech and collapsed in a twitching heap, ichor flooding the ground.
Felix stood over it, chest heaving, covered in his own blood and the monster's fluids. For a moment, victory felt close.
Then came the cold, sharp pain in his back.
A clawed hand punched straight through his body from behind, the fingers piercing his heart with surgical precision.
Felix's eyes widened. His black pupils trembled.
Behind him, the demoness smiled beautifully, her lips brushing against his ear as she twisted her hand deeper.
"Poor little thing," she whispered lovingly. "You fought so hard… and still forgot about me."
Blood bubbled from Felix's mouth. His body convulsed around her arm.
The world began to fade.