Devour.

This was Lux's innate ability, and also the curse that accompanied her throughout her life.

She could transform the dead bodies of animals or raw flesh she consumed into magical accessories imbued with special abilities.

At the same time, this ability could also allow her own wounds to recover.

The more powerful the devoured creature, the stronger the effect of the transformed accessory.

Conversely, if the amount of flesh and blood devoured was scarce, she could only obtain partial, incomplete abilities for a short period.

However, this ability had a fatal limitation—she could not directly devour living beings, unless… unless she could personally tear the flesh and blood from that living creature with her own mouth!

Lux was doing just that at this very moment!

She bit down viciously, forcefully tearing a bloody chunk of flesh from Rio the Shadowmancer's shoulder!

Almost simultaneously, at the wound on Lux's thigh previously pierced by the black thorn, fine, blood-colored granulation tissue began to sprout, healing at a bizarre speed!

But this healing process… was accompanied by an indescribable, excruciating pain!

It wasn't just the agony of flesh and blood growing wildly like crazed seaweed at the wound site, but more so because her body, which had almost never been exposed to refined magical power, was now being forcibly infused with it!

The piece of flesh in her mouth, imbued with the Shadowmancer's magic, was like an entire bottle of ignited, scalding hot oil, instantly exploding and spreading throughout her limbs and bones!

"Bastard!!" Rio the Shadowmancer let out a roar of pain and fury!

His back suddenly exploded, and countless sharp black thorns, like the quills of a porcupine, grew out madly, then transformed into an impenetrable black storm, frantically stabbing, tearing, and destroying Lux's body!

At the critical moment, a pitch-black cloak suddenly materialized behind Lux!

This cloak, as if possessing its own will, instantly tore in half, narrowly protecting Lux's vital areas!

However, the other parts of her body were mercilessly shredded and pierced in this storm of black thorns!

Her clothes were torn to pieces, revealing Lux's female body!

"What?! You're fucking… a woman?!" Rio the Shadowmancer's voice was filled with incredulous shock, rage, and a hint of even more pathological madness!

However, Lux gave him no more time to think or react!

She was now like a completely frenzied wild dog, her eyes crimson, with only one thought—to tear apart the enemy before her!

She pounced, one bite, then another, and another!

Frantically tearing at Rio the Shadowmancer's body!

His neck, his shoulders, were instantly bitten into several bloody pits deep enough to see bone.

His flesh and blood continuously filled Lux's mouth, then were devoured.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!!" Rio the Shadowmancer felt like he was about to be driven completely mad by this rabid dog!

He desperately manipulated the black shadows, trying to shred and pierce Lux's body, but Lux always managed to bizarrely use the cloak transformed from his power, or rely on her inhuman resilience, to barely block or endure the fatal attacks!

And now, this girl, this damned mad dog, was clinging to him like a maggot on a bone, frantically tearing at his flesh and blood!

No matter how he struggled or counterattacked, he couldn't completely shake her off!

[No… if this goes on… no!] After having several more chunks of flesh viciously bitten off, an icy, bone-chilling cold suddenly gripped Rio the Shadowmancer's heart!

It was the fear of death!

He seemed to vaguely see his own miserable fate of being devoured bit by bit by this monster!

He was scared!

"Get off! Bastard!" He used his last ounce of strength, mobilizing all his shadow power, and abruptly raised a thick, solid black wall between himself and Lux, trying to block Lux's pursuit!

Then, he turned without hesitation, intending to take the opportunity to escape!

However, the moment he turned, an excruciating pain shot through his knees!

Two pitch-black shadow lances, condensed to the extreme, had, at some unknown point, pierced through both his legs!

It was Lux!

The instant that black wall rose from the ground, she had forcibly extended her remaining left hand beyond the wall, condensing her last bit of shadow power in her palm; even though her arm was immediately severed by the rising black wall, those two shadow lances, imbued with all her hatred, still successfully shot out, accurately nailing the Shadowmancer's legs!

The black wall crumbled with a roar.

Behind the wall, Lux, having lost her right arm and left hand, her legs also pierced, could only support her battered body with her remaining left arm, crawling with difficulty on the ground, inching closer to the fallen Rio the Shadowmancer.

Rio the Shadowmancer looked back in terror—she was crawling fast, astonishingly fast even with only one arm!

Her tattered body and messy, matted hair made her look like a vengeful demon just crawled out from the depths of hell!

And her crimson eyes were fixed deadly, unblinkingly, on Rio the Shadowmancer, seething with bone-deep hatred, endless fury, and… a madness that wanted to devour him alive, to gnaw him to pieces!

"Monster! Demon! Stay away from me! You stay away from me!!" Rio the Shadowmancer let out a hysterical scream!

He desperately manipulated the remaining black shadows, transforming them into countless tiny sharp spikes shooting towards Lux!

But Lux paid them no heed, allowing those black spikes to pierce her body, her speed not slowing in the slightest!

She crawled to his side, abruptly grabbed his ankle, then opened her mouth and bit down hard!

"No—! Don't come near me, ahhhhh!" Rio the Shadowmancer let out a despairing howl more terrifying than death itself!

It was the ultimate fear of being devoured bit by bit, mouthful by mouthful!

Flashes of his past suddenly appeared before him: his past of being sold by his prostitute mother to a brothel to become a male prostitute, his past of having his testicles cut off in that brothel just to make the customers feel 'cleaner', his past of erupting with magical power when he was almost beaten to death and then being taken away by a mysterious cloaked figure to learn magic, his past of disfiguring his own face after being violated by other so-called 'classmates', and his past of killing his mother and those enemies after becoming a Demon Hunter… all burned and danced in his mind like a winter hearth fire.

Lux continued to crawl upwards, and at the same time, continued to tear and bite, until Rio the Shadowmancer's breath completely ceased…

The moment Rio the Shadowmancer died, his mutilated body suddenly and bizarrely melted and writhed, finally transforming into streams of ever-changing pitch-black sludge, which, as if alive, scrambled to drill into Lux's body!

Excruciating pain!

A pain far surpassing the sum of all her previous injuries, a heart-rending, lung-tearing agony instantly swept through Lux's entire body!

Her body, which had never undergone systematic magical tempering, was now being forcibly infused with Rio the Shadowmancer's vast and impure shadow magic!

These violent powers surged and crashed within her body like uncontrolled boiling water, causing her blood vessels, bone marrow, and even the depths of her soul to endure unimaginable agony!

Her entire body erupted with red magical power, her eyes and hair turning as crimson as blood, and her previously severed hand also regenerated.

Amidst this extreme pain, a brand-new black cloak slowly condensed and fully formed behind her!

[Shadow Cloak: A tattered-looking cloak. When worn, grants the ability to control low-level shadow magic.]

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Lux let out a nearly hoarse, beast-like roar!

Her physical body, under the impact of this sudden, immense magical power, was constantly being torn apart and forcibly reforged!

She struggled to stand up again, then collapsed heavily, only to stagger to her feet once more!

And her originally short black hair, deliberately cut to just cover her eyebrows, also grew at a visible speed amidst this painful transformation, eventually falling to her shoulders.

"Mitty… Mitty…" The dual agony of body and spirit almost completely crushed her, but a single obsession supported her.

She abruptly turned, staggering towards the dying figure in the corner.

"Bro… ther…" Mitty's eyes could barely open, but upon hearing Lux call her name, she still used her last ounce of strength to let out a faint breath, and a broken sound like a leaking bellows.

"I'll take you to a doctor… No! I'll take you to the Grace Bathers of the Holy Light Church! You'll be fine! Mitty! You'll definitely be fine!" Lux babbled incoherently, comforting Mitty, but more so, desperately trying to comfort herself. She laboriously draped Rio the Shadowmancer's black robe over herself, tore off strips of cloth to crudely bind her and her sister's wounds, then, with her newly healed hands, carefully picked up Mitty, and using all her strength, rushed out towards the direction of the Holy Light Church she remembered.