Angel or not?

Darkness, no sounds. Abel drifted in a tight space that looked like smoke.

"Where am I?" When Abel opened his eyes, a dark space opened up before his eyes. Before that, however, he was in a room with a spider.

What happened to the spider? Had I become its food? These were the questions Abel was asking himself, but it was hard to answer yet.

His drifting body reached the strange chair on which he sat. From that moment on, space lit up and black smoke began to accumulate in front of him, next to him, and behind him.

"ACCEPT DESTINY!"

"AHA-HA-HA!"

"EAT EVERYTHING!"

"OH, GREAT DEVOURER!"

Abel's gaze dimmed and he unconsciously began to repeat after them.

"Embrace destiny..."

"TAKE REVENGE ON THEM ALL!"

"Avenge them all...?"

"TO TASTE COUNTLESS SOULS!"

"Taste countless souls...?"

"LONG LIVE THE DEVOURER!"

"Long live..."

Crack.

Something inside Abel clicked, and his eyes lost their luster for a moment, and then glowed brightly. A lot of information poured into his head, and Abel absorbed it like a sponge.

But unfortunately, not all the information he could absorb, so most of it was suppressed.

"HA-HA."

"HA-HA-HA-HA."

"HA-HA-HA-HA!!!"

The dark figures in the smoke began to laugh, as if they had heard a very funny joke, but soon began to disappear, and so did space.

Space began to collapse, and black smoke accumulated around Abel's body. His eyes finally regained their sanity. Something inside him, however, had changed.

"Long live the Great Devouring!"

He smiled madly and opened his arms. Black smoke began to pour out of his body, consuming everything it touched.

Meanwhile, Abel felt his soul grow stronger. His previously blue eyes had lost their color and turned as red as blood.

***

Rustling.

A beautiful girl of unearthly beauty was leafing through a black book, while looking intently at the illustration.

There was a picture of a creature with a black cloud hovering next to it. She adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses and frowned.

Her blue eyes lit up brightly and displayed puzzlement.

"Has this race been extinct for so long?"

Devourers. That was the name of a race of creatures who were renowned for their devouring abilities. Even the Gods were afraid to approach them.

However, they died out a billion years ago, when various mythical creatures still walked the earth.

But recently she discovered a human with a similar origin.

The beautiful girl shifted her gaze to the bed. There sleeping peacefully was Abel, who had already completely rebuilt his body.

He now looked like a guy in twenty years old. He had broad shoulders and long black hair down to his ribs. His body also looked manly and beautiful, which attracted the attention of the female sex.

Could anyone have thought that a couple of days ago he was so skinny that he looked more like a skeleton than human?

The beauty, however, had little reaction to his beauty and masculinity and paid more attention to the black smoke that sometimes came out of his body.

This smoke was awfully similar to that of the Eaters. That's why this beauty put him in the same room as the Demonic Scarlet Spider.

The Demonic Scarlet Spider is a pretty harmless creature if you don't provoke him. He is an omnivore, but eats greens more often. Very curious.

In fact, Abel wouldn't have been hurt at all if he hadn't provoked the spider into battle. But it doesn't matter.

He lost consciousness during the battle and then defeated the spider by devouring it. Unfortunately, his power was now too low to turn someone else's power into his own forever, so the effect lasted only twenty minutes and then disappeared.

But instead, his soul improved with each bite. And that's a good indicator.

Knock-knock.

There was a knock on the door, and after a few seconds of waiting, a maid entered the room.

"Young lady." The maid bowed and looked with her bright green eyes. She had black hair down to her buttocks, soft and pale skin, and long eyelashes. The maid's clothes made her look stunning.

The concentration of beauties in the room increased, and just because of this scene one could give a soul, but, unfortunately, Abel was asleep, not paying attention to anything.

The beauty, who appeared to be the daughter of some influential man or house, nodded and put the book aside. She went over to the bed and began to observe his body, at the same time giving her maid orders.

"Valentina, inform your mother that his origins have been revealed. He is most likely of the Eater race." Calmly she spoke, styling Abel's hair so that it would not fall over his face.

Compared to her calmness, however, Valentina was stunned. The Devourer? The same ancient beings that even the Gods feared?

Despite the treasure trove of emotions, Valentina only bowed gracefully and left to carry out her orders. The young lady, for her part, simply stroked Abel's hair with an indifferent face.

***

Two more days passed, and Abel finally opened his eyes. As might be expected, the color of his eyes changed to red, as if he had become a vampire.

The first thing he saw were two hills. He thought he was in a mountainous area, but when his gaze cleared, he realized that these hills were "human".

"Looks like you're awake." The unbelievable happened, and the two hills disappeared and a graceful and beautiful face appeared in their place.

Blue eyes, soft pale skin, and long black hair tickled Abel's nose, bringing with it the delicate scent of flowers.

Abel glanced briefly at her face, then looked around. He sighed and put his hand on her head.

"What a pity, it looks like I'm dead... Angel, please guide my soul to a rich family with good parents. Preferably a world with elves and catgirls. Thank you in advance." He suddenly began to talk some nonsense, thereby stunned the beauty.

She looked at him briefly, and then began to laugh. Abel looked at her and snorted.

"Since you liked my joke, can you explain why, after a hot night with a spider, I show up in bed next to a beauty?" Abel looked at her and then sat down on the bed.

Belle laughed some more and then cleared her throat to return the seriousness of the conversation.

"You are in my castle. My servants have moved you after a little inspection." The beauty looked at him earnestly and looked as if she wasn't the one laughing a few seconds ago.

"So that's how it is~. The poor, frail boy was thrown in the mouth of a spider for torture, calling it a test..." Abel wiped away the nonexistent tears and inhaled.

Belle looked at him in surprise. He was lying on the bed so unconcerned, as if he didn't care about anything. This behavior was very different from what she had heard about him.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Of course not." He smirked and brought his face close to hers. "After all, one wrong move and you're dead."

Belle looked back and saw that his hand, with which he was wiping away his non-existent tears, was next to the back of her head.

"How...?!"

She didn't notice anything? Impossible! Belle was a demon, and a High Demon at that. And Abel had only recently become a demon.

"I can't trust demons, and especially not the one who turned me into a demon. But I have to say, you're brave and lucky." Abel smiled, baring his strong teeth. "You were able to make a contract of equality with the Eater and not be consumed..."

Abel smiled, and then pulled her to him, holding her by the waist. The beauty's face flushed and she looked into Abel's red eyes.

"So who are you, pretty girl?"