Grande Plans

Another planet was cleansed by me, and as I stood over the ruins of yet another city, I began to think. The knowledge gained from the low-level Deacon provided great insight into my future moves. No doubt that the church noticed the Deacon immediately dying to a demon on his mission. Therefore, they would follow protocol and send an extermination team in six days, but it would be stronger than normal. 

I wasn't too worried about them, as I decided to not fight them unless absolutely necessary as I would be essentially trapping myself to them. There was nothing stopping me from growing stronger, so it was smarter to take advantage of that while the opportunity was there. Which made me start dwelling on how I could further evolve.

I knew that another evolution was possible for me, but much like last time, I lacked the knowledge on the requirements. However, I could guess that it was consuming more demons, as my hunger for them was still ever present. Compared to the demons, consuming humans were dull and provided little to no sustenance. In the future, unless they were stronger, I wouldn't bother trying to eat them. 

Upon evolving, I noticed that my threshold of my mana capacity had increased exponentially. So, there was merit to hunting higher mana individuals. I wasn't led to believe that my evolution was tied to how much mana I could consume however, as the bonus is only noticed when I evolve. Any mana the person has just goes to flow within me but doesn't increase how much I have. 

Which I know started thinking about this form's evolution. I would compare it to a chrysalis, as my defense was much higher than my previous form. The wind blades from the mages would have no doubt sliced my mask and killed me in my other form, but now, it barely left a scratch. 

In fact, my mask was my only vulnerable spot, as I could momentarily hide my feet and hands within my ghastly cloak, almost making them invulnerable. But with my size, my mask was relatively safe as I could just dodge any deadly attacks before they make it to my mask. 

I stood there, as I contemplated what I should do next. I could try my luck by remaining here and fight the upcoming unit the church was going to send and try to gain their knowledge. Or I could return to the demon realm and try to push for my next evolution. 

Then I realized, why not do both? Hunting demons was a chore and if I had to do it again, it would get stale. When I grew bored with demon hunting, I could jump to a random planet, and cause destruction while hunting for beings with above average mana, then I could deal with the Deacon they would send, then return to the demon realm and repeat.

Laughing at how ridiculous I've become, the air around me stirs as I activate the Kumon and step through the veil. Reentering the demon realm, I pick up some nearby demons who scamper away from my sudden appearance. I eye a demon who is slower to react, as my tongue wraps around his body. Screaming its head off, I close my jaws around it and savor the feeling of relief that will flood through my body. However, it doesn't happen.

Just as I had figured, eating the manaless base form demons wouldn't provide me with any benefits at all. I needed to move on to better prey. Looking around, I find that there aren't any Archdemons in the area. Sighing, I begin to slowly stomp around until they come into range of my senses. 

I could only imagine how I looked in the distance to demons as I lumbered through the realm. Just as I was considering using Kumon to a random location, until I felt one to my left. As I could no longer try to sneak, I just walked over to its direction. Luckily for me, the Archdemon, who long ago sensed my presence, decided to meet me out of curiosity. 

They were larger than other demons or Archdemons themselves, as they resembled an elephant. They had large flappy ears with horns in between them that curved to the back of their head and a bulging belly. As I approached, the demon calls out. 

"I loved it when demons had to naturally look up to me, but this isn't fair. How'd you get to be so tall?" 

At first I was just going to attack like I normally did, but I took a second to think first. I am no doubt slower, so if a demon was capable enough, they could easily escape my grasp. Plus, maybe it would make demon hunting more appeasable if I had a conversation before consuming them.

"Jealous?" I ask back to him.

His brows furrow together in anger at my words as he responds, "You'll pay for your taunts." I watch as his body glows yellow. "I'll take a limb for your transgression."

His head cocks back as he lets out a roar, revealing his tusks, then charges towards me. With each of his steps, the earth trembles as quakes appear. Making it to my foot, his head bows as he collides with it. From the force of his sound waves cause nearby structures to crumble. 

Meanwhile, I watch from above as I don't even feel the impact against my foot. I merely kick out and his body goes out flying at extreme speeds against a nearby mountain, causing a crater. Questioning if what just happened really did, my tongue snakes out towards the crater and pulls his unconscious body to my jaws. 

Walking away to find my next prey, I amuse over my findings of talking to prey prior to consuming them. He clearly was angry and acted without thinking. From his memories, I knew he was planning on knocking me over and pounding on my face. Shaking my head, I continue slowly through the demon realm to find my next prey. 

[A/N: Sorry for not posting this week. I was terribly sick and only managed to write this chapter and another for my other book. I owe you guys two chapters that will be released next week as I haven't fully recovered yet.]