Anna

"Anna Seibert, how would you like to be my next meal?"

Everything about Flesh Devourer exuded arrogance. From his tone of speech to his over-the-top performative gestures, Anna was reminded of all the despicable nobles who she was forced to meet when her parents were trying to marry her off to the highest bidder. They disgusted her with their greed and delusional sense of superiority. Unlike most people, she couldn't stomach putting on an amicable front before these parasites. There was nothing noble about someone when their greatest achievement was being born to the right parents.

How do I kill this perverse man?

Electricity crackled from her body. She narrowed her eyes as she locked gaze at Flesh Devourer, replaying their last few exchanges in her head. Flesh Devourer's Gift seemed to grant him abilities after feeding on humans. Anna didn't want to know how he even managed to awaken a Gift this twisted. The results of his feasts gave him improved regeneration, abnormal strength, and the ability to modify his body.

He's at least partially immune to Volt's paralysis. But it's still threatening to him—otherwise, he would have not shielded my earlier attack by growing and detaching a chunk of his body.

Her arms were still shaking, throbbing from the kick he unleashed earlier when they were in melee. Anna winced as the pain pulsed down the length of her forearm. She knew immediately that she couldn't take more of these hits head-on. That attack came before he had feasted and replenished his strength. Who knows how much stronger he was now, with muscles pulsating and vitality raging through his body?

He's stronger and more tenacious. He can regenerate. He can attack me at range with blood. The only real advantage I have is my speed.

She didn't like her odds. Suddenly, her legs weighed unusually heavy. It felt difficult to breathe. Her mind blanked. She shivered, confused, as though her body didn't feel like hers.

I'm panicking.

Her anger dissipated as she realized the reality of her situation. Flesh Devourer had been imprisoned and given a moniker for a reason. She was staring down a dangerous foe. Alone. Who had no qualms tearing her apart.

"Cat got your tongue?" Flesh Devourer jeered with a mad giggle, "Come on! Show me more of your spunk! Make this hunt fun for me!"

Flesh Devourer lunged on all fours like a beast in heat. Anna sent out a lightning bolt straight at his position. The Thanatos inmate dodged without slowing down, jerking his body unnaturally to the side as the bolt went wide. His movements were uncanny, defying human logic as though his bones and muscles were fluid and unbound by human physiology. Realizing it was futile to land a precise hit at a distance, Anna unleashed Volt in a wide area. She casted the vicinity before her in a web of electricity, extending her phenomenon to the absolute limits of her feeble interference range.

Flesh Devourer raised his arms in front of his chest as he barreled straight towards her web. A translucent white sheet grew from the side of his arms, extending into a makeshift plated shield. Her electric web struck the plate, but the attack was immediately repelled.

What the hell?!

It took a second for Anna to realize what happened. The material of Flesh Devourer's makeshift shield was the same structure that were made up of a person's fingernails. The construct was apparently nonconductive.

You've got to be kidding me!

She grimaced, repulsed by the fact that her attack was deflected by what was effectively an overgrown nail. Her subconscious screamed at her to focus as Flesh Devourer rapidly closed the distance.

Anna reached into her pockets and took out a coin. Static cackled between the gap of her fingers as she loaded it into position. Flesh Devourer pounced. Anna leaned back and jumped in retreat. While she flew backwards, she took aim at the monster barreling towards her.

"Ionize!"

The coin shot out with the force of a cannon. The projectile screeched, leaving a trail of static in its wake. Anna caught a glimpse of surprise across Flesh Devourer's eyes for the first time. One of his arms suddenly extended in length as he punched the ground to alter his trajectory.

Squelch!

Ionize tore through his right shoulder. Blood sprayed as the coin exited out the side. A nasty hole of cauterized flesh was left in its path. But the hit wasn't fatal. Flesh Devourer struggled it off like a mere nuisance as he opened his jaws wide. His teeth were soaked in red. Entrails stained some of its edges. He was itching for a bite.

"Fuck off!"

Anna's heel barely touched the ground as Flesh Devourer's jaws aimed at her neck. She pushed off immediately, sending as much power as she could muster in a split second.

"Ngh!" Flesh Devourer choked as Anna's knee nailed him in the throat. His mouth swelled and a torrent of vomit poured out. Anna ducked to avoid being blasted in the face by blood and bile. Electricity engulfed her fists as she seized the chance to strike.

Her first punch caught Flesh Devourer in the torso. Her second punch snapped his left arm loose from its socket. Her third punch broke the man's nose. The subsequent hits were a blur.

Anna stretched her body to its limits, stimulating her nerves and muscles with as much electricity as she could possibly handle. Her knuckles were bruised and bloody. Her own body was beginning to scream in protest from the incessant abuse. Despite her devastating strikes, Flesh Devourer's body continued to regenerate.

I can't stop it.

The realization scared her. She was locked in a battle of attrition between Flesh Devourer's healing factor and her own stamina. Whoever ran out of mana, suffered from Overclock, or gave into exhaustion first would be the loser. Anna didn't like her odds. The only other solution was to somehow get rid of the Thanatos inmate's regeneration.

I'll have to crush his brain.

She twisted her body and delivered a roundhouse kick at the man's head.

She felt bones break as the deafening blow caused a crack in Flesh Devourer's skull. The man's head snapped to the side. For a moment, Anna thought she delivered a killing blow. Then in the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of Flesh Devourer's face. His arrogant sneer disappeared. The smile on his face vanished. The gaze in his eyes was hauntingly cold.

He wasn't taking me seriously.

And now he finally saw her as a threat.

Anna pushed off, desperate to land another strike to the head. She had to. Her intuition yelled that it was her only chance to end the fight. Lightning cackled as she swung with everything she had.

Squelch!

Blood and gore splattered onto her face. Her vision was briefly crowded in red. She encountered resistance, and then the slack of something breaking. But it felt wrong.

When blood stopped blocking her view, she saw the incongruity. She didn't strike the head. Flesh Devourer had sacrificed his right arm to protect his skull. The limb had been mangled into a pulverized mess. Lightning ravaged the arm in thousands tiny of cuts while the structure of the limb had been warped by sheer force. The useless arm now dangled loosely from the socket, barely clinging onto the man's shoulder by a few strands of sinew.

Anna pulled back her hand as she stepped forward for a follow-up strike. Her arm suddenly refused to move, however. Confused, she glanced down and found a web of fibrous tissues strung around her wrist. The restriction was trivial to break, but the brief instance of delay it caused was fatal.

"N-Ngh!"

Anna felt her ribs crack. Pain exploded from the upper left side of her torso. She didn't even have time to defend herself as the attack arrived instantly beyond her periphery. Flesh Devourer's kick launched her into a pile of rubble. She laid there—sprawled on her side in between ruins of collapsed material, struggling to breathe. The upper left of her torso throbbed as though pressed against hot metal. Each time she inhaled the pain resonated like a sword being pushed deeper into her body.

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Move!

Her limbs twitched weakly in response to her will. She tried to circulate Volt to stimulate her muscles, but that only worsened the agony. She whimpered on the verge of tears, cursing the limitations of her Gift.

The crunch of stones echoed in her ears, warning of Flesh Devourer's imminent approach. The man could have been upon her in a second, yet instead he chose to stride in slowly. When he lorded over her, Anna saw the change in his expression. The cold gaze in his eyes was gone again and in its place was the familiar mad glee of someone playing with a toy. He was savoring the hunt, indulging in the panic of his prey, and reveling in the feeling of domination.

Flesh Devourer leaned in and bit into her shoulder.

Anna's head blanked. She felt the man's teeth sink into her body. She wanted to scream at the alien sensation, but all she could muster was a mere whimper. The pain of the bite barely registered, but the shock of the deviant move sent her trembling. This wasn't an attack. This was a predator enjoying a feast. What was directed at her wasn't malice or murderous intent, but an unadulterated pleasure at the taste of a succinct meal. The invasive feeling shuddered through every inch of her body as Flesh Devourer's teeth continued to gouge.

"No!"

Sheer terror engulfed her as she sent out a desperate blast of lightning. Flesh Devourer convulsed at the sudden attack before retreating. If he was affected by the strike, he didn't let it show. A perverse expression lingered on his face as he licked his lips, seemingly enthralled by the afterglow of the taste.

"Oh! That's simply divine!" he groaned in delight. The edge of his lips quivered with ecstasy. His eyes rolled back as though unable to handle the overwhelming pleasure. "I knew I picked correctly. You have everything that I crave. Everything that I desire. The perfect meal. It won't do. I can't let you go. Not when I've just stolen a taste of heaven."

Anna turned to her shoulder. A chunk of the meat below her shoulder blade had been ripped off. Bite-sized marks remained near the mangled area. It was nowhere close to the severity of her father's injury, but the wound was nonetheless terrifying.

The thought made her wince as she suddenly remembered the pitiful sight of her parents. The shock of being bitten wore off. At the end of the day, it was just another injury, she tried to convince herself. And it wasn't even debilitating—her arm could still move.

"Hahaha! Even now, you have a defiant look on your face. You still resist! You still persist! You still fight! Good!" Flesh Devourer cackled.

Anna channeled Volt through her body again. This time rather than stimulate her muscles, she dulled her sense of pain instead. The scalding burn of her torso faded into a numb buzz. She stumbled as she tried to get up—her body lacking the strength to support her movements.

"Yes! Yes! Keep fighting! Resist me! Make me work for it! Help me savor this meal!"

There's no need to be scared.

She said to herself as her legs shivered in fear.

There's no need to fear death.

She held onto a nearby piece of rubble for support as she glared at the monster before her.

Because I've already lived a richer life than most people here could ever dream of.

Emil had asked her once why she was so reckless when it came to fighting for others. She didn't give him an answer then, unable to come up with a proper reason. Anna wasn't completely oblivious, however. She was self-aware enough to know that she had a savior complex. A compulsion to right wrongs. That obsession only intensified when she awakened to her Gift.

Now as she stood amidst the destruction of the Black Shoal, the source of her impulse became clear.

It was guilt.

She always felt guilty for having more than others.

***

Despite having commoner blood, she was born to a wealthy family of merchants. She had vast opportunities that most didn't even know existed. But her privileged status wasn't always obvious to her in the beginning. How could she know otherwise when she knew no other normal? She mistakenly thought that everyone had a room of their own, three meals a day, and access to water to bathe or drink whenever she desired.

Only when she began her merchant training in the earnest and started traveling across the kingdom, did Anna realize how wrong she was.

She had frilly and colorful dresses. Other wore dirty clothes and rags.

She walked around in shiny leather shoes. Other moved on barefoot.

She complained when there were seeds in her fruits. Others fought for rotten scraps on the ground.

Her monthly allowance was more money than most had seen in their life.

A single trip through the streets of an Ardairan city shattered her entire world. The discrepancy between her life and the average commoner stunned her into disbelief. How could their lives be so different? The realization that the world was inherently unfair became engraved in her subconscious. What made her more deserving of this privilege than others her age?

The nail in the coffin came when she stumbled into a street urchin. The small boy was skin and bones—the dirty rags clinging to his body did little to conceal the filth smeared on his body. He reeked. Flies buzzed around his unkempt hair caked in oil and dirt.

By all means, she should have been disgusted. She should have furrowed her eyes and walked away, never to give her attention to such unpleasantness again. That's her attendants would have told her to do. That's what she's seen others like her react.

Instead, she felt an undying compulsion to help.

She extended her hand, unclipping the necklace gifted for her recent birthday, and placed it before the poor boy.

"It's yours," she said, "I'm giving this to you."

The boy stared lethargically at the glistening accessory. Anna watched him, confounded by his lack of excitement. The servants of her household held the necklace with the utmost esteem. Their eyes would glimmer with awe and envy whenever she wore it. Merchants would inquire about the nature of the jewelry, and nobles would fawn over its lustre, begging to know where she had acquired this beautiful gem. Its value was evident. So why was he so indifferent?

"…Can I eat this?" the boy eventually asked.

For a moment, she thought he was making a fool out of her. The adults thought she was gullible, and would often pull pranks on her with jokes and lies. When Anna scanned the boy's face, however, she found no traces of deceit. It was a genuine question. He truly had no idea what he was looking at. The boy only had eyes for something that could sate his hunger.

She wanted to cry when she realized his sincerity. Her heart squeezed so tightly that it felt like it could burst. Her innocence had shattered, and the world was infinitely crueler than she had known. How were their positions so different? What allowed her to stand before this poor boy who knew only hunger?

Nothing, she concluded. They were both children. She was not more deserving of this life than he was. How could she be, when she had done nothing to warrant all these privileges? No, she was simply luckier.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

So what right did she have to hoard everything that was handed to her?

***

Flesh Devourer stalked towards her. The crunch of rubble crushed beneath his feet grew steadily closer with his approach. A wicked grin was smeared on his face while his eyes still gleamed with desire. His superiority had already been proven in their previous clashes. The feast was an inevitability. The only reason why Anna was still allowed to stand was because Flesh Devourer was playing with his food. An arrogant move. One that gave her an opportunity.

I'll prove it.

Her heart pulsated madly. Every instinct in her body was besieging her to flee. A foolish suggestion really, since she could barely will herself to move, much less outrun a physically enhanced monster.

I'll prove it right now that I did not waste the advantages afforded to me.

She drew mana from her Azurite accessory, readying her next move. It likely will be her last.

I'll slay this monster if it means losing myself!

She wasn't oblivious to the state of her body. She was no longer in any form to fight. She could feel her mind blurring in and out of focus. Disembodied voices began whispering in her mind. Reality was starting to distort. Things that she knew were constructs of her frazzled mind appeared in her line of sight.

Symptoms of Overclock.

And yet, she can no longer feel the skull-splitting headaches that should have compelled her to stop. That meant she was close. She was on the verge of losing herself and being consumed by her Gift.

From the horror stories that she's heard, she would be turned into a mindless monster as her body ripped itself apart. Driven by pure instincts, she would become a living embodiment of her Gift. A walking disaster that couldn't distinguish from friend or foe.

How fitting, she thought. It really takes a monster to kill a monster.

She resolved herself, waiting for Flesh Devourer to get closer. She wanted to give no chances for this madman to escape her mindless rampage. The Thanatos inmates continued to walk closer, seemingly oblivious to her machinations.

And then he vanished.

H-huh?

Anna panicked. Confused by his sudden disappearance, she hesitated to pull the trigger. Only when she felt a presence loom behind her did she realize her mistake. Fatigue had worn down her ability to follow Flesh Devourer's speed.

She tried to trigger Volt. Her body didn't respond, however. The mana that she gathered earlier dissipated uselessly out of her grasp. Her connection to the esoteric energy was suddenly severed. She glanced down. The strings of her Azurite necklace had been snipped. The stone rested on the ground.

"Don't be so surprised. I could tell you were resolved to die. And this isn't my first experience facing an Exalted on the verge of death. How else did you think I got captured? But I won't make the same mistake twice," Flesh Devourer whispered in her ears.

"…!"

"Hahaha! How I wish to engrave this despairing face into mind! So lovely. So precious. So delectable! I think I'll savor another bite!"

The monster's mouth opened wide.

And blood splashed against Anna's neck. The warm, viscid sensation knocked her out of her daze. She threw herself to the ground on instinct, trying to create as much separation from the Thanatos inmate as possible. She felt mana swell behind her. Another Exalted had joined the fray.

When she turned around, she found Kai wielding a pair of water shivs. Flesh Devourer's body had been flung several meters away. Nasty welts were spread across his body. His head was barely attached to the base of his neck.

"Anna! I'm sorry I'm late!"

Kai's apology barely registered. Anna was staring at Flesh Devourer. The man's grisly appearance would let anyone to think that he was dead. And yet, mana was still circulating through his body.

"He's still alive…" she muttered in disbelief.

"What?"

Anna struggled to her feet. When she remembered she couldn't move and that her Azurite accessory had been severed, she turned to Kai.

"Kill him! He's still regenerating! You have to crush the brain!"

Kai spun around, water shivs materializing in the airspace around him.

But it was already too late.

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