"So, do I get any explanation as to why so many strangers wanted to take me captive? Or am I going to be left with a "you’re not ready for answers yet"?" I couldn’t help asking my new "master"..

We were currently flying back toward bright sun city, valen having offered to drop me back home.

Cara had gone off on her own, saying something about meeting up at Aeternum, seems she had a means of getting there herself...

I didn’t bother being worried, if she hadn’t asked for assistance then she wasn’t needing one, so instead of worrying about someone that didn’t need worrying about, it was better I worried about myself instead..

"Hmmm... what would you like to know then" surprisingly, Valen opened his eyes that had been closed earlier, offering answers..

"Well first off, what ability were they talking about back there, I used more than one, which one could’ve possibly set them off?" I asked, eager to understand the root of the matter..

"Devour", yet the moment I heard that word, a violent trembling seized me..

"Impossible!!!" I screamed internally....

"It seems it really is that dreadful thing" valen sighed..

"Wha..what are you talking about?" I tried shrugging it off, but my stuttering voice was a dead giveaway..

"You don’t need to deny it, the entire tests were broadcasted, we all saw what you did to the contestants Micheal and Thaddeus"..

My face paled. The tests were broadcasted, of course they were..

"Stupid...stupid...stupid..." in my excitement about getting exciting new abilities I’d forgotten that I was on a public stage, wait..

"Does that mean, me and Cara?" Shit, no..

"Hehe.. worry not, your dignity was preserved" Valen laughed, the old bastard was amused..

"Screw dignity old man, I just don’t want nobodies seeing Cara’s flawless body" he choked on his laughter..

That gave me a little respite..

"Ahem... so, mind telling me how you got the ability of Dracul Twilight, The Great Devourer?"

Hmmm?? Dracul? Great Devourer? Who the fuck is that? I thought the devour they were talking about was my chaos devouring?

"Dracul the what-now?" I asked, just to be sure this was all a misunderstanding on their part..

"Dracul Twilight, The Great Devourer, the second calamity terra ever faced, one many swore was even more dreadful than the demon’s invasion" Valen replied..

It really was a misunderstanding..

Seems the way my devour worked looked similar to some ancient guy that made these guys shit themselves..

"Hooo....close call" that was a close one, for a moment I’d thought they recognized just what the hell it was I was working with, but if they believed it was some olden days ability, I wasn’t about to correct anyone..

"I don’t know anything about some Dracul whatever, all I know is that after my awakening, I received this ability, which somehow allows me to obtain one of my fallen opponents abilities" I wasn’t about to tell them that I basically Ursuped whatever it is the felled opponent had, that’d be giving away too much..

"Sigh... it is indeed that dreadful ability, seems the world’s peace is about to be disturbed once more" Valen’s gaze was melancholic as he stared at the passing clouds..

"Hmm, why’s that? Was this dracul guy really that powerful?" I was now curious, just who was the dracul bastard..

"Powerful? Heh, he wasn’t just powerful, he was a walking disaster, each battle he engaged in saw him getting stronger, armies were useless, his vampiric origin making him lord over blood, with that nasty ability making it so that any fallen enemy is nothing but additional weapons to his arsenal"..

"He wasn’t just powerful, he was a singularity, he attained such a level of strength, that even the gods themselves dared not send avatars to aid terra, for if a single avatar were to fall into his hands...."

"All of terra had united against this one man, the ancient families being forced from the lofty holy lands to join in the war, yet he never lost or faltered, but that wasn’t even the worst of it, with the fact that he was a vampire, it meant he could turn others, but those he turned were essentially different from other vampires, he bestowed upon them the multitude of abilities he’d devoured from his fallen targets, with this army of unholy abominations, he had forced the world to the brink of destruction"

"The ancient families had to gather their numbers and plead an audience with my master for his intervention,you must know, even during the time the demons invaded, it was the involvement of the ancient families that forced the demons into agreeing to something like a peace treaty, yet this time, they had to ask my master for help, that was the only way the Blood Era ended, because my master decided the world’s balance had been broken"..

"That one Situation solidified the "Peace" between the terra and demons even more"..

"Damn.." that...was...something...

No wonder they got so agitated, I’d be agitated too if I found out some ancient monster’s abilities were reappearing in the world..

But, this guy’s ability, seemingly aligned with my botched lie, only took one ability or at least just a few, but mine effectively gave me everything of the person, so how do I feel like this guy’s was more effective?, I know it wasn’t, it could only be an issue with how I use it, Seems I’ve been using devour a bit too lightly and not in anyway to its fullest potential...

"So, they’re worried that ancient monster’s ability was appearing again through me huh?"

"Exactly, I’ll advice you not you use that ability in public too often, my name can only protect you so much" Valen sounded sincerely concerned for me..

I don’t know why this robotic old man seemed to have been favoring me since the very first time we met, but I wasn’t one to be ungrateful..

"I’ll take your advice to heart" I replied sincerely.

I wasn’t about to hide my true strength, but devouring others can be left for more private settings..

Screeeeeeee

"Heh..pussy, a real man will just say ’fuck the world’"

"Try solving your identity issues first before giving me advice" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Screeeeeeeee

"You want to die???"

SNAP——

"Humph..humphhh" I tried opening my mouth, yet only muffled sounds came out, my voice having been cut off..

I looked up, valen had gone back to closing his eyes..

"Umphhhhhh..." I tried protesting, no dice..

"Ahh.. I should’ve done this ages ago"...

Screeeeee——-

"Hahaha——"

The stupid chicken-cat wanted to laugh, only to get the same silencing...

"Finally, peace and quiet" Valen’s peaceful voice sounded out..

Now, how exactly would one expect to play such a low trick on two very petty individuals and expect to get away with it??

Boooooommmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!

"Gah!!"

A deafening explosion sounded out as me and Leo clashed violently within the skies, our spar nothing more than a ruse to make sure Valen’s peace was nothing but a pipe dream, the violent twitching of his brows bringing our petty heart’s immense satisfaction..

*********

A few days later..

Screeeeeeeee....

The sound a griffon echoed all over bright sun city as the massive creature arrived above the city..

"I guess I’ll be going off here" I said to Valen, the old man still looking like a meditative statue..

"Here.. you can use this to teleport straight to the central continent, it’s linked to a mansion of mine there, you do not need to follow the others" yet before I could drop off, his voice stopped me as he handed me a palm sized cube..

"Heh.. thanks old man" I replied, his face twitched ever so slightly at the words "old man"..

"Yo, chicken-cat, I’ll be seeing you" I tapped my foot on Leo’s metallic beak..

"Just get off you bastard"

"Hahahahahaha" with that, I jumped off, the wind carrying me straight home..

......

"I’m home...."

Following a rush of wind, the scent of jasmine and moon lilies washed over me, bringing me a peace I’d missed..

"Aunt V" my arms wrapped around my beautiful aunt’s slender waist..

"D, thank goodness you’re back.. you had me worried" came her trembling voice...

I just held her there, letting the softness of her body ground me properly...

Feeling satisfied, I placed my hands on her shoulder, pulled her back a bit, "I’m fine aunt v, it’ll take alot more than that to get rid of me" I smiled, a manic grin splitting my face..

"Hehe.. that’s my Dante.." she laughed beautifully..

The sound of her laughter made me freeze for a second, the beauty of this woman never seemed to get old, yet before I could get a hold of myself...

Schllk!!!!!!

"Blerrghhhhhh!!!!"

A clawed hand had dug into my chest, a cold grip settling around my heart...

I looked down at the slender pale arm that had buried itself within my chest, my head rising up shakily as I met my aunt’s gaze..

"Wh..why??"

**********

A/N: well damn, what the fuck just happened...

**********

Thanks for reading...