SILENCE!

A thick shroud of silence befell the room instantly. The emotions and tension were high as the dragons exchanged looks after listening to what Ava had just said.

Her backstory and why she was the only survivor of her clan had been explained in one go, and now they couldn't help but feel a sliver of understanding for her. But one thing was still confusing them.

"Okay?" Jim mumbled, causing Ava to pause as she looked up. "That explains that, but shouldn't that have fueled your drive for revenge? Why are you now working for the same group that killed your brother? That doesn't make sense at all."

"That's right." Max muttered, staring at the female in confusion. "Why are you now working for them? Shouldn't you be cooking up a way for revenge?"

Sigh, Sniff!

Ava wiped her snort and eyes as she slowly staggered to her feet.

"There's a saying: keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Ava muttered, staring at the dragons. "That is what I have been doing, using it to look for a crack in their ranks, a way I can take them down. But I haven't seen one yet.

"And in the process, I have been sending more and more innocent humans to their deaths, to get eaten by the leader of the dark forces. A way to fuel his strength so he can become stronger while I grow weaker." She sighed and facepalmed herself weakly.

"Wait a moment, that's not right," Max suddenly interrupted with a deep frown, glancing at her.

"What happened?" Jim asked, raising a brow.

"Something is off with this," Max replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Demon vessels are different from real demons. Demon vessels lend their bodies to the demonic energy within them, using it to fuel themselves. Almost like a hybrid of some kind.

"So technically, they are still humans. They are mostly humans. There's no way a sane human would intentionally cannibalize another human. And even if they did, demon vessels can't grow stronger by eating humans like real demons. So what is the leader of the dark forces doing?

"He should know that demon vessels can't grow stronger by eating humans, so why does he keep eating?"

"That's because he has seen a loophole to that," Ava replied, her tone soft as she stared at Max, who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Meaning?" he asked.

"I don't know how he knows, nor do I know what his backing is. I don't even know why he told me this, but he said that as long as he eats humans with high enough essence and reaches a certain number of them, he would transform into a bona fide demon.

"The more humans he eats with high enough essence, the stronger he gets after crossing a certain threshold. And then, once he has eaten enough, he would transform completely."

"Like leveling up?" Max asked, confusion etched on his face.

"Yes, almost like that." Ava nodded.

"Oh boy, this is bad." Jim muttered, grabbing his hair in deep thought. "Depends on the serum he took. If he transforms, it will be a massive problem. We don't even know how strong the demon energy in that serum is."

"How many humans has he eaten since he came here? And what's his threshold before he transforms?" Max asked, raising a brow.

"He says his threshold is fifty. I still don't know why he told me this, maybe he is hoping I will try to stop him so it would be a reason to eat me too since he keeps saying that I have a lot of essence.

"And about the amount of humans he has eaten, ever since he came here, I have sent twenty humans to their deaths. The day he attacked this town, he ate about fifteen humans, and currently, ten humans have been sent to him right now which you two should have been part of.

"Now, I don't know how many humans he has eaten before he came here, so in total, forty-five humans have been eaten since he arrived." Ava replied as she hung her head low in thought.

"Damn it! It means he is terribly close to actually transforming." Jim muttered as he clenched his hands tightly in frustration.

'That demon vessel I battled, the leader of the Gray Bulls then, he hadn't eaten any humans yet he was strong enough to injure me. Now I wonder how strong a demon vessel who has eaten a lot of humans would be and I wonder what rank he would be if he transforms.' Max thought as he stroked his chin in deep thought.

"His base, do you know where it is?" Max asked with a raised brow.

"I actually have no idea where it is." Ava replied with a sigh.

"Huh?" Jim muttered with a raised eyebrow. "You don't know where his base is? Then how do you send the humans to him to be eaten?"

"I actually have a guess," Max cut in as he turned towards Jim. "Earlier today, when I was about to be kidnapped by her gang members no doubt, to be sent over to be eaten, a demon vessel was part of the ranks. So I think that after leaving here, the demon vessel takes over from there, carrying the unconscious humans to their base. Which is why Ava has never been there before.

"Right? Ava?" He asked as he turned around to stare at the female who nodded along, confirming his theory.

"Damn! Now how do we actually locate him? We need to perform our job tonight before he grows too strong, but how do we do it when we don't even know where he is at the moment?" Jim asked as he rubbed his forehead in deep thought.

'Hmm, this is truly a dilemma.' Max thought as he began scratching his hair in frustration and confusion.

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{A/N}

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