I arrived back upon the walls of Talbig City just as the sun was beginning to dip back into the horizon. I covered a lot of ground today while doing my usual routine, of killing monsters and spreading destruction wherever I went. Hopefully, that would be enough to confuse any would-be investigators about my possible involvement in the killing of four random adventurers. I could have been anywhere, and by the time I arrived near where they died, they were already gone, unrecognizable, consumed by the monsters of the rainforest like any other unlucky person.

"Hey, what the fuck? What is that?"

"That's Haell, you idiot! A demon. Some rare new species." The crustecar guard tipped herself slightly in a bow. "Sorry about that, he's new."

"No worries," I smiled at them. The guards here in the western gates weren't as familiar with me as the ones down east, but not by much.

"Thank you. Have a nice journey home, maam."

"Likewise." I crossed the gates and pulled behind me a sled filled with only the best choice cuts and materials from all of my kills, minus that of once sapient people. I was not early to the level of Moonwash, but I had been steadily getting better at dressing my kills over the years.

I arrived back at our house after a decently long walk. The materials and the meat were piled away, some were given to our neighbors, and then we had dinner. I waited until we had eaten before I asked Moonwash to make sure we were in private.

"I killed someone," I said once the sound barriers were up.

"I woke up in a soft bed," Angerly joked morbidly.

"Not like that," I rolled my eyes and gave the full context of what happened.

~~~

"Couldn't you have run?" Therick asked after I finished my explanation.

"I could have," I admitted. "But I didn't. I made that choice, because why should I be the one to flee? I never wanted this fight, they did. They knew the consequences."

"I expected as much," Therick shrugged and leaned back.

"I would've spared the one who surrendered at least," Berry predictably whispered. Not that there was anything wrong with that. They were my friends, and I would always hear them out. Even if I'd likely disagree in the end. "We're safer here. They're not going to rat you out as a demon, everyone already knows."

"I know. I considered it too. It feels bad even for me to execute someone like that, you know? But I don't know what they're capable of, what connections they have, or how the laws would be applied. I do not want to be a wanted fugitive here so soon after we arrived. Even just waiting to give her the chance to surrender felt wrong because that gives her the opportunity to potentially turn the tides. It's a life-and-death battle. I doubt they would've given me the same luxury."

If I was found guilty of murder, then they would most likely try to execute me. This place did have prisons, but those who were too strong and dangerous were just killed due to the difficulty in keeping them contained. Lesser offenders would usually just get some community service thing, while some more serious crimes might actually get a limb or two cut off depending on the judge.

"Well, that aside, I think you would've been fine if you let that last woman go, or even the whole party of them," Granuel claimed. "Legally, at least. You would've won that battle."

"Oh?" I raised a brow. "How so? I mean, I'm sure the laws are against what they tried to do to me, but it's my word against theirs. And I can no longer play the Grandpa Hero card. I am just a regular citizen of New Grandera, and nothing more."

Not to mention that I did not intend to get into any long legal dispute. I'd really rather just savage my way through.

"I… think you're really underestimating our status here. You're a very popular figure who's already being used for various propaganda pieces, and persecuting you will severely undermine that. On top of that, you are not alone. You have us. You have me. And not to brag, but I have got some pull… in places that I really shouldn't have, but that's always how things have been. The only thing that's changed is who can hold the strings." Granuel shook his head and got back on topic. "I think it would've been better if you were just honest about it, even if you wiped them all out. Then the justice system would've worked for you. But now that you've gone and erased the evidence… and then failed to report the incident… that kind of screams guilty. Best to never bring it up. It will in all likelihood be attributed to monsters, as you said."

"Hmmm, alright. I'll consider it next time."

~~~

We left Talbig City a week later without an incident in sight. The disappearance of the adventurers had become the talk of town, but no one really had an argument to link it to me. A very small few tried, but all it amounted to was gossip in the end. The words of insane and crazy people. For who would doubt their favorite revolutionary?

…I wasn't sure how I felt about that yet. People were singing songs and doing plays in my name, about how I had rebelled and retaliated against the cruel imperial rule. And I had to admit that I enjoyed the attention. They exaggerated my ability to slaughter entire armies, but it was certainly a goal to aspire to. And they acknowledged and showed me as a demon, which was always a treat to see. I loved it.

That being said, I definitely did not intend to do anything for them. At least not for free. So I would need to set the record straight someday soon.

"Hey Haell," Granuel called from the front of the wagon. The four gareras(gorilla/capybara) we had gotten were the ones pulling our two vehicles along. "I think this is around where a lavenar was spotted some months ago."

"Oh shit. Really?" A lavenar was a persistent predator whose attacks would never heal and forever bleed freely. That was an exaggeration, but these creatures came in level 40, and they had a very potent hemotoxin coating their claws. "Is it still here, do you think? Can you find it?"

I really wanted to get my hands on one of them. They were said to stalk their prey for years if necessary, which was likely to be another exaggeration, but if there was even some truth to that then they must have a very strong mind. A brain that I could consume to fuel the growth of my own.

"Of course! I've been practicing too. It'll be difficult and you'll need to protect me, but I think I can eventually find them if they're still here."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Alright," I decided to trust my friend. "Good."

~~~

"Hmmmm……." I hummed to myself after over a week of seeing no results to our hunt. Not that I was discouraged by only a week, but I had an idea that might work out much better now than it would have before. "Let's fly."

"What?" My friends asked, dumbfounded, as if I was asking them to suddenly sprout wings when I was the only one of us who could do it.

"I mean I'll carry Granuel and sweep over the rainforest from above. What do you think? I think it'll work."

"Uh, sure then! I've never searched a forest with a bird's eye view before, but I'm excited."

"Alright then," I nodded and grinned. We found a good spot to take off from, and then I carried my friend by the shoulder as we ascended past the canopy and towards the open skies above. He immediately marveled at the sight before him, which I assumed might only be so much more vibrant with eyesight as supernaturally good as his.

"Whoa."

"Yes. Whoa." I smiled. I took a minute to learn how to compensate for his weight, but I was able to fly around quite stably after that. The lessons with the harpies had really helped, even if they never quite covered this specific topic.

We scoured the skies for our prey below. Some birds tried to attack us, and I could hardly fight properly like this, but thankfully my evil eyes were usually enough to discourage them from even trying. If not then my magic would cause them to panic and hopefully flee. Some crazy ones still kept coming despite that, at which point I just had to keep up my magical barrage and bring them down before they could do the same to me. Granuel also helped by shooting out pinpoint accuracy pebbles down their throat.

Even then, there were still times when a monster managed to get my wings, or had the bulk to barrel through our offensive and send us crashing down. I had to make an emergency landing whenever that happened and absorb all the force through my hooves. It was painful, but rarely ever enough to cause actual major injuries to a demon like myself. Certainly nothing that couldn't be healed in but a short minute.

~~~

"Hey look!"

"Have you found it!?"

"Oh. No… It's a tarisawa. A rare plant that gives you the best religious experience. The harpies and many other people would pay a pretty penny for it."

"Ah, so it's drugs." And not the lavenar I wanted. But I flew down anyway to get my friend's mad drugs for him. He had spotted many rare and valuable things like this over the past month as we expanded our search radius, and I didn't mind the distraction to break up the monotony. It was even interesting to anticipate what we might possibly find next.

~~~

"Look! Over there!"

"What is it this time? A golden goose?"

"No! A lavenar!"

"Oh, shit, really!?" my head snapped to where Granuel was pointing, but I could not really make anything out. However, I trusted him, so I burned off the vitality of my wings in a wrathful flight back to my friends, wherein I quickly tossed Granuel back to them before I landed in a heap towards a bush. I immediately got back up and then rushed towards where Granuel had found the lavenar before it could ever get the chance to run away.

My legs were burning from the strain by the time I got there. The rainforest terrain was not favorable to me, but I just powered through it, literally crushing roots to splinters underneath my hooves. There was a leopard bleeding out before me, and the shorter claw marks vaguely matched what I had seen drawn in a book before. My prey was just here, and I could not find it. I searched with my adrenaline continuing to run high, only to find that the prey had thought itself the predator. My instincts blare out a warning to me, but not soon enough to completely mitigate the damage. It had found a gap in my armor and tore a chunk out of my waist, which immediately made me feel weaker as I gushed out blood.

I could bleed for a while, though. Blood was one of the things I had in abundance. I turned around and finally saw my prey as it was about to scurry out into the bush. The lavenar was a monkey-dog-cat hybrid, with tar-black skin covered by incredibly short green fur. It's limbs looked almost too long and elongated, and its sharp claws left furrows in the ground as it ran, which made me feel stupid for not noticing the tracks sooner. None of the books had included that detail!

I reacted. I could not let it escape now. My evil eyes bore into its soul for but a single moment that I wasn't sure was even real. My vengeance magic had already done some damage to its blood-covered paws, and that damage only surged in severity when the blood I'd spilled became a sudden burst of curse and hellfire. I charged towards my foe with all I had because I didn't know if I could ever find it again if it managed to escape. Magic exploded out of me in an uncontrolled wave, and that slowed down my enemy just a bit more. I finally reached the lavenar, but its ears twitched rapidly, and my first strike was dodged. That small delay caused it to gain distance once more, and the chase through the winding paths of the rainforest began. My physique could rival creatures an evolution above me, but I knew that I had to sacrifice my own health to do so. I would not win a battle of endurance, not even close, so I had to think of something else.

I tried my bow, but quickly concluded that I could not hit my target in such a high-speed chase. My magic was continuing to do damage, but only because I spread it out over a large area to where there was nowhere to dodge. My body would break before the lavenar fell.

I switched my wrath magic to taunts, but the creature's focus did not falter. I tried to let it succumb to wrath, or to distract with with the burning pain my evil eyes could inflict, but that had even less effect. Its mind was too strong for mental attacks to work, which was exactly why I wanted it so badly, but now all my tricks had been overcome.

Brute fucking force it is. I grinned angrily.

My bleeding stopped for but a moment, as the very blood inside me ceased to exist. My body blurred into motion, far beyond the power of a demon on the cusp of becoming something more. I felt my bones crack as I overcame the lavenar's speed for one glorious moment. The confluence of all my wrath flowed angrily but harmoniously through my sword and body as I brought it down in one big slash. The monster tried to dodge, but it still very nearly got its entire torso split cleanly in half. The lavenar growled after being deathly silent for this entire confrontation, as its insides were in a far worse state than its already ravaged appearance would have one believe.

"Come then," I recognized that resolute look in its eyes, and readied my own battered body. My enemy who had only sneaked and ran away faced its final moment with the endless drive to take me down with it. The lavenar leapt forward like its entrails weren't spilling out, and I met its claws with my sword. The monster allowed my slash to go through just so it could land one more hit on my thigh. Its shoulder was ruined, but now it knew that it could be even more reckless because I had clearly avoided its head. Another strike came, and I blocked it as my magic converged all around it. My wrath forced my body to move and endure just a few more violent clashes, wherein I got two more bleeding grooves gouged into my body, in exchange for ripping the front limbs right off my opponent and finally delivering the finishing blow to its already-deflating heart.

I too felt lightheaded, and collapsed to the ground.

~~~

I yanked off my armor and ripped my clothes away to stuff it all into my still-bleeding wounds. I used nature magic to slowly heal, but there was a lot of poison that needed to be flushed out before the unhealthy holes all over me could be patched up. I considered cauterizing my wounds, but it would be too difficult, especially with my demonic biology.

I shot a hell-flare into the air and waited until my friends arrived to help.

It did not take long, and Moonwash immediately got to work while Granuel added his stream of nature healing to my own. I raised a brow when my girlfriend took out a frost wand, and then understood when she literally froze my blood and conjured ice to forcibly seal off the wound in a way that the hemotoxin could hardly counter. It was a weird and cold and uncomfortable feeling, but I let her do her thing. She then covered me in a flowing stream of water to both heal and purify the poison in my bloodstream. I only had a pint left in my extradimensional blood storage by the time I was freed from the poison and my wounds healed properly. I had not allowed any blood to leak into the Mutation at all, only took blood out, because I did not wish for my entire stock to be contaminated.

This was all going to take a lot of food to replenish

"Thanks," I smiled at Moonwash, but she was already off to process the dead lavenar. She got the brain that I wanted, then complained about the state of everything other than the head. I laughed, for I barely had the leeway to even aim away from its head, let alone spare its many other parts. Hopefully, she could still get something useful, because that was a creature that fought in a way that deserved my respect. Even if it ran away.

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