My Devourer System: Rise of the Bastard Son

A great snap filled the air.

Lucen looked down and found one of the Carama tree branches broken and pouring a black, corrosive sap to the ground.

There was nothing there to have broken it.

Lucen jumped from the tree and grabbed another with his tail, perfectly controlling the spell as he swung to the next tree. Water dripped against his face and wind rushed through his hair.

He had no way of confirming that something was right behind him. It was completely silent, invisible both to sight and [Mana Sense], and a beast truly devoid of anything he could understand.

Lucen kicked off one tree as carefully as he could and pushed hard off another with his tail. And again, he felt a sudden, powerful gust of wind ripple behind him.

Something was definitely following him.

He thought back to the hit he endured from the invisible Withmare. If it was a Tyrant, he would be dead right now.

Then how did it gain this overpowered ability? Perfect invisibility was something only a Tyrant should be able to achieve.

Lucen's soul practically screamed, and he changed directions midair, pushing off a branch downwards. The branch exploded from a harrowing blow, spraying splinters and black sap everywhere.

Lucen summoned Thomas' ring immediately. He hurtled towards the ground like a comet, spinning in the air and using his tail to land and push off the ground immediately.

His ring automatically shielded him from the errant drops of sap, hissing threateningly. But that wasn't all.

Something slammed into the shield and sent him pinballing across the forest. Things cracked and exploded loudly, leaves and soil were thrown through the air around him.

When he could see again, he continued running. Not just from the invisible monster, but also from the black drops of sap drifting through the air.

The air of the forest was eerie and dead calm. The tall white trees ran on for what seemed endless.

That confirmed that it wasn't a Tyrant.

A Withmare Tyrant would blow through his shield in a single hit and eviscerate him.

Lucen had no way of detecting it unless he raised up a dust storm, but then he wouldn't be able to see.

Something snapped a twig and his heart nearly jumped out of his throat. The shapes the darkness made were all tall and vaguely human.

It was a Fiend bordering on the realm of Tyrant. Lucen always suspected that becoming a Tyrant was similar to becoming a Grand Knight.

He didn't bother to stop running as he considered possibilities. He weaved between the trees, bouncing off the ground to leap from branch to branch.

He hadn't moved this fast in… ever. Now the only thing on his mind was drawing away from the rest of the Squires so he could use all his spells.

There was enough mana in his soul, and still some regenerative mana in his blood. There would be no time to set a trap, but he had one card to play.

He swung around a tree with his watery tail to stay unpredictable and jumped higher off another.

[Tailwhip] was proving to be immeasurably useful today, but he wanted to avoid thinking about it so as not to mess up his flow state.

He wasn't getting any warnings by reading his soul, so he decided to start the fight. He caught a tree and swung himself up onto the very highest of the trees.

There was something in between the trees, something he couldn't see with his eyes, but was sure was there in the depths of his soul.

It watched him with a twisted sense of glee probably. Its prey watched everywhere for a single sign of danger

The top of the Carama tree was flat and wide. Big enough for two people to sit down together.

His lungs felt like worn-out balloons, barely able to keep up with his labored breaths. His blacksteel armor was terribly dented by the invisible Fiend's blow, the metal pressed painfully against his skin.

Lucen dismissed the ruined half of the armor and let his sweaty body feel the breeze. The Withmare Fiend would climb this tree.

It was hunting him specifically for some twisted reason. It left its allies and followed Lucen this far to kill the first thing that ever saw it coming.

A vendetta Lucen couldn't blame it for having. It could move so quickly without even breaking a dry leaf. Nothing was meant to see it coming

Because of this madness, the invisible Fiend no longer worshipped the Carama tree. Lucen was sure of it when the the monster broke a branch climbing up to him.

Lucen learned in Warren's class that they most definitely revered the tree as a religious symbol. Why? No one knew. It wasn't like they could speak the same language.

It would climb up here to kill him once and for all. Lucen just needed to predict its attack.

He once again was thankful for [Tailwhip]. The spell could be used as a conduit for spells like his spear. He could cast [Serpent's Call] through it, but he preferred enhancing the spear's piercing ability, [Starfall].

Lucen felt the tug from his soul. Nothing too urgent, but a reminder that he was being hunted. No time to rest.

This would be another story they'd add to the pile, Lucen guessed. Tara would probably tell it for a long time.

Lucen took out bone shards from his storage and put them into his water tail. The cold sensation of the spell jolted his body.

His hand was dripping wet when he brought it back. He rubbed the water on his forehead and tried to relax.

The tree creaked, sending shivers up his spine.

Lucen tried to think of other things at the moment. The calm wind pouring over him when they were back on the road, Aya not being angry at him for refusing to answer Tara's request, everyone hailing him as a hero for killing the Half-Tyrant…

Thinking about those things actually made him more annoyed. Lucen spat over the bark. But maybe anger was more helpful than happiness right now.

The branch shook slightly. Lucen struggled to keep looking away.

Lucen had slowly been infusing the tail with mana that he would use to quickly cast his spells. Everything needed to be perfect.

A branch right in front of him cracked and broke.

Lucen sighed. "You stupid bastard. I give you a chance to redeem yourself by trying to sneak up on me. And this is what you do?"

Lucen rose to his feet and took a step back. The branch was obviously bending, something pulling it down.

But his mind told him nothing was there.

"Bastard…" A deep, rumbling voice repeated.

Lucen shivered. It was speaking.

"Bastard… I'll kill you… Bastard… die." The empty voice rumbled. "What… is bastard?"

Lucen grimaced, still filling [Tailwhip] with mana. "Unwanted child."

"Child… child of they… ran away. I… want to eat… child."

It was talking about Tara, he assumed. Lucen swallowed grimly. "Are his parents still alive?"

The silence dragged on. If Lucen truly wanted to, he could believe nothing was there. That the voice was a hallucination of his mind.

The empty space spoke once more, returning with its inhuman cadence and depth.

"Unwanted child… I am… unwanted. Was… unwanted. Until I got… power. Are you… unwanted."

Lucen reached the edge of the tree, heart pounding. He exhaled a heavy breath and nodded.

"Good."

They both moved at the same time.

The tree was blasted to splinters and the leaves exploded around them.

Lucen was falling from the tree. The wind rushed past him, green, white, and brown blurring in his vision as he plummeted. And the Withmare Fiend was right with him.

Lucen couldn't be sure of it—he barely saw anything before he jumped—but he prayed that it was falling right behind him.

The Fiend managed to slash off his finger, taking off the protection ring on his hand.

It was heavier, so it would reach him before he got to the ground. Lucen spun and sharpened his tail while casting [Serpent's Call].

The tail sliced through the tree with a sharp twack. Then Lucen turned the tail on the empty space above his head and pushed off with his tail, praying silently.

The tail pushed off the invisible Fiend and sent him hurtling towards the ground like a bullet. The tree was falling right after them.

The long shadow of the tree covered Lucen as the hard ground drew closer. He bounced off the earth with his flexible tail, landing somewhat safely, and jumped out of the tree's range.

The Fiend wasn't as worried about breaking its legs as Lucen, so it landed upright to chase after him.

But then its feet sank into the very ground Lucen had just walked in. He casted [Sinking Sand] through his tail as he landed.

Then the chopped-down Carama tree came crashing down on top of the Fiend, its corrosive sap spilling over the earth.