Side Story: Abel

“Um, miss Abel?” Came a nervous knock at her door as the sun rose. “It’s-”

“Morning!” Abel yelled out brightly, a too-wide grin on her lips as she threw open the door and grabbed her attendant's face, pulling it right up to her own yet not noticing the fear that brought to the other’s eyes. “Let’s get this day started and… Who are you?”

“Ahem, Zine,” He managed to squeak out, getting a confused look for the answer.

“What happened to the last guy who woke me up?”

“I’d been told stress leave.”

“Again? Man, everyone on this planet needs to learn to relax a bit,” She laughed out, slapping his back with an enthusiasm that let just a bit too much of her strength through to be comfortable. “Try not to let the world get to you too much, with me here, you’ve got nothing to be stressed about!”

“Ah, if you say so, miss.”

She’d stopped looking at him altogether as he answered, letting go of his face and letting him fall to the ground as his legs gave out, going unnoticed in her quest for breakfast as she made her way not to the kitchen or dining room, both going rarely used, but instead outside where she knew her real meal would be waiting for her as she ran over to the man she’d meet each morning, next to the piles of corpses waiting for her.

“Jorts, where’s the rest?” She asked, looking at only a few bodies and tapping her foot in displeasure. “This is nothing.”

“It’s all my adventurers were able to gather for today, Abel,” The guild master of her local branch said, having been given the role of delivering what had been collected for her despite his position by virtue of being one of the few not entirely off-put by her occasionally intense personality. “I’ve put in the request at the church to get more guilds involved in getting you your deliveries since mine is having trouble keeping up with demand but until that can start, you’re just going to have to be satisfied with what we can manage.”

“Mmh,” She groaned, stomping her feet lightly before shaking her head and sighing. “Alright, I’ll let it pass but only ‘cause you’re a buddy. For now though, let’s dig in!”

While not the skill that gave her her status as a third tier, malevolent form was among her most used, her body structure collapsing under her power as the hominid shape she’d typically wear disappeared, replaced with grey, goo-like flesh, wrapping around each corpse she’d been given and feeling them quickly break down within her before moving to the next, her breakfast vanishing in minutes and leaving her to pout once she changed back.

“You know, I’ve been curious for a while now but where does it all go?” Jorts muttered as he looked between the empty space that had previously held a small mountain of meat, now empty with not even bones left behind, to the small girl who’d managed to eat it all yet still looked like she wanted more.

“I dunno, where’s your food go?” She muttered, making her disappointment clear. Even without checking her card, she could tell that the meal had only given her a couple points to her different attributes. Nothing satisfying and nothing filling to make it worthwhile. Even if her new world was safer than her old, it just all felt so insubstantial when it came to the foods she’d get, a difference in universes she couldn’t get used to no matter how many years and left the guild master scratching the back of his neck.

“Well, I was honestly expecting this so I do have a different option for you.”

Instantly she perked up. “I’m listening.”

“A new swarm’s been discovered, about a thousand strong,” Jorts told her. “With numbers that big, we’re expecting something powerful to be controlling them but if you go out there, the spoils are all yours.”

Not that there’d be much competition. While demons made for decent alchemic enhancers for both life and death enchanted items, they weren’t exactly in short supply and the request instantly brightened her, Abel not bothering to think too deeply about how her small meal and that particular quest managed to line up.

“Well, if all of the weaklings of this world need some help then don’t mind if I do,” She laughed, the guild master holding back a sigh of relief for how smoothly that went. “So when can I head out?”

“Immediately. There’s a space mage to help get you there so I’ll lead you to him and the rest.”

---

“Abel, this is Pato, the space mage who’ll be taking you and the person in charge is-”

“Me,” She said, sticking out her tongue before the guild master could try to argue. “I’ve got the highest authority, right?”

“Well, technically yes, but-”

“Yep, ‘cause I’m that good,” She laughed. “But if anyone wants to try and take the job from me, they can feel free!”

“...I see. Alright, just give me a moment.”

The guild master slinked over to the one who was supposed to be in charge, not having much choice in the matter. No matter her personality, Abel was a third tier, destined for godhood and all that implied. She’d been brought to help but if she decided she was going to lead, there was nothing anyone else there could do to argue it, with her immediately putting her newly claimed authority to use.

“You there, space mage!”

“My name is Pato.”

“Don’t care! Open the gate and let’s get going, I’m hungry!”

“Hungry?”

“Chop chop! You take too long then I’ll be getting something to eat from you after!”

She didn’t notice his eyes light up at the comment and what sounded like a potential date, nor the glares that came from the rest of the man’s party for it either but none of them got to say any more. Before another word could be spoken the guild master was rushing over, wanting to calm things before she could get any more demanding.

“Pato, open your gates and go, the faster the better!”

“What, are we really in that much of a rush?”

“For your sake, we are now!”

“Alright, if you say so.”

Not knowing what that particular guild master was on about, being one he rarely worked with, Pato did as he was told, opening the first gate and ferrying the near hundred gathered adventures through while Abel took them all in the best she could.

Most smelled weak but that was unavoidable. The majority of the planet smelled weak. What mattered was what she could tell beyond that, with ten in the group including the mage coming across as strong enough that they had to be somewhere in the second tier, with the space mage seeming the strongest.

Hmm, doesn’t seem like it’s from high levels. Two awakened skills then, maybe three? She judged, evaluating the rest in a similar fashion but finding him to be the next most worthwhile of the bunch beyond herself. So a first-rank adventurer, neat. I should see if I can hire him after.

Second tiers could give her more attributes from just a few cups of blood than piles of random meat after all, so long as she had him along with a healer to keep him alive it would obviously be good for the entire planet if he were to be willing to act as a snack but despite that fact, she’d had no luck talking any second tiers into keeping her fed up to that point.

People really can be so selfish. She told herself, wiping some drool off her lips as she did. Maybe I can talk some god into grabbing me one?

With it feeling like a brilliant idea, she started praying as they moved from portal to portal, going deeper and deeper into the woods, not paying too much attention to her surroundings while she was ignored by the heavens above until her nose told her something the space mage hadn’t caught. They’d arrive at their destination but far too close, directly within the demonic swarm.

But that was the demons’ bad luck, not theirs. She’d been at the front each time, the first through and first to find what waited beyond, bringing a single thought to her mind.

Finally, something to eat

An absolute feast surrounded her, the demons not the only hungry monsters on the planet and their reactions were slower than her own as she bit into her wrists, letting her blood soak the ground to give rise to her monstrosities at the same time her form collapsed, discarding vanity structures like organs and bones to take a far more efficient shape as she engulfed the first to demons near her in their entirety before moving on to the next.

The beasts she’d make, formless blobs of flesh and bone, had their work cut out for them too. Both her and not her at the same time, eating with them may not have sated her true self but that didn’t matter, her meat strengthening applied all of the same, letting them act as extensions of herself for her feast and feeling her attributes slowly tick up with each bite.

She heard screams coming from all around her as she ate, only a few coming from the demons she devoured, with the rest from her force beginning to make their way through, but she paid it no mind. Her goals were two. Clear the world of the demons like she’d been summoned for and make herself stronger in the process.

And it smells like there’s one that will help me do exactly that.

While most of what she’d eaten had brainless beasts or proper invaders with true intelligence but lacking in anything she’d consider strength to add a threat to their sheer numbers, one in the back was clearly more than that. She didn’t know if it had grown in power since arriving or come unusually strong but her growling stomach told her one undeniable fact. The one in the back, the monster that had to have been exerting some control over that herd until she’d arrived, was awakened.

“Dibs!” She yelled as she threw herself forward, her abominations still fighting under her will, even if her true focus was on the monster before her, her eyes locked on the target that left it looking almost taken aback and gave no leeway to react beyond instinct, even if that was all it seemed to need.

With a simple swipe of its clawed hand, she felt it nearly slice her in half at the same time it launched her back through the forest, only stopping as a tree got in her way but still brought it down from the force of her form smashing against it, with the invader trying to stay on the offensive.

While she’d been thrown back, it had launched itself forward, wanting to keep up the attack against what seemed like the greatest threat to have appeared before it and as a contender for its strength enhancement, every day left it growing more in power to apply to the whatever world it was on. Boundless strength came to it naturally and would only keep doing so the longer it lived for and it punched out when it reached her, again and again, not knowing what she was but not feeling it needed to. As strong as she may have been, she was a soft creature, something it should have been able to tear apart once she was in its grasp and feeling that confidence right up until it noticed something was wrong. It was used to getting blood on its hands but less so feeling the flesh of the things it pummeled stick and slowly creep up its arms.

“Wha-”

It didn’t get to say more. The instant it noticed, Abel pounced, engulfing it entirely and feeling as the demon tried to fight back from within her for only a few seconds before it lost to her digestion, its screams shaking her flesh until they stopped too and as the rest of her abominations finished clearing the land she turned back to her hominid form, smiling brightly as she flexed her muscles, feeling newfound power running through them.

“So strength was the big winner today. Man, that was almost satisfying,” She laughed, pleased with how it had turned out. “Which means, only one last thing to do.”

She stomped over to the others she’d come with, finding they all had only just finished coming out of the portal by the time she’d finished, their guards still raised but too late to be of any use as she looked at them in blatant smugness despite what she had to say.

“Useless. All of you came out to help and not one managed to do anything before I finished up? You all came prepared to fight and this was what I get?”

Not one could say a world of argument even if they wanted to. Even if they thought they’d have been able to help if they’d only gotten the chance, the power she held demanded they didn’t talk back, even if she wouldn’t have cared if they did, considering none of that as she went on.

“And you! Space mage! How the hell do you drop us in the middle of that without noticing?”

“Ah, I was expecting them to be farther away when I opened the way,” Pato said bashfully, shaking his head in embarrassment while trying to salvage what he could and calm down the third tier for the sake of everyone there. “You said something about food before? Let me treat you as an apology.”

No one was expecting much from that, his party all groaning beside him too but Abel instantly brightened for the offer, shocking them all. “Well, if you’re offering!”

“Really? I mean, in that case-”

Abel didn’t give him a chance to finish, no opportunity to suggest restaurants or times to go out, the moment the offer was made she was at his side, his arm in her hands and her teeth lengthening with her hunger, sinking into his flesh and drinking deep of the blood it held.

So focused on her meal, she didn’t notice anyone there screaming around them, nor did she notice him trying to escape. She was the stronger of the two by a great amount and with her locked on, the panic Pato was filled with left him no room for focusing on any subtle application of his magic, only being freed when she was finished, leaving him with significantly less blood and a cheerful smile on her lips as she licked away the final drops.

“Delicious,” She told them, not noticing the change in atmosphere around her. “But now that that’s wrapped up, let’s head back already.”

After all, not just one of the most important summoned, she was one of the most important people on the planet. She couldn’t just stay there wasting time when the question of where she might find her next snack was so fresh on her mind.

Author’s note

Special guest appearance from Pato! Sorry Pato and party, perhaps your next appearance will be less traumatic.