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Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 45

Author: Blue_Rat

ch45

The lizard bats corpse was at his feet. Grabbing an arm, it was covered in scales and the creature stunk from head to toe. For some reason, this smell didn’t deter Kazuki’s appetite in the least. With a grumble from his stomach, Kazuki licked his lips before taking a large bite from the creature’s arm.

*Crunch*

Even though the lizard bat was covered in protective scales, beneath the crushing force from Kazuki’s bite, the scales split apart easily as though they were made of butter. Kazuki took a single bite and tore through armor-like scales, hardened flesh, and tough bone all in a single bite.

*Chew chew chew*

The texture was hard to determine as Kazuki’s bite had far too much strength. To him, everything now seemed to have a soft texture or rather there was little that could defend against such a frightful bite and therefore the resistance to his chewing was very little if it was even there at all. In order to feel textures, Kazuki would need to slowly chew at a snail’s pace in order to get a good mouthfeel but as soon as he took a single bite, his speed only increased instead of slowed.

Bite after bite, Kazuki ate faster and faster. Sometimes he would only chew once or twice before swallowing or he wouldn’t chew at all and would swallow hole. As he did this, a small voice in his mind began to creep in.

(devour…Devour…DeVOuR!)

Kazuki could for the first time he could sense the black hole at the base of his soul tree begin to spark to life. He felt a chill up his spine as he could tell that the nameless technique was on the verge of activating and taking control over his body but for some reason, he couldn’t stop eating and as a matter of fact, his eating speed only got faster.

(No I must stop! I have to stop before I lose myself but why…why can I not stop eating!?!?!?)

Kazuki griped one of the long lizard bat legs and with ease, he tore one completely off and started stuffing it down his face.

As he ate this leg with bliss, he could feel his mind starting to slip away, in its place the nameless technique was taking control and the whispering echoes increased in his mind, getting louder and louder.

(Devour DEVour DEVOUr DEVOURRRRRR!)

In response to this, a sliver of godly aura seeped out of his golden compass and drilled its way into his forehead in one go. Kazuki’s consciousness that was drifting away snapped back like a rubber band and his mind cleared. The nameless technique grew quieter and quieter until the voice crawling over his brain was silenced and fell dormant.

Kazuki came back to reality and found that he had unknowingly eaten the entire lizard bat from head to toe. The creature itself was near 6 feet and weighed close to 150 pounds and yet Kazuki had eaten it in only a minute or so without noticing.

His hands and face were covered in smelly blood and he sat there in near shock.

(So easily my mind was swayed. So easily I lost control.)

Looking down at his golden compass, the mysteries surrounding it grew evermore.

(Father…What is the true purpose of this compass? It can guide me and show me unbelievable things and it has protected me time and time again. Just what is this really?)

One thing he knew for sure though, using aura could suppress the nameless technique. Thinking about it logically it made sense. Aura was something that came directly from the soul and the nameless technique was something that was fused with the soul. Using a part of the soul to suppress another part of the soul was sound to him. With this newfound knowledge, Kazuki’s fear of the technique lowered slightly.

(If aura can put the nameless technique in check then that helps me directly. Still, why does this seem different from Abura’s experiences? From his memories, he could eat without the technique activating in him. I on the other hand nearly lost it from just eating a single creature. Not only that, Abura didn’t seem to gain any significant strength from the things he ate but I on the other hand gained an abundance of it from eating bits of the goat-headed monster.)

Kazuki made a fist and punched at the air and looked at his hand in curiosity.

(I gained strength from the goat-headed monster after eating some of it but I gained nothing from eating this lizard bat. Is it because the technique didn’t activate inside me and devour the creature itself or something else entirely.)

Many questions appeared in Kazuki’s head and he was determined to figure the shit out before he went any further.

Up above in the sky, several lizard bats’ saw what Kazuki had just done to their comrade but cared not. Once Kazuki finished eating their partner, the other lizard bat’s figured Kauzki’s was full and so they swooped down and landed on the ground. With all of the carnivorous trees destroyed, they found that it would be safe to retrieve the rotten meat fruits the carnivorous trees had now parted within death.

Scattered around in every direction, these fist-sized fruits that smelled pleasant on the outside yet rotten on the inside were all over the now destroyed forest. Thousands of these fruits were strewn all about. Most were destroyed by the trees themselves as they whipped about trying to crush Kazuki while some were trampled beneath Kazuki’s feet as he took these trees out as though they were insects.

With no more predators in sight, the lizard bats began to land around on the ground. Theyd grab a few of these weird fruits and start to dig in right there and then without a care in the world. Unfortunately for them, whether Kazuki was full or not, it no longer mattered as he had a few experiments he needed to try out and some questions he needed answered, and in order for that to happen, he was going to need more food.

Kazuki gave a quick kick off the ground and his body blurred and split into several after images. Before the tall lizard bats knew what hit them, Kazuki had already appeared at their backs, and with a slight grab, he broke all of their necks in an instant. All four of them fell over dead on the ground.

Kazuki ignored their corpses for a moment and instead dug a temporary cave in the ground. With his strength and speed, it took him only a few minutes to get it to the right size and shape. Dragging the lizard bats underground, Kazuki threw them in a corner before going back up and grabbing a few dozen of the fist-sized fruit and bringing them down as well. After that, he sealed the cave entrance, leaving only a small enough opening for air circulation.

The reason he dug out a small cave was obvious. He did so because he was going to be going through some of Abura’s memories as well as he needed a quiet space to work. Not only that, but he also didn’t know what type of predators there might be out there. Even though his strength and body were above the bounds of his earlier self, that didn’t mean he was the top dog down here. Besides the Titan he had yet to meet, the goat-headed monster could still take him out if he wasn’t careful. Besides those two though, who knew what other creatures were down in this place that could pose a threat.

Kazuki thought about the fallacy of such thoughts. If a creature as strong as the goat-headed fuck really were to appear, his little hole in the ground would do no good. Still, it was all he could come up with at the moment and he sought a small form of comfort from rocky walls and a hardened roof above his head. It was human nature to feel safe inside a shelter rather than outside exposed to the elements.

After these thoughts came and went, Kazuki got down to business. First, he tested whether the aura theory would actually work. Grabbing one of the lizard bat corpses, Kazuki took a bite. The taste was still terrible but again it didn’t seem to matter as Kazuki found it hard to control himself. As the voice started to whisper gently in his ear, Kazuki didn’t wait for the godly aura and instead used his own. However, instead of following the same path, the godly aura took, Kazuki used his own aura directly on the source.

His aura surrounded the miniature black hole at the base of his soul tree. It covered the hole in a barrier and it cut the suction force off immediately. With nothing being pulled in and its connection cut off, the hole went dormant and the voice in Kazuki’s head seized.

“So my own aura can suppress the nameless technique as well. Good to know. Next, let’s see if we can find out about the strange growth in my strength and body.”