It was time for Kenzo to eat Sir James's heart. An opportunity like this would not come again. He knew it with an almost disturbing certainty, a truth that left no room for doubt. Inside an Unstable Fragment, after a battle of this scale, with Ophelia and Naty still nearby, he would never get another moment this perfect. Later would be too risky. Later, there would be questions.
He headed toward the cocoon. As he walked, an unhealthy excitement rose within him, tangled together with a deep sense of disgust. The two feelings existed side by side without ever cancelling each other out. His steps remained steady, but his stomach tightened. He remembered the last time far too clearly. The last time he had eaten a heart.
It had belonged to the Warden from his first test.
Back then, everything had happened as though he were trapped in a haze. He had felt almost bewitched by the situation, driven by something greater than himself, as though his body had acted before his mind could catch up. He had never truly chosen. This time was different. Kenzo was perfectly aware of what he was doing. The urge was there, persistent and increasingly difficult to ignore, but he knew he could still stop.
— « I could just… not do it. »
The thought crossed his mind, brief but genuine. He was not obligated to do this. Nothing was directly forcing him.
But he needed to become stronger.
Not because he wanted power over others. Not because he enjoyed it. Because he needed to. He had already seen what it meant to be too weak. He had seen what others paid whenever he could not keep up.
Kenzo stopped in front of Sir James's corpse. Without wasting any more time, he picked up the severed head and body, then turned toward Lucian.
— « I'll take care of it. You can stay here. »
Lucian nodded without asking any questions. Kenzo knew Ophelia and Naty would never have accepted so easily. They would have found his behavior suspicious. Far too suspicious. Lucian's naïveté, especially when it came to Kenzo, was clearly working in his favor. The realization left a faint discomfort in his chest. There was something unpleasant about knowingly using Lucian like this.
Kenzo did not consider Lucian his friend. No more than he considered Ophelia or Naty his friends. They were companions in survival. Nothing more. Yet he knew Lucian felt genuine affection for him, and despite that, Kenzo was still willing to use him.
He crossed the other side of the Palace of Webs and passed behind the cocoon. A narrow path led toward another entrance—or perhaps an exit. Along the way, he tore off several pieces of spider silk and wrapped them together roughly, planning to use them as fuel to burn Sir James's body. Daylight already filtered into the palace, but stepping fully outside, seeing the blue sky and feeling the warmth of the sun against his skin, was something entirely different.
Kenzo continued until he was at least a hundred meters away from the palace. There, he stopped. He gathered several branches, arranged them loosely, then added some of the spider silk. The fire caught quickly, the flames crackling softly. Once he was certain the blaze was stable enough, he placed Sir James's body nearby.
It was time.
Kenzo summoned his guandao. The blade moved in one clean, precise arc as he opened Sir James's chest without hesitation, revealing what lay inside.
A human heart.
Intact. Dark red. Real.
The moment Kenzo saw it, the urge intensified, almost beyond control. Yet the disgust remained. No amount of rationalization could change that. No matter how much sense he tried to make of the act, it was still profoundly disturbing.
He took the heart.
And ate it.
A voice immediately echoed in his mind.
[Congratulations. You have consumed the heart of an Incomplete Chimera [Transfigured].]
Kenzo frowned.
— « So it's a Chimera too… Is that what the voice calls Deviants? And why "Incomplete"? »
He thought about it for a moment, and gradually, an explanation began to take shape. Deviant was a term used exclusively by the Awakened of his world. After all, the so-called Deviant Void Creatures he had killed had never received a different designation from ordinary Void Creatures. It was only a word. A tool. A way for the Awakened to identify creatures capable of dropping artifacts. They had probably done the same thing with humans who had evolved through a path other than Prana Fragments.
The voice continued.
[The Incomplete Chimera consumed several Awakened Hearts but failed to assimilate them.]
[Would you like to assimilate them?]
Kenzo drew a deep breath.
— « I can assimilate them for him… The last time I agreed to something like this, it hurt like hell. That's not going to happen again… right? »
He barely hesitated.
— « Screw it… yes. »
Kenzo braced himself, expecting another ordeal.
Nothing happened.
— « Nothing? That's grea— »
The pain struck immediately.
A searing sensation flooded his heart and head. An enormous pressure surged through his entire body, as though some liquid under extreme pressure were forcing its way through his veins. Every heartbeat amplified the agony, and every second seemed unnaturally stretched. Then, little by little, the pain began to fade.
[Assimilation complete.]
Kenzo remained still for a moment, breathing heavily.
— « Alright… let's see. How much did I get? After that kind of pain, it better be around ten. »
He checked his Status.
Status:
Name: Kenzo
Rank: Unconscious
Bodily Awakening: [Serpent+]
Awakened Prana: [354/800]
Heart: Awakened
Corrupted Prana: [119/1000]
Power: None, please ingest a power
Blessings: [Touched by the Unique], [The Lastborn]
Gift: [Chimera+], [Engraving 0/8+]
Artifacts: [Armor of the Forest Guardians+], [White Fang+], [Sage's Guandao+]
His eyes widened.
— « Wait, what… 352 Hearts? How many people did he kill…? »
A deep unease settled over him. Kenzo wondered whether he would eventually have to become like that too. Whether becoming stronger would someday require him to kill that many humans. The thought disturbed him far more than he wanted to admit.
Then the voice echoed once again.
[You have consumed the heart of a Transfigured. Please choose a Power: [Awakened], [Transfigured].]
A distinct smile slowly appeared on Kenzo's face.
— « I'm going to get a Power. »