The pit smelled like shit and blood.
The sun burned above Iron Fang Sect, but down here, under the spiked walls and stacked benches, the air was heavy and wet. Sweat. Fear. Old guts. Flies buzzed around dark stains on the dirt.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
More blood.
Mine.
My ribs ached. My arms shook. My vision pulsed at the edges.
The outer disciples above laughed and shouted.
"Come on, Big Toad!"
"Crush the village trash!"
"Bet he squeals like a pig!"
They waved pouches of spirit stones and cups of cheap wine. Some pointed down at me like I was a dog that learned a trick.
I was Lin Kai.
Sixteen.
No qi. No spirit roots. Nothing. The test stone had stayed dark when they pressed my hand on it back in Lin Village. They called me trash, then took me anyway.
They burned my home.
They speared my father.
They cut my mother's belly open.
They dragged my screaming neighbors away in chains.
Now I fought in their hole for fun.
The gate screeched open.
Big Toad waddled in, his belly hanging over his belt, thick arms swinging. His skin already had that faint dull glow of earth qi, a thin stone layer under his flesh. His face was a mess of pockmarks and greasy sweat. His tiny eyes locked on me and he grinned.
"Still alive, little worm?" he said.
His voice was wet. Phlegmy.
"You should have died last fight. I lost ten stones because you kept breathing."
I spat on the dirt.
"Bet on yourself this time," I said.
He laughed, a deep, ugly sound.
"Me? I never lose to trash."
The overseer, Scar-Tooth, hobbled to the edge of the pit. Half his face was scarred and twisted, like it had been melted. His whip hung at his side, little sparks of lightning crawling along the cord.
He raised his hand.
"Fight!"
He slammed a gong with a hammer.
The metal scream rolled over the pit.
Big Toad moved faster than his size should allow.
His feet slammed into the ground. Earth qi rippled out. The dirt floor bulged and hardened, and spikes of packed earth shot up around my legs.
I jumped, but one spike sliced into my calf. Hot pain flared and warm blood ran into my sandal.
Big Toad's shadow fell over me.
His first punch came low toward my ribs.
His fist was brown and hard like rock.
I twisted. His knuckles smashed into my side instead of my chest. Pain exploded. Something cracked. I bit down a scream and grabbed at his wrist.
It was like grabbing a tree trunk.
He jerked his arm and flung me away.
My back slammed into the wall. The iron spikes tore into my shoulders, not deep, just enough to rip skin and rip my shirt. I slid down, leaving streaks of blood on the rusty points.
The crowd roared.
"Break him!"
"Stomp his head!"
"Make him beg!"
I tried to suck in air, but my chest felt tight. Every breath stabbed like a knife.
Big Toad walked toward me, slow now, enjoying it.
He tilted his head, spat yellow phlegm, and stepped on my hand.
Bones popped. My fingers screamed. I dragged my hand away and felt skin tear on the dirt.
"You remember your village, worm?" he said.
He flashed his teeth.
"Your mother screamed nice."
My vision went red.
I pushed myself up.
He stomped again.
This time I rolled. His foot hit dirt with a heavy thud. The ground shook.
I grabbed a broken bone shard from the ground and threw it at his face.
It bounced off his cheek. A thin line of blood appeared where his qi didn't cover.
He froze.
Then his face twisted.
"You dare?" he snarled.
He charged.
Earth qi surged again. The ground under me jumped. Spikes shot up. One punched through my left foot. It burst out the top with a wet sound.
I fell.
The pain was white and sharp.
Big Toad grabbed my shirt with one hand and lifted me off the ground. My feet dangled. Blood dripped from my shoe, staining his boots.
He brought his face close. His breath smelled like rotten meat.
"Last words?" he asked.
I spat into his eye.
He cursed and flinched.
I swung my fist into his nose.
A soft crack. Blood sprayed my knuckles.
He roared and slammed me into the ground.
The impact knocked the air from my lungs. My head bounced. The world blurred. Sound faded to a dull thump.
Everything hurt.
Hard steps shook the pit. The crowd got louder.
"Finish it!"
"Crack his skull!"
Big Toad straddled my chest and started punching.
The first punch hammered my jaw. I felt a tooth break.
The second smashed my cheek. My eye swelled.
The third drill-pounded my nose. Blood burst out. Warm liquid ran into my mouth and up into my nostrils.
The fourth hit my temple. The world flashed white.
Blows kept falling.
I tried to raise my arms, but they felt like soaked rags.
My body wanted to stop. My mind didn't.
Not here.
Not as their toy.
Not like my parents.
A dull thud came from above.
Something small and black fell from the stands.
It bounced off the inner side of the wall and rolled to a stop near Big Toad's knee.
A pearl.
No, not a pearl.
Its surface was black, but dark lines pulsed under it, like veins full of red light.
The air around it felt wrong. Heavy. Cold and hot at the same time.
The closest disciples stopped shouting.
"Is that...?"
"A demon core?"
"Who dropped that?"
Scar-Tooth's eyes widened.
"Don't touch it!" he screamed. "Seal it! Put up a barrier!"
Big Toad looked down.
I looked down.
Something deep in my gut twisted.
Hunger.
Not for food.
For that core.
Big Toad moved first.
He reached toward it.
I jammed my fingers into his eyes.
He screamed high and raw. He jerked back, both hands shooting up to his face.
I rolled to the side, every injury screaming with me.
I crawled.
Each movement stabbed my foot and foot and ribs and shoulders, but the core drew me in.
I grabbed it.
It was hot and cold at once.
It pulsed in my palm like a beating heart.
Scar-Tooth jumped down, his whip crackling.
"Drop it!" he shouted. "Drop it now!"
Big Toad roared and slammed his fists into the ground. The earth trembled.
Disciples yelled for guards.
I didn't think.
I shoved the core into my mouth.
It barely fit between my teeth.
It tasted like ash and metal.
I swallowed.
It burned all the way down.
Then the real pain started.
It felt like my guts exploded.
Fire shot through my stomach, then out into every vein. My blood turned to molten stone. My bones vibrated.
I curled up, arms around my middle, mouth open in a silent scream.
A sound tore out of me. I didn't even hear my own voice, only a distant roar.
Black qi erupted inside my body.
It rushed into my dantian.
The place that had always felt empty suddenly filled.
Qi spun there. Wild. Hungry.
A voice echoed in my skull.
Clear. Cold. Inhuman.
*Devourer Bloodline awakened.*
*Host: Lin Kai.*
*Path: Consume. Kill. Take.*
*First rule: What you kill, you own.*
Scar-Tooth's whip bit into my back.
Lightning tore across my skin.
The pain from the core and the whip mixed together until I couldn't tell which was which.
Big Toad tried to grab me.
His fingers closed on my shirt.
Something inside me snapped.
I twisted, faster than I should have been able to.
My hand shot up and caught his wrist.
His skin felt thick. Greasy. The stone layer under it hummed with qi.
I squeezed.
Bones ground under my fingers.
Big Toad's face shifted from rage to shock.
"What...?" he rasped.
I pulled him closer.
My teeth sank into the meat of his forearm.
His flesh tore.
Hot blood filled my mouth. It was thick and salty and bitter with qi.
Black threads of energy rushed from the wound into me.
They flowed into my mouth, down my throat, and straight into my dantian.
His earth qi slid into my vortex and disappeared.
Memories followed.
His first time bullying a slave.
His first time using earth qi to harden his skin.
His first time in this pit.
Every small secret he'd learned.
All of it ripped out and stuffed into me.
He screamed.
His skin sagged.
His arm shrank in my grip, the meat and strength draining away.
He tried to pull back, but I held on.
I bit deeper and shook my head like a dog.
His bone snapped.
I let go.
He stumbled back.
His right arm hung dead and thin, like dried wood.
"What are you?" he whispered.
I pushed myself up.
My ribs still hurt, but less.
My foot still bled, but the pain faded.
Qi surged through me, wild and thick.
I stood on shaking legs.
"I don't know," I said.
I didn't.
But I liked how I felt.
Scar-Tooth's whip cracked again.
Lightning lashed across my chest.
I staggered, but I didn't fall.
I turned to him.
His one good eye narrowed.
"Monster," he said.
He flicked his wrist.
The whip came in low.
I stepped forward instead of back.
I grabbed the crackling cord with my bare hand.
Lightning burned into my skin.
The smell of my own cooking flesh filled the air.
I felt it.
I also felt the qi inside the whip.
It flowed along the cord.
I pulled.
Scar-Tooth lost his footing and tumbled into the pit.
His teeth clacked together.
I jerked again.
He fell to his knees, only a few feet away.
His fingers clenched on the whip handle.
He tried to rip it back.
"Let go!" he snarled.
"No," I said.
I yanked him into me.
My hand shot out and grabbed his throat.
His skin crackled with a thin layer of lightning.
It shocked my palm.
It also tasted like prey.
I leaned in and bit into the side of his neck.
His qi fought back.
It crackled and burned my tongue, the inside of my cheeks, my lips.
I bit harder.
The taste of blood drowned everything.
Lightning qi flowed into me.
It hurt.
It felt right.
His memories crashed into my head.
His first day joining the sect.
The pill furnace that blew half his face away.
The secret of where the sect kept its beasts.
His quiet hate for the outer disciples who laughed at him.
He went limp in my grip.
I let him drop.
His eyes stared at the empty sky.
I spat a chunk of his flesh onto the dirt.
My jaw ached. My gums bled. But I couldn't stop grinning.
Above, the outer disciples had gone quiet.
Then they screamed.
"Demon!"
"He's eating them!"
"Call the elders!"
Some tried to run.
Others drew swords.
More guards rushed to the pit.
Two dropped in, blades drawn.
Qi Condensation second layer, from their aura.
"Kill him fast!" one shouted.
They charged.
The first slashed at my throat.
His sword was slow.
I saw the line of his swing.
I ducked under it and stepped inside his reach.
My fist drove into his gut.
He folded. His breath exploded from his lungs.
I grabbed his head with both hands and twisted.
His neck snapped.
I bit into his face.
Blood and qi poured into me.
Vision. Training drills. His favorite brothel girl.
Gone.
The second guard stabbed for my heart.
I turned just enough.
Steel slid along my ribs and into my side. It hit meat, not lung.
I grabbed his wrist and pulled him onto the blade.
The sword went deeper into me.
Pain flared bright.
I ignored it.
I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into his throat.
His scream choked off in a wet gargle.
His qi rushed in.
The wound in my side pulled tight.
Flesh sealed.
The sword slid out on its own.
I dropped his body.
My breath came fast but strong.
My dantian hummed.
It didn't feel empty anymore.
It felt hungry.
It wanted more.
The pit gate lay open now.
I limped toward it.
My torn foot left wet red footprints on the dirt.
A crossbow bolt slammed into the ground near my toes.
I looked up.
A disciple stood on the wall with a bow.
His hand shook.
His next shot wobbled.
He fired.
I stepped aside.
The bolt flew past and hit the corpse of Scar-Tooth.
I picked up a broken stone and threw it.
It smashed into the archer's forehead.
Bone cracked.
He flipped backward off the wall.
His body smashed on the stones outside with a meaty thud.
I walked out of the pit.
The slave yard opened around me.
Iron cages lined the sides, stuffed with thin bodies in gray rags.
Men. Women. A few kids.
They stared at me.
Blood dripped from my chin.
I was covered in it.
Some of it mine. Most of it not.
Their eyes were wide.
"He killed Big Toad."
"He ate them."
"Is he a demon?"
I grabbed the nearest cage door.
My fingers dug into the bars.
Earth qi hardened my muscles.
I ripped.
The metal screeched and bent.
The door tore free.
The slaves inside flinched.
One old man stared at me.
His eyes were cloudy.
"Are you here to free us?" he whispered.
"No," I said.
"But you can follow."
I dropped the twisted door.
The old man stepped out.
Others followed, slow and shocked.
Above, the alarm bell began to ring.
Deep.
Loud.
Endless.
The whole sect would hear.
I smiled and wiped blood out of my eye with my wrist.
"Let's see how much I can eat," I said.
And I walked toward the inner gate.