Depthless Hunger

Chapter 90: All Loose Ends

Now Kai had no choice but to dodge backward from his opponent's careful strikes, because each one of them might twist dangerously. One of those strikes had destroyed his gauntlet, so he couldn't even rely on that. Both of them were injured, but he was being forced to move more. His opponent's superior Physique versus Kai's monstrous abilities restoring him... he wasn't sure who would win.

One horizontal strike went much too wide, so Kai tried to duck under it and swipe at his opponent's legs. Barroguk leapt over his claw with surprising agility, nearly catching him in the head with a kick. Kai scrambled backward, trying to get back into a stable position but not given a single inch.

A thrust was coming directly for his chest and he couldn't dodge. There was no alternative... Kai grabbed it with the remnants of his gauntlet to bind it in place.

Barroguk grinned savagely and twisted his blade.

Kai let out a roar and swung harder than he ever had before. His spiritual claws tore through his own gauntlet, impacted his opponent's blade as it began to twist, and then slammed through to bite deep into his side.

As Barroguk stumbled from the impact, Kai wavered. He'd drawn deeper than he had before, and though it had worked, he was dizzy. Only the sight of the greatsword on the ground, and his opponent's hands reaching for it, pushed him to act quickly enough.

He tried another claw and came up dry, so he shifted to a punch. It wasn't enough, Barroguk struck back. They exchanged blows in an uncontrolled brawl before Kai finally drove his opponent back to the ground and raised his hand to finish him off.

Barroguk caught his punch, then grabbed his other wrist. The older man grinned through bloody teeth as he began exerting his full Physique to push Kai back. There was no way Kai could compete with him as a human, but he hadn't been just a human for a long time. Embracing the monstrous power within himself, Kai began to press back. He should have redirected to pin his opponent, but his inner rage wanted to win.

"That can't be..." Barroguk stared at his hands being forced back, then at Kai. "I can see your strength, p-plain as day... you can't..."

No more talk. As he forced his opponent down, Kai's mouth began to open against his will. He felt like his jaw was extending, growing new teeth, transforming into something inhuman. In that moment, he didn't know what he looked like and he didn't care. All he knew was that his prey was terrified.

"G-g-get away from me!" Barroguk was struggling simply to escape now, but it was too late.

Kai's jaw snapped shut and he felt steel and bone crunch between his teeth. His opponent's body immediately went limp. As Kai returned to himself, he drew back and grabbed his jaw. It felt completely normal. Could it possibly have grown like he was feeling, or was that an illusion? Somehow Barroguk's armor lay headless in front of him.

"That's a bit much," Zae Zin Nim said. She looked as though she'd taken a bit of a beating herself, but she was watching him calmly.

"Did I... eat his head?" Kai felt his teeth, which were still bloody. His tongue tasted a bit like metal. "That doesn't make any sense..."

"Clearly a technique. I don't know what he saw that had him so scared, but to me it looked like you just snapped your teeth closed. You manifested a form of energy, just like your claw, and took a bite out of the top of his armor."

"Ugh... I didn't intend that, I just..."

"Are you going to eat him?" Zae Zin Nim tilted her head to one side so her uneven hair fell across her face. "Eating monsters for your strange path is one thing, but if you start embracing cannibalism..."

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"No, definitely not." It wasn't really a moral stand, though, because he felt no hunger at the idea. Trying not to think about how he'd feel if the corpse started looking tasty, Kai just checked his wounds. "I guess that's the last loose end wrapped up."

"And hopefully that's the end of it for good. Let's loot the bodies and go."

She seemed remarkably unconcerned given what had happened. After rubbing his jaw a while longer, Kai decided that he didn't care. It was the same technique he'd seen with the Gomodo: he wasn't simply eating, he was consuming essence directly. If that was the bite technique that had been lurking inside him for so long, it made sense why he couldn't tap into it so easily.

The two mercenaries weren't carrying much of use, not even money, which was the one thing Kai would expect of a mercenary. He took the greatsword, since it was still mostly undamaged, and Zae Zin Nim had harvested a variety of Krysali crystals.

"I suppose that's one more gift for Razz," Kai said as they began walking. "Without their mercenaries, the Corinin clan will be in even worse shape."

"No more talk about Rayakan," she said. "That's in the past, let's move forward."

"Well, the good news is that we have almost a month before the next Hunter Trials. We shouldn't need to rush back, then we can be fully trained for the incursion..."

.

..

.

Razz sat behind the biggest desk he'd ever owned in his life and stretched. It wasn't the desk that got him, it was all the papers spread across it. No reports of the killer, increased trade, new Irunian deals. Now that his family had their permits restored, they were able to begin full scale trading again, but that was only the beginning.

The powerful clans of Rayakan were too shocked by the violence to argue with him, and meanwhile he could make some popular changes. A few tweaks to import tariffs and the villagers should be much happier. Everyone else would hate it, but trade would increase and they wouldn't be able to complain. Those who lost out on their profits didn't have the strength to oppose him anymore.

Even the Hunters Guild was progressing well. Because Soeraina led it, technically the Corinins were still in control and no one could accuse him of trying to push them out of the city. He was, of course, just not so obviously.

Soeraina herself had proved remarkably reasonable, even after paying her debt to Kai. They'd no doubt clash in the future, but for now they could work together. By the time Orgoron recovered, Rayakan would be a different city and they'd have to play the new game. He'd make a tidy profit and he'd even be able to keep his promises.

Dommag Corinin forced his way into the office, face almost purple. "Just how did you assassinate my best mercenaries?"

"I truly, honestly, sincerely don't know what you're talking about." Razz leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head. "I was wondering where they had gone, since I expected you to use them to lean on smaller merchants."

"You know full well what happened. You expect me to believe that those two brats defeated mercenaries worth tens of thousands?"

"You're making bad decisions left and right lately, aren't you?"

As Dommag went apoplectic, Razz continued his confident facade. Actually, he was relieved to hear that. He had predicted that Dommag would let Kai and his friend go instead of throwing valuable resources after them, and he'd apparently been wrong. For that matter, he wouldn't have guessed that they could win against the elites... apparently he'd underestimated them yet again.

"You're so happy with your control of Rayakan?" Dommag grinned unpleasantly and began fumbling inside his fancy tunic.

"Technically the elders of the Lantrian clan are in charge, and I'm just transferring goods for my parents, so you're talking to the wrong man."

"This isn't another game. This is about responsibilities." Dommag threw a battered letter down on the desk triumphantly. "That arrived yesterday, straight from the north. An official missive for all Rayakan. If you want to own the city, all the consequences can be yours as well."

Message delivered, Dommag marched out of the room. Razz was a bit taken aback at how confident he'd been. He carefully checked the letter for poisons or traps, but it appeared to be perfectly ordinary. The seal of Goralia across it had been broken, but he didn't suspect that this was some kind of trap. No, Dommag had been too triumphant for that, it was just bizarre.

As Razz read over the letter, his amusement faded. This couldn't be a ploy because it just didn't make any sense. He doubted that Dommag could even imagine something like this, it was so far outside his petty little world. And if the letter was true...

"What's the fastest way north?" he demanded as he left his chamber. An official fumbled a paper in surprise.

"Razzagah? Why are you going north?"

"Not just me. We need to make an emergency shipment. A big one."