The Dawn of the New World

The demon shook uncontrollably as strength began leaving its body. It looked down at its chest to see a hole where its heart should have been. It turned its head with some effort and met Hao Xuan's cold gaze as he held its wretched core in the palm of his hand.

At first it didn't understand what had happened but when it heard the screeching sound suddenly stop and looked up to find that the smaller creatures had met with no resistance at all, it finally began to make sense.

"That...wasn't you...?" it questioned hoarsely.

Hao Xuan gestured towards the mutilated bodies of the guards, of which only one remained.

"You heard the noise and attacked without even confirming it was me but...I just transferred some of my internal energy to the corpse and dropped it from the air. Didn't think it would actually work but thank heavens for the stupidity of demons."

There was no pain but he could feel warm blood climbing up through his gullet no matter how hard he tried to push it down.

'Damnit, suddenly transferring my internal energy to an outside source while circulating with that much speed left a gaping hole in its place. I didn't think it would be this bad...'

[Warning!]

[Severe internal damage detected on 74% of the internal organs]

'Hmm, let's see if this helps then.'

His grip tightened around the demonic heart until it exploded under the pressure and turned into wisps of vile energy that were absorbed by the physique.

[Devour!]

He could feel the energy being soaked into his body and wherever it went an itching sensation soon followed along with heat.

[Organ restoration in progress...]

[Internal damage 69% and falling]

'It works! I can just heal myself by absorbing this one!' Hao Xuan exclaimed inwardly.

But when he looked back towards the demon there was only the smaller creature collapsed in its place. It had already moved on to another vessel.

"Fuck, I was so focused on what was happening on the inside that I forgot to keep it contained!"

Hao Xuan looked up into the air where he could see the demon hiding in the bodies of one of the smaller creatures as they fell from the sky. There was actually a hole in its true body as well.

"So the damage does carry over, I was right! Time to get it over with," with gritted teeth he swallowed the mouthful of blood and pushed against the ground.

This time he didn't use any chaos energy and relied simply on his outlandish physical strength. His body shot into the air while his arm swung left and right like a pendulum, decapitating each of the smaller creatures before they could even hit the ground.

He only left the one in which the demon was hiding and even though it tried to escape to the best of its abilities, there was no possibility of it ever outrunning Hao Xuan.

It tried to hide in the few collapsed houses that were nearby but Hao Xuan simply tore his way through them like a tornado leaving it no other choice but to either fight or die.

When he caught up to it, the demon flung its arms left and right spraying some of the black smoke in all directions. The smoke caught fire the moment it came into contact with any physical object creating a roaring blaze in seconds.

But Hao Xuan was unbothered as walked through the fire and lifted the demon by its neck even though the flames singed his body.

"I would say something but we don't have much time."

[Devour!]

The demon felt its true form being pulled out of the creature's body by some unknown force and this time it was too weak to fight against it.

"NOOO!" it roared in anguish while parts of its true form were completely absorbed by Hao Xuan.

"I'M NOT GOING TO DIE!" it screamed one last time before Hao Xuan felt the resistance vanish almost instantly and the creature was devoured in its entirety.

"What?!" Hao Xuan's brow locked in a tight furrow as he sensed the changes within his body.

"It was cut off, its true form disappeared right as it ended. What the hell happened?!"

Meanwhile, some remaining black smoke that had settled onto the ground after the circle broke came together to create one large tendril that slithered over to the only other remaining body nearby and drilled its way inside.

The skinned, armless corpse of the younger guard suddenly came to life.

*GASP*

The demon stood up with a fair bit of effort considering it had no arms left, but it was still better than true death. Its chest heaved up and down as it threw a hateful glare in the direction Hao Xuan was in before turning away.

"I must let the master know...this human has the ability to kill our true bodies!"

It took one step forward before falling facefirst into the dirt.

"AAAAH!"

A muffled scream escaped its gullet as both of its legs separated from the rest of its body and a foot pushed its face deeper into the ground.

"Almost got away there. It's a good thing I came back to check, huh?"

[Devour!]

Hao Xuan used the ability for the third time, this time being more than certain that it would not escape.