The Novel's Professor

Rio immediately reeled his body backwards, removing his mouth from his hand. He crawled backwards, bewildered of his actions.

"What...?" He muttered, confused. He didn't even know what happened. His body just moved by itself, reacted by instinct.

'...Something is wrong.'

Feeling an ominous sensation, he shifted his attention to his hand. On his hand, a huge bite mark was etched on top, painted visceral red from his teeth. But that was not what mattered to him—it was the blood flowing down his fingers.

His gaze stayed on the blood, longer than he wanted. There was just something about it—so intrinsically beautiful and alluring, it attracted his deep innermost instincts, his body mov—No!

"No!" Rio shouted, stopping his body from moving. What the hell was wrong with him? He thought as he forced his body still. That was… the confirmation. There was definitely something wrong with him.

'But what was it...?'

Rio quickly tried to think of a reason, forming different conclusions on his head, but all of them made no sense. He was about to give up thinking of reason until his eyes glanced at the corrupted stone once more.

Then it clicked.

'..That couldn't be!'

He thought as his eyes stared at the corrupted energy flowing within the stone. His gaze shifted to the deer, noticing something he had ignored previously. Corrupted energy, weird dysfunctional anatomy, and...eyes of a starved mad beast.

All of those point to one conclusion—demonization. The process in which corrupted energy takes over the body and disrupts the mind while completely transforming the body.

In exchange for sanity, one would gain exponential strength and power.

In that moment, his gaze shifted to his body. That...was impossible. No—calm down. Perhaps it was just his mind playing with him. He slowly turned his gaze deep inside his body.

Thud—!

A loud thud resounded as his arm fell to the ground. Rio's eyes widened. His mouth opening, yet unable to vocalize anything. Soon after, the shock dissipated—only what's left was melachonly. He raised his head, staring at the sky in melachonly

"So...I'm demonized, huh?" Rio said as he chuckled loudly, almost appearing mad. "…Hahahahahahaha!"

Maybe he was mad. No, he was long insane. But this one..? It was a different flavor of insanity. It was a process to become less of a human. An insanity of a demon.

He was laughing in spite.

But even then, what made him laugh more was the additional side effect—or consequences of demonization. Once demonized, he could never truly let go of the corrupted energy within. He could only embrace it and accept it on his body.

Not only that, but if he didn't continue to absorb or take more corrupted energy, he would—die. But as it was, taking more corrupted energy disrupted the psyche and body. Continously taking more would truly make him a demon, but the option otherwise would make him a corpse.

From his character, it was instantly obvious what his choice was.

Inside, he felt weak, helpless, and angry. But most of all, melachonly. This situation probably wouldn't had happened if he was more stronger, he thought as he remembered the battle between the red haired man and the dragon.

If he was stronger, perhaps he would have been able to escape them and not be in this situation right now.

If he was more capable, perhaps he would have been able to do something.

Alas, he was not. And that weakness, helplessness, enraged him. It tormented him. He clenched his hand, feeling a rare bit of anger come to him. ...It had been a while since he felt this enraged.

Yet, no matter how much his anger, his weakness and helplessness measured, it didn't change anything. It merely resulted in the feeling of melachonly.

Acceptance of his inability to act, that was his melachonly.

...The feeling of it was never once unfamiliar to him. Even in his previous life, he was filled of melachonly. It was sad, yes. Truly tragic in the sense of the word.

But...

Rio eyes turned cold, his body, stopping still. His eyes stared at his bloodied hands, feeling a distinct allure and hunger attraction to the blood.

...But even if he became a demon in itself, as long as he lived, then so he would gladly become so. If it took removing his humanity for the chance to live, then he would grasp on it without hesitation.

As long as he could live, even his body and mind be damned. For him, all that mattered was living, staying awake and be further from oblivion. It wasn't going to change, and probably never would.

Rio closed his mouth, his chuckles stopping. He looked inside his body once more, calculating his time before the depletion of corrupted energy.

Inside his body, there was a dark red energy hazzardly flowing throughout. The dark red energy occasionally flared as the bones and organs within him strained.

'..So about an hour or two before complete depletion,'

Rio thought as he frowned. That was an awfully short time. He raised his head, staring at the sky. He needed to act fast before it depleted or else he would die.

The problem with corrupted energy was that it was a primal and greedy energy. Perhaps The Devourer had that in mind when spreading it. The moment corrupted energy entered a person's body, it would occupy a whole part of their body, replacing the magical energy previously stored.

There were only two ways for corrupted energy to get into a person's body. First was long time exposure, most likely this was his case. He has several deep, lethal wounds exposed from the corrupted energy, making the energy go inside him.

The second was a bit more direct. It was through injecting it directly inside. That was he was going to do next. Merely relying on the corrupted energy from exposure to continued would do no results.

Otherwise, why would demonized beasts always seek to devour anything in their presence? It was to get their prey's blood—devour it and turn it into corrupted energy for their own sustenance.

'...Blood, it seems I have to get moving then.'

Rio thought as he wearily stood up from his position. He stood for a while in silence as he marveled over what remained of the forest.

...He hadn't forgotten what happened just yet.

His eyes widened, staring at the barren—empty state of the land. From beside, the trees lost luster and turned into mere ashened husk. ...It seems his job to get corrupted energy was easier than he thought.

Rio shook his head, shifting his gaze below. He gazed at the 'beautiful' carcass of the demonized deer, his body shuddering from desire.

'...I would start with this deer then.'

He restrained his instincts, slowly kneeling his body beneath the ground. He put his hand over the deer's fur, feeling its soft flesh. First things first, he needed to cut the skin.

He manipulated his magical energy, reinforcing his hands as he tore apart the skin of the deer—revealing the blood filled bones and organs within. For a moment, he stopped as he marveled at the sight.

Soon after, he let go of the chains of instinct, letting the desire to run free and enrapture his mind. He plunged himself beneath, devouring the blood of the deer.

In that night, the moon shone—and what reflected was not a beautiful sight, but a visceral and gory scene of a man losing his humanity.

—

The frigid wind blew as the moon shone beneath the barren land. The withered, lifeless leaves fluttered in the air, symbolizing the deathless empty state of the Harrowing Lands.

Somewhere inside the forest, a brown haired man casually strolled. In each of his every step, dark blood fell to the ground, dripping as it formed a small puddle of red liquid.

Behind his back, dark red spikes protruded from his skin—sharply cutting and stabbing anything that came near. In his front, the man's clothes were damped with blood. Both fresh and old.

From afar, the sight of his appearance looked that of a monster. ...A demon, more aptly put. The example was not wrong, yet not exactly right either. It was more complicated than that.

Suddenly, the brown haired 'demon' stopped. The smell of blood heavily lingering around his body as it spread to the cold, frigid wind. 'he' turned his head to the left, staring at the ends of the forest.

..There was a call. He felt a call from the direction. A call of innermost instinct. Something called for him, desired for him. And likewise, something he deeply desired was located in the direction.

The wind blew, making the clothes of the brown haired being flutter. The moon shone, reflecting the being—whether man or demon's—appearance.

It was a handsome man. His short brown hair fluttering from the wind. Beneath it, his beautiful dark, purplish eyes that contained depthless darkness within—shone resplendence amidst the eerie night.

Yet... even with such a pleasing and exquisite appearance, his face was stained by the color of blood. From his eyes, blood fell, spreading over to his entire face.

Amidst all of that, his expression remained aloof. Callous and unwavering. There was no joy, nor content seen in the man's expression. Neither sadness nor discontent. Only a cold-hearted, uncaring expression was etched on the man's face.

He was less of a human, and more of a devil reaping the blood and souls of man. Perhaps he was.

"There.." Rio muttered as he raised his hand, pointing it in the direction he was staring at. "...The answer to everything lies in there."