663 Offering
Both the taste and the texture disgusted Eiro. The blood and flesh that was clinging to his teeth may as well have been rotten, that's how bad this thing created by the Devil's mana tasted. He crushed its skull with his teeth and used a sort of acidic venom to help break it down so that he didn't have to chew as much, instead just letting the liquidy sludge pour down his throat.
The Devil's body had fallen to the ground, and would probably fall apart into mana soon. It was just an avatar created by the Devil's abilities, so it wasn't like there was particularly much for Eiro to gain through doing this, but even a little was better than nothing. So, before the corpse could break down, Eiro picked it up by its shoulder and pushed the Devil's arm into his mouth, taking bites out of it one after another.
At least the Orc that was manipulated by the Devil was unsconscious, so he didn't end up seeing what Eiro was doing. That would just terrify him even more, and make this situation more complicated. However, soon enough, he could hear others approaching. They made it down here surprisingly fast... looked like Partax had a hand in it. Basically at the same time, the halfling and Gobo entered into this cave together. It was still illuminated by Eiro's flames, so they were able to see what was going on perfectly. They saw Eiro, crouching over a corpse, taking bites out of it like some wild beast. Of course they were startled at first; particularly Partax, who had never seen Eiro like this.
"What happened?!" the halfling yelled out. Fear was clearly noticeable in his voice, as though he was thinking that Eiro had gone feral, like a 'true' monster. Not that Eiro could really blame him for that, though. That's what this situation looked like, after all. Since Eiro was busy, he glanced over at Gondos and let the spirit explain the situation.
"Basically, this situation was created by the Devil. He manipulated those ants for some reason, and then earlier, an Orc was injured and some of its blood touched one of the Devil's mana, summoning a... copy of him?" Gondos asked, looking at Eiro to make sure that he understood the situation right. Obviously, he didn't think that Eiro would have been able to just kill the real Devil this easily; he had been preparing for that fight for far too long for that.
Gobo looked at the corpse that Eiro was feeding on, his body practically stunned while seeing his lord do something so... monstrous, "So that... is that 'copy' of the Devil?" he asked, and Eiro slowly nodded. Gondos continued, "Correct. That copy is fully created through the Devil's magic. Eiro is feeding on that body before it breaks down, so that he may absorb said magic into himself."
"...is it working?" Gobo asked, although he already knew that if it weren't working, Eiro would have probably already stopped by now. He knew that Eiro hated the taste of demons, and he would most likely hate the taste of the demon he despised most of all even more. That question was simply the only thing that could pass his lips; there was nothing else he could ask. Or rather, nothing else that this tension allowed him to ask.
Gobo was taken aback, "..What? You mean... he wanted us to kill the ants?"
"It ended amazingly well, didn't it? You have an immensely large underground network you can use for numerous things. You have a large amount of nutritious food that will feed this whole city for months, not to mention all the armor, tools and weapons you'll be able to make from the ants' bodies... and many of you evolved, and grew stronger through this 'war'. Especially since none of you died, this whole thing was nothing but positive for the city," Eiro explained, rubbing the bridge of his nose annoyed. The Devil was growing desperate.
"So the attack was a peace offering? Something to bring you on the Devil's side?"
Eiro looked at Partax and nodded. But he was still confused, just why did that copy clearly have more sinister plans? It was clearly planning to go up into the city and cause havoc. Eiro let out a deep groan. He didn't understand what the Devil was planning at all, as though he were missing a lot of incredibly important context that he couldn't fill in without just guessing. And that was simply too unreliable.
"For now, we need to fortify these tunnels. I'll map the whole area out and completely block off any passages that lead too far out of the area or are unstable," Eiro explained, and then turned to Gobo, "Tell the craftsmen to properly make use of these materials, and to treat them with care. Any part part that is covered in these black markings has to be gathered elsewhere though, and nobody is allowed to get in contact with them."
Partax scoffed, "You really want to use these materials? I thought they were a gift from your nemesis. Don't you have more pride than that?" the halfling asked, and Eiro shook his head without even having to think about it, "I don't need pride. The materials will help the city, and that's that. The Devil probably has a few more plans than just trying to get on my good side with this, but it's useless to think about that. He probably has plans for nearly everything anyway."
Eiro took a deep breath and held his hand out toward Gondos. The golem dove into his contractor's body, and then the Demon snapped his finger. Suddenly, the already quite large cave they were in grew in size, a few meters in each direction. From now on, Eiro would fortify the walls of the cave even more in every way that he could. He would take full advantage of this gift he never asked for.