Chapter 1030 - 1029: Without The Curse

Simon’s surprise was genuine this time.

He had just confirmed that his fourth Seed of Sin was Gluttony. Yet Dread Crown had spoken as though the power used on Joren’s corpse belonged to the Devourers, not the seed.

The other elders seemed equally convinced.

What had made them so certain?

"I don’t know what you mean," Simon said. "This is my first time hearing about the Devourers. I don’t know what powers they have."

Grand Elder Dread Crown remained silent.

His attention moved from Simon’s face to his hands, then returned to his eyes. Simon waited with the same puzzled expression, neither avoiding his scrutiny nor rushing to fill the silence.

There was nothing Dread Crown could identify as a sign of deceit. His breathing remained steady, his body showed no tension, and even the faint fluctuations of his mental energy betrayed no unease.

The Grand Elder frowned.

"Then explain how you absorbed the essence within Joren’s corpse and used it to permanently strengthen yourself."

Simon turned one hand palm upward.

"With my Seed of Gluttony. Not with the power of these Devourers you’re talking about."

"That is difficult for us to believe," Grand Elder Golden Tyrant said.

He turned toward her.

"Why?"

"Because forming a Seed of Gluttony has become considerably harder since the age of the Devourers. And those who succeed do not manifest the same Aspect that made them so terrifying."

Simon’s hand lowered.

"The same Aspect?"

"Yes. You know that a single sin can develop in different ways?"

He nodded.

"Then you should understand that possessing Gluttony does not mean possessing every ability associated with it."

"I’m only explaining my own ability."

"And we are explaining why it concerns us."

Golden Tyrant shifted slightly in her seat.

"The Devourers could consume almost anything and make its power their own. Flesh, blood, energy. What they consumed became a means of permanent growth. They did not merely replenish what they had spent or gain strength that would disappear a short while later."

Simon listened without interrupting.

"Such an ability came with a curse," she continued. "Hunger. No matter how much they consumed, they could never truly satisfy it."

Her earlier amusement was gone.

"A meal could strengthen them without bringing them peace. There was always something else to consume, and the need did not end simply because they wished it to."

Simon remembered the being he had seen within his black star.

The pride. The sadness. The hunger that had driven it to consume.

Zaglur, the first Daegrin he encountered in this life, had spoken of that curse too, though he had known little about the ancient race. Simon had never forgotten the vial whose blood essence had given him Devour.

But none of that appeared on his face.

"And those who form Gluttony now?" he asked.

"They usually develop other Aspects. Some draw nourishment from flesh, strengthening their bodies for a time after a feast. Others replenish their vitality by drinking blood. There are those whose hunger concerns energy, allowing them to store what they consume and use it later."

"And none of those can do what I did?"

"Not in the same way. What they consume, how they consume it, and what they gain are different."

Golden Tyrant lifted a finger.

"A daemon whose Aspect concerns feeding on flesh may have to eat it. Bite, chew, and swallow. Someone who draws vitality from blood may need to drink it directly."

Her eyes moved toward his hand.

"You held Joren by the neck. In moments, you emptied his remains and grew stronger. You did not need to eat his flesh or drink his blood."

"And then you stopped," Dread Crown added. "Without showing any desire to continue feeding."

Simon finally understood their concern.

It wasn’t simply that he had consumed a corpse. It was the manner of consumption, the gains, and the absence of the hunger they expected to accompany both.

What interested him more was the change Golden Tyrant had mentioned.

Why had Gluttony become harder to form after the Devourers’ age? Why did its later Aspects differ from theirs?

He would have to ask Lilith about that.

For now, he needed to settle the matter in front of him.

"I understand why you find it strange," he said. "But I don’t possess a Devourer’s power. I used my Seed of Gluttony."

He gestured toward himself.

"You can perceive my bloodlines. You’ve seen my traits. Is there a Devourer bloodline among them?"

Nobody answered.

"I possess two Royal bloodlines. Neither belongs to a Devourer. Unless you’re seeing something I’m not aware of, I don’t know what else to tell you."

That part, at least, was true.

His Seven Stars Blessing had extracted a skill from the blood essence. It had not turned him into a Devourer.

The distinction that had once helped him conceal what he had stolen was useful again.

Around the hall, the elders exchanged glances.

His bloodlines were precisely what had troubled them.

They could recognise the two present within him, but there was no third bloodline to account for the ability. Nor did his behaviour suggest that he was struggling against a hunger he could barely restrain.

They had felt Gluttony when he consumed Joren. Whatever else Dread Crown had sensed, he had been unable to identify it.

Was it possible that Simon’s seed had developed an Aspect resembling the Devourers’ power without inheriting their curse?

Ordinarily, they would have found that explanation difficult to entertain.

But the daemon before them possessed two Royal bloodlines and four naturally formed Seeds of Sin. He had killed a Blessed of the Abyss above his rank and survived attacks that should have crushed an ordinary Greater Demon.

They were already looking at several things they would once have dismissed as impossible.

One more could not be rejected merely because they hadn’t encountered it before.

Golden Tyrant settled back into her seat. Her expression remained doubtful, but she offered no further objection.

Ancestral Elder Bone Prophet broke the silence.

"What about your regeneration?"

Simon turned toward him.

"How did you obtain it? Healing ordinary wounds is one thing. Recovering while Severin was repeatedly breaking your body is another."

Simon glanced down at his left arm.

"That appeared after I successfully fused my two bloodlines during their evolution."

Bone Prophet furrowed his brows slightly.

"The fusion produced it?"

"Yes. My body underwent quite a few changes. That was one of them."

It was a lie he had prepared before entering the hall.

After what they had witnessed in the arena, someone was bound to ask. He had no intention of explaining the Fleshwood Heart Resin or how he had fused its abilities through his blessing.

They already knew about his bloodline evolution. There was no need to give them another secret when an existing one could serve as an explanation.

"Bloodline fusion is not so predictable," Bone Prophet said.

"I didn’t say it was." Simon looked up at him. "I’m only telling you what happened to me."

The Ancestral Elder watched him for a moment.

A mutation during the fusion of two evolving bloodlines was possible. Producing regeneration of this quality was another matter.

Even if Simon was telling the truth, the result would likely depend on an extraordinarily fortunate combination of circumstances. Repeating the same process would not necessarily give another daemon the same ability.

The other elders understood that as well, but none looked entirely satisfied.

Simon let them consider it. Adding more details would only give them more things to question, and he had already answered what they asked.

Eventually, Grand Elder Dread Crown straightened in his seat.

"Then let us examine the method behind this evolution."

His gaze settled on Simon.

"Blackmoon, give us the bloodline evolution method."