Nikolai looked at his hands. Even with the darkness that surrounded him like a hungry beast, he could see. The pain should have broken him, but all he could feel the clarity.

It was the same clarity you get after a long feverish night—the clarity you have after looking death in the eyes and telling it to return another day.

‘I’m no longer human.’ Nikolai clenched his fists, released them, and clenched them again. ‘These…’

He traced his long-curved ears, which pointed to the side instead of pointing up. His hands left his ears and traveled to the two small horns on his head. They were an extension of his forehead, not separate parts. They were curved as well, pointing upward.

Leaving the horns, Nikolai touched his teeth. As his index finger touched his canine, he felt a prick, and blood leaked out of his finger. They were sharper than most swords.

[You have awakened several traits of Dark Faes. Do you wish to generate a summary?]

“Yes?”

Nikolai’s voice came out, but he didn’t recognize it. His voice changed as well as if a layer of illusion masked it now. It was not hoarse but full of darkness.

[Generating a list…]

[Three main changes occurred.]

[Your stats have doubled.]

[You have obtained the Darkness element.]

[The Curse of The Banished has inflicted your body.]

‘Curse… of The Banished?’ Nikolai muttered as he read the notification from his system. The words made sense if Nikolai read them one at a time, but he had to reread them as sentences because they made no sense.

[Curse of The Banished: A curse inflicted on the dark fae race, forcing them to live in the shadows of the world and feed on souls to survive.]

[Effects: adverse effects if the user does not consume living souls. 200% Damage received from Holy Powers.]

“Consume a living soul?” Nikolai was confused. “What is this bloodline?” He tried standing up, and the darkness around him rippled. “This is not a darkness, but my mana.” Realization struck him.

“He’s in this room! Why is it so dark in here?”

He heard the Riders shout, but Nikolai was still confused. He looked around the room and found a mirror. Walking toward it, Nikolai saw a pair of crimson eyes stare back at him. z

Whatever he was now, it was far from a human. He felt the darkness get torn apart as the Riders rushed into the room. Nikolai retreated, but he realized they couldn’t see him.

[Darkness Element.]

[Your mana now has the Darkness Element. This element has the following traits:]

[Stealth: You can use your mana to hide yourself, others, or objects. The amount of time you can use stealth depends on the amount of mana and the size of the target.]

[Bane of Elements: 200% damage against elements, except for Divinity.]

[Pocket-Dimension: You can construct a darkness pocket dimension in proportion to your mana. The dimension can have both living beings and inanimate objects.]

Nikolai never met anyone with this element before other than monsters. These monsters were considered a higher undead species, eradicated by humans because they were ‘anomalies.’ They were called Dark Beings.

Now, Nikolai was one of these anomalies. As he looked at the Riders sweep through the room, he felt a soul-crushing pain. Like a void that opened in his chest, the pain threatened to swallow him from the inside.

[Warning!]

[Consume one living soul or suffer the consequences. The stronger the soul, the more time you will have before the curse activates.]

‘A living soul?’

Nikolai clutched his chest as he fell to his knees. The pain was unimaginable, and it threatened to make him lose his sanity. His teeth grew sharper, as if his body was reacting on its own to survive.

‘What… am I doing?’

That was the last of his thoughts before Nikolai rushed toward one of the Riders. Even at such proximity, the Rider didn’t notice him. Nikolai grabbed his head and shoulder and bit off his neck. 

The man shrieked as his body began convulsing. His eyes rolled back as a large chunk of his neck disappeared, ending his life. From the wound came out a blueish ethereal smoke that Nikolai opened his mouth to devour after spitting the meat.

[You have devoured a living soul. The curse has been sated. Time until next deprivation: 50h, 4m, 55s.]

‘This feeling is…’ Nikolai’s crimson eyes looked at the sky as the man’s soul entered his body. ‘Too heavenly.’

A warm feeling filled his body after being pushed until the brink of collapse. The void he felt earlier was now gone, replaced by explosive euphoria throughout his whole body.

“What is this monster?! Kill it!”

The shout from another Rider brought Nikolai back to his sense. It also made him taste the metallic feeling in his mouth. He had just bit the man’s neck off, but all he could feel was euphoria.

The Rider’s spear arrived to strike him. Nikolai let go of the corpse and slipped back into the darkness. The spear struck the air beside him as the mana hid Nikolai’s body from sight.

[You have stolen fate. As a result, you obtained 10 Fate Points.]

‘Did I just… devour his soul?’ Nikolai’s body shook as he remembered the feeling of biting the man’s neck off.

He could feel his mana decreasing as his stealth continued. Nikolai shook his head as he tried to focus on the danger he was in at the moment.

‘No matter if I’m a human, demon, or a Dark Fae, all that matters is that I’m still myself and that I survive.’

Leaving his fears and worries behind, Nikolai took out his gun and infused his gun with darkness. The bullet left his muzzle with a dark light as it cut across the room, leaving his stealth and striking another Rider.

As his bullet was about to pierce the Rider’s head, a silver spear appeared to block it. The chief struck down his shot as he glared in Nikolai’s direction.

“Vile being, what are you?”