Chapter 967: Devour

Of all the abilities that the Primordial Ouroboros Serpent contained, this one was one of the strangest for it depended on harvesting outside sources of strength to fuel their own.

That was where the Spirits they collected came into effect, and the Ouroboros Serpents could burn these Spirits, boosting their already formidable Spirit Capacity to a higher degree, with the nature of the serpent, the burning Spirit would not be destroyed, instead it would be sustained by the impossible amount of essence contained by the Primordial Ouroboros Serpents, creating a vicious circle, where the Serpents could burn more Spirits to fuel their abilities, but ensure the Spirits did not dissipate easily.

Converting Essence to heal the Spirit they were consuming was incredibly wasteful, a vast amount of Essence was needed just to heal a fraction of the damages that was incurred by burning the Spirit of their prey, but if there was one thing that the Serpents did not lack, it was Essence.

This ability would only grow more powerful with the more prey consumed by the Ouroboros Serpents, and in time one of their few weaknesses would be eliminated in its entirety.

Of course, only Rowan would believe that mortal creatures having the Spirit capacity of a Rank 7 Archmage, individuals who were famous in the many universes as having some of the most potent Spirit Capacity in existence, are weak.

Yet considering the type of crisis he found himself challenging, he required an impossible amount of power in every single facet of his life, and nothing short of absurd would be satisfactory to him.

Over time the pull of the Serpents had begun to increase, from a steady trickle, into a raging flood, and the furnace in their stomach was an endless pit, consuming every bit of darkness inside the Tenebris armor.

Every single iota of energy they consumed was processed and transformed into an odd Essence type that could feed the growth of the Serpents. Their scales which were like bronze slowly began to darken, as the darkness was infused into them, and seeping deeper into their flesh, increasing every aspect of their abilities.

It had been nearly a thousand years since they had last feasted, and with the growing irritation in their hearts, they consumed the darkness with relish.

The serpents had not shed their scales even after four evolutions, Rowan expected there would be a change when they became Immortals, and the Tenebris armor seemed to be a great source of nutrition for them, it contained a Primordial darkness that was pure and untouched, and was rooted in the Primordial Era, making it a potent source of power that could rarely be matched in the Supreme Era where Essence had been mostly sealed. Even as he watched the darkness that was infusing into the scales and bodies of the Serpents vanished as it was thoroughly digested and their bronze scale shone brighter, seemingly transforming towards gold.

The consumption of the darkness surged once more, becoming three times more potent, and the bodies of the Serpents began to darken once more. It was only a matter of time before this round of darkness Essence was thoroughly digested and the powers of the Serpents would increase again.

This was the unique aspect of the Ouroboros Serpents, even as 'mortal' creatures, given enough time, they could consume all of existence, one bite at a time.

The smug words from the demonic soup inside the Tenebris armor had begun to transform as time went on, and now it was in a full-blown panic.

Rowan had come to realize that this armor was similar to him, it contained a dimension, but it was one that was filled with darkness from the primordial Era, which was what allowed Nothingness to be able to be contained inside of it, for the darkness was a fertile ground for nothingness to bloom.

In the absence of light or shadows, Nothingness will take root.

Others might not notice that the Tenebris armor was separate from the voice of the demon that inhabited it, and it was the Primordial Darkness inside this armor that sustained the soul, but Rowan was in a prime position to separate these disparate powers and notice the connection holding it all together.

With this understanding, he quickly realized that the Tenebris armor did not need this demonic soul in order to function, whether the soul was imprisoned inside this armor or escaped within its depths to preserve itself was unimportant, the demon had tried to consume Rowan's soul, and although he did not hold any hate against such a primal need as the one to feed, it was not as if Rowan had not warned this creature previously to cease its activity.

Its greed and pride would become its undoing. This soul had destroyed countless others in the past, and now its road would be ending here as Rowan realized he did not need the soul for the armor to perform its function as a container for nothingness and provide the crushing force to splinter his consciousness while keeping them safe inside the darkness.

At this point, the more of the darkness that was being consumed by the Serpents created gaps inside the darkness where the gathering mass of Rowan's consciousness could exert more of their power, and Rowan tried something that he had never tried doing before due to the previous gaps in the powers of his bloodline.

The golden eyes of the six Primordial Ouroboros Serpents brightened, as their eyes transformed, no longer holding the slitted pupils of a serpent, but Rowan's prismatic eyes, giving them an eerie appearance. Such eyes did not belong in the face of serpents.

From those eyes, multicolored lights shone forth, that pierced through the darkness, and vanished, and it was long before an unearthly shriek of pain resounded from the darkness.

Rowan had just released the Light of Sheol into the darkness of Tenebris, it was not meant to fight against the darkness, but it was a potent weapon against souls. For several long minutes, the soul of the demon wailed in pain, unlike any creature of flesh that should have a passive defense over their soul, be it via energy or Essence, this demon was unique, having no covering over his soul but the darkness of Tenebris armor.

It could not be more vulnerable, even if it tried. With the power Rowan had with his Sheol bloodline, a soul without any defenses like this one was like delivering a meal straight to his mouth.

Rowan had not released a short burst of light just to torture this demon, he was only examining the size of its soul and what he discovered was interesting, to say the least.

The size of the soul turned out to be relatively small, almost equal to that of an Earth god, but its density was unmatched. Apart from the missing soul of Caine, Rowan had not seen any soul that could match this one. Whoever owned this soul must have been on a level that was at least equal to Caine, and if that was the case, then the size of the soul here must indicate that they had suffered a fatal injury in the past. If over the years they had been devouring souls to heal their wounds and yet they had only managed to heal to such a level after all this time must indicate that they were lucky to be alive.

The prismatic eyes of Rowan in the faces of the Ouroboros Serpents began to rotate, creating another force that did not devour darkness but souls.

The screams of pain ringing from the Tenebris armor paused and then it transformed into something animalistic as the realization of what was about to happen dawned on the soul.