A creature stood amid a circle of dead demons, its blood-stained snout with three-inch fangs biting into flesh, muscles covered in elegant fur.

  It was a massive tiger with golden fur.

  Its eyes snapped toward them.

  It was feeding. It had torn open a large humanoid corpse and was consuming something from inside. A heart, Alexander realized. The creature was eating demon hearts.

  It turned to face them and froze, blood dripping from its muzzle.

  "Oh," the tiger said. Alex blinked in surprise once he recognized a posh British accent. "Oh dear. This is awkward."

  Alexander blinked, taking a step back. "You talk? Wait, what...?"

  He stared at Samantha, who seemed even more intrigued than he was. She met his gaze.

  "Of course I do. I was human once." The tiger sat, licking blood from its paws with disturbing casualness. "Captain Reginald Blackthorne-Smythe, formerly of Her Majesty's East India Company. Though I suppose rank matters little when one has been magically fused with a demon."

  "What?" Alex asked again, blinking repeatedly.

  The tiger sighed dramatically. "It's a terribly long story. The short version: 1843, Bengal, I interrupted a Tantric cult performing a binding ritual. They decided that rather than kill me, they'd demonstrate their power by fusing me with the tiger morph demon they'd summoned. Quite inventive punishment, really. Body of a demon, mind of a man, unable to ever separate the two. I've been like this for nearly two centuries."

  Alex shook his head. "Wait... so you're a British officer... and you're over 150 years old?"

  "180, actually. The fusion made me effectively immortal. Really quite boring, if I'm honest. Watching this so-called civilization descend, once again, into the age of savagery. There are no public executions anymore! And further down we sink into disbelief, all while trapped in this magnificent but inconvenient form." The tiger stood and stretched. "I go by Tyger Tyger now. Took it from Blake's poem. I do not feel like my Christian name does this form any justice."

  "Tyger Tyger, burning bright, in the forest of the night," Alex quoted the old poem.

  "Oh, you are a man of culture as well," Tyger said with what seemed like a hint of sarcasm. "Who else are you able to quote? Keats?"

  "I think I might've skimmed through it."

  "Alexander, is it the time to recite poetry?" Samantha mumbled, crossing her arms with the knives still drawn. Then, she addressed the demon. "I... didn't see you."

  "See me?" Tyger Tyger cocked his head.

  "I mean... why are you here?"

  "Same reason as you, I imagine. Some portals opened, and I ended up here. And—" Tyger Tyger pointed to the corpses with one massive paw—"harvesting. You see, when one is part demon, one has certain... dietary requirements."

  "What are you even eating?" Alexander asked, though he could see the answer. "Their hearts? You're not on their side, are you?"

  "Demon hearts. Quite nutritious for my kind." Tyger Tyger's tail swished. "Though I notice you haven't been consuming. Interesting. Your morph has killed several entities, and you left the hearts to dissolve. Is it a matter of principle?"

  Samantha looked at Alexander, then at the tiger. "He doesn't know."

  "Doesn't know what?" Alexander asked.

  "About heart consumption. About power absorption." Samantha kept one knife ready. Her eyes swung toward Alex. "When you kill an entity, their heart contains concentrated essence. Power. If you, as a demon, or even a black magician, consume it, you absorb some of that power: increased mana, sometimes abilities, strength gains."

  "Alright," Alex replied. "That is kind of gross. I'm not doing the raw meat trend."

  "Kind of is an understatement," Samantha said. "But since you chose Black Magic as your specialty, you could theoretically, eventually do it."

  "No, thank you."

  "Don't be afraid of bacteria. Be afraid of Corruption. Every heart you consume changes you. Slowly. It is another way of getting... corrupted by their magic. It is one of the ways black magicians used to grow in power. Drastically grow. Not that it's pretty, but it is what it is. If you keep going, mental changes follow. You start thinking like them, seeing humans as prey instead of people." She pointed to Tyger Tyger. "He's already part demon, so the corruption doesn't affect him the same way."

  "Alright, so that was what corruption's about, huh?"

  "Your pretty friend is quite right," Tyger Tyger said. "I'm already corrupted, so to speak. Can't become more demon than I already am. Might as well enjoy the benefits. Though I must say, even I am careful about quantity. Too much too fast makes one rather... unstable."

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  "And you say... this could give me power. But I can already level up just by adding experience?" Alexander asked.

  "This is a boost, young man. Depends on the entity. A morph with 22 HP? Negligible. An ogre? Perhaps thirty mana, maybe minor physical enhancements. Something larger?" Tyger Tyger showed his fangs in what might have been a smile. "Substantially more. But the corruption scales with the power gained. It's a devil's bargain, if you'll pardon the expression."

  "I will tell it as it is," Samantha added. "Don't do it. The cost is too high. You gain power but lose your humanity. This is something Marion told me about, but I'm no expert. You better ask them, but there's a threshold around thirty percent corruption where the changes become permanent and irreversible. Past that, you're more demon than human. And black magic is already a hard enough path. With demonic instincts... it'd be hard not to act on them."

  "I... understand."

  Samantha finally lowered her knife. "Neither Marion nor I believe in hiding information, so there it is."

  Tyger Tyger cleaned his whiskers. "Your... Marion, whoever she is, seems like a responsible individual. Though I should mention, I'm quite useful despite my unfortunate condition. I can fight, scout, translate ancient languages, and provide witty commentary during tense situations—all very valuable skills."

  "You want to join us?" Samantha asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "I've been alone for 180 years, watching, hiding, pretending to be a normal tiger when necessary. But now the world's ending, and I find I'd rather die with companions than alone." The tiger's eyes gleamed. "Also, you're a binder. I can sense your bloodline. Quite strong, actually. You're going to be important in whatever comes next. I'd rather be on your side than against you."

  "Why should we trust you?" Alexander said. "You might as well betray us."

  "I could, but I won't. I have no love for other demons. After all, they're the ones who cursed me to this form. And I certainly have no fondness for cultists." Tyger Tyger sat, tail wrapped around his paws. "Think of it as a mutually beneficial arrangement. You get a powerful ally who knows the demon world. I finally get to hang out with somewhat civilized individuals who know about this world and are not completely out of their mental faculties."

  Alexander's eyes swung toward Samantha. Her eyes narrowed on the creature.

  "I believe you are definitely not on their side and have some control over who you are. But you are literally a demon, so we'll keep an eye on you. Besides, you'll draw attention."

  "And that demon dog doesn't?"

  Tyger Tyger's form rippled. In seconds, he'd shrunk down to house-cat size, fluffy and striped, chubbier than a regular cat. His voice remained the same, with his cultured British accent coming from his tiny body. "What about this form? Much more practical for indoor navigation and considerably less intimidating to civilians. Though I do enjoy the larger form for combat."

  Samantha, surprisingly, began to smile.

  "What, you just turned into a plushy?" Samantha said. "God, I didn't expect that. It's... actually adorable."

  "I prefer to think of it as versatile." The small tiger jumped onto a vendor stall. "So? Do we have an arrangement?"

  "Fine. But you follow orders. And if you betray us—"

  "You'll attempt to kill me, yes. It is understandable, after all. I accept the terms." Tyger Tyger's tail flailed. "Now, shall we discuss the actual reason you're here? There's a ritual chamber on the basement level. I was on my way down when I got distracted by these lovely specimens. The hearts were too fresh to waste."

  "Oh, so you know," Samantha said.

  "Naturally," Tyger Tyger replied. "I've been exploring this building for the past few hours. I came here because it kept flooding with demons even after most other rifts closed. I cleared most of the upper entities myself. The chamber is two levels down, and it's quite unpleasant."

  "Alright then," Alex said. "Let's go."

  They descended farther. Tyger Tyger padded ahead in his small form, ears pricked, tail flicking. The second level opened into offices and storerooms filled with products and pallets, broken glass crunching under their boots.

  Amorphous sounds echoed ahead.

  Alex gave a start when horrid creatures dragged themselves along the corridor, spider-like, half-broken limbs scattering with wet sounds. Shoggoths, shapes collapsing and re-forming around half-broken limbs.

  Fenrir hit the first shoggoth like a thrown boulder.

  The wolf lunged at it at high speed, jaws closing around a heaving section of its bulk. His fangs sank in. Fenrir shook violently, and the mass tore apart in a mesh of blood. The thing tried to pull itself together, but Fenrir bit down again. Bone-white fangs punched through whatever held it together, and the body collapsed into a bloody heap that twitched and stopped.

  Another shoggoth slid from the shadows, dragging itself along the concrete in a smear of motion. Tyger Tyger burst across the floor ahead of Samantha, fur bristling, claws skidding against grit. He swung his claws, ripping out chunks. The mass recoiled, pulling back to protect itself—

  Samantha was there in an instant, and her blade came down, biting deep and opening the thing wider. She hacked through whatever passed for its spine and then through what might have been a head. The shoggoth lost structure and slid across the floor in a collapsing smear until it stopped moving and dissolved.

  A third shape lurched from a doorway. Fenrir turned on it, barreled into the creature, biting deep into it, using his paws to hold it still as he bit down again and tore flesh, black blood pouring out. The shoggoth tried to stab him with its limbs, but Fenrir found its core. The body tore apart beneath him and slumped into pieces that refused to reform.

  Tyger Tyger paced once around the remains, alert for movement before the shoggoths began to dissolve.

  They didn't speak. They didn't celebrate. They simply checked the dark for anything left to kill.

  Alex received 6 more EXP points from Fenrir's kill.

  [EXP: 19/200]

  Then, they pushed on.

  Older wiring stapled across the ceiling. A faint cold, not physical so much as the sense of a place that had not been meant to be opened again. Their steps echoed. Somewhere far ahead, something scraped against stone and then went quiet.

  "Samantha."

  "Yeah."

  He glanced toward Fenrir. The wolf demon paced a little ahead, shoulders rising and falling with each breath, attention fixed forward. "I have a question about the hearts," Alexander said quietly. "Can Fenrir use them like Tyger Tyger? And grow more powerful?"

  Samantha shook her head. "No. Not like him. Only demons with a developed conscience or human magicians."

  "But theoretically, I could."

  "Yes, but I warned you, don't do it." She walked beside him. "Major demons and human binders can process corruption. Even then, it costs. Everything else either can't, or it breaks them. Fenrir's a morph, so his sentience is not as high. I do not know exactly why only beings with advanced consciousness can do it. Perhaps it has something to do with crossing boundaries. If your wolf eats a heart, it's just him eating meat; that's all."

  Alexander swallowed and focused forward. "Does the system... encourage it?"

  "Of course," Samantha said. "Power is always encouraged. And it always asks for payment later."

  Fenrir slowed near a corridor junction. He lowered his head, hackles lifting, as if smelling something ahead.

  Tyger Tyger hopped lightly onto a fallen beam, eyes narrowing. "It's right down that alley."

  Samantha nodded. "It's something big; let's go."