"Fear corrodes the mind; cowardice corrupts the soul..."

The night was deep. A cold wind swept through the forest, lifting strands of hair from the girl’s forehead.

Silence should have ruled here. Instead, screams and firelight tore through the darkness.

The air reeked of blood and death.

Yuri walked slowly through the trees toward the blaze.

Night could not blind her. *Tu* was her other eyes, feeding her the scent of slaughter.

*Devour. Devour. Not full yet.*

Her pet, starved for millennia, could not yet quench its hunger.

"Eat your fill..." she murmured, a strange smile curling her lips.

"But leave some alive. I’d hate to go hungry myself."

Low-grade blood meant nothing to her. Yet a few here... their essence was sweeter by far.

Her downcast eyes glowed faintly crimson in the dark. Her body moved like a wraith—one step, then vanished; the next, already meters away.

A hundred paces off, chaos erupted.

"Damn it! Hold the line! HOLD!"

Shen Lei ground his teeth watching the monster rampage through his men.

It resembled a wolf—but swollen to dozens of times normal size.

Pitch-black fur. Only its scarlet eyes broke the darkness.

Flames and mist clung to its hide, burning with unnatural heat.

*No... this isn’t any wolf.*

Shen Lei’s blood turned to ice as the beast crushed a man’s torso in its jaws and swallowed him whole.

*A demon.*

**ROAR!**

Seasoned mercenaries crumpled like paper. Steel armor shattered under claws. Blades glanced off its hide, leaving only fleeting white marks.

Their fate? To be devoured. Torn apart.

"Boss, we must retreat! We’ve lost over ten brothers! This thing’s unstoppable!"

The blood-splattered deputy trembled, terror raw in his voice.

Shen Lei’s eyes burned red. He knew retreat was wise.

But... ten brothers’ lives. Wasted?

Yet staying meant annihilation.

"*Damn it!*" His scarred face twisted. "Fall back!"

Relief washed over the surviving mercenaries.

"Don’t look back! RUN!"

Rearguard fighters covered the retreat. They knew this drill.

They’d misjudged one thing, though. The true predator wasn’t the snarling hound...

"The feast isn’t over, gentlemen," a voice cut through the carnage. "Leaving so soon is... rude."

Above the monster, a new silhouette appeared.

The beast instantly stilled.

Barefoot atop *Tu*’s back, Yuri smiled. Her voice dripped ice.

Silence crashed down. The very air froze. An invisible pressure locked the space.

Ignoring the terror around her, Yuri nudged the beast with her pale foot.

"Foolish dog. I told you to catch the runner—not swallow him."

Blood still smeared the monster’s muzzle. It whined, almost human in its shame.

"Fine. I know you’re hungry. *This once.* Next time you disobey..." Her smile sharpened. "...I’ll digest your soul too."

The beast’s form shuddered violently.

Fear—impossible, alien fear—radiated from it.

"Now. Begone."

Yuri’s wings snapped open. She leapt lightly into the air as the demon vanished into shadow with a resentful roar.

"Now... time to dine."

Her lips parted slowly, revealing fangs. The mercenaries remained trapped in her fear-field, paralyzed.

The beast had gorged on low-grade blood. Bland. Uninspiring.

Yuri drank for pleasure, not survival.

Only the finest vintage satisfied her.

Like Zuo Yuan’s blood, waiting in his castle—sweeter than all these combined.

And if she recalled the most exquisite meal of all...

It wasn’t as *herself*. It was *him*.

Just the memory’s echo made her crave it still.

*Still haunted her.*

*Made her ache to devour him now.*

*Did he truly die?*

Could one so powerful fall so easily to time?

A deeper instinct whispered: *No. It couldn’t be that simple.*

The man in her memories never surrendered.

"Oh dear," she breathed, pressing her lips against her fangs. Her heart hammered with raw hunger.

*Devour. Devour everything.*

The craving surged, nearly breaking free—

"*Hmph.* I am not you. Never will be. *Remember who owns this body now.*"

A cold command silenced the storm within her chest.

Her eyes cleared. Calm returned.

But the hunger remained. Buried. Not gone.

"Let’s... stretch our legs then. Holding back has been tiresome."

Fangs gleamed in the firelight. Her gluttonous hunger, unchained at last.

What followed was a blood dance.