Tiburón and Yussuf were dying, and Edge had a decision to make.

  He only had time to steal skills from one man, and both elites had some incredible powers at their command. He needed to act fast, but he couldn’t afford to squander such a valuable opportunity by making a poor choice.

  He stepped into his inner world to take advantage of the time dilation while he pondered one of the important decisions of his life. He had to hurry, but he could spend two minutes thinking it through in here, since only a few seconds would have passed in the outside world.

  Edge wasn’t sure if either warrior would survive multiple Extractions, so he focused solely on which power he wanted to claim most, based on what he’d seen of both jailbirds’ skillsets. Since he was only looking for Rare or Epic powers, he didn’t have to worry about his skill slot situation until they had time to digest.

  He spent the next sixty seconds replaying the battle in his mind, trying to determine which skill would be the best fit for his collection.

  The shark could transform himself into a horrific killing machine. He could eat his enemies to regain mana, ambush his prey by swimming through the soil, and had some manner of berserking skill that made him stronger with every life he took at the expense of dulling his wits. Tiburón also had Regeneration or something similar, but in this situation, Edge was only interested in picking up something new.

  From what he could tell, Yussuf specialized in a synergistic blend of wind-based attacks and defensive powers—skills that let him survive the perils he faced every day as the warlord of a jailbird gang. His combat style was lethal at short and medium range, and he had displayed no obvious weaknesses for Edge to exploit.

  By the time his two minutes were up, he knew which man’s core he wanted to invade. Yussuf the Red it is.

  If Edge was being honest with himself, their skillsets were both so good that he hadn’t been able to determine a clear winner. In the end, he had gone with his gut and made his choice for another reason entirely. Tiburón’s skills were potent but turned the man into something atrocious. Edge already had a ravenous creature living inside him and had no desire to become one himself.

  But he had no such qualms about pilfering Yussuf’s powers, even though he didn’t understand them nearly as well. That wind attack cut off my arm and trimmed two of Earl’s limbs along the way. That’s good enough for me.

  His verdict rendered, Edge got ready to step back into his body and sprint over to the dying Claw.

  “No! You will devour Metamorphosis, Blood Frenzy, and Carnivore’s Feast.”

  In that moment, Skill-Eater clawed its way through the onyx veil of slumber and opened its eyes—insatiable hunger flooding through their bond like a dam bursting.

  It was the most intense sensation he’d ever felt from his core, and it almost swept him away before he realized what was happening.

  It seemed the ravenous lord didn’t want Yussuf’s skills. Well, it did, but not nearly as deeply as it desired Tiburón’s. Its craving bled into Edge’s mind—stronger than ever before—nearly driving him mad with the need to feed. He tried pleading with the chained titan, but it didn’t care what he wanted and refused to relent.

  As he struggled to retain control over his body, he noticed something strange—beyond the obvious dynamics of his burgeoning dilemma.

  Part of Skill-Eater was still sound asleep, trapped in the murky depths of dream by the fugue that always arose after using Overdrive. Somehow, the presence threatening to override his will was simultaneously the ravenous lord and something else entirely.

  As he struggled to withstand the cataclysmic gluttony surging through their bond, Edge realized this presence had always been the source of the intense hunger that hit him whenever the bound giant was salivating over the prospect of devouring a powerful skill.

  A stray corner of his consciousness grasped that this was an important distinction, but he didn’t have time to worry about it now.

  He knew with complete and utter certainty that if his willpower faltered or his concentration waned, he’d consume Tiburón’s skills before he regained control, and based on what he was sensing, he wouldn’t be allowed to Absorb them after. He might even lose himself completely, since this voracious entity seemed intent on running the show, now that its counterpart wasn’t around to keep its urges in check.

  The next time their wills clashed, the struggle kicked him out of his inner world and into a body that was drooling while snarling like a rabid beast.

  Edge was drowning within the overwhelming cravings flowing from his core, walking toward Tiburón without even realizing his body was moving. No! I don’t want to become an indiscriminate killer who feeds on the flesh of others!

  He fought back with everything he had, challenging the ravenous lord’s control and forcing it to expend additional effort. In that moment, more than his dark passenger’s hunger began leaking through their bond—he was receiving snippets of his core’s thoughts and ambitions too.

  Skill-Eater didn’t care about Edge or what he wanted.

  All that mattered was claiming powers that would let him kill and eat and grow in an endless cycle of carnage, serving as the perfect vessel to restore its lost power.

  His mind recoiled when he realized the bound giant had been planning to turn him into an invulnerable predator all along—an unstoppable eating machine that would keep on stealing skills and evolving until the mysterious entity was strong enough to shatter the chains of oblivion and return to the waking world.

  Edge was just a tool. A mask. A vehicle toward that end. He was merely a steppingstone on a path paved in carnage rather than a partner or ally. If he wasn’t willing to obey Skill-Eater’s orders, then it was time to take control.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  As he battled the alien presence for the right to determine his own destiny, he sensed a bottomless yearning beyond mere satiation of hunger—a need to consume all the skills on Ord until every scrap of the planet’s magic belonged to the titanic creature that sought to dominate his will.

  He had always known his core was keeping secrets. That it had a sinister motive it hadn’t deemed necessary to share. But he hadn’t realized just how rapacious—how disastrously voracious—Skill-Eater could be.

  No wonder it was sealed away. It’s just as dangerous as any monster.

  In that moment, he understood that the chains of oblivion binding Skill-Eater weren’t a punishment—they were restraining an apex predator that threatened to strip all magic from the planet and kill most of its inhabitants along the way.

  That wasn’t happening on his watch, no matter what price he must pay.

  Edge refused to become the abomination his core wanted him to be. He wasn’t sure he could resist its onslaught, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. He summoned every scrap of his will as he wrestled for control of his body and mind.

  It was the most intense struggle of his life. He felt his core’s rising fury at his resistance, along with surprise that he could withstand its command. The hunger pangs were unbearable, yet he refused to yield. He wouldn’t become anyone’s puppet, even if it cost him his life.

  Both minds inhabiting the body of Edge Vasher strained with everything they had. He pushed through the intoxicating compulsion to consume—withstood the consciousness fighting to overrule his own. The clash strained the bond linking them together until the magic could take no more.

  That was when something inexplicable occurred.

  The direction of their link reversed, and Edge’s awareness flowed along the connection they shared until it entered Skill-Eater’s mind, reliving a memory from another era.

  ***

  The next thing Edge knew, he was standing inside a body that wasn’t his own—an immense alien being that made the garax look like a stuffed toy. This must have been a scene from the distant past, because the chains of oblivion were nowhere to be found, and Skill-Eater was free to roam Ord as it pleased.

  For an utterly bewildering moment, he couldn’t understand what was happening and was consumed by panic. Then the memory overwhelmed him, and he wasn’t just viewing the world through Skill-Eater’s eyes—he was the ravenous lord.

  Ahead of him loomed a living mountain—a titanic kaiju that was one of the most powerful beings on the planet, save for the 21 themselves. It would be the deadliest opponent he’d ever faced and the most rewarding.

  For this ancient entity possessed a skill of surpassing might. A power that went beyond Epic—beyond Legendary—to touch the unparalleled realm known as Mythic.

  The number of beings who wielded a Mythic skill could be counted on one paw, and each of them had witnessed millennia of the planet’s history. The others were too powerful for him to challenge… yet. But this venerable kaiju was close to succumbing to the one force that not even the 21 could defeat—time itself.

  Even still, this king among kaiju, an entity known as World-Breaker, still had decades of life left in it. It had no intention of being devoured without a fight. A fight that Skill-Eater was more than happy to give it.

  With a roar, he began activating hundreds of skills at once. He wasn’t bound by the same limitations as lesser creatures thanks to Overdrive—the power he’d obtained during the regrettable incident with his sibling over a hundred years ago.

  Scores of auras and passives sprang to life as he began the final approach. World-Breaker sensed his killing intent and turned to meet his charge, activating the Epic and Legendary skills it had obtained over its long and fruitful life.

  Its Mythic skill Obliterate would destroy him utterly, but the aging titan could no longer draw enough magic into its faltering reactor to fuel the apocalyptic power, making this the perfect time to strike and claim it for his own.

  Beams capable of erasing mountains and projectiles that could pierce the planet’s heart threatened to sunder reality itself as the unimaginably powerful entities turned their might upon each other, reshaping the continent as every creature that called it home fled for their lives.

  It had taken Skill-Eater hundreds of years to consume enough powers to make this moment possible, and even with his endless mana, one wrong move and World-Breaker would end his life in a flash.

  Long and hard they fought, and just as victory was within his grasp, the unthinkable occurred.

  Skill-Eater felt one of his kin approach, then a second, and a third. Soon, all of the 21 were there, except the dead sibling sleeping inside him and the long-lost Realm-Traveler.

  Death-Walking, the king of corpses, stepped between him and the kaiju dying on the ground and said, “This pursuit is madness. If you continue to consume every skill on the planet, you will leave Ord barren and kill the magic that makes her unique.”

  He roared in fury at this treachery—desperate to devour World-Breaker before his prey perished and Obliterate was lost forever. He tried to break past the 19 Lords of Ord, but they barred his path as one. Before his disbelieving eyes, they slew the mighty kaiju World-Breaker and destroyed its Mythic skill.

  In that moment, his dark passenger awakened and assumed control. If it couldn’t claim Obliterate, it would devour them instead.

  However, both Skill-Eater and the insatiable entity dwelling inside had failed to notice his kin’s true intentions.

  While Death-Walking distracted him by slaying the kaiju, the others had combined their powers, casting ritual magic the likes of which he’d never seen before. A thick chain shimmered into existence—black as oblivion itself—followed by an endless army of clinking links.

  An ocean of chains wrapped tight around the ravenous lord, sealing his abilities while stripping him of the skills he had collected across the centuries.

  “You leave us with no choice. Perhaps there will come a day when you regain your senses and can walk in the light once more. Until then, you will be known as Skill-Eater, the ravenous lord bound in chains. Your heart will be held in a rune-bound reliquary, and your very existence will be scrubbed from the pages of history, lest some power-mad fool seek to contract and free you.”

  Then the chains covered his eyes, and the vision faded away.

  ***

  When Edge snapped back into his own skin, he felt something besides hunger flowing through their bond—pure, unadulterated shock over what had happened.

  It was enough to let him regain control over his body, and when the ravenous lord realized both Claws were going to die without claiming any skills at all, it relented and let him approach Yussuf instead of Tiburón.

  The intense struggle had drained them both, and Edge felt it when the sinister being was dragged into a deep and dreamless sleep by the weight of endless black chains, leaving him alone in his head once more.

  He was deeply disturbed by the inexplicable occurrence. While it had shaken him to the marrow of his being, it didn’t change what he needed to do next. He let out a shuddering sigh and shelved the issue while he moved to claim his prize.

  As he crossed the scorched stretch of soil, he realized Tiburón was still breathing. Edge didn’t have the strength to fling his chakram, so he manifested Foebinder and handed the weapon over to living links instead.

  “I need you to put that monster of a man down for good.” He sensed the black chain’s satisfaction as it gripped the bladed ring and reared back to unleash a powerful throw.

  The bone-and-brass weapon flashed in the sunlight before planting itself into Tiburón’s neck, slitting his throat down to the bone. The blood-soaked shapeshifter wasn’t dead yet, but Regeneration couldn’t repair the damage with the weapon in the way, so it was only a matter of time before he choked or bled out.

  “Nice work, partner.” He nodded in satisfaction and deactivated Manifest Chain.

  Edge knelt beside Yussuf’s battered body, reached down like he was searching for a pulse, then willed his ultimate ability to activate. Extraction.