As the demon's claw gently released, a mangled corpse plumted straight down from mid-air.
It was caught by the mound of bodies below, emitting a dull thud.
The vast pile, which blocked the street, was composed of nurous San Francisco police officers, California National Guardsn, official and civilian Exorcists, and the corpses of ordinary citizens.
All of them had stood up one after another as resistance fighters, the upholders of order in this city.
The demon responsible for this chaos naturally would not let these people survive, much less allow them to gather and attempt to kill it!
Beneath the pile of corpses, countless rivulets of crimson blood rged, streaming down the sloping road toward several nearby sewer entrances. The rich, nearly nauseating scent of blood spread through the entire city with the sea breeze.
Cass was a black man who had lived in San Francisco all his life.
Though he grew up in San Francisco, he never owned his own house.
Since he could rember, worn tents, uninhabited underpasses, and even park benches had been his ho.
He had never gone to school; an elderly vagrant had taught him how to spell his na, Cass, when he was just fourteen.
It was also that day that he first learned to kill.
As for the unfortunate fellow, it was none other than that very vagrant who had just taught him how to spell his na, now too old and feeble to walk.
The old man had a knife, a perfectly ordinary knife found in any household kitchen.
Cass felt that he needed it, but the old man clutched it tightly, refusing to let go, so a conflict naturally ensued.
The outco was obvious: the young Cass successfully acquired his trophy, while the old vagrant collapsed heavily into a pile of trash.
In the days that followed, theft, robbery, rape, drug use, and drug dealing filled Cass's life. Yet, he was incredibly lucky to have survived until now.
Especially these past two days, Cass felt as if Lady Luck had kissed his heels.
A powerful demon had erged from nowhere. In just a single day, it had reduced the city he knew so well to utter chaos.
Cass still rembered the demon's seductive words echoing in his ears.
"Go on, scoundrels, criminals, beloved offspring of evil, this city belongs to you from now on. Hurry up and show your damned charm!"
Clutching a handgun, Cass had just stepped out of a high-end jewelry store, the muzzle still wafting a thick scent of gunpowder.
He placed his bulging backpack by the roadside and then sat down beside it, exhausted.
Tightening his unbuckled belt casually, he looked at the chaos inside the other shops on the street. Cass smirked, savoring the delightful thrill from earlier.
"It's the Demon Master!"
"Co out and worship the Demon Master!"
"..."
The noisy surroundings brought Cass's attention back to reality. Following the gaze of the people around him, he looked up.
First, a pair of massive, dark-red feet stepped into his line of sight. Each robust toe bore a thick, black nail like an eagle's claw.
Looking upward from its feet, he saw dark-red, bulging muscles on its thick thighs, abdon, and chest. Huge bat-like wings flapped behind it. Its form was crowned by a fierce head with a pair of demonic horns and a mouthful of sharp fangs.
"Demon Master! Your most loyal disciple, Cass, greets you."
Upon seeing the figure descending slowly above him, Cass imdiately rose and knelt on the ground, his tone humble, yet his expression brimming with excitent.
I've actually caught the attention of the Demon Master! Praise you, Lady Luck.
"Cass? The sinful aura on you is truly a delightful surprise!" the demon's voice rasped, rugged, yet its joy could be discerned.
"Thank you for the praise, Demon Master!" Hearing the demon's fondness for him, Cass's face lit up with uncontainable joy, the corners of his mouth almost unable to suppress a smile.
"I saw you just sitting here resting. Are you tired?"
"Demon Master, I... I was just taking a brief rest. I can get right back to committing more sins now!" Cass hurriedly explained, suddenly feeling a pounding in his heart.
"Do not be afraid, my child," the demon said, its large claw covering Cass's head, its tone playful.
As the words fell, the demon's eyes turned pitch black in a flash, and a sinister, bizarre energy slowly gathered in the palm of its hand.
"Demon Master, I... I..." Feeling the strangeness above his head, Cass did not dare to look up.
Facing a demon whose power could easily erase him, Cass lost the courage to resist. The Cass who once disregarded the lives of others seed to have beco soone else.
At that mont, he was like an ostrich, burying his head deep in the sand, quietly awaiting the decision of fate.
The deep purple, almost tangible, bizarre power in the demon's palm instantly penetrated the top of Cass's head.
"URGH... ARGH... AHH... AHHH!"
Less than two seconds after the bizarre energy disappeared, a painful howl erupted from Cass, who was kneeling on the ground.
Then, the transformation began.
Cass's muscles started to bulge, and his skin color slowly turned dark red.
The hair on his body began to fall out, and pitch-black claws replaced Cass's original fingernails!
Four fierce fangs slowly protruded from his lips, and his eyes gradually turned a bloody red.
Unfortunately, he didn't possess the most important demonic feature: the pair of goat-like horns on his head. Even the bat-like wings that had just sprouted from his back were several sizes too small.
"ROAR!"
After the transformation was complete, Cass, who had grown to a height of two ters, rose from the ground and let out a primal roar of rebirth.
The fragnted pieces of his torn clothing scattered around, and the now sleek Cass had completely lost his human form; even the feature between his legs had vanished without a trace.
"Cass... Cass has been transford by the Demon Master into... has he beco... a demon?"
"Doesn't that an Cass now also possesses power like the Demon Master?"
"I wish... why didn't the Demon Master choose ?"
"You don't want to be human anymore?"
"Human bodies are too frail... becoming a demon is the right choice!"
"..."
The onlookers on the street who witnessed this scene had varied expressions. So were clearly eager to transform into demons. Others, however, glanced down at their own crotches, then silently hung their heads.
In a world invisible to others, a human-shaped Cass, entirely black and continuously exuding bizarre black smoke, was slowly being pushed out from the physical body of the now-demonic Cass.
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