The Depths were unnaturally still.
Reinhart stood alone beneath a ceiling of jagged, bone-white stone, lit only by the eerie glow of glowing coral and bioluminescent fungi. The silence pressed in like a fog. Subaru was still gone, running from the wrath of a cultivator. And Julius… well.
A monstrous, writhing mass of crimson muscle and shattered steel loomed from the shadows. A Parasitic Abyssknight.
Born from a fallen hero's armor and a depthborn leech god, it screamed like a flute made of lungs. Tentacles lashed out with blade-tips. Its head—a split helmet with twitching eyes—swung toward Reinhart, then Julius.
"Looks like it hasn't eaten in years," Reinhart muttered.
"It can try me," Julius said through a mouthful of grilled slime-spider. "But it's gonna lose."
The beast lunged. Its sword-arm crashed into the ground like a meteor, carving the stone in two.
Reinhart blinked. "Julius, MOVE!"
But Julius didn't dodge.
He bit.
In one horrifyingly fast, wildly confusing moment, Julius reached forward and tore off part of the Abyssknight's blade arm with his teeth.
CHOMP.
"W-What... WHAT?!" the beast gurgled in a voice not its own.
Reinhart's mouth opened slightly. He was speechless. Again.
Julius chewed. "Kinda tastes like anchovy and rebar. I like it."
The Abyssknight recoiled in horror. It wasn't just losing the fight. It was being eaten alive. It let out one final banshee wail and collapsed, the parasite within it imploding in fear.
The Depths seemed to… acknowledge the act.
A deep, echoing chime rang from the stone. The kind of sound that felt ancient — that carried judgment.
[A Title Has Been Bestowed.]
A symbol burned into the air above Julius — radiant and greasy, flickering like a campfire above a buffet line.
KING OF CALORIES"He who devours all. The hungriest survivor. The walking stomach of legends."
Reinhart stared at it. "That's… actually official?"
Julius held up a hand and bowed dramatically, half-chewed mushroom between his teeth.
"It is I, King of Calories. Bane of buffets. Slayer of swords."
Reinhart sighed. "You're going to be insufferable about this, aren't you?"
"Rein," Julius said, as the symbol faded. "I didn't ask for this power. I ate for it."
The two trudged deeper into the Depths, a bizarre silence falling around them. Reinhart swore he saw something watching them from the ceiling… but even it seemed to hesitate.
They came upon an abandoned outpost not long after. Moss-covered stone platforms jutted from a sunken temple, half-swallowed by the Depths.
Julius was the first to speak. "I swear the moss here tastes better."
Reinhart didn't respond. He was studying a shattered statue of an old Diver holding a broken bell. The inscription read: Let them ring through the dark.
"You okay, Rein?" Julius asked.
Reinhart exhaled. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"About Subaru?"
Reinhart nodded. "He's out there. Running like the wind. Probably knocked over five more people by now."
"That cultivator's still on him?"
"Probably."
Julius leaned back against the stone and took out another pocket megurger. "He'll be fine. Subaru always gets into trouble but lives like a roach."
Reinhart smirked faintly. "That's... not a bad comparison."
They rested there for a while. Julius tried to roast a crab with his flamecharm. It turned out the crab was already roasting itself to intimidate predators, and the two had an awkward moment of eye contact with it before letting it scuttle off.
"Reinhart," Julius said, breaking the quiet, "do you ever feel like this place is watching us?"
"Always."
"Not like... regular Depths watching. Like... judgmental?"
Reinhart glanced at the wall. An eyeball blinked, sighed, and vanished into the stone.
"Yeah," he muttered. "Judgmental."
Julius chuckled. "Well, they better get used to me. I'm not going anywhere. Not until I eat everything down here."
Reinhart turned to him. "You actually mean that, don't you?"
"Bro. I bit a parasite. A parasite. And it died."
"You bit its weapon, too."
"Delicious. Crunchy. A bit minty."
Reinhart shook his head. "You are not normal."
Julius patted his belly. "I'm not here to be normal. I'm here to be legendary."
Reinhart paused. Then smiled. "You might already be."
They sat quietly for a moment longer. And then the ground trembled.
A new roar echoed in the depths. Something massive. Something not even Julius could chew.
Yet.
Reinhart rose. "Come on, King of Calories. Looks like dinner might fight back."
Julius grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
They stepped into the darkness. Together.