Meanwhile, the boys had no idea this turned into a competition. Silver was standing on a roof with the negative energy engulfed by his psychic powers. He had no problem to keep it at a place despite he felt it constantly tried to escape.

Eclipse was down at the street, collecting from a group of fighters. He was quickly up, and the psychic glanced him to take a very small bite of the energy he just got. His face turned sour like he wanted to puke that disgusting substance. After a cough, he quickly combined the balls and dashed forward.

"How does his taste?" Silver asked in the middle of Eclipse's jump.

"What?" the demon snapped and ended up landing on his face. "Ouch," he mumbled, rubbing his muzzle.

Silver simply levitated next to him, observing him.

The small demon felt his eyes on his back. He really hoped this hunt could go smoothly without any questions.

"Well?" the agent had no intention of backing down.

"Very bland," Eclipse simply answered, getting up.

"Is that all? Steelar's face was hardly twisted from disgust." The psychic noticed saying her name was making both demons nervous, so he kept repeating it.

"Her was more concentrated, so the fulfilling feeling was stronger."

Eclipse quickly dashed forward, heading to a game house where he smelled some nice quality. He had to admit this was a nice hunting ground, and he wondered why there weren't more demons.

"Elaborate." Silver's voice was cold.

The small demon silently hissed. He didn't want to answer it, but if he wanted to gain a bit of Silver's trust, he had to.

"Negative energy doesn't have a taste, not in the way you mortals understands it."

Eclipse climbed down the wall, letting his current partner wait. He needed time to think for the rest of his answer and to buy himself some time.

Meanwhile, Silver silently growled. He could tell the demon was hiding something. There was still a lot Eclipse refused to say, and Silver was adamant about getting it out. At first, this assignment annoyed him, but this was also a perfect opportunity to gain answers that naive Amy was ignoring in the sake of kindness.

His amber eyes fell on the swirling ball next to him. Eclipse's last words echoed in his mind; an unimaginable taste. He got curious. He could take a small bite, right? The gray mist couldn't do him any harm, right? But should he? Eclipse showed him it must have been of the lowest quality. Shouldn't he try the pitch black core to examine the best quality first?

He kept staring at the center. A slow pull was dragging him inside, and the urge to sink his teeth into it was rising. His mouth watered and a thin streak of saliva escaped out.

A strong snooze shattered the daze his mind was engulfed in.

Eclipse returned with a darker gray ball, rubbing his muzzle with a few silent curses under his nose.

Silver's body froze. What was he about to do? The slobber slid down his throat, but it didn't wash out the desire to feed on the negative emotions. He clenched his free fist and sent the ball toward Eclipse without turning toward him. The psychic needed to calm down first.

The small demon combined his prey. It wasn't much, but they were making steady progress.

"So?" Silver slowly started with his voice cold, "how it's with the taste?" He pivoted, chilling aura all around him.

Eclipse bristled. Did he make him angry? Was he taking too long? He needed to please him and fast!

"It's not sweet, sour, or salty how you mortals define your tastes." He quickly went on all fours, looking as small as he could. "It's more of filling our bodies with a sensation of getting filled. Every living being, plant or animal, has inner energy and us, demons, can consume it in the raw form, unlike you mortals."

Eclipse carefully watched his eyes, but there wasn't any noticeable change, so he continued, "You need to eat the shell too. Only then you can digest it and recover the spiritual energy you have."

"What happens when you demons start eating our food? It's not like a meal can be evil, right?"

Silver walked forward, and the demon quickly followed him.

"We still get the inner energy from it, maybe more than mortals since we are used to eating it raw."

In a nutshell, this was all Eclipse could say to this topic, so he hopped it was enough to please him.

It appeared so since Silver didn't ask anything else and allowed the small demon to hunt for a short while without any word. In all honesty, it was making Eclipse really nervous. The amber eyes kept watching him with unending coldness. He was scared of what could come next.

"What did Amy meant you have changed?"

The next question caught the small demon off guard. His yellow eyes widen, and he almost dropped the almost black energy he just got.

"I..." He had no answer prepared.

Silver barked, grabbed him with his power, and pinned him to a wall. Eclipse gasped for the air as his neck was pressed, robbing him of normal capacity.

"Since we have such nice private time, let's use it for some chat, shall we?" The psychic slowly walked towards him.

The demon jerked, but all of his limbs were firmly chained to the wall.

"Answer my question."

"I just..." Eclipse barely spoke, "from time to time wanted to go hunting. But I didn't want to make her sad. That's all, really!" he gasped, his chest moving up and down in fast rhythm.

"Or really? And why so?"

Tears appeared in the demon's eyes. "She showed me kindness like nobody before. I wanted to repay her by not hurting others."

Silver burst in laughing. Eclipse's body shivered. He never heard him laughing much less in such frightening way. It was like insanity crept inside. The psychic run his hand through his quills.

"This is so amusing. Are you telling me you tried to stop being a demon for her?" There was a mockery in his question.

A few tears slid down the small face. "Yes, I tried."

Silver came closer, cupping his cheeks. The gesture was surprisingly gentle. Eclipse had no idea what to think, but he soon knew it was just a ruse.

The psychic's fingers dug into his skin. "A naive girl with a foolish demon, what a cute combination," he whispered in the demon's ear. He abruptly let the demon be, but the chain round Eclipse's neck robbed him of more air.

"By the way, your idea for Steelar to be a spy came quite quickly."

The agent moved a few steps back, enjoying the view on the helpless demon. It was some time since he could do this. Shadow was away on some mission, so his main punching bag was unreachable. Black Arms of all kinds were too emotionless for his taste, making any torture boring and fruitless. Not to mention, the latest specimen appeared to be immune to pain.

"I wonder how you got it?"

"I just..."

"... thought one more spy would be nice?" Silver finished his sentence.

Eclipse's eyes widen. "N-No, not that," he whispered.

"Oh really?" The psychic growled. "Don't think I haven't noticed." He again moved closer, putting his spread fingers on the demon's face. Their eyes locked onto each other.

"That weird energy around you. The way you act so docile. Your desire for fresh blood."

A psionic lance appeared in the air, moving just an inch in front of Eclipse's left palm. He quickly closed it, but the psychic energy forced him to open it.

"Are you really looking up to me?"

The demon couldn't break away from his amber eyes. There was energy swirling in them, it was hypnotizing. His small heart was beating like crazy, and he could feel Ashyss getting restless. Eclipse needed to calm him down fast.

Silver suddenly moved back. "You don't want to talk, huh?"

"I want to help," the demon whispered in a hoarse voice.

"Oh, right, the kindhearted demon."

Both of them heard the grumbling sounds coming from Eclipse's stomach.

"Poor thing, you are hungry." The mockery in Silver's voice was dripping on the roof. "What can we do with it?" His sparkling eyes fell on the black floating ball. "I wonder..." he mumbled to himself.

His power engulfed the negative energy and compressed it into a small ball in a matter of a few seconds. "Hey look, it seems to be like Amy's ball!" Silver exulted in a childish manner.

He wasn't faking it. The excitement filled his body. He had a demon to torture with visible reactions, he cried and pleaded, but what more, now he had a chance to taste what demons ate. However, he got a much better idea.

"Here," he moved the ball in front of Eclipse's face, "take a bite. I'm sure this will fill you more."

The demon turned his face away. "No, I don't want to."

The Ashyss inside of him was slavering, whispering him to eat it.

Silver moved it to him, and he turned his head the other way. This game of cat and mouse lasted to the moment the psychic dug his lance into Eclipse's left palm.

The demon shrieked in pain, and the ball was shoved in his mouth. Silver closed it with his hand, looking at the demon's horrified expressing with utmost delight. Eclipse struggled for a bit, feeling the being inside of him turning wild.

The ball slid down, leaving a burning feeling all over his throat. Silver set his body free and watched how Eclipse squirmed on the ground. The crimson blood soaked the scaly skin, but Eclipse didn't care.

His main concern was in his stomach. No energy filled him, he just felt Ashyss swallowed it and let his own aura spread, burning the small demon from inside.

Silver was watching his handy work, not knowing what he tempted to release.