Devourer

Nearly all the information known on these demons is from a prominent Magi during the Battling Clans Era (BCE) who reportedly captured 3 small ones in the Infernal Forest and experimented on them for over 40 years.
A legendary archaic and some say primordial type of demon. Ancient, powerful, mindless, and extremely dangerous. These demons are so rare only a handful have ever been recorded in known history. The magi named Devourers for the way they grow and feed, operating purely off of instinct. They start life as small creatures, no bigger than a rat, they then hunt and feed on any living creatures they can get their fangs in. Once killed they then begin absorbing the fallen creatures biomass adding it to their own. They continue this until they've roughly tripled their biomass, once that has happened the creature goes into a deep hibernation lasting sometimes years. During this hibernation period the acquired biomass physically manifests and becomes usable by the demon. The more biomass acquired, the longer the hibernation period.
They continue this style of devouring and hibernating, growing in size each time. The older the Devourer, the more massive their size. The largest recorded and believed to be the max size is roughly 5000lbs. It is believed however that most do not live to get anywhere near this large, usually they are attacked and injured by larger predators, any injured tissue must be healed and replaced by more biomass or the demon will simply "shed" the damaged tissue and form a new smaller body out of the remaining healthy tissue. Because of this it can take thousands of years for a Devourer to gain enough biomass to reach the gargantuan size claimed in legends.
Devourers also seem to possess unique abilities. Of the three captured and studied, each had a unique trait. As such the magi gave them each a name based off the trait it possessed. The three types are the Armored Devourer, the Hive Devourer, and the Winged Devourer.

1. Armored Devourer - has the ability to heal damaged tissue by rearranging it's healthy tissue. It could harden any part of its body including skin and claws or fangs. It could also sprout extra limbs or most notably long tendrils from its back. These tendrils could then be used to pierce its prey and directly absorb the biomass into the devourer. This was quite efficient in appearance but surprisingly this devourer seemed to have the longest hibernation period of the three but also seemed the most efficient in how it used the biomass it had absorbed.
2. Hive Devourer* - has the ability to split its body into multiple smaller creatures each with their own will; all of the smaller creatures were real animals and it was unable to grow extra limbs or repair its body like the first, instead having to abandon the damaged tissue and retreat into a smaller animal body. When splitting into smaller animals they must assimilate back into the host within a few days or they will begin to degrade and rot, thus no longer being of any use.
   *(Despite the name, the Hive Devourer does not actually possess any hive mind abilities. When splitting into smaller animals one of them is the real "host" and possesses the true mind of the creature, thus once reformed it only gains the knowledge learned by the animals that it was able to re-assimilate.)
3. Winged Devourer - has the unique abilities to produce a paralytic venom, as well as hollow fangs and claws with narrow tubes running through them which it uses to deliver the venom. It also was the only one that could sprout wings, enabling it to fly. The Winged Devourer also absorbs its prey more quickly and efficiently than the other known types and thus has the shortest hibernation period.

There are other legends of them appearing in remote places of the world. But usually only of the Armored Devourer, as such it is believed to be the most common.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Small dense muscular creatures, with little to no fat and strong thick bone. Usually possess 4 Limbs and a tail, except for the Hive Devourer which only takes the forms of other animals. They can morph their bodies into a variety of forms limited only by the type of Devourer it is.

Genetics and Reproduction

Unkown

Growth Rate & Stages

Consumes biomass of other living creatures, gathering as much as it can before finally hibernating and adding said biomass to its own. Growing significantly in size.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Can only feed off the tissue of living creatures or creatures that have very recently died: before decomposition and cell breakdown can begin.

Scientific Name

daemonium festum

Geographic Distribution

• Infernal Forest