The heroes are fighting a near-immortal
Big Bad and his second-in-command. Both of them appear to run on some sort of "life force", or have several lives... the only thing for the heroes to do is keep fighting to wear them down, hoping to get them down to nothing. Slowly, the villains realize the tables have turned, and they're losing...
So the
Big Bad gives his life force a little boost by draining his companion to death.
Usually, the two villains get on very well and trust each other before this moment, just for that little extra
Kick The Dog punch. Heroes never do this (although occasionally a companion will make a
Heroic Sacrifice and die to donate the remainder of their life force/magic/strength to an ally in a similar manner).
This is a sister trope to
Villain Override.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Pride devours Gluttony in the Full Metal Alchemist manga.
- In Digimon Adventure Venom Myotismon eats his subordinate Demidevimon for a marginal powerup during his Feed Me sequence.
- In Shinzo, the Mons that have replaced humanity turn into cards after being defeated, and they can power up by assimilating another Enterran's card. One villainess, a general in the Big Bad's army, killed five of her peers well before fighting the heroes and used them to achieve a One Winged Angel form.
- Two early villains from Inu Yasha. The older brother eats the younger one after he's killed.
- Szayel Aporro Grantz in Bleach apparently has specifically designed minions which he can devour to heal himself. In the manga, he actually eats the minion, but in the anime he turns it into a purple orb then eats it.
- In X the TV series, after Fuuma has had his arm and half his face blown off, he orders Nataku to liquify and became a human skin graft, restoring himself for the final battle at the cost of his last henchman's life.
Fan Fic
Film
- Rare heroic example: In one of the Highlander movies, Connor MacLeod asks his younger cousin Duncan MacLeod to take his head and absorb his power, and thus have enough power to defeat the Big Bad. Duncan attempts to refuse multiple times, but finally Connor gets him to accept. Sort of a Passing The Torch moment as well, as it's the hero from the original movie sacrificing himself for the good of the hero from the spinoff TV series.
Literature
Tabletop RPG
- Dungeons And Dragons adventure OA5 "Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw". This is a special ability of Dragon Claw martial artists: the most senior one present can drain Hit Points from his fellow Dragon Claws, allowing him to fight longer. If the heroes fail, the Dragon Claw statue will do this to all Dragon Claw fighters in Kara Tur.
- In the climax of the "Enemy Within" Warhammer campaign, the Big Bad drains lifeforce from the official he has been mind-controlling, allowing him to take his true form.
Video Games
- Seen in Resident Evil 4 as Salazar and his remaining Verdugo fuse with an evil plant before his fight with Leon.
- In Warcraft 3, the Death Knight hero can use the ability 'Death Pact' to sacrifice any non-Hero undead to restore health.
- In Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Dracula reaches his One Winged Angel form by consensually taking Death's soul.
