Do this to another avatar when they are mortally wounded, and you will
suck out some of their lifeforce (represented by status gain usually).
You may also loot their corpse, of course, and if you are hungry you
can even eat their head ;)
Decapitation alone is not enough to completely destroy another avatar
however, for their head will retain their remaining lifeforce. To
truly kill them, you must either crack open their head and eat (or in
some other way destroy) their brain or sacrifice their head.