Chapter 1 – Demon Summoning
A blinding purple flash illuminated my surroundings and forced me to cover my eyes. At first, my body felt as if it was floating until I made a sudden landing on the ground. My head was spinning and I couldn’t help myself off the ground. I could hear voices around me, but couldn’t focus on what they were actually saying. Soon, I had passed out.
“Did it work?” Putting a finger on her lips, a black skinned demon made a contemplating expression. She had short, white hair that covered one of her black eyes and a white robe.
“I think it did?” A purple skinned demon with grey hair simply shrugged his shoulders. He wore a black robe that had orange, blue, green, and brown designs on it.
“Aren’t we supposed to get a demon?” Her tone was mixed with worry as she questioned the wizard.
“Why are you asking me?” He responds while tilting his head.
“You are the one who summoned him!” She screams while pointing her finger at him.
“This is my 1st time modifying such a complex spell! Don’t blame me if there are any flaws in the result!” The wizard quickly sputters out excuses in hope of not bearing the sole blame for their failure.
“Ahhh! His majesty is going to kill us if we don’t obtain results!” Collapsing onto her knees, the priestess holds her head in her arms.
“Ugh! It will all work out…maybe. At least he should have obtained the power that we programmed into the circle.” Trying to cheer himself up, he mentions the successful parts of his summoning as he can perceive the magical power coming from the boy.
“I can feel immense amounts of mana comparable to them inside of him, but did he really receive the blessing?” Brightening up a little, she gazes at the boy while still kneeling on the floor.
“He should have?” Scratching his head, he responds back with a clueless tone of voice.
“Can’t you make sure?” She glares at him for not giving a reassuring answer.
“Obviously not! Do I look like her Highness to you?” Rolling his eyes, he looks away from the priestess who has yet to get up off the floor.
“Maybe if you lost some weight between your legs, gained some weight around your chest, grew your hair out, and applied some skin care?” With a smirk she takes a jab at the useless wizard.
“I did not need an actual response to that question.” He looks back with a look that tells her that ‘enough is enough.’
“But what do we do about that thing? Dispose of it?” She glances over at the human with a look filled with disgust.
“We spent too many resources on this to just stop due to a single failure.” Shaking his head to dispel their doubts, he anxiously looks at the human he summoned.
“If you say so, but you are carrying it. I don’t want to catch anything.” As if in a hurry, the priestess walks towards the door.
“You know there is no such thing as cooties right?” The wizard gives a disparaging look as he scratches his head.
“Only the dead can answer that question.” She answers without even taking a slight pause in her steps.
“…”
Leaving those cryptic words behind, the demon priestess left the chamber. After a long sigh the old wizard grabbed the young teenager by his ankle and dragged him outside.
“I am too old for this.” Shaking his head, the old wizard continued down the halls after the priestess.
Inside a room that is primarily used for discussing military strategies and politics, which are often the same thing for demons, are a dozen figures surrounding a table. Lying on top of the table is a human male that looks around 15 years old with brown skin and long, black hair. Everyone that is seated are giving a mix of looks such as anger, concern, disgust, fear, and despair.
The pair of demons who brought the boy are currently hanging upside down above a fountain from the ceiling by their ankles. The water in the fountain looks normal, but it is currently enchanted to have an extremely spicy effect on anyone who drinks it. A spell is redirecting the water gushing from the fountain into their mouths.
It was the demon lord’s clever punishment for using a flawed summoning ritual. He enjoys coming up with odd punishments and watching others suffer. Everyone is grateful that they won’t be killed for their failures even if they must suffer a little.
“Ugh!” In the midst of waking up, the young boy groaned from the still present nausea. He blinked several times to get used to seeing his surroundings and what he saw would have surprised him if not for the fact that he occasionally has weird dreams with demonic beings in them.
“Are you awake our frail, little dark hero?” A majestic blue skinned woman with long, white hair that shined in the light spoke to him. She was wearing a fancy white dress with blue designs and black embellishments that left no doubt that she was a person of wealth. Several demons snickered when they heard her words.
“At least he isn’t a frightened kitten.” A deep, charismatic voice came from a pale-skinned young man with long, silvery-white hair. His crimson eyes were mesmerizing and he gave off an aura of majesty as if he was royalty.
“His appearance is quite different from the humans of this world.” An icy tone came from a red-skinned woman with black wings and a tail. Her turquoise horns grew from the sides of her head and curved around to form a natural crown that radiated elegance. She had short black hair that covered one of her eyes.
“Maybe he is similar to us dark fairies?” A sweet, melodic voice came from a young woman with long, pointy ears and snow white skin that had black markings running throughout her body. Her butterfly wings were of obsidian color that allowed light to slightly pass through. Her long, silky, black hair flowed down to her waist while her contrasting pitch black pupils and white iris seemed to suck you in.
“Perhaps that is so. There are no dark skinned humans in this world and no heroes have ever had dark skin as well.” A dreadful, ancient voice came from a skeleton wearing a black robe. If that wasn’t enough then there were also reddish-black flames in his eye sockets.
“Then maybe we did succeed after all?” A cheerful voice filled with vigor came from a green-skinned woman with long, flowing, purple hair that shimmered as if it was channeling static. She possessed violet eyes and long, pointy ears.
“If that is true, then all is well.” A deep voice that radiated power came from a young man that sat at the head of the table. His left eye’s pupil was a fiery orange while his right eye’s pupil was an icy blue. His white hair was short, but turned clear at the edges. His black horns formed a crown with purple, brown, and green markings running along its length. His wings, unlike the others, were feathery like an angel’s but were painted shiny black.
Seeing all the weird beings around him, he merely thought that he is either having a very detailed dream or he has simply gone crazy. Either way, everything tends to work out as long as he keeps his mouth shut.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Going by the records of the past human kings, this is where I would go on a spiel about why you are in this world, how you must protect the demons for some noble cause, and get laid by a bunch of beautiful women. However, I don’t have the patience for that kind of nonsense! So I ask you young boy, do you have any strategies for us demons to defeat those despicable humans and their meddling heroes?”
At first it seemed that this was going to be the normal introduction into a new world, but the majestic demonic figure betrayed all expectations. Or maybe he was wrong to expect otherwise from a group of demons.
“Uhhm, maybe?” Shrinking back a little, he anxiously responds.
“Like?” Leaning a little closer, the majestic demon presses for an actual answer.
“Guns?” It was mentioned an almost inaudible whisper, but everyone in the room has a good sense of hearing. Can’t be considered a demon if you are bound to human limitations.
“Ah, I believe that is the name of the artifacts used by heroes in the past but the knowledge of its production was never spread due to some silly reason. They called it too dangerous for this world. Utter nonsense if you ask me.” The skeletal figure who is somehow able to talk explains the history of guns.
“Sounds impressive! Do you think you can get our inferno dwarves to build some of those?” In a jubilant voice, the majestic demon couldn’t contain his excitement at getting his hands on a powerful weapon. Soon enough, demons will be dying en-mass to a bunch of children so it won’t hurt to even the odds a little.
“I can draw a rough sketch of it and explain how the different types and parts work, but I am not sure if you will be able to reproduce them.”
“Good! Good!” Rubbing his hands together, the majestic being smiles triumphantly. “Now for the main problem in our future.” He then turns serious as his face becomes expressionless. “For ages past we have been plagued with countless defeats by undefeatable heroes. As a hero yourself, surely you must know a way to kill one!”
“Hmm.” Taking a minute to think, the young boy contemplates the magnitude behind the effort in stopping a hero. “Well, you probably have a few options to winning a hopeless fight against a hero.” Hearing this, everyone in the room brightens up while the skeletal figure had somehow pulled a notepad from somewhere.
“Simplest method is to send another hero to kill him, but that likely won’t work since the humans always win in the stories.” Groans sound out as the audience had their hopes crushed.
“Mentally breaking the hero can crush his will to fight and get stronger, but there is no hero who doesn’t come out stronger afterwards.” This time, heads slump downwards at the mention of more bad news.
“Turning the world against the hero can break his goals, but that usually ends in the hero somehow proving his innocence after honing his strength to survive on his own.” Now there is practically no hope left in the visage of the surrounding demons.
“Attempting to kill the hero early will just end up with the hero miraculously surviving and getting a massive power-up that will likely put him on par with the demon lord.” Not even a response is made as it is now the 4th time this has happened.
“Honestly, fate has so heavily blessed the human’s hero that it is nigh impossible to kill him. However, that might also be the way to actually kill the hero.” With those words, light or I suppose darkness in this case had rekindled in everyone’s eyes.
“To prevent any sudden power-ups, do not push the hero to his limits by fighting powerful enemies. To weaken or potentially twist his will, force him to empathize with the suffering of demons. If he remains blind of the scheming of the nobility, then they might kill him later to remove a hindrance.” Nods of agreement are being made by the surrounding demons.
“Allow him to come practically unimpeded to the demon lord’s castle in order to trigger a sure-fire kill zone where he will definitely not survive. Like nuking the entire castle the second the hero’s guard is lowered with a spell powerful enough to annihilate the entire castle and anything inside in one shot. Especially make sure teleportation is not possible and that they can’t escape by going underground or through the air.”
Although the demon lord isn’t that fond of the idea of sacrificing his castle, but the plan does sound like it may work. He never would have thought that ignoring the hero might work. Perhaps he should cancel that plan to kill the hero with a dragon breath from a black dragon inside a training dungeon for heroes.
“Ah, but won’t the hero get suspicious if things get too easy?” The skeletal figure brings up an important point.
“That is the only flaw, but we might be able to work around that. If he has to fight a demon general, then that person should hold back or run away before dying. Never make the hero aware of how much power a demon can actually have.”
“Hmm, that might just work your highness. It can possibly be even better if we can implement those artifact weapons that have been solely utilized by heroes for our troops.”
“Although I want to kill that hero with my own two hands, but I can’t deny the futility in that endeavor. Alright, we will go with your plan for now. Everyone is dismissed!”
All of the demons stand up and leave the room. Only the blue-skinned woman had remained in the room. Not counting the two demons with scalding mouths.
“Now that we are alone, I would like you to answer something for me.” She says while resting her head in her hands. “Records of past heroes indicate that either they help the king so that they can role-play being a hero of justice or they are ditched for being useless and somehow become a 3rd force in the war.”
“Tell me this. Why are you helping us?” Her expression was full of smiles and her eyes were curious. A normal man might be entranced by her, but therein laid the trap. A woman’s natural weapon is their beauty and one would be a fool to trust a woman completely.
“Well, I am not exactly helping you now am I? I only told you a few things and was asked to sketch and describe how exactly a gun works. Neither of which requires my constant presence here. Besides, I already know how this goes. I am stuck in this world until the day I die so I might as well settle down somewhere and get a job right?” I simply tilted my head as I pointed out the obvious.
Her eyes widened for a split second before she lightly giggled. After wiping a tear out of her eye, she continues the discussion. “I suppose that is true in a sense. I guess that archmage over there actually did modify the summoning circle correctly. We would truly be doomed if you were too naïve.”
“Be that as it may, I am to be your teacher of sorts. Follow me so we can get started.”
“I see, but what about those two?” I say while pointing at the two demons that are hanging upside down from the ceiling. They seemed as if they were in pain because of the fountain constantly shooting a stream of water at their mouths, but it seemed like normal water to me. Then again, normal is probably suspicious in a world of magic.
“They will be fine. It takes more than that to harm them.” She only spared them a moment’s glance before continuing out the room. The demons in question were shifting about in their restraints as they futilely tried to break free.