The moment Lone's consciousness had returned, he sprung up and made sure Soph was okay.

She appeared asleep but that couldn't have been true. Sophie would have been mentally on watch and would have detected the devil before trying to wake him immediately as she had done with the assassin not too long ago.

"Your friends are under a simple sleeping spell of mine. Trust me, if I could have killed them, I would have," a silky smooth voice flowed into Lone and Soph's tent. "Would you come out and talk to me?"

Lone didn't answer and he most certainly didn't move to leave the tent. That would be the last thing he would even think of doing now that the devil had asked him to.

One of the most critical pieces of advice in Devils and How to Make Deals With Them by Archsummoner Ruldso Redmore of the Temporal Plane was to never do anything a denizen of hell requested of you.

Stay still, stay silent, and pray to whoever might be listening that the devil either could not or would not kill you. That, or kill them or bind them first if you are able.

A chuckle reached Lone's ears. "I've already interfered by putting your friends to sleep. I have no power over you until you do something to me. Will you really not just come out and talk to me? I can swear upon my true name that I do not mean to trick nor entice you. I simply wish to discuss why I am even here."

'"Do not mean to trick nor entice you" doesn't mean that you won't do it passively regardless. I really did need that fuckin' book... What can I do here?' Lone wondered as he relied on his Meditation to avoid reacting even slightly.

He couldn't attack the thing. Darkness had claimed this was a king of all demonkin, and the book explained that anyone with that title was as strong as a Divine being.

Lone stood no chance in a direct confrontation. Well, perhaps a slim chance given his ridiculous durability, but he didn't want to test that out right now when he knew nothing of this particular Arch Devil's capabilities.

This devil had to follow the unbreakable rules of the arch class. He wasn't on his natural plane. Thankfully, Lone was now aware of all of these rules.

The book made it painfully clear that so long as he didn't enter a deal with this devil, he stood a far greater chance of coming out of this unscathed than if he did enter one.

The book hadn't accounted for one thing, however; True Contract Magic. Ruldso Redmore was aware it was possible for a unique skill to do as his own bloodline could, but he hadn't ever actually met a person with a unique skill that could accomplish the level of binding necessary.

True Contract Magic was suited for just this, but it wasn't ideal due to its limitations. 'I can use a level one, two or four contract. The level three one still has a few weeks of cooldown, and a level one or two might be too weak for what I need it to do. Can I convince this devil to sign though without engaging in a conversation? It has to be fair too...'

The rules prevented the devil from asking Lone to do something he was already doing, such as sitting or remaining silent.

So long as he didn't respond to it verbally or leave his tent, it couldn't bind him. And since it hadn't asked him to move yet, only asking him to leave the tent instead, he was free to enact his plan for the moment.

With that in mind, he withdrew a piece of parchment and a bucket of blood from his Dimensional Storage.

"Space magic? No. Not magic. An innate ability? Bloodline specific? No... No... This is Unique. Yes. A unique skill. Very well. If it wi-" Lone stopped everything he was doing.

It was obvious to Lone the seventh king was going to ask him something sneaky like 'write another line' or something like that.

It couldn't bind him by asking him to write in general since he'd already done that on his own initiative, but if he hadn't technically done it yet, the devil could get very specific with its binding questions.

Just as Lone thought any chance of talking to the devil was gone, it stopped talking and remained silent for a moment before Lone heard the sound of a rolling set of dice.

A chuckle was soon followed by a sentence. "You know a lot about my kind. Too much."

With it going silent, Lone was free to write once more but he was utterly terrified of how aware and intelligent this devil was. He supposed that came with the territory though.

The Seventh King of all Demonkin, Zel, was letting him finish his contract. That scared Lone more than any spoken threats could.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fear Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7.

It implied the contract meant nothing to the devil or that it could simply work around it. 'It doesn't matter. I'm not bound in any way by it yet and it'll regret letting me be the one to bind it instead.'

A few minutes passed and the only thing that could be heard was Lone's blood-covered finger running across the parchment with the odd dice rolled mixed in from outside of the tent.

Once he was done, Lone double-checked the contract.

Contract of Answering and Questioning

Participants: Lone Immortus | The Arch Devil that is commonly referred to as the Seventh King of all Demonkin, Zel.

Terms: Each contract participant may ask one question of the other in at most three sentences. The other participant must answer truthfully within three sentences and may then ask a question of their own. When given as an answer, a silence of ten seconds will end the current question and answer back and forth, as will the lack of a question for ten seconds.

Once the current question and answer session ends, both participants will never be able to interact with each other or the beings they care for or consider companions, the only exception being to engage in another question and answer session that follows the same rules from the initial paragraph.

All questions and answers are free from any and all binding effects, whether passive, active, generated by natural laws, or otherwise.

All content of the questioning and answering sessions may never be shared with another being who is not a participant in the contract.

This contract is existence-binding and cannot be broken, tampered with, or evaded.

The contract is eternal.

Intended Contract Level: 4

Required Contract Level: 4

Signed: Lone Immortus

Signed:

Lone nodded. With it like this, he would be happy to talk to the devil outside of his tent if it chose to sign.

If he could have, he'd have set it up so he could ask endless questions to the devil and never answer any of his own, but it had to be fair for the contract to bind. Unique skills were unique, not omnipotent.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

He took a deep breath and mentally checked something. 'He asked me to come out and talk, so technically, I can speak right now with no chance of being bound.'

"Unsummon Sophie Vladimirovich," Lone whispered before Soph suddenly disappeared.

If the devil didn't sign the contract he was ready to fight to the death. If Hamish and Breena died as a result of that battle, it would weigh heavily on his mind but that was a risk he was willing to take if it was his only chance of getting himself, Soph, Sophie, and Kyuubi, out of here alive.

He rolled up the contract and tossed it outside. He heard the devil get up and walk over to it before picking it up.

"How interesting," Zel commented. "The power radiating off of this... and level four? Is that a high or low level? Well, I didn't come here for a fight, I only came here to discuss. This is perfect. I just sign with my blood, yes? How very interesting indeed. I do wonder how you know my name..."

A few moments passed before Lone felt the magic click and clasp into place. Just to be sure, he pulled up True Contract Magic's system information.

Unique Skill: True Contract Magic

A skill unique to the host, Lone Immortus.

Allows the host to create magically binding contracts that cannot be broken nor removed by anyone, not even the host, once formed.

Contracts must be written with and by the blood of the host and signed using both the host's and the other party's (or parties') blood.

Contracts must offer an exchange of two things (or collections of things) that the involved parties truly believe to be equal in value.

Depending on the scale of the contract, it will be assigned a level. Each contract level has a cooldown. Level-1: 1-day [Ready]. Level-2: 1-week [Ready]. Level-3: 1-month [Remaining Cooldown: 19 days]. Level-4: 6-months [Remaining Cooldown: 180 days]. Level-5: 1-year [Remaining Cooldown: 152 days].

The host may only ever create five Level 5 contracts. 4 remaining.

This skill is bonded to the unique skill: The Summoning Room.

Current contracts

Level-1: Contract of Secrecy co-signed by George Leston, Emma Malik, Scott Miles, Hazel McArthur, and Alisa Wójcik. Duration: Permanent.

Level-2: Contract of Cooperative Extermination with Hamish Understone. Duration: Permanent.

Level-3: Contract of Soul-Binding Secrecy and Non-hostility with unnamed assassin. Duration: Permanent.

Level-4: Contract of Questioning and Answering with the Arch Devil that is commonly referred to as the Seventh King of all Demonkin, Zel. Duration: Permanent.

Level-5: Contract of Parenthood with Kyuubi Immortus. Duration: Permanent.

Cost: N/A Mastery: N/A

Lone sighed in relief and stepped out of the tent to see the devil for the first time. The foremost thing he noticed was how the being was dressed, much more so than his pitch-black skin, pure red eyes, and his intimidating horns.

"A gay pirate?" Lone muttered.

"The first question I would presume, and an amusing one too. I am no pirate but I suppose I am technically part homosexual. I've participated in many an orgy where I partook in both of the present sexes," Zel confessed. "Why are you no longer afraid of me?"

Lone reached into his Dimensional Storage and pulled out a chair. He sat down and got himself comfortable. He then looked around.

The devil was seated on a chair of black flames and a table made of the same material was in front of him. In his hand was a set of three dice, all made of purple flames with red flaming dots for the numbers.

Even though it sent an engulfing pain through Lone's entire body, he stared straight into the devil's eyes. "Because I know what you're capable of and how you work. The only power you now have over me is the literal kind and I'm not scared of a fight to the death. What did you do to my companions exactly?"

Zel rolled his dice on the table of black flames. They all came up as ones. He sighed and shook his head before he returned Lone's stare with a kind smile. "I like you. It's a simple charm that will wear off in around 22 hours. Specifically, it's a charm called Entropic Slumber. How did you know how to handle me? I admit, it surprised me to see such a young C-ranker so well versed in avoiding my... talents."

"How did I know how to react accordingly to the presence of an Arch Aghaidh-choimheach Devil, huh. That's a good question," Lone said, resulting in Zel's smile completely disappearing. "I read a book. What is the root reason for you being here beyond wanting to have a discussion with me?"

"My life was saved during a summoning ritual gone wrong," Zel answered, all traces of amusement gone from his being. "How do you know my exact demonic species?"

"A god told me," Lone replied. "How does your life being saved presumably tens of thousands of years ago relate to you insisting on talking to me specifically?"

The Seventh King of all Demonkin narrowed his eyes as if considering something. Whatever it was, he had decided on it within seconds. He rolled his dice again, again all ones.

"The great great granddaughter of the woman who saved me requested that I kill you as she felt unable to do so herself," Zel explained, some of his jovial and relaxed nature returning. "Which god?"

"One of the three that live within me. I'm a beastkin with colourful tails. Figure out the rest on your own," Lone answered curtly. "You haven't killed me yet or tried to, so are you just waiting or did you decide to decline Sheelda and simply took an interest in me?"

"The rules allow me to kill everyone in this camp but every time I was about to do so, fate revealed itself to me and it didn't look very appealing," it replied, rolling three ones once again. "Somehow, I would have died if I had simply taken the quick route. Perhaps not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but choosing violence would have resulted in my demise one way or another, one time or another, now forgive the run-on sentence but I'm only allowed three, so to fully answer, you clearly know a lot about my kind, so surely you know that I was happy to accept Sheelda's request, thus... I did."

'Are those rolls related to what it means? Either he or those dice can, what... predict fate for him depending on his intentions?' Lone wondered.

A few seconds passed before the full weight of his quickly-spoken final sentence landed with him. 'He tricked her,' Lone thought. 'Of course he did. From the context clues and what the book told me, Sheelda's ancestor, what, somehow prevented him from dying during a botched summoning or something and learned his true name. The name then got attached to the bloodline. That's normal. Not cashing out the favour for generations is normal too. The real question is why does Sheelda want me dead badly enough to be so fuckin' stupid that she would risk getting duped by such a powerful devil?'

"You're insightful considering you very aptly surmised who it was that allowed this visit of mine to the mortal plane," Zel said, using the first sentence of his three for his question. "Tell me, Lone, are you capable of murder?"

"Very," Lone responded as he looked right into Zel's eyes once again and allowed his peripheral vision to drink in the devil's fiery facial hair. A few system notifications popped up but he ignored them for now. "What exactly did you agree to do in exchange for your true name being wiped from Sheelda's bloodline?"

Zel grinned a demonic grin. "She asked me to kill you to which I responded with a question of if her desire to get rid of the scripture magic threatening her life wasn't a more pressing matter. She then begged me to handle said scripture magic instead. The conversation following my subtle agreeance was interesting, if not meaningless, to say the least."

'Oh, god,' Lone sighed internally. 'The fuckin' idiotic dwarf might have saved my life and guaranteed her death by showing weakness to a devil.'

Zel leaned back into his chair of flames as he rolled again, this time getting three sixes. "I can't remove scripture magic directly. Rules and such. Would you perhaps do it in my place using whatever method you see as the most optimal?"

Lone tilted his head and stared at the ceiling of the Farwind road he was in. "I would never do the bidding of a demonkin even with the restrictions of my contract in place. Not for free."

He rocked forward and intertwined his fingers. "Tell me, Zel. If the scripture magic compelling Sheelda kills her on its own, does that count as a failure on your part to remove it? Correct me if I'm wrong, but agreements involving a demon's true name are very particular."

Zel raised both his flaming eyebrows and offered a slight shrug of agreement. "Yes, yes it would. I'd like to make something clear though. If I wanted you dead to resolve this matter, regardless of whatever minor Luck deity it is that is guarding you, you'd be dead."

The devil nodded slowly. "Death isn't the end for me as I suspect it isn't for you either, so my next question is this; will you take a simple devil's hand and do me the favour of resolving Sheelda's little scripture magic issue? Being indebted to a nobody dwarf doesn't serve my purposes in any way whatsoever. You though, you're not a nobody."

Lone stayed silent for a full eight seconds. On the ninth, he replied, "I'll think about it. Do the names Clicker or Snapper mean anything to you?"

Zel wore a confused expression, clearly not having anticipated the sudden shift in conversation tone. "No... no, they don't. Do they mean anything to you?"

Lone held his breath, ready to finally test and confirm something. 'Every time I've brought up Clicker or Snapper to Breena, Hamish, or Gilbert, they all forget about it as if by magic. Can such an effect apply to a devil so strong he's essentially a Divine?'

"I don't quite know yet," Lone answered. "I hope not, but it seems likely."

A few seconds passed before Lone asked his next question. "Do the names Clicker or Snapper mean anything to you?"

Zel pursed his lips and slowly shook his head. "No... no, they don't. Do they mean anything to you?"

Lone's stomach dropped. 'Okay... Okay... Fuck. Whatever was possessing the Taker is stronger than a Divine. Much stronger. That frog lady who guided Soph and me to Milindo too... Fuck!'

"It would seem they do mean quite a bit to me, in fact," Lone responded.

He let ten seconds come and go, marking the end of the questioning and answering session.

Zel smiled and got up, dismissing his chair, table, and dice of flames, as if nothing odd had happened. "Well, I'll wait for the good news. This was a very charming experience. Until next time."

Lone remained perfectly silent and still even long after Zel had enwreathed himself in infernal flames and had disappeared entirely.