Slash, slash, cut and throw was the summary of Niko’s attacks, one could only envision his thorough disappointment when he realized that he did not possess any useful magic. Sure, he could cast very basic magic, but it was all too utilitarian and completely redundant in combat. To offset this, however, it seemed his new form was well-endowed in physical abilities. For starters, his ability to increase his speed multifold was extremely suitable for hunting, the ability to attack a wild animal in the rear without warning allowed Niko to hunt game far greater than his strength. Moreover, his razor sharp claws could be extended at will or even shot like a projectile and regenerated. Truly ideal for a hunter in the woods. However, he still had to be cautious, while his enhancements allowed him to hunt monster game until E rank, D rank monsters and above were a hard pass.
Niko’s intuition reported to him that his capabilities seemed far ahead for a mere inferior demon, but he didn’t let it faze him. Greater or not, he still wasn’t completely off the woods, he was a predator and a prey at the same time. As he contemplated all his abilities slowly, suddenly a pack of wolves attempted to ambush him, not just any wolves but elemental wolves. Alone they were considered E rank monsters as their elemental attacks were relatively weak, however in a pack they were a D ranked threat. Swiftly dodging the first attack and sidestepping to dodge a random flame shot by another wolf, Niko remarked, “This is going to be my biggest game.” The wolves which were now radiating their mana slowly circled their prey, or so they perceived Niko, a mere inferior demon. Lengthening his claws, he brandished them at the wolves while preparing to activate his speed burst, as he patiently waited for one of the wolves to make a single misstep.
Falling for the trap, one of the wolves in the ringlet turned its fangs and claws to metal and made a leap towards Niko, who immediately activated his speed burst. As he charged towards the wolf, who now in his perspective seemed to be floating in slow motion, he side stepped once to escape the trajectory and immediately ran his sharp claws through the wolf’s body. As Niko reached the opening, the other wolves simply saw their comrade’s body dissected lengthwise in mid-air, falling in two bloody chunks. Before any one of the other’s could process the recent events, Niko activated his speed burst again, splitting one wolf and goring three more using his nails as projectiles. The remaining two wolves, who were either cowardly or wise perhaps even both, tried to run, however within a second they found their heads severed from their body.
As Niko drained the mana from the wolves and consumed their souls, he couldn’t be more glad that his trap had worked, had the wolves attacked together as a ring or focused their elemental attacks, Niko would have been back to square one. However now he had assimilated even more power, although it still wouldn’t suffice. Although he already had absorbed innumerable quantities of life force and souls from various monsters and magical beasts, he still hadn’t consumed human flesh or soul, a key ingredient for demonic evolution. While that condition could be subverted, he would need to satisfy a contract for that. While Niko couldn’t help but be disappointed, he knew that once he evolved into a {Primordial Lesser Demon} his capabilities would increase severalfold, for he had already pushed the limits of an inferior demon’s capabilities. Meaningless murder may have seemed very immoral to him, however the allure of evolution was simply too tantalizing.
Contracts however were something not to be taken lightly, they essentially bound a demon. Due to this fact, it required a great deal of trust between demon and summoner to form a permanent contract. Temporary contracts, however, were relatively simple, one task for one price. Summoners typically would summon the same demon for multiple temporary contracts before trying to forge a permanent contract with them. Niko knew this, which led him to decide to choose his contracts wisely, many times the opportunity for a contract was presented to him, yet he avoided them due to their cloudy intentions. After his hunt, Niko again started searching for summoning around him, demons could detect summoning over great distances depending upon their rank. Usually a summoner would pour magical power and name a price, depending on which the level of demon accepting the offer could be predicted. More lucrative payments or greater magical power was typically a stepping stone to get more powerful summons.
As Niko waited around, suddenly a request beeped on his magical senses. However, what truly intrigued him was that not only was the summoner a student, she was also clouded with fear, the price was dubious by demonic standards, the souls of anyone the demon killed during the job, highly uncertain. The magical power was surprisingly weak and inconsistent, a job no demon would really bother with, yet for some reason Niko felt a wave of pity. His head brushed it off as a cheap summoner, while his heart begged his conscience to take pity. Niko finally caved in to his heart and decided to take his first contract.
On the other side of the forest, Lisa was in an absolute state of panic. She wavered as she looked around to find her teacher lying unconscious by a tree, while her juniors were huddled up behind her. She had volunteered for being a student guide, thinking this would be a simple field trip. However, they ended up being ambushed by the Forest Thorns, a notorious bandit group known to attack convoys. There was no escape, her teacher had tried to use magic to defend the students, but he was immediately shot by arrows and fainted, barely clinging to his life, most of his magic was passively healing him. Lisa knew she, a mere apprentice sorceress, wouldn’t fare any better, as a last resort she poured every ounce of her remaining magical power into summoning, a truly desperate move. Summoning was an art even the greatest experts couldn’t ever conduct with perfect accuracy, much less an apprentice. Knowing her abilities were inferior, she prayed that any inferior spirit or even if possible an angel could at least help even the odds even by a little. Thus, she was in fact surprised when her summoning actually succeeded, upon seeing the circle the bandits who were laughing and approaching her for the kill earlier suddenly backed off. After a purple light shone brightly, she saw a pair of wings, a sign that she summoned a demon, and was amazed. Her summoned demon however seemed irregular, unlike the armament and rough clothes or beastly look of an inferior demon, he seemed quite humanoid, his black hair rustled in the wind. He looked back and met her gaze with his red eyes enclosed in a black sclera, his clothes looked like a ceremonial uniform worn by the garrison during the recent crowning of the crown prince, the only parts of his body that distinguished him from the humanoid races were his eyes, his bat-like wings that were mildly protruding from his back and his long grey metallic claws.
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Niko looked at his summoner and greeted her, “Hello young lady, I’m the Inferior Demon Niko, remember me. Now I’m guessing you need me to dispose of these crooks.” Lisa could only help but nod to indicate ‘yes’. In truth, she tried to hide her great surprise over the intelligence Niko showed. Not only was it unusual for an Inferior Demon to have a humanoid appearance, but to be able to speak fluently and possess such a high calibre of intelligence was unheard of, it fundamentally defied the common sense of the demonic hierarchy. She looked back, and her juniors too were in a state of confusion, they however couldn’t hear the conversation between Niko and Lisa and assumed that she had summoned a Demon.
Niko looked at his opponents, there were 3 archers on nearby trees while there were six swordsmen and even a martial artist in their ranks, ten enemies, while Lisa had grown slightly dizzy due to the summoning. The first problem was the archers, Niko activated a speed burst and activated his wings, coursing through the air at a speed in which the other bandits could only see a blurred outline of him. He immediately beheaded the first archer and launched all the claws on his left hand towards the other two archers, piercing both of them, causing all three bodies to hit the ground. Now that his summoner was out of danger, he once again used a speed burst to rush behind the martial artist, retracting his wings he thrust his right hand through his enemy’s chest and pulled the unfortunate bandit’s heart out. The swordsmen who witnessed their comrades being massacred so viciously, lost all composure, four of them charged blindly in a rage striking together, with the claws on his left hand regrown, Niko blocked the four strikes, then proceeded to use his free right hand to slash a line across his assailants' stomachs causing their guts to spill out with a fountain of blood, the remaining two were so shocked that their spirit completely broke. Showing no mercy, Niko beheaded them on the spot before they could beseech him to show mercy.
As the bodies of the ten bandits lay lifeless on the ground, Niko spread his arms out, his red eyes glowing brightly and his purple aura emitting out, spreading through his victims’ bodies and sucking their life energy and souls to assimilate with himself. Lisa, who watched in horror, finally mustered the courage to speak, although meekly, “U-u-m d-d-d-demon sir. Our cont-tract is complete?” Seeing through the obvious terror in her voice and fear in her stance, Niko answered, “Yes, young lady, we’re done here. I must thank you for providing me with the stepping stone for my evolution. Oh, to complete our contract, I’ll need your name.” “It’s Lisa, Lisa Cistina.” answered Lisa, still shocked over what she saw. “Well Ms. Lisa Cistina,” said Niko with a sly smile on his face, “I look forward to working with you again.” With these words, Niko teleported back to the safety of his cave where the nostalgic purple light enveloped him again, yet this time a unique message showed up.
[Required souls, accumulated. Requisite magical energy stored.]
[{Niko} may now evolve. Proceed?]
“Hell yes!”
[Confirmed. Detecting double evolution opportunity. Does {Niko} wish to double evolve?]
“Wait, how the hell, it’s nice but how?”
[Answer: requisite souls- 1, harvested- 10; requisite magical energy surpassed. Eligibility confirmed. {Niko} will now evolve from {Primordial Inferior Demon} to {Primordial Demon}]
[Warning, should {Niko} double evolve, they may be targeted by other spirits or angels, conversely {Niko} may consume other spirits or angels. Proceed?]
“Survival of the fittest, huh? Well, I’ll have to hope this won’t backfire.”
[Confirmed]