From the blood red portal emerges a hulking green behemoth. It looked about what you'd expect a demon to look like. Horns, claws, the works. It grabs what remains of the female witch and swallows her entire torso in one bite. The crimson cultists are still quite far behind me, so a battle with this demon would not put any of them at risk. The demon looks at me with four grotesque eyes.
"Quite contrarian to eat the humans that summoned you, isn't it?"
"I am not required to remain bound to humans that are dead," it replies. Shit. I didn't think I killed them, and they couldn't have bled out that fast. "I sense you have incredible magical power, more than any other mortal I have ever seen."
"Well, demon, perhaps we can come to some agreement." It tilts its head. "You see, I am seeking certain knowledge that I am unable to obtain with my current tools. Surely even a demon like you knows of the Words of Creation, no?"
"Of course I know of them. All demons hold knowledge of all secrets of the universe. We do not give them away freely, however."
Demons have whatever power God allows them to have. It has that immense silver aura, but since I don't know what kind of energy that is, I have no way to gauge his strength.
"You see, I am looking for the man that called them down to earth. Would you happen to know the individual?"
"What can you offer me in return?" It grunts.
"I have made a safe assumption that if I kill you, you will simply reform in Hell. I also notice you don't have a soul, so capturing your essence would be a bit tricky. Something you do have, however, is rules. For example..." I conjure an image of a crucifix in the air with my gauntlet. The demon takes a step back. "You demons fear crosses. It would not be hard for me to conjure a sealing barrier and leave you here forever. Furthermore, you yourself noted my sheer power. You could not hope to best me in combat. Therefore, my offer is simple. Tell me and I will kill you here and now rather than sealing you here for all eternity."
"You cocky bastard! Die!" The demon lunges at me, rearing back its fist. Its punch is very strong, but it slides off of my runic shielding helplessly. "Uh. So. About your offer. The man you're looking for is named Merlin. He traveled with Moses's on the first world at the dawn of time. I believe you call it Primis Mundus?"
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"Yes. But how did he manifest magical power without a specifically programmed field of vis? He couldn't have been a god himself either."
"He used the manna God gave them and cast a powerful ritual. After that he-" Before the demon can finish his sentence, the portal behind him suddenly ignites once more and a writhing mass of tentacles grabs him and drags him back inside, screaming all the while. Gathering information can't ever be easy, can it?
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Perspective: Unknown
"I know what happened to your friend," I say to the man sitting at the table. I take note of the halberd leaning against the table. He could be dangerous.
"Who the hell are you?" He asks. "How do you know what happened? And why are you wearing such weird clothes?"
"It took me a while to find you, but following his trail was worth the effort. I'm not sure what his name was, but all I know is that you had a friend that was taken. Am I right?" I ask.
"I wouldn't say taken. More like vanished from reality," says the man. Are these guys that powerful?
"Tell me more," I say.
"One day, we were fighting an ancient evil, someone who called themselves Horus. When we sieged his keep, my friend went in, and the whole thing just vanished without a trace in a flash of purple light!" A fox appears from the doorway and curls up against his leg, but he kicks it away. It yelps.
"I think I know the people responsible," I say.
The man looks up and the fox perks its head. "Hold on, though. Before I tell you who, I gotta know: can that fox talk? It just looked at me as if it understood me."
They look at each other. "Yes, I can," it says. "I'm Layla."
"Okay, well, that's weird," I say, "but I should expect that when I travel between worlds. The person responsible for your friend's disappearance is named Leviticus, and he has some sort of golem acting as his bodyguard named Winter."
The man picks up his halberd. "My name is Duke," he says. "Yours?"
"I am Paul. Don't get so eager to get up and kill this guy, just wait a second," I say. "There's more at play here than two universe-hopping bandits. They collected your friends for a reason. I think he said he was bringing his master back to life or something."
"So... that means..." Duke starts.
"My friends were kidnapped as well, but Leviticus said they were the last two people he needed to start the ritual. It's been about two months since then, and there's no way I'm strong enough to fight them alone, even those two. That's why I'm worried. You said they made that Horus guy's entire tower disappear, right? Just in the blink of an eye. They attacked me with telepathic powers. Just think of how much power, then, this 'master' person must wield. He might be the most powerful creature to have ever lived."