As Jillia introduced the subject of todays lesson, I heard the class let out a collective gasp of excitement and pure happiness. Even Felix looked quite excited for this lesson, however when he looked over to me — about to whisper something, his expression changed to slight concern as he saw my expression to the news. I wasn't very excited for todays lesson, in fact, one could say that I was kind of terrified of todays lesson.

Familiar Summoning is based on someones maximum magic output - aka, the amount of magic an individual has inside of their body. If they have a low amount, the familiar will be weak. If they have what is considered an 'average' amount, they'll have an average familiar — one suited for combat, support, scouting or anything else. If they have high amount of magic, the familiar will be quite strong, potentially being strong enough to take on armies alone.

If they have 'extraordinary' amount of magic, the familiar can end up being something as powerful or even more powerful than a Behemoth or even a dragon. And anything beyond this 'extraordinary' level of magic has been unperceived by the humans, as that is only really something achievable by the leaders of the Kingdoms and other powerful individuals such as Merlin or Lancelot.

With all of this in mind, you can see why I was nervous and even terrified about the familiar summoning. As the Demon King of Sins, my magic amount was.... Well, to call it outrageous or even 'Godly' would be an understatement.

If I tried doing the Familiar Summoning ritual, I could end up summoning something absurdly powerful that would draw even more attention to me than I already had or even end up not summoning anything as I imagine there is no familiar fit to stand next to the literal Demon King of Sins himself.

Worst part of all of this? I had no control over this process at all. Since the ritual is based on your magic amount and there is no way to cheese it, if I do the ritual, the results cannot be altered - So I am unable to just cheat it and summon a weak creature as my familiar.

Sure, I could probably get around this by sneakily using regular 'Summoning' magic instead of Familiar Summoning, but that would be spotted immediately — also, you are unable to form contracts with regular summoned creatures, which makes this method impossible anyways.

I kind of zoned out a bit in class, as the Teacher went on to start explaining the theory, history and methodology behind the very concept of 'Familiars' and the ritual needed to summon them. Of course, I already knew all of it — partly because I remember it from my time playing the game, partly also because I had time to read more up on during my free time over the years. Yeah, surprisingly, despite being the most feared figure across the heaven and earth — I had a lot of free time.

Probably because everyone was too scared to even approach me — even the gods were terrified of me.

The lesson went on as normal, with everyone paying attention - yada yada. However, I did notice every minute here and there some of the students throwing slight peaks towards me — as if they were afraid of me for some reason. I thought about it, and eventually came to the conclusion that perhaps, on the off chance, my classmates were expecting me to end up summoning something insane due to my... 'Little display' at the practical magic test.

And you know what — their worries were not misplaced yet. I wasn't sure on what would happen once it came to actually summoning familiars, what on earth would I end up summoning?

Not that long after, the teacher had explained all there was to explain about familiar summoning and now had put out a showcase on her table for us. Just so we would get an idea of how to do the ritual for the familiar summoning, she decided to show it to us and throughouly explain it all.

Jillia: "Alright, now then — I want all of you to watch closely to what I am doing. It is very important that you do not mess up the ritual in any way, shape or form. Even the tiniest of mistakes could lead to some disastrous consequences if we're not careful."

Jillia explained, with everyone in the class nodding in understandment. Afterwards, she picked up a small knife she had with her on the table, before slightly pricking her right hands index finger.

Jillia: "First, we prick our fingers to start it off. It doesn't matter which finger we prick, but it is important to note that we need only a small sample of blood and not that much."

She stated, before placing the knife to the side and taking a square piece of paper infront of her. Well... A piece of special paper infront of her. Since this was a Ritual, most of the time — unless you were some kind of master at magic — you needed a special paper known as Ritual Parchment Paper. It was kinda rare and very valuable, since this paper would basically be the physical contract between you and your familiar.

Should something happen to the paper — you could risk breaking or losing the contract with your familiar and thus no longer share a connection to it.

Once she brought the paper infront of her, she pressed her index finger onto it — more specifically, somewhat in the middle of the paper, before lifting her hand back up, having left a bloody fingerprint on the paper. Afterwards, she quickly patched up her finger with some light amount of basic healing magic, before looking at us all again.

Jillia: "After the paper has been marked with your blood — we then fold it in half."

She said, picking up the square paper with her fingerprint and folding it perfectly in half. Afterwards, she placed it in-between her hands - almost as if she was praying with the paper in her hands.

Jillia: "Then, we pour just a little bit of magic into it to enseal the finger print and allow it to turn into the ritual circle we need for the summoning."

She stated, before expanding a very faint aura of her magic. The aura hanged around her body for a bit, making it look like she was faintly glowing, before it all travelled off of her and onto the paper, absorbing into it — before letting a little smoke come from it.

Then, the teacher pulled her hands apart and unfolded the paper, revealing it to now have a washed out, faintly red magic circle on it instead of the full fingerprint.

Afterwards, she placed it onto her table, before hovering her hands above it.

Jillia: "Lastly, we say the incantation with our eyes closed."

She stated, closing her eyes before taking in a slightly deep breath. The entire class watched her in anticipation — almost ready to jump out of their seats due to their sheer impatience to see what would happen next.

However, I still wasn't super excited and simply sat there watching with a slightly bored expression.

Jillia: "I throw a wish into the Neverending Soul, the realm where creatures who may wish to help me reside. I offer my power and strength, in return, I ask for you to come forth and become my partner - a being I can trust and put my life in the hands off. Come forth and don't be shy — once you do, we shall seal our souls with blood and sweat."

She finished reciting the incantation, with faint magic traces beginning to flow from her body and into the magic circle. The magic circle on the paper lit up with a bright light, before suddenly forming a strange figure of a small creature - Hidden by a blinding light.

For a moment, the creature stood there masked by the light, before it faded and revealed the creature that had appeared on the table — a monkey looking creature, with large ears and long limbs, its body almost made up from segments of colour. The creature looked up at Jillia, who opened her eyes and smiled towards it — before swiping up the paper with the magic circle on it infront of the creature.

It looked down at it, before up back at Jillia for a moment, before letting out an excited squeal nd touching the paper. In an instant, the paper turned into a blinding white light, before chains formed from the creature to Jillia — wrapping around them, before vanishing.

The contract had been sealed.

Jillia exhaled, before allowing the small monkey like creature to climb onto her left shoulder.

Jillia: "And that is all you need to do. Luckily for me, my maximum magical energy is decently high, so I managed to gain a familiar in the form of Sfera."

She stated, looking at the monkey creature, who simply smiled towards her. Almost the entire class consecutively commented on how cute the monkey was, while I looked at in slight... Disgust.

Sferas were a very rare species — mainly found ONLY in the unoccupied zone of the Elven Kingdoms territory. And when I tell you, don't let their cute and small appearence deceive you, oh boy, how much do I mean it.

These little shits - these little incarnations of the devil himself - absolutely LOVE feeding on the life force of other creatures, often casting powerful absorbing spells onto passing by travelers and draining them of their life until they're dead. During the game, when I had to explore the Unoccupied Zone, I was FUMING mad, because these bastards caused me to die SO MANY times that I almost quit.

Seriously, these little shitty bastards are absolute menaces. After the class was done admiring the stupid little bastard who may as well burn in hell, we all were tasked with repeating what the teacher had done and summon our own familiars, being given a small knife, the parchment paper and a small magic stone — which was there to cancel the ritual, incase it suddenly lost control.

Everyone immediately began to repeat the steps after the teacher, going exactly off of how she had shown the whole process. Although, a lot of them were a bit scared of pricking their own fingers, eventually they did. Felix had actually done it with no hesitation and shockingly, with high precision, placing his finger onto the paper, before lifting it up.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He stared at his bleeding finger for a bit, before moving it over to me.

Felix: "Hey Anker? Mind healing the prick for me? I can't exactly use healing magic.."

I looked at him with a slightly disappointing stare before exhaling and casting a quick heal onto his finger, before looking away.

Felix: "Thanks. Now, onto the next step..."

He stated, moving forward with the ritual. Meanwhile, I sat there staring at the paper and the knife with a blank gaze.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn't just not participate in the lesson, I had to do this. But I was absolutely paranoid from what I could potentially end up summoning as my familiar — if anything!

In fact, without even looking at the summoning it self, I was unsure whether or not I could actually PRICK my finger, considering that this human form of mine wasn't technically real and was just a disguise spell. I wasn't a human with blood, but an Ancient Demon who was primarily a skeleton, who had NO blood.

Seriously — I am in a pickle right now.

As the other classmates in the class began their own rituals, I could spot who summoned what. A lot of them summoned quite average familiars — Magic Cats, Witch Crows, Refranas (a turtoise with 3 heads), one even managed to summon a three winged lizard.

Everyone was having a lot of fun and gaining a lot of enjoyment from the entire lesson, just seeing their wide smiles as they came familiar with their... Familiars.

....An Unintentional pun - my bad.

Felix next to me even managed to finish his ritual, summoning a... Small armoured fish. Yeah, due to his not very hight Maximum magic energy, his familiar was one mostly suited for scouting and not actual combat — though, Armoured Fishes do have nearly impenetrable exoskeletons that make them into great scouts as they can't easily be intercepted.

Looking over to Alis' group, I managed to spot both Kris and Karla having finished their rituals as well. Kris managed to summon a Crystal Owl - a creature that was mostly known for its ability to see into the future. A very, very handy familiar to have. On the other hand, Karla managed to summon a Black Viper as her familiar, with the long black snake wrapping around her gently and combined with Karlas already overconfident personality, the two of them together looked absolutely... Stunning? I suppose. The others looked at Karla and Kris in amazement, before the two siblings looked at Alis and urged her to finish her ritual.

Alis looked nervous — probably worried that her familiar wouldn't be anything impressive. However, after what I could guess was encouragement from Kris and Karla, she moved onto the incantation.

As she spoke the incantation, her magic energy flowed at a stable and peaceful pace, before then suddenly rapidly flowing into the paper, shocking Alis and the other students. Immediately, Jillia rushed towards the girl.

Jillia: "Touch the magic stone! Cancel the ritual before something bad happens!"

She shouted to Alis. Alis looked terrified.

Alis: "I-I can't stop! I-I..."

She cut her speech, slightly squinting in what appeared to be slight pain. Jillia rushed towards Alis, while the other students backed up from the scene. Felix looked very worried about the situation, while I remained calm and collected.

I wasn't very taken back by the situation - after all, as I had played through the game as Alis, I already knew what would happen here and what she would summon.

Bright light engulfed the entire room, before mass amount of wind was sent out of the paper, it all rushing out into the air around her. Then, a vaguely humanoid form materialised above alis - the being covered in white armor and having golden accents as well as a long, flowing golden cape.

Everyone in the room looked shocked, while the armoured humanoid looked down at Alis and landed infront of her, kneeling before the girl.

Gabriel - Angel of Humility: "You must be the one who called out to me. I sensed your desires and will, so decided to offer my help and loyalty to you, Miss Alis Devanara."

The being spoke, everyone in the class still staring in disbelief. Alis looked at the knightly figure with fear at first, before gulping and looking at him with a less terrified expression and more... Worried one.

Alis: "U-Uhm... Then, you wish to be my familiar."

Gabriel: "It would be my greatest honour. I, Gabriel of Humility, wish for you to become my Master."

The angel said, with everyone in the class basically going crazy in shock. And it was understandable. In case you don't know, in the game, the player got to pick on what they wanted to summon — which just so happened to be one of 7 Angels that represented, you guessed it, the Cardinal Virtues.

Gabriel was the Angel of Humility and in the game, when you picked him as your familiar, you gained an absolute tank who could take damage for you as well as dish out some heavy damage himself as well. He wasn't amazing on the ranged or magic side, however his physical power and endurance was practically unrivalled.

A very good choice for any speedrunners... Atleast, that is what people on the internet would always say. Alis looked worried at first, looking towards the teacher for advice, however Jillia simply gestured her to take the offer — which was logical. Who wouldn't encourage the child who managed to summon an angel to go through with it and make that said angel their familiar?

After a brief moment of hesitation, Alis lifted up the paper with the magic circle on it and showed it to Gabriel, who simply reached his right hand out towards it and touched the paper, sealing the contract.

White chains wrapped around Alis and Gabriel, uniting them and tying their existence together, before Gabriel was engulfed by a bright light and shrunk down to around the size of an average adult male, his appearence still very impressive, being the white armour decorated by gold and what not, but he lost the angelic glow he had. When in his 'Full/True Form'.

Gabriel bowed towards Alis.

Gabriel: "I am now at your service, my Lady."

Gabriel stated, with Alis laughing and rubbing the back of her head. Kris and Karla immediately approached her with Karla jumping onto Alis and grabbing her arm, shouting how this was so cool and how she had summoned a knight in literally shining armour for her.

Everyone in the class had basically gone from terrified to amazement and praising Alis. Felix exhaled and dropped gloomy on the desk.

Felix: "Man, what a way to steal the entire show.... First it turns out she can use the rare Light Magic and now this? Give me a break..."

Felix complained a bit, before picking his head up and noticing that I hadn't even touched my knife or paper.

Felix: "Hey Anker, won't you do the ritual?"

He asked.

I did not reply and simply stared at Gabriel, wondering whether or not he will be able to recognise me. The Angels had a special ability that you could unlock for them which allowed you to 'detect' Demons or the Damned that may be nearby.

Considering the differences so far in the world, I was a bit worried that perhaps Gabriel already had that ability and could possibly oust me infront of the entire class. However, it seemed as though the angel didn't even notice me, which caused me to exhale lightly before turning to look at my own equipment.

Felix looked at me confused, raising his right eyebrow slightly.

Felix: "Hey Anker — you good? Is everything alright?"

I did not reply at first, exhaling before hitting my cheeks slightly and then looking at Felix with a smile on my face.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just taken back by what Alis just did over there — I'll get to my summoning right away."

I replied, before looking at the paper and hesitantly picking up the knife.

Felix: "Heh, I bet you'll get something way cooler than an angel as your familiar. I mean, you're so smart and you have powerful magic abilities! You can outclass a simple angel easily."

Yeah, and that is the problem.

I am still terrified of summoning something that will send even more shock through the class than the angel that Alis summoned did. I seriously did not need any more attention to me than I already had.

However... I had no other choice but to do the ritual.

Exhaling, I brought the knife close to my left hands index finger before taking in a deep breath and quickly — and silently — casting a instant damage spell over the knife, allowing me to actually prick the finger and surprisingly, blood to appear.

Instant Damage was a spell I had developed based on the Sacred Blade of Hope, as a way to damage enemies who would usually be invulnerable to my Demon or Dark magic. As a side effect, it also allowed me to damage my own body, only, very lightly and not at all fatally.

Pressing the finger onto the table, I placed the knife off to the side, before lifting my finger up, luckily having left an actual bloody print on the paper. My finger healed automatically and almost instantly, due to my always active spell 'Rapid Regeneration' which was, as I said, always active and healed me in an instant, should it be needed.

Then, I sighed, folding the paper in half, pouring my magic into it and then unfolding it and placing it on the desk, before hovering my arms above it, my hands slightly shaking from fear.

I was so afraid internally of actually going through with this summoning ritual. There was no saying just how wrong this could go... And yet, I didn't feel any kind of urge of backing out now. I guess internally, even though I was terrified, a part of me was like; I'm already this far, may as well finish it.

And so, with a quick inhale, I closed my eyes and exhaled, reciting the incantation. Felix watched in anticipation and excitement as I poured my magic energy into the paper.

For a bit, nothing happened and my magic energy kept slowly entering the paper, before eventually stopping with no further reaction. I fell confused - did the ritual suddenly... Cancel itself? Did I somehow break it already? Well, that wouldn't be a shocker.

I exhaled before laughing.

"Guess I simply wasn't meant for...."

Before I could finish, I felt a sudden pressure. The paper on the desk then turned dark, while the candle light in the class room flickered, before going out. Suddenly, the whole room began shaking, with all the students and the teacher looking around confused.

"What's going on?"

"Is this an earthquake!?"

"Why is the whole place shaking...!"

"What's that immense pressure I feel ontop of me.."

Everyone was confused. Gabriel reacted, quickly grabbing Alis into his arms and casting a golden shield around them both.

Alis: "W-What the!"

Gabriel: "My Lady, I feel a dark presence coming."

Alis looked at Gabriel with a shocked expression, before looking towards me. I stared at the paper in confusion as it began violently shaking. Backing up a bit, the paper suddenly shot into the air, before releasing an immense amount of black and dark purple energy from it, releasing a large and powerful wind as well.

Everyone in the class struggled to stand still, with most of the students then being shielded by a shield spell cast by Jillia.

Then, infront of me - or more accurately, above me - the 'air' suddenly cracked, before shattering and revealing an entry way into a warped reality that was filled with black and violent colours, as well as red tones here and there. I watched in shock while everyone else watched in fear.

Two glowing red eyes appeared inside of the crack, before a large, large hand was put out of the crack. The hand was covered by a dark aura with its fingers unnaturally long and strangely shaped, almost warped. Then, another hand like that came from the crack, before a head pushed itself out.

The head was large, attached to a long and slender neck. The neck resembled a human like face, just with a mask shape. It had a massive, sharp toothy grin across it and large circular eyes that were white with psychotic looking pupils in the eyes. The head had a warped and large hat on its head, resembling a jester, while its body was long and slender, also resembling a jester.

The creature looked down at me, before twisting its head to the side - with an unnatural crack from its neck.

Jack — Dark God of Fate / alias 'Jack of All Trades': "So it was you who called out and summoned me... I see..."

The creature stated with a distorted and rather deep voice, that had this rough ripple to it. Everyone watched in shock, while I simply stared in disbelief. So, to answer my earlier question on what on earth the Demon King of Sins could summon as his familiar...

The answer is, one of the Dark Gods — the one known as 'The Jester' or the 'Jack of All Trades'. The being, who rules over and created the entire concept of fate.

• Next Time •

[ (25.) Demon Kings Companion & Emily on A Mission. ]