Devin was tossed about in the air by Vega, looking like the most pitiful clown in a circus.

It was unbearable for him to endure Vega's humiliation, constantly considering how to escape.

Vega always liked to give it a glimmer of hope, letting Devin run a distance before throwing him back to where he started.

The black giant eagle circled in the sky, as if tired of playing, it perched on a tree. Its single eye, glowing with blue light, stared at Devin as if looking at prey.

Finally, the demon could no longer bear this humiliation. Using Devin's body, it knelt heavily before Vega, pleading:

"Great deity! Please let me go!"

"Keeping me here for your amusement serves no purpose, it's even wasting your time."

Vega chirped and laughed, its voice gradually changing from skrill to deep.

"Why should I let you go? What value do you have that would make me release you?"

"No, you have none, so amusing me is your only value."

Saying this, Vega grabbed one of Devin's feet and tossed him into the air, letting him free fall.

Just as he was about to crash heavily onto the ground, Vega swooped down, caught him in its beak, and threw him into the air again.

It was like bungee jumping without safety measures.

Until Vega got bored, it gently placed Devin on the ground, stretched its neck, and said softly:

"Boring, you can go now."

"Really!?"

The demon couldn't believe it; its spirit had already been tortured to the point of extreme suffering.

Upon hearing Vega say it would let it go, it didn't think much and immediately tried to flee.

But how could Vega let it go so easily?

It first let Devin run a hundred meters, then with a flap of its wings, Vega caught up behind Devin, using its two sharp, enormous claws to viciously tear at Devin's backside.

"Run faster! Run faster!"

Vega kept urging from behind Devin, who could only drag his aching body to continue running.

Even though his body was at its limit, faced with the threat of the giant eagle behind him, he had no choice.

After running for who knows how long, he noticed the surroundings gradually becoming familiar.

'That's the tree I just passed! Now it's appearing again!'

'This guy never intended to let me go!'

'This is a loop!'

It was an illusion; he could never run out of it unless the caster actively dispelled the illusion.

Devin couldn't understand how such a creature with such a twisted sense of humor could exist.

God? He had never heard of any god being as annoying as this stinking crow.

However, Vega seemed to see through its thoughts. With a flap of its wings, a strong gust of wind knocked Devin to the ground.

Devin was too frightened to make a sound, while Vega looked at its cowering body and burst into laughter:

"What are you dissatisfied with? The strong should humiliate the weak thoroughly!"

"Not convinced? Then go and defeat my envoy!"

Devin froze in place, an image flashing through its mind.

Viktor's figure was deeply imprinted in its mind.

I was completely stunned.

That human mage was actually the envoy of a deity descending to the mortal world...

As if finally understanding everything, it fell to its knees with a thud, begging loudly:

"Great deity! I deeply understand my offense now, please spare me!"

"I will never appear before you again."

Even though the demon didn't know what kind of deity Vega was, it still begged incessantly out of fear.

Only this could explain everything.

Why was that terrifying man so powerful that he didn't seem human?

"Why are you begging for mercy? You won't die anyway."

As Vega spoke, a black mist gradually emerged from its body, enveloping the giant eagle.

Soon, the mist dissipated.

The once enormous eagle had turned into a small, cunning crow.

Flapping its wings and standing in front of the prostate demon, its words were laced with temptation.

"You see, I have greed, you have greed, all beings with wisdom have greed."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"So, Yem, you won't die anyway, why are you so afraid of me?"

Yem was so frightened that its whole body couldn't stop trembling. The black toad crawled out of Devin's body.

Due to Yem's emergence, Devin instantly fell unconscious, collapsing powerlessly to the ground with a thud.

Yem trembled even more dramatically.

It knew, It indeed knew everything.

It even knew that it was Yem, a primal demon born of greed.

"Raise your head and look at me."

Yem trembled as it raised its head. Suddenly, Vega's eyes lit up with a blue glow.

A piercing pain stabbed through its brain, and Yem felt its soul being locked away.

Trembling and panicking, it tentatively asked Vega:

"What have you done!?"

Vega opened its beak, patting Yem's body with its small wings, comforting it:

"Don't be agitated, I just put a lock on you using your demonic transaction mechanism."

"From now on, your consciousness will be immortal. Even if you die, your memories and your power won't dissipate."

Yem was dumbfounded. It raised its head, looking at Vega with an expression of disbelief:

"Why... Why are you helping me?"

Correspondingly, Yem fell into an even more fearful panic.

The fact that the other party could easily do such a thing also meant that It could take away everything from Yem at any time.

Moreover, transactions with demons require both parties to pay a price.

"So..."

"Likewise, from now on, until your life completely perishes and your memories completely dissipate."

"Your soul will be at my disposal."

Although it was just a crow, it couldn't express a smiling expression.

But to Yem, It was laughing wildly, laughing very strangely, very wickedly.

Yem wanted to struggle, to break free from this madman before it.

But as soon as it struggled, it felt its body restrained in place by chains, feeling a pain like steel spikes piercing its heart.

Seeing its uneasy body, Vega spoke:

"Now then, go back."

"Back to the capital, back to the place that belongs to Devin Reiser, where he needs to face judgment."

Yem used ink to enter Devin's seven orifices, regaining control of Devin's body.

It involuntarily stood up, dragging the soulless shell, step by step walking back towards where it came from.

After a long while, when its silhouette could no longer be seen, Vega pecked at its feathers.

A teleportation array appeared out of thin air in front of Vega. It flapped its wings and flew back onto the newcomer's shoulder.

"Can you really preserve the demon's memories after death?"

Viktor didn't look at it, just asked flatly, looking at the black trail left on the path where Devin had departed.

With a wave of his hand, the black marks gradually disappeared, and the surrounding weeds stood up straight, concealing the path.

Vega looked at him in surprise, ruffling its feathers.

"I always thought you were smart, but I didn't expect you to be as easily fooled as a demon."

Viktor got his answer and said no more.

Vega explained a bit more:

"To achieve that level, let me recover at least 30% of my power."

"That's a primal demon, with countless avatars waiting for it to dissipate so they can take its place."

Viktor looked towards the jagged clouds in the sky and continued to ask.

"So how much has been recovered now?"

"Less than one percent."

Vega puffed out its chest proudly, as if boasting about how powerful it was in its complete form.

Viktor couldn't be bothered with it anymore and walked towards the dense forest in the opposite direction.

"Tell me Erica's location."

"Oh, I thought the cold Mr. Viktor wouldn't care about my poor little follower anymore."

Viktor was completely indifferent to its sarcasm, just walking along, pushing aside the weeds around him, and responding calmly:

"She is my student after all."

"Wrong! I taught her all the magic!"

"...Whatever you say."

The trees finally couldn't resist the spring breeze's entanglement, and a cool breeze gently blew the man's coat.

The crow standing on his shoulder raised its head proudly, proclaiming its hard-won victory.

.......

Several knights with silvery armor seemed to be searching for something outside the city gate.

Soon, a figure in the distance caught their attention.

The unconscious Devin Reiser was slowly walking towards the city gate, step by step.

"It's Devin Reiser! Quick, notify the Second Prince!"

"No need, I'm already here."

The Second Prince slowly walked out of the city gate, smiling as he spoke beside them.

He looked at Devin Reiser and gave a nod to the knight beside him.

The knight drew his sword and pointed it at Devin Reiser.

Soon, a bolt of lightning entwined the sword.

The lightning suddenly burst forth, striking Devin Reiser's body.

Devin Reiser's body jolted violently, instantly regaining consciousness.

Suddenly awakening, he looked at the circle of knights surrounding him, seemingly at a loss.

The Second Prince walked out from among the knights. Seeing him, Devin Reiser seemed to find his bearings and hurriedly called out:

"Your Highness! Second Prince! Where am I?"

The Second Prince looked at the fat pig before him and sighed inwardly.

The person before him was actually his cousin.

'How filthy.'

But he didn't show it. Instead, he bent down, enduring the pungent smell and Devin's dirty body, helping him up.

"Cousin Devin, don't panic. I'm here to help you. Right now, everyone in the city believes you're in league with the demon."

"I know you've been wronged, cousin. Quickly, tell me everything that happened to you."

Devin Reiser's eyes reddened, as if he had found an outlet for his frustrations, and told the Second Prince everything.

He even informed him about Viktor's assistant, Henie, being possessed by the demon.

After listening to Devin's account, the Second Prince narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"So that's what happened, cousin."

"By the way, is that demon still inside you? Do you know?"

Devin Reiser was startled, hurriedly feeling his body, but found nothing unusual.

After fainting and waking up, he saw the Second Prince, and knew nothing of what happened before that.

Devin became anxious, urgently begging the Second Prince:

"Your Highness! Quick, please remove the demon from my body!"

"I'm still a professor at the Royal Academy, I can't bear the charge of colluding with demons!"

The Second Prince nodded, agreeing to his request:

"Alright, cousin, I'll remove the demon from you right now."

"It might hurt a bit, you'll have to bear with it."

Devin Reiser nodded, saying firmly:

"I've endured enough torture these past few days, I won't be afraid of pain! Do it quickly!"

The next second, his voice stopped abruptly.

He widened his eyes, looking at the Second Prince before him in disbelief.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He lowered his head, looking at his chest.

A long sword had pierced through his heart.

"Why... why..."

He had survived at Viktor's hands.

He had also survived at Henie's hands.

Even the demon hadn't killed him.

Devin Reiser never imagined.

In the end, he would die at the hands of a relative with whom he shared blood.

Devin Reiser's pupils began to turn gray, losing their luster.

The Second Prince pulled out the silver sword, flicking off the blood.

Watching as he fell face-first to the ground.

"Now, the demon has been exercised."

An ink-colored, disgusting toad crawled out from the dead Devin Reiser's body. It looked very weak.

All the knights looked at the demon before them, ready for a great enemy, just waiting for the Second Prince's order to kill it.

However, the Second Prince bent down, picked up the disgusting toad, and placed it in his palm.

The surrounding knights were confused by the Second Prince's behavior. One knight hurriedly called out:

"Your Highness! That's a demon! You shouldn't..."

Whoosh!

Countless black spikes suddenly emerged from the ground, piercing through the bodies of everyone except this knight.

Feeling their lives rapidly slipping away, their eyes were filled with disbelief.

At this moment, the Second Prince's voice rang out:

"David, you've followed me for a long time."

"I've told you before, words that shouldn't be said, don't say them."

The surviving knight, David, trembled violently, suddenly lowering his head, sweat beads from his forehead gradually hitting the dust.

"I'm sorry! My Lord!"

The Second Prince smiled with satisfaction. He raised the black ink toad, holding it flat in his palm, gazing at it.

An abrupt voice rang out.

It was a voice that didn't belong to the Second Prince.

"Greed, you don't look so good."

"Want me to give you a hand?"

The weakened toad opened its single eye, a glint of light flashing in its gaze.

It looked the Second Prince up and down, that overflowing ambition, that desire filled with wicked thoughts.

How delicious.