The Shikigami Ritual was reaching completion.

The Binding Circle was doing its job, dragging the screaming ifrit down from the fiery heavens into its domain and forcing its restraints upon it. For a creature that was a symbiont by nature, it was rather stubborn. Whether that was because it had grown too confident in its strength or Lukas had hurt its pride was still very much a question, but one he didn’t need answered.

As he felt the restraints bind the ifrit, he was immersed in an oddly familiar feeling. It was like when he had bonded with the aqāru to forge his adorable pet cat, a pet that had gotten lost when he’d lost control of the spell Inanna attempted. All he knew was that Tanya had rescued him and the others from that sinking pit, leaving everything else, including the cat-slime monster, in the debris.

Aqāru was a rare thing, and its bond with him had been just as rare. And Lukas had a strange feeling he’d never see it again. The bond would forever be lost to him.

The ifrit’s shrieks brought Lukas back to the present. As the symbiosis reached its zenith, he felt a piece of him disintegrate into abstract nothingness, and its place, something new took place. Unlike before, he wasn’t creating something that belonged to him. It was more of an… independent existence. A foreign entity. An alien. The anomaly within him squealed in anguish as a chunk of its soul capacity was torn away by this wretched creature.

A creature that could use all of its soul capacity to promote its own growth, all the while remaining under Lukas’s control.

Not the anomaly’s.

His.

SYMBIOSIS COMPLETE

Race

Ifrit

Species

Kami

Nature

Fire, Spirit

Mana Output

4370

Total Soul Capacity

3845/ 47628

I was right. It has access to the entire thing.

Another notification popped up.

Symbiont Level Up!

Level Up requires Host confirmation.

Symbiont Level Up!

Level Up requires Host confirmation.

Symbiont Level Up!

Level Up requires Host confirmation.

Kami were symbionts by nature, creatures that lacked soul capacity of their own. However, that also meant that until they gained access to a foreign reserve, they developed skills over and over without leveling up and etching upgrades upon their soul. And for a kami the likes of this ifrit, that meant finding a Host of superlative soul capacity.

Confirmation? No wonder it hates being bound. Despite all that power, it’s dependent on my whims.

His lips twisted into a crooked smile.

Confirmation for 3 Level Ups will require 7582 Soul Capacity.

Confirm / Deny

Confirm.

Confirmation for Symbiont Level Up x3

Current actions: Not Recommended

Continue?

It might not have been recommended, but it was about time he’d gotten another ace under his belt.

Given the sheer amount of soul cap the ifrit would be guzzling, Lukas was sure it would make the creature one of his top monsters, along with the khorkhoi and even the stratim. He hadn’t used the latter’s powers much beyond mana-sensing, but there was more to that avian creature than he’d seen so far.

Much more.

Yes. I understand and confirm.

Initiating Soul Capacity Disintegration…

Combining Raw Potential to Symbiont [IFRIT]

Level Up Success!

Level Up Success!

Level Up Success!

As soul capacity left him in droves, he felt a sensation of… incredulity from the beast that was consuming it all. A strange mix of curiosity, amazement, and perhaps, a shy gratitude. There was also ambition, and a fervent desire for more.

The ifrit would have been right at home beside Inanna.

SYMBIOSIS COMPLETE

Race

Ifrit

Species

Kami

Nature

Fire, Spirit

Mana Output

6770

Level

5

Total Soul Capacity

11952 / 47628

Lukas felt the wind leave him as a sudden feeling of nausea blinded him. Probably the effects of losing that much soul capacity that quickly. The effects of successive Level-Ups were always a bit too striking. He’d know. He’d been there before. But now… he could feel the ifrit’s presence at the back of his mind, its energies and innate Fire nature gnawing at his consciousness.

It was then that he realized that despite having shoved a fourth of his Soul Cap into the ifrit, he had no idea how to use it. He knew there was no manual for it or anything, so surely it couldn’t be that hard to figure out.

Could it?

“I should hope not.”

Lukas blinked. What the fuck?

“…You can understand me?”

The voice seemed just as flustered by his recognition as he was.

Hello, Ifrit.

“Arah, I am called. The firebringer. In all the time I have been alive, I have never had a Host like you. The fact that you can understand me is confusing, and exhilarating. This opens up so many brighter futures. I am not sure if it is a good blessing.”

Trust his luck to fetch him a contrarian bastard as a partner.

“You are not Asukan.”

Lukas supposed that much was obvious. He had miserably failed at hiding his unique status from Banksi. Trying to do the same from a creature that shared his mind was an attempt doomed to fail from the start.

“You are not one of us either, nor are you the other species I have encountered in the Wild. I see you. Bremetan you are, but also not. One of us Other… I see traces. But again, you are not. Monsters of rage and temper greater than yourself have left imprints on your mind. But again, you are not. What a confounding existence.”

Uh… thanks, I think.

“No,” Arah continued. “They are not you. You are not them. Yet, you become them. They become you. They are a part of You but you are not part of them.”

There was a brief pause.

“Oh great fire, there are dozens, no, hundreds of creatures within you. All subsumed by you, yet they retain their instincts and their presence. Souls of creatures that have existed in times past now manifest through you. I realize I would have become one of them, but I have not. Not because of my strength, or power, or nature. So… why?”

It was official. He was going to get a headache real soon. What were the odds of this demonic fire creature turning out to be a philosopher?

“Partner… Host… if you do not mind my asking, what ARE you? I feel your existence was made for slaying creatures and stealing their souls. It terrifies me.”

Omphalos, Lukas tested the word, Does the word mean anything to do?

"Should it?"

The ifrit’s confusion felt genuine. More importantly, he could already spot differences between this creature and Inanna’s. Whenever the goddess felt something, the emotion literally washed over him like tides on a shore. But Arah? He was more like someone of his own stature, if not below him. Arah recognized it was under his control, while Lukas knew he was not beyond its influence.

Its? His? Did ifrits have gender?

"We do not. Kami sprout their offspring as extensions of themselves."

That was… maybe useful. More importantly, it likely did not have access to his memories, and certainly not the comprehension of the World that Inanna possessed. If nothing else, Lukas would finally get the chance to sit at the other end of the table.

"Is it important? This Omphalos?"

I suppose we’ll find out.

"Oh we will, but you might wish to brace yourself. It seems the Others have finally taken note of you."

Lukas blinked. Then he saw it.

The clouds around his head were shifting, moving, contorting into one other. Sounds of thunder reverberated across the sky, but there was no lightning to be seen. There was a strange humming throb of energy that grew in power with every passing second right above him.

Right above his pentacle, which was… still glowing?

Oh fuck. Please don't tell me that I accidentally tried to bind that— that—

"Tell me partner," Arah asked, "how would you like to test our forged partnership against the Elder Powers of this Domain?"

“…”

"A word of advice. Unlike us mere kami, the Raiju do not need to be symbionts. They already have achieved independence. It is why they are Elder. They will not respond to your Binding the way I did, "

How would you rate yourself against them?

"I would be akin to a venomous insect. Something not worth their ire, but could also cause them quite a bit of pain if caught off guard. I'd welcome the challenge, though I must warn you. A Raiju is an avatar of destruction. My flames can bend its lightning by degrees, but I cannot guarantee the lives of your women."

Lukas grimaced. What was it with creatures of this world calling the women he associated with as his women? The last thing he needed was for Tanya — or worse, Mori — to hear that bit. The svartalfars were easy to talk to and even easier to antagonize. And as fascinating as his Outsider status was to them, he doubted it gave him that much breathing room.

"It is time."

Huh? For wh—

Before he could finish the thought, a fork of lethal lightning rained down from the heavens.

Directly into the center of the Binding Circle.

It was a miracle that all he got was a few ruffling winds lashing at him. The fact that he’d unconsciously coated himself with Lifeforce had helped.

"Raikou is here. And he does not appear to be in a forgiving mood."