Amelia Rosewyn closed the doors of her flower shop, spinning the key on the lock twice and hearing a solid clank and the soft buzz of the wards activating around the small building.

A few seconds later, the buzzing stopped and the wards were fully active, safeguarding her business. Of course, it wasn’t fail-proof, but it would stop any small-time thief from breaking in.

If there was someone skilled enough to bypass these wards, then that person probably had way better things to steal than a flower shop.

She had inherited the family business after her parents’ death and had been taking care of it for 2 years now, the fact that she grew up helping her parents on it made it easy to handle most aspects of it, and yet made it much painful to work in there sometimes.

The businesses in this zone had enjoyed peace and prosperity for a long time, without any significant event endangering the owners, the clientele nor the economy.

Crime rate had been low in this part of the city thanks to constant patrols and the hidden presence of the Unseen Eyes. The Empire was flourishing, both in economy and quality of life. The advancements in magical development had made their lives more comfortable, with longer and healthier lives while also providing a wide variety of entertainment.

Everyone knew that while dangers were still present, they were significantly fewer than years past, the criminals had been steadily diminishing each year, soon they would be only a thing of the past.

Amelia walked down the streets towards her apartment, streetlights gave a soft white glow enabling a clearly illuminated area, people strolled in comfortable peace, enjoying the early evening breeze.

Her home was only a few streets away from the flower shop, so she arrived in only 20 minutes. The 30-storey apartment building where she lived was called Owl Wing, one of the newest on the neighborhood; she had obtained one of the 4 apartments on the 14th floor thanks to a good use of a timely opportunity.

Her previous house, where she grew up with her parents, was now inhabited and taken care of by a friend of the family, a kind old lady who had been her nanny when she was a little girl; she visited her every weekend and even stayed over at times, but still politely refused to stay permanently, while listening through her lectures about how a 19 years old woman shouldn’t be living alone nor spending money in another house if she already had one, but there were too many memories in her old house, she was still not ready, not yet.

Now inside her apartment, she dropped her bag on a table and went to the kitchen, a snap of her fingers made the lights go on in the apartment. In a few minutes, she had a light sandwich made, which she washed down with wine. She didn’t usually drink much, but she was in a good mood today and if everything went right this wouldn’t be her only cup of the night.

After she finished her snack, Amelia went to take a shower, time was flying, and she had to prepare.

She had a date tonight.

Amelia got out of the cab as she arrived at the appointed place of her date; John Tyrwill would be waiting for her near White Dragon Restaurant, an elegant and expensive place where they would have an exquisite dinner and then… who knows.

Tonight might just be the night.

They had known each other since they were little, and had only been 'officially' dating for a few months. She didn’t know exactly when she had stopped looking at him with the same eyes as before, by the time she noticed, John had the same look in his eyes as her and they had started to look for reasons to meet in private, sneaking out to avoid Nana’s vigilance, although the old woman seemed to have known their feelings before either of them.

John was a powerful mage and had joined the Imperial Army at the age of 15, ascending the ranks due to his talent and charisma, he had fought abroad and made a fortune due to his distinguished service, even developing a clever use of wards for counterintelligence.

At the age of 21, he was already a valuable asset of the Empire, an official with a brilliant career ahead of him and a force to be reckoned with. He was terrible at cooking and liked to add caramel to his coffee, he could bind demons with a few sentences but cried like a baby whenever she practiced an armbar on him.

He complained ceaselessly when he had to do any manual labor but had knelt silently by her side in front of her parents’ tomb for a whole night.

He was constantly traveling around due to his work in the Army but came to have lunch with her almost every day whenever he was in the city.

And he looked at her with the same loving eyes as he had when they were kids taking care of plants in her parent’s flower shop.

Nana had ‘accidentally’ let slip a mention of him getting a ring a week ago, and her roundabout inquiries had been answered with a stupid grin and a ‘who knows’ on his part.

So here she was, dressed in a black velvet dress with an off-the-shoulder sweetheart neckline, fitted to enhance her figure, and a thigh-high slit on the left; he was definitely going to gape at her when he saw her.

And he will also choke on his own spit when he took a look at what she was wearing under it.

A mischievous smile grew on her face as Amelia spotted John standing at the entrance of an alley on the same street of White Dragon Restaurant; he seemed to be speaking with someone but the angle didn’t let her see the person.

Amelia sashayed in his direction, anticipating his reaction when he finally saw her. John didn’t look away from the alley entirely focused on his talk and even started to walk deeper into it.

Amelia frowned and walked faster, why was he getting into the alley? As she got closer, she heard John’s voice coming from the alley and a woman’s voice answering.

“Be a good boy and get some sleep, ok?”

Amelia heard the woman’s voice as she turned to face the alley, and was received by the image of a buxom woman in scant clothes.

Cerulean long hair cascading down her back, she had a light brown and flawlessly smooth skin; she had a black short skirt that emphasized her ample bottom, it was short enough to leave little room for imagination while still hiding her buttocks; the only thing covering her upper body was a backless top that was more like a pair of scarlet strips of silk that barely covered her breasts while leaving an ample cleavage in between, descending to her navel.

This woman possessed an entrancing figure, almost impossibly so, Amelia could only see one side of her face but that was enough to determine she was a strikingly beautiful woman. However, all her enticing attributes failed to distract Amelia from a far more important matter.

This woman was standing next to an unconscious John, who was collapsed on the floor while little translucent runes hovered over him.

Amelia opened her mouth to scream, but a cold hand closed around her neck preventing her from letting out any sound and pushed her forwards, deeper into the alley.

She raised her hand to defend herself, but with a spike of pain she felt her magic blocked. A tingling spread across her body, paralyzing her body completely.

The strange woman looked at Amelia with a bewitching smile, cold red eyes pierced at her from head to toe, examining her, leering at her. She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue.

“Oh my, aren’t you a cutie.”

The woman spoke in a voice that could have been the babbling of a river, there was a cadence to her voice, an alluring cooing that entranced those who listened to it.

A charm? John wouldn’t have fallen for it, who is this woman?

The woman approached Amelia with unnatural grace, as if they were on a catwalk for models instead of an alley.

She raised a hand and a slim finger caressed the side of Amelia’s face, slowly descending down her neck to reach the valley between her breasts, she started to playfully draw circular patterns with her finger as her face got closer to Amelia’s.

For a moment, all that existed for Amelia was those charming red eyes, she could feel her heartbeat rising due to fear, anger, and arousal at the same time.

Amelia could smell the other woman’s breath, she smelled like caramel and strawberries, Amelia’s favorite dessert. Slowly, softly, she kissed Amelia’s upper lip, as if she was afraid of hurting her, choosing to delicately relish the act.

At that moment, something started to creep up Amelia’s left leg but she couldn’t look away from the red eyes in front of her.

The cold sensation of scales on her skin gave her goosebumps as a long snake spiraled up her calf, knee, and thigh; like attracted by the heat between her legs, the snake turned its head and slithered over until it was placed over the front part of her thong.

Amelia shivered as fear overcame everything else, she desperately tried to muster her mana, but it was to no avail, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t scream, and the entrance to the alley was definitely warded to avoid being noticed, no one would come to rescue them.

She was powerless to avoid being used as a plaything by this woman.

Amelia’s mind raced as the pieces fell into place, only one female creature she knew possessed such alluring qualities with a propensity to violation in the dark.

Succubus!!

“Ohh, so you noticed. You Druids were always such sensitive girls, in more than one sense.”

The demon purred and placed her mouth next to Amelia’s ear.

“Yes, I am a Succubus. We are gonna have a delightful time.”

The succubus nibbled on Amelia’s ear and grabbed her buttock with one hand as she slipped the other hand under Amelia’s cleavage, catching her nipple between her index and middle fingers.

That’s when Amelia heard a voice, but it didn’t bring any comfort or hope.

A man’s voice came from right behind her, the owner of the cold hand that held her throat all this time.

“Stop wasting time, the Master awaits.”

The cold, emotionless voice of the succubus’ accomplice somehow seemed to carry with it a tinge of irritation and boredom.

“Oh, come on. We have time, the ceremony won’t start anytime soon.”

Answered the succubus with her sexy voice as she kissed Amelia’s neck.

It happened too fast.

The hand loosened Amelia’s neck and a shadowed figure went around her, grabbed the succubus by the hair and yanked her away from Amelia.

The man then spun and slammed the succubus face into the wall, turned and slammed her again into the opposite wall.

“Do not contradict me, Niira.”

Said the man in the same cold voice.

The succubus looked up at him with a bloody nose, still looking impossibly attractive despite the wound.

“Harder.”

She moaned.

The man stood there, looked at her quietly and let go of her hair.

Her smug smile didn’t last long.

He placed a hand on her neck and she opened her mouth but no sound came out, then he pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the belly.

Amelia was sure that the succubus would have let out a desperate wail if she had been able to scream.

Niira’s eyes bulged and she threw back her head, opening mouth in a horrible grimace of pain, arched her back while having uncontrollable spasms.

The knife on her belly burned her insides, letting out a light smoke with a smell of sulfur.

A few seconds later, the man pulled the knife out of the succubus, spun it on his hand and making it disappear in a single swift motion.

He let go of Niira’s throat and she knelt on the ground, gasping for air.

“I won’t repeat myself.”

Hearing his words, Niira stood up and turned to Amelia. She placed a finger on Amelia’s forehead and sighed.

“Sorry, sweetheart. We might have had so much fun, but we can’t due to some meddlesome guy. Sleep.”

And Amelia’s world went dark.

Underneath the city, beyond a series of tunnels and catacombs, lies an ancient ritual ground. Layer upon layer of wards and magical arrays had been placed here across centuries, The Society had invested a lot of resources on this project, too many lives had been claimed, too much blood had been spilled and too much was at stake.

For in this ancient place of power, they will be summoning an Archdemon tonight and bind it.

That was the plan for most of the participants on this ritual, at least. The leader of this group of practitioners had different plans in mind.

Tonight he would stake it all in one final bet with the Archdemon, and let it inside himself to claim its powers.

Most mortals and even the so-called immortals would think this as madness, but Aaron Septheld was very sane, he had prepared for decades for this moment, while other members of The Society had blindly obeyed orders and kept a distance due to awe, reverence, and fear for the Archdemon they worshipped, Aaron had spoken to it directly and stroke a bargain with it, he had led The Society for years and had arranged what was necessary for the summoning.

The Archdemon would be descending upon this arcane grounds and the acolytes hoped to obtain gifts of power and knowledge from it.

Aaron had convinced it of this bet: Aaron would willingly let it enter him and attempt to possess him, which would provide it a far better vessel than otherwise with a great deal of freedom and power if it succeeded on the possession; at the same time, Aaron would attempt to subdue it completely, to bind it to his will and trap it within the confines of his body with a series of wards and arrays.

The Archdemon would use Aaron as a way to achieve freedom in this Plane, and Aaron would use it as a keystone in his path to Apotheosis.

They both knew the risks and neither trusted the other, but the potential profit made it worth the danger.

Aaron stood in the center of a vast chamber, the dome over his head was filled to the brim with arrays of different effects, containment, concealment, defense, counter-scrying, and many more nasty surprises for anything and anyone who tried to disturb the ceremony.

On the ground, alchemy and spellcraft had weaved a masterpiece, runes painted with the lifeblood of hundreds and formations carved into the ground using treasures of unspoken value.

Rows of precious materials served as catalyzers, stabilizers, and augmenters for the spells, almost a hundred mages of different specializations were placed here, experts in diabolism and wizardry poured their efforts into the success of tonight.

And on the center of it all, in a circle bubbling with dark powers was a single stone platform where the final element of the ritual laid unconscious: a female Druid, one of a kind that was extremely rare within the Empire, she would be the final sacrifice for the summoning. This woman might have been working as a simple florist but the power in her blood was undeniable; she wasted her potential by turning her back to the active practice of magic, but Aaron would put it to use for a greater purpose tonight.

Aaron stood by the side of the sacrifice, as the single isle of calm in the middle of the storm of magic. Six long polearms that ended in sharp claws were standing forming a circle a few meters in front of him, at the precise center of the whole array.

Those were old cursed artifacts of terrible and great power, created by the servants of the Hells in ages past, they were indestructible by anything Aaron knew and their very presence tainted the environment, life, and magic alike.

The diabolists finished their chants and the six claws vibrated with power, like children shivering in excitement for meeting their parent, like loyal servants finally fulfilling their duties after an eternity of waiting.

Infernal aura arose from the artifacts and merged together to rip a wound into the world, the claws jumped into the air and pulled at the air from six different directions, opening a portal to the Depths of Hell.

And from beyond the fire, darkness, and brimstone of the portal, something heeded the call.

Every mage in the ritual ground felt it, the moment the Archdemon cast its sight upon them, they felt a weight on their chests, the crushing pressure of the stare of a beast beyond their power and comprehension, the same beast they were attempting to subdue right now.

It laughed, and its laughter was slaughter, blood spilling and flesh torn apart, the promise of madness and ruin to all it beheld.

Aaron stood tall, the wards on his body activated as the ritual array flared to the maximum, he was ready.

“And so we have a deal.”

Spoke the chief diabolist with steel in his voice, unwavering.

“Let the contest begin, Septheld. Winner takes all.”

The devil on the other side was visible as it spoke, its horrible form was vast and mighty; over 6 meters tall, dark gray skin on its torso, head, and legs, with six black arms that ended in sharp claws, two scarlet horns extended from its forehead and curved to point behind its head, wide impossibly green eyes with red vertical pupils and a wide grin showing rows of sharp teeth.

Aaron knew that this might not be the true form of this Archdemon, but that it might have simply chosen to appear in that form, it didn’t matter. He had no interest in looking at this abomination’s true form.

He raised the knife to end the life of the woman lying on the stone platform in front of him and swung it down, aiming at her heart.

It was now, it would all end tonight or it would all begin.

This moment would be the pivot of his new life as a power to be feared by everyone in the Seven Spheres or he would die consumed by the Archdemon.

He struck down with the knife, but his hand stopped as an ethereal sound filled the chamber.

Aaron raised his head to look at the Archdemon, but it looked even more surprised than him, and Aaron might be going crazy, because he thought he saw panic in the face of the devil.

“Swing the knife! Do it, kill her! NOW!”

The Archdemon screamed at him, despair was filling its voice and it was not able to hide it, it was trembling in fear.

“I can’t move.”

Aaron managed to force those words out of his mouth as he watched the portal begin to shift and become tainted with something else.

He knew this feeling, it was when someone intercepted scrying spells and hacked them to either gain access to information or in extreme cases even take control of the spells, enabling to even harm the parties involved.

But this was a summoning ritual, a connection with an Archdemon residing in one of the Hells. Besides, there were numerous arrays for protection in place to avoid such a situation from happening.

Even another Archdemon wouldn’t be able to take advantage of this ritual to step into this Plane.

Aaron watched with a sickening mix of fascination and fear as the Archdemon panicked, screaming dark words in the Devil Tongue and attempting to close the connection as a tinge of violet filled the portal, permeating it and trapping the Archdemon.

The violet hue was contaminating the portal.

What in all the Planes and Hells could possibly contaminate infernal power?

“You! Get away from me! What are you doing here!”

The Archdemon roared in anger and frustration, but it sounded more like a pleading cry of mercy.

“Monster! Destroyer! Demon’s Bane!! Abomination!!”

Aaron heard all the demons The Society had on his side start to whimper like kicked puppies, like scared kittens in front of a monster.

And what kind of existence could the demons consider a monster to be feared?

The Archdemon cried in pain as the violet hue surrounded it, entered it and broke it from the inside.

It shouted one last word and all demons dropped to the ground and started to beg for mercy in different languages.

“CHAOIST!!”

It was shredded to pieces amidst cries of anguish and every mage in the chamber was already trembling in place, making every effort to move even a single step while being utterly unable to run away.

Now, that was a word that struck too close to every practitioner of the Arcane, no mage of worth would be ignorant about what that word meant.

The title of the Lord of Magic, the man closest to becoming the actual God of Magic, legends about him abounded, great and mystifying, his origins were unknown to most, the tales of his deeds were numerous and described wonders and terrors.

Some said he was the son of Chaos itself, some claimed he had been at the Source of Magic and drank from its secrets. It was considered a hard fact by all mages that his control, knowledge, and mastery of the different forms of magic were peerless.

An existence of legends that was almost at the level of the Gods themselves.

And he was coming here… no, he was already here.

After the Archdemon was obliterated, the portal changed completely, opening to a different location, a light of many colors blazed out of the gate and the six claw-like artifacts that held the portal crumbled into ashes as a figure crossed over to this Plane.

The man that appeared in front of the members of The Society could only be described as otherworldly.

He was dressed in robes of purple and silver, with raven hair dark as moonless night that seemed to hug the sides of his neck, white skin as jade, sharp features and bright, sparkling eyes of a deep heliotrope color.

He stood tall with his back straight, a light smile on his full lips, he didn’t move his head yet every person present was certain that he was looking at them all at the same time.

He was watching them, seeing through them, and there was nothing they could do to stop him.

Aaron tried to speak, but couldn’t even breathe anymore.

The Lord of Magic finally turned his eyes to Aaron but instantly disregarded him, turning his attention to the woman that would have been sacrificed for this ritual.

The many runes painted on her for the ritual seemed to liquefy and trickled down from her body to the ground disappearing a mere second later.

“This is an interesting array, flawed of course, as it depends on sacrifices to work, but interesting nevertheless.”

The Chaoist spoke with an amused look on his face, his voice was melodious, vigorous and mystifying, as if Arcane magic was permeating his every word.

He opened his mouth and the entire set of arrays in the chamber, even the ones on the ceiling, shone and separated from the surface where they were carved, leaving it smooth. The magic formations then shrank quickly until they were but a small dot of light which entered his mouth.

No trace of the runes or magic were left on the chamber, no mark on the walls, ground nor ceiling. Every member of The Society fell to the ground, including Aaron who felt as if air had left his lungs, as if heat had abandoned the blood on his veins, he felt drained of mana yet he still had his mana pool intact.

This sensation was a consequence of being in the presence of such greater being, like a tiny firefly being outshined by the Sun.

Aaron crawled away and saw that others were trying the same.

The Archmage took one step forward.

Every demon in the chamber let out a pathetic whimper, they were terrified; how could demons be so terrified of someone?

He took a second step, and every demon was squashed and then burned in a silent flame that consumed them in an instant.

A third step and Aaron and the others mages finally were the object of his attention. They all fell flat to the ground feeling as if the vault of heaven was crushing them, some were bleeding by their noses, eyes, and ears.

“Mercy, please. I offer you anything, everything!”

Aaron managed to let out and was seconded by the rest of the diabolists, or those strong enough to manage to speak.

A single word by the living legend in the room silenced them, and crushed all their hopes of survival.

“No.”

The Chaoist took a fourth step, and they died, becoming less than dust.

Simple, effortless, and absolutely overpowering.

Arian Rohinel stood in front of the kidnapped woman who would have been a sacrifice to summon an Archdemon if he hadn’t interfered, and let out a sigh.

it was pure coincidence that he had arrived here, since he had been looking for an exit from the Nether Realms when he noticed the connection formed here and simply took advantage of it.

Of course, he had been taught to not believe in simple coincidences for beings on his level of power.

He stretched his arms and yawned, then massaged his neck.

“I can’t tell if you are lucky or unlucky, but you are safe now, so let’s count it as something good.”

He placed a finger on her forehead and read her recent past. She hadn’t been hurt besides the altercation with a succubus, even on the way here or inside the chamber when they placed runes on her to prepare for the ritual.

Good.

“Let’s get you out of here.”

In an instant, he was on the surface, in front of an abandoned old church. The woman, Amelia, was floating by his side.

“I know this is Pereastra, but where? Ah, the Fourth Sphere. Nice place.”

Arian looked at the night sky, at the pale blue moon above. He could feel it, the absence there. The Goddess of the Moons was gone now, and though to most people the moons seemed the same, Arian was powerful and knowledgeable enough to notice the difference.

He felt a bit of nostalgia, and was about to teleport with Amelia to the last location where she saw her boyfriend when a sudden movement in the Void and a light pull on his Core made him pause.

Only two people in the whole Cosmos could do that.

The first of those appeared in front of him with a soft flash of light, a Thought-construct exquisitely fused with a marvelous formation by a transcendental power.

He recognized the work instantaneously, even before the figure could take form completely.

His Master figure stood barely a few steps by his side, smiling confidently as always.

“It’s been a while, Arian.”

Navin Lakar spoke with a kindness he had reserved for very few people in existence.

Arian couldn’t stop the smile that formed on his face nor did he want to, he smoothly knelt in front of his Master and kowtowed, there was no hurry in him, yet his sincere admiration, respect, and love for the man who had raised him since he was a little baby was visible in every action and movement.

“Disciple meets Teacher.”

Arian spoke and rose his head, his Master was already signaling for him to stand up.

“Come here, kid.”

Navin embraced his First Disciple tightly and they patted each other on the back. Only he would ever call Arian ‘kid’, even the Old Gods had been forced to recognize him as a powerful being worthy of consideration and even respect.

And Arian felt absolutely no discomfort in being called such by the man that was in every aspect that really mattered, his father. And he was certain Adeline felt the same, though Navin made a point of not calling them any funny names in front of others.

“How have you been?”

“Everything fine on my side, Master. The array withstood the backlash and prevented the Hells from breaching into other planes, and the pressure was promptly lifted.”

“I see. I managed to hold the leash of the forces of the Cosmos shortly after the Cataclysm started, but I couldn’t prevent them from rampaging almost everywhere, all worlds and races had been hit in one way or another. Some in truly catastrophic ways.”

Arian looked at his Master, he seemed tired, even on this Nirmita of his. It had been a couple of centuries since the last time they had met, when his Master had gone to the Divine Realm for an all-out war among the Divinities and Arian had stayed in the Deep Nether to serve as a countermeasure in case the death of Divinities and the ensuing chaos could make the Hellish Planes to harm other worlds.

It was an old plan, one for a worst-case scenario, his Master had planned for the possibility of his own death, and taken steps taking that consideration.

Thousands of years ago, his Master had waged war against the Nine Nether Planes, the region of the Cosmos that housed the Hells, he had managed to seal off that part of the Cosmos temporarily, and slew the six top powerhouses of the demons, while Arian and Adeline slaughtered their underlings, starting a massive hunt and massacre of demons across the Infernal Planes.

They had brought hell to the demons, the result was that the demons had been crippled in a way that had never been seen before, with no surviving demon above Stage 5 of Cultivation.

That had been over three thousand years ago, now new demons had emerged, but none that could really pose a threat to the Cosmos, and demons still remembered.

The fear to Arian especially had been carved deep into them, as he had hunted them down to a greater extent than Adeline, to the point that it had been inherited to the next generations of demons; the instinctual dread for the Chaoist was now part of their bloodlines, part of their souls.

Arian had become the Natural Enemy of Demons, a predator against which they had no chance.

In retrospect, it seemed his Master had been planning and preparing for that war for far longer than Arian had known.

Who knew what other measures he had taken?

Arian had entered the Hell Planes again 300 years ago, to control a vast array formation meant to once again contain the Nine Nether and prevent the demons from adding to the chaos.

And 200 years ago, the war among Divinities had started.

The effects to the Cosmos had been small at first, some positions in Pantheons across the Universes were heritable and thus the death of a god meant that it was replaced quickly, but it wasn’t like that for Greater Divinities.

When those died the effects would be felt in the whole Cosmos, though the fact that the chaos had been kept at bay up until it all blew up together probably meant that his Master was right about the nature of the Seal of the Cosmos and the underhanded methods used by the Sovereign of the Gods.

The fact that Arian could not remember who or what that Sovereign was, was a sign of Karmic Annihilation and he had attributed it to the Sword of Nihility of his Master.

He would have liked to have left immediately to search for his Little Sister and his Master, but it had taken him days to stabilize the array completely.

His Master had survived the war, he had won the war, it had taken 200 years, but he was back.

However, Arian knew things were not so easy, this Nirmita in front of him implied something that the Chaoist did not like in the slightest.

“Don’t worry, Arian.”

Navin put a hand on Arian’s hair and lightly patted his head, then rubbed his hair, like a parent soothing a little kid.

“I know you are worried, and yes, I’m heavily wounded, but I’ll be fine, I just need to rest for some time. I already took elixirs and will search for things to concoct more healing panaceas, but it will still take long to fully recover.”

Arian looked at his Master with worry, but knew that he was right, so long as he was alive, he would recover eventually.

"I will tell you all about it when we reunite with Adeline, ok?"

“Yes, Master.”

Navin smiled and then looked at the unconscious woman next to them.

“Friend of yours?”

“Ah, no. Wait a bit.”

Arian made Amelia float again and took a step, appearing instantly in the alley where her boyfriend John was collapsed. There were runes of concealment in the alley, making people unconsciously look away from the alley and avoid it, those were placed by the demons. Above John, there was a small runic array, probably of his own making, that gave him a light protection from damage, prevented mental assault, and would send a signal of his death to a specified location if it happened.

A clever lad, this one. This small runic array had probably saved his life, the succubus and her partner couldn’t risk having Imperial Agents warned that something was happening, they didn’t have that much freedom in the orders they had been given.

Speaking of the succubus… she hadn’t been in the chamber of the summoning and neither had been the other man.

Arian looked at the unconscious couple and read their Karma Lines, these two were a fated couple, that much was made obvious immediately.

And two very thin threads of Karma connected them to the succubus and her partner. Just as Arian was looking at them, the thread became so thin it was almost broken.

“Heh, those two seem to have a brain after all.”

Such a thin line of Karma was a sign that they wouldn’t meet again, it wasn’t absolute, but unless a really powerful being intervened, the chances were practically zero. The succubus and the other man were probably running away as fast as they could upon feeling the death of her summoner.

Arian would kill them later.

He took John too and with just another step they were inside Amelia’s apartment, these two had lost their evening due to tonight’s events, but at least they were alive and safe now. They could have more dates in the future.

With a wave of his hand, he erased the memories of the last few hours and gave them a fake memory of meeting near the restaurant, fighting off the succubus and her partner together and returning to her apartment then falling asleep due to tiredness.

He left them sleeping in a hug on the sofa of her living room.

Arian returned to his Master’s side and looked into the underground catacombs then snapped his fingers.

The succubus and her partner fell to the ground, unconscious. The two idiots hadn’t escaped yet, Arian decided to leave them there to be interrogated by Imperial Agents, and if the Empire was anything like it was a couple centuries ago, they would already be mobilizing to this position. Mere minutes had passed since he took the arrays from the ritual site.

He thought for a moment and draw a rune then sent it underground, a small note for the Emperor would suffice, they had always been on good terms, a little ‘you owe me one more’ note wouldn’t hurt.

“I’m done, Master. what now?”

Arian turned to his Master and asked, if his Master had come here, it meant that he knew he would cross planes to here, how he knew was a matter of much speculation in many debates between him and Adeline, but it mostly could be summarized in Adeline’s maxim: ‘Master is Master’.

“Let’s go meet up with your Second Sister.”

“Alright, where is she?”

“Thessei.”

“What’s she doing there?”

“Let’s find out.”

Navin made a sphere that covered him and Arian, and prepared to teleport.

“And why did you call her Second Sister instead of Little Sister?”

“Because I have taken 2 other Disciples.”

Navin gave him a broad smile. Arian looked at him in utter surprise.

“Congratulations, now you have a new Third Sister and Fourth Brother.”

Navin snapped his fingers and started the teleportation.

“YOU WHAT!!?”

And they left to another world.