“Father, can I ask you something?”

A neatly dressed child asked after slowly wiping his mouth. The Lord of Tsein who was still eating looked at his son before nodding his head.

“I… *I was wondering if I change my main cl-“

“Bruce! What did I tell you?”

“… Tamers are unrivaled as long as they possessed strong monsters…”

“And?”

“That you would help acquire them…”

“Then what are you complaining about?”

“… I want to be strong right now! Chiva is way stronger than me and…”

“Don’t bother yourself with that. She must have a middle or high ranked blessing. Although I don’t from which god, it’d explain why her parents tend to avoid matters related to the churches. And ultimately, she is a lone girl, you, on the other hand, will have the support of multiple powerful monsters. Don’t be impatient, in the future, you will be way stronger than her. For now… How is your relationship with her?”

“… She treats as a weakling and doesn’t bother saying more than few words… And… Recently she always says ‘ I would rather be with the freak than you’!”

“… Girls nowadays lack proper manners. Don’t let it bother you too much. Soon enough, she would only feel admiration towards you.”

I hope, if not, she will have to be your concubine whether she wishes for it or not…

//

A rotten smell filled the air of the slums. People with worn out clothes were leaning on the tattered wall of their ‘house’ while looking half alive. If one took a closer look, it could be seen that besides the fact that they are suffering from hunger, they were also feverish. This type of fever could be dealt with if left alone since the metabolism of most races living in the Tsein were quite resistant to it. However, they were in a very weakened state and could only wait for their incoming death in this black pit they considered their home.

A boy with blazing red hair was walking down those streets stained with differents type of liquid. Those who saw him were surprised by his clothes which were in a good state. Some’s eyes shined with greed while a few of them even had a bit of lust. However, the moment their eyes met with the young boy, they felt fishes being attracted by an attracting bait, which would lead them to an earlier death.

None of them blocked the path of the young boy and let him pass.

The boy reached its destination. A house who looked even more desolate than the others. As he entered the house, he was greeted by room bathed in a green light. Inside, there was a man. His body looked frail despite his height which nearly reached 2.5 meters. His red-brown fur was filthy and on his head, one of his horn was missing.

The man was facing the wall in front of him and didn’t bother turning his head when Mephistopheles walked in.

“What do you want?”

With a dry voice, he asked Mephistopheles intention by coming to his house.

“My name is known as Lucifer. I’ve come here because I want to offer you a chance, Belphegor.”

“Leave…”

“You shouldn’t reject me so soon… A week from now, a merchant named Gadius came here, he used the fact that you were indebted to him to force you to participate in the upcoming tournament, however you refused. But, this merchant didn’t take no for an answer and kidnapped your only daughter and your wife…”

“Shut up…”

“Both were sold as slaves to an influent family and you don’t even know whether they are still alive and well.”

“I TOLD YOU TO SHUT YOUR MOUTH KID!”

The bull man finally turned around, his eyes bloodshot while breathing roughly. However, Mephis didn’t waver. Killing the man in front of him wouldn’t be difficult considering his state, thus he was unaffected by his surge of killing intent and kept looking at him.

The bull man felt his rage growing stronger the longer he stared at the kid in front of him. All those which were enshrined in his heart started to bloom at a frightening speed, slowly taking over his mind.

“I am not here to laugh at you. I’m here to make a deal with you. I will give you the opportunity to get back everything you lost, with interest.”

The bull man felt as if a bolt of lightning struck him. His unrestrained feelings started to calm down as he looked curiously at the child in front of him.

“I don’t which god gave you your blessing, and I don’t care. I am here to offer the opportunity to follow me instead of your pathetic god.”

The bull man complexion turned in one of pure disbelief.

“You… You are a Chosen?”

Hearing his words, Mephis revealed a smile which suited a child of his age, however, the tone he used afterward didn’t fit his age.

“I am not. However, I can offer you the ability to wield a power which can make able to challenge those at the top of this world in the future. Are you interested? I mean, do you have anything left to lose?”

“… A child shouldn’t speak th-“

Before he could finish his sentence, a terrifying pressure pressed him down the ground making him unable to move.

“Can you feel that? It isn’t mana, and it isn’t your ‘divine power’. It is something else, something people would fear, something people don’t know of. I can offer it to you. You just need to abide by my 3 rules. 1st, never lie to me. 2nd, never betray me unless you want to forfeit your life. 3rd… If you accept my power, you can only kill those I deemed unworthy of their life. As long as you respect those three rules, you can do whatever you want, I don’t care.”

However, as Mephis waited for the bull man to answer he forgot for a moment that he was still pressuring him with devil’s power but he managed to stop before Belphegor’s bones turned into a pile of dust.

“… I don’t even have a choice…”

A satisfied smile appeared on Mephis’ face.

“But first, let me tell you that I am sorry. I could make you even more powerful but I’m quite limited at the moment, so I can only allow you to wield my power…”

While saying this, a gray colored glyph which had the form of an eye of a snake appeared in Mephis hand.

The glyph slowly levitated toward Belphegor before stopping in front f him.

“Accept it. Making this deal with me will change your life.”

As Belphegor looked at the glyph, the smile of his wife and his daughter appeared in his mind, making him shed tears from his dried eyes. After a few breaths, with a clear mind, he extended his hand and grasped the glyph.

Suddenly, he felt like something inside of his body break.

Multiple blue screens appeared in from of him.

System You’ve accepted the Sigil of the Devil. System Low Blessing of Sin has been obliterated. System Divine’s power has been banished from the user’s body. System Devil’s power found its dwelling inside user’s soul. System User’s bloodline has been affected. Bloodline {Beast Man- Bull race} has evolved into {Devil’s Spawn- Minotaurus}. System Basic stats have been enhanced. System All requirement have been met, Berserker class has been unlocked. System Since user’s accepted the Devil’s Sigil, Berserker evolved in Chaotic Brawler.

And another bunch of blue screens regarding skills and aptitude appeared as Belphegor was screaming. The pain he felt through his body from his blessing being shattered was too intense. The change in his bloodline and aptitude were forcing his body to be modified, transformed into something he could have never imagined.

Looking at Belphegor’s metamorphose in front of him, the smile on Mephis’ face grew wider. The first step for his plan was a success. He needed to do much more things before the fated day.

At first, he wished to storm in and wreck everything during the tournament but the fact that many powerful figures would be present and oversee the event was enough to calm him down. However, if he couldn’t do it, it didn’t mean that nobody couldn’t.

After discussing with the system, he discovered that binding someone with his sigil didn’t need him to absolutely forsake some stats for it, however, they wouldn’t receive an extra boost. But this wasn’t the decisive factor for his plan.

While he was looking at Belphegor, a dark violet grimoire suddenly appeared in front of him.

Seeing it, Mephis’ eyes shined.

Necronomicon. The book was filled with blank pages, with the first being an exception. On the first page were a picture of Belphegor’s face and his characteristics.

Necronomicon registered every person he contracted with and would allow him to interact with them, know where they are and summon them at will. With this, he could make a plan which would help him achieve his goal without putting Belphegor in too much danger… Normally.

After some time, Belphegor’s screams stop.

Steam was coming out of his body as a gray mist was slowly circulating around him.

His body had been through a drastic change. Although his height was the same as before, he didn’t look as frail as before. Every cell of his body was brimming with an unknown strength. His horns which were only a few centimeters tall before now pointed toward the sky with their 25 centimeters of length. His fur which was brown red before had recovered their previous color, a beautiful crimson. However, his black eyes turned sky blue.

If his previous body was put alongside his new body, no one could guess that they were the same people.

Looking at his first servant, Mephis was satisfied.

“So, how is it? Are you dissatisfied with this new power?”

Belphegor didn’t respond. His senses were acuter than before making him feel a bit dizzy. It was only after some time passed that he slowly nodded his head.

“And this is not all. As I said, I’ll give you the opportunity to get back everything, with interest as long as you follow me. But, for that, it is necessary for you to participate in the tournament.”

Hearing his words, Belphegor’s face became dark.

“You’re misunderstanding something. I don’t especially want you to win the tournament. But I need you to make it something people would never forget. It is necessary for my plan.”

After explaining his plan to Belphegor, the latter’s eyes became bright with excitement and a glim of killing intent could also be visible.

With both his knuckles on the ground and his face facing down, Belphegor acknowledged Mephistopheles as his Lord.

“Lord has given me a power which I couldn’t even hope to have before. Lord is willing to comply with the wishes of this lowly one. Then, from now on, this lowly shall be always loyal to Lord.”

However, Mephis waved his hands.

“Those who makes a deal with me are free as along as they abide by my rules. I don’t need you to be loyal but someone’s true to his desire. I won’t restrain your freedom with the best of my abilities. If you want to go against me or don’t agree with my methods you’re free to say it and act according to your beliefs. Why? First, we made a deal, I helped you, you will help me. Second, because I hate those who dictates people’s life. Those who thinks they’re free to do whatever they wish with other’s lives but cannot be touched. If you kill be prepared to be killed, no matter who they are, Chosen or gods…”

//

Inside his room, a man was sleeping on his bed, multiple lines of divine power surrounding his body.

A foreign strand of divine power suddenly appeared in his room and entered those divine lines.

This woke up the sleeping man. His eyes slowly opened as he analyzed what just happened.

“My blessing… was removed? A god managed to find a way to remove others’ blessings? This…”

The complexion of the man turned grim as he imagined many possibilities.

“It seems like this game is coming to an end… Someone’s growing without anyone of us aware of it… I hope it isn’t a god of that bitch’s faction.”