The day was setting, the sky turning purple and orange as the sun fell from view. Derb had just come back from the trip and was sitting on a hill next to his teacher’s home, taking in the safety of being back. They had come back that same day, amazing how teleportation could cross so many miles. Apparently, the reaper had more than enough soul power to use. At least, that’s what his teacher said. Derb still wasn’t sure if the demon cloth was actually needed and to be honest, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be answered.

His teacher had left the moment they cleaned up camp and Derb decided to just spend a few minutes outside before he went home. He kept watching the sky for a bit more until the dim soul inside him finally lit up. His imp finally wanted to come out it seemed. He closed his eyes and watched the soul of his imp, glowing a dim purple, darker and more compressed than it was before.

The fight from before had really hurt the little guy, he should have been there for it but his teacher said it’d be better to just put him away to heal. He still remembered how the fight went down, there were so many moments that could have gone wrong. His teacher had told him quite a few ways, actually. If his imp hadn’t distracted the reaper his teacher said he would have had to step in.

He willed it out, finally ready to see his imp. It had only been about 5 hours since he last saw the poor guy but it had almost died for him. He wanted it back out so he’d be able to thank it. Though he doubted it’d care. He breathed in and willed the demon to come out… And his mana was sucked out like a sponge. He gasped in pain as he bottomed out on mana. What had happened? Was Connor in trouble?

He looked at the soul again, only to gasp in surprise at the change. It was monstrous, almost on par with his wolf. The purple flames were feeding on everything it could, and Derb couldn’t give it what it wanted. He got in a meditative stance, if all Connor needed was more mana then he’d give it to him.

He focused all the mana around him as fast as he could. All he had to do was focus on bringing it to Connor, so his focus was razor-sharp. The mana around him raged like a hurricane, entering his body and channeled directly into Connor’s new form. Derb kept pushing for his imp to come out, gasping at the effort required to bring this much mana into him. For comparison, it was as if he had suddenly started lifting thrice as much weight as he normally would.

Connor’s didn’t grow anymore, his soul just trying to form outside. Eventually, both Connor and Adalia burst forth, exploding in a shower of dark blue. Derb gawked at how Connor looked, not believing what he was seeing. He stopped looking like a child bodybuilder and finally grew up… to be almost as tall as Derb. The imp was skinnier now, looking a lot less tough than before. He had even lost his muscle and that disgusting mouth of his.

“Connor?” Derb wasn't sure if it would go wild like Adalia did the first time she was summoned. He didn’t think he had to worry, however, as Connor kneeled in front of him. He got closer, taking in the features of his summon. Connor… had gotten a lot nicer looking, his face got a lot less square and took on much softer features. The wings were gone and the horns had become smaller, making him look more human than before. The horrible gaping maw he used to have was gone, replaced with lustrous, slender lips… He looked beautiful… What?

Derb jumped back, taking his sword in hand in purely instinctive action. His imp(?) Was looking at him with one eye closed, grinning slyly. Oh, HELL No! “Jesus christ, Connor! You’re not allowed to use that power on me or anyone else anymore!” Derb reeled at his thoughts, was it using a spell? Or was that just a thing he did now? His grin didn’t go away, but he nodded. “Yes, master.” He said in a light honeyed voice. This was almost as shocking as the evolution itself.

“Wait, you can… what!?” Derb dropped his sword and ran to Connor, instantly forgetting what happened. “You can speak!? Get up, what can you talk about?” ...His demon didn’t respond to the question, only getting up and staring at Derb. “Wait, you can speak right?” Connor responded with a yes, but nothing else. Derb facepalmed at what this probably meant. “Oh goddamnit, you can’t hold a conversation can you?” The demon’s smile faded, solemnly saying no to Derb.

It was disappointing knowing he could only say yes or no to him, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. “Connor, you’re a lot stronger now, right?” What about-” Before he could finish a blast of light exploded between the two of them and Derb was blown back, something he’d been weirdly getting used to. Before he had any time to react he heard his teacher’s voice.

“Get away from him you bastard!” Gerald was angry… but why? It wasn’t as if the imp had done anything… to him. Oh, shit. “Teacher! I already told him to not do anything bad!” The commotion was too loud for any communication though. Connor was snarling and flying back to escape. Gerald was trying to chain the demon with light but it kept slipping from his grasp. If he could kill it he would but he knew the boy wouldn't like that.

The air crackled around him as he conjured another ritual into the ground, one that was meant to be a trap. The demon had evolved into a small, and with that came plenty of power. His student had to have a demon evolve into an incubus of all types… The ritual was almost done until he felt something against his back.

Derb crashed into his teacher, hoping to at least knock him down. The result was the equivalent of a bike hitting a brick wall. He bounced off Gerald and fell to the floor, woozy from all the action. He came to his senses after a second only to find his teacher looming over him, lightning crackling around him in a horrible display of power. Derb just about fainted at the sight but persevered. “Teacher! I already told him not to do anything bad! He’s not going to hurt anyone.”

Gerald stood as imposingly as ever, only to sigh in exasperation. “Say that sooner. I was about ready to kill it if it had already taken you.” The lightning dissipated, and his teacher looked normal again. Connor was still Snarling in the background, glaring at Gerald with hatred. “Connor, get over here… he isn’t going to hurt you.” Surprisingly, Connor didn’t immediately follow orders. He circled the two before slowly walking forth.

“I wasn’t planning on killing it, you know. I was only planning to capture it and save you. How did you manage to resist the charm spell?” So it was a spell! He was thankful that it wasn’t just something natural to the demon. “I’m… not into dudes? I felt funny for a second but that was about it. Besides, it's my imp. It was so ugly before...” Gerald looked at him like an idiot, before closing his eyes in annoyance.

“No, I… It doesn’t matter if it was a guy or not! Incubus are kings of taking advantage of the empathy in humans. The moment you showed affection for it it should have brought you under its spell. You said its power affected you, and you just brushed it off?” Gerald was adamant about knowing what happened, but Derb couldn’t answer properly. “Maybe because it was my summon it wasn’t able to hurt me?” He was sure it was that. The contract would have sent it to the void, right?

His teacher didn’t think much of the idea. “No, incubi aren’t hurting you in the process, it’s just their nature. I don’t know how… forget it, not important. I can’t believe I took time out of my work for a false flag… If you want information about your summon, read about it> Please don’t do anything bad for a week, ok?” Taking a step forward Gerald disappeared in a flash of light, ignoring both the Incubus and Derb. “Well, that was annoying...” Derb was exhausted because of the whole ordeal, but he still felt happy at the fact his teacher came charging at the first sign of danger.

“Connor, don’t use that on anyone that’s not my enemy. Don’t use it on me either, I will cut you in half if that happens again.” Connor responded with a yes, putting his mind at ease. After a couple of minutes of interrogation, he found out more about his new incubus. He couldn’t answer anything too complicated but it wasn’t just Yes or No. His magic was stronger but he lost a lot of physical strength. Derb didn’t want to test it out near his house, so he thought he'd test it out later.

He sat next to his imp. It had gotten way smarter, almost creepily so. It was smart before but only that it could do tasks that a toddler couldn’t. Now he could see the profoundness behind its eyes. Even though it couldn’t speak very well he knew it understood everything he said much better than before. “Connor… are you sad that I caged you?” His incubus froze before frantically shaking his head no. “I… like here.” The demon squeezed the words out as if the process to say them made him choke.

Derb felt sentimental at the answer. He was scared neither of his Demons wanted to be controlled and before this, they were both too dumb to properly ask. He knew he still had one more to ask but just this was enough for now. A weight lifted from his shoulders as he hugged his incubus. It was surprising when Connor hugged back. After the sappy moment was over he got up, wiping a tear from his eye. “Enough of all that, let’s go inside now, I’m tired...?”

He looked at Adalia, still in the background as still as ever. She came out along with Connor during the resummoning and it made it so it cost an incredible amount of mana. She was a small rank as well as Derb, so these two alone would empty his mana capacity if he ever summoned them. He sighed at all the effort he went through because of her and made sure to ask his teacher how to summon the two separately.

Derb laughed, at least Hannah would be happy about meeting the wolf again. Maybe he’d scare her with Connor if the time came for it. “Adalia, I’m getting on, let’s go home.” Derb jumped on his wolf and looked over the hill and towards the darkening sky. It was a nice expedition but he couldn’t wait to see his new family.