The mages had completed their summoning rituals and had run out of sacrifices. The brown eyed mage sat down on the floor, his body shaking from exhaustion. The older mage and the younger were discussing something in hushed tones he couldn’t quite make out, but from the way the younger mage was shifting his weight from foot to foot clearly meant he was uncomfortable.

The mage sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing at them with balled fists. He was tired, but they had only accomplished the first part of their mission. They had summoned the warriors but now they needed to control them. The dangerous beasts that could have broken out of their cells were sedated with [Sleep Nettle], it was an uncommon herb that they had refined and used to create a powerful sedative. While many of the creatures were immune they still had many ways to keep them contained, from spell wards all the way to soul bindings.

He sighed and stood up from his resting position, he wanted to stay longer but he feared gaining the ire of their leader. Knowing what was to come next he stalked over to the other two mages who had fallen silent, “Are we to begin the taming process?”

The older mage glared at him, “Aye. Let’s go.” the three of them walked in a line towards the summons room. Yet before they left they raised a stone wall to block off the no longer needed sacrifice prison. They arrived in the summons room to the sound of banging and howling. The room was dark but all of them had long ago activated their mid level spell, [Night Eyes], it allowed them to see in the dark, and made their eyes glow a menacing grey.

Though they could see well enough with the spell they preferred the flickering of torchlight, although they wished for magelight they didn’t want to waste mana. Unseen torches blazed to life on the walls at the mages command, revealing rows upon rows of cages.

In each cage was a different creature, they had a wide range of warriors. It put a smile on the brown eyed mage’s face at a job well done. Some of the creatures they had never seen before, but many were easy to identify. Multiple treants stood solemnly in their cages while, lanthers paced restlessly, their tails swishing back and forth in the air.

Some beasts seemed to be in a deep sleep induced by their [Sleep Nettle] sedative, and there was only one creature in the cells that looked fully human. The reason for that was that humans had low affinities until they increased them on their own, and the ritual only summoned creatures with high affinities, but by the time humans had high affinities they also had the ability to resist the summons. It was for this reason the three mages looked at the sleeping man suspiciously.

The man in question was sound asleep in his cage, face down ass flying proudly in the wind. Each of the mages had their own theory on what manner of creature could have such a monstrously high affinity and yet such a low level. All of them came to the conclusion that they must have summoned some manner of fiend from the depths of the abyss with the ability to disguise its race and level.

The reason for this was that no known creature or living being besides demons that had ever managed to get a Madness Affinity to above 50%. It was massively difficult to raise your Madness affinity and even if you did, many of those who had had met terrible ends. The Mad Mage Caltrix had drowned in a vat of glue when trying to create a ‘sticky golem’, the Invincible Insane Beast of the Trilton Hills had tripped over a log and snapped it’s neck whilst fleeing from a pack of rabbits. The fact this creature was still breathing meant it had to be some manner of demon.

This was why they had decided to break its will last. They had come to the agreement that soul binding wouldn’t work on a demon, as they were notoriously hard to subdue. While many of the beasts could be beaten, coerced or otherwise tricked into becoming a subservient slave, demons were known to be the most difficult.

They had a wide range of ways to control creatures magically, make them your familiar, use will dampening collars, etch a control mark into its soul. Yet nearly all of these were originally developed by demons, which was one of the many reasons they were the hardest to control. The oldest mage grumbled and made his way along the lines of summoned warriors, skirting away from outstretched claws and bared fangs.

He pointed to three different creatures, one for each of the mages to break. The first was the treant that had tried to attack the youngest mage, he had asked to break that one. The oldest mage chose a drakil for himself, a medium sized cat of prey with drake like wings and a scaled hide. He then chose a massive rat with a high plague affinity for the brown eyed mage, there was nothing of particular note about this creature so it would be perfect for the weakest of the three mages.

Each of the mages whisked their summon away to separate rooms, they were bare except for a stone slab raised on a dais in the center. The air was stale and dry but would soon reek of blood and desperation. The blue eyed mage smiled widely as he took his subdued treant into his room, he bound it to the slab with glowing blue chains. Each chain seemed to freeze the bark that it touched and small tendrils of frozen air wafted off them like smoke.

The youngest mage caressed the rough bark with a hand, the treant bucked and flailed trying to break free but the chains held. There were many ways to break a treant, most of which just involved leaving it in a place with little to no water and sunlight and waiting until it weakened. The blue eyed mage didn’t want to wait.

“We’re going to have so much fun you and I. So much fun.” he began to pluck the leaves one by one from the creature's body sending it into more violent spasms.

The mage reached into his robe and withdrew a small blade, it had an ornate handle and the blade itself was covered in frost. He loomed over the treant and slowly drove the blade into its abdomen, twisting as it went. The creature cried louder and louder until the ground seemed to shake, this made the mage only smile wider. Green iridescent sap leaked out from around the blade, pooling on the stone before sloshing off the edge and onto the floor.

The mage withdrew the blade and started to saw the legs and arms, smiling wickedly to himself. He was truly glad he was allowed to break a treant, most creatures were so frail, but he could do whatever he wanted to to break the beast’s will. It didn’t matter how much he hurt the creature, as long as he kept it alive. Because no matter what he broke, no matter what he cut off, and no matter how much it screamed and roared, it would all just grow back. He smiled wider yet.

Multiple days had passed since the creatures had started disappearing from their cages and returning later with a dull look in their eyes. Some had silver collars bolted around their neck, and others still had visible wounds on their bodies. The more intelligent creatures had since noticed their compatriots come back different, but by the time they did it was already too late.

There no longer were the sounds of howling and animalistic screaming, instead there was the steady intake of breath and a placid desperation that hung in the air. There were no more creatures that needed to be broken in and controlled, except for the still sleeping man in one of the cells. He had woken several times, muttering something nonsensical, before falling fast asleep. The three mages stood around his cage warily.

If they were right and he was a demon, then that meant they were going to need to pull out their best tactics.

A gruff voice sounded out, “Take him to the main chamber.” the middle and youngest mage nodded silently before using a sleep spell in tandem, their words overlapping and morphing together.

The ‘human’ in the cell didn’t move a muscle and remained asleep, they slowly dissolved the cage and summoned their bound familiars. The youngest summoned a whirling storm of freezing wind that cupped the unconscious creature and carried him, while the middle mage summoned a humanoid flame elemental that singed the ground where it stood and let off a sulphur like smell.

They brought the man to the main torture chamber, a rounded room with rough walls, and lit torches that flickered to life near the entrance. Similar to the other chambers this one had a raised stone slab in the center where the two mages bound the creature with red and blue chains. After checking if the restraints were secure the older mage strolled in with a black leather pack slung over his shoulder.

He lay the pack on the ground and slowly withdrew the implements within, the other two mages let out a rushed breath at the sight. Inside were countless types of tools, from saws with rough edges, to blades with edges that could cut cleanly through paper. Deeper in the bag were numerous vials filled with multicolored liquid, and deeper still was a silver collar with strange runic symbols pulsing with light across the brim.

He withdrew the tools and lay them out neatly on a raised stone platform that had shot out of the ground at his command. After making minute adjustments to make sure they were all in order he stood up and straightened his robe, “Wait here. Inform me when it wakes.”

The two mages nodded silently again, and took position on either side of the stone slab. The room smelled of sulphur, and it was unnaturally cold and hot at the same time, due in part to the elementals that waited alongside their masters.

The mages that were watching the prisoner had begun to get bored, the sleep spell should have worn off ages ago but the man still slept as peacefully as ever. “Shouldn’t he be up by now?” the youngest mage asked whiningly.

“Yes, I don’t quite understand why he isn’t up yet…” replied the other quizzically.

“Should we stab him?” he fingered the tip of his knife excitedly.

“Maybe we should just wait a while longer, don’t want to anger the old man.” the youngest mage paled slightly at the thought of their leader getting angry with them.

“I don’t think I can wait much longer. I might be going mad.” the youngest complained again. The other mage sighed heavily.

“I’ll go ask.” with that statement he straightened up and strutted out of the room.

The man’s eyes cracked open slightly, it seemed he was trying to hide the fact he was awake, but he wasn’t doing very well as the mage saw him near instantly. “Aha! You’re awake!”

“Nope, still sleeping.” the man named Tobias replied.

The mage looked at him, confusion written on his face. “But you’re talking to me. You can’t be asleep.”

Obnoxiously loud fake snoring noises filled the room, the blue eyed mage grumbled loudly and stalked away to inform the other two mages. They would be here soon enough, but if the older mage came in to the sound of obviously fake snoring he might fly into a rage.

Nearly as soon as he exited the room he stumbled directly into the path of the two mages, “He’s awake and faking sleep.” he stated, staring at his boots expectantly.

“Good.” the voice of the oldest mage hissed out and sounded more like a snake than a man.

They walked together back into the torture room, their feet beating out a quick staccato rhythm on the hard stone floor. The beat stopped abruptly as they entered the torture room, the youngest and middle mage gasped at what they saw, while the oldest roared furiously, “Seize him!”

The two mages were too stunned to do anything but gape openly, the man they had bound in multiple layers of magical chain and who they had under guard was now pacing around the room. He looked at the walls like they held the greatest tapestries known to man.

Further adding to the mages confusion was the lack of their elementals, while the chains lay empty on the stone slab, their summoned familiars were nowhere to be seen. The man who was studying the walls with the utmost focus didn’t notice the intrusion of three highly dangerous mages. “You useless fools! I said seize him!”

The mages, finally broken from their stupor, charged forward. The middle mage had a furiously burning ball of flame in his right hand that hissed and spat, while the other had multiple shards of ice floating dangerously around him. “Stand down foul demon or be smote!”

The ‘demon’ looked over towards them, his eyes growing wide at the sight of floating icicles and a man holding a ball of flame with seemingly no harm. “Wow! That’s so cool! How’re you doi-” he paused and looked curiously at the youngest mage, “Did you just say ‘smote’?” A crooked grin split across his face and manic laughter spilled like a river from his lips.

“He said smote! Haha! What is this? Some kind of crusade?” he burst out laughing again, the two mages looked at eachother, confusion warring with anger on their faces.

“I said stand down beast, or I shall pierce your legs and he shall burn the skin from your body!” the youngest mage had gone with anger, and his words echoed off the walls.

The oldest mage in the back stood stock still, torn between ripping apart his idiot subordinates or silencing the annoying demon. His decision never came as the man covered his face with one hand and clutched at his belly with the other, “I’m so-sorry.” he gasped out between labored breaths, his body shaking from laughter. “You guys are so serious about this, and you set up such a nice room for me. I may as well be kind and proper.”

With that statement, and tears leaking from his eyes, he sat down on the stone slab and pulled the inescapable magic chains over his body like a blanket. The two mages in the front seemed even more shocked, if that was possible, at the scene. From experience their threats never seemed to work, so this demon going along with it, and for such a stupid reason as to be ‘proper’, was boggling their mind.

The two mages looked back towards their leader for guidance, “You guys can have this one. I’ll stand guard.” the leader opted out of the duty to somehow break this creature’s will. “Begin.”

The blue eyed mage cleared his throat, “You have no chance of escape foul wretch. Bind yourself to our command and you will not suffer.” while he may have wanted to hurt the demon at least a little bit, he decided to follow instruction with the old mage so close by.

“Nah.” the man-demon said, removing his hand from under the chains and wiping a remaining tear from his cheek.

“How did you do that?” the middle mage asked, pointing wildly at the demon.

“Do what?”

“That!” he said pointing at his free arm.

“What?”

“Tha-” the old mage cut him off by clearing his throat, “I mean. How did you free your arm?” he looked back towards the old mage who made a ‘more’ motion with his hand.

“Tell me how, or I’ll peel your skin off like a fruit!” he looked back to the old mage who nodded.

“Oh.” the man said, understanding dawning on his face, “Like this.” he said putting his arm back under the chains and slowly removing it from its binding.

“This is impossible, those demon binding chains should bind any demon up to the archfiend rank.” the middle mage muttered, he looked towards the youngest mage and oldest mage, and saw the same fearful expression on their faces.

If this was true, then they had accidentally summoned a Demon Prince, and if that was the case they needed better restraints, or all their lives were forfeit. The youngest mage and middle mage had nothing more powerful than the restraints they had already used, and so they looked at their leader expectantly.

He sighed and raised his arm, chanting out harsh words that grated against everyone's ears. Small motes of light flickered into existence around his hand and he made a pushing motion and sent them spiralling towards the demon.

The motes were part of a high level demonology skill called, [Binding Boost], this spell did as its name said and boost any binding to nearly triple its power. If a binding meant for an archfiend that became tripled in strength wasn’t enough for this demon than there was no reason for any of them to expect to see the next morning.

As the bright white light reached the blue and red chains they seemed to get sucked in. The chains rattled loudly and grew in size, before rotating and closing in on the demon like a vise. “Ooh. Cozy, I can’t even move anymore.” said the bound demon with a lazy smile.

Sighs of relief were let out at that, though they were still on their toes as demons were known to lie. The youngest mage stumbled forward, and very carefully laid a finger on the chain. He coated his hand in mana that mimicked the abyss, and gave the chain a tug. An informational screen flashed in his vision, telling him the chains were strong enough for a fledgling Demon Prince. He looked back and gave his companions a tired smile and a thumbs up.

“Soooo… What’re we doing here friendos?” asked the now securely bound demon.

The middle mage stepped forward and stood alongside the other mage, “We are here to offer you a deal. Maybe now that you can’t escape you will reconsider.” he paused, letting the suspense build, “If not, we are going to have to hurt you, really, really badly.”

“Nah, I’m good. I think I’ll just hang here.” the man went back to studying the rock formations on the ceiling and muttering to himself, or the voices, it's hard to tell.

“You may act tough now, but once we begin you will wish you hadn’t.” the youngest mage threatened.

“I’m not the biggest fan of pain, but I’m a pretty avid consumer. I bought the daily issue, they deliver it right to your home.” he giggled.

“Very well, we warned you.” the two mages stepped away towards the torture implements.

“Yup, you did do that, didn’t you.” he took a deep breath and yelled, “Let’s get this started! My friends are getting bored!”

The youngest mage picked up a sharp looking object with a curved hook at the end, while the middle mage picked up a vial of some red blood like liquid and a needle. He tapped the vial menacingly and stepped back towards the stone slab. Wordlessly he extracted some of the liquid into the needle and looked towards his partner.

The younger mage had a wolf like smile across his face as he preened over his hook. He stepped towards the demon and snapped his fingers, the chains disappeared from vision, but still held the demon tight. “I’m going to need your hand.”

The youngest mage grasped the demon's hand and placed the edge of the hook under its middle finger’s nail. He wedged it deep under the nail until blood trickled down the blade, “Last chance to reconsider, just give us your undying servitude, and this” he indicated the finger “can all go away.”

“Let’s get on with this.” the man smiled wider than even the mage, “It looks like fun.”

“I’m glad you think so.” he replied wolfishly, “I think it sounds like fun too.”

With that statement he levered up the hook, slowly lifting the nail until it reached the edge of its containment within skin. The skin around the nail started to rip, small string like pieces of flesh clung to the edges of the nail until they too snapped. The restrained man winced and held in a breath, he looked at the blood welling out of the wound and bit his bottom lip. He bit his lip too deeply and it cut into it, blood welled out and onto his tongue.

A strangely excited moan escaped his lips and he muttered too quietly for anyone to hear, “Oh yesss…”

The blue eyed mage, mistaking his pleasure for pain continued to pry the nail until it popped off sickeningly. At that point the other mage came over with the needle and stuck it into the open wound, the blood like liquid was injected into the flesh and the man let out a rushed breath between clenched teeth.

The pleasure he felt from tasting blood had overwhelmed and mixed with the pain from his finger, but now the poison coursing through his veins knocked all thought of enjoyment out of his mind. He didn’t want to scream, as that would be rude to his kind hosts so he held in his pain, and let out only groans.

The pain coursed through him and scoured his body, leaving him slack and hollow. He lay there numb to the world, unable to hear the mages threats. He lay silently until he felt the next nail start to be pried off, and knowing the pain that would follow, the measly amount of blood trickling from his lip and into his mouth was barely a comfort to him.