I woke up.

Feeling lopsided and put off my attempts to get up brought attention to my current position.

Lying on the floor I felt a little sticky…

Looking to my right I saw a pool of dried blood, and vaguely remembered what had happened earlier.

Taking a good look at my now severed stump of an arm, I saw the area above my left elbow was fully missing.

My right leg started to twitch. Stumping at the knee the leg was healed over completely, almost making me question the pools of blood which surround my two limbs when I had woken up.

It was not a pretty sight but I eventually convinced myself that I need to move and try to get some help with my new condition.

I shifted my weight onto my right arm and barely managed to push myself up onto my chair. It took longer than I would like to admit, but I noticed that there was not any pressure restrictions on my movements anymore. Did the demon leave?

Swiveling my chair around I was meet with the sight of a sleeping demon on my bed.

It was tall, probably two and a half meters based on the lengths stretching past the foot of the bed.

Pale, gaunt, and covered in rags the demon looked nothing like the previous one I had seen.

The pressure in the air was nonexistent and it was not a amalgamation for shifting features marked a few key differences.

However I instinctively felt that this sleeping man was in fact similar to my earlier tormentor.

The colors might have been different in our first encounter but it’s two eyes looked identical to the shut ones I had seen after smashing the glasses of the previous version of the demon.

It was laying here on my bed, not attempting to make any further attack.

And it was sleeping?

Why was it tired again, didn’t it just wake up in our last encounter?

I gave myself some time to calm down before attempting to speak.

”Are you the same demon as last time?”

It cracked open one eyelid and gave a me a sidelong glance. There was not a sign of malice in the eyes, just a shade of boredom, (pity?), and patience.

Closing its eye it sighed before adjusting its body to face me. The disparity in behavior with his previous form was enough to set me on edge but not make me panic. I braced myself to hear whatever it had to say next.

“Sorry about the essence deal.”

What?

…

“Sorry about having to take your essence like that, I know that the process was painful but there were to many variables to try and manifest my avatar here without a quick sacrifice.”

I responded after a short moment. Rubbing my forehead with my good arm and almost loosing balance from leaning forward.

“I honestly don’t know what to say right now… can I just ask a question first?”

It looked at me for a minute while slowly scratching its chest in a casual manner.

“Ok.”

“What would the contract based option have done to me?”

“You would have been a demon’s slave. With no will in exchange for immediate benefits.”

“Benefits?”

“I would have been in control of anything you would have received.”

“Ok”

It seemed like despite the pain I was suffering It was the right choice in face of the forced servitude to whatever that thing was earlier. Or the demon here now?

“What was the amalgamation earlier.”

“I tried to establish a fair contract with minimal effort but the other aspects took advantage of the easy avatar Chanel. Trying to force their way in to gain any sort of benefits. They were the variables in the process I explained earlier.”

”It has been so long since my last interaction with them that I had forgotten how vicious they are with their methods.”

“My name is Acedia the oldest and technically the weakest of the sins”.

“However I am here today to try and make a good deal for the both of us despite the harm my actions have caused so far to you.”

He spoke into my head for the last leg of his short introduction.

”Here is my gift before we start to negotiate”

He seemed to reach towards the red dot in the sky before pulling a thin fragment from the air. He Flicked it towards me faster than I could react.

It sunk into my body upon contact with the crystal.

And a blue box popped up in my face.

Summoning Lvl. 1(Non-Attuned)