Chereads / Ars Goetia / Chapter 3 - Seven Kings Of Hell

Chapter 3 - Seven Kings Of Hell

The library was larger than I'd expected. It spanned over 33 hectares. And its height even further than that, being approximately 820 metres tall. Almost as tall as the Burj Khalifa.

Thankfully I had no need to gather the materials for myself, I could let His Majesty; Paimon assist me in that matter.

He had picked many Grimoires for me to use, but he had taken it upon himself to help me awaken my magical potential.

His brown eyes began to change; and glow a bright scarlet hue, eerily staring at me. "This won't hurt a bit." Dark red ether coalesced in his palms, with a focused mind he spread the outwards, shrouding me in a thin layer of deep ruby red light.

It was an unusual experience, the light phased through my clothes, clinging onto my skin. It enveloped me from head to toe and not even my eyes and the innermost of my mouth was spared.

In fact, I don't think even my insides were spared. The bright red light then dimmed, with accents of black mixed in resulting in a dark, unnoticeable presence that somehow heightened my senses to a certain extent.

"Now, touch this orb for me." As I was trying to get accustomed to this strange sensation, Paimon had swiftly conjured a spherical crystal object.

Facing forwards I discovered that it was extremely reflective and took in all lights. In a literal sense; as the light sources in the library all flickered the moment it appeared.

It's as if they were bowing towards their almighty ruler, which felt strange for a human like me. Gazing at the orb I realised that I had changed slightly, unbeknownst to me.

My eyes had taken a golden amber hue. Fading into yellow at the edges of my irises. I rubbed my eyes, unsure if I was seeing things correctly.

But they were still that golden yellow that amber was associated with. I looked up at Paimon, who seemed to understand what I was thinking.

I was sure he had stifled a chuckle there, "Yes, your eyes are amber. The only way to recognise a mage when they are doing magic is through their eyes. They glow a certain hue, of which is based on one's favourite colours." I smiled widely at this new knowledge, it was all so fascinating for me!

To think that magic existed! Who knew? Well, Paimon and his brethren knew, among others, but that wasn't the point!

Humans were so far off from being able to experience such a thing, they had cast away a gift that had been with them for so long and thought of it as the work of devils rather than their own, from what I heard from Paimon, humans were the first to adapt the power of magic.

In this world at least; humans used it to give themselves a fighting chance against the demons with incredible powers.

It wasn't until later that a greedy human taught all he knew of magic to the demons, betraying the trust of his kin. After the first Demon-Human war, Magic had been forbidden to use and humans no longer were able to use such great power.

They entrusted the last of their knowledge to beings known as fairies and good natured spirits in hopes that in future days when trouble descended upon humanity they'd give back the knowledge to humans to allow them a chance once more.

Unfortunately, humans have become to sinful and no one could be trusted, so the spirits and fairies went on to lock away that knowledge as forbidden.

Only the demons had access to the forgotten and ancient powers. And even then the legacies were split amongst them, with High Demons or Royal Demons having access to the greatest spells, followed by Archdemons, a few selective sinners and lastly Hellborns.

As I ruminated over this, my results had just been analysed. I let my hand off the orb, allowing Paimon to glance at all the necessary information.

"Hm, average Elemental classification... Great aptitude with Enchantments... Curses... Dominant in conjurations," I heard him mutter out terms I recognised and others were outright strange.

Such as 'Abjuration' or 'Cartomancy.' It was all so new to me, after what I believe to be five minutes, Paimon finished up and with a snap of his finger the light around me dispersed, as did the orb.

Dusting his hands he then jovially spread his arms, "Congratulations! You have the greatest affinities with the aspects of Water, Stars, Light, and a few forces of nature."

I raised a brow in response, "Oh, right. Not a magician. Hm, to explain simply affinities are not what magic you are able to use, but how high your aptitude with handling them are. It all boils down to talent and hard work, but in time one can learn many spells outside of their affinities, regardless of how bad they are at it." Paimon gave me a brief explanation, which gave me insights on how magic worked.

Although I need more knowledge than this in order to glean its mechanics, but all I know is that anyone can learn magic as long as they are diligent enough. Some beings are even able to create spells of their respective affinities without training.

Some even use magic all their lives without knowing it. An example was surprisingly; me. Through Paimon's unique powers he apparently sought out my origins and past and discovered that I had a knack for manipulating sound.

The reason why I often bursted out into song was apparently due to a latent ability of mine. It was similar to Paimon's retrocognitive and precognitive abilities, in the sense that they weren't powered by magic at all.

They were ultimately 'Skills.' But weren't registered as such due to them being in a dormant state. The System only regards 'Skills' as 'Skills' if it were to be fully unleashed.

Whether they be passive or active.* "It seems you have an incredible affinity with the Laws as well. You'd make out to be an outstanding Demon if you were to sin, unfortunately you haven't, but if you wish to I can ask the other kings and make you a Devil, how about it?" Paimon seemed interested in my untapped potential and offered a tempting offer.

But I declined, "Not interested. Although if I'm ever dead, you can go ahead and turn me into a zombie. Always wondered what that would be like."

"I see. Well, no matter. And as for that zombie situation, I think I can figure something out later on." Paimon was disappointed but not disheartened.

"So, what next?" I asked. I hope I get to use the Grimoires and find some useful Skills.

...

In the Pride Circle, within the castle of Lucifer were a gathering of royalty. Seven Kings of the Seven major Circles assembled for a very interesting matter.

"An uncorrupted human has been sent accidentally here through the Rifts. This is due to Ira's blood-seeking actions. We must stop her at all cost before any more accidents occur!" A Prince characterised by his magenta aura let loose his wrathful emotions, incurring disapproving glares from the others.

A colossal figure shifted in the air, encircling his fellow Kings. "How quaint of you to think so, I think that this is an opportunity." His oily, guttural voice rang in the air, in annoyance to a few of them.

"What do you mean by that old snake?" A Demon Prince with wispy crimson smoke swirling around him spoke, unnervingly calm despite his infamous reputation.

"He means that we should take the chance to use the human..." This Demon was an absolute slovenly, yawning and halfway asleep through his words, but he managed to say most of what he needed.

"Exactly." The massive snake like creature replied, utterly amused by the fact that his apathetic comrade had gotten the correct answer.

They all then turned to Lucifer, the host of the meeting. "Very well, we shall teach him to be strong and ask him of a favour." That favour being able to traverse the Rifts and descend upon the Human world.

After all, the only way for Demons to advent there was to be summoned or by a decree of fate.

The day they are summoned, will be the day they find their former husks. So that Hell will stay as it is and no longer be weakened.

If it stays as it is, they would all die even before Creation does. "Our Underworld is on the brink of collapse, and by the 13 Rings I shall never let that happen!" Lucifer swore on the river of Styx that he shall bring Hell back to its former glory.

And he shall stand by it! Now until the day the primordial Chaos dies!