"So, who are you?" Returning back her question, like an utter sped, I want to slap myself.
Why would I do that?! I haven't even answered her question…
She seemed to be dazed by the turn of events as reality kicked in. She was, after all, just a village girl before this whole nightmare, to see her village in ashes with acrid blood filling her nostrils, was simply too much for her to bear.
Her tear ducts started to loosen as tears came streaming out. She sniffled as she looked around her, before long she was sobbing pretty hard.
Ah shite! What did I do this time!?
Looking at the girl who was bawling her eyes out in front of me whilst sitting in a pool of blood was just a tad bit concerning. But then again, she was a demon, and demons were weird. Very weird.
Instead of thinking that she cried as a result of my own actions, it would be better to think that she cried as some kind of demon custom.
…
"That is the case, right?" Interrupting the little girl's sombre grievance, she looked up to him, this time with a sense of fear in her eyes, as she was intimidated by the black cloaked figure.
Her bravado moments ago, was nothing more than her demonic bloodline kicking in, and causing her to go on a rampage. Despite her bloodline, she is, after all, just a normal girl from some backwater village, bloodshed and killing was all foreign to her.
But there was a fact that made her heart jump, despite all this killing and the death of her acquaintances in the village, she innately felt it a natural course of order. Was all of this really natural? It can't be! No way!
To make things worse, whilst she was wallowing in these thoughts, some guy just comes up to her and starts saying weird stuff. What did he want to do with her? They called him a cultist, so does he want to sacrifice her to an evil god?
As soon as this thought took root, she couldn't dispose of it. An impending sense of fear started to cloud her mind, as her thoughts ran amuck.
Does he want me because I'm a monster? He asked if that was the case didn't he?!
Panic overwhelmed the girl, as she started to tremble as the cultist loomed over her. His presence was menacing like it was subtly telling her to just die. Like school children egging a classmate to just go 𝘥𝘪𝘦.
A cruel joke, done with little thought. That's what this man's presence was. Oppressive with little heed.
The little girl trembled as he casually approached her. Perhaps that was the wrong action to take in such a stiff situation.
"I-I don't ca-re," she started to speak in broken words, intermingled with sobs, "j-just kill m-me,"
Her attitude suddenly took a rather dark turn. Not that this sort of behaviour was unexpected, considering the experiences she had recently undergone.
"Why would I kill you?" Crouching down to her eye level, Jeffrey held her chin up, as she looked into her eyes. They were red and puffy from her crying, however, her own red eyes masked this, making her just look cute, not too different from a pouting child. But then again, she was a pouting child.
"Wh-Wha whaawwawa-?" The girl reddened as her sight was locked onto Jeffrey's cold eyes. No matter how hard she tried to avert her eyes from the sight, she always found herself staring back at them.
Those dark inhuman eyes.
"Why, would, I, kill, you?" He asked again, in a slow measured tone.
"B-b-b-because, because…" Because what? The girl was hung up on this question of which she was so sure of the solution. It was because of his aura, it just whispered to her the criminality of her existence, yet at the same time, it was so innocent in these statements. Like a young child regurgitating profanities it didn't know.
Did he really want her to die? Or was she going mad again?
"I wouldn't kill you,"
Snapping her back to the matter at hand, she noticed that there wasn't a face in front of her now. Looking up, she saw him looking down at her, as he patted her head, like a father to their daughter.
…
Thirty two court summoners stood in a circle. Around them was a veritable cornucopia of crystals and other valuable looking materials and artifacts.
In fact, those crystals were known as essence crystals. Pure, crystalised essence. These ones just happened to be moon and star crystals. Just one could be considered a treasure for small states and kingdoms, however, in this room alone there were at least over a hundred.
They were currently in a large hall in the kingdom capital, all of them bore the Astra insignia denoting them as court summoners. Highly capable individuals who directly served the royal family.
All the court summoners lapsed in deep concentration, sweat constantly dripping down their foreheads. It was apparent that they were doing a highly sophisticated and complex summon. In the centre of their circle, a dense concentration of chaotic essences warped the air and slowly tore open a crack in the fabric of space.
This process lasted hours.
As the summoning neared its end a court summoner collapsed, as a direct result of essence exhaustion. Causing the burden of the other summoners to increase dramatically, despite just the loss of one team member.
The essence crystals around them were quickly used up and shattered, all fueling the pool of essence in the centre.
The tear widened with a sound that rent the soul, more summoners collapsed, however, they had only now reached the most crucial stage. Pushing the essence through the tear they had to maneuver it to pull out the summon from the other side. It required the utmost harmonization and coordination between all the remaining summoners. If they failed now, everything would be for naught.
Seconds felt like an eternity as they tried their utmost to fulfil their task. Finally, they managed to hook an entity and reeled the essence back in.
However! They were met with fierce resistance from some unknown force, the already pale faces of the summoners turned whiter than sheets. They weren't going to go through this torture for nothing!
Redoubling their efforts they poured everything they had into the essence reel. Not long, they managed to summon the entity just as the tear closed and the fabric of space fixed itself.
Immediately, more than half of the summoners collapsed, fully drained of their essences, unfortunately for some, this included their soul essence...
They would not be waking up from their slumber.
Attendants rushed in as soon as the summoning was complete and carried away the summoners to have them treated and taken care of.
What was left in the centre of the room was a young boy in his late teens, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. He had black hair and wore some kind of uniform, a sparkling look lingering in his eyes.