Devotion's vision temporarily went white as he felt the bottle smash over his head. He resisted the urge to immediately pass out, staggering back and holding his head.
"Mother fucker, that hurt!" he moaned to himself. Before he could lament on the pain for much longer, he looked up, and saw ten figures stride out of the cover of the forest. Each of them were more staggering than walking, their breath stinking of alcohol. Devotion recognized these men from the alleyway he had gambled in. These men were all drunken gamblers, here for revenge!
Devotion had never been in a fight before. In fact, he'd never even had his own blood spilled before, which is why the new open wound on his head hurt so much. He did his best to get in a fighting stance, like he'd seen in street fights before, and beckoned for one of the gamblers to come at him.
The one that had struck him first ran over, smashing his fist into Devotion's gut. All at once, all ten gamblers converged, pushing him down and kicking him. Within seconds, Devotion was beaten to the ground, bloodied and injured. He coughed up blood multiple times, while trying to shield his head from the unending blows landing on his body.
"Stop! Let me kill him." That was a voice Devotion recognized. The bald man from before! It seems he had help now. Devotion cursed his rotten luck, wishing he had learned how to fight before slacking off.
The bald man released his aura yet again, locking Devotion into place. he slowly advanced, each step shaking the earth. It seemed like this man had unending power, especially from Devotion's beaten and bloodied state.
Internally, Devotion was cursing Ghostwhisper. Why hadn't it taught him faster? Why wasn't it helping him now? Was it really that pathetic, with that little power? The only thing Devotion could think about was how foolish he was for not learning magic earlier. Why hadn't he at least asked about the process. It was futile now. All he could do was pray for help.
Unknown to Devotion, he had just accidentally activated the most crucial step to casting magic or a battle skill: intent! Devotion was fully committed to receiving help, and little did he know, this intent, with the help of his Qi, would summon it!
Devotion felt the Qi he had condensed pulsating within him, rotating and shaking his core. Almost like an instinct, he raised his hands and performed a hand seal, one he had never seen before. He wasn't sure how he knew how to do that, he just did what his body felt compelled to do.
As he completed the hand seal, a dark purple sigil appeared floating in the air, behind the bald man. All the drunken gamblers stopped and stared at it, but the bald man was undeterred.
"Your trickery won't work on me this time, David. Accept your death already!" The bald man said as he advanced, now standing over Devotion.
"David is dead. The only man I know now is Devotion!" By speaking those powerful words, Devotion had finished the final part of casting a spell. The dark purple sigil suddenly exploded into brilliant light, temporarily blinding all those present. As everyone recovered, they noticing the sigil was gone, and the land it resided on was now charred and smoking.
In its place stood a strange creature: a small, dark purple fox, with two tails! It was no larger than a puppy, and frankly adorable to look at.
"Ha! That's your help? Pathetic! Take care of it." The bald man spat. "I'll finish this one off."
"You'll be surprised, Baldy." Devotion said. While he appeared confident in this strange creature that had appeared, internally, Devotion was cursing everything. "This has to be some kind of sick joke! Of all things to summon, it's that?! I'm fucked."
The bald man rose his foot, and was about to bring it down and end Devotion's life, when something tackled him from behind, knocking him forward. Devotion took the opportunity to stick his leg out and trip the bald man, forcing him to collapse to the floor.
"View down there isn't so pretty, is it, Baldy?" Devotion asked, tauntingly. The strange fox creature took a fighting stance in front of Devotion, growling in warning. The drunken gamblers had all run away after seeing Devotion perform magic and this strange creature take out their powerful boss.
Devotion reveled in the power switch. Within seconds, he had become the one on top in this fight. Maybe this strange creature would be more helpful than he thought.
"What's your actual name, Baldy? So I know whose ass to kick if I ever hear about you again?" Devotion spat on him.
"Why should I tell you?" The bald man replied, unwavering.
"Because if you don't, I'll tell my pet to rip your throat out." A new, icier form of intent leaked out of Devotion for the first time. Killing intent. Having that intent locked onto you was enough to shake any man's soul, let alone someone who seemed to be at your mercy.
"J-James. James Powder."
"Ha! And you made fun of my name! James! How pathetic." Devotion may have been going a little too far, but he had to enjoy this while he could. He was mostly taking out anger from the past day. Especially the beating. "And the moustached freak that I robbed? What's his name?"
"His name is Salvador Mystace. His Mystace Family is not someone you can mess with. Sure, you may have got the best of me, but you're a dead man, David! They'll hunt you down!"
"Call me that again and my pet takes your throat." The killing intent returned. James Powder gulped in fear.
"Listen, Baldy. I'm going to call you that because your actual name irritates me. I'm not going to kill you. Instead, I want you to run back to your little alleyway, and never bother me again. I swear to you, if you so much as sneeze in my presence, I will not hesitate to kill you. Go! Never make me look at your shining dome for a head again!"
With that threat, the bald man got to his feet, took one look around, then bolted into the forest, back to town.
"I swear to god, Devotion, I will rise in power and destroy you, or else I will never live past this humiliation!" Unbeknownst to Devotion, he had become James Powder's heart-devil. Only one of them would be able to advance past the First Rank, because once one did, the other would surely be hunted down and killed!
Upon seeing that the battlefield was clear, and the danger had passed, Devotion staggered to his belongings, put his clothes on, grabbed the page, and collapsed to the floor of the cave, exhausted.