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Chapter 62: The Darkest Of Roses IV
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Within the walls of the room were several symbols and on the ground was a large pentagram made of congealed blood. At the center of the pentagram was a skull, a rotten old skull.
He already had everything prepared, and he didn't have much time to waste. He brought a container of blood from the corner of the room and poured it on the skull then lit up the candles as fast as he could.
He then took a seat within the Pentagram and started the chant.
"Hear these words, Hear my Cry
Let the threads of hell send a message and call forth the Absolute
The representation of Hell Neron! Come to me, I summon thee!!"
There is no certainty that who he was summoning will appear. In fact, most summoners only end up summoning a lower demon. To summon a demon lord or an even more impossible feat such as the nobility of hell, several conditions need to be met.
Rarely do they respond to the cries of mortals unless they have a plan in mind. yet Beelzebub responded to Ian before, and he is one of the princes of hell, a nobility.
Dealing with demons is an atrocious process in which many fall, some lost their minds and others their life which is why Ian took his time in preparing his mind for the wost before calling Beelzebub forth.
He imagined every possible scenario and studied every term, hell, he even read a lot about the law and its evolution. How people sought to get around it and succeeded at times, a lot of times, and he made sure his deal with Beelzebub would be void of any holes.
The demon he was summoning right now was something else, and the only reason he was summoning him so soon was because of the circumstances, he doesn't have much time left.
Thankfully, the deal he did with Beelzebub saved him a lot of trouble as not only did it give him the location of the remaining pieces, but also the book of hell. A Wikipedia of sorts allowing him to dive into the field of demonology.
Ian poked his finger, using a needle, and allowed a drop of his blood to fall on the skull.
However, Neron happened to be needier than his counterparts as he needed one last thing, a candle Ian put within the skull's mouth. It's called The candle of Neron, there is a bunch of them around the world and Ian found one in Gotham. It was the thing Selina robbed on their date night, "I command thee! appear before me!!"
It was instant. The air in the room seemed to change, becoming colder despite expecting the opposite from demons of hell.
Before Ian's very eyes, the clotted blood within the Pentagram started flowing towards the skull, almost as if it's a black hole, drawing the filth of the mortal world.
The congealed blood assembled around the skull, slowly merging with it and forming what looks like a humanoid head of pure filthy blood.
The humanoid head had hair and very clear features albeit all formed by blood, a long hair barely touching the ground which isn't much considering It's only at the height of a skull.
It had a very wide jawline and a massive chin. Its features were rough and cold, fitting for a hell lord.
"I command thee huh?" The head opened its sticky and clotted mouth and murmured further, "Mortals are really..."
The head then eyed Ian with its white eyes. It had no pupil, no veins, nothing whatsoever, making the situation all the more horrifying.
Neron sized him up from top to bottom and Ian could almost swear he saw him licking his lips.
"Mm, a prepared victim. I forgot the likes of you exist, so tell me mortal, what is it that you wish?" Indeed, as Ian predicted, Neron is one of the craftiest of demons but also one of the greediest.
"Hmm, first, mind telling me what's so tasty about my soul? What do you see when you look at my soul?" Ian's curiosity had no barrier, if he wants to know something, he goes for it. Recently, his desire to know more about himself has reached an all-time high, and his brain was already working on how to get those answers.
A small grin surfaced on Neron's bloody face as his whispers reverberated throughout the room like the devil's whispers, and that is what he is.
"Your soul is unnaturally pure. It's not unheard of, but it's extremely rare to the point that one can only find no more than ten such souls among the billions of mortals... Then there is the most important reason which I shall tell you after we conclude the deal and I find it to my satisfaction."
Yeah, Ian didn't expect any less from a hell lord with that much greed and craftiness. Of course, he won't tell him the entire thing. In fact, Ian noticed something else, 'If I find it to my satisfaction huh? He'll probably only find it to his satisfaction if he got my soul right now.'
"I see, then we should include it in the contract," Ian murmured and was about to state his wish when Neron spoke with unnatural coldness.
"I don't do contracts, you shall speak your wish and I will grant it instantly at the cost of your soul."
Ian let out a chuckle, something very few would do before a monstrosity such as Neron, "Then I guess I have to go with the alternative. I didn't want to make a deal with Beelzebub because of how disgusting I heard that thing is, but I have no choice."
"Do you think a punny bug like him can even amount to a speck of my prowess? Do you think he can grant you what you wish?
You summoned me first for a reason. It is because your desires are strong. You want something very few can grant, so quit your pointless plays and speak your wish."
His words were spoken as if by instinct... As if he had seen through all the measly plays humans try to get their desires.
Ian remained silent for a bit too long, way too long much to Neron's confusion. He was just thinking, "However, my soul is unnaturally pure to such extent that one can only find up to ten of such pure souls among the billions of humans.
Not just that, it seems that my soul is special even among special souls, or at least, that's what you insinuated... I will absolutely not make a deal with you unless it's written on a contract that binds us to it. I might as well jump into the blazes of hell."
In return, Neron also remained silent for a while before he spoke, "Then a contract shall be made but under a specific term. You seem prepared, so I shall say it right now, I will hunt you for five years, if you survive I will not take your soul."
"..." Ian eyed Neron with a strange gaze, almost as if looking at an idiot, "I'm actually speechless. Just how greedy can you be?"
"As greedy as I desire." Neron spoke again as if by reflex, "And we don't have much time, so speak your wish."
Ian frowned. He already noticed the skull starting to melt with the blood on it evaporating into nothingness, something that didn't happen with Beelzebub.
Perhaps what Neron said was true, he is that much stronger than the bug, and that limited his prowess in the mortal world and increased the restriction put on him in such a state.
After all, the bloody head before him is not even a clone. It's just a synchronized image of Neron with very little power.
"You can start hunting me five years later, that's the furthest I can go. Moreover, I don't think I can survive to that date anyway."
Neron narrowed his white eyes and commanded, "Explain."
"The most important reason has something to do with my desires. The secondary reason is that I have just met a fortune-teller today and she told me I have less than a month to live. She's into magical bullshit, so I trust her words." Ian shrugged his shoulders and casually explained.
Neron scoffed, not trusting Ian's words at all, but he still wanted to hear his desires. That's something he can trust, "We have a deal. Speak of your desires."
Ian smiled and brought the already prepared paper from his side. He also picked up another thing, a black Ring with a natural glossiness to it. Only Ian knows how valuable the little thing is and how long it took to acquire the material, then turn it into that little fabulous ring.
"All the terms are on this paper as well as what I want. I'd rather not say anything until it's done for reasons written on the paper. You can add the agreed-upon term to the contract, then I'll look through the paper to make sure everything is alright."
Neron eyed the paper, reading through the terms in the blink of an eye. An unnatural frown surfaced on his face as he looked strangely at Ian, "This?"
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