Theo could feel something had changed inside him but could not tell exactly what it was. As for Lucius, he now had all the knowledge Theo gathered throughout his academic life! All the spells and potions he had learned were now inside his mind, too!
Was it a good thing? Absolutely! That made his life much easier, taking out the effort of learning those spells himself. But Lucius still could not cast a single one with his talent…
But it was a start! With it, he could make Theo do his work, increasing the Soul Charge and their link in the process. Also, everything Theo learned would be directly sent to Lucius as well!
Lucius somewhat grasped how his system worked. So, for the regular followers who sold their souls to him, he could send the souls to his original body, granting benefits to himself while losing the memories belonging to those souls and somewhat diminishing his control over the souls.
But that could be easily countered by having something like Devil Knights, who he would keep the soul to himself, give them more benefits, and increase their link to a point where they would do anything! Those people could be the cult leaders who would get more people to sell their souls to him! The Dark Knights would be the authority controlling everyone under Lucius' command.
Theo turned out to be a good candidate for the role of Devil Knight, as he was a commoner who would do anything for power to stop all the bullies, and he also knew all the other commoners, who would undoubtedly sell their souls to Lucius as well!
'Should I tell the truth to Theo? With my knowledge, it will be easy to manipulate him to do my bidding, even if he knows I am the devil!' Lucius thought to himself as he searched through his new memories.
"Theo," Lucius said, taking out his dagger, "I want to tell you something."
The atmosphere inside the stone chamber became tense, and Theo felt things would change course.
"What is it, Lucius?"
"The prayer you did just now," Lucius said as he played with the dagger using his hands, "It is not for the God of Magic but for the Devil. You just sold your soul to me."
Theo started to chuckle in a maniac way, as if he was not believing what Lucius had just said, "Nice joke, Lucius."
Lucius smirked, "Joke? Perhaps I should go to the village of Jellin and look for that ranch… How was it called? Right, Simon's ranch. Your little sister will be thrilled to get to know my followers and die by their hands."
That information made Lucius confident in making him do his bidding.
Theo's hand trembled, and he barely spoke, "H-How do you know this?"
"I know everything about you, Theo. You sold your soul to me, after all."
He panicked, placing both hands on his head. Lucius knew Theo would be shocked initially but would yield after a few minutes of thinking through the possibilities.
"How do you know all of this?" Theo asked.
"Your soul. I know everything about you. Now, how will this be?"
There was no way Theo would risk putting his family in danger. The most logical thing to do was go with the flow and obey the Devil. By that point, his life was already in a shit hole, so what changed?
After accepting his fate, Theo wished to know more about his future. "What will I have to do?"
Lucius smiled, "Don't worry about it. Perhaps kill someone, force someone else to sell their souls to me. Nothing too hard."
"K-Kill someone? You know this is forbidden, right? This will make us get executed!"
"Only if they find us."
"…"
Lucius's first command for Theo was to get someone else to sell his soul to him. Lucius wished to send the soul to his original body and get a reward for his troubles. Theo's soul was valuable because of its knowledge, and now he had an agent to do his bidding, but it did not give him direct benefits, like increasing his shit talent, for example.
"Your first task is to find a commoner, someone no one will miss, and bring it here. We will make it sell its soul to me, and then we will kill it."
Theo was okay with bringing someone over and making it sell its soul, but kill someone? There was no way the school would not notice a missing student, and that could potentially bring them a lot of trouble.
Lucius knew it, too, but it was the only way for him to become more powerful! With their current state, it would be hard to control others without keeping their souls for the memories, like he did with Theo. Having only Theo as a follower was likely the best idea, at least while they were gathering more power for themselves.
"But…"
"No but. You will do exactly what I told you. And if you try something…"
"D-Don't worry. I will never do something against you," Theo said as the images of his lovely family crossed his mind.
"Right, so it is settled. Bring someone over and help me get the soul."
Theo was the first to leave the secret chamber, leaving Lucius alone with his thoughts. His plan was going in the right direction! Now he had Theo, who was like his right hand, who would help him get the things he needed.
Lucius' next move was to use another soul to gamble for a skill and hope it would somehow help his frail body practice magic; after accomplishing that, he would have all the necessary things to start practicing magic in the Spellbound Institute of Magic, thus beginning his journey of power and revenge!
After a few minutes, Lucius also left the library, erasing all of the proof he had been there, and closing everything for the night. He then returned to his apartment, smiling the whole way, excited for the future.