I was sleeping soundly on my bed when suddenly something woke me up by jumping on my chest. It was Magna, the mana beast I had summoned. A humanoid mechanical mana beast running on some form of energy I was unfamiliar with. After the events that transpired when I was 10 during the event, I had to still summon my mana beast and he was what had popped out.
Mana beasts could usually have one of seven types mechanical, pure magic, tankers, ranged, faeries, elemental and beastials. From which I had gotten mechanicals. They were from a time long lost but had yet been preserved somehow for the future generations so they were pretty rare.
For the past 7 years he had stayed beside me getting strong and also helping me with whatever I needed like cooking, exploring the miasma forests etc. Then Valiero, the death fairy I had gotten as a gift from Kyle the demon king also came and snuggled up to me and I snuggled up to her. She was so cute that I'd wanna keep her like a baby in my arms all day but then mother's voice echoed all across the house and I knew what time it was.
Unlike others, I had yet to summon my sacred guard because each time I tried something kept happening to disturb the ritual. The first 4 times, the energy circle just exploded courtesy of my eldest brother who studies energy circles and such as his major in adam and yet failed to make one for me. The next time it simply rained or hailed or some natural disasters like earthquakes happened destroying the energy circle. It was almost as if someone was doing this on purpose and it was pissing me off.
I was 17 and if I didn't summon my sacred guard today, I would flip the fuck out. Even sacred guards had categories to be split into. The worth of it is decided by whether it's in the F-class to SRR classes. F -> C -> B -> A -> R - > SR -> SRR. While the varieties are split into 4 being Melee, ranged, defensive and mixed. Normally demons summoned between F to A while higher demons summoned either A or R. SR and SRR were limited to exclusive higher demons and there also existed familial inherited sacred guards too that are passed down from one family head to the next.
I had heard that the demon king had summoned his when he was 10 along with his mana beast at the same time and it was apparently an SR rank or so the rumors say but it was never confirmed unless you were actually present on the battlefield with the demon king.
I got ready in my gentlemanly clothes wearing a normal T-shirt underneath my coat with a maroon tie contradicting the white coat while also wearing a handmade trouser. The summoning of a sacred guard a once in a lifetime event for demons so they always dress good for such occasions.
I went down where my mother was sitting as the head of the family at one side of the table pregnant with my new younger sibling while my father sat beside her. Me and my brothers sat on the other corner talking among ourselves. My brothers spent most of their time studying at adam but when they do come back, we host a family dinner for everyone to enjoy.
My brothers told me of their life at adam. Jean majored in summonology which as its name suggested he studied summoned mana beasts while also wild ones as part of his combat minor studies. My eldest brother Mugen majored in Combat studies and was sent to complete missions anywhere he was allowed but based on his combat ranking he would have to choose missions from a mission board kinda like the adventure guild. He had his minor cut out for him though, which was curse studies. He didn't know what to choose when he had first got his application so he had left it blank but brother Jean wrote cursed studies and sent it to the academy.
Mother wasn't angry but she definitely did beat the shit out of him and studying wasn't really brother mugen's strong suits but he had to do it anyway.
After finishing our meals we headed out, father held mother's hand and seated her at a far away place considering my brother's expertise in this led to an explosion most of the time and also that mother was pregnant. This time my father supported my ceremony of summoning the sacred guard. I didn't know why but my heart felt at ease. Usually when mother held my hand during this ceremony, I'd feel alert unlike usual but with father my entire body had become jelly. Then brother jean started chanting some magic words after which he threw a green flame at me. The green flame didn't burn but it burrowed deep inside my body. It found something on my right arm.
Then slowly my arm started burning and a tattoo appeared, a skull with fire all around it. Then as if in accordance with its appearance my eyes turned black as if I was blind. I thought it was a curse but no it was something else entirely. A single command running through the entirety of me. A single command to 'kill' everything on sight but I couldn't see anything. Then when I finally could, I saw that the entire garden had been razed. My mother was nowhere in sight. My brothers sat near the walls dirty and tired. My father stood beside me and I was in tatters and was held by strings tying me down.
I fell down. My arms were covered in burns and strangely enough my mana capacity and envelope energy had increased. But beside me, two gauntlets lay and I knew instantly that those were my sacred guards. A pair of gauntlets was definitely not what I was expecting but they were the best pair for me considering I fight and excel in hand-to-hand combat now. But that wasn't my problem I ran towards father after he freed me, where's mother I asked but instantly I got a hit on my head from the back as my mother stood "you're still 50 years younger to even land a hit on me Dracht." I instantly teared up and hugged for God knows why. Then my battered brother came nearby and took a seat as we all just laid down on the cool grass as the afternoon heat receded and it started to get cloudy. I doubt it was gonna rain anytime soon but we just laid there laughing and tired like hell.