Far away, in the Human Realm, in a slum hidden away by the Grand Alliance, a group of teenagers surrounded a corpse, as they chanted eerie and unholy incantations.
"Are you sure this'll work, Marl?", a timid boy asked, his age visibly less than the others as he tugged on an older boy's robes.
Marl snapped back, "It will! That man clearly said it will! If we summon this demon, it will be enslaved. He even demonstrated for us! Now stop disturbing the ritual, Jakob!"
Jakob shied away.
'Ever since Marl met that man, he's been getting angry at us more and more.'
'That uncle from Nine.'
Jakob clearly remembered how that man had summoned a demon with a flick of his wrist, and made the demon give them food for days.
They had never eaten that well again, but the memory remained.
The man had told them, if they used the corpse the man was giving them, and made the specific ritual symbols he told them to, they could also enslave a demon to themselves.
'And maybe, we can finally leave this accursed place.'
"Ooohh! It's happening!!" Grace shouted as the symbols began to glow.
They rushed backwards, as the symbols began writhign and melting into the corpse.
Jakob had an extremely bad feeling, and even wanted to stop the ritual, but knew the other's would just shut him down.
The corpse began twitching, before a burst of demonic energy flew out from a hole in space, along with a glowing orb that entered the corpse.
After a few seconds, the corpse suddenly sat up.
Marl recited the incantation given to him by the strange man, "O daemon, corpora nostra tibi supplices donamus oblationes!"
"All of you, say it quickly, so we can make it obey us!"
They all recited the incantation, and so did Jakob, despite his Instinct screaming at him not to.
As the former corpse did not move, Marl said, "You! Demon! We command you to come here and stand in front of us!"
The body moved, standing tall, as it's features changed a bit from the original corpse the man had given them.
Jakob's heart kept beating harder and harder, and his soul trembled.
The being stood in front of them, uncaring for it's nudity.
It's eyes held curiosity, disdain and disgust.
It's eyes.
It's EYES!
Jakob was shaking now, hiding behind Grace, the fighter of the group who had kept them all safe in these slums.
Marl commanded again, "Kneel before us!"
The being cocked his head, as if puzzled.
Marl opened his mouth again, and then his head splattered over the rest of the group.
There was pin drop silence.
Jakob did not know who screamed, perhaps it was himself, but everybody ran in different directions, before Marl's body even fell to the ground.
The being held out his hand, and they were all drawn back in.
A dark marble sized orb glowed within his chest, as they had their bodies dismantled and absorbed into the demon.
Jakob's final thoughts were regretting not trusting his Instinct as he always had before.
.......................
'What weird people.' The no-so-nameless demon thought as he used the connection between a sacrificial offering and the beneficiary to devour the group of teens.
'I should be able to speak normally now, yes?'
"Perfect."
His voice startled even him.
"Ah, to speak once more.....Delightful."
Suddenly, a man appeared behind me.
'How long-'
"Have I been here?" The man completed.
"Since the beginning, great demon."
He was dressed quite extravagantly, wearing robes of velvety silk, a hint of gemstones appearing every moment.
He bowed and said, "I am a part of Nine, my liege. We believe that the only way for salvation, is to allow the Nine Hells to devour this realm and assimilate it, as we evolve into higher lifeforms."
'These guys...were quite prominent in the novel.'
The demon gazed at him quietly.
'So that's how I was sent all the way here in the depth of the human realm.'
He asked the shady character standing in front of him, "Where are the remaining materials?"
The liaison from Nine immediately began toying with a metal cube, and then threw it to the side.
A tear in space opened up, swallowing the metal cube, as the aura of Gluttony could be felt.
"Right this way sir."
As the demon walked alongside the liaison, he thought to himself, 'I need a name to use here, different from the True Name that the Patriarch gave me.'
While demons could usually just refuse contracts at higher levels, even ones enforced by their True Names, he remembered that one of the cons of the Ohr Jinn species was an increased vulnerability to contracts.
And so, he could not allow his True Name to be spoken, or even thought of.
As they emerged from the tear in space, the demon could see a group of people withering away to dust, evidently the ones who were powering the portal.
'So this is the headquarters of Nine...How ironic.'
The demon worshipping organization's headquarters, was a temple belonging to the God of Storms.
He was immediately attended to and clothed, as the person who brought him here said, "I shall serve as your guide here, sir. Lord Amon has also stated that we are to teach you the ways of humanity, and the usage of mana, rather than the superior demonic essence."
"Skip to the usage of mana."
Immediately, the man led me to a room filled with...something.
'I can almost feel mana on my skin.'
He said, "First, we must be able to visualize the external mana, and then absorb it within us."
"Then, we must form a core to store it in, and explore all the pathways in the body to channel them through."
"After this, once we can safely expel mana from our bodies, we can learn to shape it into various forms, dictated by spell circles which were granted by the filthy gods in the Seven Heavens, hence why it is such a basic and useless system."
"We can also use mana to reinforce our bodies, and eventually convert it into Aura."
"Those with Aura are vastly different from those without Aura."
"There are two types of Aura as well."
"One is the Battle Aura, which is what the mana naturally converts into after embarking upon the path of a martial artist."
"The other is Weapon Aura, which is only manifested through Mastery of a weapon till at least the Knight stage."
After a brief overview of the human Path of Ascension, the demon (could he still call himself that?) decided to begin gathering mana.
He told the man, "Prepare a name and identity while I prepare."
As the man scurried off, the newly human being began learning to control mana.
.........................................
The man returned quickly, and was shocked when he opened the door to the mana rich room.
He could clearly feel the mana in the room being drawn into the boy sitting in the middle of the room.
'I was only gone for five minutes, and he learnt to control mana already??'
'This must be the power of the Nine Hells.'
'As expected, becoming a demon is truly the only chance of survival for mankind.'