Ars Goetia was commonly known as the book of demonic invocation, but aside from that, it contained the 72 thrones of the demonic nobility.
Asmodeus was, in fact, the 32nd throne and the demon king of lust.
How could I even forget him?!
Self-deprecation was the only thing I could do at this point.
[Save the best for Lust says there's no need to be so pensive]
"Of course 32nd Throne, how could I forget the great help you gave me with my demonic arm."
Dismissing Asmodeus momentarily, I walked to Aaron who was still bound by Hali's and mine intervention.
He was crying desperately, like a newborn.
Snot all over his face, but I could feel it was a cry of joy.
Meeting my gaze, his cry intensified.
"Kla!!! Usavdme!!!"
I dismissed the creepers and cought the falling Aaron in my arms.
"So Aaron, care to explain?"
He took his sweet time to calm himself down, and I was only able to maintain patience thanks to Odysseus holding my hand and gently stroking my thumb.
Luckily we didn't have to wait for long.
Aaron started from the very beginning.
When the fissure opened above the hospital I was in, and my body was never found, my family started to realise how they had treated me, all the abuse and the abandonment.
When mana and aura came into their bodies, a wave of clarity hit all house Damocles like a thunder, opening their eyes on the atrocities they had committed, especially against me.
It took them some times to regain control over their emotions, but alas, it was to late.
I was nowhere to be found.
Then, after a few months passed from the advent of mana, people started appearing out of nowhere, claiming they had been sucked in by dungeons, but they only experienced a few second of time there, even if it was instead a few months.
At that point, the family decided to act, enter all and every dungeon with the hopes of finding me, until they finally entered this dungeon.
Initially they entered with a team of 15 people from the house, but almost immediately, Yudher, Juna, Aaron and the others got possessed by those evil spirits and killed all the others.
The experience was terrifying. They remembered everything they did, but had no control over their body, nothing he tried worked.
Soon the evil spirit broke the news of how they'd suck my family dry of life force and turn them into evil spirits as well. And since there was no spirit mage on this world they should just give in and accept that gruesome fate.
Then my appearance came too, and those spirit had complete access to the family's memory. It seemed that my talent and possible resentment was a delicacy for them and they wouldn't pass on a possible torture for the Damocles.
"Funny how you realise the value of something only when you lose it."
Odysseus' hand was basically strangling mine at this point. I knew what he was thinking.
"Odysseus, this changes nothing."
"What do you mean?! They clearly want to repent, once you exorcise them…"
"Odysseus. Let me be crystal clear."
He stood in front of me, scared and sweating cold.
"This body, is dead. They were my family. We should stop this charade. I don't know who is tinkering with the Records, nor why."
"What do you mean?"
I undid my shirt revealing my pale chest.
Hali and Odysseus immediately gasped.
"But you were clearly using magic! How is it even possible!?"
That's right. There was no circle on my chest, nor my stigma, yet I clearly used magic.
"This is just an illusion, I'm not sure of their purposes, but I can feel it. This is just a mask, but I have no intention of dispelling it for now."
I then continued to explain my plan and finally got back to Odysseus.
"I'm Dimitris, although I retain the memories of my life as Klaus, I know for a fact that klaus had died. I have a new family."
His eyes returned to his natural grey shine. There was no need for more explanations.
I then helped Aaron up and started to go to the treasure room all together.
How this world came to an end or how it worked, was still a mystery to me, but upon reaching the treasure room, we found a bountiful of good.
Gemstones filled with mana. Various artefacts. Even a couple of scrolls here and there.
But aside for the dungeon core, there was a book that strangely attracted my gaze and I started to walk towards it.
[congratulation on reaching the core room. Please pick one and only one treasure.]
With the system notice clear for all of us, we all scattered.
Aaron asked if he too could chose, and I really had nothing against it.
Hali picked the gemstone with the most mana thinking she could finally increase her sensitivity, Aaron did the same.
Odysseus got a scroll, but refused to tell me what it was.
Finally I arrived before the book.
[Onmyōdō - origin of the five elements and yin-yang]
I knew exactly what this was and there was no way I'd chose something different.
Not only this art could increase my understanding of the elements of nature, but onmyōdō was also the art of exorcism.
So this world had that kind of setting and yet they succumbed to evil spirit…
Or did it? Maybe it was just this place and the rest of the world was good.
I suddenly felt the urge to stay and explore this world, but I knew it was impossible as of now.
Picking up the book, I then approached the core.
Do I absorb this as well?
I tried injecting my Archana, but this time there was no reaction at all.
"Everyone ready? We will start the plan as soon as we exit this damned place."
Everyone nodded and I shattered the core with sheer strength and all of us got teleported away.
I quickly created a wall of fire and mad a huge distraction for Aaron to escape.
There was no way the possessed family wouldn't notice his condition, and we needed him somewhere else.
As soon as he was at a safe distance I dismissed the flames and approached Robert.
"Aaron is dead. Don't say anything to the family. I'll bring the news to them myself."
My butler simply nodded, he wasn't stupid, and I knew he knew I was bullshitting.
But if I said he was dead, dead he was.
"Of course Young master. I'll bring you back to the estate."
"Robert, sent a message to the patriarch to assemble the core family, say them young master Klaus has failed to close the dungeon and needs to comber with your excellency."
"Yes, young master."
_______________________
The room was quiet, only a few hours had passed since Klaus' departure, yet the main family had been asked by him to assemble yet again.
He had failed and wanted to confer.
"That fool doesn't even know what he got himself into."
"Do you think Aaron was able to finish the job?"
"Well, we'll soon know."
They chatter finished with that and House Damocles was yet again engulfed in silence.
The tension was palpable, yet nobody spoke a word.
Time seemed to pass slowly, until finally the door was opened.
Klaus entered the room, and following him were his 2 companions, but no sign of Aaron.
Klaus bowed deeply and his entourage followed suit.
"It's with deep regret that I inform you of the passing of my brother Aaron. Unfortunately as soon as we entered the dungeon, we met a man wearing a strange dress with sleeves touching the floor… even my magic could do nothing and Aaron was quickly disposed of…"
A slight tremble passed through the spine of all members of the family after hearing my words.
Haha gotcha.
My gamble had paid off. And it was now time to set everything in motion.
I stood back up with the brightest smile.
"But fear not! For we were able to bring something from the dungeon, something that could help us resolve the situation."
I took out the sheet with the Lost Ballad and pushed it forward. The reaction was immediate.
Their eye shook slightly, but were quick to gain back their control.
Now for the final push.
"Do we have someone with a translating skill? I can't read it."
Finally smiles bloomed on their faces.
That was the signal.
As soon as those smiles appeared, Hali and I quickly made our move and just in a matter of seconds all four members of House Damocles were bound by creepers and I quickly made a call.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes brother."
Aaron's voice came from the speakers of my phone and soon after, a terrifying tune started to play.
The situation quickly took a turn.
"Now, now, fret not! There is no spirit mage in this world after all! Is there?"
Yudher quickly regained his composure.
"Hahahaha then what! Do you plan to bring us to that Onmyoji? Fool, we'd rather kill these hosts and find someone else!"
"Oh no, I closed the dungeon, you don't have to worry about that. And you can't exactly kill yourselves, those flowers can heal basically every wound."
I was just buying time for Aaron to get accostumed to the tune, I was the first to know how hard this tune was to play.
But luckily, my brother was way more talented than me with the violin.
"Oh it seems it's almost time."
The faces of the family were ashen at this point.
"You spirits have failed to account for something very important. How could the late son of house Damocles reappear out of nowhere with 2 companion that speak Ancient Greek?"
"No…"
Yudher's trembling voice barely came out, realisation downing on him.
I took out 5 tissues I had previously prepared, cut my palm open and drenched them with my blood.
I really nees to create a different medium.
And then, looking in their eye one at a time, the tune entered it's crescendo.
"All love, all life, all hate, all death…"
As I continued to sing the ballad with Aaron playing the violin through the phone, the reaction of the evil spirits started to get more and more frenetic.
Tears were falling down uncontrollably, screams of pain echoed in the all and small cuts started to appear when they moved to free themselves from the vines, only to be healed by my [garden of illusory flowers].
Juna, or the spirit possessing her, tried to bite off her tongue, but Odysseus was ready and with little effort created a sphere of wind inside their mouths preventing them from biting down and kill themselves.
Like a painting coming to life, our plan was proceeding effortlessly and my song soon came to an end.
The violin stopped. My mouth shut.
It was time for this spirit to change host.
With painful shrieking and trying to resist the best they could. The spirits finally left their body with unanswered questions as to how and why could I harness spirit magic.
A questions I couldn't answer myself.
As soon as those entities entered the bloodied tissues, flames erupted from my hands and the same process of injecting Archana took place, only… this time it was way more taxing. I didn't consider the amount of Archana I'd need to banish 4 evil spirits at the same time and was straining myself as much as I did against the Nemean Lion.
Soon, I could feel my energies wane dangerously, but I kept pushing.
I couldn't stop now and possibly ruin everything, this was our only chance, it would be impossible to catch them off guard again.
Just when I was about to collapse, my flames turned a dark shade of black and the long awaited message appeared before me.
I didn't even spare a glance at it, certain of my choice, with a foggy mind and barely holding onto my consciousness I simply uttered.
"Banish them, to the 72 thrones."
[the 72 thrones accept the banished souls.]
[a discussion is taking place.]
[the 72 thrones reveal to you their moniker.]
[Ars Goetia approves of The Defiant.]
A flurry of notifications from the system was bombarding me, but I couldn't focus on anything.
I could feel my consciousness slipping away.
"Odysseus…"