~~~~~~Underworld~~~~~~
In the capital of the Devil Race, the city of Lilith, in the main office of Satan Leviathan, a certain Satan was busy working, her face marked by a slight expression of annoyance.
The black-haired devil was irritated by the sheer amount of paperwork she had to deal with every single day. As the one responsible for diplomatic relations between her Devil race and other pantheons, she constantly found herself handling issues related to High-Class devils abducting humans right under the noses of various deities.
Most of the time, it was just some gods whining out of boredom, looking for any excuse to stir up trouble.
Then there were the constant complaints from the Elder Council, who were always arguing over trivial matters…
Serafall couldn't even remember the last time there was a legitimate issue to address, aside from all this nonsense. It was like she was constantly bogged down with paperwork for no reason at all.
"Hmm? What now!?" she snapped, tearing her attention away from the documents in front of her. Her sharp magical senses were picking up a strange devilish energy coming from beneath her.
She looked down, and sure enough, a white magic circle was forming right beneath her.
"Hmm? I don't recall scheduling a contract summoning," the black-haired devil murmured to herself, frowning. But as she examined the symbol, her confusion deepened.
"This… What house is this?!" She quickly ran through all the symbols she had seen before, but none matched this one. In fact, she couldn't even recall seeing a white color used for summoning. Just as she was about to channel her magic, she froze.
"What…" Her eyes widened in shock as she felt her magic no longer respond to her.
"No... way... the ten rings... the ability to nullify and take over demonic energy! This... this is..." Serafall's expression turned pale. Only one being could do this to the devils. No… there was only one human who could wield such power over them!
But how?
Before she could utter another word, the magic circle fully activated, and she was summoned from her office—just like that.
~~~~~~Back with Marcus~~~~~~
When I thought about Serafall, I imagined a devil obsessed with magical girls. But when I summoned her… it was nothing like I had expected.
Instead of the image I had in mind, she appeared in a flowing blue dress that reminded me of those absurd balls people used to throw for me to celebrate any little achievement I made. They were always annoying, but the only thing I enjoyed was seeing the elegant female dresses with their exposed backs.
"You… you are the next Solomon?" she asked, disbelief coloring her tone.
"Hmm? Next Solomon? I suppose I am." I shrugged, glancing at the current Leviathan.
"I see… so you're like Ajuka then. I can tell that my thought process is being severely affected by this. I'd never heard of this from the original Solomon. I heard he liked his devil women as little affected as possible…"
"This means you've upgraded the summoning circle devised by the Biblical God and Solomon… You are a little monster, aren't you?" she said, her eyebrow twitching as her lip quivered. Serafall was angry, but at the same time… well…
Sigh
"I've heard the legends. My life now belongs to you, doesn't it? I've heard that the Ars Goetia Pillars are fully bound to their owner."
"Hmm, indeed. The devils know quite a bit about Solomon. Especially since the book was never truly studied."
"No devil can touch it. The moment Solomon died, the book was destroyed by the devils. How do you have it then?" Serafall asked, narrowing her eyes. She was now pushing the limits of how much anger she could show me.
"That, my dear devil lady, is something you might learn one day. But for now, I need your expertise in water manipulation." I decided not to answer her question directly. It was oddly satisfying to see Serafall pout like that.
"Fine… not like I can say no to my... Master…" She gritted her teeth, her shoulders trembling slightly. "This… just how powerful is this binding!?"
"The stronger you are, the more powerful the binding is," I said with a smirk. "In your case, it's off the charts. Since you're an Ultimate Devil."
"Nonsense! The stronger I am, the weaker it should be! It's common sense!" she protested, looking both angry and pouty.
"The binding was formed from your energy and carved into your very soul by the Ars Goetia summoning. The only way to break it is for me to die, and in turn, for you to die. The moment your soul leaves your body and your demonic energy evaporates, your corpse will still carry echoes of Ars Goetia. The Biblical God was very thorough in his design, and Solomon relished the idea of enslaving the devil ladies he deemed bad…"
Serafall turned even paler after hearing this. It seemed that the stories about the Ars Goetia were far scarier than the reality, which was a rare occurrence.