A pitch-black mist cloaked the shadowy swamp, its depths a realm of stagnant waters so tainted that even slimes avoided its lethal aura. At the heart of this forsaken land, surrounded by enormous beast skeletons, lay a massive cavern. Faint glimmers of light flickered within, illuminating treasures scattered across the ground. Blue lightning crackled intermittently, casting dazzling reflections as a portal struggled to open.
Phyllis held her breath, staring at the person-sized gateway. Though smaller than ideal, it was the best she could manage. Every planar summoner's ultimate dream was to call forth a magnificent, powerful abyssal demon. Yet, under current laws, all interplanar summoning was strictly forbidden, especially abyssal rituals. This prohibition, established 500 years ago, stemmed from a dark era when demon summoners thrived, unleashing powerful abyssal entities to fuel wars over territorial disputes. These conflicts escalated into a devastating demon-human war that nearly obliterated the continent, ending only when the holy king Karim defeated the Demon Lord Xannado.
In the aftermath, Karim redistributed lands among his twelve marquises and established the current twelve-nation structure. To prevent history from repeating, all interplanar summoning was outlawed on penalty of death. Without their formidable familiars, summoners' status plummeted. Only a few magic academies still trained planar summoners, most of whom transitioned into elemental summoning or government-sanctioned spatial magic research.
Among these rare institutions was the Flandre Magic Academy, founded in honor of Flandre, Karim's chief summoner, whose demon, Moose, played a decisive role in defeating Xannado. Flandre vanished with Moose after the war, but the kingdom bearing his name and the academy endured.
Phyllis's ritual—to summon the high-ranking abyssal demon Cagasso—was undeniably illegal. Planar summoning produced enormous spatial vortices visible for kilometers, accompanied by elemental storms that ravaged vast areas. Concealing such rituals was nearly impossible. To counter this, summoners invented a "misdirection array," transferring the summoning's chaotic effects elsewhere, provided a paired array existed.
Yet for a girl barely twenty, mastering such an array was extraordinary. Even more audacious, she placed the array in the most challenging location imaginable—the Flandre Magic Academy.
As her portal flickered to life, a massive spatial vortex formed above the academy, its elemental turbulence devastating magical experiments and tools throughout the capital. The king immediately ordered the culprit found, while the academy's headmaster roared, "A misdirection array? Who dares place such a thing in my academy?"
Phyllis paid them no mind. She chose Flandre because no one would question planar summoning occurring there. While the continent's elite scrambled to decipher the spatial vortex, her summoning gate silently opened.
"Will he come? Cagasso… He should. The records say he's the easiest high demon to summon."
As the contract's hourglass neared its end, the demonic runes on the gate swirled like tadpoles before vanishing in a blinding flash. Phyllis's face lit up. This meant the demon had accepted the summoning and was crossing over!
Suddenly, the portal shook violently, the cavern trembling as stalactites rained down. Phyllis shredded a Tier-3 wind shield scroll to protect herself and the gate. Anxiety gnawed at her. Did I miscalculate? Cagasso is only a lower high demon; this shouldn't strain the gate enhanced by dark dragon magic. Even upper high demons could barely manage…
Refusing to risk failure, she tossed two massive dark dragon crystals into the array. The inscriptions flared brilliantly, and the portal blazed white-hot. Phyllis hastily erected three wind shields as an explosion tore through the cavern.
When the dust settled, Phyllis floated back to the ground, having narrowly avoided death with levitation magic. The portal was gone, leaving behind a humanoid figure amidst the glowing runes.
The demon, disoriented from the agonizing compression required to traverse the gate, found his molten houndhide armor torn to shreds by the planar barrier. Only his phantom dagger—a soul-bound weapon—remained. As a shapeshifter adept at disguise, he managed to mimic Cagasso's appearance and aura. Yet the ordeal had warped his form: his once-stunning golden hair was now a chaotic mop, and his height had shrunk to match Phyllis's.
Phyllis stared, dumbfounded. This is the elegant, noble high demon from legend? He looks like a scruffy human! Without the six-pointed star crest on his hand, she'd have thought him a lost dwarf rather than an abyssal being.
The demon studied the crest, its intricate red lines depicting three crossed swords and an alpha symbol—Phyllis's unique summoner's mark. He understood this meant he was bound to her, at least temporarily.
"Are you… Cagasso?" Phyllis approached cautiously. Bound demons posed no threat under contract rules.
The demon, suppressing his frustration, nodded. "I am Cagasso."
"Seriously? Could you act less like a schoolchild? You're supposed to be a lord! Say something dramatic like, 'I am Cagasso, mighty abyssal demon! Dare you summon me, mortal?'"
The demon's limited grasp of human language left him baffled.
Phyllis sighed. "Forget it. Let's discuss the contract." Switching to demon tongue, she explained, "This is a temporary pact. You complete a task, and I pay a price. No soul-trading—don't even ask."
The demon nodded. "Task?"
Phyllis revealed a stone-carved flower: the Lanwei, a long-extinct plant linked to forbidden magic. "Your job is to unravel this spell and break its counterpart at my destination. Complete this, and you're free."
The demon feigned ignorance, his true motive clear—he had no intention of leaving the human world so soon.
"I… can't," he said.
"You can't?" Phyllis's temper flared. "You devoured my offering! Now I'm stuck with you—on the run in a world where summoning is banned! Do you know what it cost to bring you here? A dark dragon hide! I even killed one myself!"
The demon turned, spotting the enormous dragon corpse blocking the cave's entrance. She killed that? Perhaps he underestimated his new master.