Dark Moon
"Human? What is this? I sense a familiarity. Are you a contractor?"
At those words, I instinctively grasped the creature's identity and let out a soft groan.
"Demon Bio. And you?"
"I have no name to give to the likes of a demon."
"Hmm. Won't you form a contract with me?"
A contract with a demon.
In the original game, it was a proposal that always paid off. You took on a penalty, but in exchange you gained a permanent upgrade to your specs. There was even a specialized class called Demon Contractor. But while this place was a world from inside a game, the game system itself did not exist here.
"That corpse. Wasn't he your contractor? Did you kill him?"
"If there is something to gain, there is something to lose. He wanted power, and in return he lost his life."
I could picture how it had gone down.
The black mage had successfully summoned a demon in this place. That alone was a remarkable achievement. Ordinary trash could not even manage a summoning.
The problem was that he had failed to complete the contract properly. He must have been ecstatic after succeeding at the summon. The black mage wanted power, and the demon had almost certainly demanded a body part as the price.
A finger, a toe, one ear—things that would have seemed trivial next to the power he stood to gain.
He must have signed the contract with the careless thought that a demon had no reason to kill its contractor.
The demon had taken the black mage's organs as the price of the contract. The hollowed-out abdomen of the corpse lying beneath the demon was proof of that.
"Do you want to kill me under the pretext of a contract?"
"No. This one and you are different. This one got far too cocky for someone who only succeeded at a summon by chance. He was not a vessel worthy of contracting with me."
"So you killed him?"
"Yes. I played with him a little. He was as stupid as I expected."
I thought about the demon.
Demon Bio.
Even with my knowledge of the original work, the name was unfamiliar. He was probably a low-ranking demon.
"Unlike that one, do I meet your standards?"
"I can tell just by looking. You are no ordinary human. Mana itself blesses you. Humans like that are extremely… extremely rare."
Flap.
The demon spread its bat wings and rose into the air. It beat its wings slowly, floating in the empty space.
"There's something I don't understand. Can you answer a question?"
"Yes. I'm in a rather good mood right now. Go ahead."
"…It looks like it's been about three days since you killed that one… so why have you stayed here?"
"I was thinking about what to do next."
"For three whole days? With your contractor dead, the time you could remain in this world shouldn't have been long."
"Being bound by time is a trait of mortals alone. This world is of little consequence to me either way."
"…"
Demons had personalities too. Naturally, the danger of a contract varied with that personality.
I was planning to form a contract if I could. A demon contract would let me grow stronger quickly.
But setting the contract aside, a demon like this was dangerous. The moment he lost interest, he would stab me in the back without a second thought.
Having already reached my conclusion, I decided to at least satisfy my curiosity and asked the demon,
"Bio. What can you give me?"
"Don't you want power? I can give you power."
"What kind of power, specifically?"
"I can create a Dark Hole in your body. You would be able to handle more than twice the black mana of the mana you currently possess."
"Not a very tempting offer for someone who isn't a black mage."
"Then how about this ability? The power to interpret every language."
"…Every language?"
"Machine languages, of course, and even magical languages. You would be able to interpret ancient languages that no longer exist in this world, the language of demons, and the language of angels."
I was momentarily tempted.
In particular, the ability to interpret ancient languages and magical languages was extremely appealing.
Ancient languages would help when searching for ancient relics, and magical languages… would help with magical research.
I looked the demon straight in the eye and opened my mouth.
"And the most important part—the price?"
"I will take one of the things you hold dear."
"…Ridiculous. Is that how you killed the black mage?"
Something dear.
In other words, I could lose my life to him. There was no human who did not value their own life.
"I will not take your life. I swear it on my name."
The demon spoke.
Staking his own name meant he truly had no intention of taking my life as the price of the contract. In that case, forming the contract would be to my advantage. The power to interpret every language in this world might not help immediately, but it would certainly prove useful someday.
"…"
My lips would not part.
Yuria's face rose unbidden among the things I held dear. Then the faces of No. 31, No. 212, and the rest of my classmates followed.
A demon with transcendent power would surely target them.
"I don't need it. I can grow stronger without your power."
I opened my Astral, and thirty-four mana rods activated. Cool mana wrapped around me.
"You're refusing? I don't understand. This is a chance to grow stronger without losing your life."
"I don't know about other people, but I hate losing what's mine with a passion."
"You are still young. You do not know what power is. But there is no need to feel sorry for yourself. I will personally rewrite your entire value system. I will engrave into your soul what power truly is."
Just as I was about to cast the calculated formula as magic, Bio moved first. In the blink of an eye, the demon was right in front of me.
Bio's body began to change. Cracks ran through the black bat wings, and the monkey torso split open, blood and entrails cascading down like a waterfall. The goat's head swelled larger and larger until both eyes blazed scarlet.
Blood and entrails gathered to form a new torso, and the bat wings grew large enough to envelop a person completely.
A true demon stood before my eyes.
A transcendent being was watching me.
"Now, look at me. Realize how insignificant a creature you are."
My body locked up. It would not move as I willed. I needed to cast magic, but my mana had slipped beyond my control.
Terror crawled up from below and squeezed my body tight.
I despaired at my own weakness. I knew that, compared to the existence before me, I was nothing more than an insect.
"Form a contract with me. Do you not wish to escape the fate of a mortal? I will guide you onto the path of immortality."
"…I refuse."
The demon's eyes widened.
One piece of original lore surfaced in my mind.
When an ordinary being confronted a transcendent one, nine times out of ten they went mad. A method for overcoming it came to mind. Unfortunately, it was not a method I could use right now.
All I could do was endure.
"Oh-ho. Even as terror crashes over you like a tidal wave, you do not go mad."
The demon drew closer.
It peered into my eyes with its crimson ones. The saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul came to mind.
"…I cannot understand it. You feel terror and despair. Yet your mind remains intact. Neither terror nor despair can invade that steadfast spirit of yours. You are not even under the protection of some higher being…. This is not a mind a mere mortal should possess. My curiosity is piqued. What exactly are you?"
The demon's voice, thick with interest, actually calmed me instead.
The terror subsided. The despair faded.
Cold reason assessed the situation. I had simply been startled by a demon I was seeing for the first time. It was similar to being startled by a shocking scene in a horror movie.
Was the setting that looking at a transcendent being drives you mad just an exaggeration?
Going mad, my ass. My mind was perfectly fine. There was no terror or despair left. I activated the magic I had prepared.
Lightning Grab
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle.
Thousands of strands of electricity flared from my right hand. I clamped my hand down hard on the demon's shoulder.
"Khhmm."
There was a reaction. The demon let out a faint groan. Before it could counterattack, I used Charna.
Telekinesis
With telekinesis I shattered a wooden chair and lifted the fragments.
Form Transformation
The chair fragments became twelve wooden swords.
Material Transformation: Mithril
I turned the twelve wooden swords into mithril blades. All twelve moved at once and stabbed into the demon's body. The demon furrowed its brow.
"So this is as far as it goes. I've spent too much time."
The demon's body grew hazy and then vanished. To the very end, it had been looking at me.
Clatter!
The twelve mithril swords that had been embedded in the demon's body fell to the floor. Every one of them returned to its original form as chair fragments.
I let out a breath and rubbed the back of my neck.
The demon went back on its own. There must have been a restriction on revealing its true form.
The demon had revealed its true form in an attempt to subjugate me. But I had not submitted. Regardless of my counterattack, the outcome had already been decided at that point.
I looked around. The sprawling space was littered with old books and reagents. I could not take everything. I would have to select carefully what to bring.
First I approached the black mage's corpse. The first thing I needed to secure from him was the Dark Hole.
The abdomen is completely hollow… so I'll have to cut open the chest.
Water Blade
I formed a small blade of water at my fingertip. Far sharper than a surgical scalpel, the water blade sliced easily through the stiffened corpse.
Beside the rotten heart sat the Dark Hole.
…Oh. The black mana coming off this Dark Hole is considerable. Judging by the Dark Hole alone, it's nearly sixth-rank level. Influence from the demon contract, maybe.
In any case, I had scored a major windfall. A Dark Hole of this quality would easily fetch tens of millions of credits if I sold it on the black market.
I have no intention of selling it. I'll use it myself.
I was already collecting several Dark Holes. They were both research material and a last-resort measure.
After securing the Dark Hole, I examined the research materials.
So he was a black mage researching chimeras. Was the ogre contaminant originally a chimera?
There were notes on chimera fabrication using black magic, genetic manipulation, biological synthesis, and more. It was not simple black magic; understanding it would take a fair amount of time.
I'll take this too…
I checked the other books. Black magic texts came into view. The ones that looked easy I memorized on the spot and then burned.
Plenty of books related to demons. Skimming them, there's… not much useful.
After cutting and cutting again, I selected eight books.
There was nothing else worth taking. The black mage had used chimeras and other offerings in the ritual when he summoned the demon.
The Dark Hole alone more than covers the cost, so I should be satisfied.
I lifted the books with telekinesis, went outside, and stowed them in the top case of my bike.
Bzzzt-bzzzt-bzzzt.
The pocket watch I had tucked inside my coat began to vibrate.
With the leisurely air of a gentleman, I drew out the pocket watch and checked the caller. It was Rose, director of the X Employment Agency. I took the call.
"It's me."