“Don’t you want to know the answer? Why you lost everything important to you?”

John leapt at the demon, sending another straight Punch at it, only to end up hitting thin air as the demon vanished.

“It’s simple.” It’s voice came from behind John. John quickly turned his head only to be staring face to face with the demon. 

The demon gave John a flick on his forehead before staring at him face to face as he said.

“Because you’re weak.” 

The words John had least wanted to hear and hated the most. Weakness. Because he was weak, he couldn’t stop Zestari. Because he was weak, he couldn’t stop the demon inside of him. Because he was weak, he lost the two most precious people in his life.

All of because he was weak. 

“Shut up…” John muttered

“It was all your fault.”

“Shut up…”

“Your master.”

“Shut up…”

“Zestari”

“…”

“That girl you took in to help. Even though you were weak, Hahaha!”

“Shut-“

“And most importantly that girl that confessed her love to you, what was her name again? Ah, I said it a moment ago. Serena-“

The demon’s eyes widened as it took a step back once more. The floor in front of him, then quickly lit up with light, as the light from John’s right arm spread through his right arm throughout his whole body and eventually the floor. 

“I told you didn’t I? That if you didn’t stop saying useless shit. I’d give you hell.”  Said John as he took a step forward. 

“I was right…” Said the demon, completely fearless about the beating it was about to take.

John took another step, before creating eight light projectiles in the air around him. 

He took yet another step and the whole room lit up in light. Making the shadow spirit, the only dark spirit in sight.

Steam began to flow out of it’s body due to the light, however it didn’t let out a single screech of pain.

John raised his arm, ready to begin it’s torture as he swung it down, when suddenly the demon said.

“Look at yourself. You just got stronger.” Said the demon with a smile

Confused, John looked down at himself and noticed that he was glowing. However, he didn’t think much of it, it was only Zestari’s power after all.

“It’s not my power.” Said John as he swung his arm down.

Just as the light projectiles began charging up and were about to fire down, he stopped when the demon muttered. “No, it’s yours alright.”

John stopped and decided to let it finish.

“Speak.”

“You should know better than anyone, your emotional state triggers the seal. You’ve subconsciously broken the second layer and started gathering magic power from it. Otherwise, how else would you be able to light up My entire domain? My domain.” Said the demon

John looked over at his right arm again, before clenching it. He already knew about this power, Zestari told him she had sealed it because his body wouldn’t be able to handle it all. 

“Is that all?” John asked

“Huh? You don’t seem very surprised. That strength you’ve been looking for all along is within you.” Said the demon

“I already knew it existed. My body can’t handle it, so it’s sealed.” Replied John

“Can’t handle it? That’s what she told you, isn’t it…?” The demon asked

“…” John remained quiet

“Hahaha! Oh man- Even after all those betrayals, you still have it in you to believe every word you hear. No wonder people used to take advantage of your kindness.”

“…”

“Hey, you know what else is the cause of your weakness?” The demon asked as it got closer. It then stopped right in front of John before pointing at his chest. “This, this soft heart right here.”

“…”

“Don’t you remember what happened when we had merged completely? We were able to take down that city as if it were nothing. Even that S-Rank adventurer died. It put up a good fight though.”

“…”

“That bitch has been putting things in your head again. Stopping you from using your full power, blocking your growth. Stopping me from guiding you. She-“

The demon’s face was the grabbed and swung down to the ground, it was nearly slammed into the ground but was able to avoid that by vanishing in the last second. It then appeared  above John.

However, John had already seen that coming and appeared above it before kicking it down. The ground then rose up in glowing white spikes, piercing the demon all of it’s body as this happened.

“Fuck! That hurts like hell!” It shouted before vanishing from the spikes and appearing behind John. “The hell was that for?” It asked

“You know why.” John replied

“Tsk, anyways, are you sure you can trust her? Remember what happened with your previous master?”

“Yeah, I remember. Just like I remember what happened with you.”

Took over John and made him go berserk for a full year, slaughtering anything on his sight. Like a true demon. It was a surprise that it didn’t go noticed by the heavens, but when John used his new form, he was instantly noticed.

“We’re not getting anywhere with this. Look, I’ll just to the point. I don’t want be returned to the underworld as we agreed on in the contract.” Said the demon

“That’s not your up to you to decide.” Said John.

“I know we got off bad terms, but think about it. You’re going to need me. You saw what happened just now. That was just an automatic defense system set up by the heavens. That alone was enough to stop you in your tracks. Even with your whole party defending you, they couldn’t stop it.”

“…” John listened in without uttering a sound.

“That’s only a tiny fraction, of what you’ll be dealing with. Now that the heavens know of your existence. You’ll be hunted as an anomaly, day and night. People who are close to you, will get involved. Your very existence became a taboo. And this is all because of Zestari, that little bit- angel who ran away breaking the contract.”

“Contract?” John asked

“Yeah, the contract of Anmon.”

—————————————————

Long ago, the world had spent everyday living in chaos. Hundreds of deaths daily as the main races, were caught in the war between the underworld and heavens. Villages and cities were destroyed, thousands of lives were being taken.

The whole world had become a wasteland. The war was never-ending. It lasted for centuries. Until one day, a hero appeared. He was known as the first king, the only one to ever reach SSS rank in the adventurers guild. He challenged both the heavens and the underworld, offering and convincing them to sign a contract of peace.

Ever since then, demons weren’t allowed to leave the underworld without permission and the angels weren’t allowed to leave the heavens. If the rules were broken, the one who broke it would suffer grave damages. 

That was the contract which had stopped the never-ending war.

—————————————————

For a moment, John didn’t say a word after having heard the story. It was a lot to take in, but it all made sense now. Things were finally starting to add up.

“I see…” He then muttered after coming to a decision.

“You get it now, don’t you?” The demon asked

“Yeah, I’ll just send you back to the underworld, and tell Zestari to head back to the heavens.” Said John as he grabbed onto the demon’s arm.

Seeing this, the demon let out a sigh before looking at John.

“It’s too late.” Said the demon.

John stopped and decided to hear what he had to say.

“The angels, nor the demons, gods or the devils. None of them see eye to eye. Just the fact that one of the rules were broken will be enough to find an excuse to start war again. Besides, demons had already been breaking the rules for a while now, my existence is proof of that. Even if I was sealed by adventurers.”

“So you’re telling me, because of you and the other demons left the underworld, breaking the rules and Zestari left the heavens, the all out wall will begin again? And there’s nothing I can do to stop it?” John asked

“Yeah.” Replied the demon.

John stared at the demon, unable to believe what he just heard. However, he could tell. Most of what he had said was true, he didn’t seem to be lying, but he was definitely hiding something from John.

Either way, at this point, John had no choice to believe it. 

“There is one thing you could do…” The demon muttered with an excited grin.

“…”

“Do what the first king did. Create your own kingdom of powerful warriors and fix the contract.”

“…”

“Think about it. I’ve fixed your heart, you’re free to wake up now. Don’t forget to prepare a new contract for us.” Said the demon as it started waving it’s hands

John’s figure then disappeared from the room, quickly darkening it again. Once John had disappeared, the demon dropped to it’s knees letting out heavy pants as it did so.

“Didn’t anyone teach that kid how to hold back…?” He asked before looking at the ceiling once more. “At first I planned to take over him, but now that the heavens are taking action, I’ll have to be more cautious…. Fuck that fake angel bitch.”

——————————————

John opened his eyes and couldn’t believe his eyes.