CH.502 Making Demon Summoning Better
Now that I have access to the demon summoning books, and the bonus reward for the mission, I can actually look into demon summoning.
And it was … interesting.
Let’s start with the magic circle used for demon summoning. It is nearly the same as the one for regular summoning, but it changes enough to where it targets a completely different sub-world.
So I could probably alter it so that it only summons spirits as well, but I’ll at least ask them first if that is a good idea.
From there, the demon summoning circle is basically the same as the regular summoning circle. Put mana into it, and you get yourself a demon. Simple, right?
… Sadly, a bit too simple.
See, the normal summoning circle has this defense layer, which prevents the summoned monster from attacking you. That is why random summoning is even remotely viable, and you don’t immediately get chomped by what you summoned.
But it doesn’t work on demons. Not fully, anyway. Because the protection it makes is 100% mana based, and demons use a mana and miasma mix.
I don’t know what pure demons use, but Cambions use a 50/50 mix. My Archfiend monsters use a higher miasma content mix, about 75/25. And the very strongest Fiends I have, like Darkness Neosphere, use a 90/10 mix of miasma and mana.
And because of that, mana based protection barriers really don’t work that well against demons.
So my first idea to improve demon summoning was overhauling the summoning circle, mainly the defensive layer.
With the help from my Fiend monsters, we made a variant of the circle that would absorb the miasma in the air to reinforce the protection, to make it more suited to handling demons.
From there, I had to start looking at the contracts the demons wanted, and mainly, why they wanted things like status points, or even lives.
And it all spun back to one thing, the demons want miasma. They need it to live. And what they ask in return for their services are pieces of human souls, or entire souls.
Because at the end of the day, humans are around 20% miasma, 80% mana. Can’t really get around that fact. That is just the environment we live in.
The System protects us from the negative side effects, and even uses that miasma to fuel itself. But the demons can also use that, so if they take a part of your ‘soul’, they can get that miasma.
So with that, I needed a way to gather miasma into something that could be used to bargain with demons. How difficult could that be?
As it turned out, it really wasn’t that difficult. All I had to do was combine Pitch-Black Power Stone and Curse of Darkness.
With that, I made a Cursed Power Stone.
It works like Pitch-Black Power Stone, except that instead of holding Spell Counters, it held Cursed Spell Counters, or as I began calling them, Miasma Counters.
Each counter was worth 1000 miasma, so one Cursed Power Stone could hold up to 3000 miasma.
And while that is nice and all, that is something only I can use. I need to make a passive version, where you have maybe a device that collects miasma from the air, and charges a miasma stone with it.
But that is for later. First, I need to see if my miasma theory works in the first place.
Admittedly, I was a bit worried. Sure I should be able to hold my own, and the magic circle should protect me, but should doesn’t mean it will.
But I did summon both Getsu Fuhma and Shadow Tamer. Both of them specialize in combating Fiend-type monsters, and in the OCG, the Fiend-type is the Demon-type, so they should do well against demons.
I even changed my race to Cambion to lessen the chances of the demon attacking me.
Oh, and I know I spoke about this when I first began to think about improving demon summoning, but Pan is not in any way in charge of demon summoning, so I can’t ask for her help.
But yeah. Nothing left to it, other than to try.
I wasn’t on HomeBase, because again, I didn’t want to take the chance, so I flew some ways away. I had Alice and Lua nearby, so they could come to help, if I needed it.
I then used some Earth Spirit Magic to carve the magic circle into the ground. It was the easiest way of doing it, and I wouldn’t have to draw it with a stick or something.
I then turned on Mana Vision, as I began to fill the circle with mana. Mana Vision was important, because with it, I could somewhat see miasma, so I could confirm that the circle was pulling miasma from the air, as designed.
After the circle was completely filled, it didn’t take long for a demonic figure to appear in it.
This one didn’t look nearly as aggressive as the last one. The last one looked like a war demon, or some other combat focused demon, but this time I got a lady demon, who I’m pretty sure is a succubus of some kind.
She had long black hair, a pair of black wings, smooth and fair skin, and a pair of short horns. Her outfit was on the cuter side, not on the sexier side, but what do I know.
“... human.” She said quietly. “What do you desire?”
She then opened her eyes and looked at me and her face lost the confidence it held.
“N-No! You aren’t a human! They lied!” She screamed. She then noticed the two monsters I summoned just in case, and began to outright panic. “Let me back! I don’t want to be here! HELP!”
… Yeah. What should I do? Calm her down? She is still a demon, even if she is some inexperienced succubus. Also, who they? Did some stronger demons force her to respond to my call, because they didn’t want to? Maybe the demons know I annihilated a demon a little over a week ago, and now don’t want to respond to my call.
I approached the summoning circle a bit, but didn’t enter inside. She is a succubus, so she might have some sort of mind control skill, and I don’t have a set card ready to counter something like that.
“Excuse me, but would you talk to me for a bit?” I asked the panicked succubus.
The succubus didn’t respond to me, and just kept crying out to no one. She was just repeating ‘Let me back’ over and over again, but her voice was getting quieter and quieter.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” I told her, keeping my voice calm. I really hope I don’t have to hurt her. She really just seems like a kid.
I kept trying to verbally calm her down, but it wasn’t working, so I called Alice and Lua over from where they were, since everything was relatively safe. I just wanted them there just in case the succubus tries to mind control me. I made sure both of them had a Remove Brainwashing ready to be activated.
I then walked into the summoning circle.
I moved intentionally slowly, but the succubus didn’t even react to me. I think she was in a full on panic attack.
I gently lowered my hand onto her shoulder, and I felt her barely breathing. She was taking quick shallow breaths. She must have panicked to the point where she couldn't even breathe.
I then got even closer to her, and began to whisper into her ear, trying to help her get her breathing under control, so I could hopefully get something out of this.
Eventually the succubus recovered, but she was still pale, and just not looking that good.
“... I can send you back, if you really want to. But would you talk with me for a bit first?” I told her.
“... I can’t go back.” She said. “If I get nothing, I can’t…can’t... can’t…” She muttered out as a response.
“... alright.” Now I really hope I’m right about this.
I activated the Cursed Power Stone that was in one of my duel disks Spell/Trap zones, and caught the stone that appeared.
“Would this do?” I asked her, and offered her the miasma stone.
She looked at the stone I was holding, then she turned to face me, and I think she finally realized just how close to her I was, because it almost looked like she wanted to run away, but she got some courage, and looked back at the stone.
“... Yes. … I … for that stone … I will be in your service.” She said.
“For how long?” I asked. Service was a good thing when it came to summoning contracts. It means I can summon her for anything I want, and she won’t complain.
Some summonable monsters have more specific requirements for their summoning contracts, like they only want to be summoned for combat reasons.
Others have conditions like every other summoning you need to feed them, or so on. There are as many conditions and clauses as there are summoners and summoning contracts, but service is generally the best, because of basically no limits.
“... For … forever.” The succubus answered. “... or at least … as long as you live.” She added. She must have then seen the look on my face, which was that of surprise, not that of disappointment, because she quickly added. “I-If that isn’t enough… I’ll do your children's lives as well. And grandchildren!”
“... No. That won’t be necessary.” I told her. “Just for my life is more than enough. And before you make promises like that, the supreme dragon herself told me that I’ll probably live at least 300 years, so it will be a long life.”
I once again saw the color drain from her face. I don’t know if it was the reveal of my expected lifespan, or that I told her that I have a connection with the supreme dragon.
“And I won’t be expecting you to do all of that for just one of those stones. I’ll give you one every time I summon you. Is that alright with you?” I asked.
The succubus’ eyes went wide as I told her that. I don’t think she expected anything of this level.
“... I … I can’t accept that. … it's too much.”
“Is it?” I simply asked. “It really isn’t a problem for me.”
“... too much.” She repeated. “Every other time. … no. Every third time. … please.”
“Alright. Since you demand so.” I gave in. I can just give her the stones anyway, and it isn’t like it really matters to me. “Could you give me your name, so I can call for you? Or do you need me to name you?”
“... I … I have a name. But I don’t like it. Could you give me a new one?” She requested.
“Alright.” I don’t really have any good ideas, but I also don’t want to give her a bad name, so I’ll just give her a simple name, that will hopefully be good. “Then your name is Hope.”
“... Hope. … Thank you. … Master. … I will answer. When you call.” She said, and her body began to fade. “... what is … your name?” She asked, when she was already fully see through.
“Brian.” I answered her. “I’ll call on you soon.” I promised.