Demonology 101

■-□-□

In the dead of night, I sneak across the long and winding hallways looking like a complete idiot who has no clue in the art of stealth carrying a bag full of candles, trying to make as little noise as possible to deter any potential individuals who could spot me shuffling around and looking like a goblin.

As I walk up the wooden stairs, my luck comes to bite me in the ass and the stairs I am currently climbing up on all fours makes a very audible creaking noise, I close my eyes and zip my mouth shut and start praying silently, "Oh great Goddess of Fortune, Duena, why the hell did you bring me misfortune at this time?!"

As my prayer goes unheard, I hear a faint cough in the distance, but silence follows after the said cough; I breath a sigh of relief as I continue climbing up the steps with glee. As I reach the top of the staircase, I sneak towards my room.

I walk up towards my door and slowly pull on the handle, as soon as there is a gap I can squeeze through, I take that opportunity and go through the gap; a skill I still fondly look back upon when I was still just a wee boy, running through the tight alleyways in order to reach the city library... ah, good times.

As I finally squeeze my upper torso through the door, I suddenly lose my balance and fall face flat onto the floorboards of my room; the sound echoes out of my room and into the hallway, wherein I hold my breath once again, silently swearing, "Goddamn it, not again!"

To my misfortune, however, in the distance, I hear a door swing open thanks to its creaking, followed by footsteps, although starting off silent, getting louder and louder towards my location, I glance at my bag full of candles, before sliding it under my wooden bedframe.

Pushing myself up and dusting myself off, I turn around to face the door, without forgetting to put down my hood and fixing my ruby-colored hair; I then check my room to see if anything is out of place.

"Unsuspecting bookshelf that is filled to the brim with books I read for my enjoyment and books that consist of dark magics? Check."

"The bed that I cry on before I sleep because I am an extremely lonely person who has not even experienced any romantic relationships with anyone? Hah, check..."

As soon as the footsteps reach the peak audible sound, I hear them emit a loud yawn before muttering with a soft-spoken and groggy voice, "What is Takemoto-san doing tonight?"

The person goes to knock on my door but they notice the visible gap, before grabbing onto said gap with their pale but elegant looking hand; they swing the door open slowly, and I instantly recognize their face.

It's Kitamura Ei, a member of my extremely small party, and she seems to be somewhat worried if I have garnered any afflictions due to my little fluke, since it seems like she had just woken up; still wearing that black nightgown of hers and asking while wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "Did you have an accident?"

I answer her with a very non-assuming tone alongside a little shake of my head, "No, that thing you heard earlier was just me dropping a book," I then chuckle trying to play it off as if I was just being a clumsy idiot; I reopen my eyes and notice that she has seen through my act, that gaze of hers is a surefire sign of that.

She then points at my forehead, asking, "Were you lying down directly infront of the bookshelf? Since there is a very noticeable bruise on your forehead, Takemoto-san," 

My eyes then start widening, "Damn, is it really that noticeable!?"

I cover the bruise on my forehead with my hand, emitting a meaty slap as I let out a very forced laugh, and producing a grin on my face, "W-what bruise? That's just a side effect from one of my dark magic stuff! Y-yeeaah... dark magic."

"I am definitely getting caught."

I notice her taking out a red potion out from... somewhere—hopefully not from her bosom—and taking a swig from it before walking closer to me, I take a few steps back in retaliation, whispering, "H-hey, you really don't need to worry, Kitamura-san!"

She grabs my hand covering my injury and forcefully brings it down; afterwards, she starts pulling me down to her height by the collar of my robe and by the time I was basically leaning over, she kisses me on my forehead.

My face is extremely flushed, I then exclaim "Wh-?!" but the shock reaches my brain and I wasn't able to finish the word; all I can see is her chest, if I were to lean in closer, I could cover my face in those melons!

I feel a liquid getting applied to my forehead, but I don't pay any attention to it since there is only two things I am currently focusing on; before long, she stops kissing my forehead and lets go off my collar, which allows me to straighten my back.

Clearing my throat, I look away and shyly say, "Th-thanks for that..," the sensation of a kiss on my forehead doesn't disappear and for some reason my face is still extremely red, I then start rubbing my forehead.

"You shouldn't really thank me," she tells me with her eloquent and soft-spoken voice, "It is my job as your alchemist, after all; and as your alchemist, I am tasked with my life to keep you and Nishimoto-san in tip-top shape!"

She stands silent with that cute smile of hers I have learned to adore, before randomly saying,

"And from dying horrible deaths."

She chuckles while covering her mouth with her free hand, "Anyways, that potion I gave you will get rid of your bruise in just a few hours, but the reason why I had to kiss your forehead was that it has to be applied directly on the site of injury, and applying it with my hand isn't necessarily that effective since it might spill, so~ I was really forced to kiss your forehead."

Although she does mention something that catches my attention, "There are some side effects however, like a few hours of indecisiveness, clumsiness, and blurred eyesight, and a very miniscule chance of getting a brain tumor, but I assume that won't be an issue, since you'll be going to sleep now, so those effects won't really hinder anything.

"A brain tumor?" I stare at her in distress.

"You should get some rest for tomorrow, you do remember we are going on a quest tomorrow, right?" she then chuckles; as she leaves the room, she starts saying with a smile on her face, "Goodnight Takemoto-san, let's make some more Ezla tomorrow, alright?"

I then give her a response, "Yeah, I'll make sure of that. Goodnight Kitamura-san," I now stand in the middle of my room; a few seconds of silence fills the air before my expression suddenly changes to one of fear, "Indecisiveness? Blurred eyesight? Clumsiness? A GODDAMN BRAIN TUMOR?! I need to do an extremely important ritual tonight!"

"This is something that is only possible every fifty years... under the shine of the blood full moon, the almighty demon Xilgroxog of the Underworld awakens, and is is prophesized that whoever summons this mystical being is given his gift of unimaginable power, extreme wisdom, or insurmountable wealth!"

I close and lock my door, after I do that I walk towards my bed and pull out the bag full of candles, I open it and take out a handful of candles and place it on the floor; afterwards, I walk towards my bookshelf and take out an almanac.

I start flipping through the pages which feels like human skin, in order to find the page regarding the omnipotent Xilgroxog, "I need to summon the preeminent Xilgroxog for my group, if I am successful in summoning the unconquerable Xilgroxog, we will be the number one group in this guild!"

As I land on the invincible Xilgroxog's page, I start setting up the ritual site: six candles to represent his heads which I light up with my fire magic, a drawing of his summoning icon, and the rotten corpse of a chicken in the center, "Now, I just need to speak this incantation in order for the all-powerful Xilgroxog to enter our realm!"

I then start performing the incantation, it is surprisingly not that complicated considering the amount of power the omnipotent Xilgroxog holds, but I don't judge.

As I near the end of the incantation I feel my room shaking.

Speaking the final and forbidden word found on the book, the summoning circle I made suddenly erupts into violent red lights which sends me crashing into one of my walls; although dazed, I force myself back up on my two feet, and to my horror, the middle of my room starts opening up, leading into the depths of the Underworld which lets out the guttural screams and wails of the dead.

A large dark red hand soaked in blood reaches out of the portal I conjured, the blood tainted claws leaves a mark on my floorboards as it starts pulling itself out, before another hand claws its way out; as soon as I see it's shoulders, I notice the almighty Xilgroxog's multiple faces, all of his eyes are devoid of any color, only filled with the feeling of fear and dread.

I feel my sanity waning as the screams of the damned escape the Underworld; I also cannot bear the foul odor that consists of rotting flesh and something I cannot even comprehend that is coming from the damned portal— It is unbearable!

As the omnipotent Xilgroxog pulls himself out of the portal, he comes walking towards me, every step leaves fire under the incomprehensible Xilgroxog's footstep; the supreme Xilgroxog then stops infront of me, the all-powerful Xilgroxog's stature towering over my puny body; although the colossal Xilgroxog's jaw is unhinged, the almighty Xilgroxog is still able to produce noises.

My heartbeat starts pounding out of my chest, is it because of the extreme fear of coming face to face with an ACTUAL DEMON LORD STRAIGHT FROM THE UNDERWORLD?!

The preeminent Xilgroxog asks me in his deep and guttural voice, "MORTAL BEING, WHY HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME, THE OMNIPOTENT, THE ALMIGHTY, THE SUPREME, THE ALL-POWERFUL, THE PREEMINENT, THE INVINCIBLE, THE COLOSSAL, THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE, XILGROXOG!?" while the other heads scream in terror, most likely the last unlucky souls that attempted to summon him and failed due to the terror of standing infront of him.

The flames from his footsteps grow larger and larger, but I pay attention to it; I clear my throat and stare him straight in the eye, but then I feel something different, "W-why did I summon him in the first place?" I feel a sharp pain in my chest, it seems like the potion is taking its effects...

I start muttering, "I-I..." Although, I was unable to speak, "Damn, why can't I speak?! I get this close and I'm just gonna become another one of his heads!" I shake my head, "No, I won't allow it!" I straighten my posture and stare at him directly in the eyes again.

I inhale deeply while tightening my fist, the screams of the dead from the Underworld echoes as I shout with all my strength and might, "I want you!"

"HEH?" The almighty Xilgroxog who was shocked, says in an almost normal voice, the screams of the underworld and the five heads stop screaming, and thus, silence fills the room.

I look down at the floor as sweat is currently pouring off my forehead as if a bucket of water was dropped on me, "Wh-what did I just say? I want you!? What does that mean?!"

I stare at the omnipotent Xilgroxog once again, whispering, "I-I meant-"

The almighty Xilgroxog clears his throat, and his multiple cheeks are deeply flushed, while he mutters, "IF YOU DO WANT ME, THEN SO BE IT..."

The room then starts violently shaking as the all-powerful Xilgroxog raises his arms, and his voice returns to normal, "MORTAL BEING, I WILL NOW ACCOMPANY YOU IN THIS REALM UNTIL YOUR BODY PERISHES, WHEREIN I WILL RETURN TO THE UNDERWORLD!"

And as I feel my vision spiraling and something heavy entering my body, I hear the omnipotent Xilgroxog tell me, "TAKE CARE OF ME, MORTAL BEING, FOR I WILL BE IN YOUR BODY!"

I then suddenly lose consciousness as I fall to the ground, the last thing I was able to hear was the cackling of fire and the screams of multiple people.

I float in the endless void, thinking, "Did I die? Was I unable to contain the extreme power of the almighty Xilgroxog?" I shut my eyes in defeat, "Maybe I was too weak..." 

I then hear a voice boom in my head, "MORTAL BEING! YOU HAVE NOT PERISHED, YOU HAVE BEEN TRANSPORTED TO THE REALM BETWEEN CONSCIOUSNESS AND UNCONCSIOUSNESS."

My eyes reopen and widen, as I instantly recognize that voice, I call out, "The omnipotent Xilgroxog!? Where are you, I don't see you at all!"

"AS I HAVE STATED EARLIER, I AM ONE WITH YOUR BODY!" the all-powerful Xilgroxog shouts.

"YOU WILL AWAKEN SOON, BUT UNTIL THAT TIME COMES, I WILL REMAIN SILENT."