You Can’t Eat That!

"S-Sir, are you really sure you want to do this?" A servant trembled in fear while setting up a magic circle. Candles were ignited on all corners, and the wax for them was placed within human skulls.

There was a jar of mercury placed at the centre, and floating in its centre atop a fibrous piece of paper was a bar of gold. There were all sorts of materials placed at calculated positions on the circle.

A mysterious energy had already begun to condense within them thanks to the sheer arrangement as the mercury began to circulate through the lines drawn on the magic circle, using them as pathways to travel.

The room was pretty dark, constructed underground as there was only one narrow exit in the ceiling, with a ladder leading to it. The ceiling was around five metres above the ground, so the room felt pretty spacious to move around.

Currently, a total of four people remained in the room, the entrance locked. Three among them were going around, carefully setting up the various items within the engraved magic circle. The lines of the magic circle were an inch thick and an inch deep. They were carved into the hard granite floor.

So, it was apparent that the preparation process alone should have taken months due to the sheer work involved, not to mention the expensive items embedded throughout it. Everything had been done by these four, so it was a monumental task.

And now, after months of work, they were at the final step, which was when the servants began to feel tension.

One of them stared at the fourth person in the room, the sole individual that had remained unmoving from the start, only giving out instructions one after another, speaking respectfully, "Sir, if the Lord were to know of this, our heads would roll."

"Even your life may not be spared, sir. For those of us from the Faith Path, forming a contract with the Devil is a taboo." He said, "Can you please think about it again?"

"Idiot." The authoritative individual snorted in disdain, "Are you getting cold feet now? If you are scared, you can leave. Don't come begging to me for help later."

"I won't dare leave, sir." The servant bowed in a hurry, "I was just voicing my doubts."

"In our great Garobu Family, I'm the mere fourth child. Becoming an Apostle is impossible as long as that bastard is alive." The authoritative figure clenched his hand firmly, "I'm sick of being a mere Spirit. As long as I sign a contract with a Devil, I'll become stronger."

"But Sir, signing a contract with a Devil would spell destruction for our entire City. We can't afford that…" The Servant retorted when he was silenced by the authoritative figure's glare.

"You assume I didn't think of something a dumbass like you can make sense of?" The authoritative individual snorted, "I, Dullip Garobu, am not stupid."

He pointed at the magic circle, "Based on the data I've collected, this magic circle only summons a rogue individual from the Devil Path. Moreover, I've installed a limiting factor into this to ensure the summoned Devil is weaker than me. This way,"

He grinned, "I can force a contract and then kill that Devil to make the stolen power my own."

"A-Amazing!" All three servants exclaimed in praise as they finished setting up the magic circle.

Dullip Garobu snapped his finger as his three servants stood around the magic circle, equidistant from each other. And under his order, they each pricked their index finger and dripped a drop of blood, watching the magic circle come to life.

The various substances fused into the mercury to create a golden liquid that began to circulate rapidly, emanating a mysterious power that cast a beam onto Dullip Garobu, allowing him to sense traces of any Devils in his vicinity.

As Dullip Garobu focused, he detected some presences far away, feeling a chill as they were stronger than he had expected, "No, I'll be devoured instead. I need to find a weaker Devil…"

He continued to scout through his senses using the magic circle, frustrated at the end of three whole hours of search, "Dammit! There's not a single suitable Devil in the entire Deccan region?"

"S-Sir, we can't hold on any longer." The servants stammered, feeling exhausted as they were unable to bear the load unleashed by the magic circle on their minds any longer.

"Dammit!" Dullip grunted in irritation, searching for some more time before he realised that he had scoured through the entirety of the range that his magic circle could reach. "Am I destined to fail? Dammit, I spent my life's fortune creating this magic circle. Some of the materials aren't even available in the Deccan anymore."

The magic circle was beginning to lose its shine, having expended most of its energy, piling up his frustration. Nerves protruded voluminously on his face as Dullip was on the verge of exploding in rage.

But just when despair set in at his failure, he noticed a faint signal, one so faint he wouldn't have picked it up before. "W-Wait! I see one!"

"Hold on a bit more!" He shouted at the servants in excitement and focused on the faint energy signature, hurriedly pouring in all the power of the magic circle into the target to form a connection, "I summon you!"

"Devil!"

Boom!

Light spilled out of the magic circle in large volumes, flooding the room as space cracked, alarming Dullip as it was beyond his expectation, "S-Shit, what the heck is happening?"

The light vanished as the voice of a teenager resounded, "Did we make it through?"

'It went just as you had predicted, sir.' Iota thought for a moment in silence before looking around at the people dressed in vastly different attires from himself. Carried in his arms was the unconscious Spring. The spatial tunnel collapsed upon their arrival.

Zoom!

Iota felt a prickling sensation as he observed a tiny crack in space still exist despite his arrival. He stared at the magic circle with golden fluid, thinking of something as he recalled everything he had learned regarding a Devil Summon.

Iota plunged his hand into one of the creases, making contact with the golden fluid as he felt a searing sensation. Before the people around him could react, he smeared his hand with the golden fluid and grabbed the tiny crack, able to see mysterious energy flux interacting at the point of contact.

The golden light was from the Devil Summoning while emanating through the crack was reddish-black energy that was created by using the Director's body as fuel. The crack was what remained after the tunnel—used to facilitate their transmigration—collapsed.

The energy at the contact point turned unstable when Iota clenched his hand tightly, noticing he was able to move the crack as he pleased. In the next moment, he put it into his mouth.