A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 246: Demonic Pact

Chapter 246: Demonic Pact

"Is that all?" I inquired upon hearing his request. It was surprisingly simple, yet it was something that would require more than just myself. But he said that I wouldn’t be the only one helping with his request.

"Yup. That’s all. I’ll contact you in the future when I need your assistance with this, and you can do the same if you ever need my help also." He said as he tossed a stone at me.

I caught it and saw that it was transcribed with runes on it that read, "Spatial Communication Link?"

"You can read that?" He uttered in astonishment.

"Uhh... Yeah..." ’Crap! I forgot that this is written in Astral Runecraft!’

"Wow... Anyways, you wanted me to teach you?" He moved on from that rather quickly. Almost too quickly.

"Yeah, if you wouldn’t mind."

"Sure, but I can’t stay here for more than a year now, so that’ll be all the time you’ve got with me."

"That’s fine. I never would’ve expected you to teach me for forever anyways."

"Hahaha! Ah, if not for my circumstances, I probably could’ve. But a year is all I’ve got. Oh, and when I have finished that year, do not, under any circumstances, contact me for the following five years, understood?" He demanded in a grievous tone.

"I-I understand." I shivered a little at his rather serious tone.

He laughed at my nervousness and explained, "Haha! No need to be so tense. It’s more for your own safety since there are forces that seek my end and will use you to get to me. That’s why I ask that you refrain from contacting me, since you’ll be alerting them of your presence."

"I see..."

"Haha! Alright then, shall we discuss the specific terms of our deal?"

"Um, sure." I replied somewhat meekly, since his carefree approach was kind of unsettling.

Either way, we spent the next few minutes discussing how this would all work out.

He would teach me [Space} magic, and in return, I would help him with some sort of project in the future. He would teach me all that he could before he left and if there was an opportunity for him to do it again in the future, he would give me some guidance.

There were some more minute details, like how, when and where he would instruct me, but overall, it was a really simple deal.

"Alrighty then, that sounds like a fine deal to me. Shake on it?" He presented his hand to me.

I reached out with my own hand. And coincidentally, we both seemed to be left-handed with the way we both extended our left hands.

But the moment we held each other’s hand, I felt something within my own soul ignite.

And before either of us understood what just happened, [Hell Fire] burst out from the place that our hand met, forming into a set of chains around our arms and forming a link between our souls, with me as the higher power.

We were both powerless to stop it or get out of this situation as we tried to pull away. But alas, it was futile. Our efforts amounted to nothing as the link was established.

The [Hell Fire] dispersed soon after that and the two of us finally let go of each other as we looked at our hands before looking back at one another as if to say ’What the hell was that?’

"Okay... You’re a demon... And an extremely high ranking one at that... The highest I’ve ever met as of this point in time..." The blond man started rambling on about some nonsense, but for some reason, he didn’t seem to be overly shocked about this revelation.

He kept on mumbling to himself as he hunched over as he had his back facing me. And he spent a while mumbling to himself as well.

I heard him say things along the lines of what he had already said, over and over again.

But eventually he was able to get out of it and regain his composure and face me once more. And then immediately losing it once more as he looked at me.

"Wait... Red Serpentine... [Space] magic... The current time... Location... No that doesn’t make any sense... But, how else..." He started to mumble again as he turned away once more. And I think he was mumbling about me? But... Why though?

And after another few minutes, he turned back to face me with a scrutinising gaze.

"Are you, by any chance, the daughter of Asmodeus?"

"Heh?" I jumped back in shock. How did he know? Is he a part of the Illuminati? But, that doesn’t make sense.

"Seems I’m right. But if you’re here... Then that means..." The next thing that I saw after he spoke, was his face turning dark.

"If you’re here at this time, then that means they’ve become aware of my antics and are actively seeking to stop me even sooner than before... Not good..."

What is he talking about? Who’s ’they’? And what does that all have to do with me? How do I fit into all of this?

He then called out to me, "Traytora."

"Yes?" Wait a minute... How does he know my name? "H-How-"

Before I could ask him how he knew me, he grabbed my shoulders and asked something with a grim tone, "Not important right now. What I need to know is, why are you here? You shouldn’t be at this point in time."

"Wh-What?"

"You’re not supposed to be in this city at this point in time. You’re five years too early."

"Huh?" I was so confused. This point in time? Too early? What exactly is he saying?

"Wait... If you’re here, then that means..." His serious look soon faded into a sorrowful one. "Oh dear child... I’m so sorry..."

I just stuttered as he just hugged me out of nowhere before blurting out, "WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!"

He let go of me in confusion and asked, "You... Don’t remember?"

"Remember what!?!?"

He looked down and thought for a moment and asked, "Do you remember where you were before you came here? As in, where did you come from before you arrived in this city?"

He still had his hands on my shoulders, and he also still had a rather stern expression on his face.

But I answered him anyways.

"I- I came from the forest to the west."

"There are several kingdoms in between the desert and that forest. You couldn’t have made it this far that quickly. How did you get here?"

"Umm... By uh, finding a teleportation gate?" I mean, it is technically the truth and I don’t want to tell him about-

"Did the Illuminati allow you to use theirs?" How- Whatever. This man’s too shocking for me to keep up like this.

"Y-Yes?"

"Did they try and induct you into their ranks?"

"Yes?"

"Did you accept?"

"N-No?"

"Mm, good. You made the right choice not accepting their invitation. But how exactly did you come into contact with them? They shouldn’t have found you at this age and this time. Where did you meet them?"

"Um... On Kronia’s fa-"

"KRONIA?!?! You met Kronia? How?"

"I crested a hill onto her family’s farm and she was just there. She then sealed my memories the night we met for some reason."

"She did that? That explains a lot actually.... Still, just HOW did you meet the Illuminati?"

"W-Well, she was in the middle of taking me away from her farm to get away from the kingdoms men when they showed up."

"Do you know WHY they showed up? Because they don’t show up for no good reason. What did you do? Because I know Kronia isn’t capable of catching their eye compared to someone like you."

"Umm... Do I really have to say?"

"Yes."

"I uh... Kronia was teaching me how to make a [Mana Core] and..."

"Yes?"

"I uh... I did something else by accident..."

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"I may or may not have created a [Mana Heart] instead..."

...

He went silent after that. Likely unable to believe what he just heard. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew what that was, given how much he seems to know already. But it’s still surprising to hear since only three people have such a thing right now.

"Okay... This is new... Actually, this is great new! This is amazing news! This is-"

Before he finished, he turned to look around us before teleporting us away to somewhere in the middle of the desert.

"Huh? What just happened?"

"Sorry, someone was coming, and I couldn’t risk letting anyone else knowing about our little conversation. Right, make sure you never speak of this to anyone else, understand? If you do tattle, then there could be disastrous consequences."

"O-Okay. I promise to not tell a soul."

"Good. Now, whilst we’re here, I suppose I should hold up my end of the deal, or pact rather as you seem to have made one, even if by accident. You can ask all the questions you want later, but for now, we need to focus, or else we’ll never get to your training."

"R-Right. So, where do we start?"