Ancient Demon

Shortly after the golden scale appeared beneath their feet, all three of them simultaneously felt something watching them from above the dark domain.

Ansu looked up, and in the depths of the darkness, a pair of massive, bat-like wings faintly appeared. The demon's eyes were a burning, fiery red, and it looked down coldly at the three on the scale, remaining motionless.

This was the host of the Soul Feast, the ancient demon—Zak-Eos.

As the demon watched them, Ansu was busy evaluating the other's strength in his mind.

This was the second time he had encountered such a high-tier existence; the first had been the sealed fallen deity, Ersos.

However, after observing for a while, Ansu felt that the strength of the being before him was much weaker than Ersos. After all... he didn't feel that same shuddering from the depths of his soul that he had felt back then.

In the world of the 《Sword of Evernight》, deities were supreme beings who wielded certain 'authorities,' such as the 'God of Nature' or the 'Goddess of Holy Light.'

Demons, on the other hand, were merely creatures one tier higher than humans. To them, souls from the material plane were vital resources, so they racked their brains to use various 'contracts' and 'rules' to gain power. Consequently, they lacked the imposing presence of the gods.

After the demon Zak-Eos appeared, Ansu noticed Celia staring intently at him. He quickly looked back, giving her a steady, reassuring gaze.

"Lord Demon!" Samantha cried out hoarsely as soon as she saw the demon appear, her voice filled with desperation. "I have summoned you according to the ritual's procedures! Please help me complete the sacrificial ritual and devour Celia's soul! According to the rules, her body should also be mine to control as I wish!"

Ansu looked up and spoke in a calm, sincere tone. "Your Excellency, please abide by the contract. You are obligated to kill Samantha's soul."

These ancient demons displayed a contradictory behavior. On one hand, they used temptation and instigation to trick humans into signing contracts, but once signed, they truly did abide by them. They would not simply tear up a contract just because they were powerful.

But ancient demons were neither kind-hearted nor honest.

Their cunning usually manifested in the information asymmetry present when the contract was signed. Much like how the poor corporate drones of another world were deceived by the contracts of black-hearted bosses, these demons were masters of wordplay and intentional obfuscation.

Mortals might be lured by the benefits of certain black magic rituals, but because they didn't know how deep the waters were, they were most likely to be toyed with until they died.

Seeing Ansu oppose her directly, Samantha added urgently, "I was the one who initiated the sacrificial ritual first! Lord Demon! Hurry and kill Celia!"

"Please kill Samantha," Ansu said with a cold sneer as he stared at the woman opposite him. "This person didn't even recite the summoning incantation correctly. The magic of the ancient demon empire must, of course, use pure Ancient Enus! She even got the pronunciation of the opening sentence wrong. If her heart lacks sincerity, how can she hope to summon your presence?"

The two argued back and forth for a long time before finally looking together at the ancient demon hidden in the darkness.

Zak-Eos had remained silent from the beginning.

It wasn't until both looked toward it that its lava-like red eyes flickered, appearing somewhat troubled.

Finally—

"You..." Zak-Eos's gaze locked onto Ansu. "You are indeed the first human in a millennium to call upon my name using the Enus tongue."

Samantha's heart sank when she saw the demon address Ansu first.

Ansu could sense that the demon's current mood was quite subtle. Zak-Eos's gaze lingered between him and Samantha for a while, as if even it found the situation troublesome.

Then, in the deep darkness of the void, a massive, heavy tome with unknown runes branded on its cover silently appeared.

"Interesting..."

"It has been too long since I presided over a soul scale. Let me check the records."

"Chapter one, article thirty-three... supplementary clause..."

Under the gaze of the three, the ancient demon actually began flipping through the ancient text on the spot... researching the detailed rules.

Ansu thought silently that this demon's professional skills seemed a bit rusty...

Perhaps out of habit, or perhaps because it didn't mind revealing the rules to the humans below, Zak-Eos enjoyed muttering to itself while flipping through the book.

Ansu listened patiently, intending to memorize everything he heard.

Every rule he learned now would be a highly advantageous information gap once he returned to reality.

"Once the ritual takes effect, only one target soul can be sacrificed at a time."

"The range includes elves, dwarves, demons, humans... any sapient life within this range possessing a soul..."

"The contract will provide fair protection... once the ritual begins, the parties cannot attack each other."

"Article fifty-two... the one who initiates the ritual first enjoys priority..."

"If the sacrificial target is a non-sapient lifeform... it is deemed a desecration of the contract, and the initiator will be punished... see chapter three, article fifty-eight for details..."

Zak-Eos seemed to have finally found the clause applicable to this situation, and the sound of flipping pages stopped.

"Wait..."

"According to the supplementary clause in chapter seven, article three, when a conflict of sacrificial targets occurs, if the subsequent sacrificer uses a primal incantation and its completeness is higher than the initiator's, then arbitration is triggered..."

The massive golden soul scale suddenly began to hum.

"What! Primal incantation? Arbitration?" Samantha hissed in a panic as she felt the change, her voice full of unwilling rage.

"No! This is unfair!!"

She was clearly the first one!

Samantha's venomous gaze suddenly locked onto Ansu, her tone thick with disbelief.

"You! When did you... learn the Soul Feast? And an even more primal version?"

"Old hag, haven't you figured it out yet?" Ansu let out a scoff. "Why else do you think I tricked you into going to the Royal Capital and had the Church of Holy Light surround you?"

Samantha's eyes widened as realization struck her.

"The ancient ruins... it was the ancient ruins!?"

She gasped in shock. "So you had it all planned out from the very beginning? You lured me away and then went to the ancient ruins with Celia just to find a way to deal with me? But how did you know that place held the primal version of the Soul Feast?"

"Of course I knew," Ansu laughed mockingly, offering no further explanation.

After all, it was all written in the plot...

Under Samantha's increasingly terrified gaze, the ancient demon slowly pronounced her death sentence.

"The completeness of the sacrificer Ansu's incantation is far higher than that of the sacrificer Samantha. Therefore..."

"As a result of arbitration, Ansu's request holds higher priority!"

"The Soul Feast takes effect immediately!" Zak-Eos's tone rose significantly. Like a judge, it formally declared the complete death of Samantha's soul.

In the next second, the massive golden soul scale suddenly stopped trembling.

"No!!" Samantha's face was a mask of pure despair. She desperately tried to explain. "This isn't right! This is unfair! I was the one who initiated the ritual! The one whose soul should be devoured is her, it's..."

Before she could finish, Samantha's end of the scale suddenly snapped upward, as if it had become weightless, stripped of all its mass.

Meanwhile, Celia's side sank rapidly, creating a sharp tilt between the two.

This was clearly the sign of a soul being extracted.

Celia watched the scene closely, the surprise in her eyes quickly replaced by a deep sense of curiosity.

"It looks like some kind of absolute rule that cannot be violated..." she muttered to herself. "But at its core, this is still a form of magical power. I felt the surge of mana just now... is this also a type of ancient magic? It's truly interesting..."

Ansu looked at her and saw the witch's eyes shimmering slightly, as if she were eager to try it herself.

"Rules are meant to be broken. It's just an ancient demon... several of them even died during the Demon Calamity War. If my tier were the same as the opponent's, I wonder if I could use my power to break this confinement..."

Ansu gave her a helpless look, thinking that the witch really only cared about magic no matter where she was. He said weakly, "Wait a moment..."

If she wanted to raise her tier here, there was only one way—for her to die and become the World Ending Witch...

Ansu quickly suppressed her eager thoughts. Now was not the time to study magic, nor was it appropriate to provoke the ancient demon.

Seeing Ansu's helpless expression, Celia knew he wouldn't allow it, so she pouted slightly.

"Fine..."

Both turned their gaze toward Samantha on the scale's tray.

She still held the expression she had at the moment of her soul's death—resentment, despair, and fear... but her entire body was now motionless, like a statue.

"She's... already dead?" Celia asked softly.

Ansu nodded. At least on the level of the soul, Samantha was dead.

What remained of her was merely an empty shell without thought or consciousness. This condition was even more severe than being in a vegetative state.

Once the domain of the Soul Feast vanished and this shell returned to reality, it would quickly wither and dry up until all life was gone.

Seeing that Samantha was 'dead,' Ansu breathed a sigh of relief. His long-term planning had indeed been correct.

However, this time, his joy didn't last long...

Because the Soul Feast didn't seem to be over yet.

Zak-Eos's fiery red eyes slowly shifted toward Celia, who was at the lower end of the scale.

"Sacrificial contract one, fulfilled."

"Now..."

"Commencing the execution of sacrificial contract two."

Ansu's brow furrowed instantly. He asked, "Your Excellency! The initiator of this second contract, Samantha, is dead. Even so, can the ritual continue to be executed?"

Zak-Eos said slowly, "The rules must be followed. Every contract must be fulfilled."

"Then how will it be executed?" Ansu's gaze fixed on Celia. He thought to himself that there were now two sacrificial chains: Ansu—Samantha, and Samantha—Celia.

But since Samantha herself was dead, this 'contract two' didn't even have a first party. How could it continue?

Zak-Eos seemed to have already consulted all the rules, and this time, its answer was swift.

"Since the initiator of the sacrifice, Samantha, has lost her soul and possesses no independent consciousness, she cannot take over the vessel of the sacrificed target. Sacrificial contract two is suspended."

"Suspended?" Ansu frowned. "What does that mean?"

Zak-Eos's tone sounded quite satisfied, likely because it had just devoured Samantha's soul.

"Suspended... means that the Soul Feast will be maintained indefinitely."

"You will remain within this domain until you accompany Samantha to the day of her body's natural death. Only then will the contract be automatically dissolved, and only then can you return to the physical realm."

Ansu stared silently into those lava-like demon eyes. In them, he could sense a hint of hunger and greed.