Chapter 2 Ryder's vision blurred as he traveled through an endless dark space. His scream echoed as he was jolted by an invisible force for what seemed like forever before he eventually arrived at a destination. "This is not what I signed up for!" he shrieked, his voice distorting too fast before it could echo in the empty space. After he was told his soul would be teleported, he never expected it to be like this. He never thought everything would feel so real. As his body levitated in the air of a strange horizon to which he was jolted, he attempted to steady himself, but it wasn't so easy. His limbs' responses were frustratingly out of control–wobbly, unreliable, and with a mind of their own. The sensation he was feeling was unlike anything he had ever felt. His body no longer obeyed the laws of gravity like it did back in the world where his real body was. It was as if Isaac Newton had taken one look at this place and thrown his hands up in surrender, declaring, "You're on

"Ryder, the Dracogon just sent a message to you," Luxy suddenly spoke. The words hung in the air like an executioner's axe, ready to fall with a bombshell. Ryder, who had just calmed down from the panic of losing Luxy mere moments ago, felt his newly regained peace shatter like glass. It was as if someone had replaced his blood with icy water. He didn't know why, but he was feeling intimidated by the mention of the Dracogon. "Great," Ryder thought sarcastically. "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any more exciting. First, I get soul-teleported to hell's version of Wonderland you call the Astral Shadow Plain, then I bond with a devil rabbit." "Devil viper bunny," Luxy snapped, annoyed by how Ryder was seeing him as a rabbit, but Ryder completely ignored him and continued blabbering, his heart shattered. "...and now the local overlord wants a chat. Mom always said I'd go places." His hands trembled slightly, and he tried to disguise it by clenching them into fists. "D

After listening to Ryder's proposal on what they should do next, Luxy merged into Ryder once more. The process, unlike the last time, was both fascinating and unsettling to witness—Luxy's form becoming translucent, then ethereal, before turning into a foggy black smoke that swirled around Ryder, then the black mist gradually sank into Ryder's skin until Luxy was completely inside Ryder's soul. The sensation was unlike anything Ryder had ever experienced—like being filled with liquid sunlight, not one of thousands of degrees Celsius, but the soft sunbeam radiation on Terra. Ryder traced the outline of the tattoo with his fingertips, the roughness of his skin in the area where the tattoo was embedded. "So this is how it works," he murmured. The last time was painful. Maybe it was because it was not just merging, but also the contraction process as well. "You'll get used to it," Luxy's voice echoed in his mind, carrying a hint of pride. Jumping off from the tall mountain whe

Despite how Ryder continuously repeated to Hollow that he was not interested in his words, Hollow still paid no attention. What Hollow was saying was quite interesting after all, so Ryder decided to listen to most of it while repeating his intent. 'So I am the only vessel that has appeared since forever who can hold in a demon monarch,' Ryder thought, it was quite surprising. Was this why he'd always felt different? Why he'd never quite fit in with his peers back on Terra? The only person he managed to hold brief conversations with once in a while was Mara, Dr. Hamm's daughter. Ryder never knew much about how markings worked until he got to this world. The briefing he had received from the Gloomy Guses felt laughably inadequate now. From the looks of things, it was very rare for a human to be able to contract a familiar from the demon plane. The demon monarch was even the hardest—practically impossible. None among all of the demon monarchs had ever contracted a host. Every human

Bang! The sound wasn't merely loud—it was catastrophic, affecting the landscape like the birth of a universe in reverse. The impact sent shockwaves everywhere across the plain, causing ripples that distorted everything. Trees that had somehow survived the initial overpowering presence now uprooted themselves and fled alongside the high air current and shockwaves. Bang! The second collision was even more violent than the first. Where the two monarchs met, the air itself seemed to solidify, in fact, crystallize before shattering into a million fragments that were strangely visible to the naked eye. The entire plain had ceased to function properly in the presence of such overwhelming power. Bang! Bang! One after the other, loud sounds, like explosions, resounded as Dracogon and Hollow clashed in different directions each time. The ground shook upon every attack, and Luxy and Ryder both braced themselves. It felt like the entire plain wouldn't be able to maintain its stif