DEMON SUMMONER: DESCENDANT OF THE CELESTIAL SOVEREIGN

Chapter 6: The Price of a Miracle

The tip of the God-Slaying Sword pressed against Kuro-Oni's forehead. The intense heat from the blade burned the demon's red skin, creating a hissing sound and the stench of burnt flesh.

Kuro-Oni ground his fangs. His severed left arm was still dripping thick black blood onto the toll road asphalt. His pride as an A-Rank Demon screamed inside him, refusing to submit to a mortal human. However, the pressure of the killing aura radiating from Eka's body completely crushed his instinct to resist. This was not just a gap in power. This was the absolute dominance of an entity that existed beyond the realm of common sense.

Sabeni stared at the giant samurai demon with his pitch-black eyes.

"Lick it," Sabeni commanded. His voice was soft, yet its vibration forced the surrounding air to become incredibly dense.

Kuro-Oni swallowed hard. He stared at the drops of Eka's fresh red blood clinging to the edge of the blade. With his remaining trembling strength, the giant demon bowed his head deeply. His rough tongue rolled out, licking Eka's blood off the cold steel.

A split second after the blood touched his tongue, a mystical seal in the shape of a glowing black chain appeared around Kuro-Oni's neck. The chain pierced his skin, locked directly into the depths of his soul, and then vanished without a trace. Kuro-Oni let out a muffled groan. He could feel his life was now bound to the heartbeat of the E-Rank Hunter standing before him.

Behind Kuro-Oni, the Hellhound lying in its own pool of blood had no other choice. The hell dog crawled forward on trembling legs. It lowered its massive jaw and licked the remaining blood off the blade. The exact same black chain seal locked around the Hellhound's neck.

Sabeni chuckled softly. His laugh echoed the satisfaction of a king who had just chained up two guard dogs.

"Now, since you are the guard dogs of my vessel, I will give you a little reward." Sabeni let out a small laugh as he took a step forward and aimed his left palm at the two demons.

"Forgive us. We surrender and will become this kid's guardian demons," Kuro-Oni squeaked. His giant body trembled.

The Hellhound also growled low to beg Sabeni for mercy. Sabeni merely clicked his tongue in annoyance and closed his eyes. On the very next breath, a red Qi energy immediately enveloped the two A-Rank Demons who were trembling in fear.

"Enjoy it, and do not resist the sensation that will appear in your bodies," Sabeni whispered. His voice echoed directly inside the heads of both demons.

Kuro-Oni immediately grabbed his severed arm. A burning sensation erupted from inside the stump. Finally, a scream of pure agony escaped his mouth. "ARGH. STOP IT."

The Hellhound experienced the exact same thing. Its back, which had been struck by the Night Sovereign technique's energy, suddenly emitted smoke. The creature felt an unimaginably intense burning sensation.

"STOP. GRRR. WE ALREADY SURRENDERED. PLEASE STOP." Without realizing it, ever since the red Qi energy seeped into its body, the Hellhound was now capable of human speech.

"Tch, are you two A-Rank Demons or little children?" Sabeni snorted in annoyance while observing the bodies of the two demons.

Shortly after that, Kuro-Oni's severed arm and the Hellhound's torn back slowly began to weave new flesh. The two demons widened their eyes but no longer screamed. They realized that the pain they were feeling was the process of restoring their missing body parts.

In the next twenty breaths, the bodies of both demons finally became whole again, as if they had never been struck by the God-Slaying Sword. The two demons looked at each other, and then both bowed their heads to Eka, who was still possessed by Sabeni.

Seeing his technique work perfectly, Sabeni immediately laughed out loud while looking up at the sky. "YOU BALD BASTARD. DO YOU SEE THIS? I BECOME A GOD HERE AND I CAN STILL USE A FRACTION OF MY POWER. I WILL..."

But suddenly, Sabeni's words were cut off.

Eka's body stumbled backward. Sabeni was forced to stab the God-Slaying Sword into the asphalt to support his vessel's body. Clumps of fresh blood spilled from Eka's mouth, dripping heavily to stain his chin and his ruined shirt.

Sabeni clicked his tongue in frustration. He looked up at the Jakarta sky covered in volcanic ash. He could feel his spiritual energy completely drained. Forcing out a fraction of his power just now and playing his role as the strongest entity in the mortal realm demanded a massive toll of energy.

"Bastard," Sabeni cursed harshly. He glared at the gray clouds above him with pure hatred. "Do you think this mortal limit can hold and imprison me forever?"

Sabeni looked down, staring at Eka's violently shaking hands. The skin on the young man's arms was red and blistered in many places due to the friction of high-level Qi forcibly passing through his veins.

"Kid, my part is done. Enjoy my little gift."

Instantly, the pitch-black color in Eka's eyes faded. Eka's irises returned to their natural brown color. The Qi pressure and Killing Aura that had been suffocating the toll road vanished without a trace.

Eka's consciousness slammed back into his brain.

As soon as Sabeni entered his slumber inside the sword, the mortal law returned to collect the payment for the miracle that had just occurred.

Eka screamed. A pain thousands of times more horrific than a C-Rank Demon's slash exploded in every inch of his nerves. Eka fell to his knees. He let out a muffled shriek, clutching his chest with his left hand. His heart beat irregularly, pumping blood with a pressure that tore the capillaries beneath his skin. His eyes turned completely red. Fresh blood poured endlessly from his nose and both ears.

As an E-Rank Hunter, the foundation of Eka's internal organs was completely unprepared. But now, that fragile body was forced to become a cage for over a hundred undigested Spirit Rune crystals, plus two A-Rank Demon existences dragged into his shadow.

"Argh." Eka vomited thick black blood onto the asphalt.

His lungs felt like they were filled with hot shards of glass. Eka pounded his own chest, desperately trying to stabilize his ragged breathing. He crawled backward, moving away from the puddle of blood, but his legs were completely paralyzed due to massive muscle damage.

Suddenly, a hoarse and heavy voice echoed directly inside his skull.

"What a pathetic sight."

Eka clutched his throbbing head. That voice did not belong to Sabeni.

"Trash vessel. You can't even breathe without the help of that ancient monster."

A harsh laugh followed in his mind. It was Kuro-Oni's voice. The samurai demon now resided inside his shadow, connected directly to Eka's consciousness through the blood contract seal.

"Sabeni is asleep," another voice growled. Intense heat seemed to crawl up Eka's spine. The Hellhound joined in. "There is no more protective pressure. Your weak body will explode from the inside out, human."

Eka ground his teeth. He tried to focus his mind, ignoring the pain tearing at his sanity. He needed Qi. He needed the help of these two demons to heal his internal organ damage before his heart truly stopped beating.

"Lend me your power," Eka whispered hoarsely. Blood dripped from between his teeth.

Kuro-Oni laughed mockingly inside Eka's head. The laugh was incredibly loud and full of malice.

"Lend you our power? Don't dream, kid. This contract only binds our lives to your heartbeat. We have no obligation to submit to the orders of a trash hunter like you."

"Just die right here," the Hellhound sneered coldly. "As soon as your heart stops beating, this blood seal will weaken. We will take over your corpse and eat your soul from the inside."

Eka's eyes widened. His breath hitched. The brutal fact slapped his sanity hard. Sabeni did save his life, but that entity left a ticking time bomb inside his body. The two demon servants he acquired were not loyal subordinates. They were arrogant parasites refusing to lend him strength, just waiting for Eka to die so they could break free.

There were no shortcuts. There was no divine intervention. His naivety had died alongside his father on this toll road. Eka realized that from this second forward, he had to fight entirely alone.

Eka squeezed his eyes shut. He ignored the mocking voices of the two demons in his head. He forced his mind to enter the basic breathing technique his father had once taught him. Inhale slowly through the nose, hold it in the chest, and exhale through the mouth.

One hour passed. Two hours. Three hours.

The volcanic ash rain slowly stopped. The afternoon sunlight tried to pierce the thick clouds, illuminating the Gatot Subroto Toll Road which had now truly become a giant mass grave. The stench of rotting flesh began to waft through the air.

Eka opened his eyes. His breathing was slightly more regular, even though the pain all over his body still drove him to the brink of madness. The bleeding from his nose and ears had stopped thanks to the automatic healing process of the residual low-level Spirit Rune energy slowly being absorbed by his body.

Eka forced his knees to move. His joints popped loudly. He slowly crawled toward the God-Slaying Sword still embedded in the asphalt.

His torn right hand reached for the sword's hilt. When Sabeni used it, this sword looked incredibly light. But now, when Eka tried to lift it using his E-Rank physical strength, the sword felt as heavy as a ship's anchor.

Eka let out a loud groan. He used the sword as a crutch, pressing its blade against the asphalt, and forced both of his legs to stand. Every muscle in his legs screamed in protest.

Eka managed to stand with a hunched posture. He looked to the south, toward the highway stretching to the city border. Toward Bogor.

"Still alive, I see," Kuro-Oni sneered in his head. "Look at you. You aren't even strong enough to lift your own sword. You will become a corpse before the sun sets."

Eka did not respond. His face was as cold as ice. His brown eyes stared straight ahead, empty and numb. He dragged his feet slowly. The tip of the God-Slaying Sword scraped against the toll road asphalt, creating a long, ear-piercing metallic screech.

Every step he took left a trail of thick blood.

Eka kept walking past the piles of dismembered demon body parts. He stepped over the charred carcasses of burnt cars. His sole objective right now was singular. Catch up to Sopian and make sure his mother was still breathing.

A few hours later, the sun began to lean toward the western horizon.

Eka arrived at a narrower section of the toll road, surrounded by the rubble of collapsed concrete buildings covering part of the street. The atmosphere in that place felt incredibly unnatural. There was no wind blowing. The metallic smell of fresh blood mixed with the foul stench of rotting carcasses hung very thick in the air.

Eka's footsteps stopped.

The tip of the sword he had been dragging stopped scraping against the asphalt. Eka sharpened his gaze forward.

From the shadows of the ruined overpass concrete pillars, small movements began to appear. Low, incredibly raspy growls echoed back and forth.

One by one, black silhouettes emerged from the darkness of the ruins. They walked on all fours like starving wild dogs. Their bodies were skin and bones, covered in dirty black fur with spines protruding outward. Thick, foul-smelling saliva dripped from their mouths. Dozens of glowing red eyes locked straight onto Eka from thirty meters away.

It was a pack of Forest Hound Demons. Scavenger demons sitting at the E-Plus Rank tier. They were not as strong as the frontline demons from before, but their numbers reached the dozens. Their predatory instincts caught the scent of fresh blood from Eka's heavily injured body.

The Hellhound chuckled softly inside Eka's mind. The laugh sounded incredibly satisfied.

"Just die right here, trash vessel," the hell dog mocked coldly. "Those are a pack of scavengers. They will tear your flesh apart while you're still alive. We will enjoy watching your suffering from here."

Eka ignored the voice in his head. His breathing grew heavy again. His physique was already at the absolute limit of collapse. He had no Qi shield, he did not have Sabeni's power, and he had absolutely no allies to cover his blind spots. Dozens of starving demons awaited him.

Eka lifted the God-Slaying Sword from the asphalt. The muscles in his right arm whimpered in pain, struggling to support the weapon's weight. He clenched his fist tightly around the sword's hilt, letting the wound on his palm tear open once more. Eka clamped his jaw shut, glaring at the demon pack in front of him with the eyes of a hunter who absolutely refused to die.