Chapter 2
The sky at dusk.
Inside what appeared to be a school building.
Beyond the mirror, the woman ran through the building’s rubble with the children in tow.
Her white-gloved hand gripped a long whip.
She swiftly lashed it at the black gargoyles flying toward them.
-Slice!
The gargoyles’ bodies split in half, and dark red blood and chunks of flesh fell to the floor.
The woman beyond the mirror lowered her whip, braced her hands on her knees, and panted.
“Hah, hah……. These things just keep coming.”
“Sis, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. We’re almost there. I called the Association for backup, so if we get to the roof, they’ll rescue us.”
“Okay, Sis.”
At her words, the children nodded.
After checking on the children, she turned to look out the window.
Outside, a devil as tall as a two-story school building prowled around the playground.
……It looked like a gray, one-eyed giant, and it held a club in its hand.
-Grr. Grrrr……
-KRAAASH!
The devil swung its club, smashing the other side of the school to pieces.
Each time the giant devil swung its club, dust and debris fell over the long-haired woman in black.
Watching the scene through the mirror, I began to feel anxious.
‘……Is she heading to the roof because of that thing?’
That was far too dangerous a decision, no matter how you looked at it.
Trying to evacuate to the roof while the building was collapsing……
And although the children didn’t seem to notice,
there was a wound on the shoulder hidden beneath her black fur cloak, as if something had clawed her.
‘She’s swinging that whip with an injured shoulder…….’
The long-haired woman in black clutched her injured shoulder with her other hand and started up the stairs.
……This couldn’t go on.
Wasn’t there some way I could help her?
Just then.
A status window appeared before my eyes.
[Notification: A prayer from a human with a strong survival instinct has been detected!]
[A soul contract with the target is possible.]
[Contract Target: Han Seorin]
[Occupation: C-rank Devil Hunter]
[Current Condition: Seriously injured / Infected with devil poison]
[Remaining Survival Time: 5 minutes 46 seconds]
‘Devil poison……? Remaining survival time?!’
In a space containing nothing but a mirror,
the moment I read those words, my heart began to burn as black as the space around me.
If this was true, what good would the Association’s backup do?
She’d die before it ever got here!
As I sweated and fretted,
the status window before me refreshed.
[Would you like to propose a contract to the target?]
[YES / NO]
‘A contract……? Me?!’
At the word contract, memories of my past life suddenly flashed through my mind.
The devil I’d contracted with had driven me to suicide, and now I was supposed to do what that devil had done?
No.
I can’t……
My mind told me I shouldn’t, but my hand unconsciously reached for YES.
‘……No. I won’t do that. I won’t become like that devil. So it’ll be all right.’
-Bzzzt.
[Passive ‘Contract Devil’ activated.]
[Generating a standard Soul Contract.]
[Contractor: Han Seorin]
[Contract Administrator: Lesser Devil Asmode]
[Contract Terms]
- The Contract Administrator lends the Contractor a devil’s authority.
- The Contractor provides their soul as collateral to the Contract Administrator.
- When the contract ends, the Contractor’s soul and body will belong to the Contract Administrator.
[Contract Duration: Until the Contractor’s death]
[Contract Price: The Contractor’s soul]
[Would you like to offer a contract under these terms?]
[YES / NO]
‘……’
It took me a little while to read through the status window carefully.
Just then, I heard something collapsing beyond the mirror again.
-KRAAASH!
“Siiiiis……!”
“Kids, I’ll hold them off here! Go wait quietly on the roof!”
The stairway leading to the roof.
As Han Seorin’s younger siblings were making their way up, the ceiling collapsed above them.
……Han Seorin had brought it down herself with her whip.
She shouted to her siblings beyond the rubble, then turned around and snapped her whip taut.
-Grrrr……
“……Honestly, how much more will it take for you to be satisfied?”
The black gargoyles around her swooped in, trying to stab her with their long claws.
Without hesitation, Han Seorin moved her injured shoulder and began swinging her whip.
[Remaining Survival Time: 1 minute 36 seconds]
[Remaining Survival Time: 1 minute 35 seconds]
[Remaining Survival Time: 1 minute 34 seconds]
‘There’s no time……!’
Seeing how little time Han Seorin had left, I immediately pressed the YES button.
[Notification: Contract registered!]
[Beginning voice connection with the contract target.]
“Do you desire power?”
“……!”
After coughing a few times, I spoke to Han Seorin beyond the mirror. She was swinging her whip, but her eyes widened in surprise.
Did she think it was a hallucination?
Then once more……
“I asked if you desired power, human.”
“W-what? Seoa? Is this a joke?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Hurry! You don’t have much time left!”
“……”
At the sound of my earnest voice, Han Seorin’s bewilderment faded, and her whole body went slack.
Clutching her injured shoulder, she looked around.
The gargoyles were swarming in from both ends of the hallway like mayflies.
……They’d gathered in numbers she could no longer handle.
Hearing my voice echo in her head, she gritted her teeth and nodded.
“……I do. I want to protect my younger siblings.”
“If you’re willing to accept a power that could lead to your own destruction, then I shall make a contract with you.”
-Whoosh! Whoosh!
“I’ll make the contract. So give me power……!”
[Notification: The contract target’s consent has been confirmed.]
[Finalizing the soul contract!]
“I accept your wish. I’ll explain the terms of our contract in detail later……”
[Notification: You have acquired your first contractor!]
[Time until body collapse increased by ‘3 days’!]
[The devil’s power will seep into the contractor’s soul and grant them a suitable authority!]
At that moment, as the status messages appeared one after another,
a black aura began to swirl around Han Seorin. She clutched her forehead and began to scream.
“Ghh, Aaaaaaagh……”
“S-Sis!? Are you okay?!”
……What was that?
Did something go wrong?
‘No, that can’t be. I only did what I was supposed to……’
As Han Seorin let out a scream that seemed to tear her throat apart, the nearest gargoyle swooped toward her, claws outstretched.
Just as its long, sharp claws were about to dig into her neck,
-Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice……!
Han Seorin’s black eyes turned red, and she began to lash out wildly with her whip.
With each crack of her whip, five or six gargoyles were torn apart, their remains piling up on the floor.
How many minutes passed?
At last, she swung her whip at the final gargoyle and butchered it.
Only then did Han Seorin regain her senses. She slumped to the floor, lowered her whip, and stared at the carnage she’d wrought.
The dismembered gargoyle corpses.
The stench of devil blood stung her nostrils. Leaning against the wall, she let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha, haha. Hahaha……”
-Whup-whup-whup-whup!
“Sis! The helicopter’s here! The helicopter! Hurry up and come!”
“……Okay. I’ll be right there.”
In the mirror, Han Seorin picked up her whip and pushed herself to her feet, bracing a hand against the wall.
Then she swung her whip one last time at the rubble blocking the stairway.
-KRAASH!
……Beyond it, Han Seorin’s younger siblings had been waiting quietly.
And through the narrow gap in the door leading to the roof, she could just make out a Devil Hunter Association helicopter.
Han Seorin immediately hurried up the stairs.
-Grab.
Then she hugged her younger siblings and began to cry.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you……”
“……”
Han Seorin was thanking the one who had given her power.
……Me, of all people—a devil now.
‘I did it. I, even after becoming a devil……’
My legs gave out.
I dropped to my knees in front of the mirror, let out a sigh of relief, and bowed my head.
I’d saved countless people as a Devil Hunter……
I never imagined I could save anyone after becoming a devil, too.
‘Thank goodness. Really.’
I rubbed my chest and let my body go limp.
……A devil’s contract.
It might seem like a good outcome for now, but in the end, it would only lead to her own destruction.
‘……Is it really something to be thankful for?’
Without meaning to, I’d made my first contract.
At the same time, I began to worry about what I should do next.
*
Han Seorin boarded the rescue helicopter with her younger siblings. As it returned to the Association, she looked out the window.
Resting her chin on the hand she’d propped on the window frame, she suddenly recalled what had just happened.
- Do you desire power?
- If you’re willing to accept a power that could lead to your own destruction, then I shall make a contract with you.
- I accept your wish.
‘What on earth was that?’
Han Seorin tried to imagine the owner of the voice that had echoed in her head.
It didn’t seem to be a god or an angel.
For some reason, when she heard that voice, it felt as if sinister emotions were welling up inside her.
……Then could it have been a devil?
But the voice had seemed genuinely concerned for her, which made it hard to believe it belonged to a devil.
She was confused.
No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out who had granted her wish……
‘Oh, right. My shoulder……’
Han Seorin suddenly remembered that she’d injured her shoulder. She carefully drew back her fur cloak to check on it.
The spot where a gargoyle’s claws had pierced her.
There should have been three claw marks on her uniform, but the area was perfectly fine, hidden beneath the intact fabric.
She rolled her shoulder and moved her body as much as she could, but felt no pain at all.
‘……Maybe it really was a god?’
As she rubbed her unharmed shoulder, overcome with emotion,
a status window appeared before Lesser Devil Asmode.
[Notification: You can now erode your contractor’s soul!]
[Contractor Soul Erosion Rate]
[Han Seorin (C-rank): 3/100%]
[You must interfere further with the contractor to erode their soul!]
[* Warning!]
[Soul erosion may proceed regardless of the contractor’s wishes.]
[The more recklessly a contractor uses a devil’s authority, the more their soul will be eroded!]
[If the erosion rate exceeds a certain threshold, the contractor may lose their human essence and become a devil’s servant.]
‘……’
After reading the status window and sighing, Lesser Devil Asmode began to tremble.
The power Asmode had feared was finally unleashed.