The demon Garkul was a young demon, not yet a hundred years since his birth.
Though whether “born” was the right word to use for a demon, he wasn’t sure. In any case.
“...How are you unaffected by Abiyan’s Authority?”
“?”
Garkul had not yet lived a hundred years, but he had not even been able to properly enjoy that brief century of life.
Just as he was finally growing accustomed to his own Authority and steadily making preparations to descend upon the material world, disaster came for him.
‘Oh... How very intriguing.’
‘...Abiyan?!’
‘Oh, a young demon who has lived only about a hundred years knows my face? That makes this all the more interesting.’
‘W-wait, let’s talk this—’
The flustered Garkul had no choice but to freeze when he saw Abiyan’s smile.
Because Abiyan was grinning from ear to ear, as if he truly found this situation delightful.
‘Now then, show me “everything” you have.’
‘Kraaaaagh!’
No questions asked.
Garkul, who had been working so hard to obtain a single innocent soul, suddenly had everything stolen from him by the disaster called Abiyan.
His body, his mind, and even his Authority.
For a high-ranking demon who could reverse all things, the work of “dismantling” a young demon who had not even lived a hundred years was nothing at all.
However.
They said that even in the most despairing situation, a way to survive would appear.
‘...Oh dear. It seems your Authority can only be used by you? It is a useful ability, but this is rather troublesome to keep.’
‘S-spare me...’
‘Is this undemonlike reaction also because of your Authority? You speak just like mortals. How amusing.’
Abiyan smiled at the tattered Garkul and said,
‘Hmm. If you were to become a high-ranking demon like me, you would undoubtedly become an eyesore. That is precisely why I came to you this quickly, of course.’
‘I won’t do anything! I’ll live quietly, as still as a dead mouse, so please!’
‘Hmm, what should I do with you?’
Abiyan looked down at the amorphous lump beneath his feet, something that could hardly be called a demon anymore, and spoke as though a good idea had come to him.
‘Very well! In any case, you and I are demons. Even if we die, we are reborn, are we not? So I shall seal you.’
‘S-seal me? You’re a high-ranking demon, so why not absorb me?’
‘Because this would be more “fun,” wouldn’t it?’
‘Y-you lunatic!’
‘Haha, that is the highest praise to me. I shall turn you into a book, and when I see an interesting human, I will toss you to them. At that time, you may break through my seal and be reborn within that human’s body or what have you. It seemed you were trying to descend upon the material world anyway, so I shall specially send you there in a more “certain” manner.’
Fla-flap-flap-flap-flap!
‘Kraaaaaagh!’
He did not remember much after that.
He only felt countless pages bursting out from inside his head.
And Garkul’s mind was sealed, and he became a pure white grimoire.
One of those demonic gifts that humans so loved.
“You! Tell me how you were able to resist Abiyan’s Authority!”
“What are you suddenly talking about now?”
“Is it because of that fairy lineage of yours? Or did you make a contract with some special being?”
Garkul, who had transformed into Hwar yeong’s appearance, now even cast off that form, changing into the amorphous lump he had been before Abiyan sealed him into a book. He approached the man who was staring at him with calm eyes, utterly without fear.
“You’d better tell me quickly before I break your mind! My patience has sharply declined ever since that bastard sealed me into a book!”
“Ah... So grimoires really are made from demons? And the one you called that bastard is Abiyan?”
Garkul stopped dead.
When he saw Jin Prach fearlessly say the name of the being who had sealed him, he recoiled in horror.
“You madman! What do you think you’re doing, suddenly speaking the true name of a high-ranking demon when you’re a human?”
“Hm? Am I not supposed to say it?”
“Of course not! A high-ranking demon like him can sense humans who speak his true name! Especially a sinister bastard like him. He may pretend otherwise, but he could be listening to this conversation right now, which makes it even worse!”
“Aha. Thanks for telling me. I’ll be careful.”
“...”
A reaction utterly different from that of ordinary humans.
What was this lunatic, thanking him like a normal person despite the fact that he was a demon?
“By the way, is this place inside a dream? The scenery around us has been distorting and returning to normal for a while now.”
“...This is inside the grimoire. It is one of the mystical spaces created by Abiyan’s Authority and my Authority merging together. Your mind has been sucked into it.”
“Oho, you’re even explaining things to me. I haven’t met many demons, but this is the first time I’ve seen one this kind.”
“...Shut up, human.”
Garkul disliked the calm gaze Jin Prach directed at him. Deliberately responding harshly, he approached him again and shouted.
“Hurry up and tell me how you resisted that bastard’s Authority! Before I shatter your mind!”
“No, even if you tell me to say it, nothing comes to mind.”
“...Nothing comes to mind?”
Was he lying?
No, Jin Prach was telling the truth. At least, that was how it appeared to Garkul, a demon.
Between the possibility that he was lying while deceiving a demon’s eyes, and the possibility that he truly had no clue, the latter seemed far more likely.
“...You really don’t know how you resisted Abiyan’s Authority?”
“That’s right. From the first time I met that being, I was already in this state, so how would I know?”
“Hah... How can that be?”
When Jin Prach, standing before him, calmly nodded, Garkul felt again the despair he had experienced before being sealed in the grimoire.
Because with his Authority, he could dig up hidden secrets, but he had no way of learning something the other party truly did not know.
“...I wasted my time for nothing. This is enough.”
“No, are you just going to say your piece and end it like that? Shouldn’t we at least know each other’s names?”
“I do not wish to tell my name to someone who will become my sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice?”
“Yes.”
Garkul began exercising his Authority toward Jin Prach, who was looking puzzled at his words.
Swaaaaaaaah!
If mist were to crawl, perhaps it would sound like this.
Black mist pouring from Garkul’s amorphous body began to blanket the surroundings in an instant.
“Give up resisting quietly and become the material for my birth, Jin Prach. I plan to take revenge on that bastard through you.”
“...So that’s what you meant by sacrifice?”
“What a carefree fellow. From this moment on, your mind, body, and soul are mine.”
Whoooooosh!
Garkul’s black mist, which had covered the surroundings, swept over Jin Prach in an instant.
His Authority possessed a sure-hit effect.
Had even that high-ranking demon Abiyan not come for him because of the danger his Authority posed?
If a being possessed a mind, there was no way to resist Garkul’s Authority.
“Hehe. Show me everything, Jin Prach.”
Garkul felt quite good, as if this situation were the reverse of what Abiyan had done to him.
As expected, a demon was a being who plundered, not one who was plundered.
If he had not encountered such a disaster in the first place, he too would have been collecting the souls of humans like Jin Prach before him.
Truly, he had taken quite the long way around.
“Originally, this was a method I did not intend to use in order to obtain your memories intact, but Jin Prach. Since you are specially my first sacrifice, I shall leave a portion of your soul behind. I wanted to try creating a being who lives in the same state as—”
“Is that it?”
“Hm?”
Swaaaaaak!
Jin Prach’s carefree voice came from within Garkul’s black mist.
And Garkul could not understand how someone struck by his Authority could speak in such a carefree voice.
“...How?”
“You’ve been asking nothing but questions for a while now, for a demon.”
“How did you resist my Authority?!”
“No, logically speaking, if I can resist the Authority of a high-ranking demon, wouldn’t it make sense that I could resist the Authority of someone beneath him?”
“That is impossible!!”
Swaaaaaaaak!!
Unable to endure Jin Prach’s provocation, Garkul unleashed all the Authority he could currently use into the surroundings.
Originally, he had only released about half of his Authority so that the sacrifice would not be destroyed, but now he lifted that restriction and projected it at full power toward Jin Prach.
“Melt beneath my Authority! Your memories are not yours, and your soul is also mine!”
“And my body?”
“Your body is, of course, also mi—huh?”
Step, step.
“Hmm. It seems demons define humans by three things: mind, body, and soul. But even setting the soul aside, the mind is ultimately nothing more than electrical impulses occurring in the brain, so is it really correct to separate the body and mind? Humans are ultimately slaves to hormones, so how do you view the body and mind separately?”
“H-how?!”
“Hm? How did I get out of your mist?”
“Yes!!”
“Ah... The sound of the mist was just getting on my nerves, so I walked out.”
“...”
“You’re pretty hopeless too, for a demon.”
Jin Prach clicked his tongue at the shocked Garkul and looked at him with pity.