Evenson’s summoning ritual began.
Streams of crimson-violet energy flowed from his body, each strand representing stored souls being consumed and converted into raw magical power. The currents poured into the suppression array he’d prepared beforehand, anchoring the summoning to a precise location.
A deafening roar shook the room.
A towering figure materialized at the center of the array.
Over ten feet tall, the demon radiated brutal strength and naked malice. Sickly yellow skin stretched over slabs of muscle, while enormous bat-like wings unfurled behind its back. Its emerald eyes burned with fel fire, and its permanently gaping maw dripped foul saliva as though already anticipating slaughter.
"Mortal!" the Doomguard bellowed. "You dare summon me?"
Its rancid breath washed across the room.
"I have perfectly good reasons for disliking him," Evenson muttered as he and the Eredar Twins instinctively stepped backward to avoid the spray.
"I couldn’t agree more," Saloras said, covering her nose.
The Doomguard didn’t merely smell of sulfur.
Rotting flesh lingered beneath it, especially from its mouth.
To refined Eredar sensibilities, it was utterly revolting.
"Where is my sacrifice?" the Doomguard demanded, glaring around the chamber.
Its gaze eventually settled on Peggy Carter lying atop the ritual platform.
"One human?"
It sneered.
"That isn’t enough."
Clearly, it had mistaken Peggy for the ritual offering.
"Listen well, mortal."
The demon pointed at Evenson.
"Prepare a sacrifice worthy of me."
"Otherwise..."
"I’ll collect one myself."
"Oh, for the love of fel..." Saloras groaned, stamping one hoof against the floor. "Could we please get this over with?"
Though they were all demons, the Eredar Twins shared absolutely nothing with a Doomguard’s crude sensibilities.
Demanding sacrifices.
Stealing victims personally.
To them, such behavior was uncivilized.
The Doomguard finally looked around more carefully.
"...Wait."
Its tiny brain visibly struggled.
"There are only two humans here..."
The rest...
Demons.
Its eyes landed on the Eredar Twins.
"You..."
Recognition slowly dawned.
Then its expression transformed into wild excitement.
"A tremendous achievement! You two actually dared to..."
The sentence ended abruptly.
Its voice caught in its throat.
The runes beneath its feet ignited.
The suppression array activated.
The Doomguard froze in place.
Its sluggish mind hadn’t figured out what was happening yet, but instinctively its enormous reserves of fel power began fighting the restraints.
It never got the chance.
A flash of darkness swept silently through the room.
The next instant...
Its head fell from its shoulders.
The headless corpse remained standing for a heartbeat before thick green blood erupted from its neck and the massive body crashed to the floor.
"That would be a waste."
Before a single drop could reach the ground, Evenson raised one hand.
The spraying blood gathered into floating crimson-green spheres.
At the same time, a large violet soul crystal condensed above the corpse.
The Doomguard’s soul.
Trapped.
It would never return to the Twisting Nether.
Evenson carefully stored both.
Then he looked toward Saloras with a grin.
"You actually stepped in yourself."
"I would’ve thought that was beneath you."
No one else present could have beheaded a Doomguard so effortlessly.
Not with a blade that never physically touched its target.
Saloras continued wiping her short sword despite the fact it had never been stained.
The killing blow had been a razor-thin blade of Shadow projected from the weapon.
"I couldn’t tolerate its breath another second."
"It was unbearable."
Aurecess glanced meaningfully toward Evenson.
"And your suppression array activated at exactly the right moment."
Evenson shrugged.
"...Its breath was unbearable."
"I couldn’t tolerate it either."
The three of them exchanged amused smiles.
No further explanation was necessary.
After a brief silence, Saloras folded her arms.
"So."
"What exactly comes next?"
"I admit..."
"I’m curious."
"Ehm... Tyler."
Evenson called toward the corner of the room.
"I’m here, Boss!"
Tyler hurried over carrying his massive axe.
"What do you need?"
Truthfully...
Watching Evenson casually execute his most powerful contracted demon had put considerable pressure on him.
It was difficult not to imagine himself becoming equally expendable.
"Open him up."
Evenson pointed at the Doomguard’s corpse.
As Tyler raised his axe, Evenson added one final warning.
"Be careful."
"Don’t damage the organs."
"If you do..."
"I’ll need a replacement."
His gaze slowly drifted over Tyler’s body.
Tyler immediately stiffened.
"Understood!"
He swung.
Twice.
The enormous axe carved a perfect cross through the Doomguard’s chest, slicing cleanly through muscle and bone without harming a single internal organ.
Years of battlefield butchery had clearly translated into remarkable anatomical precision.
"Done, Boss."
Gripping the edges of the wound, Tyler pulled the ribcage apart, exposing the demon’s chest cavity.
Saloras watched quietly before speaking again.
"Is it really worth it?"
"You’re sacrificing the strongest servant you have..."
"...for one human."
Evenson gave a cold smile.
"This woman is worth far more than one unreliable enforcer."
"Not even close."
He motioned Tyler aside before approaching the corpse himself.
Covering his nose against the smell, he reached into the open chest.
Something massive floated free.
At first glance, it resembled an oversized human heart.
Five times larger.
Black-red.
Still faintly pulsing.
Evenson slowly infused it with fel energy.
The heartbeat strengthened.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
"Demon vitality really is extraordinary."
He began shaping it with both hands.
Under careful magical pressure, the enormous organ gradually shrank.
Minute by minute...
Until it matched the size of a normal human heart.
Aurecess suddenly froze.
Then her eyes widened.
"...Wait."
She looked at the heart.
Then at Peggy Carter.
Then back again.
"...You’re not seriously planning..."
"I am."
Evenson smiled.
A distinctly unsettling smile.
"Demon hunters spend their lives trying to steal demonic power."
"They’ve mastered absorbing souls."
"They’ve mastered consuming fel."
"But I doubt anyone has ever considered replacing their own heart with a demon’s."
He lifted the organ.
"It provides an endless supply of demonic power."
The Eredar Twins actually applauded.
"It’s brilliant."
"And completely insane."
Then Saloras raised an important question.
"If you do this..."
"How can you be sure she’ll become a demon hunter..."
"...instead of a Felsworn?"
The Felsworn were demon hunters who had surrendered completely to fel corruption.
Rather than mastering the demon within...
They had become demons themselves.
"That’s exactly why I asked the two of you to come."
Evenson looked directly at the sisters.
"You once served as the Deceiver’s lieutenants."
"You’ve overseen the transformation of countless races into demons."
"You know the process better than anyone."
The twins nodded.
That much was true.
"So..."
"You want us to suppress her demonic transformation."
"Keep her from becoming a true demon while preserving the benefits."
Saloras frowned thoughtfully.
"But if we succeed..."
She looked at Peggy.
"Can we even call the result a demon hunter anymore?"
Evenson considered that for a moment.
"...Close enough."
Then he smiled.
"Or maybe we should invent a new name."
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