Death After Death (Roguelike Isekai)

When Simon didn't find even a glimmer of recognition in the demon Vargarzeleth's dead eyes, it surprised him. Is it because I'm no longer a vampire, because this happened before our first meeting, or because our meeting happened in the future? Simon wondered. While he had no way of knowing for sure and no intention of revealing his hand on the subject, it was still worth speculating on.

While he certainly didn't hope that demons were omnipotent, there was every indication that they were more aware of things than a regular human. So, it would be good to understand their limits.

Really, the way this demon carried himself, Simon wouldn't have suspected the terrible threat that he was unless he'd fought him before and seen what the man was capable of. Even the fact that there were three identical clones of him didn't really hammer home the threat that was Vargarzeleth. He was very literally a one-man army.

Simon sat on his cushion, slow to respond as he took in the scene and studied the man's golden armor. Of everything about him, that was what he'd like to study the most. The devil had been summoned into the world by the Murani just like he was now, appearing almost normal save for his red skin and pointed horns, only to sprout wings and double in height, all without damaging his very expensive outfit.

Simon didn't say any of that, though, because he was unwilling to barter his soul for the details. Instead, he asked, "How many Vargarzeleth's are there in your legion? A hundred? A thousand?"

The main demon he addressed laughed, but the other two smirked. "As many as your task requires, so long as you can pay my toll."

"You toll?" Simon asked. "What would you require in exchange for committing a murder for me?"

"A murder? The prey had better be worth my time. I can't remember the last time that even one of myselves faced real hardship," the demon answered with boredom.

"A slaughter, then," Simon asked, pulling random details from the air to see if this devil could detect his lies. "There's a keep not far from here with—"

"A keep? A slaughter?" the demon sneered, lashing out at his cage with newly grown claws on the hands of all three copies, making the runes that bound them grow that much brighter. "I demand armies to feast on! Who is it you think you've summoned, warlock? I am no lesser demon. I am a member of the elect! An archdemon of—"

"I just wanted to get a look at you up close," Simon interrupted. "But it would be a mistake to make a bargain with you. You're insufficient to the task."

"Insufficient?!" the demon raged through all three mouths, as his duplicates joined it, lending his voice a strange echoing effect. While they spoke, their horns began to lengthen and burn as their veneer of humanity fell away. "If you do not offer me a groveling apology and the blood of at least one of your apprentices, I shall rip your still beating heart out of your chest and eat it in front of you."

"By all means," Simon said with a gesture. "I think you'll find your cage is quite secure, but by all means, prove me wrong."

Part of him whispered that taunting someone who could survive an avalanche was a bad idea, but this had been an information gathering exercise from its first moments, and finding out just how much his binding ring could take was part of that, and he didn't have to wait long to see that.

Enraged, all three arch demons continued to roar and rage, ripping and tearing at the invisible barrier, leaving behind only fiery claw marks. As they did so, Simon observed his ring glowing brighter and brighter, but still it held. He could feel the heat now, too. It wasn't coming from hell. That was trapped behind the barrier that held back the raging demons. The heat wafting off of his bronze ring, though, was enough to start warming his chilly basement.

Simon let them carry on for several minutes. He even endured insults and epithets, and egged him on hoping the devil would try using some new word of power that he hadn't heard before, but when Vargarzeleth opened his mouth to roar out some inhuman sound that might actually wake up someone else in town, Simon decided he'd had enough, and pulled the plug on him.

"If we can't even agree on a price, then how can we negotiate?" Simon asked as the portal began to collapse, and the demons within it became strangely muted before they stretched and started to fall away.

"I will have my revenge for this disrespect!" Vargarzeleth roared in a chorus of voices barely above a whisper. Then he was gone.

Simon didn't move to touch the ring or enter the circle. More than anything, he wondered what the thing looked like to someone with the sight. It had been a lifetime since he'd had a vision like that, but he hoped one day to see for himself. He was certain the results would be illuminating, and if nothing else, make for a good painting.

He waited for several minutes to let things cool and make sure that there was no trickery afoot. Then Simon removed Vargarzeleth's name plate and made notes about the encounter in a small hand mirror, noticing that he'd lost several hundred experience since this morning. Since the only thing he'd done all day that might have cost him was this, he was sure about it.

Still, it vexed him. He didn't feel the least bit bad about what he'd done. In fact, he'd been planning to summon Anthroditen next, the demon he'd run into more than a dozen times now, in the chapel, but this was enough to make him hesitate.

"Summoning demons is definitely evil," Simon agreed, "But I don't feel bad about it. It was just a test, so normally accomplishing something like this would get me points, not take them away."

Despite carving the name plates for several other demons, he decided to pause for the night to make sure there weren't any other side effects he hadn't yet noticed. That was a shame, but it wouldn't hurt anything. Better to be safe than sorry, he reminded himself. Especially where demons are concerned.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Still, despite Simon's caution, the rest of the week came and went. There was a rumor about some animal dying near town that seemed to be related to Vargarzeleth's scream, but that was it. No one shied away from Simon, and milk didn't curdle in his presence.

No one even seemed the slightest bit uncomfortable when he held a dinner party a few days later at his home. When he led them into the basement, they admired his latest painting with no knowledge that the rug they stood upon covered a summoning circle.

His experience started going back up just like normal, immediately, and he had no strange nightmares or compulsions. It would seem that the world judged tapping into hell to be evil, but beyond that, everything else was his mistake to make.

Simon had not transcribed whole books into his mirror, and he regretted that now. He was sure that he'd read something on this topic before, but he could not remember what or where. Still, eventually, a couple of weeks later, when his experience had recovered back above where it had been, and he tired of working on an improved wand, or a tighter power cluster rune, he again went into his cellar in the dead of night, and summoned the second demon.

This time, the portal that opened was every bit as hellish and intense, but the demon that stepped through was both familiar and more gracious. He bowed as he entered the circle and summoned himself a chair to sit in after making his introductions. "If you possess the wherewithal to summon me into your world, then you already know my name," he said politely, showing only the faintest spark of something in his eyes as he squinted at Simon slightly. "Though I would welcome yours if you'd provide it."

It was hard to say if he recognized Simon, and he was inclined toward it, maybe. This one is much more canny than Vargarzeleth, though, he reminded himself. If he knew who I was, he wouldn't necessarily reveal himself.

"Call me Ennis," Simon said, trying to be more polite.

"Ennis, then," the demon nodded. "Very good. Tell me, what can I do for you tonight? I see you're well-prepared for my arrival."

Simon could see reality straining at the edge, clearly trying to push beyond as it did in the chapel he walked through so frequently, but in his case, there was nowhere for it to leak, so it existed as nothing more than a heat shimmer at the edges of his circle. Clearly, that meant that it was a property associated specifically with Anthroditen's powers, and not with demons in general.

"That depends," Simon answered. "What would you say your focus is? I confess I only found a partial manuscript with your name in it, and I'm not sure you are the right demon for the job."

"Oh?" the demon asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well then, allow me to introduce myself after all. I am Anthroditen, opener of ways, knower of secrets, and poisoner of souls. If you wish to know something lost and forgotten or you wish to bring an implacable enemy to your cause, I can help you with those things, for a very small price."

"Oh?" Simon paused. "What price is that? My soul?"

"For some things," the demon smiled, "But for some things, my price is much lower. For instance, I'd offer a tasty secret or two to know who you are really. You're one of hers, aren't you?"

Then again, perhaps he does recognize me, Simon corrected himself, though he kept his face expressionless at the accusation.

Really, almost anything he said, or didn't say, would answer the question, so Simon responded with "You'll have to elaborate on why you think that, and who she is if you want an answer. I don't understand the question."

"Don't you?" Anthroditen asked. "Very well. By hers, I mean you are a puppet of Helades, doomed to run in circles until your little heart gives out. As to how I can tell, well, you and your kind just don't quite fit into the painting. The color scheme is a little off. Try as she might, she always leaves a few fingerprints."

"I see," Simon answered, wishing he'd been told more. Still, it was something. "Well, then, I suppose it does no harm in admitting she sent me to the Pit."

The demon smiled widely enough to reveal his bright white teeth against his red skin. "And how are you enjoying your new world? Is it everything she warned you it would be?"

"With the exception of a few early mistakes, it's not so bad," Simon answered casually.

"And do you yet see her solution?" the demon asked. "I don't recall if we've met along the path or not, there are so many of you, but the interesting bits of her plan are closer to the end than the beginning."

"I find the best way through a knot is simply to cleave it," Simon said. He didn't really believe that, but it was the easiest way to dodge the question without giving anything away.

"Ah, I believe I've heard this story. The Gordian Knot, right? Alexander, was it?" the demon smiled. "You are a child of Earth then, originally, are you not?"

Simon's blood froze at that question, shocked that the demon had picked that up. Simon had forgotten it himself. He didn't consciously remember the reference or even the name, Alexander the Great, until Anthroditen spoke them.

"And with a memory like that, I don't think you've forgotten a face as long as you've lived," Simon countered.

Anthroditen laughed politely at that. "I wasn't sure if you'd catch that, Ennis. It's been a long time since I've laid eyes on you. Centuries, perhaps. Have you been enjoying your time since our last meeting?"

"I took up painting," Simon said, nodding to the canvas on an easel near the far wall. "To pass the time." He was grateful that he'd thought to cover it before this meeting. Who knew what details this monster might have gleaned from his painting of his granddaughter in the gardens of Ionar's palace.

"Oh, that is splendid," the devil said, rubbing his hands together. "It's always better to get a hobby than get lost in a fate worse than death for a century or two."

Simon stiffened at the words, even though he assumed the demon was guessing. The two chatted for a while after that, but the only topic he even followed up on in any great detail, was the fact that hell seemed to be shared between the two worlds. At that, the demon volunteered that hell was shared between all worlds.

"There might be many you's, and many worlds," the demon explained. "But there's only one Anthroditen, and only one hell to connect them all. This is where you come when there's nothing left for you in the schemes of the planners."

Simon nodded at that, and they chatted about it for a while, though he made sure to give up nothing else before dismissing the creature.

"It was lovely to meet you again, Ennis, and to finally get your name," Anthroditen said, standing as the portal collapsed around him. "It's so rare that one of her pets actually calls out for me of their own free will, but do be sure to have something worth my time when you next beckon, or I'll be inclined to take it very personally."

Simon nodded at that, but wasn't too concerned. The man was powerful, but trapped beyond time and space unless he seriously screwed up. That night, after he closed the portal, Simon slept poorly. It wasn't because he feared the consequences of his actions, or even Anthroditen, specifically. It was because even in situations where he felt like he knew plenty, he always found some way to discover just how ignorant he truly was, and it was growing apparent that there were some truly dangerous enemies out there.