The Seven Demon's Tamer

"If I go all out and kill this familiar, then what?" Ryder questioned.

"Well, if you kill a familiar, then it will die for good, and there'll be no way to revive it."

Ryder rolled his eyes. "You're right. That's generally what 'killing' means."

"Familiars are dwellers of the Astral Shadow Plane. The Astral Shadow Plane is a plane for partially dead creatures.

When some creatures die, their souls instantly travel to the dead domain, but others don't, and their souls get transferred to the Astral Shadow Plane.

Death has one beginning and one end, but what lies in-between differs," Luxy explained, his tone taking on that professorial quality that made Ryder picture him wearing tiny spectacles and suits.

"The Astral Shadow Plane makes creatures half alive and half dead. With that state of existence, they can either visit the living or the dead plane at will, if a contract is being made."

Swoosh!

Ryder tilted his body to the side, narrowly dodging another swipe of the creature's forelimb that left a deep gash in the concrete wall behind him.

It had been like this for a while now, and they had subconsciously battled to the living area again, only for some strange reason, people here were already evacuated.

"Creatures in the Astral Shadow Plane are more like the undead. They do not get affected by old age and can live for as long as they want, if they don't get killed."

"And if they do get killed?" Ryder asked, genuinely curious now.

"Like I've said before, they'll die!" Luxy barked, his voice getting thick with annoyance.

"If a familiar is killed, it instantly gets transported to the dead domain, where there is no way for revival."

Ryder ducked beneath another attack, feeling the heat radiating from the mantis's limbs as they passed overhead.

The mantis screeched weakly, a sound like metal scraping against metal that reverberated through the air.

Ryder winced, covering his ears momentarily. "Can we maybe have this lesson when I'm not in the middle of a battle?"

"Why bother," Luxy scoffed. "This creature couldn't kill you if it tried for a century. And I'm sharing this information because it's relevant to your decision."

"Ryder," Luxy called out, "if you kill this familiar now, the contract between it and the summoner will remain, as well as the mark.

The cloned power will be gone, but the contract will remain and could prevent the summoner from contracting another familiar."

"This is the major disadvantage of contracting weak familiars," Luxy continued, a hint of disdain in his tone. "Those who are unable to contain more than one familiar in their souls will have to live as ordinary humans. They'll lose all the power enhancement they share with their familiar."

Ryder considered this, watching as the mantis grew increasingly hesitant to move, perhaps sensing its summoner's fear. "So if I kill this mantis now, then I'll have effectively ended that Red-Eastern summoner's career?"

"If you kill this mantis now, then I'll have to admit that it is the worst punishment for anyone to whom such a fate happens on planet Terra."

"Punishment, huh? For trying to hurt me, right." A slow smile spread across Ryder's face, one that didn't reach his eyes. "Well, when you put it that way..."

The mantis must have sensed Ryder's change in demeanor, causing it to desperately attempt to attack Ryder despite its critical condition.

With deliberate casualness, Ryder took a powerful leap forward, meeting the creature's charge head-on.

Wham!

His fist connected with the mantis's torso, a heavy punch that lifted the creature into the air. The sound was like a hammer hitting a concrete wall, echoing through the deserted streets.

Wham!

Before the mantis could regain awareness, Ryder was there again, appearing above it with another punch that sprayed molten blood into the air. The droplets sizzled and hissed where they landed, burning small holes in the ground.

"Careful," Luxy warned. "That blood can melt through most materials."

"Not you," Luxy added. "Though your clothes are another matter entirely. Your cloak is gone; you won't want your trousers to be next."

"Oh, right," Ryder realized as he grabbed the mantis by the neck.

With the creature struggling in his grip, Ryder squatted, gathering enough energy, and then took a single extraordinary leap upwards, carrying the struggling mantis up to the clouds.

Up in the clouds, the air grew thin and cold around them, overpowering the weakened heat emanating from the creature. Far below, the city looked like tiny buildings arranged like toys by some giant child.

"I hope you're not afraid of heights," Ryder said conversationally to the mantis, which responded with a screech and a futile attempt to impale him with its forearm.

"Seriously, Ryder—you're asking a creature with wings if it has a fear of heights," Luxy couldn't help but mutter.

"I'll take that as a no... Or maybe yes..."

"Good anyway. Because it wouldn't be nice to die from your fear without overcoming it, would it?"

"But I hope you know," Luxy commented dryly, "property damage does have consequences. You'll pay for all of this if you get restrained by the FSG agents."

"Send me the bill," Ryder replied, a split second before zooming down with the mantis like a projectile. Quite a statement from someone who doesn't have a dime.

As they began to descend, Ryder positioned the mantis right under his feet, like a skateboard as they fell, approaching the tallest building nearest to them—a tall skyscraper, fifty stories of steel and glass that dominated the city skyline.

Crash!

They smashed through the roof and glass-and-steel beams of the tall building right below them, shattering like tissue paper due to their combined momentum gathered in the air.

Crash!

Through the boardroom of the building, furniture and cabinets were destroyed by the collision.

Crash!

Through the accounting section of the building, which was a few floors below the boardroom, papers and digital tablets flew into the air.

Crash!

They continued their descent, leaving a Ryder-sized hole through each floor and a trail of the mantis's red-hot bubbling blood.

Finally, they reached the ground floor, creating a crater in the previously tiled lobby that sent cracks across the entire floor like spider webs.

Dust and particles from the destroyed building rained down through the vertical tunnel they had created from the violent collision.

Amidst the unsettled dust that was still in the air, Ryder walked away from the mantis's body and then stopped after a few steps to glance one more time at it. The familiar was nearly unrecognizable now.

Its limbs were missing, as if they had been ripped off by the sheer force of the fall. As for its bones—or whatever passed for an internal structure in these creatures—they were broken, sticking out from various places in its body.

And yet, despite all that, it was still alive, though barely, its crushed head turning slightly toward Ryder, its eyes flickering with diminishing consciousness.

"These creatures are quite resilient," Ryder commented.

Ryder asked Luxy as he closed up with the mantis, playfully playing with the creature's body with the toe of his bare foot. "Do you think I should kill it or leave it to die on its own?"

Its body was just one step away from becoming a corpse, you know.

"You do know that this creature is the same being as I am, right?" Luxy said, his voice holding an unfamiliar tone—was it concern? Surely not.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ryder retorted quickly, with a forced smile that wouldn't have fooled a blind man. "Did I hurt your feelings by beating up your distant cousin?"

"Actually, we're not even remotely related," Luxy sniffed. "It would be like comparing a human to a sea cucumber... or something like that."

"So you don't care if I kill it," Ryder concluded. Yeah, he knows deep down that you do not care about this familiar. Ryder wouldn't really take it as a big deal if any random human dies in front of him. He could feel sad for a while then heal quickly.

He'll have to admit he has a sort of cold heart, but Luxy was worse, and that's for sure. Whatever the race, Luxy wouldn't mind.

"I guess I'll leave this familiar to die on its own," Ryder decided, then walked off, trying to ignore the security alarms now blaring throughout the building.

It was quite surprising that the alarm was still functioning after all the destruction done to the building by Ryder and the lava mantis during the descent.

Perhaps they didn't do most of the fighting in this area. "I really wanted to finish it off with my own hand as a punishment for those trash summoners from the Red-Eastern guild, but I guess I should pardon it."

"How merciful of you to pardon a creature despite the fact that you had put it on its last breath with your own hands," Luxy remarked dryly. "I'm very sure the building's owners feel just as blessed by your restraint."

Ryder hadn't gotten too far when he realized a sudden change in the temperature of the vicinity.

"Huh!" he exclaimed as he halted, then turned around toward the source, only to find out it was none other than the lava mantis he had bloodied.

From the beast, lava was bubbling out, flowing on the ground. Ryder couldn't tell if he was imagining things or not, but he could feel the lava getting hotter by each passing second.

"Um, Luxy?" Ryder called internally with a puzzled expression. "Is it supposed to be doing that? Leaking lava everywhere. Like, a lot of lava."

"Let's call that the ravaged state of the familiar," Luxy responded.

"What is a ravaged..." Before he could finish his question, the lava, right in front of Ryder's eyes, which had engulfed from the lava mantis, completely engulfed it, melting its broken form.

Rather than destroying it, the molten lava seemed to reshape it, reforming the creature into a new body made of red burning heat. Where once there had been a chitinous-looking mantis, now stood a being of pure flame and magma, its eyes burning white-hot like a face of liquid fire.

"Wow, it can regenerate as well," Ryder observed, taking an involuntary step backward with a nervous chuckle. "That's... inconvenient."

"Of course," Luxy replied, and Ryder could almost hear the familiar rolling its eyes. "All beasts can regenerate, but some are faster than others."

"A little more detail might be helpful right now," Ryder suggested, as the creature began to walk forward toward him. "Don't want to hear they can come back to life after I kill it."

"No, silly. Beasts from the brown mark plane regenerate very slowly compared to other familiars, but fast compared to humans.

Albeit, a few beasts from the brown mark plane regenerate faster, if they have regeneration as their affinity."

The lava mantis took a step forward, leaving behind a smoldering footprint on the ground, burning with a continuous flame.

"Beasts from the orange mark naturally have fast regenerative ability," Luxy continued his familiar lecture, seemingly unconcerned by the changes their opponent was undergoing.

"They heal so fast that they can recover a lost limb in a matter of days."

"Beasts from the red plane heal in an extraordinarily fast manner in comparison to humans," Luxy pressed on. "They can heal critical wounds and cuts within hours."

"I am very thrilled to hear about their healthcare advantages," Ryder muttered, eyeing all the possible routes to get away from the vicinity in case things go south.

"But maybe we could skip ahead to the part about how to calm it down. Do you think an apology would work?" Ryder joked.

"Don't tell me you are afraid for real," Luxy laughed. "This beast is like a walk in the park for you."

Ryder knew this very well, but he wasn't afraid of the energy radiation; he was more terrified of the fierce-looking nature of the molten magma.

The liquid flame was reminding him of the Dracogon. The mantis's healing speed was clearly beyond that of an average beast from the red plane. This should have taken at least a few hours to heal, but it had reformed in mere seconds.

Luxy knew about the healing of familiars, but could understand quite a bit why it healed the way it did—turning itself to living magma.

"The mantis didn't heal naturally," Luxy finally explained, apparently reaching the main point of his lecture. "It's healing with its affinity."

"Which is fire. Or maybe magma. Or destruction. Take your pick."

BWOOM!

A forceful, flame-induced aura burst out from the mantis with explosive force. The shockwave shattered every remaining window in the buildings, sending glass shards flying in all directions.

Outside, buildings caught fire, and even the sunlight seemed overpowered, as the brightness from the flaming lava that the mantis was exuding cast an orange glow upon everything within nothing less than a 500-meter radius.

This is the second vicinity in this town that will be destroyed by us. Ryder sighed. "I should have ventured to this area during the ride I had with you. I should have returned to our original spot."

"This fight is getting out of hand," Ryder muttered, shielding his eyes from the intense light with his palm. "As much as I won't admit, I'm beginning to feel quite intimidated."

"Really?" Luxy said.

"No, not really," Ryder lied through his teeth with a forced smirk.

"But this is exactly the kind of thing I see on TV during live streams of fights between summoners that make me nervous, you know."

The heat was clearly affecting the environment, but strangely, Ryder didn't feel the slightest discomfort on his body; deep down, he was cautiously watching the frightening looking magma.

While the floor beneath his feet began to soften due to the temperature, his skin remained cool and unaffected.

Luxy is a familiar from the Dracogon's plane, after all; the Dracogon himself was like the beast of fire.

"Another upside of our contract," Luxy explained in a smug tone. "High resistance to heat—you're welcome in advance."

BWOOM!

The next sudden burst of energy exploded outward with even greater force, and this time, the mantis went along with it.

Blasting toward Ryder with the speed and fury of a meteor, it stretched its legs in the air, preparing to impale Ryder with limbs that now resembled spears of liquid fire.

For a moment, Ryder gasped as he staggered left and right, still unable to decide which way to dodge the attack.

"Left! No, right! No, up!" Ryder tried to reason, but all his thoughts were unhelpful.

"Make up your mind, damnit!" Ryder snapped at himself, freezing in place as the mantis closed in.

Bang!

A loud explosion reverberated through the air as the mantis's scythe-like forelimb collided with Ryder's chest, the impact generating a shockwave that cracked what remained of the building's support columns in their current vicinity, causing all the buildings to collapse.

Opening its mouth—or what passed for a mouth in its magma form—the mantis poured out lava at Ryder viciously, covering him in red lava that could have instantly incinerated any normal human.

Tightening its forearm, it made its fastest strike yet, slamming both blade-like limbs at Ryder's head with enough force to destroy a mountain.

Bang!

All the attacks delivered to Ryder by the mantis were successful. It had hit him squarely, with full force, unleashing its fiery attack directly against him with no obstruction.

In theory, he should have been nothing but ash by now, flowing with the wind, but... no.

Instead of being damaged, he stood there, covered in smoking lava, perfectly fine.

"Are you done?" he asked the mantis, whom he clearly knew wasn't capable of conversation. It was hard to read expressions on a face made of fire like that of the mantis, so Ryder could not even tell if his message went through.

The mantis's aura is incredible, but not to Ryder. It was by far weaker when compared to Luxy's aura.

The only reason Ryder felt a bit indecisive was due to how terrifying the affinity of the mantis appeared, especially since it was using its affinity on a large scale.

Luxy, who remained safely inside Ryder's soul, saw everything and already realized, "You haven't fought much, have you?"

"Guess you've figured that out," Ryder exhaled. "Took you long enough."

"It shows clearly that you do not have battle instincts or skills in fighting," Luxy continued, after clearly knowing Ryder's answer was yes in disguise.

Standing upright, Ryder dusted his body with his hands, as flakes of dried lava that had cooled into rocks fell away from where the lava had settled on his skin.

His skin, as expected, remained in perfect condition. Of all the attacks delivered to him, none caused him any damage. He never felt pain as well. "You have a lot to learn, Ryder," said Luxy.

"Fancy magic and attacks that cannot hurt you should never put you in a state of panic."

"Right!" Ryder walked up to the mantis, but this beast is not the type to waste time. In a flash, it got to Ryder before Ryder could come close with another attack prepared.

"I wasn't panicking though," Ryder pouted, running a hand through his hair to dust off bits of ashes that had been hanging on his head. "I was... um... strategizing."

"Mmhmm," Luxy hummed, unconvinced.

"This beast's power level can be measured, but yours can't, because it surpasses the limit of the machine. You will always be superior."

"Now is time to end this, Ryder," Luxy spoke. "You have destroyed a good portion of this town. There's no way you haven't attracted attention."

Ryder glanced out through the expanse that has become something resembling a wasteland. In the distance, he could see the red and blue flashing lights of emergency vehicles, and beyond them, several black vehicles lined up along with a good number of familiars flying around.

This, for sure, signaled the arrival of the FSG guild officials. They would clearly have questions—lots of questions—and Ryder wasn't ready for an interrogation.

He had done quite some harm to the FSG guild base; this wouldn't be a friendly reunion.

With a single hand, he grabbed the mantis's head, halting its movement as it was about to strike again.

The creature frantically struggled like a little kid swinging his forearm, its temperature increasing to the point where the floor beneath them began to melt again and soften.

"I've changed my mind," Ryder announced, his voice cold despite the malicious aura emanating from it. "I'll kill you now with my own hand."

Clenching his fist around its head, the mantis's fiery skull was squashed, splattering molten lava around. The liquid fire hissed where it landed, but for some strange reason, none of it touched Ryder.

At that moment, the flames burning on the mantis's body slowly died down. Not just its flames, but all the fires it had caused—in buildings, on streets, on the unfortunate remains of trees lining the street—died down instantaneously.

It was as if a switch had been turned off, extinguishing all heat and light connected to the creature.

"It's dead," Ryder confirmed, a strange emptiness filling him as the battle adrenaline faded, but he wasn't feeling exhausted, though. "I have killed it."

Slowly, the mantis's body began to disintegrate into orange glowing particles, rising and swirling like fireflies caught in a gentle breeze. They danced in the air, flowing alongside the wind toward the horizon and growing fainter with each passing second.

Ryder sighed as he stared at the distant horizon. "This sight reminds me of where you are from, Luxy."

"So destruction and bad luck is what follows when someone contracts a beast from the demon plane," Ryder reasoned as he began to walk toward the direction he had chosen, away from the approaching authorities.

"Particularly the Dracogon plane," Luxy added, a hint of pride evident in his voice. "The Dracogon is like the God of ultimate destruction."

There was a pause, and when Luxy spoke again, his voice carried a weight that Ryder had rarely heard before. "The balance of this world changed ever since you contracted me, Ryder. The gamma energy in the air shifted drastically."

Although Ryder couldn't see Luxy's face right now, he could picture how proud Luxy appeared as he spoke. His tone alone sounded boastful.

"Yeah, yeah," Ryder rolled his eyes, stepping through the rubble toward the direction he felt like going.