The Seven Demon's Tamer

The morning sunlight penetrated through the half-drawn curtains, casting beams of soft sun rays across the living room.

Ryder sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, his red eyes fixed on the translucent figure hovering before him. Luxy—his familiar—floated in the air, the edges of his ethereal form rippling once in a while like disturbed water.

"Familiars and their summoners are emotionally linked, but not you, Luxy," Ryder said, breaking the silence that had stretched between them for nearly an hour.

This was one of the few times he had summoned Luxy out. This kind of summoning style wasn't the regular one; it was different.

It may appear like a unique style he developed by himself at first, but then, deep down, he knew this was a failure.

He had tried multiple times to summon Luxy out of his body to experience the world, but not once had he succeeded.

Normally, summoning a familiar isn't something that is learned, because the knowledge of it naturally engraves itself in the summoner's brain.

And also, it was something that he should know because he had done it before, or at least he thought so, during the time he spent in the Astral Shadow plane.

Ever since his soul returned to his planet, Terra, he hadn't been able to summon Luxy, but he could perform an incomplete summoning, as he was doing now.

A summoning style where he summons a transparent and translucent version of his familiar—Luxy.

This version of Luxy could do nothing but exist and move. It could not cause any physical change, nor could it be affected by physical changes as well.

Luxy could not be touched, nor could he touch anything, which meant he could not fight for Ryder like a familiar should.

He couldn't care less about this fact, though, because his strength, which he shared with Ryder, was already overpowering.

Ryder ran a hand through his hair, a gesture derived more from frustration than from any need to tidy his hair.

"To be more precise, unintelligent familiars and their summoners are emotionally linked."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Luxy replied, his form glowing slightly brighter, then dimming. "Summoners would kill for a familiar with independent thought."

Ryder scoffed. "Independent thought is one thing. Complete emotional detachment is another, Luxy. Don't try to sugarcoat things."

He stood up, pacing the unfamiliar living room with a finger on his chin. The house he was in currently belonged to someone who was most probably wealthy, according to Ryder's guess.

The furnishings were expensive but tasteless, the kind of luxury purchased by those wealthy people who were into displaying their wealth rather than appreciating beauty and spending wisely.

"Like back then when we destroyed the FSG base accidentally," Ryder continued, his voice rising slightly as he recalled from his observations.

"Lucian was enraged while he summoned his familiar. I noticed the familiar was enraged as well." He stopped pacing, turning to face Luxy with accusing eyes. "But when I'm angry, you don't give a damn. When I'm happy, you don't give a damn. When I'm sad, you don't give a damn..."

"Hey! I do console you when you are sad!" Luxy protested, his form flickering. The temperature in the room dropped by several degrees, as if reflecting Luxy's annoyance.

Ryder ignored the interruption, his mind already racing to another memory he could recall. "Back then, when I wanted to kill the lava mantis, you were nearly controlling me... Even though it wasn't direct."

The lava mantis had been an interesting opponent—eight feet of armored chitin and flame-secreting glands. What should have been a straightforward elimination had turned into a nightmarish battle that left half of Ludlow reduced to rubble.

"The way you spoke," Ryder continued, his voice dropping to little more than a whisper, "I was afraid of angering you."

Upon hearing that, Luxy burst into laughter.

"Oh really?" the familiar's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Those familiars are unintelligent. Just like dogs that protect their masters and bark at strangers, familiars try to please their master, no matter the circumstances."

Luxy drifted forward, closer to Ryder, his form now eye-level with his summoner.

"You see, Ryder, I am quite confident that there isn't any familiar out there in the red, orange, or brown-marked planes capable of conversation. Much less capable of the level of discussion in which we are engaged." Pride colored Luxy's words as he spoke.

"Yeah. I could guess that," Ryder replied, making a dismissive gesture with his hand that instantly diminished Luxy's pride. He moved toward the kitchen, craving caffeine.

The house came with expensive coffee beans, and Ryder had every intention of enjoying them before the owner returned.

"You see, Ryder," Luxy continued, following him into the neat, marble-countered kitchen, "you should take me as your friend, more than anything. You shouldn't see yourself as some sort of boss."

Ryder measured coffee grounds into the machine, his movements careful because he had never used such a machine before. "I've never treated you like I am your boss, have I?"

Luxy smirked—an eerie expression on his ethereal face. "You shouldn't attempt it at any point, because you might earn my anger for it."

There was a weight to these words that made Ryder pause briefly before pressing the button he suspected to be the power button for the machine.

The coffee machine hummed to life, filling the kitchen with its rich aroma. Ryder leaned against the counter, studying his familiar's projection form with narrowed eyes.

Most familiars were creatures that were meant only to carry out their summoner's will. Luxy was something else entirely—partner, wannabe mentor... Which was it?

"What are you thinking about with that serious expression?" Luxy asked, moving closer to examine the coffee machine with curiosity in his eyes.

Despite his age—which Ryder knew for sure was considerable—Luxy maintained a childlike fascination with human inventions. These inventions were foreign to Ryder as well, but they didn't fascinate him as much as they did Luxy.

The coffee finished brewing, and Ryder poured some into his cup, the dark liquid steaming with a sweet aroma.

He walked towards the red sofa in the living room, settling into its plush comfort. Unlike before, he wasn't wearing his cloak.

His cloak was destroyed in his last battle, after all, so he needed to buy a new one.

Sipping hot coffee from his cup, Ryder then sighed, the bitter liquid warming him from the inside.

"So tell me, Luxy," Ryder spoke after a moment of silence, "tell me something you think is very necessary for me to know."

He glanced at the expensive clock on the wall, its hands indicating five o'clock. "You know this isn't my house. I want to enjoy this opportunity and leave before the owner shows up."

"Oh right, you should know more about what we call affinity," Luxy suggested.

"What do you understand by affinity, Ryder?"

Ryder thought for a while, taking another sip of his coffee before responding. "Affinity is some random magic power or ability a few special familiars possess."

"No, that's not it," Luxy replied. "Affinity is a magic ability possessed by every single beast in the Astral Shadow plane."

"Really?" Ryder was surprised, sitting up straighter. For all his experience as a new summoner, there were vast gaps in his knowledge—gaps that Luxy knew and hopefully could fill in.

"Absolutely," Luxy replied, beginning to drift in lazy circles around the living room and close to the ground while he continued.

"Then what is your affinity?" Ryder questioned.

Luxy, who had been speaking casually, all of a sudden fell silent. The temperature in the room dropped noticeably.

...

"Answer me," Ryder pressed, not intimidated in the slightest by Luxy's change in behavior.

"I don't think it is necessary now," Luxy finally replied, his voice colder than before. "I'll tell you when the time is right."

Ryder set his coffee cup down with enough force to slosh some of the liquid over the edge, causing a little spill. "Can the time ever be right? I hate suspense, tell me already."

"Are you ordering me around?" Luxy questioned coldly. "I already told you to let it slide."

The two stared at each other in silence, maintaining an unwavering gaze of seriousness. After a tense moment, Ryder bit his lower lip and rested his head on the sofa.

"Affinity is the power every beast from the Astral Shadow plane possesses. When the beast is summoned, it is able to use its affinity, but that is not the only way a summoner can use the beast's affinity," Luxy began.

"The summoner can use the affinity directly without summoning the beast by learning how to control the gamma energy within them."

Ryder slowly nodded; he had already figured out a plan after what Luxy had revealed. If Luxy could not tell him his affinity, then he would figure it out by himself.

Something made him wonder, though: gamma energy could only be found in a few places according to his understanding—the first place being the rune of shadows, and the second place being in a beast contracted from the Astral Shadow plane.

"Do humans possess gamma energy?" Ryder asked curiously.

"Yes, they do, summoners specifically," Luxy responded, continuing his circular drift around the room. "Though in most, it lies dormant because most of them are unaware."

"I realized this by myself from my observations of you. It is possible for a human to harness the affinity of their familiar."

"So how can I learn to access the affinity of a familiar without having to summon them?" Ryder questioned, picking up his coffee again.

"Like I said earlier, you need to learn how to control your gamma energy!" Luxy's tone suggested this answer should have been obvious.

Ryder nodded as he picked up the remote control by the couch, then pointed it at the TV in front of him. The massive screen dominated an entire wall of the living room, its sleek design making it obvious that it cost more than most people made in a month.

He powered it on, then began to switch through channels—from football to movies to news—trying to generate some background noise, when something suddenly caught his attention.

He selected the channel and found it. His name was on the TV, and there was a woman in the FSG uniform, reporting on him. The sight froze him mid-sip, coffee hovering inches from his lips.

He joined the news report halfway through, arriving just at the right time.

"This young man's face remains anonymous, as it turns out that the only video footage of his face was lost." The woman spoke, maintaining her professional composure.

"He is one of the top rising criminals in the United Kingdom, committing various crimes," she continued, her tone suggesting she was reading from a prepared statement. "It started off a few days ago when he destroyed half of the FSG base, then battled Commander Lucian and escaped."

"Until now, he had been on the run. The FSG searched for him to punish him appropriately, but to no avail."

Luxy drifted closer to the television, his form reflecting the changing lights of the screen. "You didn't 'disappear.' You hid in a drainage pipe for three days," the familiar commented dryly before bursting into laughter.

"Earlier today," the reporter continued, "he reappeared by Jin's noodle shop at Ludlow to purchase a bowl of noodles he couldn't pay for. As the penalty implied, he was given chores to compensate for the money he couldn't pay, when suddenly he began to act aggressively."

"That's not how it happened at all!" Ryder protested towards the television, placing his coffee down with enough force to splash some onto the expensive table.

"Moments later," the woman continued, obviously oblivious to Ryder's objections, "he destroyed half of the entire town and killed a familiar of a red-marked summoner."

"I sure did," Ryder smirked at this; she wasn't completely wrong about this one.

"After some consideration, the higher members of the FSG council decided to put him on the lookout."

Luxy made a sound that might have been a chuckle. "Took them long enough. I was beginning to feel insulted."

The camera zoomed in on the reporter's face, her expression grave as she delivered the next line. "The bounty on his head is 6,000,000 Terra gold coins."

Ryder whistled, genuinely impressed. "That's... a lot of money."

"An image of him will be disclosed later on when we manage to get a visual capture of his face.

The only, and most vital, information we can give now is the fact that he is a black-marked young summoner.

Before we conclude, we'd like to give a quick warning. This man's strength is on another level; he managed to take down 16 red-marked summoners simultaneously.

You shouldn't dare go after him unless you are either a red-marked summoner or you have an army of summoners; if not, you might face serious casualties.

He is the only one in the recent age who contracted a devil beast. In other words, he is the strongest existing summoner."

"Oh, look," Ryder spoke up in amusement, "there's now a bounty on my head alongside some praise. Isn't that wonderful?"

Luxy, who could read Ryder's true feelings beyond the facade of nonchalance, knew how frustrated Ryder was.

The familiar could sense the multitude of emotions beneath Ryder's calm exterior—anger at the misrepresentation, fear of what would come next... It was all too much.

"I didn't even get enough time to mourn my dead mother or figure out a way to find my father before being plunged into this mess," Ryder muttered with a fake smile still sprawled across his face, and his fist clenched, though subtly.

Luxy maintained silence, waiting for Ryder to say his next words with his gaze averted to him, and just as expected, Ryder made his request.

"Can you teach me how to control my gamma energy?"