The Seven Demon's Tamer

Ring Ring Ring!

Master Sung stared at his phone for a few seconds, his smooth face illuminated by the soft blue glow of the screen. He swiped to answer the call while he remained silent.

"Good news, we have found them. Leo and Ryder." The heavy voice from the other end spoke.

A smile slowly spread across Dwang Sung's face, transforming his typically serious expression into something almost predatory. The seventeenth time today he was smiling because of issues relating to the demon plain contractor.

"Be on your way now," he replied, voice tight with anticipation. "I'm in the hotel right behind the Federal Summoners Guild base."

He ended the call with a flick of his thumb and turned his gaze to the ceiling fan spinning above his head in rhythmic whooshing.

"So it is finally time," he muttered as he could feel excitement building up in him, coursing through his veins like fire. The Crimson Eagles were as fast as always, tracking down their target in a very short time.

"Ming Fan," he called out, his voice echoing through the lavishly decorated room. In no time—quite literally less than two seconds—Ming Fan materialized by his side as if he'd been waiting just outside the door.

"Go call all the recently deprived," he ordered. "Tell them it's time to reclaim the dignity they lost."

Ming Fan understood instantly what Master Sung meant. He was referring to all the others who couldn't defeat Ryder during the Ludlow incident.

"Right, Master Sung," Ming Fan bowed so low his forehead nearly touched his knees before rushing away, his footsteps fading down the hallway like distant thunder.

Dwang Sung stood up from his seat, taking a moment to straighten his crimson robes with Thunderwhisker Koi crested on it—his guild symbol.

He began to walk with echoing steps until he got outside where his car was parked, a sleek black vehicle with windows tinted so dark that they didn't even show reflection.

Entering into the back seat of the car, he rested on the chair and sighed. Few seconds later, three knocks could be heard by the windscreen.

"Kyle," he whispered, recognizing the figure outside. "Get in."

The door opened and shut after.

Turning his head sideways to stare at the Crimson Hawk's messenger, Kyle, he asked the only question that mattered.

"Where are they?"

"The anonymous village by the west, about twenty kilometers from here," Kyle voiced. "Apparently, the boy's been searching for something there. From the conversation we managed to eavesdrop on, we can guess it is related to his parents."

Master Sung's eyebrows raised slightly—the only outward sign of his surprise. "Parents? I thought the boy was an orphan."

"I believe you can guide me to him?" Master Sung questioned.

Kyle simply responded with a firm nod.

***

Seeing the confusion on their faces, Ryder sighed. "I'll break it down for you guys.

The reason why I inquired if you guys will be coming with me actually because I needed your help," Ryder explained. "I needed you and knew you wouldn't refuse if I play my cards right, and I did."

"Cut to the chase," Brok chimed in.

"Leo is who I need," Ryder clarified. "He has a pair of abnormal eyes that I believe can help track down my parents.

You remember how you were able to track me down and recognize my aura days back? I want you to memorize my parents' aura and use it in tracking them down as well."

A beat of silence, heavy with expectation stretched.

"You can do that, can't you?"

Leo paused for a moment before walking toward the pile of rubble.

Without a word, he walked toward the pile of rubble that Ryder had identified as the remains of his childhood bedroom. The wood was warm beneath his fingertips, matching the sun's warmth of the day.

Upon reaching it, he began to scatter the rubble and separated it without giving it much thought while his eyes were fixed on the ground as if he was searching for something in particular.

But as Leo sifted through the rubble, extending his senses to their limits, he found... nothing. Just the cold emptiness of abandoned stones and woods. No human trace of aura left.

After a short while, he returned back to Ryder and smiled sadly, a genuine emotion. The hope in Ryder's expressionless eyes made delivering the news even harder.

"I couldn't sense any aura in that entire area," Leo reported sadly, knowing the disappointment he was about to replace Ryder's hope with. "It has been too long since they left, and their auras have faded off. I'm sorry."

Ryder paused for a moment and ended with a slight forced smile. "It's okay, it's not your fault."

Turning around, he bit his lips, holding back his actual emotions. His shoulders sagged almost noticeably as he kept his head down.

"Do you perhaps have another... lead?" Leo asked in guilt, his tone dead serious. If there was another way to help Ryder, he wanted to know.

"No," Ryder whispered back as he walked further away from the rubble, each step seeming to require more effort than the last. The bright sun shifted, repositioning their shadows as wind began to blow calmly. "The other lead I have is from a being that is not from this world."

He paused dramatically, looking back over his shoulder with a red gleam in his eyes.

"It is a great monarch being from the Astral Shadow realm's demon plain."

"Dang! That is clearly a lost cause." Brok flinched back as nervous sweat drooled down his face which Ryder instantly realized.

Ryder's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Do you perhaps have something you'd like to share?" he questioned coldly, stalking toward Brok with the focused gaze.

"No... I mean... Yeah," Brok stuttered but then sighed, calming himself down with visible effort. He ran a hand over his close-cropped hair nervously and spoke. "Look, I didn't want to get into this, but since you're determined to march into hell without a map..."

He paused, seeming to gather his thoughts or perhaps his courage.

"I know quite some info about these monarchs from the Astral Shadow plain," Brok started, adjusting himself under Ryder's gaze. "Not individual information about them, though, but a general one.

Monarchs of plains are beings that rule a portion of the entire plain where they reside," Brok began. "There are really strong beings that have so much power that exceeds the norms of other creatures from their plain."

"If a monarch from the weakest plain—the brown marked plain—somehow moves to a higher plain a level above it, which is the orange marked plain, it would be able to survive without being at the rank of the weak there. They'll be considered strong even in the higher plain."

Ryder paused for a moment, reasoning. What Brok said was very true and he had witnessed the power of a monarch first hand.

"Demons and devils from the black marked plain were extremely powerful," Ryder murmured, almost to himself. "So strong that they can shatter the floor with a single kick—I noticed this when I was being chased by a horde of them that nearly killed me."

Leo's eyebrows shot up in alarm. This was the first he'd heard of Ryder encountering beings from the shadow realms, let alone surviving an encounter with them. Not just Leo, Brok as well but then, he chunked the interruption away — it probably was among Ryder's trials before he contracted his familiar.

"But on the other hand, when the Dracogon who is a monarch, was fighting with Hollow who is also a monarch, a single punch from them threatened to destroy an entire plain far larger than the whole planet Terra," Ryder reasoned out loud.

A hit from an ordinary occupant can shatter a part of the floor, while that of a monarch can destroy a plain— the power difference was absurd.

Ryder finally directed a question towards Brok after his long rambling. "Why tell me this now? I already made it clear that even if we want to approach the Dracogon, he is not within our reach."

"I know, but I'm simply warning you," Brok said. "If it comes to something that would involve a monarch from any plain, I'll advise you to stay clear."

Ryder gritted his teeth as he angrily marched towards Brok, closing the distance between them in three quick strides. "Does it look like I care who I am fighting against when it comes to my parents?"

His voice broke slightly on the next words, betraying a vulnerability that his anger couldn't maintain anymore. "Where were you all the eighteen years of my life when my parents catered for me, huh? Do you think I've had any friend I can brag with since my birth? Tell me, Brok."

The raw pain in his voice was like a physical presence between them, thick enough to cut with a knife. Leo noticed but was doubting if he was in the place to intrude.

Ryder's face was barely away from Brok's, their noses nearly touching in a confrontation that seemed to be on the edge of violence.

"I'm not opposing you," Brok said, his voice gentle despite everything. "I am simply advising yo—"

"Well I don't need your advice," Ryder cut in before walking away to Leo who had resumed staring at nothing in the sky.

"Leo, let's go," Ryder spoke as he walked away. "Let's return back to your apartment and figure something out."

Leo suddenly placed his hands on Ryder's shoulder, halting his movement with unexpected urgency.

"Ryder, this is not good," Leo pointed his other hand in the air, finger tracing the movement of something invisible to normal sight.

Ryder tilted his head upwards in annoyance, staring at the sky with a look that suggested no positivity. "What is not good?" he asked, voice cold.

Leo took a moment of hesitation before he continued.

"Everyone in this village is in danger."