The Seven Demon's Tamer

"Heyyyy," Master Sung called out with a welcoming smile. "Violence isn't necessary.

I am here to save you."

Dwang Sung inched forward, closing the distance between him and the trio and said, "I have a proposal."

Leo was startled as he heard what came out of Dwang Sung's mouth.

Leo's silver-blue eyes widened slightly. Of all the things he had expected Dwang Sung to say, this wasn't one of them.

"A proposal?" Leo repeated.

"That's right." Dwang Sung spoke with a smile that faded soon after, replaced by a look of absolute seriousness. He glanced around at the gathering crowd of villagers, their faces filled with confusion. "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more... private?"

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it right here," Ryder spoke up, stepping forward to stand beside Leo. He cleaned the last bit of tear with his sleeves and locked gaze with Dwang Sung.

"As you wish," Dwang Sung replied with a casual shrug then began. "The FSG collaborated with me to hunt you down, Ryder." He turned his attention to Leo. "I believe you are aware of that, Leo."

Leo nodded calmly, his gaze not leaving Dwang Sung for even a second.

"I was requested to report back to the FSG base the moment you are spotted so backup could be called to guarantee your defeat, Ryder."

"Do you perhaps know why you are being hunted, Ryder?" Dwang Sung questioned, his red pupils narrowed.

The question caught Ryder off guard. He had been so focused on running, on surviving, that he hadn't stopped to consider the 'why' behind it all, why it began in the first place. The assumption had always been—

"It is because of all the damages and casualties I've caused," Ryder answered hesitantly, thinking back to the trail of destruction that had followed him since his escape from the FSG base. If Lucian and the FSG had left him in peace after he contracted Luxy, without taking him to the FSG base, all these wouldn't have happened.

Now that he thought of it, it was their fault. The FSG should have no right to interrogate anyone who didn't commit any crime, nor someone who had no business with any crime.

"Wrong," Dwang intruded instantaneously. "It is because of a high-ranking agent called Lucian."

"You hurt him once, now he wants you dead." Dwang Sung's tone was almost casual, as if discussing something insignificant.

"If not that, do you really think Leo would be by your side right now?" Dwang Sung continued, gesturing toward Leo with a well-manicured hand. "Even I might have taken you as a lost cause if you were actually causing all those disasters for pleasure... or just to shed blood."

"That's right," Dwang Sung said, narrowing his eyes. "Even though you've been causing all these disasters, there hasn't been a case where you killed someone. The only death you caused was on a certain familiar.

"I'll elaborate what I mean," Dwang Sung spoke as he raised his golden Rolex watch to check the time. "We have roughly 15 minutes to chat before more people show up."

His gaze lifted from the watch, locking eyes with Ryder. "And 15 minutes for you to decide the path we'll choose—peace or violence."

***

Meanwhile...

The shadow dome had covered, like transparent tinted glass.

Luxy calmly walked towards the exit door of the house at the sitting room. The air outside was tense and despite the fact that all the agents had summoned out their familiars, they still didn't make the first move.

Luxy's small frame stepped into the afternoon sun rays and away from the shade of Leo's apartment, his crimson eyes immediately fixing on... Lucian.

"Huh," Mia exclaimed in puzzlement, her brow furrowed as she observed the creature's behavior. According to everything they knew about familiar psychology, its gaze shouldn't have been directed at a particular person but rather everyone in general, given their number.

And if it turned out to be the type that searches for the strongest opponent, then its gaze should have been on Daoka, not Lucian.

"Does it have intelligence?" Mia wondered aloud, her voice barely above a whisper as she observed the creature. Such intelligence is something portrayed by at least a red marked beast.

What happened next shattered all their inner rambling.

"Hey Lucian," the rabbit creature blurted, its mouth curving into what could only be described as a smile. "I see you are as persistent as ever, wanting to see violence."

Gasp!

A collective gasp echoed from everyone's mouth, an involuntary response to the impossible sight before them—a familiar that could speak.

"It can talk," Mia muttered in shock, voicing the thought that had stunned them all into momentary silence. She wasn't the only one facing surprise; everyone present was equally taken aback.

Familiars were usually creatures that were mostly unintelligent, operating on instinct and basic commands. The most intelligent familiars that had been contracted so far were those that could understand human speech and make simple gestures such as nodding, just like Daoka.

Seeing a familiar that can talk, sent shock down everyone's mind.

Stepping forward, Lucian took the lead, knowing that he was Luxy's focus. If the creature had singled him out, then he should at least have a brief conversation with it. After all, a talking familiar wasn't something one encountered every day.

"You know my name already, don't you think you should, perhaps, tell me yours?"

Luxy tilted his head a bit and replied, "I am the devil-viper bunny — Luxy."

"Contracted or untamed?" Lucian questioned, getting straight to the point. The report from Mo Fan had made it clear that Leo was involved in the summoning of untamed familiars into the planet.

Lucian didn't need anyone to tell him that Leo was a non-summoner; his body literally contained zero gamma energy, not even a trace even the last time they met.

With the absence of gamma energy in Leo, it was clear that this familiar didn't belong to him. But if it wasn't Leo's, then whose was it? Was it perhaps an untamed familiar, or did it belong to someone else? Leo was with Ryder, so was there a chance this could be Ryder's familiar?

Lucian scoffed at his thought. 'No way! No one knows what kind of monster Ryder must have contr...'

Lucian suddenly froze, his lips fidgeting as a memory flashed back to him. His mind trailed back to many days ago when he had brought Ryder to the FSG base for testing.

If he remembered correctly, before the power measurement test, Ryder spoke about his familiar, mentioning that it was a small one. Ryder mentioned that it was a rabbit-like creature.

"Could this be..." Lucian's fists clenched as the realization dawned on him. "The demon plain contractor's beast! Is this the familiar?"

A grin extended on the bunny's face, an abnormal gesture no rabbit should possess. "So you've realized."

Lucian's face tensed up as he commanded at that moment without a second thought, his voice rising to a shout: "Attack!!"

At that moment, all the summoners allowed their familiars to charge at the devil-viper bunny, all at once. All the familiars except Daoka.

***

"I heard a detailed report about all that happened right from the moment you contracted your familiar," Dwang Sung started.

"A day after you contracted your familiar, a team of FSG agents led by Lucian visited your home. They detained you and took you with them to their base." He stopped pacing and turned to face Ryder directly. "Now tell me, Ryder, do you think the FSG had any right to do all those things that they've done?"

"Funny enough," Dwang Sung continued before Ryder could formulate a response, "the FSG weren't the ones that administered that order. It was Lucian."

Dwang Sung's revelation caused a ripple of murmurs among the villagers. The FSG—the Familiar Summoners Guild—was supposed to be a regulated organization that protected people, not abducted them from their homes without cause.

"He took you to the base and after a while, it was reported that you destroyed half of their base, hurting a good number of their agents." Dwang Sung's tone remained neutral, neither accusatory nor approving.

"And from then on, Lucian began to track you down, intending to kill you on his own accord."

"The FSG base incident wasn't the reason you were being pursued for extermination; it was Lucian," Dwang Sung continued. "He is a valued high-ranking member of the FSG, so no one questioned his decisions."

"I know Lucian pretty well so mark my words. He was pursuing you all this time to revenge himself. During the explosion you caused, he was hurt badly in front of his comrades with an injury that rendered his hand immobile for days."

"He wanted you to pay back with your life," Dwang Sung stated flatly. "Lucian is not a good person. Keep that in mind."

"I'm not a good person either," he admitted with a slight shrug, "because I agreed to join in this hunt. But I did it because I want an ally like you in my guild, to increase its manpower and rank in the whole world."

"Selfish, isn't it?"

"Now I've said it all," Dwang Sung concluded. "I am here just so that I can convince you to join my own guild."

Leo's eyes narrowed, still trying to act tough despite knowing that accepting Sung's offer was the best choice. "And what would Ryder gain from this arrangement, besides your... protection?"

Mara's eyes widened as she looked at Ryder with new understanding. The changes in him—the white hair, the red eyes, his cold behavior, suddenly made sense in a way they hadn't before.

"Recruiting you to my guild might make me an enemy of Lucian and automatically an enemy of the FSG base here in this region," Dwang Sung continued, "but it's worth it if I'll have the only black mark summoner of this current age of humanity."

"If you do not join me, then I will work alongside the FSG to put you down," Dwang Sung's voice hardened, an evidence that he was not playing now. "After all, you've messed with my guild members once."

"Now tell me, which is it? Join me and I'll save you so you'll enjoy peace, or refuse and I'll work alongside the FSG to put you down."

"Choose now."