The Seven Demon's Tamer

After listening to Ryder's proposal on what they should do next, Luxy merged into Ryder once more.

The process, unlike the last time, was both fascinating and unsettling to witness—Luxy's form becoming translucent, then ethereal, before turning into a foggy black smoke that swirled around Ryder, then the black mist gradually sank into Ryder's skin until Luxy was completely inside Ryder's soul.

The sensation was unlike anything Ryder had ever experienced—like being filled with liquid sunlight, not one of thousands of degrees Celsius, but the soft sunbeam radiation on Terra.

Ryder traced the outline of the tattoo with his fingertips, the roughness of his skin in the area where the tattoo was embedded.

"So this is how it works," he murmured.

The last time was painful. Maybe it was because it was not just merging, but also the contraction process as well.

"You'll get used to it," Luxy's voice echoed in his mind, carrying a hint of pride.

Jumping off from the tall mountain where he previously stood, Ryder showed no fear. The drop was at least a hundred meters to the valley floor below.

Wind whistled past his ears as he descended, the ground rushing up to meet him with great speed.

Any human witnessing this would have been certain they were watching someone commit suicide, but not Ryder.

Ryder's heart maintained a steady, calm rhythm, his breath under his control. He could tell what he was capable of instinctively.

In the back of his mind, he could feel Luxy's presence—not controlling him, but enhancing him. He could guess he had nearly gained all of Luxy's capabilities.

"Hopping is what a rabbit does, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically with a wide smirk.

It was as though Ryder had suddenly gained access to memories for actions he'd never performed, instincts he had never developed while he was still an ordinary human. Hopefully, this would also help change his mindset in fighting because he had a phobia for it.

The knowledge of how to land safely from impossible heights was simply there in his head, accessible as easily as remembering how to walk.

"Very funny," Luxy's mental voice echoed, filled with dry sarcasm. "For your information, I am not a rabbit. Point of correction, I'm a devil-viper bunny."

"But yes..." There was a pause, and Ryder could almost feel it as equivalent to a sigh. "We do hop rather well."

Landing on the ground with both of his feet, a slight smile appeared on Ryder's face.

The impact should have shattered every bone in his legs, disfigured his spine, and collapsed his internal organs if he was still a mere human without a familiar.

But no, all he felt was only a little jolt, as though he'd jumped down from a garden wall rather than a mountain peak.

The ground beneath his feet had cratered slightly from the force of his landing, cracks radiating outward in an almost perfect circle.

If he had a weak familiar like those from the brown-marked plain, he would have still received a fatal blow, but that was not the case.

Luxy isn't exactly strong in this black mark region of the Astral Shadow Plain when compared to his fellow inhabitants, but if he were to be compared with a beast from another mark region... the same wouldn't be the case.

"I love my new body," Ryder smiled widely.

After hopping several times—each leap covering a distance that would have taken minutes to travel on foot—Ryder finally arrived at a shelter that caught his attention—the only oddly different shelter that displayed more value.

The structure stood alone in a small clearing, set apart from the main dwellings they had observed from the mountaintop earlier.

Unlike the other buildings with their neat bamboo construction and signs of life, this shelter had a quiet and unsettling quality that was scary as well.

Its walls were formed from what appeared to be living vines, twisted into unnatural shapes. Staring at it alone already made Ryder feel like vomiting.

Although there was window space, there were no windows in the shelter. Despite that, Ryder was unable to see anything, not even outlines of the interior of the building.

Walking towards it slowly, he pushed the wooden bamboo door at the entrance. The size and nature of the door alone made him wonder if it was truly made by beasts.

The door swung inward silently, revealing not a room but what appeared to be an absence of space itself. Ryder froze at the doorstep as he stared in puzzlement. Inside the room was pitch black. It was as dark as an empty void, just like the window opening. The house felt like an endless void of darkness.

Ryder squinted, trying to penetrate the darkness with his enhanced vision, but it was like trying to see through solid rock.

"Wow, it's surprising how I cannot see anything despite possessing your sense of sight, isn't it, Luxy?" Ryder had to comment. "It feels more like the room is pushing out light itself, rather than just lacking it."

Luxy responded, "I totally agree. I don't think you should go in. I have a bad feeling about this place."

"There are energies here that shouldn't exist in a wanderer's plain," Luxy continued, his words racing so quickly that some leaked into Ryder's mind as illustrative images rather than words.

The fact that neither of us can see through it despite our combined abilities suggests it was created by something far more powerful than either of us.

While Luxy and Ryder were still communicating, a voice suddenly spoke.

"You finally came, soon-to-be Dracogon summoner," a voice spoke from inside the dark room. It wasn't loud, yet it filled the air with a presence that made Ryder's eardrums vibrate, spilling out blood.

Ryder froze up in his tracks as sweat drooled down his forehead. His muscles locked into place, not from any external force but from his instinctive recognition of the danger reflected by the voice alone.

"That voice..."

Clack Clack Clack

Footsteps could be heard as the creature inside the room walked out. The creature came into view the moment it exited the room.

Standing before them was a being that could hardly be categorized. It had a humanoid shape, but there the resemblance to anything human ended.

Its body was covered in the same snow-white fur, arranged in patterns that seemed to swirl without any wind. Its face was long, framed by white fur.

It had features reminiscent of a feline deity, but looking at it from a different perspective, it was not.

Most striking were the eyes—sandstone-black irises that contained dark red pupils. White, beautiful fur of an angel and eyes of a devil—this is the simple way to describe Luxy.

Ryder had already been getting a strange feeling about this creature, even though he had only previously heard the voice. But now... the red flag he was receiving doubled the moment he saw this creature's appearance.

Luxy, who was usually the nonchalant devil, suddenly panicked. He was screaming inside Ryder's head, screaming one word in particular over and over again.

"Run! Run! Run!!!

Ryder, run for your life!"

Turning around swiftly, Ryder attempted to dart away, but before he could, a hand stretched out and firmly pressed on his shoulder, instantly halting him from moving.

The touch was light, almost gentle, yet Ryder found himself completely immobilized. It wasn't that he couldn't move—it was that moving itself was cancelled out of his memory momentarily.

"Why the hell am I sweating?" Ryder bit his lips. "I don't have any idea who this creature is, but I am afraid!"

With a husky tone, the creature began, "Ryder, isn't it?" The creature's voice had changed, becoming almost conversational, though the scary resonance of his tone remained terrifying—it felt like it vibrated through Ryder's bones rather than his ears.

"He knows my name!!!"

Flickering its claws dismissively at Ryder's shoulder, the most unexpected thing happened. Luxy, who had already merged with Ryder as a tattoo mark, was sent flying upwards out of Ryder's body.

The result was surprisingly non-violent but shocking—the tattoo rippled like liquid before erupting outward like a spray of black mist that coalesced into Luxy's physical form several meters away as he was being flung away.

The devil-viper bunny materialized in mid-air, eyes wide with shock, before he slowly slanted toward the ground.

All the strength buffs Ryder had been receiving ever since he merged with Luxy disappeared in a flash—muscles that had been capable of incredible feats moments ago now struggled to keep him upright. His enhanced senses dulled, the world losing its clarity and fading back to the ordinary limited perception of his purely human self.

Thud!

Both Ryder and Luxy's bodies fell to the ground simultaneously, but they were still conscious. The impact jarred Ryder's teeth and sent a shock of pain through his now-ordinary body. He tasted blood where he had accidentally bitten his tongue due to the fall; the copper taste of blood filled his taste buds.

Luxy couldn't believe his eyes. "Did he just separate me from my host? This is impossible!"

"I haven't introduced myself," the husky tone started. "My name is Hollow, and I am the Monarch Demon that owns this plain."

Walking towards Luxy on the ground, the creature continued, "I know for sure that you don't know me, Ryder, but this little devil over here does... and I am quite familiar with him as well."

"Stand up!" the voice commanded, and unwillingly, Ryder and Luxy both stood up straight.

They strangely didn't have control over their own bodies.

"I will give you the free will to own your body once more, but you have to assure me you won't try anything stupid." Hollow squatted, bringing his face close to Luxy's. "Especially you, little devil bunny."

With that, they were back to normal. They could feel and control their bodies once more.

Getting up from the ground, the first word uttered by Luxy was...

"How!?"

A smile extended on Hollow's face. "Go on, complete the question."

"How did we end up in an exclusive plain instead of a wanderer plain? How are we in the Seventh Lord-Demon Plain?" Luxy questioned.

Hollow, with an amused smirk, replied, "Simple. Because I took you in. During the last meeting of the Monarchs of the Lord-Demon Plain, the Dracogon made mention of a stubborn rabbit."

"He made mention of you. The Dracogon rarely makes any complaints or claims to have issues because he is among the most feared of all the seven monarchs of the seven Lord-Demon Plains."

"Let me make things clearer for your sake, host," Hollow spoke with a smile as he placed his hand on Ryder's shoulder.

"I am among the seven monarchs in the Demon and Devil Plain," Hollow continued. "I am the owner of this plain you are in currently."

"I know!" Luxy snapped. "I j—"

Splatter!

Blood splashed into the air and then painted the ground beneath their feet, spilling out from Luxy's mouth while he was in the middle of speaking, disrupting his words.

This happened just because of the malicious glare Hollow directed at Luxy.

"I am aware you are quite stubborn, Luxy, but I am not like the Dracogon, who is too lenient with pests."

Hollow's red eyes alone made him appear menacing. Luxy, despite how stubborn and nonchalant he could be sometimes, knew not to mess with Hollow.

Hollow's vibe didn't exude the suffocating aura a monarch of the demon plain should possess, but with the knowledge Luxy had about the plain monarchs, he knew for sure that Hollow was not too different from the great Demon Dracogon in terms of strength.

"Why did you bring us here?" Ryder questioned.

Hollow smiled as he heard the words that came out of Ryder's mouth. "It is funny to see that you have enough courage to speak in my presence."

"I made myself clear, didn't I? I am among the seven monarchs of this plain. Mere devils and lesser demons were proving to be a hard time for you, and still, you are nonchalantly speaking in the presence of a monarch such as myself."

"I do not know if I should see you as a stupid creature or a brave one, but I know one thing for sure—you are interesting. The Dracogon made the right choice, I'll admit."

"Ho... How did you know this much?" Luxy's lips fidgeted as he cautiously spoke. He had learned his lesson pretty quickly—to speak with formality and reason.

"Oh, I can guess lower pests like you know nothing about the way of the monarchs, so you have no clue. Once in a while, we organize a compulsory meeting for all the demon monarchs."

"In these meetings, we discuss. Right from the day you came into existence, Ryder, to the day you were marked by the Dracogon, and till today, we have records of everything."

"The Dracogon made it clear. He said he would be choosing a partner and summoner."

"It was quite surprising."

"The Dracogon was never the kind of creature that could tolerate being bossed around. He was always the ruler of himself. Not even the other monarchs could do anything if he said no."

"One day, suddenly, the Dracogon snapped during a meeting, and its dead eyes regained light for a moment."

"Following it, he said, 'My summoner has been born.'"

"If you guessed, then you are right. It was the day you were born, Ryder. The Dracogon suddenly noticed a presence coming from you that all the other monarchs, including myself, never felt, nor could we decipher."

"The Dracogon marked you instantly, and since then, he awaited your arrival."