The Villain's Story

There was a sudden but expected change in the atmosphere. Lucas looked at Bill with keen interest, the butler's eyes had changed. Not an obvious demonic transformation like Lucas had expected.

He had expected wings to grow out, if he was being serious, but something else had happened. He had heard a lot of things about demonic humans. Those who signed a contract with a devil were all strange.

Bill's eyes changed to a deep black, it was like he was looking at coal, that was the only change in experience in Bill. His human form had remained the same otherwise.

'Hmmm. '

The demonic aura around him had increased however, he could sense some glee within the butler. Not for what he expected. The man was just glad he was able to release his power instead of keeping it hidden. It had elevated him to rank C.

'That's it?'

Information about the demonic contracts was almost non-existent, but Lucas refused to believe that the only advantage to selling your soul would be a meager rank increase.

"Please follow me."

"You didn't answer my question."

"You will see for yourself."

Lucas signed, and followed the man, reigning his energy in. They entered the estate and he almost puked at the stench that permeated the surroundings. It was awful to a degree words couldn't describe.

The butler led him up the stairs and into the his fathers office. Lucas noticed a peculiar detail along the way.

First of all, he had not seen a single mirror in his estate. He knew there were a lot of them before, members of his family were all narcissistic and loved nothing else than to look at their 'magnificence' in their free time.

Second of all, there was a blemish in every portrait. A very large one, covering the faces and the eyes.

'Not even trying to hide it. '

He had a feeling someone up top knew the Hiddlestones were no more, having signed a contract with the demon, but why had they done nothing about it?

Was it because of him? Few did know he was one of the Sword saints students. But if that was the case, why had they allowed him to come here?

Questions, questions, and questions. He needed answers, but Billy here probably wouldn't answer a single thing.

He would have to go see daddy dearest. Another odd thing was that all his family members and vassals were all in one room, huddle together.

They weren't dead and piled in that room, he could sense a lot of life due to his aura, but it was indeed something strange.

"The master is waiting."

The doors to the office opened by themselves as Billy stood firmly at the side.

'Ooooo.'

Lucas whistled in his mind. He had heard how demons had learned from their culture on how to terrify or spook a human. Apparently their horror films had enhanced their knowledge by a great deal.

Demons were known to use the stuff they had seen in horror movies to trick and deceive the human mind, weakening it for a contract to be possible.

They lacked any creativity and just repeated what they saw however, leading to a sharp decrease in all horror entertainment.

It was almost zero at this point. Lucas stepped in the dark room and it lit up when he did. He was thankful it was normal lighting, and the fact there was light at all.

He had been here only once, so he was unaware of the general structure of the office. He sat down on the couch with his arms and legs wide open and said.

"I'm here. Whaddya want?"

The chair was facing the opposite way, and a dark shadow could be seen sitting on it. One that hadn't turned to face him yet.

"It's a surprise to see you so relaxed. "

However, the voice did not come from the chair, but from behind him. Somewhat tense, Lucas looked up and saw his father, a man with hair as grey as cement and with a lot less wrinkles than he remembered glaring at him from above, the man's skin had also turned completely white, the melanin was all gone.

"Y'know, This horror movie stuff really doesn't work."

There was an odd smile, creepy but Lucas was unfazed, frankly he was bored.

"You would be surprised, it had a stellar effect on everyone else. But high ranks are often unaffected by these shenanigans."

It was true, while the horror movie stuff was remarkably effective on normal humans and lower ranked awakened, it was almost useless against B-ranked and above.

Mostly because those awakened would simply attack if they saw anything resembling a monster or monstrous activity, but their mental resilience was also notable.

The man that was his father walked over to his seat with a strange gait, as if was limping. The shadow on the chair disappeared and he sat down, facing Lucas.

"I'll be frank, become a demon."

A piece of parchment floated over to him, carrying a heavy demonic scent. The contract.

He grabbed it, and gave it a quick read.

'Huh.'

It was bland as... whatever he tried to cook. There was no useful thing here at all. Merely an increase in power, an uncertain increase.

The ability to use chaos mana, to be granted an affinity to it, and identification in the abyss.

Lucas was appalled. This was it?

"You sold your soul for this?"

"Watch your tone. Mine was much better."

Lucas sighed. While his father had lost his frightening aura due to his age and some other circumstances , he found that he was no longer afraid of the man. He was just... Sad.

Perhaps it was because he had never bothered to be any kind of father to their children besides a cruel one who knly gave punishments whenever he saw them. But he saw the man as a weak, imitation of his former self. This was one of the people of the second generation, someone at the peak of S-rank.

"Why sign the contract?"

There wasn't any feeling of loss, betrayals, or animosity in his voice. He was genuinely curious as to why the man had done it, with all that he had, why do something like this?

His father, Miguel Hiddlestone shook his head.

"Your so ignorant. Have you any idea what has happened these last few months?"

He shook his head, he had spent most of his time training and being a damn barrista. He had no time to collect any information.

"Ezra became S-rank, and once he got over the wall he ascended to peak of S-rank in weeks."

That was not that surprising. The wall between A-rank and S-rank was hard to overcome, but once you had done it, it wouldn't be hard to exceed.

He thought he could do the same, he was at the very wall himself. While Enlightenment allowed him to surpass it, it was only temporary.

"Shortly after, he challenged every S-rank he could find, and beat them all."

Ah, so daddy dearest had been defeated by Ezra and could not live with the fact he had lost to someone decades younger than him.

Sad, truly sad.

That was why he had signed a contract with a demon.

"You don't seem as surprised."

"Meh, I can probably do the same once I get over the wall."

His fathers eyes widened in shock as he realized Lucas was the peak of A-rank. Lucas wasn't kidding either, he was sure he would be able to the same thing Ezra had done when he became S-rank.

Besides, Alan had become rank S long ago, so it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Sign the contract and become rank-S."

"I'm not interested."

And with those words, metallic restraints emerged from the couch and bound his limbs. He was almost shocked. How hadn't his plump ass sensed a metallic contraption in this couch?

Weird, but what was even more strange was that these were no normal restraints, they were blocking his mana.

"Give up, you won't be able to escape and just sign the damn cobtract. Become S-rank as soon as possible, otherwise the star will not look at us favourably. "

'The star?'

Lucas furrowed his brows, what on Earth was his father on about now?

"Ezra is nothing in front of that being, The Martial star is epic... Why do you think there has been no significant invasion for a decade or so, Lucas?"

His father took a deep breath.

"The Obelisk remains quiet, and even the demons. They had not launched any more campaigns... They are ppreparing for his descent. And we have no epic being on our side to combat him, we will all die."

"Accept the contract, and become S-rank, that way, we will not be discarded when Earth falls."

His father continued his monologue and Lucas yawned. He was getting bored of it all.

He was also pitying his old man. The restraints did bind his mana but that would only be a problem if he wanted to use mana.