"You offered it for free." Oortez said.

Huh, a feisty fellow... Or should I say an arrogant fellow? You're as good as a dung beetle to me, you know?

As much I would love to threaten him, negotiation came first. I was afraid he would give me false information if I threatened him for answer. The most important thing right now was how to return to the outside world, or rather, reconnect with that world from the void. The next important thing was to find out where Smoothie was. I had a general idea before my evolution but I only had an inkling of passage of time in the outside world while I was asleep.

Now, the only thing I could think of that could block me from exiting this place was another subspace that got in between. It was unfortunate that I had destroyed all my fey cores. Perhaps if I hadn't destroyed them, I might be able to establish a direct link to that world.

"Alright, what would you like in exchange for your knowledge? I need to get back to that world to save my girl."

"Exchange of knowledge must be equal therefore a contract must be signed."

"No thanks. Go to hell."

Well, there's no hell for you. You'll be a clean slate.

Negotiation broke down just like that. Since he was willing to sign a contract for the exchange then a way to leave was definitely possible.

I casted a barrier around him and slowly shrank it. It was the same one I used on that other demon.

That was when he began to panic, but I just wanted to see his reaction. I had no intent to just erase him outright without getting a little bit more out of him.

The moment the barrier touched him, I could see him squirming and screaming. However, I only allowed light to pass through the barrier. No one wanted to hear a demon scream because that was a sure way for my eardrums to rupture!

"Serves you right."

I slowed down the shrinking of the barrier even more just so I could torture him mentally. My method might seem demonic but to use evil against evil was justice!

After his legs had all dissolved into light particles, I released the barrier.

"Well, had enough yet? If not, we can continue until your soul is completely dissolved and all your knowledge lost forever." I emphasized on the last portion. "Also, I could technically dissolve your contract with De Planck. What do you say to working for me instead?"

"You're no different from a demon!"

His face was twisted in agony but I kind of doubted that he felt actual pain. His soul wasn't even in any danger yet.

"Heheh... I've been called a devil before. In my mind, they're one and the same. I don't have all day. Give me your answer."

"We demons live by contracts..."

"Is that your answer?"

How unfortunate...

I really wished I could extract his knowledge from his soul but that was beyond the current me. However, a contract was a no go no matter how favorable it was to me.

"... If you dissolve my contract, I promise to serve you." He reluctantly blurted out.

"Oh? That's good. But, no contracts, right?"

"If... that is your wish. I will comply. Please spare my soul."

How did he figure out so quickly that I could damage souls? I wonder, is there another celestial being floating around in the world? Whatever, let's just play along.

"Actually, there's a soul contract I would like you to enter."

"I am listening."

"It's really quite a simple request. But first, I will erase all your other contracts. I hope you will cooperate to make the experience less excruciating. We definitely don't want precious knowledge to be lost forever, right?"

I could probably erase some of his traits as well. If things went haywire, perhaps he would even transform into a new species. This was uncharted territory, and I was the completely sane scientist pushing for new discoveries!

"Wait!" He completely lost his calm from just a few seconds ago.

"Do you need a moment to prepare yourself mentally?" I asked.

"I..."

I interrupted him before he could say anymore, "Just use those contracts as your shield. Good luck!"

My special barrier was cast around him once again. In my eyes, demons' greatest weapon was their words. The less they talked, the better. In terms of raw combat, they weren't as strong as guardians. Though, there was a possibility that Vorte might just be an outlier but the likelihood wasn't high, at least in my mind.

The barrier slowly shrunk just like before, but this time it was to give him an opportunity to organize his soul energy. With the vast knowledge in his possession, that much should be piece of cake. It was something even I could do before my evolution. It was just that back then I didn't have the power to destroy them.

The unhinged demon, Oortez, after a bit of flustering, quickly closed his eyes to make the preparations. Otherwise, his precious knowledge would get shredded into oblivion.

Silly demons.

An outsider might see me as too conceited but I knew my limits. If I didn't get a laugh at them now, I wasn't sure if I would get another chance down the road.

I keenly observed every reaction Oortez was displaying within that bubble. If I was to destroy too much of his soul, he was surely going to get pissed off when I released him. And, I rather he became cooperative than having to completely destroy him later on.

After about half an hour had passed, I noticed that he was behaving rather erratically so I figured his contracts had all been nullified.

A few pieces of lost knowledge wasn't worthy of my concern anyway.

I released him.

"How was it? All done?"

After catching a few breathes, he replied, "Yes. Please, no more of that."

"Huh, was it painful?"

"Yes! My heart ached with the lost of so many precious contracts!" He stated indignantly.

Oh, so it wasn't painful, physically. Tch.

I was kind of disappointed and it made me wonder if all that fuss from him was only just an act. I was sure it wasn't all act but demons were demons.

"Alright, enough. Heal yourself already. And by the way, what kind of contract did you have with De Planck?"

"..."

"That contract was nullified, was it not? If not, let's go at it again."

There really wasn't any way I could check it for myself. It was a matter of trust, or perhaps just confidence with what was to come.

He hurriedly added, "Yes, it was nullified."

"Good, next up is a soul contract for you." I stated casually.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me right. A soul contract. Tell me how it works and how it's done."

He obediently told me everything there was to soul contracts. It was actually not that difficult to create one but the difficult part was nullifying or terminating one.

The procedures required an insignificant fraction of each party's soul energy. In a way, since my strawberries used to contain tiny portions of my soul energy, I unknowingly signed a soul contract when it should have been a magical contract. Also since the strawberries were grown and shared with nature, consent wasn't particularly necessary. One unique thing about soul contract was the matter of free will agreement. All parties had to have agreed out of free will, not forced or anything. Otherwise, a soul contract would not be finalized.

Originally, my contract with that demon was only a magical one. However somewhere he got hold of the soul energy stored in my strawberry and used it to energetically upgrade the magical contract. Obviously, I wouldn't have noticed a thing back then. The moment I agreed to the terms on the magical contract, it was somehow swapped with a soul contract.

Long story short, I was played like a fiddle. Of course, I didn't tell Oortez any of it whether he knew it or not. I had a good reason for that.

Anyway, while Oortez was suffering in my barrier earlier, I secretly hid a strand of his soul energy.

"Oortez, can you create a magical contract right now?"

"Now?" He asked with discontent.

"Yes, don't make me repeat myself."

"I can. May I know the parties involved?"

"You and yourself."

"Huh?"

I glared at him.

"On it!"

His body had already restored to what it was before. This indicated that he wasn't using a possessed physical body like the other demon. Otherwise, I would immediately notice the difference in energy.

A piece of parchment appeared before him out of thin air. It was just like that time De Planck came to me to sign that contract. This time though, I was the one to generate the content.

"Just think of it as an insurance. If I can't trust you, then you'll have to be erased."

A magical contract didn't have as much restrictions as a soul contract. A bit of push was acceptable. We negotiated a bit but I had the final say to it. After that, he signed it and the contract dissipated.  

The content was fairly straightforward. Basically, it was a curse that penalized him whenever he possessed more than one magical or soul contract. For every additional contract, his mana would decreased by ninety-nine percent. Since this didn't affect his ability to accumulate knowledge, he readily accepted. The other term was that he was forbidden from lying to me. Refusing to speak was acceptable.

At the end of all that before the contract was signed, I snuck in his soul energy into the contract and it was upgraded into a soul contract. Unless closely examined, magical contracts and soul contracts felt the same.

Of course, he signed it.

Sucker. I got you now!

There was a chance that he might have known but still agreed to it. No one cared enough to bother with the minor details.