Letting out a weak Sc-scree the last little devil fell to the ground and the battle ended. I could feel myself getting tired from all the fighting but couldn’t have a moment to breathe when Salomon jumped on my back in excitement. “Yaay, you did it! A flawless victory! That’s my Master! To think you could sever the pact itself! This is absolutely amazing!” I flinch away from Salomon who was basically yelling in my ear.
I was going to walk away when I saw one of the little devils still there trying to crawl away. “D-Don’t want. . . to disappear. Want to serve. . . Master. . .” Light was slowly surrounding the devil and I felt an uncomfortable feeling build up in me as I watched tears form in their eyes.
“Looks like this demon is the leader of the pack. It’s starting to disappear, though. Don’t worry about it Master. If you just let it be, it will automatically be transported back to its own world. Normally, it would return to its Summoner automatically when defeated, by the merit of their bond, but in this case. . .” Looking at the nearly gone little devil I felt really bad for them and almost regretted severing the connection with their Summoner.
“Since you severed its pact with its Summoner. . . Well, that’s that.” While Salomon nodded to himself I walked over to the fallen little devil and kneel down next to it. “Huh? Master, what are you. . .?” I reach out my hand to the little devil ignoring Salomon's confused voice and smile at the little devil who looks up at me.
“I know this seems a bit weird but form a pact with me.” I could hear Salomon let out a shocked gasp but I just pretended I couldn’t hear him and just looked at the little devil on the ground who was just staring at me still holding my hand out to him.
“S-Skreee? What. . . you want? What. . . do. . . with me?” The little devil looked at me cautiously, not reaching for my hand but I just continued to smile at him. “I’m not going to hurt you I swear. I am looking for your Master so can you please tell me where they are?” I held eye contact with the little devil and didn’t look away hoping they could see my sincere emotions.
“What do. . . When you. . . find Master? No. . . Not Master. . . anymore. . . But. . . Cannot. . . betray him!” The little devil moved his head away from my head stubbornly and I let out a laugh at how cute they were acting.
Moving to be in his line of sight again I reach out my hand and slowly pet them on their head. “It’s alright. I’m his friend so I won’t hurt him in anyway. I just want to help him too. I am worried about him.” The little devil looked at me with an unreadable look in their eyes but it slowly put their small hand on my hand on their head.
“Master. . . suffers. He is in pain. Please help. . . Please. . . help Master smile. . . Form pact, new Master. I guard you. . . and guard your fate.” Light shines brightly between us when the little devil accepts the pact with me and the light surrounding them disappears and they become solid again.
The little devil got up on their tiny legs and I stood with them with a smile on my face due to how cute they look. ‘Aww! They are so cute! I just want to hug them and give them kisses!’ I had a blush on my face while I imagine doing those things to the little devil but I snap out of it when I realize they were talking to me.
“Thank you, new Master. Come now. . . We go to old master.” I gave them a nod and was going to start walking when I felt Salomon grab my sleeve. “E-Excuse me, Master. May I have a word? I think you should refrain from forming too many pacts. Stacking up pact after pact like this would drain a normal Summoner of so much power that they would shrivel up like a prune and die. Transients who exist as independent entities subsist on temporary provisions of power, but. . . In this case, your power is what maintains them, so they’ll drain it from you bit by bit. Basically, it’s like how a pregnant lady provides nutrients to her baby!”
Looking at Salomon with my eyebrow twitching lightly I grab his cheeks and start pulling on it roughly ignoring his cries of pains. “DON’T you think it’s a bit LATE for that?!” After I got my angry out on Salomon I let him go and just rub my forehead tired.
“Waahhh! But you never asked! And I didn’t think you would be forming pacts left and right like this. . . Besides, why do you need another pact when you already have this adorable familiar right here?!” Salomon puff up his cheeks and cross his arms with tears in his eyes. “Master, you. . . you cheater! I thought we only had eyes for each other! There’s precedent to put you on trial by a familiar court for such unfaithfulness!”
I could feel myself getting annoyed with him again and went to reach for his cheeks again when I heard the little devil call out to me in a confused voice. “What. . . happening? This way, new Master.” Putting aside my anger for Salomon for now I started to follow the little devil who was wobbling in the directions of their old master.
After following the little devil for a while the sun was starting to set and we still haven’t found their old master yet. My feet felt sore from walking so long but I had to keep going until I found Shiro. After a while Salomon spoke up breaking the silence.
“By the way, Master, I’m sure you’ve already figured it out, but. . . That Summoner who set all those familiars on us? The dark-haired, glasses-wearing, Infernal Summoner. . .?” I nod my head understanding what he is trying to say to me. “Yeah I know who it is. Why do you think I am following him?” I knocked my hand lightly on Salomon's head but he still cried out in pain causing me to roll my eyes at how dramatic he is.
“Personally, I find it humbling that my own Master is gaining all this strength and experience so quickly, but. . . Why keep rushing to the aid of people you’ve only met? You did the same thing last night. Do they have something on you? Did someone snap an embarrassing photo of you or something?” Instead of getting annoyed at Salomon wild imagination I just put my hand under my chin and thought for a few seconds.
“Who knows why I am doing this?” I simply smile at Salomon shrugging my shoulders at his questions ignoring his shocked expression. ‘But why am I doing this? I don’t know these people or who I am yet I can’t simply leave anyone who needs help.’ I let out a deep sigh feeling rather tired but I quickly got focus again when I heard a familiar voice.
“Ahhhh, stop! Leave me alone! Go away already!” The little devil perk up at the voice and quickly wobble towards the direction they heard the voice. “That sounds like. . . Master, that way!” Salomon quickly goes in the direction of the little devil and I am forced to run after them so I don’t lose sight of them.
The little devil stopped suddenly causing me to see look for the reason they stopped. I could feel a sense of relief when I saw Shiro but a frown appeared on my face when I saw how panicked he was surrounded by a group of little devils.
“You. . .are M-Master. . . Summoner. . . What is. . . your order. . .? Summoner. . .” The little devil was all calling out to him but Shiro grew pale and back away from them shaking pretty badly. “Summoners!? What are you talking about? I told you, none of this has anything to do with me!”
The little devils wobble towards Shiro causing him to get even paler. “Master. . . Called. . .Now. . . Order us. . . Master. . . sad. . . We sad. . . too. . . We too. . . Master. . .” Shiro avoided the hands of the little devil that were trying to grab at him almost tripping over his feet.
“No! I’m not your master! I didn’t summon anything! I didn’t. . . I never ordered you to hurt people! You did that on your own! It’s not my fault! It’s not my. . .” Tears were coming out of his eyes that he tightly closed and the little devils called out to him in concern.
As if finally noticing me the little devils surrounding Shiro all started to let out threatening sounds while getting in front of Shiro to guard him. “What is it? Is someone. . .?” Shiro had a shocked expression when he finally saw me and I awkwardly gave him a wave.
“Masato. . . Why are you here?” He tried to walk towards me but the little devils surrounding him didn’t let him and slowly started to close in on me. “Enemy. . . Summoner. . . detected! Eliminate. . . enemy! Eliminate! You make. . . Master suffer! Destroy! Destroy!” All the little devil looked at me with a dark look in their eyes causing me to back away from them and Shiro tried to stop them from coming near me.
“S-Stop! Stay back! He’s. . . He’s my. . .! N-No! Run! Run, Masato!” Shiro tries to desperately calm down the little devils but was having a hard time doing so. “The Summoner we’re dealing with has no control over his familiars! They’re coming right at us!” Seeing this situation was just getting out of hand I quickly put the little devil who guided me here behind me and quickly summoned my sword and held it in front of me guarding myself.
“Huh? That Sword appeared out of nowhere! Just like my Book. . . ! Masato, are you. . .?” I blocked out Shiro's voice and focused on dealing with the little devils that were coming at me quickly. ‘Why is this happening?! I just wanted to find Shiro!’ Feeling tired from all the fighting I did today I got ready for another unavoidable fight.
