Ethan and Isabella went back and forth with a few texts relating to the summons, but it ended with her saying she’d be at the guild after classes ended at the academy.

Ethan exhaled, then turned towards Ishtar, who seemed lost in her own thoughts as well.

He could guess that hearing he was being summoned because of being a demon had probably scared her too.

Then he said, "Don’t worry about it, Ishtar. Rayleigh would never let anything happen to you. That much I know."

She turned towards him, forced a little hopeful smile, and nodded.

Ethan stood from his seat and began crossing the room towards the door. "Come with me," he said.

With that, she followed right behind, and they made their way towards the training room.

-

Right there in the training room, Aliyah laid on the ground, and Percival seemed to be seated atop her in an aggressive manner, with his clenched fist drawn back but halted.

They were both heaving heavy breaths and sweating, with grins on their faces revealing fangs.

"I win," he said.

But in that moment, Aliyah hooked her leg around his waist and bucked her hips, using his forward weight against him.

Percival’s balance gave out, and like a blur, she reversed their positions. Now she was the one on top, with Percival’s back flat on the ground. Her claws elongated, and she pressed her left forearm across his throat, holding him down.

"No, I win," she said.

Percival tried to get up, but she lowered herself, applying even more force to her forearm and pinning him there. Now he had a grin on his face as he laid there, and she did too.

They stared into each other’s eyes for several seconds, their faces closer than before. Both their chests rose and fell in rhythm, and neither one of them looked away.

For a moment, there was a certain tension between them both, until a voice came forth.

"I’m sorry, you both, but I got tired of waiting," Ethan said, standing at the entrance with a straight face.

He had been there for almost a minute, waiting to see if, you know, something came out of all the eye staring. But his patience had grown thin.

Aliyah’s eyes widened, and she quickly got off Percival, brushing dust off her trousers as though nothing had happened. Percival sat up and cleared his throat.

"Hello Ethan," Aliyah said, with a slight wave.

"Hello to you too" Ethan said while walking further in with Ishtar following behind.

Both he and Percival had chuckles on their faces as they fist-bumped.

"Yeah, by the way, thanks, man. I got the cheque for a million," Ethan said immediately.

"Oh. Bruh... urgh..." Percival made a face, sticking out his tongue as though disgusted, before adding with a placating gesture. "We don’t say thanks for stuff like that. We just nod our heads manly."

"Oh yeah, yeah. True, true. So, mhm." Ethan nodded.

"Mhm." Percival nodded back.

Aliyah looked at them with narrowed eyes and a puzzled face before shaking her head. "Boys are really weird."

Percival chuckled a bit, then Ethan returned to the main focus of him being here. "Sorry I had to interrupt your spar session, but I want to borrow this space for a second."

"Oh? Do we... need to leave?" Percival asked.

"Nah, not at all. This shouldn’t take long," he said, then pulled out Xylo’s lighter and tossed it gently to the ground in front of him.

He raised his thumb towards his teeth for a moment, which changed into fangs as he bit into it to let blood out. He extended the thumb over the lighter, and blood drops began touching the metal.

[Your Authority As Spirit King Has Been Acknowledged]

The dripping began moving on its own, circling outward and tracing into different patterns until it formed a peculiar type of magic circle, which shone a bright crimson glow.

Ethan’s eyes took a sudden glow as well as he spoke the words of the chant once more in this eerie tone layered beneath his voice, as though another entity spoke alongside him in perfect unison.

And this sent chills down the spines of everyone watching.

"Let your form serve beneath my command, let your purpose align with mine.

If you accept my authority as the king of spirits and pledge to honor this bond, then answer my summons.

I declare my intent here.

I am the one who bridges the living and the fallen.

I am the one who holds dominion over what lingers beyond.

By the Spirit King’s right, from the Well of the Undying, I call you forth.

Ascend from the realm where souls rest eternal

And become the instrument that heeds my call."

The circle’s color then changed from red to purple as specks of light gathered together to form into a humanoid shape, which solidified piece by piece until it brought out the form of Xylo.

A notification screen materialized before Ethan.

[Name: Xylo]

[Title: The Man Of The Mask, Bounty Hunter]

[Race: Half-Demon]

[Classification: Villain]

[Summon Class: Legendary]

[Potential Rating: Emperor]

[SKILLS:• Mask Manifestation]

• Burns

• Exhaustion

• Dizziness

• Stun

• Mark

[Passive Skill: Survivor’s Instinct]

[Ultimate Skill: All For One]

[Special Weapon: None]

[Notable Limits: Status effects can only be used against one person at a time. Masks require direct line of sight with target.]

[Summon Background: Born in the slums of the demon continent to a human mother, a victim of a demon soldier’s drunken violence. Survival meant scavenging, stealing, and learning to disappear when the strong came looking for easy prey. By the age of eight, he had taken his first life. By fifteen, he had mastered the art of making people suffer without ever lifting a blade. He clawed his way out of the slums and into the world of bounty hunting, where his reputation steadily grew. They called him the Man of the Mask. He died during a contract gone wrong, his final thoughts filled with regret, not for the lives he had taken, but for the life he never got to live.]

Xylo was calm and composed. Infact, he had already lit a cigar and blew one puff into the air.

Percival then blurted out, "The chanting might be cringe, but the result’s kinda cool."

Ethan looked amused but said nothing.

Wilson had just arrived at the training room to see the completion of the summon. He couldn’t resist the curiosity when he felt that chilling wave hit him, even from where he was sitting downstairs in the lobby.

A visible frown came over Ishtar’s face at once, to which Ethan had to turn and say, "I understand how it must feel seeing this person here, but right now, he will do nothing to harm you. I brought him here because I’m going to need his help."

Ishtar stared at Ethan for a while, then nodded, before he turned back towards.

"To think I’d return to serve under a necromancer," Xylo said with resignation in his voice.

"Necro what?" Percival asked.

"It’s what demons in their continent call summoners," Ethan answered, already guessing what it had to be.

Wilson stepped further in and watched with some level of intrigue but offered no immediate opinion.

Xylo then turned towards Ethan, who still studied him for a second, then asked, "What about her? Are you able to call her forth as you’ve just called me?"

"No," he answered simply.

"I see." He took one breath in. "How can I be of service to you, then?"

Ethan turned towards Ishtar for a moment, then gestured that she move forward. When she reached closer, Ethan asked her to extend her hand, to which she did.

Then he asked Xylo, "The markings on her arms are not codes native to us in the western continent. As a sorcerer demon, I assume you can identify spell codes written in the demon continent?"

Xylo took a look at the markings on her arms for a moment, then lifted his head and said, "These markings are not spell codes. What you see are letters of the demon language. But more specifically, the old tongue."

Then there was a pause before he added, "Unfortunately, the old tongue is only known by a few old families and maybe certain demons over a century old. I’ve only lived for thirty."

Ethan sighed a disappointed sigh, but Xylo added, "There are only two symbols I can identify here."

He moved his fingers over her arm without touching her. "This and this."

The weird-looking symbols were placed side by side.

"They are symbols still used till date. This one," he pointed, "means ’demon,’ and this other one means ’deity’ or ’divine.’ But when seen in any context side by side, it means ’Demon God.’"

—-

A/N: I just noticed we hit 150 tickets already so (5/22) (additional +2 bonus chp was added here)

Btw, all tickets bonuses for last month have been paid off.

See yall in a few hours with more chps.