Demon King Ascension System

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“Please read it carefully. We already gave you the best offer we could give. Consider this before deciding on anything,” The scrawny humanoid demon said as he gestured to Blake to read the parchment that had just appeared out of thin air and unfurled itself.

With Cyra and Robus having zero interest in anything related to reading, the only ones who read the offer, which was essentially a demon contract from the scrawny humanoid demon, were Blake and Vera.

Vera had both a look of understanding and questioning on her face as she read more and more of what was entailed in the contract. She understood the obvious points that consist in almost all subordination contracts such as the inability of the contractee to go against or betray the contractor and the contractee having to do tasks that the contractor asked them to do.

But Vera also noticed that the condition wasn’t as harsh as the usual subordination contract that she often sees. Instead of asking for blind obedience indefinitely, the contract only required Blake to do one task for them per three months while the other tasks were optional.

The clause about Blake being unable to go against or betray them was also quite different from the other contracts since not only that clause exists but there was another clause under it that states that the humanoid demons would also not be able to directly harm and betray him

‘Where did they get the idea to make all these conditions…?’ Vera didn’t know what led the humanoid demons to make the condition of the contract seem very good. It did have very good clauses, one that could even be said to be fair in Vera’s opinion, someone who had seen a lot of literal slavery contracts masked as a subordination contract.

‘Did Blake destroying their bases made them wary of him and led them to this decision?’ More questions appeared in Vera’s head as she continued reading the unusually ‘fair’ demon contract.

And she really thought that everything was suspiciously fair until she read the last few clauses that mentioned Blake’s descent to the second realm.

It had been mentioned above that Blake would be working together with them to reach their goal in the first demon realm, something that they give any explanations of other than saying that it wouldn’t harm Blake and his group at all, before then Blake was allowed to descend to the second demon realm.

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The humanoid demons said they would also take care of Blake’s seal so that he would be able to exist in the first demon realm until they finished their job. And only then that Blake would be allowed to descend to the next demon realm with his group.

Vera could understand these points although she did wonder what their objective was in the first demon realm. Something that she couldn’t find out yet despite her solo investigation when she split up from Blake and Robus back then.

However, when she got to the last clause, her eyes constricted as she shot a death glare at the three humanoid demons, particularly towards the scrawny humanoid demon who had given the proposal.

“Reject it,” Vera spoke firmly to make sure Blake heard her voice loud and clear. She didn’t have any intentions to accept the contract at all in the first place, she was just curious about what the humanoid demons from the deeper realms wanted to offer Blake.

But after seeing the last clause in the contract, there’s nothing else to consider or be curious about as the only answer to such a clause would only be no and nothing else.

The last clause in the offered demon contract said that when Blake descended to the second realm, then he had to join the faction where the three humanoid demons belonged to.

Blake might not know what these factions were and what joining them meant. But for someone who had literally run away from her faction, of course, Vera knew what joining a faction meant.

Blake didn’t want to accept the offered contract either since it meant that he would need to delay his descent to the second realm where there would actually be a chance for him to go to other worlds and find Amy again and he would also need to be the humanoid demons’ lackey for god knows how long until they finished their so-called mission once every three months.

However, hearing Vera’s tone of voice when saying the rejection, made Blake wonder about what made her say it like that. “I know I won’t be accepting this ridiculous contract at all, but Vera, I’m curious, why is it a very bad idea to accept this?” Blake asked only loud enough for his voice to be heard by Vera and the others around him.

“Read the very last clause,” Vera spoke as she pointed her finger towards the last lines of sentences in the unfurled parchment.

“It says that I need to join their faction after I descend to the next realm. What is a faction, Vera?”

“Faction is basically a group that you can join after you’ve reached the second demon realm where all demons,” Vera then looked at Blake for a second before continuing, “Well, at least the ordinary demons, would be able to go out from the demon realm for the first time in their lives.”

“They would be able to join wars and conquers of other demons from the deeper realms and go to the other worlds. Demons from the deeper realms wouldn’t be able to go to the second realm due to the lacking nether density, but if they were to meet in the other world where it has been filled with enough nether, then there would not be a single problem for demons from the different realms to meet and interact with each other.”

“There was no way for the demons in the second realm to create their own faction since it would only be possible for a demon that had stepped onto the third realm.”

“But the fact that the demons from different realms could meet up in other worlds meant that it was possible for the factions from the deeper realms to make a demon contract with the demons in the second realm so that their faction could branch out and reach the second realm, basically poaching members as early as possible and hoping for their growth as they would later enter the ranks of the main faction in the deeper realms.”

“From your explanations, it could be said to be some kind of organization? One that gathered demons to make an army or a fighting force to defend themselves or attack others? Is that correct?” Blake asked as he began thinking about the whole faction thing.

“Yes. But factions are not that simple,” Vera quickly interjected.

“If it was only making groups, then anybody, even you, right now, while we’re still in the first demon realm could make them.” Vera then pointed at the huge gorilla standing behind her and the little demoness who had just grown up and gained a little height.

“What makes a faction special is that you would be able to get an ability that was special only to that faction.”

Hearing Vera’s last sentence, Blake’s eyebrows perked up as his eyes demanded more explanation from her. Which Vera, of course, delivered.

“A faction’s ability usually derives from the leader’s original ability. Just say for example. If Robus created a faction, then most likely, his faction members would also be able to use the same ability as Robus’ bloodline power.”

“Although they might not be able to use their full strength as Robus did, they might be able to wear dark earth armor or create a dark earth weapon with their faction ability.”

“Then… Wouldn’t it be beneficial to join a faction?” Blake genuinely asked. He already had several guesses in mind why doing that would be a bad idea considering the amount of spy and mafia movies that he watched telling him about what joining an organization meant, but he still asked nonetheless since he couldn’t assume everything was the same as his knowledge.

“While joining a faction might give you a very huge benefit such as having some kind of protection in the demon realm where even your own kind is out to get your soul and it would even be more beneficial if the faction ability complemented yours a lot, giving you a very sharp edge you can use in fights and wars,”

“But joining a faction also meant that you now belong to that faction. You would have to do their bidding. Follow the orders of other demons placed in the higher position of the hierarchy, even including throwing your life away if they demanded it. And it’s also not a rare case where demons would have to divulge the runes of their original spells to the faction if they joined said factions.”

“To agree with joining a faction when you didn’t know a single thing about them is the same as signing your own death.” Vera finally concluded her explanations, opening up Blake’s eyes about the tremendous danger ahead that he might have to face in his life.

“I understand, thanks for explaining this to me, Vera,” Blake said as he activated his bloodline power and ran the fiery nether in his body to the tip of his finger.

Blake then positioned his finger to the parchment before then sending his fiery nether out of his body, creating a sizable spark of fire that quickly caught onto the floating parchment, burning it even faster than the time it took for the scrawny humanoid demon to summon it.

“I’ve read it, and my answer is, no thanks!” Blake shouted, making sure his voice was loud enough for the humanoid demons on the other side of the gate to hear it loud and clear.