Once I made up my mind, I didn't hesitate. That would be a waste of time.

I recalled Grizzly into the grimoire and looked at Sua, who was trembling faintly with her eyes closed, just as I'd told her.

She wouldn't have seen Grizzly rampaging... but she would have heard all the sounds of people being killed.

She probably had a rough idea that I hadn't resolved this with a shining destruction beam spell like I had at the campsite.

Sua and I were the only living people in a banquet hall littered with mutilated corpses, torn flesh, and entrails.

It wasn't a sight that did anyone's mental health any good, but I had no time to look after hers.

"Open your eyes."

Sua's eyelids trembled at the calm voice.

She cautiously opened her eyes, remembering the screams and sounds of flesh tearing and breaking that had followed Yohan's instruction to close them, and the utter silence that had soon settled afterward.

"—!?"

Her eyes wavered at the gruesome, blood-soaked scene before her.

Yet she pressed her lips together and gripped her other arm, trying to still her trembling.

"Hah..."

The dreadful sight filled her with fear and revulsion, and, ironically... relief.

After all, what she'd feared most after closing her eyes was the thought that she might never hear Yohan speak again.

So Sua lifted her head and looked at Yohan in the blood-soaked banquet hall.

"Now..."

She parted her trembling lips.

"What should I do?"

I looked down at Sua and met her eyes.

For starters, not wasting time on other questions in a situation like this earned her a high score in magician points.

I quickly explained the situation and what we needed to do.

"Chairman Kim's armed men will be storming in soon. It sounds crazy, but we need to summon a demon if we want to live."

I opened <The Lesser Key of Solomon> to the page depicting the magic circle that protected a magician during a demon summoning and held it out to Sua.

"We'll use these corpses as payment. While I prepare the ritual, draw the outline of the magic circle in their blood."

"O-okay."

Sua went pale as she looked at the nearby corpse of a middle-aged woman whose lower half was gone, but she nodded.

Using her hands, napkins from the table, and a handkerchief, she drew the circle as depicted in the grimoire.

I immediately began the preparations required to summon a powerful demon with a noble title.

I took off my trench coat and laid it on the table, then picked up a pitcher of water and a salt shaker.

Normally, I was supposed to fill a bathtub and wash while doing this, but given the circumstances, I used an abbreviated version.

"O water, a created thing, I shall purify you. By the power of He who created you and gathered you in one place to reveal the land, the enemy's schemes shall be laid bare."

I poured the pitcher over my head as I recited the incantation.

"The impurities and uncleanness of evil spirits shall be cleansed and cause harm no more. By the virtue of Almighty God, who reigns unto the end of the world. Amen."

Next, I shook salt over my wet body.

"Mertalia, Musalia, Dopalia, Onemalia, Zitanseia, Goldapaira, Dedulsaira."

... If I really thought about it, sprinkling salt over my own head probably looked insane, but this wasn't the time to worry about that.

Anyway, I finished by pouring water over my head again.

As I swept my wet hair back, I met Sua's eyes.

"Finished the outline?"

"Oh, yes, um... It's done."

"Good. Come here, you too."

"What?"

I took the holy-water sprinkler out of the container of holy water and tapped my head and shoulders.

"Lord, purify me with hyssop, that I may be whiter than snow."

I did the same for Sua.

It was an abbreviated version, but the ritual preparations were complete.

I draped the coat I'd taken off over Sua's head and pointed beneath the table, which was covered with a white tablecloth.

"Now keep this over you and don't come out from under there."

"What about you, mister... Okay."

"Don't take it off. No matter what."

Sua nodded and crawled under the table.

I went down on one knee and inspected the outline she'd drawn.

She must have been good with her hands. It was a fine job.

A safe demon summoning required two magic circles: one to protect the magician who summoned the demon, which I'd had Sua outline in advance, and another to summon the demon and restrain its power.

"Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee before Him."

Reciting the incantation, I finished the circle Sua had drawn.

"As smoke is driven away, drive them away; as wax melts before fire, let the wicked perish before God."

Then I drew the demon's summoning circle.

"But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God, and be joyful and merry."

I added the sigil of the demon I intended to summon from among Solomon's seventy-two demons.

The preparations were finished.

I rose and stood inside the protective circle.

And just then—

"Breach!"

CRASH!

The banquet hall doors broke apart, and Manager Kim appeared with men carrying rifles and wearing ballistic helmets and body armor, like special forces soldiers out of a movie.

'Chairman Kim's private soldiers...'

I'd expected them to show up, but a hollow laugh still tugged at my lips.

A private army armed with guns... Was this Korea or Mexico?

Manager Kim's face twisted at the carnage in the hall as he glared at Yohan.

"You bastard... You've really gone and done it. You must have a death wish."

Honestly, he was shocked that the man they'd hit with a car had returned alive and carried out a massacre... but he didn't show it.

He was probably the same sort as Chairman Kim—a magician with special powers.

This time, they simply had to pour enough firepower into him to kill him for good.

Having watched Chairman Kim perform magical rituals, Manager Kim could also tell that one of the circles on the floor was incomplete, with pieces missing here and there.

He sneered at Yohan.

"Looks like you tried something. Didn't work out so well, huh?"

But his mockery was answered only by a calm voice ringing through the hall.

"Leopard, lion, wolf, beast, do not bar my path."

"... What?"

There would be no conversation. I went straight into the incantation.

"Do not dare stand before me. For I am—"

<The Lesser Key of Solomon> fluttered in my hand, its pages opening on their own.

FLIP-FLIP-FLIP!

"The master of the Key."

I hadn't even raised my voice, yet it filled the hall.

WHOOOOOSH...

Manager Kim and the men around him immediately sensed something strange.

"...?"

They were indoors... yet a wind was blowing.

Heat flowed from the magic circle. Manager Kim's nose twitched, and his eyes froze.

'Is that... sulfur?'

Goose bumps rose over his body.

"—!?"

Realizing something was wrong, Manager Kim shouted in alarm at his men.

"Shoot! All of you, shoot! Let him have it!"

They immediately pulled their triggers at Yohan, but—

BANG! RAT-TAT-TAT! BANG-BANG!

Bewildered voices escaped their mouths.

"... Huh?"

The bullets stopped before reaching Yohan and ricocheted off empty air.

The Invisible Vampire.

Grizzly had emerged from <Mysteries of the Worm> and taken the shots in Yohan's place.

"Grrrr...!"

Grizzly glared at the shooters, then turned toward the magic circle, where sulfurous smoke was beginning to rise, and returned to the grimoire as his master wished.

I watched the blood of the demon-summoning circle bubble and boil.

... He was right about it being incomplete.

I'd been short on time, and I'd deliberately left it unfinished.

Normally, summoning a demon required drawing both the markings that summoned it and the markings that prevented it from leaving the circle.

This circle lacked the markings that restricted the demon's power.

And among Solomon's seventy-two demons were those who loved a grand spectacle and, unless the magician specifically restrained them—

"Open, gate."

—brought part of their forces with them.

I narrowed my eyes and recited the incantation.

"Abandon hope."

Hadn't I said it? I would kill every member of Chairman Kim's faction in this building.

Manager Kim and his men went pale.

"Ah—"

A thunderous battle cry rang out.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

An army of demons poured from the summoning circle like an erupting geyser.

ROOOOOOAR!!

* * *

Chairman Kim walked through the building, preparing to join the dinner gathering, as he listened to his subordinate's report.

"So, you've brought Namgung Sua."

"Yes, sir. She should be in the banquet hall now."

"Heh heh... I wonder how she'll react. I'm looking forward to it."

A warped smile spread across his face.

Then...

"Hm?"

<Cultes des Goules>, the dark-red-covered grimoire in his hand, began to tremble.

FLAP-FLAP-FLAP!

It fluttered and shook in a complete frenzy.

"What—?!"

The grimoire's emotions flowed into him through the hand holding it.

'Fear, excitement, anticipation?'

Unable to understand what was happening, Chairman Kim first tightened his grip on <Cultes des Goules> and brought it under control.

Then Chairman Kim looked down at the corridor floor with his third eye.

"...?"

His sixth sense saw an abyss.

Deep darkness from which sulfurous smoke rose.

Yes, there was no word for it but an abyss.

A vast hole had opened in his building.

His body froze for a moment. Goose bumps prickled all over him, and he broke into a cold sweat.

'What—what on earth has appeared?'

"Ah, aaaaah—"

He didn't understand the situation. But his animal instincts told him.

This was no longer his building. It was no longer a safe workshop.

If he stayed here, he would die.

"Ch-Chairman?"

"Aaaaaaah!"

Ignoring the subordinate calling to him, Chairman Kim raced down the corridor, smashed through a window, and jumped out.

He had to escape before it was too late.

CRACK-CRUNCH!

His arm warped into the enormous arm of a beast.

SCREEECH!

He scraped his beastly claws down the building wall, but his fingers broke.

CRASH!!

He fell straight onto a parked car, landing on his back.

"Guh, gaaagh!"

Chairman Kim vomited blood and got to his feet.

"Hah... Haaah..."

He ran, stumbling, desperate to put any distance he could between himself and the building.

... And he'd made the right decision.

Immediately after he jumped out the window, something like a thin veil enveloped the building.

The subordinate who'd watched him suddenly leap outside approached the window in confusion and reached out, but his hand wouldn't pass beyond it.

"Huh?"

The building itself had become a sacrifice offered to one of the kings of Hell.

DING!

The elevator doors in the corridor opened.

An assortment of demons stepped out, some dressed as medieval knights, others in military uniforms from the world wars.

"Huh?"

Those were the last words of the subordinate, who couldn't keep up with what was happening.

Screams rang out throughout the building.

Those who had devoured people were devoured by demons.

* * *

In the banquet hall, I stood inside the magic circle and looked at Chairman Kim's dead private soldiers.

One surprising thing I'd learned was that guns worked on demons too.

... Well, the men had all died anyway, overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

I turned to look at the corpse of a demon that had been shot dead.

'Did it die because it was a low-ranking demon?'

Then again, to the demon I'd summoned, this army was merely an audience before whom to show off.

"Ah—"

Singing rang through the banquet hall.

"Aaaaah~"

Beautiful voices, impossible to imagine coming from corpses' mouths, resounded like an opera.

"Ah~ He is the beautiful one."

Even the necks of headless corpses sang.

"He is the King of Flame, the King of the West of Hell!"

Flames bloomed from the corpses' eyes and mouths, and from the vocal cords in their severed necks.

The rampaging demons lined up before the summoning circle and called for their master.

"The Great One! The Great One! The Great One!"

Then, like the star of a play appearing to answer the audience's applause—

CLOP.

A camel emerged through the smoke rising from the summoning circle. Riding it was a beautiful girl with skin like white jade, clothes adorned with thin silk, and a body as slender as a finely crafted ornament. Her lovely hair shone like molten gold, rivaling the crown on her head.

I narrowed my eyes.

... To be precise, he was a male demon in the form of a beautiful woman.

The King of the West of Hell.

Paimon, the ninth of Solomon's seventy-two demons.

Beleth and Paimon were the demons who, unless specifically restrained, appeared with their armies when summoned.

But Beleth hated the human realm and was said to breathe fire at the magician who summoned him, so I'd chosen Paimon.

As the camel bent its knees and lowered itself, Paimon dismounted gracefully, smiled beautifully, and lightly raised a fist above his head.

"Yeah."

His beautiful, melodious voice rang out.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah!"

He waved both arms cutely and swayed his hips.

FLASH!

Demons waiting in the air shone spotlights on Paimon.

The military musicians of his army began to play.

Mocking the human corpses strewn around the hall with an angelic smile, Paimon sang.

"Yeah, it's a wonder man can eat at all."

Humans really were amazing, able to eat anything.

"When things are big that should be small."

Things that ought to be small had grown far too large.

He brought his loosely clenched fist to his lips and sang into it as though it were a microphone.

"Who can tell what magic spells we'll be doing for us."

Who could know what effect magic would have on us?

The demons went wild for Paimon.

"You're the best! Paimon rules!"

I frowned slightly.

That song was... Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity."

The music video was from before CGI had become advanced. I remembered it because the moving sofa had been so fascinating.

'Hmm... He does have good taste in music.'

When our eyes met, Paimon snapped his fingers and stopped the music.

"Hmm~ Being summoned with my legions is wonderfully spectacular, but~"

His eyes curved in a pretty, mocking smile.

"What payment do you intend to give me, young magician?"

He'd already devoured an entire building.

Given the way he was talking, I decided to be blunt too.

"You hold your head too high."

"What?"

The instant Paimon repeated the word in disbelief, <The Lesser Key of Solomon> glowed, and chains of light shot from its open pages.

Paimon recoiled at the shining grimoire.

"Wait—that's—!?"

But it was already too late.

HUMMMM...

The chains raced toward the demon who had dared lift his head before his master.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

In an instant, shackles fastened around Paimon's neck, arms, and ankles.

I pulled on the chains of light, forcing him onto all fours.

"?????"

A delightful concert before his subordinates had instantly turned into a humiliation kink scene before those same subordinates.

Paimon's once-haughty face trembled.

On all fours, he looked up and glared at Yohan.

"Y-you... What are you..."

"Yohan. Kim Yohan."

I calmly explained to him.

"Your new master. All of you."

I looked coldly down at one of the kings of Hell.

"Remember it, you son of a bitch."

... And at the sight, <The Lesser Key of Solomon> grew even more excited and shone brightly.

THROB! THROB!

'That's my master!'

The chains of light tightened fiercely around Paimon.

"Aaaaaaah!"

His screams echoed through the hall.