After that night, Lucas awoke in a comfortable room in the castle. Although the room had no electricity or modern technological gadgets, Lucas still felt fine living there. He headed toward the drawer and grabbed some of the clothes Ellie had "temporarily created" for him while she went out to look for something better. When Lucas left the room, he saw a note under his door, left by Ellie, saying that she had gone out for some supplies—and his clothes, of course. She also asked that if he needed anything else, he should just write it on the letter; she could see through it with her magic. He then wrote down some of the stuff still missing from his room (like a toothbrush, towel, socks, and shoes—he even asked Ellie to buy him some hoodies since the castle was cold as hell). To his surprise, as soon as he finished writing, a new line appeared at the end of the letter: "okay, gotcha big boy <3."
'Do you really need to write it like that?' Lucas sighed, then started to explore the castle.
At first, Lucas still wasn't used to the castle being so old and lacking electricity—even the lighting came entirely from windows and candles. But he would need to stay here, away from others, to hide the fact that he was a demon now. Anyone who saw him would probably call the police and try to catch him immediately. This reminded Lucas of something his dad had once mentioned: the army in this country had been using some low-ranking demons—like werewolves—for military purposes. They were kept inside army camps and served for the rest of their lives, due to how dangerous they were. Although the government did give them many rewards in return, all of them could only live in the army and do dangerous tasks until they died. Thinking about this made Lucas's mood worse, and he wanted to escape this situation as soon as possible.
'I remember Ellie mentioned a library inside this place. I should check it out—maybe there's something useful that could help turn me back.' Lucas then headed toward a staircase at the end of the hallway where his room was. As he went, he checked other rooms along the way, but they were all either empty bedrooms or storage rooms. After climbing the stairs and looking around several more empty rooms, Lucas reached a room with two large doors. Inside, hundreds of bookshelves lined the walls—some even so tall they needed a ladder to reach the books at the top. In the middle of the library, a tall stained-glass window filled the space with light. The library looked old and historic, yet still reminded him of the university he used to attend. Lucas decided to look around for anything related to werewolves. After two hours of searching, Lucas ended up with two documents that seemed most related to his situation: "Basics About Werewolves" and "The Birth of Demons."
The boy then flicked through all the pages, trying to see if anything could be useful to him:
– Werewolf is a low-rank Demon Kind. Despite being a demon, werewolves rarely develop any talent in magic. The most they can do is basic magic and enhance their physical strength. Werewolves can also devour other souls to strengthen themselves, but in most cases, they lose their minds after eating any human beings, becoming berserk and attacking everyone for more flesh.
'That's definitely not helpful!' Lucas thought to himself as he continued to turn the pages:
– Although werewolves can turn back into humans to disguise themselves among human beings, their cover can easily be revealed through their most fatal weakness—silver. Not only does silver hurt werewolves more, it also stops their supernatural healing if the wound was caused by silver. Their original form will also be exposed when they come into contact with silver. Another notable detail: werewolves will be forced to transform and lose their minds on the night of the full moon, which causes most to hide far away during that time.
'Now I have to watch out for silver, huh? And the full moon stuff…' Lucas thought, then suddenly realized something.
'The book mentioned transforming and all that. Why am I stuck in this form all the time? Is it her doing—to stop me from leaving the castle?' So Lucas decided to confront Ellie about this when she got back. For now, he should look for more information about demons, especially since he remembered what Ellie had called him yesterday—Demon King of Wrath.
The book "The Birth of Demons" continued to give him more bad news:
– Demons are born through contracts or by being hosts to devils. The stronger the devil, the stronger the demon becomes. The highest ranks are witches, half-dragons, and vampires, while lower ranks include ghouls, werewolves, zombies, and skeletons. These demon kinds each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and despite being called demons, none of them share anything in common—except demonic mana. Moreover, when someone becomes the host for a high-ranking devil—such as one of the Seven Sins or a Death Bringer—they also become a Demon King, representing a king of that specific demon kind. However, the type of demon they become is entirely up to them. These Demon Kings are much stronger than others and can even control any demon of the same kind. So, if a Demon King is spotted—try to kill them before they grow to full potential.
'I AM F#CKED. I AM TOTALLY F#CKED.' thought Lucas.
To make matters worse, he suddenly remembered his father's project—something about hunting down Demon Kings and using their souls to forge a magic barrier to protect the town. Now even returning home seemed impossible for Lucas. And even if he returned… would his parents even accept him, a demon, as their child?
Lucas even considered ending his life—but "that thing" would just stop him from doing so. He had no choice but to look for a solution as soon as possible.
Lucas stood up, intending to return the books to the shelf when he accidentally dropped the glass from yesterday. He picked it up and thought about the vision he had seen.
'Maybe this could help…' He put the glass over his right eye, and it slowly faded, becoming a glowing blue magic circle hovering in front of his eye. His sight shifted—back to how it had been the day before—but this time, countless magical symbols floated throughout the library, making his head ache. Lucas remembered the highlighted part from yesterday and touched the book about werewolves where it was marked. Suddenly, countless magical lines popped out from the book, circling around him. These symbols were strange and unreadable, but somehow, he understood them. He messed around a bit, changed some symbols, and aligned lines together—trying to create a pencil. To his surprise, after adjusting the lines and resetting the structure, the book transformed into a pencil—just as he'd intended.
But this was no ordinary pencil. It was incredibly hard—it could pierce the table easily—and even when he tried his best, he couldn't snap it in half.
'Oh my god—I did magic! I actually did magic!' This was the only good thing to happen to him after all the recent bad news. Lucas had always dreamed of doing magic. And though he was now trapped in this bizarre situation, at least one dream had come true.
Lucas began to experiment. He went around the library, collecting empty books and papers, changing them. With some effort, Lucas managed to create a black hoodie for himself, a razor knife he kept in his pocket, and even a piece of chocolate cake. The potential of this "magic" was immense—he could create anything he wanted, as long as he had enough "material." The cost seemed relative to the object—two books were needed to create the razor knife, and it was as sharp as a real sword! Another drawback was the preparation time. He had to carefully adjust lines, which took time.
Lucas decided to hide this power from Ellie for now and continue messing around.
But there was still one thing he didn't understand—the floating magic symbols. They couldn't be interacted with, couldn't be added to lines, or even combined. So what were they?
As Lucas wandered, he noticed a spot that seemed to be emitting many of these symbols. He followed them and found a book covered in chains, with a large lock on the front. He didn't yet know what it was, but it might hold answers.
Lucas touched the highlighted part of the chain, and the lines appeared again. He carefully "edited" the lock into a quill—one seemingly more durable than a normal one—and allowed it to transform into a ring he could wear. This would help him "edit" more easily, and turning it into a ring just required changing one symbol. Convenient for carrying around.
Lucas opened the book—and instead of some grimoire of forbidden magic or secrets about demons—what he found was a diary, which seemed to belong to Ellie.
Lucas flipped through the diary. A lot of interesting things caught his attention. It described the life of a princess—once loved by everyone—until, at the age of 18, a prophecy claimed she would bring forth the end of the world. This reminded him of her title: "The Witch of the End." Lucas continued reading until he reached a page about her contracting with a Sins Devil—and then something happened. Ellie lost consciousness and awoke in her kingdom with everyone already dead.
But before Lucas could continue, his servant mark—a symbol of two swords crossed over each other, surrounded by a purple magic circle—began to glow brightly, and his hand stopped moving of its own will.
"LUCAS, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW! RETURN THAT THING TO ME!!!" Ellie shouted behind him, furiously. Lucas, unwillingly, under the force of the servant mark, handed the book back to Ellie.
She stormed out of the room in fury, not even looking back at him:
"IF I CATCH YOU MESSING WITH MY STUFF ONE MORE TIME, I'LL CHOP YOUR HEAD IN TWO—LIKE THAT NIGHT!!!"
Then she left. Lucas sat in the library—speechless.
He felt sorry for Ellie. It was his fault for snooping in her diary. But after reading it… after seeing her reaction… something didn't feel right.
'What are you hiding from me, Ellie? How did I become the King of Wrath when you're the one who made a contract with it?'
It was the last line he'd read before being forced to stop.