A few months back, a large ritual happened in the kingdom of Lumberg, a ritual that was said to need over 30 priestesses and more than 40 mages.
One would wonder what kind of ritual would require so many powerful mages participating in it. Well, it was a rather simple thing, something anyone would know just from the name alone.
A summoning ritual.
When news of this event spread through the country, people were excited to know who the new heroes summoned to their world would be.
It was said that five individuals were summoned from another world, and of the five, one of them bore the special class of hero, wielding the sacred holy light.
Because of this, he was quickly recognized amongst the people, his power captivating everyone, including the king of Lumberg himself.
However, there was one individual who barely stood out, or rather, he was known for one terrible thing.
…
"I see, so that is your ability," the beautiful woman spoke, her blond hair dancing behind her as she walked past the trees.
Her name was Elsa Vermond, and she was one of the individuals summoned by the kingdom to battle with the devil king in case he was ever to awaken.
Walking beside her was Ash, the unknown character, who, despite being summoned amongst the rest, showed no sign of growth or skill.
He turned to look at Elsa, his cheeks a bit beet red before he looked away.
"Yes, it is," he replied.
During the summoning ritual, while everyone had their ability shown to the church, Ash's own was blank for some reason; as such, no one knew his ability.
In fact, he himself didn't know.
Not until one fateful day, when he accidentally turned a rat into a puppet, mistakenly ordering it to kill itself.
Shocked to learn this, Ash knew not to tell a soul about it. The ability to turn others into slaves was a power known to be wielded by the devil king. If people found out he could do the same, what follows would most definitely not favor him.
As such, he kept it a secret for months, always going off with the lie that his ability had not been revealed yet.
However, Elsa has been close to him despite the fact other people were pushing him away for being a failure in comparison to the other heroes. She never once looked down on him, and neither did she try to make him feel worthless.
It was only natural that he would trust her. This alone was the reason for him finally telling her about his ability.
But also, he planned to use this opportunity to confess his feelings to her.
"The ability to turn people into slaves, eh?" Elsa suddenly stopped. "When you told me yesterday that you wanted to finally tell me about your ability, I wondered what it could be. I didn't ever expect it to be this; it really caught me by surprise."
Ash chuckled, "Well, you know, I don't fully know how it works, but I am glad to finally tell someone about it."
"Are you now?"
'Eh?'
Ash noticed the sudden sadistic look on her face right before she turned her gaze to the side and uttered with a calm voice, as though the person she was speaking to was no more than a few inches away.
"Did you get that? It's just as you suspected, John; he might be a threat."
'John?'
Ash suddenly took a few steps back after noticing a figure suddenly materialize beside Elsa.
Unlike Ash, he was two times as big and held a golden spear in his hand. His red hair swayed to the back, while his dark eyes were fixed on him.
"I heard you loud and clear."
Before Ash could fully understand what was happening, the rest of the heroes had surrounded him, all three of them, blocking every escape route.
Ash wasn't sure about what was happening, but his instinct was telling him one thing.
Run.
Strapped to his back was a small knife; he had already begun to reach for it when, from nowhere.
Baam!
He fell to his knees, a magic circle appearing above him, forcing him to the ground with gravity.
'The hell is happening right now? Why are they here? Dammit, was I set up? No, Elsa would never—'
Raising his head, his face turned white as he noticed John had his arms around Elsa's shoulder, both of them looking down at him like he was some sort of animal.
Then it hit him.
The truth he didn't want to admit. Elsa had set him up.
"Oh poor Ash, that's a neat treat; you got there. Why keep it a secret from the rest of us? Where's the teamwork, buddy?"
John grinned maniacally. "I mean, going around to tell Elsa in the end is a dumb move, don't you think? She was there when the king mentioned one of us has dark powers capable of defeating the devil king; it sure as hell wasn't me, and it wasn't the others either. I figured it just had to be little old you."
He continued,
"The king wanted us to bring whoever it was to him, but I knew what that meant. That idiot would steal my spotlight."
"No, I won—"
"Shut your mouth!"
Angered, John sent a kick right at Ash's face, sending him falling to the ground.
"I don't care what you think. Tsk, thanks to Elsa here, I was able to confirm it myself. You are that person; they couldn't pay me enough to believe this. Sigh, right, Elsa?"
"I agree; I still find it hard to believe as well." Elsa replied.
"W-hy?" Ash managed to speak, despite blood leaking from his mouth, "I thought- we had—"
"Something going on?" Elsa completed with a laugh, "Yeah, no, I was only using you because I felt pity for you, and also because darling here wanted me to keep an eye on you. It was nothing more. You might be handsome, but you are a failure and nothing more."
Her words stung him in the chest; if things were different, he may have broken down in tears right then and there.
But seeing everyone looking at him with such pitiful looks only made him angry, his eyes bulging with rage.
"Damn you!" Ash spat, "If you think for one second, I would allow you to kill me for-"
"Goodbye, damn idiot."
Slash!
John brought his spear crashing down, the golden light severing Ash's head the following minute.
'Ah—I'm dead.'
Ash, shocked, managed to get a glimpse of Elizabeth in shock as his head was falling to the ground.
And then, his gaze fell on the hero, grinning at the side with excitement etched on his face.
Anger.
'You bastard.'
And with that, his body dropped to the ground. He was dead.
To his surprise, the following minute, he heard a voice.
[Would you like to make a contract with the devil king?]
[You have five seconds before your soul fully exits your body.]
He didn't have time to think about it; five seconds is nothing when your head is falling off your shoulder.
'Yes!' He replied with a powerful yell.
[The system has registered your request.]
…
A few moments after, Ash found himself waking up in the middle of nowhere.
As he opened his eyes, he could see the bright sun shining down on him, as well as the trees hovering about his head.
'I'm alive?'
That was the first thing that crossed his mind before he sat upright.
After sitting, he suddenly remembered what had happened.
Like flashbacks, he could see the hero slashing the spear at his neck, and his death all played right in front of his eyes.
Ash didn't give a reaction; instead, he moved his finger to his neck to check if the injury was still there. To his surprise, there was nothing, not even a scar.
'I am somehow alive. That contract i made while dying must have something to do with that. Yosh!'
He stood up from the ground, facing the nearest tree he could find.
And then—
"Damn you!!!"
Rage etched on his face as he sent his fist flying to the tree. Blood was dripping from his bruised finger upon first impact, but Ash didn't stop.
"Where the hell does that bastard go around thinking he can kill me just because he feels like it! Is this some kind of joke?! Not once did i harm anyone, and that damn Elsa! I trusted that bitch? Why was i so stupid? I should have known she was leading me on! Love bombing me!"
Baam!
Ash landed a final punch.
"If i am a threat, just send me back to my world. Don't kill me for the sake of it."
He paused.
Thinking back, even when he was summoned and first arrived in his world, he was often treated differently from the others that were summoned.
His ability to turn people into slaves was unknown, and that made everyone wary of him; oftentimes even the maids at the castle treated him like a slave. Most of the citizens did the same as well; in truth, those of power hated him, mostly because Ash refused to disclose his power, and they had a few theories as to why.
But to think they would go as far as to kill him.
Ash frowned.
"I am so pissed that i want nothing more than to kill that bastard right now."
However, that was only a thought.
Deep down Ash knew he couldn't stand a chance against the hero even if he trained for a hundred years. Unlike everyone who could wield mana, Ash's only redeeming quality was his ability to turn others into slaves via his blood.
Not to mention it only worked on weak and lesser beings, so it was honestly useless.
Realizing he lacked the power to seek revenge even if he wanted to, Ash collapsed to his knees in despair.
"Dammit."
Or so he thought.
[Congratulations on making your first contract.]
'Uhn?'
Ash was shocked to see a floating screen playing in front of him.
Back in his former world, he had often read a good amount of web novels, which was why most of the events happening in his new world had never really shocked him as much.
Though, this did leave him a bit shaken.
[Your first slave has been identified.]
[Name: The devil king.
Race: Demon race.
Class: Special class.
Bond level: Unknown.
Unique trait: [Demonic energy] This energy is known to be several times more powerful than mana, capable of casting multiple spells at once.
Status: Inanimate, No strength to cast a physical form.]
..
[A/N]
I should probably make this clear before you read forward. The mc isn't inherintly evil, neither is he good. He doesn't trust and isnt the type to just let out his feelings, so he is quite misunderstood, that's to say if you pay attention to it. Please bear with the story, it is not a 10/10, but i promise i did my best.