This whole situation was offering Ryder more benefits than anything else.
The fact that a human soul had no limit meant he had no fear of adding an extra summoning beast.
Visiting the devil's plane as a whole was not common. As a chosen one of the black mark, if he was going to survive, it would be a waste not to enjoy the privilege to the fullest.
The beast in front of him, despite being so small, was still a devil beast. Its strength was on another level.
Since he was given the choice to allow this beast into his soul without any downside, he was more than happy to agree.
"Fine," Ryder nodded, trying to project calmness despite the fear etched in his eyes. "I agree to your terms. Bind with my soul and guide me to the Dracogon."
The devil-viper bunny's eyes gleamed with mischief. "Smart choice, human. I've been watching you since you arrived, I knew you were different. Most unmarked humans would have run screaming when they see me."
"Run when they see you," Ryder reasoned. "Who would run from a rabbit?"
Suddenly, Luxy's entire body lit up in a deep black aura that distorted the air.
Ryder's mark glowed while the rabbit was reduced to thick black smoke that slithered through the air toward his left arm.
The moment the smoke made contact with his skin, Ryder felt as though someone had dipped him into boiling water. His cradle his arm as an unwilling scream tore from his throat.
It felt like his very soul was being cooked from the inside out.
Luxy entered Ryder's body through the mark on his shoulder, but that was not where he would reside.
Moments after Luxy had entered Ryder, the burning sensation shifted from his skin to his chest from the inside.
Holding onto his head, Ryder muttered in a daze, "Tell me it was successful."
Suddenly, laughter resonated in his head, echoing in his brain, adding to the heavy headache he was experiencing.
"What if I said it wasn't successful?" Luxy spoke, jokingly.
"Then I would tell you to your face, straight up—you make the worst jokes."
Ryder groaned, straightening himself back on his feet. "What did you do to me?"
"I improved you, obviously," Luxy replied, the smug tone in his voice unmistakable. "You humans are so fragile. I've shared with you all of my physical capabilities. Consider it a rental agreement."
Ryder flexed his fingers, staring at his body strangely. He felt like a newborn.
"This feeling..." He raised his hand to his chest level.
He couldn't see any physical change, but deep down, he could feel it—something was different.
His skin tingled with energy, his muscles felt tempered and ready, and his senses seemed sharper than ever before.
"I bet you've noticed now," Luxy started. "Your body has changed. Your speed, your senses, your strength—they have all been enhanced."
"Wait.. where are you?" Ryder questioned as he glanced around. "I feel like I can hear your voice in my head!"
"Yes! I am in your head. It happens the moment you contract a familiar like me. We are in your mind; we can see everything you see, but we cannot act except when summoned," Luxy explained.
"In my head? Like, literally inside my brain?" Ryder panicked at the thought of a demonic rabbit hopping around his cerebellum, even though it didn't appear possible, given that Luxy was more than half the size of his head.
"Not literally, you blockhead," Luxy sighed. "It's more like a spiritual connection. I exist in a pocket dimension in your soul but it is connected to your head. Think of it as... a room in your soul that I'm renting."
Ryder listened quietly, absorbing all the information in silence, which calmed him down. Soon after, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"You said my strength increased, right?" he questioned.
"Yes, my strength is your strength." Luxy confirmed.
Ryder quiet stared around his surrounding for something he could test his strength with and he found it a dead tree by the side.
'That should do.'
Ryder swung his palm wide open and smacked it with what he thought was moderate force.
However, the result was nothing short of spectacular.
WHAM!
As soon as his palm connected with the tree, it ripped it off the ground without resistance and it sent hurtling through the air.
It kept flying skyward, traveling past the red clouds of the strange world before finally crashing back down at a far distance in the horizon.
Ryder struggled to keep his mouth shut. "This is your strength! That's... that's impossible!"
"It's nothing?" Luxy spoke pridefully. "That's just a fraction of what you can do now."
Though he was in Ryder's head and beyond his sight, Ryder could still tell how proud Luxy was just by the tone of his voice.
"Did you really think I was kidding when I said you would have been dead if I had delivered a direct hit to you earlier? Even a single strike from my tiny-looking legs would have drilled a hole into your head at full force."
Ryder swallowed hard. None of this was supposed to be surprising, considering where he was the black mark plain.
"Binding alone you you is already an overkill back on my planet. Let's go to the Dracogon guy now." Ryder smiled as he took a running stance.
"Let's see how far I need to go before I meet this demon that wants me, and in turn, test my speed."
"Hey, don't go all out!" Luxy quickly cautioned. "You're still new to my speed. The last thing I want is for you to crash into a devil being stronger than I am."
Fixing his gaze at the black foggy trail that had came out from his mark...
Swoosh!
He pushed off from the ground.
The world blurred around him as he accelerated to speeds he had never imagined possible for any human.
Ryder's body sliced through the air as he ran along the long, desolate road of the dead forest, following the trail.
"This is AMAZING!" he shouted as his voice was whipped away by the wind.
"Focus, you idiot!" Luxy barked in his mind. "You're approaching the outskirts of the city. Slow down before you—"
Ryder didn't hear the rest of the warning. He was too busy trying to avoid the massive boulder that suddenly appeared in his path.
He swerved sharply, his body moving faster than his mind could process.
Due to how foreign his body was to him right now, he still couldn't tell the exact force to exert and used too much, which sent him tumbling, then skidding across the rough ground until he finally came to a stop against what felt like a wall.
As he raised himself off the ground to stare, he finally saw structures coming into view.
Ryder hurriedly got up from the ground and rushed forward. Unlike the deserted wasteland he had been running through, this place was bustling with life.
The structures before him were unlike anything he had ever seen. Giant anthills towered behind enormous beehives, rocky tunnels stretched far, and a mixture of strange buildings lined every corner of the land.
And the inhabitants...
They weren't exactly similar to the ones on his home planet, but they bore slight resemblances.
Tall giants with skin like stone, larger and fiercer versions of animals and insects, humanoid creatures with horns and tails—countless beings walked the land. In simple terms, they looked like the evolved versions of animals from planet Terra.
Some were busy minding their own business, some were fighting each other, others observed from higher landscapes, scanning the vicinity. Every single beast in short, was occupied with something.
"Welcome to the living area of this plane," Luxy introduced. "All of these creatures are ruled by the Great Dracogon."
Ryder narrowed his eyes. "Dracogon... you mean the beast that marked me?"
"Right," Luxy answered. "Back there, where you exited, is the deserted area of this plane. That's why I was the only creature you found."
"The Dracogon forbade us from stepping a foot outside this area… but I did anyway," Luxy spoke, swelling with pride.
"Hold on," Ryder said, ducking behind a crystalline structure as a group of what looked like giant, armored scorpions marched past him. "The Dracogon is your ruler, correct? He is feared and respected by everyone. So why did you disobey him?"
"If he's stronger than you and the other devils and demons, why did you break his rule? Are you going to face a penalty?"
Luxy spoke excitedly. "That's the point, a penalty! He is stronger and feared by everyone. That's exactly why I decided to get on his nerves."
"This plane is too boring for me and I decided to have some fun by drawing his attention to myself."
"Things could go south if the Great Demon Dracogon descends upon this plane with the intention of punishing me. But if he doesn't, I'll earn a name for myself!"
"I will be feared and respected by every demon and devil under Dracogon for being fearless."
"Isn't that intriguing!?"
Ryder gulped hard, then thought to himself. 'This little bunny is a lunatic.'
"Seriously?" Luxy stressed. "You know I can hear your thoughts, Ryder."
"And so what!?" Ryder shot back. "I'm just being honest. You're truly nuts?"
"Tsk," Luxy scoffed. "I don't even fear death that much, let alone anything lesser like a punishment so there's nothing crazy about my actions. Maybe if you have any idea how long I've been living for, you wouldn't say such?"
Luxy scoffed again, then suddenly, he froze.
Ryder felt it immediately, something was wrong.
"Luxy... Is everything alright?"
Silence...
There was absolute silence, sending chills down Ryder's spine.
"Luxy, are you playing around right now!? If you are, please stop!"
Still, no response. It almost felt as if Luxy had vanished from his mind entirely.
Panicked, Ryder checked the tattoo-like mark on his left shoulder. Luxy's mark was still there. But Luxy himself...
"Luxy!?"
Silence.
"Luxy, quit messing around!"
Still, no response.
After what felt like an eternity, Luxy's voice finally returned, dead serious.
"Ryder."
"The Dracogon just sent a message to all the creatures under him, for you."