Maybe the bull-headed demon really had changed its strategy and was trying to tempt Ian now.
"We can sign a contract. A soul contract. The power of the contract itself will guarantee that I won't harm you."
It made the suggestion with complete seriousness.
"Aren't you loyal to Trigon?"
Ian's suspicious look was full of distrust.
"I'm not changing sides. The great Demon King is my eternal faith. That will never change. A contract between us would only be a restriction to guarantee that I won't hurt you."
The bull-headed demon still sounded strangely sincere.
"You're Superman's son. Even my master would never dare casually set you up."
Its tone carried a trace of emotion, though that might have just been Oscar-level acting.
"What makes you think I believe you?"
Ian believed that when someone suddenly got overly attentive, they were either plotting something or stealing something. The only exception was Joker sending him checks, and even then, Ian was only pretending that might be accidental.
"I can smell how much you crave magic. It's intense. Greedy. And mixed with a Kryptonian kind of arrogance. You would definitely have talent for learning magic."
The bull-headed demon continued its persuasion in a tone full of confidence.
"You probably don't understand what that pendant of yours really is. You still think it's some sort of blessing, don't you?"
It remembered all too clearly how Ian had kept trying to shove it into the pendant earlier.
Its expression turned faintly uneasy.
"You know about my pendant too?"
Ian pulled the pendant out from under his shirt.
"Yes... I remember now... it isn't some treasure. It's a... an invitation from Death."
There was real heaviness in the demon's voice now.
"An invitation from Death?"
Ian looked thoughtful and glanced at his negative status effect. On that point, the demon did not seem to be lying. Maybe the reason it took one point of life every minute really was to bring its holder closer to death.
"That's right. That thing should have belonged to a Death Knight. But recently, there have been rumors in Hell that it ended up in the hands of a great demon whose name I wouldn't dare speak."
"That great demon has been using the pendant to offer interesting lives as sacrifices to the Death Knight. And now, I think you're the offering that demon chose to curry favor with the Death Knight."
"You may not know who the Death Knight is. That's the end of all things. A truly terrifying and dreadful deity. An ancient existence that even my master would rather not provoke."
The bull-headed demon even went out of its way to explain how serious this was.
However,
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ian casually grabbed the expensive alloy hammer he had bought back during the hospital incident to destroy evidence and smashed it down on the bull-headed demon's forehead several times.
"You're the dreadful one! You're the terrifying one! Stop trying to drive a wedge between me and my godfather!"
The hammer really did feel great in Ian's hand, though the damage it dealt was honestly very limited.
The bull-headed demon did not even get a bump.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
So Ian immediately followed up with several harder swings, pounding the demon until stars appeared in its eyes.
Honestly, even now, Ian still missed that one afternoon.
Ever since he had experienced the sensation of dual-wielding dear cousin-aunt as a blunt weapon, there was just no going back. A Kryptonian forehead really was the finest hammer in the world.
"What... what godfather?"
The bull-headed demon's head was ringing so hard it could barely think.
"Listen carefully. The man standing before you... no, the boy sitting before you is the Death Knight's favorite godson, and also the perfect..."
Ian cut himself off mid-sentence because it suddenly felt like his own brain had taken a brutal hit too.
That gave him yet another new piece of information about Lady Death.
She did not watch him all the time.
But if he spoke her title aloud, she could probably sense it.
Back when he had confessed things to Mom and Dad using a substitute title, he had not felt that invisible, body-ignoring force smacking straight into his brain.
"Sorry. Just felt the shy little reaction of someone with a crush."
Ian shook his head.
"You... you..."
The bull-headed demon had absolutely no words for this.
Its entire bull brain was blank.
Either this boy was not afraid of death,
or he was actively trying to die.
Outside of that, the demon genuinely could not understand how he dared to talk about two of the oldest beings in existence like this.
Especially the latter one.
Even if that existence was kind to humans, Lucifer himself had once described her as a moody old woman. Just imagining it made her seem impossible to get along with.
"Stop talking! Stop talking! I don't even dare listen! Human child, you have no idea what you're offending... please, let's just discuss the trade for learning magic."
The bull-headed demon's voice had started trembling.
"A trade? So there is a price. What do you want out of it, Abyssal Trash Can?"
Ian did not know the demon's original name, but after this afternoon, it was only allowed one name in his world. Really, the fact that Ian had not simply named it Trash Can already meant the demon should have thanked him.
...
After another stretch of silence,
the bull-headed demon did not get angry.
It knew anger would accomplish nothing.
"Do not let that boy from earlier come near me. Under no circumstances."
The demon finally named its condition in a low, hoarse voice, and there was even a trace of pleading in it.
"Huh?"
Even Ian did not process that right away.
The bull-headed demon's eyes were full of terror.
"I'm a demon from Hell, so trust my instincts. That boy, your brother, he's the one who truly wants to pee in my mouth!"
"Maybe not just pee!"
Life on Earth was not worth it.
At this point, the bull-headed demon deeply regretted ever agreeing to be the one sent ahead.
The air in the room fell quiet.
After a long moment,
"Absolute nonsense. Total slander. Wild lies. Baseless accusations. So this is what demons are like. I finally understand how awful your kind really is."
In the end, Ian chose to believe his brother.
That's what brotherhood was.
A person couldn't, or at least shouldn't. He knew his brother well. He knew Jordan had at least a full twenty percent chance of not doing something like that.
"Sigh."
Seeing Ian's reaction, the bull-headed demon gave up on that topic.
"Let's hurry up and sign our contract of mutual assistance, human child."
It simply kept urging him on.
Ian, who had never trusted it in the first place, responded with a cold laugh.
"What contract? What magic? I've been fundamentally opposed to demons since I was little. We're oil and water. Who said anything about helping you? Dream on. No, not even my dreams are for you. I'm saving those for someone who deserves them."
Ian tugged at the corner of his mouth with his hand because he felt his cold laugh had not landed quite right.
...
The bull-headed demon was completely speechless.
And right then,
Knock knock knock.
There was suddenly a knock on the door.
"Ian, we need to talk."
It was his father Clark's voice. So Superman had returned from dealing with the nuclear plant after all.
Ian had no idea whether Mom had come back with him too, but in that instant, he did not even dare breathe.
He knew there was no hiding the fact that he was in the room from a father with x-ray vision.
Maybe that was the real tragedy of being born into a superhero family.
You could not even successfully fake your own death.
Which was exactly why,
Knock knock knock.
After the second round of knocking,
Ian suddenly started to believe that mutual assistance really might be a good thing.
"He says... he says... all of this was because a demon tempted him into it, and that if you have a problem, you should take it up with the demon... he also says he's just a child!"
That was the bull-headed demon speaking now.
Its voice was shaking.
There was even a hint of crying in it.
Me fight Superman?
This not-even-two-thousand-year-old little demon felt like it might shatter for real at any second.
Even though everything outside had gone quiet, the suffocating pressure beyond the door was only growing stronger.
It was terrified.
And on top of that, the boy beside it was whispering in its ear, forcing it to repeat every word.
At that moment,
the bull-headed demon achieved enlightenment.
There really was a demon in this room.
But it was absolutely not itself.
(End of Chapter)
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