Nightmare System

Hell wanted this spell to go smoothly, so he went out to look for a secluded place. He found one of Pandora's towers and went in. It was isolated and away from the noise and perfect. He sat in the middle of the large room on the top floor of the tower and started scribing the spell. There were no windows but two gates on each side. It was easy to oversee the city

Most such spells required an inscription or another and one would have to learn how to properly draw it. However, the players in the system would have an innate affinity with whatever skill they acquired. It could be even said that they were the absolute geniuses in executing the said skills. Hell was, in fact, proud of the sigil he drew, it looked like it was drawn by a painter, each line and circle perfect. What perplexed him was his inability to draw would vanish while executing his skill. As he poured some mana into the sigil, he felt his spirit reach into an immense bubble of pure mana and yell into the depths of it. However, there was no response, he only felt his voice echoing into nothingness.

"What? Why?" Hell w.h.i.n.ed. He didn't even imagine the spell somewhat failing. Perhaps did this mean he was not synchronised with any other elemental being?

He drew the required sigil on the floor and started the spell by imbuing it with mana. Now that he has mana manipulation, it must be impossible for him to fail that part for sure. Once plundered the skill, it would be impossible for him to wrong about the sigil also.

"Is it not working?" he mumbled again as he poured more and more mana into it. Hell was fl.u.s.tered and started cursing at the insentient sigil.

"Work you bastard, work!" he shouted and poured 5.000 from his mana reserves into the sigil. The spell started collapsing as it shook the tower. This spell should have been used with minimal mana, there would usually be no need to pour so much of it. After all, it was a spell mostly used to summon basic elementals. This was what he knew from the information of the spell flooded into his mind. There would be no error.

He checked his mana.

*Mana: 555/5655*

Hell gazed at the cracked floor the sigil was on. His mana had shattered the hard floor under while he transferred it into the sigil. He sighed and got up to leave.

"Damn it."

However, before Hell could take off, the sigil exploded in force and a blinding darkness enshrouded the room. Hell found himself inside that darkness spreading in incredible speed before he could even think of warping away. The darkness suddenly concentrated into a sphere as large as half a man and a voice boomed out from it, shaking the place.

"So, you dare to contract with one such as myself?" The voice sounded ancient and mighty, even Hell was intimidated to an extent.

"Can't I?" Hell asked awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "I am pretty tough, you know, who else would you make a contract with?"

"Yes, not any mere human could achieve such a feat such as summoning my great person. Since you were able to summon my being, I shall see if you can fare against my brethren as a test first," the voice reverberated in the tower once more.

The sphere of darkness abruptly exploded into many directions, forming a large cage covering the outside of the tower and barely letting in any light. The sphere in the middle then opened outwards like a door, and two black demons revealed themselves from it. These demons were completely black from head to toe, and they were not creatures made of flesh, as Hell could tell. They look barely tangible.

He knew the effect his Sword of Blood could have on others, so he instead took out the Imp Needle for now, as he thought it was appropriate to fight against these imp-like demons. He always fancied some irony.

They had two horns coming out from their head but short, stout figures otherwise. Their eyes, however, looked very bright and coloured, In certain contrast to the rest of their bodies. One had bright red burning eyes while the other had bright green eyes.

They spoke in a language Hell couldn't understand, but it sounded as if they were mocking him. Even these weird creatures could reveal a blatantly smug look on their faces.

"Let's see if you can act smug with a hole in your c.h.e.s.t," Hell said as he lunged forward with the Imp Needle. He attacked using Quickening and stabbed the demon with bright green eyes in its c.h.e.s.t with unbelievable speed. It seemed Hell's solution to anything was to destroy it recently, perhaps drunken in his own power.

The imp screeched and with a small movement of his sleeves, commanded the earth, sending huge chunks of rocks to crash at Hell with great speed. Rocks flew rapidly towards Hell but he was still hit in multiple places albeit teleporting away immediately. The places he was hit were either broken or caved in. He spat a mouthful of blood and saw in his peripheral vision the other demon summoning the flames which looked hot enough to reduce him to ashes. These creatures didn't seem like they'd let him have a breath.

He checked his mana again.

*Mana: 480/5655*

He created two copies with the majority of his remaining mana and the trio attacked the two demons repeatedly with copies as the main force and Hell as backup. Hell's skills were formidable for sure, but his sheer brute strength was his strongest point. Tripling that base power resulted in a quick fight, overwhelm the enemy with his numbers.

The demons, although potent in power, couldn't react to the trio's speed and soon after faded back into the dark sphere after hundreds of stabs from the Imp Needle. Soon after the demons faded back, another voice was heard from it:

"Wow, mister, you really beat those geezers! They were pestering me so much for the last decade!"

"Huh?" Hell could only utter as he heaved. It was clearly the voice of a small child.

"You sure are fit for royalty such as myself to make a covenant with!" the childlike voice was heard again.

"Hey, kid, go call your dad or whatever for me to make a contract with," Hell pressed his face into the sphere and shouted. "There is real war here, don't bother me!" Hell didn't like children.

The sphere of darkness could soon be heard whimpering after a brief silence, but it composed himself with deep breaths, which was all heard by Hell including a small pep talk, and the voice spoke again: "Fine then, drip your blood onto this sigil and say, 'I finalise this covenant, Nitio' with a loud voice."

Hell didn't hesitate. He was not very lucky with these things, so if he could help it, he at least wanted a proper elemental to help him out. To think that such an ancient and mighty voice would, in reality, belong to a kid!

"I finalise this covenant, Nitio!" Hell yelled as he dripped his blood on the sigil created by the sphere.

The sphere of darkness immediately after disappeared into the void, and Hell could finally sigh with relief. It seemed the darkness shrouding the tower also disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Hell said, resting on the floor. "Won't anything I do go my way? Not even once?" Hell lamented his luck this time. He would try again later when he recovered his mana back. The spell still worked; it must have been some mistake he made.

A silence befell the tower. There could still be distant screams heard from the city every once in a while, but otherwise, it was quiet. Until something broke that tranquil moment.

"Mwahahaha!" the little demon's voice was heard again. This time, it didn't come from inside a sphere, but from right next to Hell! "You fell for my excellently laid trap, you puny human! How dare you try to reject me?!"

Hell slowly turned his head to where the voice was coming from and saw a pitch-black figure only as big as Hell's fist, standing proudly on his two small feet. It looked like a silly cartoon character with a funny voice. "Huh?" Hell was barely able to comprehend where this thing came from.

"What? No! I finalised the covenant!" Hell snapped into reality. "I don't want you, scram!"

"That's right, you foolish subject of mine!" the pitch-black small creature with eyes of pure-white said as if a Lord talking to a peasant. But it was for nought, no one could take this kid seriously, especially considering his size. "You said my name and dripped your blood on the contract, don't you ever read contracts?!" Nitio laughed. His cute, child-like voice truly made him look as unthreatening as a puppy.

Hell slapped himself on the head and stood like that for a couple of minutes, he remembered signing Player Killer's contract the same way. He really should start reading important things like that. Sure, he had to sign that one, it seemed so at the time, but that was no excuse. Nitio broke the silence soon after.

"Hey, it's too late now, you can't back out easy on a blood covenant." He walked up to Hell and patted his back with his small hands. Hell was thinking that it was possible that even a kitten could beat this guy up.

Hell sighed and asked: "Is there a way to break this covenant?" He couldn't deal with this anymore, he hadn't the energy for it.

Nitio's face contorted, his lower lip began to quiver as he meekly spoke, losing his l.u.s.tre: "I thought we were friends now, you signed the contract."

"That's not how friendship works."

Hell felt slightly bad seeing this small child-like thing almost starting to cry, but it would be for the best. He found the solution elsewhere. He grinned from ear to ear in a creepy smile and brought his face closer to Nitio before asking in a bloodthirsty tone, exposing his malevolent aura to this kid: "I kill people, tear them apart and torture many. I am a scourge, and the destroyer of many! I will kill many more in this world! All right, then, help me rip apart bodies and litter these and many other lands with corpses!" Scaring this thing away was also always an option.

He was sure this would scare even his vampires in a one-on-one scenario, let alone a child. Nitio's crying stopped before it could begin and he stood still in a shocked state for a few seconds, Hell, at that point, knew he succeeded in scaring this little demon-child.

"Awesome! Let's do it!" Nitio exclaimed in utter excitement. His eyes sparkled with the anticipation of what was promised to him as he waited for Hell to lead the way.

"Don't you get it?!" Hell yelled. "We will kill people and they will cry, beg for forgiveness as their loved ones are taken from them. What if someone killed someone dear to you?"

"No, I do get it. Let's go, my noble steed!" Nitio said in excitement. His cute voice sounded ever-sinister at this point, but it was, nonetheless, hard to take him seriously.

Hell was stunned by this eager demon. "Damn it, this is a demon-creature thingy, right?" he mumbled.

"Look," Hell then said. "I would love to fight alongside a, whatever you are, but it is really dangerous, and I don't think I could protect you."

"No need! I cannot be destroyed!" Nitio shouted in excitement. "No one can kill me! When are we killing people?"

Hell sighed yet once more, it seemed there was no way to convince this thing. First that human kid, and now this demon child. Hell was always at a loss against such energetic people. He didn't know what to do, neither did he enjoy rejecting others when they meant no harm to himself. "What am I, an orphanage?" Hell was murmuring as he walked to the edge of the tower, ready to go down.

Hell looked back one more time before leaving the tower. "Coming?" he asked Nitio, who complied and started running with his two small feet right after, with a smile on his face. He looked quite funny, but still enthusiastic. Hell placed him on his shoulder and told him to not let go as he jumped down.

Surprisingly enough, the small creature on his shoulder managed to hang on without much trouble. Hell would just go about his business and let Nitio the small demon hang around, for now. If he left, that was also his business.

"What does it mean that we have a contract now? Can I, like, dismiss you to your world if I don't need your help?"

Nitio put one of his hands on his small chin and pondered for a moment before answering. "You can't send me away, I think!"

"Brilliant," Hell scoffed and gazed at his surroundings.

Hell wanted the army to rest and bolster their defences here. If they were attacked by Medusa the Djinn Queen right after destroying another's base, it would spell the doom for his army. Hell should have retreated right after managing to execute Pandora, he knew this very well, too. But it seemed it would be in bad taste to not even give his army the right to pillage and murder. He sent the silently following copies to inform Virgil and Aurus about his decision. He didn't want to lose such an army right after acquiring it. He finally had so many toys, after all.

"Hey, demon thingy!" Hell looked at Nitio with the corner of his eye. "You know, I'm a king, not a horse."

"Hmm," Nitio pondered deeply, resting one of his hand on his chin. "I am a prince, so I guess I can allow you to be my servant instead." A smile bloomed once again on his mischievous face.

"Then, should we find a middle ground and become friends instead?" Hell suggested. As the spell read, this small creature truly seemed to have some connection or another to himself. It wasn't perhaps quite tangible, but such a feeling was definitely there.

"Okay!" squeaked Nitio. "Now, when do we kill people?"

"Not now," Hell said sternly. "Don't worry, we'll have our share of fighting."

Nitio was rather docile at the moment after their small speech of friendship. Unbeknownst to Hell, Nitio never had any friends in the elemental plane and had lived an isolated life thus far. But no matter his current circ.u.mstances, he was finally very happy to have a friend. Even otherworldly creatures had hearts and a need to love.

As Hell was strolling around in the city, he would at times stumble upon his vampires patrolling or walking around themselves. Most were Jack's vampires, although he had subdued them himself, it seems he also didn't forget to engrave the fear of Hell into them, as well. Whenever Hell saw new recruits, they began shivering in fear and bent their knees in respect, stopping whatever they were doing. Hell could still see some of the citizens alive and hiding amongst rubbles and abandoned houses around. None dared to attack him, either.

Nitio was undoubtedly impressed by the attitude of Hell's subjects. He was proud even when he finally spoke up: "Really impressive! They are bowing down and showing their respect just because they understood you are my friend!"

Hell abruptly halted his cool stroll and slapped himself in the forehead. "Sure," Hell said. "That's what they must have realised." He allowed Nitio to engage in his antics and indulge in excessive self-praise as he continued strolling around. He didn't think he had much to do today and with the most of the day still remaining, he chose to have a relaxing walk in this burning city.

"My King." It was certainly the voice of Virgil, coming from behind him. He slowly turned to see not only Virgil, but Aurus who arrived with him, too, along with the two copies he sent. They had a grim look on their faces, similar to how they look after each time Hell announced a decision.

"Hell," Aurus spoke up. "Your decision to attack vampire bases, although reckless, could be highly beneficial in our circ.u.mstances. What we were just informed, on the other hand, was that you decided to leave that plan and vacation here!" Aurus' voice got increasingly higher but he soon composed himself. "We will undoubtedly be attacked if we stay here for another day! We are no longer in the outer bases of the continent and the communication system between the bases is no joke!"

"I figured," Hell laughed. "I don't want to lose this army right after acquiring it. Don't you think we should let them have a breather first? After all, they also had to stay in the jungle for days. This place is full of abandoned houses and fresh food. Furthermore-"

"We can't win a direct clash with the Queen!" Aurus yelled. "You must have realised, both the quality and the quantity of the average soldier started increasing as we travelled closer to Medusa!"

"With my copies-" Hell tried to interject.

"With all due respect, your copies aren't as strong as the original, not by a long shot," Virgil spoke this time. "If you cannot give us a solid plan as to how to deal with the Queen's army and multiple Vampire Lords, I'm afraid…"

"You are afraid, what?" Hell said as he got closer to Virgil's face. "Do you dare desert?" His eyes shot daggers at Virgil and even Aurus was feeling the pressure even if he wasn't the receiver of the deadly stare.

"We would never desert you, the person I accepted as my King. I'm afraid we would all die, was what I simply meant. We won't be able to win without a good plan. But if that is your wish, we will comply."

"Good," Hell said.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is that?" Virgil asked the question, pointing at the small black figure on Hell's left shoulder.

"I am Nitio, the ruler of elements and the prince of the elemental plane! I'm also Hell's friend!" Nitio piped up and introduced himself. Aurus was barely able to compose himself and hold back his laughter after hearing the high-pitched voice from the creature.