This ritual was kind of unique in the sense that Jake didn’t really ever do these with the intent of accomplishing something specific. Okay, he knew he wanted the ritual to push some creature toward a more powerful and ”primal” Path, but he didn’t go in with any knowledge of how exactly that would look. He pretty much just went with the flow and let things play out.

In this ritual, he was trying to amplify a very specific Origin.

The heart fragment, which was the centerpiece of the ritual had belonged to a devil. A demon god. To return that to its Origin would be to return it to something closer to the Cerulean Devil. The Records of a god, especially a seemingly powerful one, would simply overshadow any related just to demons in general or anything like that.

Gazing at the ritual circle – which was more of a ritual pentagon – Jake saw everyone had gotten into position. The Demon Prince had purchased ten Crystalized Demon Lord Hearts from other Nevermore Attendees before he even approached Jake in the first place, and while Jake considered if adding his own would help, he quickly realized it wouldn’t. The ritual was made for ten hearts, and Jake also knew numbers could have some weird conceptual significance.

”Everyone, get ready. We begin in sixty seconds,” Jake spoke out to the basement as he felt the tension rise. The Demon Prince sat with his legs crossed in the center of the large magic pentagram within the pentagon, and while he put up a good front, Jake saw his nervousness. Again, pretty understandable.

Seconds ticked by as all the demons did their own final preparations. Everyone had a few potions at the ready, and all knew exactly what their roles were. The one doing the vast majority of the work was Jake, and in part, the Demon Prince, who had to endure the process of tearing his soul apart and hopefully reshaping it into something better.

”I leave my life and future in your hands, Chosen of the Malefic One,” the Demon Prince sent Jake telepathically as he took a deep breath.

Jake didn’t respond directly to him as he stood at the edge of the pentagon. ”Ten seconds.”

The tension was as high as ever as Jake said some final words of encouragement. ”Keep calm, do your jobs, and all will be fine. Seven seconds.”

Jake really wanted to say: ”You don’t have to believe in yourselves; just believe in me, who believes in you,” but he had a feeling that would have made them too confused with only a few seconds left before shit went down.

”Five.”

Taking a step forward, Jake stood at the control point of the ritual.”

”Four.”

Activating his energy, he linked up with the ritual.

”Three.”

He felt all the hearts and the Demon Prince in the center.”

”Two…”

Closing his eyes, Jake allowed his Perception to fully seep into the entire ritual circle as he raised his hands.

”One…”

Red light filled the entire ritual as Jake poured in his energy, and activated the ritual.

”Start.”

As commanded, the first demon ritualist activated his section of the ritual, making the Crystalized Demon Lord Heart begin to crack and leak energy. Jake instantly took control of this leaked energy and forced it into the formation, storing it within.

With a mental command, he made the second demon also activate her part, as the second heart began to let out energy in a controlled manner. Once more, it was forced into the ritual circle as Jake kept track and made sure it didn’t leave its designated area.

A few minutes later, a third heart was activated. Followed by a fourth a few more minutes later. This kept going as the energy levels of the entire ritual and basement were rising at an alarming speed, as Jake allowed none of the demonic energy to run rampant.

Soon, they reached the eighth heart, which was when Jake gave the Demon Prince his cue. Without even a second of hesitation, the Demon Prince’s body lit up with energy as all of the glowing veins on his body activated, and with determination, the gem embedded in his forehead was torn out as it floated upwards, barely connected to the demon through a thin red and blue string.

The lines drawn in the very center around the Demon Prince were also activated, with its function a bit different than anywhere else. It was there to keep him alive long enough for Jake to do his thing, as he was very much under time pressure.

With another command, Jake took hold of the demonic energy as he strained himself. He commanded it to move toward the center of the pentagram and toward the now floating cerulean gem. The gem didn’t even resist in the slightest as it greedily began to absorb the energy from all the hearts.

Jake kept everything under control, even as the ninth and tenth hearts were activated. They weren’t getting drained fast or slow, and all the demon ritualists kept a steady pace as commanded, slowing down or speeding up whenever Jake told them to.

The Demon Prince was sitting with an empty look in his eyes as blood poured out of his forehead where the gem had been, looking almost catatonic. Yet Jake felt the demon’s consciousness still remained strong as the connection between the prince and the gem remained powerful.

So far, so good, Jake reassured himself as things were proceeding as they should. He knew the demons were struggling, but they held on nicely. Jake also knew all of them this was only possible due to his monstrous level of control and Perception, as he made sure everything was as it should be.

Soon, it was time for the next part of the ritual as Jake poured in a bit of his own arcane energy. Not his Jake Juice quite yet, but just what he had initially believed he would be able to do when he originally saw the ritual. The arcane energy mixed with the demonic energy that entered the gem ever-so-slightly, carrying with it nothing more than Jake’s intent.

Intent it listened to, as Jake felt something from the cerulean gem. He felt a sense of greed and hunger.

Good… it’s there, Jake grinned to himself. The same as how affinities had things they ”wanted,” many magic items like this also had some very fundamental sense of instinct. This gem naturally wanted to absorb more energy and grow, and now Jake had metaphorically kicked that instinct awake.

Suppressing a groan, Jake felt the gem begin to greedily try and drag the demonic energy out of the ritual circle, but Jake knew he couldn’t allow that. If he did, the gem risked exploding, or for the Demon Prince to be overwhelmed. He was already struggling, but Jake had to take his hat off to the Demon Prince. The guy was not considered a peak genius for nothing, as he managed to keep calm and do his part perfectly.

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Minutes passed, as the gem consumed more and more energy, its aura growing in intensity. Soon, the first heart was fully consumed, followed by a second and a third. The hearts were emptied out one after another, crumbling into dust, and soon, the cerulean gem contained not only its own innate energies but the cumulative energy of ten Crystalized Demon Lord Hearts.

If Jake stopped the ritual here, or if someone else had been in charge, all they would have accomplished was to infuse the cerulean gem with a fuckload of demonic energy, resulting in the body of the Demon Prince probably exploding if he tried to fully reabsorb it. He would definitely die, no doubt about it.

Yet the cerulean gem still hungered, and the Demon Prince was struggling more than ever, as all the other demon ritualists could now do nothing more than look on with expectation, fear, and doubt. The ritual so far had all gone as planned, sure. But everything till now had also been the ”easy” part that they all knew was theoretically possible.

Now, they were onto the ”making history” part as they explored all-new territory.

Jake next did what only he could do as he activated energy from deep within himself. A mere spark, a whisper at most. It traveled through the arcane strings he had laid down before, unaffected by all other energies as strings rose and wrapped around the cerulean gem as the spark of Origin Energy entered it.

Nothing happened for a moment until a deep thrumming noise erupted from the gem, sending out a wave of pure demonic energy that now carried a slightly off-blue color, ripping apart all Jake’s arcane threads in the process. A second wave came soon after, as Jake felt the changes with the gem. It began to not just house the energy from the Demon Lord Hearts but entirely devour it to empower itself, turning quantity into quality. All to allow it to return to Origin… and this was when Jake noticed oversight number one with this entire ritual.

It was originally a damn heart.

A heart!

Not a fucking forehead gem.

So when the gem began to slowly warp and change, he felt the fear from the Demon Prince and the horror on the faces of all the demon ritualists. The cerulean gem… which would probably be called the Cerulean Devil Heart by now, grew in size, way too large to be on the forehead of the demon it originally belonged to.

The horror on the faces of the observing demons only grew further in the very next moment when Jake stepped down and teleported forward. Without a shred of hesitation, he grasped the growing gem in his hand, feeling it burn into his skin as he had to fight back the demonic energy. With his other hand, he quickly equipped a katar as he stabbed the Demon Prince in his heart before promptly plunging his hand that was holding the crystal heart inside.

Jake tried to let go and pull his hand back out… but couldn’t. He felt as if his hands had merged with the gem-like heart as it began to attempt to pull energy from him. Not just any energy either. It wanted his Origin Energy, and just not a little of it, either.

Yeah, no, Jake quickly cut that off as he resisted. For a moment, he considered just cutting off his own arm, especially when the flesh he had cut open to put his hand in began to close around his forearm due to the damn healing circle below them. However, before he had a chance to cut it off, the heart was complete.

It had needed no more input or guidance from Jake. From the moment he had poured in the Origin Energy, it had known exactly what to do. Now, this is where the second major oversight of this ritual reared its ugly head.

Once the Cerulean Devil Heart was fully formed, it returned to a state of what it once was. It obtained Records of a being that was long dead but was a powerful devil back whenever they lived. Those Records were now everything that remained within the heart… and that wasn’t something the Demon Prince could handle.

The thrumming sound echoed out again as Jake finally recognized it as what it was: a heartbeat.

This Cerulean Devil Heart was still connected to the Demon Prince, even after it transformed. It was merged with his soul, through and through. For this ritual, he had temporarily separated it, but now, it had fully become part of him again. This had been what they wanted. The Demon Prince would now merge with the pure Records of the Cerulean Devil Heart. Merge with whatever had come to life within the heart. This part was not what they had wanted.

And, well, this situation reminded Jake a bit of the time he had chosen to also absorb an object containing overwhelming Records of a god. Except that god had still been alive, while this situation was entirely unique and of Jake’s making.

As Jake was trying to figure out what the fuck to do, the third oversight made itself known. Somehow, he had become part of his merging process due to him holding the heart, and through that connection, he felt the internal battle within the Soulspace. Usually, this space was an untouchable realm deep within the soul, but in this very moment, Jake was connected to the Demon Prince in a rather unique way. So, he closed his eyes and made a rash decision.

The Cerulean Demon. Demon Prince of the Fourth Hell. These were the titles the demon had made his name, with him primarily known as the Cerulean Demon. He had been privileged and talented enough to choose his own name, to try and communicate he was the second coming of the Cerulean Devil. The former master of the Fourth Hell and one of the most powerful devils the demon race had ever seen. It was viewed as a tragedy when he died a few eras ago while exploring one of the more dangerous World Wonders of the multiverse.

Luckily, they had managed to retrieve his body and completed the ritual to create the fragments from his heart. One of these fragments which the Cerulean Demon had been granted. When he had merged with it and the Legacy of the Cerulean Devil, he had believed himself a genius at the pinnacle of the multiverse. In some ways, he was. He had proven himself in Nevermore, yet two people still beat him, but he wasn’t particularly disappointed. In fact, the Chosen of the Malefic Viper had given him hope of truly being the second coming of the Cerulean Devil… and in some ways, hadn’t he succeeded? Just not in the way he had hoped.

The cerulean lightning struck him, as the demon was blasted back within his own Soulspace, the pain nearly unimaginable. Rolling on the ground, the demon tried to stabilize as a claw swept up, tearing his body into several pieces.

He reappeared a moment later, a bit further away, as lightning struck down from above, obliterating his entire body in an instant. Right as he appeared again, his head was severed from his body before he was blasted apart once more. He barely had time to collect his thoughts and wonder how foolish his ambitions had truly been.

During the ritual, after the Cerulean Demon had separated the gem from himself, he had gone to his Soulspace to keep everything intact. He had resisted as the energy flooded into him, and in the sky, the energy had gathered around the gemstone floating there, representing the fragment in the real world.

The energy levels had spiked so high the Demon Prince had been certain it would explode and shatter his entire soul and body… but then something had appeared. He couldn’t remember what it looked like, but something had entered the gem… and then it began evolving. It grew, pulsed, began to beat like a true heart, and the Demon Prince was elated, especially when he felt his connection to it strengthen more than ever before as it fully merged back into him. He was happy and, for a moment, even believed they had truly succeeded.

Until the heart didn’t stop growing.

From the heart grew a torso, legs, arms, and a head before an entire creature appeared. For a moment, the Demon Prince believed the Cerulean Devil had come back to life, as this demonic creature looked just like the paintings he had seen. The same blue leathery skin, four horns, clawed hands, and powerful physique. Yet the eyes were different. Empty. When the Demon Prince saw those eyes, he knew that this was but an empty husk… a husk that still possessed the overwhelming Records of the Cerulean Devil.

A husk that was currently destroying him.

The Demon Prince tried to fight back, but he didn’t stand a chance. He was powerful within his own Soulspace, for sure. His Records allowed him to display power far beyond what he could in the real world, yet before this Cerulean Devil husk, he was nothing but a plaything to be repeatedly destroyed as the creature learned about itself. Like a curious and destructive child, it tried to kill him in all the ways it could as the Demon Prince felt himself weaken. Felt himself dying as he feared what would come next.

His soul would die, and this creature would overwhelm his own Records. It would replace him and evolve into something truly monstrous. He just hoped that even if it was powerful, the Chosen of the Malefic One and the others could handle this creature… but he feared what it would evolve him into wouldn’t still be a C-grade.

Foolish. He and this creature were both foolish. It would likely become an A- or S-grade that would never be able to level again and be naught but a being of destruction. A short-lived Path, as they were within Nevermore City, and some powerful being would snuff it out instantly. The expected outcome of a creature with no sapience running wild.

Meanwhile, the Demon Prince’s own hubris had led to his. He had believed himself far more capable than he truly was, and now he couldn’t even struggle anymore.

His body got destroyed within the Soulspace over and over again, as he began to reappear slower and slower with every death. At the same time, the Cerulean Devil husk only grew in power. The end was near, and struggle was meaningless, as-

”Oi,” a voice suddenly cut through the Soulspace. ”The fuck you think you’re doing?”