The creature stopped attacking just as the Demon Prince reanimated again, his form semi-transparent due to the significant soul damage he had taken. He looked over in horror and saw the Cerulean Devil stare directly at the newcomer who had entered his Soulspace. Stare directly at the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.

”Get out of here!” the Demon Prince yelled with all his remaining energy. He quickly understood what had happened. The Chosen had somehow projected his very own soul into the prince’s, and should he die here, the Chosen risked potentially even dying himself, or at the very least, taking severe soul damage. That couldn’t happen. ”You can still escape! Go!”

However… his warning was too late. As the final words had barely left him, the creature disappeared, only to appear right behind the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.

”Oh,” the Chosen said as he slowly turned and looked at the creature more closely as he tapped its forehead with a finger. ”Pretty empty in there, huh? All instinct.”

The Demon Prince just stared, confused. The creature had appeared behind the Chosen, raised a claw, and then stopped. It looked as if it was… shaking. However, its eyes soon regained their fervor as it roared loudly, nearly dispersing the prince’s body. Its claw swung down, and-

An arm flew into the air as the Chosen now stood with a hand raised. The creature roared again as a palm smashed into its face, pushing it to the ground making the entire Soulspace shudder from the impact. Without the Demon Prince even knowing how it happened, three more limbs flew into the air as he saw the Chosen stand with a foot on the chest of the Cerulean Devil’s husk.

A pillar of cerulean lightning descended as the Demon Prince was blown even further away. He felt the pain in his chest as he saw the ground had been split apart and a large crater formed where the bolt had struck. Quickly, he spotted the Cerulean Devil as it teleported a good distance away, its limbs already fully regenerated. Moreover… it was still growing stronger.

”Feisty,” the voice of the Chosen once more echoed as the man walked out of the crater with calm steps, not a single mark on his body. He then suddenly turned and looked toward the Demon Prince. ”Things didn’t quite go as planned, huh?”

The demon just stared as the Cerulean Devil teleported closer to attack again… only to get blasted into the air by an unseen explosion, the Demon Prince not at all comprehending what was going on. What… is happening?

Jake gave the Demon Prince another look after gently pushing the odd devil creature away, but he still didn’t get any answer. He began to fear he had been too slow in entering the Soulspace of the demon and that the prince had taken too much damage before his arrival. But the fact he had yelled out with warning indicated he wasn’t in that horrible of a state.

”Are you okay?” Jake asked again. ”Any permanent damage?”

Finally, the demon seemed to regain some semblance of calm. ”I am fine for now… but that isn’t important. The Cerulean Devil is-”

”Annoying,” Jake cut him off as the creature appeared once more, forcing Jake to slap it into the horizon once more to give him some more time to talk. He also couldn’t help but get a look around, as this was the first Soulspace he had ever seen belonging to another person, and he knew this was an incredibly rare opportunity.

The Soulspace was the representation of the Truesoul every living being had within themselves. Jake’s was a massive area filled mostly with barren land and plains with barely any grass on them. The demon’s Soulspace honestly wasn’t that much different, with the ground just a bit more barren, and the arcane energies filling the sky in Jake’s Soulspace had been replaced with rumbling blueish thunderclouds. Well, he also didn’t have a shadowy version chilling there or a drop of blood from a Primordial, but those were more bonus assets in Jake’s mind. Not like Jake had a rampaging blue devil husk in his, either.

”How are you-” the Demon Prince began as Jake cut him off again.

”Doesn’t matter right now. What matters is finishing this ritual,” Jake said as the Cerulean Devil attacked again. Jake dodged a few times before kicking the creature away for yet another time. It was a bit annoying, but he had to hold back. He had felt some energy be consumed when he severed the limbs earlier, and he didn’t want to waste anything if he could avoid it.

”What do you mean?” the demon asked. ”This… this is the finished ritual.”

”Alright, then we need to finish the post-ritual issues we are now facing,” Jake sighed, noticing the Cerulean Devil was a bit slower at attacking this time. Probably for the best, as he really didn’t want to fight that creature. There was no meaning in doing so.

Jake knew he could kill the Cerulean Devil if he wanted, but he also knew what that would mean. It would destroy the newly formed heart he had implanted in the Demon Prince, resulting in all their efforts getting wasted and the Demon Prince getting crippled, as he would lose a part of himself.

If he let it be, the Demon Prince would die, and the creature he was fighting would manifest in the real world, which definitely wouldn’t be good. Simply locking down the Cerulean Devil by sealing it in an arcane barrier also wouldn’t work. Jake knew instinctively that the moment he left the Soulspace, his energies would leave with him. They had to, or a part of Jake would be forever embedded in the Soulspace of the Demon Prince, which would hurt him immensely.

No… Jake needed to do something else. The easiest solution would be for the Demon Prince to just kill the Cerulean Devil, but that definitely wasn’t going to happen. The thing was pretty damn strong. Jake wasn’t sure one could really equate the power of creatures within a Soulspace to grades in the real world, but this one would definitely be high. For context, it was stronger than the cursed chimera when Jake first got it.

After the curse had merged with Sim-Jake, things had become a bit complicated, but that was neither here nor there.

”Does the Chosen have a plan?” the Demon Prince asked as he quickly arrived next to Jake. ”The creature manifested from the Records of the Cerulean Devil is way beyond my expectations and not something I can deal with.”

”I’m well aware of that,” Jake muttered as he considered his options. In the real world, he saw himself still standing there with a hand around the heart, and the many demon ritualists around himself and the Demon Prince, none of them doing anything. They all knew trying to interfere wouldn’t do them any good. Jake also knew that with a single thought, he could exit the Soulspace, closing the opening he had entered through in the process and leaving the demon to his doom. This was probably the safest choice… but Jake really hated losing, and failing this ritual would definitely count as a loss.

As he was still considering ideas, the Cerulean Devil attacked again, this time having changed up its goal. Rather than target Jake, it went for the Demon Prince to snuff him out once and for all. Too bad for it; Jake was standing right next to him.

An arcane barrier sprung up, blocking the attack of the devil, as an explosion of electricity covered the Soulspace. Jake didn’t even feel it tickle him as he raised both his hands and motioned. A bit of mana appeared as six barriers sprung up around the Cerulean Devil before Jake pressed them together, sealing the creature within a cube.

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Using my energies is pretty fucking hard, Jake noticed, as the Cerulean Devil struggled to break free. Moreover, he felt his arcane energy naturally disperse at an alarming rate, even though it was the stable variant. It simply didn’t belong in the Soulspace and was naturally being destroyed by the entire space. Jake himself was also a target for constant destruction. He just didn’t really notice it.

Slamming against the barriers, the Cerulean Devil began to slowly break out as cracks formed. Jake looked on, thinking hard as he remembered something. He remembered Sim-Jake and what he had done during his stay in Jake’s Soulspace. He also remembered something else from his many conversations about devils and demons.

Turning to the Demon Prince, he didn’t beat around the bush. ”Are you willing to take a massive risk?”

”What do you require me to do?” the demon asked, clearly determined to do whatever Jake asked of him.

”Nothing, things just might not turn out how I hope,” Jake responded.

”I already left my life in your hands. I will trust you till the very end.”

”You’re really piling on the pressure,” Jake smirked. ”But alright… begin operation absolute submission.”

Jake stepped down as he appeared right in front of his own barrier. His hand shot forward, shattering the arcane energy like glass as he grasped the neck of the Cerlulean Devil. Before it could even do anything, he threw it down into the ground, creating yet another crater.

A storm of lighting descended, but Jake raised a hand and snapped, dispelling all the lightning halfway descended as he stared down at the devil. ”Pathetic.”

The creature didn’t understand his words but seemed to comprehend his intent somewhat as it roared in anger. Rather than attack Jake, it flew straight for the demon prince, but before it could even move more than a few meters, it was yanked back as Jake grabbed the devil’s ankle.

”We’re not done,” Jake muttered as he slammed the devil into the ground again. It got up instantly, only for Jake to stomp it in the face, embedding its head in the ground again. Struggling, the devil tried to attack with its claws but found itself unable to even pierce Jake’s skin.

Jake quickly took hold of one its wrists, as he tossed the devil away yet another time before teleporting over and catching the creature, only to slam it into the ground again. None of what Jake was doing actually hurt the devil as Jake didn’t put much power in… but what he did do was make the devil feel utterly powerless.

He knew this devil wasn’t a real creature. It didn’t have a soul or any kind of real consciousness. It was just a bundle of Records, acting on instinct to come alive. Like the nascent energies of an elemental forming, fighting the environment to become a living being. All it knew was that it had to kill the Demon Prince, and it would live.

It couldn’t really learn as it couldn’t think. Not truly. But it could ever-so-slowly adapt, which had been shown by the creature kind of learning how to move and control itself. Perhaps it would awaken a true consciousness one day, but only at the cost of the Demon Prince’s death.

In summary, it was a being that had only one goal: survival. Right now, survival meant consuming the Demon Prince and taking over his body. Jake was going to show the Cerulean Devil that was no longer an option. He would show it that it only had one option if it wanted to live in any way.

Minutes passed as Jake threw the Cerulean Devil around. It fought back in the beginning, but soon, it only tried to defend itself. This self-defense slowly morphed into the Cerulean Devil barely trying, as it instead tried to do the only thing it could to survive:

Run.

However, even that was no option. Jake allowed it no escape as he kept beating it down over and over again. In the meantime, he also began to leak out tiny bits of his own aura, frightening the Cerulean Devil further.

When he thought it was about time, Jake looked over at the Demon Prince, who stared, shocked at everything that was happening, as he sent a simple mental message. ”Offer the Cerulean Devil a contract to submit and live.”

For a few moments, the Demon Prince looked at him confused until his eyes suddenly lit up with clarity as he understood. Jake wouldn’t even have considered this an option under usual circumstances, but he was dealing with demons right now.

They were creatures of contracts. Deals. Agreements. Even if the Cerulean Devil was only a husk, it was still bound by its Records as a devil, and once it agreed to a contract, it would be binding. As for its ability to even agree, Jake also knew there would be no problems there. Every creature innately understood contracts created through the system. Perhaps they did not understand its intricacies, but they could instinctively comprehend the intent. Naturally, the Cerulean Devil’s instincts would never allow it to submit to the weaker Demon Prince… unless it viewed it as the only way to survive.

Jake upped the pressure as he saw the Demon Prince prepare. Rather than simply smashing the devil around, he fully restrained it as he wrapped it up in arcane strings, conveniently allowing it to still move one of its arms a little.

”Enough… it’s time to end this,” Jake said, seeing the Demon Prince approach with the contract. He had been hesitant to do this but decided it was time, as for the first time, he fully unleashed his presence and let loose, as he activated maximum intimidation mode.

The Demon Prince wasn’t sure something like this would work as he quickly spun up a contract of absolute submission. He approached the devil who had just been bound by strings, a floating contract in front of him.

Even if the devil feared death… submitting and becoming part of the Demon Prince was practically akin to its death. Something truly extraordinary had to pressure it into fully submitting. As he was connected to the Cerulean Devil, he knew it was not at all ready to give up yet. Still, he chose to believe in the Chosen as he got within range of the Cerulean Devil, who looked ready to tear the contact apart… as everything stopped.

And then, it descended. An aura unlike any he had ever experienced before overtook his entire Soulspace as it crushed everything beneath it. All emotions were replaced with fear, as the Demon Prince could barely look over the Chosen of the Malefic Viper looking much bigger than he truly was.

In the sky, the clouds scattered as an orangeish glow fell over the Soulspace. Looking up, the Demon Prince saw two massive irises stare down at him as he had never felt smaller or more insignificant… and then he felt a slight tap on the contract, as the Cerulean Devil had placed its palm on it.

Just like that, the eyes disappeared, the pressure was gone, and everything returned to normal as the Chosen spoke casually. “Well, that ended up working out somehow. See you on the other side.”

And with that, he was gone, leaving only a frozen Demon Prince and Cerulean Devil behind.

Jake opened his eyes in the outside world as he disconnected from the Demon Prince’s Soulspace, and he felt the slight gap he had entered through close for good. The heart he was grasping in his hand no longer had the same suction force, so he let go and instantly pulled out his hand as he jumped back, blood splattering out, but the healing circle was still active, rapidly mending the wound. Not that Jake believed that was necessary.

”Lord Chosen, what-” one of the ritualists began as Jake cut him off.

”Just wait for it,” Jake said with a smile, and as if on cue, a shockwave of energy erupted from the Demon Prince’s body as he was enveloped in light. Within this light that Jake could only look inside using his Sphere of Perception, he saw the Demon Prince disappear for a few moments before he reappeared again shortly after, now a changed demon.

The light faded to reveal his form as he stood there with his eyes closed. The forehead gem was gone, and his body had grown a bit in bulk, but the most notable difference was the head. Ten horns circled his skull, each of them pointing toward the ceiling, making it nearly look like he was wearing a crown and definitely making helmets extremely difficult to wear.

Using identify, Jake smiled.

[Cerulean Demon Lord – lvl 280]

He felt the nervous demon ritualists all around, staring with apprehension. Jake also looked at the newly born Cerulean Demon Lord as he asked a pretty important question: ”Are congratulations in order, or did we just birth some mindless beast?”

Finally, the Demon Lord opened his eyes as he breathed out, and threw a look at Jake that contained an odd mix of gratitude, respect, and fear. Yet he remained polite. ”Thank you… I am still getting used to things.”

Jake nodded as he felt the aura of the Demon Prince. It didn’t really necessarily feel that much more powerful than before. Only by a little. Which perhaps shouldn’t surprise Jake, as the Demon Prince had come third on the Era’s Leaderboards, only behind himself and Ell’Hakan. It wouldn't have made much sense if he had somehow jumped up in power from this ritual, as he was already close to how powerful one could be for his level. It wasn’t like Jake had just given him a bunch of stat-increasing titles.

However, he had definitely changed. His Path had evolved, and his future prospects were now far brighter than they were before.

Then, a bit late in Jake’s opinion, the pentagon pentagram finally broke fully apart, marking the end of the ritual for good. With it naturally came the sweet system notifications of levels gained.