Demons Beside You

“Everything’s normal. I would have been asleep now if you didn’t call me.”

“Alright. I’m going to bed too. Good night.”

After the brief conversation, Chen Zhao hung up.

He rubbed his forehead and then entered the basement.

Chen Zhao had to perform special treatment for White-Ma, which clearly could not be done outside.

Although White-Ma had eaten two demonic crystals, he was still in a bad shape.

The supposedly formidable subordinate of the King of Greed had almost lost his life to a human world species.

Hellhound was clearly thrilled by the two new buddies.

No, there were actually three.

Chen Zhao had also brought the Hydra into the space crevice. Little Nine was timid as usual.

Hellhound and Black-Ma were already playing enthusiastically with each other. If White-Ma was not injured, the three of them would have probably become best friends.

On the other hand, Chen Zhao and Blackie went into the castle to study sorcery and medicine.

“Blackie, when I summoned that Banshee with her ritual implement near the Gate of Hell, I felt very tired. It’s a feeling I’ve never experienced before. Why did I feel that way?”

“I don’t know much about Demonic Sorcery too, but when I cast spells, I can clearly feel an upper limit. Cast certain spells too many times and I’ll feel tired as well,” Blackie said.

Both Chen Zhao and Blackie were novice sorcerers. At the beginning, Blackie did not know too many demonic spells too.

Of course, Blackie was able to learn demonic spells much faster than Chen Zhao, because he was a type of demon, after all.

However, there were some spells that Blackie would never be able to cast.

“I’ve done my research. For example, if I cast Hell Knell on a person for ten consecutive times, I’ll be exhausted.”

“Wait, you cast Hell Knell on a person just for experimentation? Did that person not go insane?”

“I found a person in vegetative state, so Hell Knell wouldn’t affect him,” Blackie replied, unconcerned.

“So whether it’s you or me, we have a certain kind of threshold. We can’t cast spells or summon demons indefinitely,” Chen Zhao concluded.

“I think so. Don’t you humans always call the thing needed to cast spells ‘magic points’, or maybe magical power? Let’s suppose that we have magical power too, and we each have our own maximum magical power.”

“How do you think we should test our maximum magical power then?”

“You should ask Beelzebub, Raymond, and Carrie. They know more about Demonic Sorcery than the two of us.”

Chen Zhao called Beelzebub into the castle and asked him their question.

“Of course you need a certain form of power to cast and control demonic spells. There’s no real difference between the terminology in Hell and the definition given by humans. In Hell, it’s generally known as ‘demonic power’, but you humans can call it ‘magic points’ or ‘magical power’ too. It’s the same thing.”

“I don’t think the term ‘demonic power’ is accurate,” Blackie opposed at once, “because humans can cast demonic spells too. This proves that the power used by demons is at least somehow related to humans.”

“No.” Chen Zhao gave his own opinion. “Humans can only use a small number of modified demonic spells. This means demonic spells are still based mainly on demonic power. Perhaps, modified demonic spells are no longer truly demonic, or maybe they require a different form of power to activate.”

“You’re again the special one.” Blackie looked at Chen Zhao. “Why can you learn all the demonic spells without restriction? Even I can’t learn many of them, but you can still learn and cast them.”

Even Beelzebub could not answer this question.

“While Blackie is a demon, the three of us are actually three different forms of life. Blackie has no physical form, Beelzebub is a projection, while I am a pure human, but all of us have one similarity: we can use demonic spells. So if we can find all the similarities among the three of us, perhaps we’ll know what form of power we’re using to cast those spells.”

“Are you still a pure human? Your right hand contains Lord Beelzebub Zofee’s bloodline, so in fact, you’re a demon-human hy...”

Before Beelzebub could finish, Chen Zhao stared at him with a threatening look. “If you dare to finish that sentence, you better prepare another projection. I’ll use your current one to make dog broth.”

Beelzebub immediately returned to the serious topic. “Human, I think you’ve missed out a fourth existence that can cast demonic spells.”

“What’s the fourth one?”

“Badges.”

“What badges?”

“Whether it’s in Hell or the human world, there are some kind of badges. In Hell, they’re call demonic badges, while in the human world, they’re called magical badges. Regardless of the name, they’re formed when demonic spells are carved into certain items. These items can then cast spells or have magical properties.”

“Do you have a magical badge with you?”

“No, and I also don’t know how to make them,” Beelzebub answered.

“So all in all, these are the only four types, right? Of course, maybe Blackie can’t be considered as a separate form of being. He’s still a demon after all.”

“No. There are many other types, such as angels.”

“Wait... Are there really angels?”

“What’s strange about it? Why can’t there be angels when there are already so many demons beside you?”

“Where are the angels? Are they in Heaven? Are they serving an old pervert who seduces unmarried girls?”

“Dunno. I have neither seen them nor heard about where they live.”

“Then how are you even sure that they exist?”

“Because they do. It’s a fact.”

“How is it a f**king fact when you don’t even know where to find them? Are you sure it’s not just a random setting that you thought of a minute ago?”

Chen Zhao already had the habit of not trusting Beelzebub’s words entirely.

When Chen Zhao left the crevice, he realized that he had four missed calls from Robio.

He glanced at Blackie who had followed him out. “Blackie, why don’t you install a WiFi or signal tower inside?”

Chen Zhao called Robio, “Robio, what’s up?”

“Chen, Fali’s in the hospital.”

“What? Why? What happened?”

“She almost drowned.”

“Almost drowned? Fali?” Chen Zhao knew how well Fali could swim. How could she nearly drown?

“I don’t know the exact situation too. I received a call from the phone in HQ and then heard Walter barking. When I got there, I saw Fali lying on the beach. I’ve already sent her to the hospital.”

“Which hospital?”

“Chantilly.”