Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2461 Black Magic

<...They fundamentally can't harm you directly in the first place.>

Huh? Caesar gestured toward the center of the enormous array as though the horrific scene unfolding there directly contradicted everything Mortex had just told him. Does that man know they can't?

At the center of the array, a noticeable change began to occur in the routine that had been repeating continuously until now. The jinn—no, the devils—had stopped entering the victim's body one after another, draining him completely dry, and then accelerating his recovery so that the process could begin again.

At that moment, the five devils stopped moving altogether and simply remained in their positions, staring at the victim from every direction and slowly scanning him with their eyes from head to toe, while the victim's body visibly healed and regenerated before them, this time with greater precision and completeness than before... And yet the victim, that human suspended at the center of everything, didn't appear to have relaxed even slightly because of the pause in his torment. On the contrary, the expression of sheer terror covering his face only continued to intensify.

<They're not hurting him.> Mortex sighed, as though he had already anticipated Caesar's misunderstanding.

"....?" Caesar cautiously took another quick glance toward the hooded figures standing motionlessly along the edges of the enormous array before withdrawing his gaze again. You're going to have to explain that one, my friend.

<That's exactly why I brought you here.> Mortex replied. <The jinn generally don't interact with humans, regardless of their groups, ages, or experiences. Instead, they are summoned by us, intelligent creatures, specifically for the purpose of establishing communication with them.> He then continued, <Some mortals experience signs of their presence from time to time, such as curtains suddenly moving, being unable to breathe normally at night while they're nearby, or seeing them from a great distance in the desert in the form of fiery flames... But these things are merely side effects caused by their presence. They aren't attempts at communication, nor are they deliberate attempts to cause harm.>

He continued, <But if you actually want one of them to deliberately appear before you, communicate with you, and allow you to gain some kind of benefit from it, then you have to perform one of those.> Mortex gestured toward the enormous array spread across the ground before Caesar. <This is the study of Cursed Arrays, or as it's commonly known among mortals, black magic.>

".....?" Caesar's eyes opened to their limits upon hearing those words. He had heard about this concept countless times while he was still living in the mortal world with his father, but every time the subject had appeared before him, he had simply dismissed it as nothing more than fraud, superstition, and meaningless nonsense.

<Only through this method can you randomly summon a jinn, opening a path that allows it to cross over and communicate with you in a much more direct manner, but of course, there are several variables involved in this entire matter, so things aren't nearly as simple as they might initially sound.> Mortex continued, <First, many jinn will simply refuse the summoning. They want to continue living exactly as they already do, invisible to others, hidden for some unknown reason, wandering wherever they please... As for one that actually agrees to the summoning and chooses to appear before you, that one will be a devil, an evil and rebellious jinn. That's why no one can ever use black magic for something good. Such a thing is simply impossible.>

<...The second variable is the strength of the array itself or the black magic being cast. The larger the array you use and the stricter the conditions imposed upon it, the stronger, older, and greater the devil you manage to summon will be.> Mortex added after a brief pause, <And once the summoned and the summoner finally meet one another, that's when the true obligations between the two sides begin.>

Caesar swallowed his saliva this time, unable to suppress the instinctive reaction after everything he had just heard.

<Communication between the two sides is actually extremely simple. Once the devil appears, the summoner tells it exactly what he wants from it, and depending on the difficulty and severity of the requested task, the devil will then tell the person who summoned it what its own demands are. Those demands are usually things that force you to accumulate an enormous amount of evil deeds, enough to turn you into an eternal enemy of karma itself, such as that pool over there filled with the blood and heads of children, cannibalism, and other similar atrocities. Once the two sides reach an agreement regarding the request and its price, a contract will be signed between them, permanently tainting the primordial soul from that moment onward.>

That's what Darvion used to do!! Caesar suddenly shouted inside his mind as the connection immediately became clear to him.

<Aha, the boy Darvion who gave himself the title of the Cursed? Yes, he used to come here to the deserts of the inner half of the Necrofortress Galaxy, where he learned how to perform these rituals, and he actually carried out some of them here himself. So it isn't particularly surprising that he continued performing the same rituals after he eventually left this place.> Mortex continued, <In fact, if you carefully investigated the background of practically anyone who uses curses and talismans, or anyone involved in the slave trade and other underground dealings, you'd often discover that the foundations of what they practice can be traced back to this place in one way or another.>

...Damn this place. Caesar gritted his teeth tightly as his impression of the Necrofortress Galaxy sank even further. What exactly do the devils gain from making those kinds of demands?

<No one knows. It's also worth mentioning that these rituals don't increase the devils' strength or extend their lifespan, and even if they somehow did, they wouldn't use what they gained for anything; they simply carry out their assigned tasks according to the request and leave matters at that.> Mortex replied in a strange tone, <The relationship between humans and them is essentially one of request and execution, without much unnecessary discussion between the two sides, but there are naturally some speculations about why they behave this way... Some say those creatures simply want to watch ruin and destruction befall humanity, while others say they're attempting to gain something from the concept of deeds that governs humans, just as they are somehow capable of interfering with the concept of the Creation Code!>

He continued, <In any case, they're extraordinarily strange and ancient creatures whose existence goes back far beyond what we properly understand. Their true origins can't be determined, and their words can't be trusted either, so the best thing humans can possibly do is simply ignore their existence and stay away from them... But many foolish humans, for the sake of momentary benefits and immediate personal interests, willingly carry out the devils' commands, creating an endless chain of atrocities throughout the universes in exchange for whatever they want.>

...Universes?! Caesar pressed both hands hard against his head, immediately catching that particular word among everything Mortex had just said.

<Alright, we won't go too deeply into those details.> Mortex quickly returned to the original subject rather than elaborating further. <After carrying out every one of the devil's demands to the letter, the devil provides the summoner with the service he originally requested, and most of the time that service takes the form of a request for knowledge... A request for a method to become stronger, a request for a method that can make you a better curse artist, a request for a way to obtain offspring when you're incapable of having children, or perhaps a request for a method that allows you to take control of your world or become a high-ranking and wealthy politician.>

He continued, <And sometimes those requests take the form of direct intervention rather than merely receiving knowledge. Of course, those ancient creatures won't personally go out and fight on your behalf, but the requests can involve things such as asking the devil to make the king's daughter fall in love with you, asking it to use its own methods to cause someone to become severely ill, or asking it to sabotage a plan prepared by your enemies or simply reveal that plan to you beforehand so that you can avoid it yourself.>

Mortex continued, <For creatures that have lived since the dawn of history itself, requests of this level are extremely simple to fulfill, whether what you seek from them is knowledge or some form of personal assistance, as long as you're willing to pay whatever price you're required to pay in exchange.>

.... Caesar lowered his gaze toward the ground and muttered thoughtfully as he finally reduced Mortex's lengthy explanation to its simplest meaning, So dealing with them is basically a way to obtain a shortcut to a desire.

<That's a very good way to describe it.> Mortex nodded in agreement with Caesar's conclusion.

Afterward, Caesar turned once again and cautiously glanced toward what was currently happening inside the enormous array, returning his attention to the ritual he had momentarily neglected while listening to Mortex's explanation. ...I understand. So were those people in white the ones who summoned those devils? What exactly did they ask for that would cause thi—

Caesar's eyes suddenly opened to their absolute limits when he saw what was happening inside the array at that very moment.