Ye Qi jumped with shock looking at himself being choked. However, Ye Qi calmed down quickly and asked in a demanding tone, "Who are you? Where is this? What do you want?"
Ye Qi was cautious and fired off the three most pertinent questions. Compared to what was happening outside, he was more concerned about what was happening to him. From his half-invisible body and the fact that he was conscious that he was half-invisible meant that the Demon Hunter was in what John would refer to as, the Spirit State!
The individual in Spirit State was not dead, it was simply his or her spirit had left the corporeal body.
However, this was not a good situation to be in. The fact that being away from one's body for an extended period of time would cause plenty of side effects aside, he was like a scrumptious meal for Dark Magicians who loved to experiment on spirits and creatures from Erebus who loved to consume spirits. Therefore, based on the situation, Ye Qi predicted he was detained by a Dark Magician who loved to conduct spirit experiments.
Thinking about the possible experiments, even Ye Qi could not help but shiver all over—Dark Magicians were notoriously dangerous, it was far too common for their experiments to end up in explosions. For the poor souls who were experimented on, of course, the only result would be spirit annihilation.
Ye Qi was not afraid of death but a young man like himself still had plenty of hopes for his future! He expected the world to open up for him after he chose his profession after level 5. His mood was even more lowered thinking about the blessing John left on the note and the call that he was unable to make.
"Who I am, I cannot reveal to you yet. Where this is, this is a special space. What do I want… well," The voice paused before continuing, "I want to make a contract with you!"
Then, a goatskin parchment flew out from the pillar of fire closest to Ye Qi and dropped before him.
"After you sign this contract, not only can you escape the danger you're in, you can also obtain endless power, bottomless wealth, influence that could divert a whole country and good looks that will make the world bow to thy knees… As long as you sign this contract, your greatest dream will be yours… Anything and everything will be at your reach…"
The voice turned seductive like it was dripping in honey, and this made Ye Qi shiver. When he bent over to reach for the parchment, the system in his mind screamed.
"Warning! Warning! Infiltration of unknown energy…"
"Hostile energy discovered, hostile energy discovered…"
"Host in unclear state, system restarting…"
Then, Ye Qi's spiritual body started to ripple like water. His eyes that were shrouded with smoke earlier started to clear. The parchment that was inches away from his fingertips, suddenly flinched and crawled a few meters back like it was alive.
"F*ck! A demon!"
After the whole seduction session and the goatskin parchment, which he recognized now was filled with runes, Ye Qi, who was an amateur Demon Hunter, knew the kind of threat he was facing—The peak of all Erebus creatures, the creature of the darkness that demanded respect from vampires, werewolves, Dark Magicians and the like—a Demon.
If human Vatican prayed to God, then God's equivalent in Erebus would be the Demons, provided they had something like a religious system. Of course, that was if the Demons demanded prayers. According to legends, the Demons only had taste for the good, the revered, the holy and the powerful. They loved to lure these righteous men into the path of dark desire, to make them sow chaos and terror among the world. This was why the legends said God was extremely partial to humanity among all his creations. Demons were only interested in the select few among human beings and would ignore the rest.
Ye Qi could not help but shiver. The Demon was not lying, after signing the contract, Ye Qi would have all those things he was promised but the Demon left out one important detail! In exchange for those things, the contracted would have to sign away his or her soul and become the Demon's slave!
This was not all, the Demon was Chaos incarnate, therefore those who signed contract with them would be considered part of Chaos as well. They would be compelled by the Demon into doing certain things and those things would normally be ruinous to humanity in general! Therefore, those exposed to have dealings with Demons were normally pursued by the world and slaughtered like animal! After all, no matter how powerful the contracted was, they were no match for the world, and the Vatican which could summon "God's Decree".
During his training, Ye Qi had heard John say, throughout history, the Vatican had demolished many of those exposed of having contracts with Demons with "Divine Punishment" summoned via "God's Decree". Ye Qi was incensed he was almost tricked by this Demon.
Before he could tear into the Demon however, the unknown Demon roared, "Why didn't it work? F*ck! Who are you? Which Divinity or Demon's constituent do you belong to?"
The voice had lost its earlier confidence and bravado, in its place was unbridled wrath. Even in Spirit State, Ye Qi faltered back from the pressure of the roar. However, Ye Qi was not afraid, if anything, he felt lucky. Entity like Demon or Divinity could only perform either possession or projection to get into the physical world where human beings reside in.
Possession meant siphoning the Divinity or Demon's power and soul into a Disciple's body. Projection meant projecting one's soul or image into the world without carrying over the power. The former required devotion of a Disciple and many rituals but when it was completed, the Divinity or Demon could walk the world without trouble. The latter was much simpler and any Divinity or Demon could do it anytime. However, it had its cons too. While the projected soul was impressive, it lacked real power to back it up!
Based on his observations, Ye Qi believed this unknown Demon was a projected soul, or else he would have been shredded already according to the Demons' tendency for violence.
Which Divinity or Demon's constituent? Could he be talking about the system?
Ye Qi who was contemplating the words of the unknown Demon suddenly turned to look up into the black mist where the Noble Vampire was still choking the life out of him. A thought cropped up in his mind, "What if he's just a projection? Then there's still a chance I can turn this around!"
Even though Ye Qi had no idea why this Demon would project itself into the physical world and pull his soul into the Demon's Realm, Ye Qi did not mind doing a trade with him—Since the other party had pulled him into his realm, this meant that the Demon, in some capacity, needed him: Life was escaping his physical body thanks to the Noble Vampire and Ye Qi knew he was no match for the aged vampire; Since they had need for each other, then why not a trade that would benefit both parties?
Of course, the trade had to be within a range that he could control—Ye Qi did not want to align himself too much with the Forces of Darkness. After all, he was going to deal with a Demon. The young Demon Hunter who still valued his life wished to borrow some of the Demon's power but not to the extent where he would be labelled as a Demon's slave and pursued by the world at large.
"Demon Hunter Ye Qi at your service! Of course, if yours truly could compensate fairly for my humble service, then it would be best!"