Chapter 55: A New Deal

“…So? Just because you changed your name, you’re not you anymore?”

It offered no explanation, merely stretching its body.

“Tell me, what do you want me to do.”

“I want the death demon to temporarily forget about me and those related to me.”

“Memory denial?”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm… I could, but you should know that a demon’s trade is always an equivalent exchange. What is your weight?”

Its palm moved forward a step, its head pressing close to Lu Xiu.

“…What do you want? Stop playing games with me.”

Its gaze finally shifted from Lu Xiu to me. In an instant, my entire body shivered.

A highly contradictory perception arose in my mind. I felt like I was myself, yet also like I wasn’t myself. But if I wasn’t myself, then who was I? ‘Eh…’

It propped its body up with one hand and pointed at me with the other.

I snapped back to my senses instantly, shaking my head like a rattle.

“No no no no!”

‘I don’t want to stay with this kind of ghost thing!’

I turned my head, looking at Lu Xiu with what I considered my most pitiful gaze.

‘Don’t agree to it! Don’t agree to it!’

“I refuse.”

He didn’t let me down, answering with absolute certainty.

“Fine, then the deal is over. Goodnight.”

After saying that, it stood up without hesitation and gradually vanished into the chaotic colors. Even the silver foil began to burn. White flames consumed the folding stool and the mercury on the mirror.

Everything returned to how it had been before.

‘So… it’s over?’

I scratched my head, somewhat confused.

“It ran away?”

“Maybe.”

“Then didn’t we just achieve nothing?”

Lu Xiu shrugged.

‘I was scared for nothing.’

“What are we going to do next?”

“Keep looking for other demons. What else can we do? We can’t just walk in there empty-handed and say to the death demon, ‘Hello, could you please die for a bit?'”

“Is that possible?”

“…What do you think?” He glanced at me.

‘I think it’s possible, as long as it’s reasonable…’

He put away the bronze coin, sprinkled a handful of snow on the mirror, took out the yellow bottle containing the red rope from earlier, and began to drip the liquid onto it.

A foul stench began to permeate the air. I pinched my nose and moved far away from Lu Xiu.

Once the yellow liquid covered the mirror, he took out three purple-black irises and placed them solemnly on the top, left, and right sides of the mirror.

Closing his eyes, he pressed his hands together and began to chant in some unintelligible language.

About ten seconds later, Lu Xiu opened his eyes, swept the purple-black irises aside with a look of disappointment, and began to wipe the mirror with a rag.

“It failed. The other party likely sensed the aura of the death demon and didn’t dare to come.”

“How cowardly.”

“It can’t be helped. We can’t rely on root demons, so we have to find some lower-level demons. The result is as you see — not everyone has the courage to take the first bite.”

“Then we…”

“Keep summoning. I don’t believe it. There must be a guy we can use.”

Fine.

I sighed and plopped down on my small suitcase, staring boredly at the never-ending wind and snow outside, blowing bubbles with my mouth.

Lu Xiu tirelessly attempted one summoning ritual after another. Just as I let out my tenth yawn, a drop of water fell from the sky and landed on my chin.

‘Cold…’

I reached out to touch it, and then caught a glimpse of a small, shimmering speck out of the corner of my eye.

That was…

‘Water?’

I leaned in closer, only to find that the drop of water was frozen in the air, floating slowly. Countless rays of light refracted within it, making it crystal clear and bright.

‘So magical…’

“Lu Xiu.”

I turned my head, but found that he was currently facing away from me, motionless. Not just him — the wind and snow outside the window, the dust in the air, everything had gone still.

I tried to jump down from the suitcase, but at that moment, a pair of hands pressed down on my shoulders.

“No need for surprise, no need for panic. Where you are now is merely a ‘hell void’ I have temporarily created for you.”

That overlapping, echoing voice sounded from behind me, piecing itself together in my mind.

I swallowed hard.

“Who — who are you? I — I’m not afraid of you…”

Despite saying that, my hand was already gripping the zipper of my clothes.

“Me? Who am I?” Those hands finally left my shoulders. I immediately bounced away from the suitcase, putting a safe distance of over three meters between us before turning around warily.

“It’s you?!”

Standing behind me was none other than that pitch-black negation demon.

“Yes, it is I, your humble servant.”

As it spoke, it bowed slightly, pressing a hand to its abdomen. It was only then that I noticed another pair of hands had grown from its stomach.

“As I said, no third party will know the contents of our conversation from here on out, aside from you and me.”

“What are you doing?” Layer after layer of bone-like substance covered the back of my hand, forming a piercing blade. If it dared to come closer, I would poke it until it looked like a sieve.

“I am here to offer you assistance. You need to deal with the death demon, do you not?”

“……But didn’t you refuse the trade?”

“That was for Mr. Lu Xiu,” it explained.

“His conditions were too unreasonable. Moreover, in our demon circles… well… his reputation is not very good. It is difficult to get the better of him, and one might even be outmaneuvered if not careful. My refusal was purely out of consideration for my own interests.”

“Then now…”

“Now, this is a trade with you.”

“You want to trade with me?” I was even more confused. “Why?”

It simply shook its head, its voice carrying a strange sort of piety. “There is no why. Because it is you, and it can only be you.”

“Then I refuse.”

Lu Xiu had said before that there were no free cakes falling from the sky. This guy was ugly and hideous; one look was enough to tell he was up to no good.

They were all a bunch of big liars.

“But if you refuse, Mr. Lu Xiu will surely die. Tomorrow, the death demon will awaken once more. In the great wave of death, perhaps the first name to appear will be Mr. Lu Xiu’s. Do you truly have the heart for that?”

It straightened up and looked toward Lu Xiu.

“Those stronger than I will not come here; those weaker than I are afraid to come here. If this continues, the final result will be nothing gained, and you can only wait for the purple-black irises to wither.”

“If you are willing to let him be tortured before your eyes by countless forms of death… I shall follow your will.”

‘Lu Xiu is going to die…’

I bit my lip.

‘But I don’t want Lu Xiu to die.’

‘But demons are liars.’

I couldn’t help but look at Lu Xiu, but he was still facing away from me.

At that moment, I realized that I could only rely on myself.

“I don’t trust you.”

It let out a low chuckle first, and then a mouth grew on its pitch-black face. A bluish tongue stretched out, the muscles on it writhing to form a string of shimmering, strange characters.

“How about this? This is my true name. Can you believe me now?”

‘A true name?’

‘The negation demon’s true name?’

‘It just told me like that?’

I stared at the string of characters that looked like ghostly scribbles, falling into a new predicament.

“…But… I don’t recognize the words on there…”

I scratched my head in embarrassment.

“A — Logos — “

“The ‘lo’ sound requires a tongue roll. There must be a trill.”

“Oh, oh… A — Lo… roll tongue… gos — “

The result was that I started learning how to correctly pronounce the true name right there.

But this true name was something a human simply couldn’t utter.

It wasn’t just a tongue roll; one had to inject a certain kind of self-denying mental chaos while pronouncing it, like letting out a sharp screech during twelve seconds of suffocation…

“I’m not saying it!” I gave up crossly.

‘This is too much trouble!’

‘I don’t think I can do it at all. This guy is just messing with me!’

“A-LOGOS-ULU-NIHIL-APEIRON-MALUM-ENTROPIA…”

‘Hmm?’

I suddenly looked at my stomach.

“Mouth on the stomach?”

I immediately unzipped my clothes, liberating the mouth on the stomach that had been stifled inside all day.

“Yegh.”

As soon as it came out, it stuck out a tongue to cool itself down.

“Was that you talking just now?”

The tongue licked me once as a response.

Wait.

‘How could I be so stupid? Can’t I just let the mouth on the stomach speak for me?’

‘Then I won’t have to struggle to learn this weird pronunciation.’

I looked at the demon that had remained standing still.

“Hey, you. Can you say it one more time?”

“Of course. Please listen carefully. My true name is — “

Before it could finish, the mouth on the stomach repeated the true name once more.

Instantly, a pitch-black line connected from its body to my wrist, forming an inescapable contract brand, just like when the true name was used to kill a demon before.

‘This… is really its true name?!’