Belial

For half a century, a legend has been passed down in the Summoning Department of the Sage's Academy: In the Summoning section of the Library, there is a book called the “Book of Malice,” left behind by a senior many years ago.

This book records powerful summoning magic, but its pages, words, and symbols together form an exquisitely intricate summoning circle. When the reader finishes the last page, the circle is completed, and the reader is drawn into the book as a summoned being, with their soul instantly stripped away to become a servant in another world.

The infamous book was allegedly responsible for the disappearances of 18 Summoning students over the past fifty years. As a result, the Academy sealed off the Summoning section and conducted a thorough investigation that lasted three full years. However, the legend of the “Book of Malice” has never died. Even after the reopening, daring students continued to search through the 47,835,700 books in the Summoning section every year, just to get a glimpse of the truth.

Perhaps the Academy's efforts paid off, as no student has gone missing ever since. Each year, someone would claim to have found the “Book of Malice”, but it always turned out to be an ordinary book of summoning magic.

Where did the Book of Malice go? Did the Academy find and destroy it? What happened to the missing students? Or is the legend nothing more than a made-up story? These questions have been the talk of the Academy for generations of students, and the book itself is listed among the Ten Legends of the Sage's Academy. Perhaps its truth will remain forever hidden, or perhaps its revealing is just a moment away...

58 years ago, Summoning section of the Library, Sage's Academy.

“Are you kidding me? What use are these scrawny arms? How could you possibly be worthy to serve me, the great Dark Summoner, Deryn? A total disgrace. If you weren't the property of the Academy, I'd have torn you into pieces by now--- Never mind, I'll just hide you somewhere else. Let's see who's the ‘lucky’ one to stumble upon you, and that would be so much fun!”

Even Deryn, the summoner himself, never noticed the true power of the otherworldly creature he summoned through the dark arts using that grimoire. However, by a strange twist of fate, the Dark Summoner returned to the Academy fifty-eight years after his graduation, under orders from the Nightfall Legion to steal the shards of “Nirvana Flame”. There, he felt a surge of dark energy emanating from the very book he had left behind. Driven by intense curiosity, he decided to sneak into the Summoning section of the Library. Despite the sealing magic applied, the chaos caused by the Nightfall Legion's invasion provided Deryn the distraction he needed to lay his hands on the magic book.

After awakening the otherworldly creature in the book with his summoning magic, he was greeted by deep-purple, bulky arms, and demonic eyes flaring with dark flames under a wizard hat.

“It's...you...” The voice sounded like the scraping of iron, hoarse yet resonant at the same time. Otherworldly power instantly filled the room, creating an oppressive tension that enveloped Deryn. The summoning gem on his chest flickered, but he realized to his horror that he had lost all connection to his summoned creatures.

“My---master.”

The colossal hands reached out toward Deryn, as if to embrace the master he had been “missing” for decades.

But then, the hands clenched tightly, crushing his body with a grip.

Belial could barely remember what his so-called “Otherworld” even looked like. The last clear memory he had was his parting from his family as a child when a powerful force wrenched him away. The searing pain tore through his body, as if he were being ripped apart. When he came to, his home had gone. Before him stood a strange man, murmuring to himself, “Are you kidding me...”

Then, Belial was sealed within a closed magical book, plunged into an endless abyss of darkness and solitude. Time passed, and thanks to his innate ability to absorb magic and the book's naturally formed magic circle, he managed to devour the power of over a dozen readers. But that wasn't enough to free him from his prison.

Alone in the darkness, he could only wait for the “master” who had brought him to this world, one who may or may not ever return...

Utter despair tore at Belial's soul, and what sustained him through the infinite darkness and solitude was his burning desire for revenge. Perhaps fate had taken pity on him. One day, he finally sensed the presence of his master. Suppressing his overwhelming rage and a rush of exhilaration, he unleashed every ounce of his power, desperate to draw that man's attention.

He's here! He's here! He's here! He spoke the unsealing incantation. He infused the book with his magic!

It's time! It's time! It's time! He extended his arms. He embraced him tightly!

The “master” Deryn now sleeps eternally within the Summoning section of the Library, in the embrace of his “summoned creature”.

Summoned creature? Summoned creature? Summoned creature? No! No! No! It shouldn't exist!

It shouldn't exist!

It shouldn't exist!

The name of the Dark Summoner Deryn was erased from the Nightfall Legion's roster. In his place emerged the otherworldly entity who called himself “Cursed Soul.” The lone wolf's whereabouts were elusive, with a seemingly fractured mind. Only one thing was certain: he had declared a singular, chilling purpose: to hunt down every summoner in existence and exact his revenge.