1195 Belphegor's Trap
Date- 5 April 2321
Time- 04:14
Location- Southern Region, Blossom district, Sky Blossom City, Outskirts
I was surprised to learn that it only took seventy percent of Belphegor’s original power to temporarily boost my realm to that of a regular demigod of this world. I guess the devils were more powerful than the Demigods of this world.
What surprised me, even more, was that Belphegor had stated everything I wanted to ask of him to wager on except for the time limit and killing the semi-demigod chick. It was as if he had read my mind and crafted the perfect wager that I could not deny. Not to mention the ticking time, Anna seems to be in bad shape. This had to be concluded now.
But there were two problems, the five minutes time limit and killing the semi-demigod chick. Even if I were to agree to the time limit, killing the semi-demigod chick was not an option. Because I had a feeling that if I killed the semi-demigod chick borrowing the devil’s power her special mortal soul would be dragged to hell by the devil. Considering that the semi-demigod’s ability was like a doorway to this world’s will, if I were to let the devil have her soul I would be the greatest sinner of this world if the devil were to use her soul to invade this world. This condition of the devil I could not agree with no matter what.
Other than that it was really interesting how Belphegor was not only forcing his stakes for the wager on me but also what we should wager about. I was right to be cautious about not revealing my intentions to Belphegor right away. Not that it was of any help, Belphegor still deduced the real reason I summoned him and was now using it and slipping time to put me on the spot and force me to accept the wager and its stakes he decided on. Proving that he was a devil merchant.
“Belphegor, I can agree to the wager you proposed but you will have to remove the time limit and change the condition of killing the assaulter to defeating the assaulter. You and I both know why I will not kill her using the powers borrowed from you,” I said using a deep voice implying that I was dead serious about these changes to the wager Belphegor proposed.
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“There are many things worse than death, she will pay for her crimes,” I argued and then asked, “Shall I draft the contract for the wager?”
“No, I have already drafted it, sign it at your convenience,” Belphegor said summoning two monster skin parchments.
“…” Taking the monster skin parchment from Belphegor I went through the contract he drafted trying to find any possible land mines and suggest a few terms and conditions.
I was not surprised that Belphegor did not agree to remove the time limit, as he said the time limit helped eliminate the many possible loopholes either of us could misuse but I still stated it to him so that I had more leverage to force him to change the condition of killing the semi-demigod chick to defeating her.
Seeing the monster worm go through the contract and suggest terms and conditions be added Belphegor was not annoyed because he knew he was going to win the wager and wash the shame the mortal had brought upon him. Was Belphegor being overconfident? Nah. At the first glance, the wager seems fair or even favoring the other party by giving him the strength of a demigod to fight a semi-demigod but in reality, it was not fair. It was set up such that the monster worm would lose.
Why did Belphegor feel that the monster worm would lose against a semi-demigod despite having the strength of a demigod? That was because in this world having the higher realm did not guarantee a win, especially if you do not have the realm-appropriate cards to fight your battle.
Though Belphegor was lending his powers to the monster worm to boost its realm to that of a demigod. The monster worm did not have demigod realm cards or abilities to help with its battle when its opponent not only had a strong physique that allowed her to fight and defeat the enemies of the higher realm but she had a complete set of high-tier cards tailored for her realm and her fighting style. Just relying on her legendary physique the girl was able to kill demigods with her semi-demigod realm, together with her legendary physique and legendary card set, she will be easily able to defeat the monster worm whose realm was boosted to the demigod realm.
Yes, Belphegor had not forgotten to consider that the monster worm was not what it seemed. It was able to summon a golden grimoire meaning it was a card apprentice in disguise. It must have a powerful physique considering that it was a special mortal soul, and maybe the realm boost was all it needed to defeat the semi-demigod. Therefore, as a contingency, he had placed a five-minute time limit for the monster worm to defeat the semi-demigod. After a lot of calculations, Belphegor had concluded that no matter how strong the monster worm’s physique was, the semi-demigod with her legendary physique and legendary card set would be able to last more than five minutes under the monster worm’s attacks.
Above all, just because the monster worm’s realm was boosted to the demigod realm, did not mean that it would have full control over its strength not to mention it would not have divinity the real source of strength of a demigod. The chances of the monster worm winning were very low. Belphegor had put a lot of thought into this wager to make sure of it. As this wager was about his pride as a devil merchant, no mistakes were allowed this time.
“There, I signed it,” I said while keeping my copy of the contract and handing Belphegor his copy. Soon I felt an unknown energy filling my body and temporarily rising my active soul control percentage to the demigod realm.
“Your five minutes begin now.”