Wrong Name 05.

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***Chapter Three***

"I need a verbal agreement," Lythia spoke up when the boy nodded at her in a dazed manner. In his eyes, Lythia could see pure and unbridled lust. In his mind, she could see the battle raging. With every bit of his willpower, he was fighting to keep from jumping on her.

"I, Dion Caldwell, agree to aid you in your quest to take over the world and hell itself," Dion had found himself saying.

A beautiful laugh left Lythia's lips. "A simple 'yes' would have sufficed," She replied.

Dion suddenly felt a flood of power flow into him. At first, he'd been nervous that the demon was trying to do something to him. When he looked up at her, however, she too seemed to be experiencing the same influx of power that he was. Her eyes were closed and from the look of concentration on her expression, she was paying close attention to the power flowing into her.

Borrowing a leaf from her, Dion chose to do the same. Closing his eyes, Dion allowed himself to get lost in the sensation of the power that was flowing into him. He wasn't sure what, if anything, he was supposed to be looking for. As such, he paid attention to every sensation just in case there was something he needed to be aware of.

At first, all he felt was a foreign force entering his body. The longer he focused on it, however, the more he felt something coming into focus in his mind. After about a minute, the power was fully in focus. It wasn't just amorphous power, instead, in his mind's eye, Dion found himself looking at runes and symbols of various kinds. He was certain that he'd never seen them before, and yet, for some reason, Dion could understand what it was saying. He couldn't understand what each symbol meant. Put together, however, Dion knew that he was looking at the contract between him and Lythia.

Dion focused on them when new symbols appeared in his mind. A frown crossed his expression as he understood what they meant. These new symbols made it so that according to the contract, Dion would be required to offer absolute obedience to Lythia. In a flash of insight, Dion immediately understood why there had been a look of concentration on Lythia's expression. This was the real contract between the two of them. All that they had just said before, was nothing more than hot air. All she'd been trying to do was get him to agree to set up a contract between them. The contract itself couldn't be set up before both parties agreed to be part of it. It was only now after they had both agreed to set up a soul contract, that they could edit the content of the contract itself. This was the real negotiation table!

The new symbols that had flashed in his mind were immediately erased as Dion rejected that condition. With his eyes closed, Dion didn't see the look of shock that crossed Lythia's expression as her eyes opened to look at him. The contract between a coven and a demon, especially the high-level ones were usually handled by the high priest of the coven, who often was also the head of the coven. These people had to have trained both their minds and have heightened their soul's sensitivity to be able to even perceive the soul contract let alone edit it.

The boy before her, however, had just skipped over all that. Even more shocking still, he'd not only perceived the contract but had also outright removed a clause from a demon lord without having to negotiate with the said demon lord. Part of the reason why it was so hard and dangerous to summon high-level demons was this exact step of the summoning. High-level demons were very hard to negotiate with. If the one they were negotiating with was much weaker than them, then they would just put up whatever they wanted on the contract and refuse to have it changed or removed. This boy, however, had just removed one of her conditions as easily as he breathed!. Lythia had to review the memories she'd extracted from him more carefully to see if he'd had some secret training in the occult that she somehow missed. She came up empty as she knew she would. This, however, only deepened her curiosity and fascination with the boy.

It was an incredible thing that a single boy had been able to summon a demon lord using his soul energy alone. It was something that had shocked Lythia. When one had lived as long as she had, however, they sometimes got to see things that they would never have thought possible. She had been willing to write it off as one of those rare but random flukes. But when the same boy became able to casually do things that took even high-level coven masters years of training to do, even she had to pay attention. Something more was going on with this boy that she didn't as yet fully comprehend.

Lythia had to force herself to close her eyes once more and turn her attention back to the contract, lest the window for editing it close before she'd added anything on it. Unlike Dion, it barely took five seconds for her to access the soul contract. When it came into focus once more, there was another even bigger shock in store for her. While she had been distracted, the boy had managed to add three conditions.

The first clearly stated that he was her servant, not her slave. While he would do all he could to help her in her goals, he still retained the right of refusal if she asked of him something that he was objected to. The second was a condition that stated that he was only under obligation to help her if she reciprocated by helping him get stronger. If for whatever reason she refused to help him become stronger, then he was no longer under any obligation to do anything she said or help her in any way.

The third and final thing that Dion had added to the contract was the most detailed. It was a condition that stated that if Lythia tried to harm or torment or torture or kill him in any way either directly or by proxy, then the soul contract binding them would not only prevent her from growing any more powerful, it would slowly eat away at her power till she was no stronger than an imp. The only exception written into the contract was if the pain was a necessary part of Dion growing stronger. But in such a case, she was obligated to tell him beforehand and obtain his verbal agreement to whatever she had in mind.

The conditions reinforced her view of him as a shrewd negotiator. Especially the third one. Instead of making the punishment for breaking the condition death, he had made it her losing her power. From her goals, he'd been able to put together that what Lythia valued the most was getting stronger and being able to rule over those weaker than her. To her, death was much more preferable to being weak. As such, he'd put in the condition she feared more than death. But while the boy's stipulations were impressive, they weren't what shocked Lythia. What shocked her was the fact that, unlike what he'd done with her first addition to the contract, she was unable to remove any of what he'd put on the contract. Something that would only happen if the one who had put the condition was stronger than the one trying to edit it!

This boy that she could easily snap in two with but a thought, the soul contract considered him to be stronger than her?! How was that even possible. Her jaws clenched as she put all of her effort and concentration into removing the conditions that he'd set forth, especially the third one. But as the seconds ticked by, she grew more impatient. They only had a five-minute window to edit the contract before it was set in stone. In the end, she was forced to leave his conditions as they were as she couldn't do anything about them. If she didn't turn her attention to adding her own stipulations, the contract would be set in stone without any contribution from her.

On his end, Dion wasn't aware of what was going through Lythia's head. Instead, after removing the underhanded condition that Lythia had tried to sneak past him, he had put up his own. Dion was way out of his depths as far as soul contracts were involved, and he knew it. As such, he hadn't been willing to screw around. He didn't know if there was a set limit of what he could and couldn't add to the contract. As such, he'd been careful about the things he put on there. The first had been to safeguard and protect the freedom she had just tried to take from him. The second condition had been to ensure that she would hold up her end of their agreement. As soon as she stopped holding up her side of it, then he would also no longer have to do anything for her.

The final condition he'd put up had been to protect his own safety from any malicious intent she might bear against him in the future. Despite her beauty and sexual appeal, Dion had forced himself to remain conscious of the fact that he was dealing with a demon. If in the future she was angry or displeased with him for whatever reason, Dion didn't want to imagine what she'd do to him. He was unwilling to leave himself at her mercy. As such, he'd been careful to state that the only kind of pain he was willing to endure was the kind that would leave him stronger in the long run.

Dion had been about to think up other conditions to add when he felt Lythia trying to erase the ones that he'd already put up. Dion had immediately abandoned any attempt to add more into the contract. Instead, he'd directed all of his efforts towards keeping the first three conditions on the contract as they were. Any effort to either tamper with or remove altogether, any of the three conditions put forth, would be vehemently rebuffed by Dion. The three conditions he'd put forth were the minimum he was willing to have if he was going to be part of the contract, otherwise, he'd reject the contract altogether.

Eventually, Dion felt Lythia cease her attempts to remove what he'd already put up, and move to add conditions of her own. The first of her conditions to appear made Dion's servitude a lifetime one. For as long as Dion was alive, he would be working for her. At first, Dion wanted to object and make it a short-term agreement between the two of them. After thinking about it, however, he realized that it was more beneficial to him that way. Given his second condition, he would only have to serve her if she was helping him get stronger. This meant that to keep him as a servant for his whole life, she would have to continuously help him get stronger to his dying day.

The second condition from the demoness was a requirement of loyalty. Dion wasn't allowed to serve any other demon other than Lythia whether they be less or more powerful than she was. Dion didn't exactly mind this. He didn't have a plan of consorting with other demons anyway. The third clause that she put up was also related to loyalty. Dion wasn't in any way allowed to sabotage, betray, or in any way work against her, whether directly or by proxy. He couldn't share her plans or secrets with anyone unless whatever he shared helped in the overall success of her plans. The penalty that she put for breaking either condition two or three was that Dion would lose the protection of his third condition. Dion had been completely objected to this and had tried to remove this part. This time, however, Lythia had been prepared and after a minute-long battle between the two of them, they had settled on Dion losing the protection of his third condition only for a day every time he broke either condition.

Dion didn't know whether Lythia had planned to add other conditions or not. But suddenly, the runes flashed brightly and then began to fade away. But even as they faded away, Dion felt like someone was marking him. The time for editing the contract was up. It was now set in stone. Even without having to ask, Dion knew that they were both now bound by the soul contract. Dion couldn't help but smile at the symmetry. In the end, Both Dion and Lythia had only gotten to put up three conditions on the contract. He didn't know of Lythia had put up what mattered to her the most. He, on the other hand, was quite satisfied with what he'd put up.

Lythia couldn't help the annoyance she felt as she opened her eyes. Even worse than the fact that she'd been unable to remove the conditions that the boy had put up, the boy had forced her to change the conditions that she had put up. She had tried her best to keep the condition as it was, but the contract had kept on rejecting it because it recognized Dion as the stronger party of the two. If Lythia hadn't put everything she had into forcing through a suspension of his third condition for a day if he broke her conditions, then she wouldn't have gotten even that much.

Lythia was starting to worry that she had lost a lot more than just power over the millennia. Had her soul become weak enough to be overpowered by a child? But she was still a demon lord, so that couldn't have been it. And yet, according to the soul contract, he was the stronger of the two of them. But how?

Almost as if in response to her question, the answer came in the next second when Dion opened his eyes. Lythia had to school her face to keep her expression neutral when the boy's eyelids opened up to reveal bright purple irises looking up at her. All of a sudden, it all made sense. The reason he'd been able to sense the contract wasn't because of some secret occult training he'd gotten. It wasn't even because of some outstanding thing about the boy. Instead, it was because he had a demon lord's soul energy already flowing through him. With a demon lord's soul energy in him, his innate soul sensitivity must have shot through the roof. With her energy inside him, not sensing the soul contract would have been the mystery.

It also explained why the soul contract had considered the boy stronger than her. When she had appeared in this realm, the boy had barely had ten percent of his total soul energy remaining. She hadn't been willing to take any chances with him, so she had pumped him full of her soul energy till he was back at one hundred percent. The boy before him now had the soul energy of a demon lord circulating through him and a bit of his own. To a soul contract, what mattered more was the quality of soul energy, not the amount one had. As such, by saving the boy's life she had unwittingly given him the upper hand in the soul contract negotiations. With her soul energy already circulating within him, it was the little bit of his soul energy that he'd remained with, that gave him an edge over hers.

The reason why demons didn't share their soul energy with humans, was because it would take away from their powers, leaving them weaker. Lythia, however, had already been significantly weakened by the time she appeared in the mortal realm, losing a bit more of her power didn't make all that much difference. Not to mention the fact that being slightly weaker was still incomparably better compared to being made into a slave for the princes of hell. As such, Lythia wouldn't have acted any differently even if she had to do it all again. However, due to filling him with her power, she hadn't gotten as much out of the soul contract as she would have wanted to. 'Annoying, but considering what would have happened if I didn't save him, acceptable,' Lythia found herself thinking.

Back when she had been a powerful demon lord, she'd heard of a few demons sharing their soul energy with humans. If memory serves right, it usually took a few weeks to a few months for any changes to show on the human. But then, if she had to put it in proportion, those demons usually gave less than a percent of the human's total soul energy. And even then, it was a chance that was only given to a demon's most loyal followers. The most she had ever heard given was five percent. She, on the other hand, had almost completely replaced the boy's soul energy after just meeting him, even before they had established any contract between them. Something that no demon would ever do.

It had only been an hour since Lythia had appeared in this realm and yet the soul energy she had pumped into the boy had already begun to affect him. Lythia wasn't all too surprised, however. After all, unlike the demons she'd heard of in the past, she hadn't just given the boy a small amount of soul energy. Barely ten percent of the soul energy he now had was his own. The rest was from her. It was a wonder that there hadn't been more drastic changes to the boy as a result of what she'd done. Even his eyes which seemed to have turned purple like hers as a result of interacting with the soul contract were slowly reverting to their natural jade color.

It also, now occurred to her that, had the boy refused to form a contract with her, he still would have walked away with what he wanted. He would have been far stronger than he'd been before he met her. And more importantly, if he nurtured his power the right way, he would have grown to be more powerful than most humans on the planet. In short, the only one who had truly benefitted from the contract between them was her. This thought removed the sting of having lost the soul contract negotiations and caused a smile to cross her face. In the end, it was she that had won.

"You know," Dion spoke up. "I know you are a demon and all, but if you want this arrangement between us to go smoothly, don't try underhanded tricks with me," Dion spoke in an icy tone.

"You said it yourself," Lythia spoke up with a smile, completely unfazed by his demeanor. "I'm a demon, not charity," She replied.

Dion regarded her for a while before stating. "We are going to be lifelong partners. If you want this relationship to be full of lies and underhanded tricks from both of us, then I'm game," He said with a shrug. "But if you want all of our focus to be on achieving our goals instead of wondering whether we can trust each other or not, then you can't lie to me. Ever!" he stated with a note of finality.

In any other situation, Lythia would have slapped him into the wall before making sure he understood in the most painful way possible, why it was a bad idea to threaten her. With the contract binding them, however, all she could do was remind herself that in a hundred years, he'd in all likelihood be dead. While for humans, this was a long period of time, for her it was but a blink. Before she knew it, he would be manure in the ground. Besides, he was going to play an important role in her plans, she couldn't afford to antagonize him. She had already put it in the contract that he couldn't do anything to harm her plans. Being a demon, however, she knew better than most that there was almost an infinite number of ways that one could find loopholes in soul contracts. As such, despite her intense displeasure, she simply smiled and said. "Okay. We'll try doing it your way," she replied. "Now strip!" she commanded...