The moment everything changed was a rather quiet and inauspicious Saturday afternoon. A Saturday afternoon which, until that point, had been proceeding in the hallowed tradition of a devout shut-in: with snacks, a visual novel, and absolute refusal to acknowledge the world outside my bedroom window.
Then the world refused to acknowledge the wall between my bedroom window and itself. A sound like a thunderclap, followed by the sensation of my entire house being picked up and shaken by some cosmic toddler having a tantrum. The last thing I remember before the nothing was a particularly dramatic CG of a silver-haired elf prince.
That. And the grill of what distinctly looked like a commercial food truck.
Then light. A disorienting, infinite whiteness that pressed in from all sides. A disembodied text box materialized before my eyes, glowing with a soft blue light.
[CONGRATULATIONS! ♡] You've won the Grand Prize in the Afterlife Lottery! ✨
Another box appeared immediately after.
[PRIZE]: A New Life in the Fantasy World of Yarventhril!
[BONUS GIFT]: One (1) Free Premium Protector Summon! 🎁
[MISSION]: Defeat the local Demon Lord and return peace to the land!
[SYSTEM NOTE]: This is a non-refundable, one-way trip. No cash value. Void where prohibited. Have fun! ☀️
Before I could even form the thought, "Is this some kind of elaborate prank?" the white void dissolved. I was standing on a perfectly round stone dais in what looked like the central chamber of a ruined temple. Vines snaked up crumbling columns, and the ceiling had caved in to show a sky covered in clouds. A handsome young man with fluffy pink hair and what appeared to be actual, feathery wings floated a few feet away from me.
"Welcome, Hero!" he chirped, clapping his hands together. "I'm Angus, your celestial guide! Are you ready to summon your Protector?"
He gestured to a circle of glowing runes etched into the stone before me. "Just place your hand in the center and think about needing someone super strong to help you out!"
I looked down at my plain human hands, then at the glowing circle. A demon lord. The prompt had mentioned defeating a demon lord. I pressed my palm against the cool stone. I thought about wanting the strongest protector possible. I thought about wanting someone who could handle the actual, literal demon king I was apparently supposed to fight. I thought, rather vaguely, about how handsome the elf in my game was.
The runes flared with a blinding purple light. The ground trembled. Wind, hot and smelling of ozone and something ancient, whipped my purple hair across my face. Angus yelped and dove behind a pillar. A vortex of shadow and crimson energy spun in the center of the circle, growing larger and more violent until it towered over the ruined temple. From the heart of the storm, a figure began to form.
First, a long sweep of blonde hair, so bright it was almost silver. Then broad shoulders, a chiseled chest, and limbs corded with muscle that were completely, shamelessly bare. The only thing he wore was what looked like golden metal bands on his wrists and ankles, a thin strip of cloth over his waist and hips, and a single, intricate golden necklace. His eyes, a luminous, shocking purple, snapped open and locked onto me. They were the eyes of a monster that had just woken up in a cage.
The vortex collapsed inward, and he stood there, silent and terrifying. He was, without a doubt, the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He was also, without a doubt, absolutely furious.
Angus peeped out from behind the pillar. "Wowee! You really hit the jackpot! That's an SSS-Rank summon! I've never even seen one of those in person! He's... not wearing much, is he?"
The demon king's attention shifted from me to the floating angel for a fraction of a second, a look of such profound disdain crossing his features that Angus promptly shut up and retreated. Then his gaze returned to me, burning with a cold, controlled rage. The golden necklace around his neck glinted, and I felt a faint, almost imperceptible tug, as if an invisible thread had connected us.
"Who dares?" The voice was a low, resonant rumble that vibrated through the stone floor.
Angus's frantic text boxes appeared in my vision.
[EMERGENCY! ⚠️] The Binding Necklace activated! It's an obedience collar! He has to obey you and not just attack you!
[BUT! 🔥] SSS-Rank summons are… tricky! They retain their full personality! And he looks… really, really mad!
I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. The demon king took a step toward me, his bare feet making no sound on the ancient stone. He stopped directly in front of me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. He looked down at me, and in that moment, I wasn't a shut-in from Earth or a chosen hero. I was a bug he was contemplating crushing.
"Remove this," he commanded, his finger tapping the golden collar at his throat. The order was directed at me, but the compulsion from the collar seemed to bounce back at him. His jaw tightened. "Now."
My brain, which had spent the last three years doing little more than processing plot points in dating sims, decided this was the perfect moment to short-circuit. All I could focus on was the intricate patterns of the metal, the way it rested against the sharp line of his collarbone, and how unfairly defined said collarbone was. My gaze drifted downwards, following the lines of muscle to the ridiculously tight lines of his abdomen. This was probably not the appropriate response to a death threat.
"Wow," I said, the word slipping out before I could stop it. "They really don't believe in modesty in your world, do they?"
Angus's text box blinked frantically in my peripheral vision. [VIOLET! ☠️] PLEASE DON'T PROVOKE THE SSS-RANK DEMON KING! 💀`
The demon king's purple eyes narrowed. A muscle in his forearm twitched. "Do you dare to look upon me as if I were some piece of meat you've purchased at a market, mortal?"
"Technically, I think that's exactly what happened," I muttered, my gaze still fixed somewhere around his navel. This was, apparently, not acceptable to him. As an incredibly strong hand grabbed my jaw and pried it upward, forcing me to meet his furious gaze.
His touch was rough, fingers digging into the soft skin beneath my ears. I flinched but didn't pull away. If this Binding Collar thing made him like a familiar, it made sense that he couldn't harm me. This was probably just a bluff. A very, very scary bluff.
Particularly because if that weren't true, he seemed the type to immediately just destroy me.
"I am not your 'Protector'," he growled, his face so close to mine I could see the flecks of silver in his purple irises. "I am the Demon King of the Seventh Infernal Plane, and you are an insignificant insect who has stumbled into power you cannot possibly comprehend."
"That's a bit of a mouthful," I managed, my voice muffled by the pressure on my jaw. "Can I just call you 'Demon King'? Maybe 'DK' for short? Like in Donkey Kong, but with more… abs."
He stared at me. The fury in his expression didn't vanish, but it was momentarily eclipsed by raw bafflement. His grip on my face eased just enough for me to draw a proper breath. He seemed to be confronting a problem for which his entire existence as a terrifying, all-powerful entity had not prepared him: a target who refused to be intimidated.
[IMPORTANT INFO! ℹ️] A new blue text box popped up in my vision, complete with a chibi Angus avatar sweating profusely. [The Binding Necklace! 📿] This is your only lifeline! It prevents him from harming you directly! But you should probably still… you know… not make him *too* angry! 💦
The demon king must have noticed my attention flicker. "What are you looking at?" he snapped, releasing my jaw and looking around wildly, as if expecting to see a ghost. "Who dares interfere?"
[TIP! 💡] Another box appeared. [He can't see these`! They're a private telepathic link! Just for you! ♪(´▽｀)]`
I blinked, focusing back on him. "Just admiring the local architecture." I gestured vaguely at the crumbling temple. "Very… post-apocalyptic chic. You're not helping."
"You have summoned me from my throne to this wretched place to speak of architecture?" The Demon King took a deliberate step back, folding his arms across his chest. The motion made every single muscle in his torso and arms stand out in sharp relief. I had to physically stop myself from staring again. "You are an imbecile."
[FUN FACT! 🧐] Angus's text chimed in cheerfully. [He draws power from your own magic reserve! It's a symbiotic bond! If he uses too much, you'll just faint! So try not to demand too much of him! 💤]
"Great," I muttered under my breath. "A magic-sucking battery with anger issues and a six-pack."
The Demon King's head tilted. "Speak your thoughts aloud, insect. Do not mumble like a craven coward."
I sighed. "Fine. I was thinking you're a parasite. You draw power from me, right?"
Well, it was a blunt way of putting it, but it was better than what I said before. And somehow, I doubt he'd like the term 'symbiotic', either.
A cruel smile touched his lips. "You dare to call me the parasite? You who bears the collar? You are the one leeching from my greatness, binding a god to your pitiful mortal will." He flexed the fingers of one hand, and crimson sparks crackled between his knuckles. "This collar merely prevents me from ending your miserable life. It does not make me your slave."
[CORRECTION! ✍️] Angus's avatar tapped its chin thoughtfully. [Technically it *does* make him your servant! But SSS-Ranks have, like, a bajillion layers of mental resistance! It's a feature! Not a bug!👍]
Without warning, the man shot out his hand, and the red sparks flew directly at my face.