Orichalcum: Chapter 1- Blood Ritual

The legendary leviathan, Sennen, was the most monstrous devil ever to exist. Sealed inside the monster’s body were the power of all seven deadly sins, giving the beast unlimited power amongst the demons. The beast was once a monster even to those in Hell, but using the powers it was given, it escaped the inferno and traveled to Earth. To stop the destruction of the only realm of the living, it took everything that ever existed. With the mightiest of Heaven’s powers the beast was sealed away beyond the Gates of Hell, and into the darkest Abyss. There it stayed for billions of years, for after its sealing nothing remained and the universe had to be created again. With that the Almighty recreated all that was destroyed. The eons passed and no one could remember what happened when the mightiest devil destroyed everything.

Times passed and the art of demon-charming became known throughout the world. One young summoner dared to summon the king of them all, the fiend that destroyed everything. She succeeded, but only the soul was revived. The summoner, she accidentally sealed his soul into the body of her fallen love. However, the powers he originally had, the seven sins, were not. He quickly realized that all of his powers were taken by the Heavenly Ones, taken by the Seven Great Saints to seal away. Now, permanently bonded to a human, Sennen, the greatest hellion, seeks to regain his strengths of the sins and get revenge on those who sealed him away. Bound by the soul-controlling Orichalcum in his heart, Sennen, the God of Hell, in order to regain his powers, must serve a summoner named Hoshiko and get revenge on those who sent him to the Abyss.

This story takes place after the destruction of the universe. Sennen was sealed away by the Seven Great Saints and the Almighty deity, but before that he had destroyed everything. God was forced to remake everything. The setting takes place far beyond what anyone would call today. Billions of years have passed since Sennen’s wrath took everything away, but no one remembers. For with their existence, they were not part of that which was destroyed. Only the greatest holy persons of the Second Coming have been gifted with the knowledge of the First Creation. Second Coming, the second Creation of all things, is where this legacy begins.

1440, Second Coming.

"Okay, I think it’s ready." a young lady said to herself. She brushed her hand across the ground, while moving her long hair out of her face with the other. Her eyes were red and moist; a mix of sweat and tears was across her face. Across her body was a long red dress. She looked behind herself, seeing the motionless body of a young man. His clothes were black and gothic and his brown hair shimmered in the dim light. The girl, she felt the tears begin to well up inside her eyes, but she turned around and looked at the dark ground. Upon it was a circle marked with different encryptions, diverse symbols scattered about. With a deep breath, she clenched her fists and called to the circle.

"Come back to life!" she called. As she did, an enormous pillar of light shot from above her and onto the circle. The light pulsated and the girl found herself smiling, so happy that her plan was working. As her celebration escalated, she heard a thunderous crash from behind her. A crowd of angry people burst through the wall and into the chamber. They yelled and clamored, angry at the ritual that was taking place. To them, this was not right. They feared the other side and were determined to end the ritual. They grabbed the summoner and beat on her with their wielded weapons. They yelled into her face, into her blood-covered face. Weakly, she cried.

"Leave me...to him..." she said, with eyes full of tears and blood. The red elixir fell from her face into a messy puddle, which slowly flowed toward the bright circle of light. The mob of villagers threw the crying maiden to the cold ground. Through her red eyes she saw the white light begin to change into a crimson red. Her eyes widened and she forced herself to sit up. A fiery wind shot from the light and the villagers’ eyes widened in shock at the ceremony’s unexpected metamorphosis. The hot gust of air shot out once again, then a red light began to break from the pillar...and everything froze. The red light froze the fire, the people, all except the young summoner. She struggled to her crippled feet and stood staring at the burning pillar. Through the fire, out of its embrace, walked a figure. The figure’s image was distorted, incomplete. It was taller than her and bathed in an ethereal curtain. She could see the image reach out to her with what appear to be an arm, but the image pulled back, then shot past her. It’s destination was the dead corpse of her deceased treasure. Her eyes moved across the frozen room, bearing blood-filled tears. The body and faint image united in a brilliant flash. "No..." she softly cried. The flash subsided as she limped toward the result. "Please tell me it worked..." she said. The body that was lying on the ground before began to twitch. The limbs began to move more, until the now-living corpse was able to get on its feet. But it was not as it was before. The brown hair was now black with a red streak across it, and the eyes shined with a deep red hue. The summoner gasped and froze in a step. The new life clenched their fingers and examined their body. In a low voice, it spoke.

"Finally...I’m free."

"You’re..." the young summoner stammered. "It...it didn’t work..." The living turned around to the girl, who eyes were full of fright. She staggered backward a bit.

"Are you the one who brought me back?" he said. The girl nodded slowly, still retaining her immense fear. The body opened his palm and revealed his sharp claws upon his fingers. His mouth curved, revealing fangs. "Well, no point in wasting time getting used to this body." he said, moving his claws to the girl’s face. "Die." he said. As he did, he felt a chilling pulse across his body. His claws involuntarily retracted and he felt an intense pain around his arm. Confused, he moved his arm back, only to have the force return even stronger than before. The pain was horrific; each time he tried to attack, the pain returned. The summoner, eyes full of tears, slowly stood up straight. The new figure’s fangs clenched as he tried to withstand the pain. "Dammit, why can’t I harm you?!" The girl then felt her body go numb. Her legs crippled and she fell to the hard ground. There was a cold blast smothering her body. Clenching her chest, she attempted hold it inside her. With a horrifying scream, the Crystal emerged. It was small, compact enough to fit in the hand. It gleamed in its perfect clarity and shimmering texture. The new life reached out to touch; the Crystal’s shine was so intriguing, but constantly haunting to him. He felt the smoothness against his clawed finger, but immediately felt an unbearable burn after the touch. His arm erupted into a white flame; he waved it to put out the flame. "So it does exist..." he said.

"What is that?" the girl quietly said. "And who are you? Why did you take his body?" The beast narrowed his eyes a bit.

"You little witch, you dare vex me, the God of the Demons?!" he said, with his hand still singed.

"The...God of the Demons?" she stammered, looking toward the Crystal. "So you’re...Sennen?"

"Yes, and that thing there," he said, pointing to the Crystal, "is now under your control."

"W-what is it?" she replied, picking it up.

"The Orichalcum." he replied. "You’re the contractor of me. The Orichalcum was inside you, so I cannot harm you without hurting myself."

"But, I didn’t want your soul!" the girl called. "I was...trying to revive someone else." The demon looked to his body.

"Ah, I see. A lost love, I presume." he said, turning to face her. "Well, you made a mistake, you little witch: you let blood into the symbol." The girl’s eyes widened.

"I let...blood?" she said, looking to her bleeding shoulder.

"Blood is the demons’ wine." he said. "But why am I telling this all to you? I have some Hell to raise." He turned to the villagers who were still frozen in time. With a maniacal smile, he raised his hand to the air and called out strongly "Wrath." Nothing happened. With red eyes wide, he continued to shout "Wrath," but nothing. "What the hell? Why can I not use my powers?!"

"It’s because they were scattered." the girl said. The demon turned around.

"What did you say?"

"I learned, from my teacher, that the Seven Great Saints took your powers away." she said, tightly holding the Orichalcum. The demon walked up to her and stared into her crystalline eyes with his mighty crimson ones.

"Hmph, quite an expert we have here." he said. "Well, I’m gonna find those Saints."

"The Seven Great Saints have been dead since the Second Creation."

"I’m not aiming for them. I’ll kill anyone in their bloodline." he said, clenching his claws.

"I’m not letting you go!" she said, holding the Orichalcum. It began to shine brightly and the devil king found himself frozen and bounded. The girl walked toward him with a serious look upon her face. "I’m not letting you do that, not with that body anyway." The devil smirked a bit.

"How about this, little spellcaster: you help me regain my sin powers, and I’ll give you the privilege of sanctuary during the End." he said, still bound by the Orichalcum.

"I...I..." she stammered.

"What if I said that I’d throw in this mortal’s soul as a bonus?" he said, grinning. The summoner froze and nearly dropped the Orichalcum. She felt tears begin to well up, but she forced them back.

"Can...can you really do that?" she said.

"Yes, but I need you to trust this devil before anything happens." he said, still smirking. The girl kept the Orichalcum close to her and extended her other arm to him. With that, she relaxed and the binding spell was released. Standing up and showing his fangs, the god extended his crimson claw to her and touched it in agreement. No pain was felt by either; the decision was set. "Now, what is your name, little witch?"

"Hoshiko. My name is Hoshiko."