From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 455 True Name Evil Talisman
The syllables of a real name are very complex, and even a master bard with a beautiful voice and a nimble tongue cannot guarantee that every syllable he makes will fall on the correct pitch.

Researching real names is a time-consuming and laborious task.

While only creatures with high intelligence (above 3 points) and sufficient self-awareness possess true names recognized by the world, this does not mean that other things do not have true names.

Because a true name is a language that describes the essence of things, it is, in a sense, a word of creation. Therefore, everything that exists in the multiverse has its own generalized true name.

This generalized true name is the counterpart to the private true name possessed by every intelligent being; simply adding them to spells or incantations can exert a certain power.

The priest's suite of True Word spells is an application of the generalized True Name.

But to restrain a Blood Armor Demon, Ivy must use his real, private name, which is recognized by the world.

Researching a real name is like playing a detective game; you have to discover and understand it from every little clue. This makes the process time-consuming, laborious, and prone to errors.

However, this situation only applies when the research subjects cannot be studied in person and do not know their real names.

As a blood-armored demon, Yogg is very clear about his true name. In fact, every demon in Hell, once it transcends the ranks of inferior demons, learns its true name.

Now that Yog is under the control of Ivy and his teammates, escape is no longer an option.

Therefore, when Ivy is researching the real name, she doesn't need to cosplay as Sherlock Holmes and search for clues everywhere; she only needs to thoroughly study Yog himself.

Just as Blood Armor Demon Yug was still shocked by Ivy's sudden mention of the True Name Evil Rune, Ivy's next move began.

His eyes emitted bright blue-white beams of light, and he sang an esoteric song. Several distorted symbols appeared out of thin air, giving the impression of mysterious magic.

These unusual phenomena are because Ivy is using the [Word of Creation] to activate the spell of Knowing Legends, which can play a significant role in the study of true names.

The runes surrounding the contract text spun continuously, and as they spun, they rapidly changed, forming a dazzling band of light in the eyes of the onlookers.

Under everyone's breathless gaze, a deep red rune, a color completely different from the band of light, sprang out. Its shape remained unchanged, and it crashed straight into the blood signature written by Yog himself on the contract text. Mixed with the demon's blood, it formed the first symbol of the Blood Armor Demon Yog's True Name Evil Rune.

Judging from Yug's horrified expression, he had already recognized the first symbol of his real name.

Next, the process of obtaining Yog's true name symbol was accelerated by Ivy. Crimson devil true names flew out continuously from the rotating stream of light, lining up one after another, and soon corrected Yog's infernal blood signature to the devil's true name evil symbol.

As Ivy's singing gradually faded, the rotating light band lost its power and vanished into thin air like sparks.

Blood Armor Demon Yug was already sprawled on the ground like a lump of minced meat.

Blood Armor Demons are demons who have just entered the high-level demon class. They usually serve as mid-level commanders in the armies under various demon dukes, roughly equivalent to generals in human kingdoms.

Yog had fought countless battles throughout the lives of ordinary mortals, making him a well-traveled and knowledgeable individual. Yet, even he had never seen a method like Ivy's that could acquire a demon's true name from someone unwilling to do so.

"Get up, Yug," Ivy said with a smile, now back to normal. "Our contract isn't finalized yet."

The contract text floating in the air suddenly began to heat up, turning a deep, infernal red, and then the text, which should have been parchment, melted like chocolate.

The dripping viscous liquid landed on the deep purple bricks of the Iron Hand Temple, instantly turning this ancient building material into boiling lava, constantly bursting into dangerous bubbles.

“Come on, friend,” Ivy extended her fair hand, inviting, “Let’s complete the final step of the contract.”

The lava pool presented before the Blood Armor Demon Yug is one of the most widely circulated ways of signing a Hell Contract—using stone as ink.

This method preserves the contract text in stone form, but both parties must place their palms together in the lava when signing the contract.

Once cooled, the stone text will display the imprints of the two people's hands. If both hands of the signatories are cut off and placed inside, the contract will be destroyed along with the two severed hands, as if it never existed.

The Demon Song used by Raphael and Yog when they signed the contract is also a form of Hell Contract. When composing the Demon Song, a loose-leaf musical score is created; soaking it in holy water will invalidate the contract at the cost of the signatory losing their ability to speak.

Of course, there are more than just these two forms of Hell Contract, but all attempts to break the contract will result in both parties paying an equal price.

In comparison, the conditions for breaking the contract with stone are more stringent, because it requires the party who wants to break the contract to face the other party directly and successfully cut off the other party's hand.

Ivy was confident that a Blood Armor Demon was not capable of doing this, which is why she prompted the creation of the contract text in this way.

Yog took a deep breath, glanced at Ivy with a horrified look, and then stretched out his trembling giant hand and pressed it into the lava pool in front of him.

During this process, the lava will not harm either party to the agreement, but if any fool dares to interfere, that's another story.

Seeing that the Blood Armor Demon Yug was obedient, Ivy then placed her hand into the boiling lava as well.

Once both hands, one large and one small, were in place, the boiling magma began to cool rapidly, revealing the contracts that Ivy had previously signed.

"The text is different! You've played a trick!" Yug shouted in shock and anger, accusing Ivy of her despicable behavior.

"This is just a small punishment, a minor deterrent to those who are dishonest." Ivy withdrew his hand, staring with satisfaction at the dark igneous rock contract before him. Initially, Ivy did indeed want to sign a fair contract, but the Blood Armor Demon, who held back somewhat, made things a little more difficult for him, so he had to recoup some interest.

Therefore, he specifically added new supplementary clauses to the Hell Contract. However, Yogg had no chance to verify the text before putting his hand into the lava pool, and thus fell victim to the trap without even realizing it.

The supplementary clauses added by Ivy are far inferior to those of a true devil; they merely supplement Article 9, which is the termination of the service contract.

This supplementary clause requires that the Blood Armor Demon Yogg must generate sufficient value during his service over the past hundred years, or his contract will be automatically renewed for another hundred years. Furthermore, once Yogg has served Ivy for more than five hundred years, his contract will automatically become indefinite.

Unlike the devil who always wants to devour mortals, Ivy has given Yog four chances to gain his freedom. It remains to be seen whether he can seize them.

The Hellish Contract, manifested using stone as ink, would immediately transfer to a safe location once the lava cooled, a location designated by Ivy herself. Therefore, after the interdimensional teleportation spell faded, the contract text had already appeared in Ivy's private demiplane.

From a security perspective, there are very few places that can outperform a private demiplane.

“Now that the contract is signed, we can’t skip the other preparations.” Ivy smiled and showed off the mithril tattoo needle again. “Trust me, friend, it won’t hurt much.”

Aside from the occasional screams of the Blood Armor Demon, the entire tattooing process was rather unremarkable.

However, all the adventurers who participated throughout the entire process showed expressions of reluctance.

“How strange… I never thought I would feel sympathy for a devil.” Karak scratched her cheek, her eyes darting around.

"DOOM possesses a superb skill that can not only be used to arm teammates without spellcasting abilities, but can even be used as a means of torture! Especially the technique of prying open those blood-red armor plates and tattooing deeper layers!" Mingsara, who hadn't looked away and maintained a smile throughout, expressed her enthusiastic agreement, "Menzoberranzan should open a separate academy for this skill! My city will have such an academy, and DOOM must be invited to teach as its honorary headmaster!"

“Lady Shar…please forgive me for turning a blind eye to the horrific scene that has taken place in your temple, for only in this way can we rid your temple of the vermin that have defiled it.” Shadowheart prayed silently, speaking well of Ivy to Shar.

Asdallen hesitated, he had thought his master, Kazador, was a terrifying being like a living hell, but compared to Ivy in front of him, he seemed to be nothing special.

What normal person would want to sign an unequal treaty with the devil? Especially since the inequality is from the devil's perspective.

"Finally...done?" The blood-armored demon, panting heavily, got up from the ground. He felt as if he had been run over by Zariel's hell-engine chariot. "Can I commit suicide and go back to Avernus now?"

“No.” Ivy gave a kind smile. “To ensure the magic tattoo on your skin is effective, I must let you leave the Temple of Iron Hands alive.”

As a true demon, once the Blood Armor Demon Yug dies outside the Nine Hells, he will return to the depths of Hell in the form of a soul, awaiting his next rebirth.

Although Ivy knew Raphael definitely had a way to shorten the time it took for Yug to regenerate, that would mean letting him interfere with the growth of Yug's new body. If the magical tattoo hidden under the skin were discovered, it would only increase the uncertainty.

Using the resonance between the imprisonment tattoo and the demon's true name talisman, Ivy easily trapped the Blood Armor Demon inside the Ottiluc Magic Sealing Orb, compressing it to the size of a glass bead before casually tossing it to Asdalon.

“Since you’re the one who made the verbal agreement with Raphael, then you should hand it over to him,” Ivy explained.

"By Aeo, this may be the most precious glass bead I have ever received in my life!" Asdalon examined the glass bead closely, and the blood-armored demon Yogg inside looked as blank as Santa Claus in a snowflake glass ball.

“Now that we’ve dealt with the Blood Armor Demon, the only one left is the Necromancer Balthazar. We already know quite a bit about the Tower of the Moonrise. If Minsara can’t extract any more useful information from him, we can just kill him.” Ivy raised her chin. “Let’s get moving, my friend. We still need to find a purple orb here. Without that thing, we won’t be able to see the Song of the Night in the deepest part of the temple.”

Upon seeing the adventurers make a move, a wary hiss immediately came from the corner.

It's Nisha, the little pet of Blood Armor Demon Yug.

"Ooh ooh ooh! Calm down!" Gale was closest to the Displacement Beast. It seemed that the Archmage of Waterdeep City had unknowingly found himself in danger again. He spread his hands to try to ease the awkwardness, but what he was met with was the bristling fur of the blue-black cat and tentacles poised to strike.

"Sylvanas, did I hear that right?" Halsin suddenly exclaimed in astonishment, "A Displacement Beast has fallen in love with a Blood Armor Demon?"

“If I were you, Halsin, I wouldn’t be making such a fuss.” Evil Thought shrugged. “Especially after hearing about what happened between you and the Chimera…”

“I did have a fling with a strong chimera for a time, but we are both children of nature, offspring of Sylvanas, so there’s nothing strange about that,” Halsin said seriously. “But with a devil from hell? I’ve never even considered such a thing! He wasn’t even a creature born of nature!”

Ivy rubbed her head. The seemingly gentle and refined Halsin was actually quite wild, especially when it came to choosing a partner. Given their significant differences in views on love, Ivy was even hesitant to join the nightly conversations when he was present.

Because many times Ivy wasn't ready, she would end up with several tire marks on her face. Even after being run over by Halsin's car several times, Ivy still couldn't bear to look at Halsin's abyss-like views on love.

"Oh! I get it now!" Before everyone could figure out whether it was rarer for a druid to engage in life-affirming harmony with a chimera anytime, anywhere, or for a teleporter to fall in love with a blood-armored demon, Gale clapped his hands and announced that he had discovered the key point.

“This big cat is bewitched!” Gale announced loudly. “Its love for the Blood Armor Demon is a twisted product, born from unnatural things like potions or magic.”

Upon hearing this, Halsin and Xie Nian both breathed a sigh of relief.

“I knew nature wouldn’t allow such a rebellious love,” Halsin said.

Evil thought said, "Great, Halsin! You're still the wildest guy I know!"

(End of this chapter)