American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 523 The First Fallen One's Money to Buy His Life

The Fallen One tried to defeat the tiger with magic again, but found that the magic he used was much weaker. The acid mist, fire, lava and the like could not even hurt the rune's hair after three attacks.

Dark magic fared slightly better, but after a few uses, it could no longer stop Rune's advance. The same was true for time and space magic. In the end, the newly fallen were even forced to use soul magic in an attempt to extract Rune's soul.

However, Rune's resistance to soul magic far exceeded the Fallen Ones' expectations. This mage's soul originated from a higher dimension, and coupled with the Animagus form's astonishing resistance to magic, the Fallen Ones were simply unable to pull Rune's soul out.

Finally, the Fallen One realized that even using all his magic in one go was insufficient to defeat Rune. He was both shocked and enraged, exclaiming, "What exactly are you?!"

Rune remained silent, only continuing to pursue the First Fallen, trying to force him to use more magic to attack him—yes, the First Fallen considered him a formidable enemy, but Rune himself was exploiting the First Fallen.

Seeing the newly fallen one dodge and weave but unable to shake off Rune's pursuit, the future Satan had no choice but to shout, "Enough, I—"

The next moment, he was pinned down by Rune's claws and could not escape.

"I have news, news that could cost me my life!" the newly fallen cried out. "Rune, I know there are some conflicts between us, but this news is truly important. If you don't listen, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"

Rune began to consider his options. He did indeed have some grudges against the Fallen Ones, but this guy never spoke without reason. In addition, given his status and position, it wasn't hard to understand why he was well-informed.

Immediately, a sickening grinding sound came from Rune's body. The tiger skin receded like a tide, revealing the pale skin underneath. His claws curled up and turned back into long, slender fingers. Even his body size shrank rapidly, eventually transforming back into human form.

"Speak, and I'll hear if your information can truly save your life."

The Fallen One took a deep breath. He wasn't foolish enough to think that as long as he ran away now, Rune wouldn't be able to catch him. He knew all too well the methods of mages.

In fact, the current situation has made him somewhat regretful of getting involved in this matter. He did not expect Rune to become stronger so quickly.

However, the Fallen One was able to remain calm. After thinking to himself that he would never interfere in any affairs of this universe again, he took out a piece of parchment from the void.

"Although I know this isn't the best approach, before I announce the news—we should sign a contract. It would be better for both of us. What do you think?"

Rune squinted at the parchment. He could clearly read the words on it: if the message was truly valuable enough to buy the life of a First Fallen One, Rune had to release the First Fallen One. If the value wasn't enough, the First Fallen One was at his disposal.

The problem is, Rune isn't stupid. He knows the nature of the demons of hell all too well. These beasts love to hide things in their so-called contracts, like those patterns on the outer edge of the scroll that seem to be just decorations—

"I don't like these decorations, remove them." Rune didn't even take the parchment.

One of these demons' tricks is that as soon as the victim picks up the parchment, it's automatically assumed that the other party has accepted all the agreements in the contract—

The victim thought the contract required a signature, but in reality, only a fingerprint was needed—that is, simply taking the parchment.

The First Fallen One chuckled and then removed all the seemingly decorative patterns from the contract—they were actually Hellish script containing many oppressive clauses, such as runes never being allowed to oppose the First Fallen One and runes having to help the First Fallen One ascend to the position of Satan, and so on.

He just didn't expect Rune to be so familiar with his tactics.

The newly fallen ones are unaware that the source of runes' understanding of demonic tactics lies with Constantine.

This Hell Detective was intimately familiar with the demons' tricks. Once, while drinking with Rune, he even mocked the demons, saying that after all these years, the demons still hadn't updated their deceptive tactics.

If anyone else said this, Rune would just think they were bragging, but if Constantine said it, Rune would believe it one hundred percent. The majority of the victims of this scumbag were demons, and considering the character of both sides, Rune felt this was probably—fighting fire with fire?

Regardless, Rune kept Constantine's words in mind, thinking that he would need them someday. He just didn't expect that the first person he would use them on would be a newly fallen one.

So, Rune repeatedly smiled and reminded the newly fallen to revise the contract, watching as the pitfalls in the contract were gradually eliminated, including but not limited to invisibility potions, deliberate typos, and magical concealment.

Finally, the Fallen One, unable to bear the frustration of being forced to start over so many times, swept away all the pits with a single wave of his hand. Then, panting heavily, he looked at Rune with eyes that seemed to want to devour him, and asked, "Is that enough?"

Rune narrowed his eyes, still not taking the contract. Instead, he carefully checked it five times to make sure there were no mistakes or omissions before nodding and accepting it. He then casually took out a pen from his workshop and signed his name.

That's right. If you really have to make a deal with a demon, you'd better read all the words on the contract carefully and try not to use any objects from the demon.

After signing, Rune felt as if something was staring intently at him, and this thing was so dangerous that just the gaze made Rune's hair stand on end.

The identity of that thing was not hard to guess, but it inevitably made Rune somewhat amused and exasperated. He hadn't expected that the guarantor of the Hell Contract would be God. However, considering that Hell was essentially God's territory, the mage felt that this was somewhat expected.

"It's Constantine, isn't it?" The Fallen One angrily snatched the contract and questioned loudly, clearly furious that he hadn't managed to trick Rune.

Rune chuckled coldly and nodded, which was considered an answer to the question from the newly fallen.

"Aren't you afraid I'll hold a grudge against Constantine for this?"

"So Constantine is still alive, right?" Rune keenly caught the hidden information in that sentence.

The newly fallen one realized he had let something slip and immediately coughed twice, then stopped talking about it. "Ahem, alright, alright, now I'm going to tell you this important information. First of all, the forces preventing the shield from deploying aren't just Hell, but also Heaven—"

The Fallen One wanted to see Rune's surprised face, but Rune's expression remained unchanged.

"Tell me something I don't know," Rune said calmly. Both Heaven and Hell want to expand their influence on Earth. The difference is that Hell covets human souls, while Heaven wants to expand God's influence, which is to spread His religion.

Therefore, the deployment of the shield also affects Heaven, and it is normal for them to get involved. Moreover, Rune even felt that this would cause conflict within Heaven.

"Alright, alright," the newly fallen one continued, "Some of the Greek gods are only very unhappy with your and other mages' behavior, and some of them have joined us—"

Then, the first-time victim got his wish and saw Rune's wide-eyed stare.