Give me my freedom and revenge, and I shall give you what is rightfully yours,

Prince Segeric returned back and immediately, started to talk with the demonic book in the prince's room.

"Well, thank you for telling me about the plans of the queen and king Rufus," the prince said to the demon in the book, "Tell me how you did it?"

"We demons can be older than many races, and you become incredibly wise when you live long enough as I have. We also have numerous divine powers that we can use, what may come useful to our partner and us," the demon explained.

"I believe we are not yet partners. I know what demons are. You manipulate and want to create winds of pandora so you can become stronger. I know more than well not to trust a demon."

"But you did trust me just now and see what it gave you," the demon said with a big smile appearing on the book's cover.

Segeric then went silent.

"What I want and wish to accomplish happens to be the same as what you want. I want to see the city of Kairouan burning with the queen of the Saracens lying dead on the burning rubble."

"And then what? You will plunge your claws into me and move on to destroy the Heian empire?" Segeric asked with a smile.

"Oh, but you can prevent that. I hear that your emperor and empire are strong. Stronger than me, even. I would think then that I would not want to anger a human strong as him. We demons hardly ever take any unnecessary risks. Destroying Kairouan is risk-free. Attacking your empire, not so much. After I have burned down the city of Kairouan and killed the queen, I will move on to a different world," the demon Caval explained.

"And I should trust you?"

"That is for you to decide. But for a second, think what the emperor, your father, would do if he heard of your great success. I remember you mentioning you being the second prince. You are not the first in line to inherit the throne, then?"

Segeric pondered for a second.

"Give me my freedom and revenge, and I shall give you what is rightfully yours," Caval stated.

"It would be a great knot on my belt if I was able to destroy Kairouan and bring the queen, the only one likely able to rival my father, to heel. Say I decide to help you. What should I do to make this happen?"

"It is easy. There is a great bookshelf in the room that the witches guard. There my brethren are sealed. With the help of my brothers, I can destroy Kairouan. Keep the queen busy during the dinner, and I will take care of the rest."

"And how do you. A book. be able to do this?"

"Call one of your soldiers here and give me to him."

Prince Segeric then went to call in a Varangian. He ordered the soldier to grab the book. The soldier seemed confused, but he grabbed it and flipped a few pages not thinking much of it.

Then many arms appeared between the covers and started to fuse with the soldier. He tried to resist and yelled out to the prince to save him, and the prince instead looked intrigued and felt no remorse for sacrificing him.

Soon the soldier fell, and the book started to fuse with the soldier's entire body. The soldier lay cold on the floor, like both Caval and the Varangian were dead.

As Segeric got closer to inspect, the soldier's corpse rose like a zombie. Its body grew more extensive, and three tails appeared from its behind, with its muscles growing more significant. The being in front of Segeric was three meters tall with razor-sharp claws and no eyes.

"Aaaaaaah, not the best body to possess, but I finally can move freely," Caval said as he inspected his new flesh.

Segeric took steps back. Caval's menacing aura of pure winds of pandora was almost suffocating.

"Ahhh, do not be afraid. Let me take a better form, much more appealing for humans." Caval said and started to get smaller.

He then turned to the Varangian, whom he had just forcibly possessed.

"Is this a normal skill for all demons?" Segeric asked.

"Possessing someone weaker than you is a normal skill for a demon of my caliber. If the one we possess is strong, we can become stronger. But if we try to possess someone who is too strong, or we try to possess them too early, we might just get killed. Or worse, forced to be captivated inside the beings body, never truly being the one in control."

"So you are currently able to defeat the queen?"

"Most likely, no, but the help of the other demons on the shelf will help enough for us to kill her."

"You mean the other demons who are sealed like you are?" Segeric said, indicating he knew what Caval wanted.

"Most of those demons are not as strong and old as me, but with their help, I am sure I can burn Kairouan and the queen to ash. You just make your escape when you start hearing the screams of Saracens."