After reaching a preliminary agreement to cooperate with Nanahoshi Shizuka, Cui Ciyou brought a book back from her disaster zone of a laboratory.
The book had a plain, simple title: "Higg's Summoning Magic."
Its cover was made from some unknown, tough leather, and its yellowed pages carried the weight of passing years. Cui
Ciyou had initially expected it to contain basic theories of summoning magic or perhaps some lost ancient magic circles.
Yet after spending an entire afternoon carefully reading the book from cover to cover, he realized he had been completely mistaken.
The book contained no specific instructions for casting spells, nor did it depict any types of magic circles.
From beginning to end, it told only a single story.
Its protagonist was an exceptionally gifted witch named Higg. Obsessed with summoning magic, she spent her life pursuing the summoning of legendary monsters more powerful than herself.
At the beginning of the story, she summoned all manner of bizarre monsters in succession. From hellhounds and gargoyles at first to abyss demons and chimeras later... her skill grew steadily, and her fame rose along with it.
Yet none of this satisfied her ambition.
At the end of the story, she exhausted her life's savings to gather a mountain of precious offerings. She performed an unprecedented, grand summoning ritual that consumed every last bit of her magic power.
In the end, she succeeded.
From the endless gaps between dimensions, she successfully summoned a legendary ancient magic beast a hundred times more powerful than herself.
But before she could celebrate her success, the savage, ravenous beast she had summoned killed her with a single bite and swallowed her petite body whole.
At the story's end, the witch Higg's disciples were overcome with grief. Before their teacher's grave, they swore a blood oath