CHAPTER 170: Breaking the Contract

  Sgolkr stared at Adam who was shifting on the ground, trying to get his hands under him. Never had the Scyrric felt such fear. Never had he been subdued. Sgolkr knew that he would have felt pressure when in the presence of elders or the invasion commander, those beings so much higher level than he, but that wasn’t the same as his current feelings.

  This fear shook him. It crumbled his foundations and undermined his being. This was the terror of a mouse being caught by a tiger. No amount of struggle would allow the mouse to survive.

  The aberration must die, he thought. The Red Clan failed and now he is more powerful. It must be done before he can grow further.

  Sgolkr took a step. Then another. Finally, he ran with everything he had. It took several gurgling breaths, almost choking on the gore in his shattered mouth, before he realized he was running away from the aberration.

  The terror had wormed throughout his being. He had unintentionally refused to face the aberration, even as the native was helpless on the ground.

  My skill is locked, weakening me for the moment. I’ve lost access to my armory, Sgolkr rationalized. I will evolve my class to grow stronger and learn replacement skills. I will need to find metal durable enough to bond to as a replacement. THEN I will be ready to face the aberration once more.

  With an unbalanced stride due to the armor pieces that he hadn’t removed weighing on him, he ran. When he got within range of a Scyrric soldier he used [Deadly Charge], rocketing to him with a violent collision and then continued running. Confusion filled the Scyrric soldiers, already in a daze from the power of Adam’s roar. They watched their commander flee, a concept they didn’t understand.

  The Sentinel Army had stopped attacking, returning to the walls after being hit with Adam’s roar, but the Scyrric weren’t sure whether to pursue or to follow their leader. This confusion was answered as the remaining Tier 3 leaders announced a retreat, following after their disappearing commander.

  ***

  “Adam? Hey, Adam?” Nick spoke quietly. He squatted next to where Adam lay. The misshapen chest armor was propping Adam’s upper body and head off the ground, though his body’s gravity was keeping the spikes that Sgolkr had made pressing into his skin.

  “Msdfi sdfuopwm ama,” moaned Adam.

  “What?” asked Nick, confused. He placed his gloved hand gently on Adam’s arm.

  “Kljwer dfs nlrkjgnelr.”

  “I can’t understand what you said. Hold on.”

  Nick rolled Adam to his back, where his head flopped down without support, since the armor curved his back, causing his shoulders to hunch forward.

  “Good god!” gasped Nick, seeing Adam’s mangled face. Adam groaned at the movement.

  Hurrying, Nick found a Scyrric corpse that was mostly intact. Bringing it over to Adam, he held it above Adam’s mouth and cut its arm. Blood entered Adam’s mouth, as well as splattering all over him. His jaw seemed to heal and the cuts in his chest stopped bleeding. A second corpse finished the healing and Nick helped Adam to his feet.

  “Thanks, Nick,” said Adam with gratitude. His body was healed but the chest armor was opening new cuts with each movement. “I need to get rid of this chest armor.”

  Nick looked at the armor and felt around the edges and spikes. “Looks painful.”

  Adam grunted in response. Then he opened the Rift Menu and searched for the option to break down objects into rift materials.

  Siege Ended. Features unlocked.

  After reading the notification, the chest armor disintegrated. Adam sighed in relief before picking up another body and taking enough blood to heal. Scars marked all the places the spikes had cut, even after healing.

  “Adam, I’m glad you’re back and all, but we didn’t expect you to be able to escape. Are you alright? You seem a bit worse for wear,” said Nick once Adam was done. Adam swayed, unsteady on his feet as he looked back towards the wall.

  “Yeah, I took some damage that I can’t heal. It’s causing me problems,” acknowledged Adam. Then Adam checked Nick’s tag to see his level and nodded. “It’s good that you made it back too.”

  “When I got a notification that you were no longer a sovereign and my appointment title was removed, I was concerned and came back. Just in time too, as Carmichael’s group was about to take advantage of Colonel Davian.”

  “You lost your appointment title?” asked Adam in surprise.

  “Yeah, it said you pledged loyalty to another.”

  “I would never do that!”

  “We know. That’s why we thought you were being manipulated or something.”

  Adam growled, the vibrations from it causing Nick to step back, almost toppling Adam since he was relying on Nick's support. “Damn that Red Clan! Give me a minute.”

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  Adam dived into himself. He went straight to his memories. Searching through the most recent ones, it didn’t take long as he quickly noticed a golden line from one reaching into the distance. When he looked directly at it, the line shimmered and glowed, but when he turned away it would fade from sight. As he traced it, he noticed that tiny, almost imperceptible strands left it and reached into other parts of his soul. The way it was set up was too devious for him.

  Adam watched the memory. Even though it had originated from Cruxannith, he now had his own copy of it. He had experienced it and thus remembered what happened in his memories. It was the first day of class in the tower.

  “This is a contract. The most important contract that the Red Clan has. All who come to the tower are required to sign it. This contract is not a [System] contract. The matters managed in this contract are too important to leave to an outside entity to arbitrate. What you will be signing is a soul contract. Impossible to break. Should you violate it, your soul will be broken, and you will be reduced to a creature incapable of speaking or thinking.”

  The instructor then chuckled. “Should you be ambitious enough to want more control over your fate, don’t worry. This contract was created by a Tier 5. All you need to do is be one of the few to reach that tier and then the contract will be weakened upon you. Though it will still require the right set of skills to break completely. Let that be something you should aim for.”

  Coming out of the memory, Adam grimaced. A broken soul. That was the consequence. His soul felt this bad just from some damage. How bad would it be if it broke completely. There was no way he could let this stand. Especially since it would damage him should he violate it.

  Who knows how strict those requirements were. It was even possible that the soul damage he had suffered when fighting Cruxannith was in part due to the contract. Otherwise, it seemed weird that she could hurt and disrupt him this much.

  With a great deal of discontent, Adam followed the line through his soul. He shuddered at the number of strands that split off and went to other parts of himself. It was quite the level of control that the Red Clan had. Even just reliving a memory of the contract had bound his soul so much.

  The golden line led to the gaping opening into Cruxannith’s soul, as he expected. Traveling from himself into Cruxannith didn’t have any resistance. At most it was like the pressure change from pushing through a rotating door. As he crossed the threshold there was a bit of a pop, to indicate he was someplace different, but the energy that flowed between the joined boundary felt just as natural as within himself. Thinking of the mind witch’s soul as no different than his own made him shudder again.

  Eventually he reached the end of the golden line. It hadn’t led to Cruxannith’s memory space, which was good because he already shattered that. This part of her soul wasn’t one that Adam was familiar with. It was like a tiny closet, tucked away out of sight. People could just pass it by without even knowing it was there.

  But now Adam did know it was there. He could see a glowing golden bulb, with roots reaching from it into all parts of Cruxannith, similar to the strands in his. Adam almost felt relief that his bindings were so much smaller than hers.

  Adam stared at the bulb, knowing it was the power of the contract. He could feel the power radiating from it, and the resistance it caused to almost all of him. Whether Adam had the power to break it or not, he would never be a stooge for those invaders!

  This contract was created by a Tier 5. All you need to do is be one of the few to reach that tier and then the contract will be weakened upon you. Though it will still require the right set of skills to break completely.

  “Time to see if the memories of a Tier 5 skill will be enough,” muttered Adam. Then he spoke to Nick in his physical body. “I’m about to do something dangerous here. I might need support.”

  “Dangerous to me, or just to you?” asked Nick hesitantly.

  “Just me.”

  “Ok, I’ve got your back, buddy.” Nick came to Adam and held both of his upper arms just in case he fell.

  Inside, Adam drew his energy from his own soul. He found that there was also a mingling effect with the energy in Cruxannith, as if they were attuning to each other. The energy resisted him a little but was able to join with his own to coat the contract.

  Once the glowing bulb was covered so heavily that it couldn’t be seen through his energy, with as much of the roots coated as he could manage, Adam called on his pseudo-skill.

  “[Soul Shatter]!”

  The energy coating the contract began to glow. It wasn’t like the soft, golden glow of the contract. This was a harsher red glow, burning the energy that built up for leveling. It ignited like a very intense skill flash, holding the light. If Adam were looking at it with actual eyes, then he would have been blinded.

  A sizzle sounded and the red light lessened, golden light trying to break through. The roots and strands that came from the contract intensified, fighting back against his skill usage. In the physical world Adam’s body grunted and would have fallen if not for Nick’s grip.

  “Adam, are you ok?” asked a concerned Nick.

  “Concentrating!” was Adam’s response.

  Inside, Adam drew more energy from both himself and Cruxannith. He had killed a lot of invaders, and the stores of XP were quite dense, having become soul energy inside with no purpose to fulfill. Those rushed into the small space and tried to fuel the pseudo-skill.

  Without caring about the time or any damage being done to himself, Adam pulled more and more energy to the spot. In spurts, the golden glow would break through but then fade as the struggle continued.

  “Get...the hell…out!” growled Adam through clenched teeth as his will fought against the contract.

  Sweat was dripping down Adam, both physically and metaphorically as he tried to shatter the contract. He wasn’t sure if he would have run out of energy first if he didn’t have so much XP built up due to his inability to use it. Having Cruxannith’s also helped. While she didn’t have nearly as much as Adam, it arrived first since it had a shorter distance to travel.

  Finally, the golden glow sputtered and faded. As the light dimmed completely, there was a cracking noise as [Soul Shatter] finally did its job, breaking the contract. The roots and strands faded into motes of energy before dispersing.

  With the job done, Adam’s concentration snapped, and he found himself slammed back into his body. A yell tore through his mouth and he almost pitched backwards, having startled Nick who looked at him with worry. Adam breathed heavily, his body hot with exertion and sweat. He relied on Nick to support him.

  “You ok?” asked Nick.

  “Honestly, no. I think I just did more damage to my soul. However, it's also a relief. Before it was like sand trapped in a skinned knee. It not only hurt but also irritated itself. Now it feels like I washed out the abrasion. It hurts but isn’t as bothered now.”

  “You skinned your soul’s knee?” Nick said, trying to lighten things. Adam turned his intense eyes to Nick, regarding him. Nick struggled to hold his gaze, suddenly embarrassed by his lame joke.

  “I skinned my soul’s everything!” responded Adam, a pained smile on his lips. “I’m in much worse shape than I seem.”

  “Really? You seem in very bad shape.”

  “Yup. Way worse than that, but things aren’t finished yet, my Unseen Death.”

  Nick’s eyes opened wide as he got a notification at receiving an appointment title. Then he smiled.

  “That extra agility from the title sure in nice.”

  “I’ll bet. Hope losing it for that time didn’t cause you any trouble.”

  Nick held up his left hand, flapping the two fingers on the glove that were unoccupied. “Maybe a little, but it sounds like you had it worse. How’d you get away from the mind witch? Why don’t you tell me about what you went through.”

  “Let’s wait until the whole group is together. Just know that the mind witch won’t be bothering us again,” responded Adam. Then his eyes drifted to the distant part of the wall where Lucas and the others were gathered. “Besides, the fight isn’t done yet. On to the next enemy!”

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