“Nuk, Mulius. I want to speak to you,” I called as I returned to the Legion camp. The feral- wild- Huskar both looked up from the lessons one of Bon’s officers gave the wild giants, then immediately glanced back at their instructor. That was a good sign.

  The officer glowered then looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “It's important,” I said as casually as possible. After testing the spell on Wilson and immediately cancelling it when the design screen appeared, I understood the potential of this new power. I was finally ready to see if I could find a willing guinea pig to try it on.

  “Permission to fall out,” growled the officer. Nuka and Mulius moved out of the ranks and followed me as I led them outside the fort. We’d be marching south tomorrow, and I had one last thing to get ready. Whether or not Mortimer had unlocked a similar spell, I needed to use it on one of my soulbound servants. After a lengthy discussion with Fay, we’d concluded these two monsters were the best candidates.

  “What is it, Legate?” asked Nuk.

  “I’ve got a spell.” We were moving into the steppe, and the grass knee-high on me barely reached Nuk’s ankles. Mulius, at two metres taller, looked like he was walking on a neatly trimmed lawn. “It lets me change one of my soulbound servants. I can use it to make that person stronger, tougher. It’s permanent.” I stopped and turned to look up at the giants. “I was hoping one of you would be willing to accept the power.”

  “Just compel us,” grumbled Mulius.

  “I won’t do that. You won’t be the same afterwards, and I won’t force it on anyone.” Nuk narrowed his eyes and flicked a look over at Mulius standing next to him.

  “How much stronger?” he rumbled.

  “A lot. As far as I can tell, I can make you much bigger and stronger. You won’t be unkillable, but I doubt I could match you physically if you accept.” I knew I wasn’t selling this well. Fay had told me just to tell them it would make them unstoppable, and as far as anyone with magic was concerned, they would be. But I’d be able to nuke them, and in light of the sacrifice this would entail, I wasn’t going to lie to them about it.

  “But magic would still kill me?” asked Mulius.

  “It would. I’d give you some more Souls to build your resistances and upgrade your spells.”

  “How many?” Mulius’s eyes gleamed with greed.

  “A lot. If one of you accepts this, I’ll make you as powerful as possible,” I ground out through clenched teeth.

  “What’s the cost? You don’t want to do this, or you wouldn't be asking. You’d be telling!” rumbled Mulius. Was that what they thought of me?

  “I already said it’s permanent. There won’t be any going back.”

  Nuk and Mulius turned, looked at each other, and began barking in some guttural language I couldn’t understand. Nuk rose up on his toes as his voice rose to a roar, and his fist flashed upwards, but Mulius lashed out and laid him out cold with a blow to the chin. Giant teeth fell to the ground as Nuk fell backward.

  “Not for you, young one. You might still sire sons.” Mulius had intended it to be a whisper, but the words rang out clear and loud in a language I understood.

  “Is that decided then?” I asked. “You won’t be the same.”

  “You already said that short arse. I heard you then. I agree,” Mulius chuckled. I twanged the bond, and he winced. “No need for that, Legate. Heal him, and we can get started.” I’d compelled honesty, and he couldn’t lie to me. Forcing someone to tell the truth when I asked if they were happy to do something felt like a moral ouroboros, but it was the best I could do.

  “I’ll heal him later. I need the mana for this. Give me your hand,” I said as I slipped a storage ring chock full of disassembled mammoth bits onto my left index finger. Mulius extended a single digit to rest against my upturned palm, and I activated Shape Soulbound Servant.

  The design screen appeared in my vision. The system was willing to help out on this one. I assumed that because no human could be capable of the unassisted modification of another being’s biology in the fashion the spell made possible without killing them.

  Mulius appeared in my mind's eye. His nervous, limbic and circulatory systems highlighted in different colours. Muscles, organs and bones stood out in sharp contrast against each other. I needed resources to make the changes, and each change would cost mana, hence my refusal to heal Nuk a moment ago.

  I began pulling from the available resources in my rings, biological and metal, to rebuild his skeleton. The schematic grew to over sixteen metres tall, and I thickened the muscles, making him strong enough to still move despite the total weight increasing so dramatically.

  Thick fur, blended with steel, sprang out of the design's skin. No mortal weapon would be able to pierce his armour. Only Shop-bought or Huskar-crafted gear would stand a chance, and even then, it would be a lot less effective than it should be.

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  The nervous system was next. The additional size would cause a slight but noticeable lag in response time, and I spent some mana to negate the loss. If I confirmed the design now, I’d spend nearly three hundred mana, so I still had some points to play with.

  Natural weapons. What were the real-world standards? Claws and fangs, naturally, but could I add something else? A scorpion tail… No. The cost of merging insect and mammal biology was prohibitive. I’d need thousands of mana to manage that chimaera, assuming I found a giant scorpion tail somewhere.

  I could thicken the fat layer under Mulius’ skin at least. That would offer him more protection and insulate him from ice magic. I had a hundred and fifty mana left over, so I upgraded his eyes and ears and added cartilaginous armour to his major internal organs. I sent a mental confirmation that I was happy with the new design and lurched backward as almost all my mana left my body. I grabbed Nuk and dragged the heavy bastard out of the way as Mulius changed slowly.

  He’d started at about eight metres tall. A swirling cloud of silver light enveloped him and began extending upwards. When it peaked at just over twice his original height, it began to condense, and a new form appeared.

  Now, he was a true giant. None of the Huskar came close. His furs had fallen away, but thankfully, the thick, shiny grey fur that sprouted from his skin as the mist faded away preserved his modesty. Tusks stuck out from his lower jaw, and he reached up to finger them angrily.

  “Why’d you do that?” he asked. As he glanced down, he became aware of how much larger he was now and staggered backwards. “Mar’s balls!”

  “You’re my ultimate weapon, Mulius. I hope it was worth it.” I couldn’t hide the horror in my voice as what I’d done became clear.

  Cannibal, monster, terror of the steppes. No one deserves to be changed like this. My stomach roiled as I fought the last shreds of my conscience back into the box in my mind I kept it in now.

  “This is… amazing!” He took a step forward and then another. He sprinted away into the steppes before looping around and stopping. He smiled down at me from the height of a six-story building. He turned around and ran back to me, stopping a couple of metres before he squashed me into paste. I backed up a few steps and checked the bond in my mind. He was still under my control.

  “Legate Mond. I’m amazing!” He threw his fists into the air, and his roar came close in volume to what would be required to shatter my eardrums.

  “I take it you 're happy with it?” I asked quietly.

  “Hells yes! None of those Legion pricks will give me any shit now!” I flicked the bond, and he flinched.

  “Not the idea, bloke. You’re a siege weapon. When the time comes, you’ll be in the thick of it, but you aren’t the new boss,” I snapped.

  “Very well, Lord. But have you seen me? What could possibly kill me now?” he chuckled.

  “I could. Without breaking a fucking sweat mate. Just remember, you aren’t immune to fireballs!”

  Soulbound Servant

  Body: SS Mind: B+ Souls F

  Jesus. Mulius was now physically the strongest being I’d ever met, not counting gods.

  “Give me your hand,” I ordered. The end of his finger was bigger than my head as it loomed down to meet my outstretched hand. I sent him a thousand Souls, paying twice that to the bloody System. Fifty percent taxation was just wrong.

  “Spend them on your resistances first, then get levels or boost your spells. I honestly don’t even know how to advise you on this now. Rank S-? You’re a monster!” I regretted the words immediately as his eyes narrowed at me. “Metaphorically!” I added hastily.

  “What’s metaphorically?” he boomed down at me.

  “It means… not literally. You aren’t literally a monster.”

  “I eat your kind. I’ve eaten my own kind. I’ve-”

  "Ok bloke! You are a monster then, but I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” What the hell was I arguing with him about this for? I plucked the bond, and he looked down for an instruction. Dangerous. Addictive.

  “I want you to head south with the first wave of scouts. You’re the bulldozer, Mulius. I don’t want anything left alive behind you. Other than normal humans, let them live. You still aren’t allowed to eat them, either!” I hastily corrected myself.

  “No problem, boss!” boomed the titan. “I can eat the dead ones, though?” The faint note of hope in his voice made me blink.

  “Yeah, if they’re already dead, you can eat them. That doesn’t mean you can kill people and then eat them! You can eat the undead if you want!” I needed to find a contract lawyer to ensure I didn’t accidentally give Mulius a loophole to eat a city.

  “No eating cities!” I added.

  “I could eat a city now, couldn’t I? He said in quiet wonder as he looked down at his body covered in metallic fur.

  “Maybe, but that’s not allowed!” I snapped, and he flinched

  “I am Mulius! Eater of cities!” I began to have reservations about using the single slot I had for Shape Soulbound Servant on Mulius. Fay had advocated for one of the Fangs, but I’d pushed back. I didn’t want to turn my friends into whatever the hell I’d made Mulius into

  “You’re calm, right?” I asked as Nuk stirred behind me.

  “What the Maker is that!” Nuk’s voice came out surprisingly shrill and sharp.

  “I am the eater of cities!” Mulius boomed down at his fellow Huskar.

  “Bloke, you’re getting a bit too hyped up about the city thing. Nuk, this is why Mulius knocked your ass out,” I said.

  “Oh. Good job, I guess. What happened to his-”

  “Enough! Mulius, start heading south. I want the undead to become dead again. You stomp those bastards flat and move on. When you get to Hellath, wait for the rest of us to catch up. Oh, and if you start getting blasted with spells, run away, ok, big guy?”

  “Nothing can stop me! I’m unsto-” I grabbed the bond and shook it back and forth in my mind.

  “Yes, Legate. I’ll retreat if I face heavy magic,” he muttered.

  I noticed the choice of words but I wasn’t in the mood to fuck around.

  “No. If you face casters of any sort, you fall back and wait for the cavalry or the Legion to move in and support you.” My tone brooked no dissent.

  “Fine,” Mulius grumbled around his new tusks.

  “Ok, I’ll let the tribes know you’re on our side. Nuk, you're with me,” I said, as I set off back towards the legion camp. Soon, we’d be able to move south in force, and I could feel the urgency like an itch that couldn’t be scratched.

  “Legate, I don’t agree with whatever you did to him!” Nuk muttered as Mulius strode south with booming footsteps and a weird song on his lips.

  “No worries, bloke. You’re going to lead the wild Huskar. When we go south, I want your boys on their best behaviour.”

  “Well, that’s just great. Old Mulius gets to eat cities, and I get made responsible for a bunch of feral Husakr!” complained Nuk, but I could tell his heart wasn’t in it. The gleam in his eye made clear the thought of going to war was a happy one.

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