“I will pay the cost.”

 

Of course, this got a somewhat panicked response from prisoner girl. He wasn’t sure if he needed to say it aloud, but as he did so, he tried to focus on the part of him he was most willing to lose, the part he was willing to use as payment for this strange ability he was being granted… 

 

And when he felt a strange, magical sensation on the correct part of his being, he knew that the Patriarch, the contract, the grimoire, whatever entity governed this unholy exchange had heard his wishes, and deigned to acknowledge them.

 

His left hand began to burn. 

 

He’d entertained the notion of just teleporting out for a good twenty seconds, and it was an incredibly long one. In those twenty seconds, he’d lived an entire day, no days, no weeks in the outside world where his life continued on unimpeached, and imagined all the things he could’ve done with his new class adventuring with Seles and discovering new powers.

 

The magical removal of his hand lasted five seconds, but allowed him to relive his entire life up until this point. The burning sensation went numb after a couple of seconds, but the first two were so much and so sudden that Peter’s nervous system fought not to completely shut down… the scream he let out was so strong, so visceral, that he could only hope that there weren’t guards posted on the other side of the door, for if there were, the gig was already up…

 

Peter fought himself to remain silent. He hadn’t paid so much so they could be caught immediately. 

 

The process felt as if a black hole were eating his hand from the inside, melting it away. It was incredibly painful at first, but quickly dulled, and by the time his entire hand was gone, the stub at his wrist knit and bound itself, not bleeding, the pain receeding so far that he could barely remember it had even existed…

 

He stared down at his missing left hand, expecting to feel an emptiness, some kind of longing or regret for his choice.

 

He felt resolve, iron and steadfast. He would get these people out.

 

[Phase] unlocked in his mind’s eye as smoothly as the simplest spell might. In an instant, he understood entirely how to use it, that it would let his body pass through physical objects for a few seconds at a time, and physical objects pass through him, and anything he touched.

 

And so Peter cast [Phase] for the first time, escaping the bars so effortlessly that it was almost silly. They fell away from him as if he’d never existed in the first place, and he floated down to the floor. The girl to the left tried to exclaim against the leather in her mouth, tapping her hand against the wall.

 

It was almost silly how strong a spell like this was. Seles would’ve had no trouble escaping, his mind confirmed for him. Peter didn’t waste time, marching out to the table and searching for keys, then looking around the room…

 

He found keys hanging on a rack on the far side. As soon as he did, he ran over to the girl and pulled the gag away from her, attempting to unlock her as he did. 

 

“Hi,” she said, breathlessly as Peter tried key after key. “How the fuck did you do that?”

 

“Magic,” Peter responded with the quietest voice he could produce, finally finding a key that turned and beginning to undo her locks. They grated uncomfortably, and he worried about the noise. “You know anything about the big guy?”

 

“I think those magic bindings keep him asleep,” the girl answered, her voice raspy, though Peter couldn’t tell if it was natural or from dehydration. “He took six guys to drag in here, he’s strong. That was probably a week ago.”

 

Peter banked the information as he finally got finished with releasing her. As soon as he did, she ran right past him, aiming for a chest in the far corner. She began outfitting herself in brown leathers, clothes he imagined she’d had before she arrived here.

 

“How’d you end up down here, anyways?” she asked, fastening a pair of leather pants as she spoke. 

 

“Fell asleep in the wrong place,” he answered, watching impatiently as she finished grabbing her gear. “Help me with the big guy?”

 

“I don’t know if we can unlock it… I think the lord carries the key to his restraints around, just in case.”

 

Peter growled. This guy sounded like he was formidable, and Peter didn’t wanna leave anyone behind… He walked over to the man, who must’ve been at least twice his size and made of pure lean muscle. He was almost inhumanly sized, superhuman in stature. The man didn’t move even an inch when Peter gingerly slapped his face.

 

Peter heard a stirring from upstairs.

 

“Hurry up,” girl said, “We’re gonna have company soon. Whatever you’re planning to do, do it.”

 

Peter prepared a second use of [Phase]. If they couldn’t unlock his restraints, he’d pull him out as if they didn’t exist. He touched the man’s body and immediately cast the spell, but before he could move more than a single one of the man’s arms out of the magical restraints, he was shocked back by something that almost felt as if it were rejecting his magic.

 

One of the titan’s arms hung loosely from the bindings as he still remained in place. Peter scowled, wishing he’d had both hands to pull him.

 

Then, with a series of thuds, he heard people walking down the stairs.

 

Girl didn’t say anything. It was obvious what they needed to do now, the only thing they could. The two of them hid behind where the large iron door would open to, and once the enemy were inside, they’d get the jump on them. Girl had a dagger which she’d presumably gotten from the chest, but if there was any spare weapon inside Peter could use, she hadn’t grabbed it and he didn’t have time to check.

 

He thought on his feet… could he improvise a weapon out of a chair leg if he acted fast enough?

 

The door pushed open before he could consider it. His captor and the same three guards filtered into the low-lit room, and as soon as the last man had entered, and the four of them were reacting to the disappearance of the Soulbound from the backlit wall, the girl jumped out and slashed at the back of the neck of one of the guards, downing him instantly.

 

Another guard turned on her as meanwhile, Peter did the only thing he could think to, summoning his grimoire and with all of his mental command behind it, swinging the big bloody book with one hand right at the guard closest to him.

 

It collided with the side of his head and sent him clambering back into the table. Not the worst result, but he was only dazed, and his captor too looked eager to join the fight. He drew a shortsword, his posture switching to one of a man who was certainly adept in swordplay. The man pressed towards him, expression domineering.

 

“I should’ve expected a trick or two from you… this is interesting! Don’t worry, I won’t kill you for this, but you will be sorry you crossed me.” 

 

With that and a fiendish grin, the man stabbed forwards, aiming for Peter’s gut. Desperately, Peter brought the book up as a shield, and surprisingly, the sword bounced right off the book’s cover as if it were an impenetrable shield.

 

He’d heard what Seles said about the book being untearable, but it was only now he realised she’d REALLY meant it. 

 

Still, the impact staggered him, and Peter fell back, pushing for distance as the man leant against the table recovered and the girl dodged strikes from the guard in the corner of the room. 

 

Peter had nothing to do but defend. He couldn’t fight without a weapon, nor with one hand, and he was losing footing so rapidly…

 

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that made him gasp.

 

Everyone else in the room saw it, too.

 

The goliath of a man in the corner had woken up, and was pulling at his one remaining magical restraint. It didn’t take much for it to tear off. 

 

As soon as his torso was freed, he threw the iron lock directly at the guard the girl was fighting like he was pitching a baseball, hitting him directly on the head and smashing him into the cobbled wall.

 

He’d ripped his legs free before anyone could react, and stood menacingly between the exits and the guard and captor still trying to attack Peter. 

 

He grabbed the remaining guard and dragged him into the centre of the room, leaving Peter to only tackle with his captor, whose face was growing more snarled, more ugly, more imperious by the second.

 

“You. Will. Obey. Me.” He punctuated each word with a slash, which were only becoming more difficult for Peter to dodge and block. He wasn’t a strong man, but he was fast, and even with the buff he’d gotten from his Lesser Souls, another ten seconds of this and…

 

A sword slash that would’ve gone right into Peter’s stomach caused him to react with [Phase]. It was instinct and all he could do, but in the few seconds that he’d be able to maintain connection to the spell…

 

He found a way to win.

 

Quickly, manically, he thrust his spectral hand and the tips of his fingers a few inches past the base of his captor’s throat, and as the spell ended, tore them away in a flurry.

 

His eyes were a portrait of Peter’s, though the confusion they felt was not the same.

 

Peter had never taken a human life, and his captor had never lost.

 

He fell to the ground, and Peter claimed his soul on the spot. There was no time for consideration, he might be dead in a minute.

 

He ignored the system notification and rushed to intervene with the fight, but it had ended as soon as he dispatched with his captor. Every guard laid dead, and the huge man was walking towards him.

 

“This one thanks you for saving me. What are your orders?”

 

Orders? If Peter was expected to take charge of this situation, there was only one real thing to say. He looked between him, and his new companions, and he smiled. “Help us get out of here.”

 

//

 

When Peter had said ‘help us get out of here’, he hadn’t expected the huge man to pick him and the girl up in each arm and begin sprinting with them.

 

No, he’d expected more of a gradual, tense thing where they snuck between every room and took absolutely ages to get out.

 

Instead, they were out within minutes. It wasn’t just that no one could face their new buff friend in combat, no one wanted to. They saw him and they ran a mile. Maybe they knew something about him that Peter didn’t?

 

Nonetheless, before Peter could even have another worry-shaped thought, the three of them were outside the reaches of the courtyard, their saviour lightly panting, Peter and the girl, the other passenger, fighting dizziness.

 

And before Peter, on a nearby fence, there sat a black cat, with a starry coat and eyes that glowed like the northern lights. She licked a paw.

 

“Your delivery took some time,” she eventually said, languishly rolling onto her side. “I’ve become rather bored of this place.”

 

Peter looked between himself and his two sudden companions, then back at the manor. He felt his face scrunch. “I got fucking captured! You knew I was in there?!”

 

Seles’ ears pricked as the other two beside him looked at him like he was screaming at a cat, which he was. He didn’t bother explaining.

 

“Of course I knew you were in there. We’re Soulbound. I always know where you are.”

 

“And you didn’t think to help me when I got dragged into a fucking dungeon?!”

 

Seles’ nose twitched, and she shook her face. “Stop shouting. No, I didn’t ‘think to help’. You were doing just fine, and I figured this would be good training for you.”

 

“Doing fine…” Peter marched towards her, eyes wild, brandishing his new stump before her face, causing her to flinch back. “This is doing fine?! My fucking hand’s gone!”

 

“So? You’ll get a new hand. You know how many limbs I go through on a regular basis?”

 

“I…” Peter paused. He hadn’t in all of this time considered that there might be a way he could get a new hand. Also, if his new companions weren’t staring at him before, they definitely were now. He stopped thrusting his wrist stump in the cat’s face. 

 

“Can I really get a new one, just like that? I’m not whatever race you are, Seles. I’m human. Humans don’t usually get new hands.” 

 

The cat rolled her eyes at him. “You’re not human, you’re Soulbound. What humans ‘usually do’ doesn’t apply to you anymore. If it’s physical, and it doesn’t kill you, you can replace it.”