​The journey upward from the bowels of the palace was a sloshing hell. Being liquid was a sensory nightmare. Every step the guards took sent a jarring vibration through my consciousness. I could hear their muffled heartbeats, the heavy clank of their armor, and the haunting echo of the violins from the Great Hall getting louder and louder.​But as the heavy iron doors of the ballroom swung open, the scent of expensive perfume and aged wine was instantly drowned out by something foul that my newly formed spirit-senses buckled.​The guards set the blood down, and I used the "Blood-Leap" connection to peer through the surface of the ruby liquid. A gruesome, horrific scene welcomed me, one that made the butchery in the basement look like a playground.​The lights were still low, the only illumination coming from the sulfurous glow of the octopus-devil, Luciferao. He had descended.​His translucent tentacles had mutated. From the center of each suction cup, a needle-thin, pulsing cord—an

​The last light in my eyes flickered, a dying candle in a room filled with monsters. ​I was thinning. I could feel the edges of my soul unraveling like a cheap sweater. Each time an official’s hand ripped a piece of my shadow-flesh away, it wasn’t just mana I lost—it was memories. ​There was no hope this time. ​Goodbye, Gulp, I thought, the image of my stupid, loyal skeleton friend appearing in my mind. Goodbye, System. You stingy, glitchy bastard. I hope your next host is dumber than you. ​I closed my eyes, sinking into the inevitable numbness of fate. I waited for the final rip, the one that would tear my core in half and end the tragedy of a man, who became a mosquito. ​Slash. ​Cachang! ​Slash. ​The sound wasn't the wet tearing of shadow-flesh. It was the sound of a meat-grinder. ​"Ahhhhhhh! Ghost! Ghost!" ​"It’s a monster! A dinosaur!" ​"My arm! My god, my arm is gone!" ​The screams changed. They weren't screams of hunger anymore; they were screams of pure terror. T

​The Reservoir was no longer a room. It was a throat where we were being swallowed.​Millions of black strings—necrotic, pulsing veins of stolen memory vibrated with a sound of a collective, agonizing sob. Luciferao stood at the center of this web, his mangled body knitting itself back together with the grey essence of the dead. ​"YOU CANNOT PURIFY AN OCEAN WITH A SINGLE SPARK, LITTLE THING!" the devil roared. "THESE AREN'T JUST SOULS. THEY ARE THE UNPAID DEBTS OF THREE HUNDRED YEARS! DRINK THEM! DROWN IN THEM!"​The strings lashed out. They hit like memories. One touched my shoulder, and for a split second, I... I was a father being dragged from his bed in the middle of the night, smelling of my own blood as a Harsley guard laughed.​I recoiled, my light-speed perception making the moment feel like an eternity.​"Master!" Gulp cried out. He was being pinned against a meat-slicked wall, the black strings sewing themselves into his obsidian armor. He was trying to bite through them,

​The rain had stopped, but the world was still weeping. I hovered there, looking at the two beings who had become my entire world in this godforsaken world. Gulp, my obsidian-clad brother, and Drako, the ancient engine of destruction. They were fading. Their forms, sustained only by the chaotic energy of the Reservoir’s collapse, were thinning out like smoke in a gale.​"I'm not leaving anyone behind," I muttered, my voice vibrating through the wet air. "System... do it. Integrate them in me. Secure their souls."​["Initiating Soul-Binding Protocol,"] the System roared. ["Earth and Neitherworld... Open the gate of life and death. Bless these souls to live within another soul, bound by blood and mantra, until the original shells are reclaimed. The Debt of the King is the Shield of the Servant."]​Then, the world went mad.​In the middle of the perfectly sunny light that was starting to break through the clouds, a sound erupted that shouldn't have existed. Groan... Groan. It was th

​I straightened my posture in mid-air, trying to maintain some semblance of the CEO dignity I used to have. "Woman," I said, my voice dropping into its most serious, authoritative tone. "Are you talking to me?"​"Yes," she said. "Please... help us." She said again.​I almost choked on the air. "How can you even notice me? I am a tiny insect! I’m smaller than your fingernail!" I tried to gesture with my front limbs, showing her just how ridiculous this situation was. "You should be looking for a knight or a soldier, not a gnat!"​"Please follow me," she said, ignoring my logic entirely. She stood up, her movements felt urgent. "It’s not safe here. The clicking... they’re getting closer."​Instead of answering my questions, she turned and darted into a dark, narrow alleyway.​Master, should we follow her? Gulp and Drako asked in unison, their voices heavy with suspicion. She is human. This smells like a trap.​"Nah," I said, shaking my tiny head. "I’m not that brave. I’ve had enough de