Arthur stood in front of the prison cell, observing as Vira removed the magical bindings keeping his would-be assassins asleep. Just as the ancient healer had said, the cell was a single room, located 3100 meters below ground, impossible to access via any means besides teleportation.

  Rosano was the first prisoner to awaken, his eyes widening in surprise, perhaps at the fact that he was still alive. He dismissed Maverick and Vira, near-enough immediately and focused the entirety of his attention on Arthur.

  “Why did you spare me?” Rosano asked, his voice hoarse with disuse.

  Arthur smiled, feeling the phantom pain where his missing right hand used to be. “I only returned the favour. I don't like owing people. Lady Melania’s your boss, right?”

  Rosano’s reaction was all the confirmation he needed. The battle-hardened assassin looked like a deer caught in headlights at the mention of her name. “The duchess has screwed me over one time too many,” Arthur continued. “And I’m sure you’re not too fond of her either. So I’m here to propose a deal.”

  “You do know we have oath brands literally binding our souls that force us to obey her right. They will quite literally force us to kill you. Or at least die trying.”

  Arthur nodded. “I saw them when I stopped your bodies from destroying what was left of you. I’m not advanced enough to remove them yet, but with Vira’s help, I think we can work around them.”

  The female assassin, whose name Arthur still hadn’t learned, finally spoke up. “So what's the deal, and what are your plans to get past our restrictions?”

  “The deal is simple. I’m about to face the corrupted Avatar of this fallen world. I don’t expect you to help me with the actual fight, though you’re more than welcome to contribute.”

  The woman's eyebrows were going higher and higher as Arthur continued to speak.

  ”I need you two for your infiltration abilities. Barging into Shylo’s castle and getting past all his henchmen is all well and good, but I want him dead in the next eight hours. I can't do long, protracted battles right now. That's where you guys come in. I need you to teleport me as close to the man as possible, preferably within a few feet of him.”

  “My job will be to get him out of the castle and away from all the power his fortress gives him. Vira and Maverick will deal with any of his henchmen who come to assist him, and I’ll be focusing on killing Shylo and taking over the Silverglade Palace.”

  His words were met with a deafening silence.

  “You’re certainly ambitious enough to be an Originator, I’ll give you that,” Rosano finally said. "Mysha will struggle to breach the palace’s defences, especially with her mechanical enhancements removed, but it should be possible.” The assassin's eyes narrowed, his face somehow becoming more grim than it already was. “The real question, however, is what's in it for us. You still haven't told us how you'll you get past our restrictions.”

  Arthur grinned, “I’m glad you're up for the task, at least. I was worried about that part. Your restrictions should be easy enough to circumvent. I want you to take a System oath, the highest tier you have access to at your current levels. I don’t know how Lady Melania managed to get genuine soul contracts out of you guys, but I don’t know how to do them yet. The System's equivalent is the next best thing.”

  Mysha’s eyes narrowed into frosted points. “We're slaves because of those very contracts, and you would have us take another. I’d rather die than sign away what remains of my freedom.”

  Arthur raised a hand placatingly. “I understand your aversion to the bonds that bind you, but at least hear me out first. With your mechanical parts gone, you’ve regained over 50% of your freedom back already. There's no way to truly enslave a soul, after all. Not with all the oaths in the world.”

  “The contract is simple. I want your full cooperation for the next 24 hours. You listen to my demands to get me to Shylo, and don’t do anything to hinder me or endanger my life. In return, once those 24 hours are up, I’ll grant you five minutes of time where you can try your level best to kill me. I won’t use any ether, nor will I attack you in those 300 seconds. As far as your orders and oaths are concerned, the reward for 24 hours of patience is basically my life served on a platter. Right?”

  Mysha’s eyes glazed over, the tell-tale sign that someone was reading some System notifications. “As long as we add Wovan not interfering for those five minutes, then yes, we have ourselves a deal. In fact, not accepting would work against my oaths.”

  Rosano attempted to stand up, but the cell's magic immediately locked him in place. He sighed wearily and muttered something under his breath. Arthur didn’t quite catch it, but it painted a very unflattering picture of what the man thought of the fallen planet and its people. “That's all well and good," he said, “but you still haven’t told us why we should help you.”

  Arthur smiled. “Because I’ll take my own System-enforced oath, completely separate from your own. A very simple one. I promise to remove the soul oaths binding you as soon as I am able to. Either that, or I kill Lady Melania. Whichever happens first?”

  Rosano stared at Arthur in disbelief. The originator had just said he’d go after a duchess, a noble whose family had spent millennia building up their power base. Moving against someone like her was tantamount to suicide, only it would probably contain a whole lot of torture preceding it. Then again, Arthur’s life had been written off a long time ago. This was a man who had the whole realm after him. What was one more impossible goal against such odds? Rosano smiled, the first bright expression Arthur had ever seen on his face.

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  “I think we have ourselves a deal.

  ~~~

  Arthur stood on the rocky outcrop at the base of a mountain. From his vantage point, he had a very clear view of the Silverglade Palace. The storied fortress didn’t look like much, at least not from where he was standing over four kilometres away. It was the closest Vira was comfortable getting them, even with Mysha’s reassurance that they would remain wholly undetectable. Nonetheless, the magical pressure the building emitted was the real deal, surpassing even Viktor's formidable presence.

  Arthur could feel the presence of his latest System oath, not exactly weighing him down, but a binding on his future options nonetheless. He'd tied himself to a very particular path, one that would put him in the crosshairs of powerful men and women. He didn't regret it a bit.

  Arthur had explained his plans to Mysha. The look of shocked disbelief she’d given him had been comical, but the assassin had reluctantly admitted that she could play her part in his ‘hair-brained’ plan. Her words, not his. Like all the plans Arthur ever made, it was incredibly simple and would rely on a few tricks he’d picked up recently. He had 16 levels worth of free attribute points to assign first, though, 1472 to be exact. It was in his best interests to actually invest them for once instead of hoarding them for a rainy day. 500 of them went straight into Draconic Vitality. That was a no-brainer. He wanted to be as durable as possible in his battle against Shylo. His soulbound greaves meant he never had to worry about investing in Agility again, which he was eternally grateful for. The attribute constantly remained one of his highest despite his not investing a single point into it. The remaining 972 were a little harder to assign, but Arthur settled on bolstering his Strength by 500 to keep it in line with his speed and placed the remaining 472 equally between Willpower and Perception.

  The rush of power running through his body when he finalised everything was welcome, but underwhelming compared to the highs he’d felt earlier in his journey. Arthur suspected that his body being so durable muted the sensation of growth. He brought up his status and read through everything. Haadran had been an excellent levelling ground. He’d made the kind of progress legendary classers would spend years on in a few days, and he wasn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon. The final stretch had come.

  Arthur's stats had grown so much over the last few days that the numbers he was seeing were frankly unbelievable. Hell, he had over a million health now, more than the lesser Hydra he'd killed. It was absurd. His agility was higher than that of warriors who specialised in speed, comparable, perhaps, even to Alyssia after she used her many magics to enhance herself. Going purely by stats, he'd long since left her behind. His strength, too, had reached ludicrous levels. He was very quickly approaching the point where even the elevated ether density of a tier 2 planet wouldn't be able to sustain his body.

  "I've managed to lock on to Shylo's position," Mysha interrupted his musings. "Our magical signatures are as cloaked as I can make them. We're ready to go whenever you are, boss."

  Arthur smiled. "I want you to open the portal in exactly two minutes. And make sure the exit point is perpendicular to the ground."

  The next moment, the deepstone beneath him was replaced with empty air. Wovan had just teleported him hundreds of kilometres away, right into the open sky. While he couldn't exactly replicate the stealth abilities he'd miraculously unlocked post-refinement—he still couldn't recall how he'd pulled that off—he could come damn well close. Vast distances provided all the stealth you needed.

  Wovan created a portal directly beneath his feet. Its exit point would be directly above the one Mysha would create in 114 seconds, which would bring him directly in front of Shylo. These were portals that perfectly preserved momentum and magic.

  Arthur summoned his soul spear, only this time, he made it far larger than usual, about twelve feet in length, with a far larger spear head than was usable. So large, in fact, that Arthur could easily stand on it. Losing an arm meant he couldn't use the weapon anymore, which was a shame, but if things went to plan today, the fight would be over long before things got so far.

  Arthur poured energy into Poisoned Fang of the Hydra, converting vast quantities of his health to do so. He pushed to the 30,000 ether skill limit and blew past it instantly. 40,000 ether. 50,000. 60,000. This was higher than he'd ever gone before. The skill matrix was struggling to contain so much energy.

  Thirty seconds left. Twenty. Ten.

  His spearhead was glowing a dark shade of green, oozing poisonous fumes that would quickly kill anyone with less than 500 constitution.

  Five seconds left.

  Arthur pushed his skill to accept another 10,000 ether. 70,000. 71,000. 72,000.

  Three seconds. Two.

  Arthur concentrated on his skeleton and pushed his weight down as low as it could go. Two and a half kilograms. This was it. The moment of truth. It had been a long time since Arthur had unlocked a title. It was time to break reality once more.

  Wovan launched him into the portal.

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