Witchbound: My Power Grows With Every Trial

Ren advanced slowly across the stone floor. His hand was ready to summon his Pact Blade in case the situation called for it, but for now, he made no reaction that would betray any aggression. He wanted to understand things before forcing a fight.

The figure ahead, Takuma, stood still at the exact center of the hall, wrapped in his usual bandages that covered every detail of his face. He kept watching with an icy expression that Ren was unable to translate into anything clear.

He slowed his pace as he reached what he thought was a reasonable distance between himself and the bandaged Takuma. He then opened his mouth in an attempt to say something, but the attempt was cut short by something else echoing violently into the open space.

"Welcome… Ren."

The sound of it struck him hard, sending a shudder down his spine.

As simple as they were, the words stretched out, echoing against the walls until it was as though the hall itself had spoken to Ren before he had an actual chance to do so.

Confused, Ren scanned the area with his gaze until it reached somewhere past where Takuma was, toward the end of the hall. Something moved in the shadows there, triggering metallic clinks like chains or something mechanical, perhaps being dragged across stone. However, Ren couldn't be sure.

The voice then continued with the same heavy tone as before, as though savoring the effect it was having upon Ren.

"You've finally reached me."

It wasn't difficult to recognize Reiji's voice. He had heard it other times as well in the journey through this god-forsaken Sanctum, and each of those times had been as eerie as it was now.

Ren's pulse increased as he realized this brought in more variables into the equation that he hadn't accounted for. For a second, he considered backing away to find a sheltered spot in case things went sideways. But a few moments later, he simply forced himself still. He remembered he had decided this had to be it. There was no more going back. He chose to trust that the Pact would answer the moment his call would be true.

He narrowed his eyes and then tried to cut through the shadows and catch a real glimpse of whatever was lurking underneath them. It kept moving every once in a while, and Ren was unable to associate those sounds with anything human.

Then, another violent sound broke the silence. Something mechanical in nature. Ren turned toward the source of it and saw cables and wires sliding from the shadows and curling onto a row of paper lanterns that hung dormant along the walls. One by one, their flames flickered to life, and as they did, they exposed the space once swallowed in darkness.

Ren could now see Reiji in full view. Just as he was. And the sight shocked him.

His body was locked into the wall itself. Long white hair hung forward while his skin looked as pale as a ghost's, stretched thin over the sharp lines of his face. He wore what had once resembled a ceremonial kimono, but now the garment hung awkwardly on a body that was no longer fully human. The fabric was pierced by steel rods and tubes. Cables ran into his chest and then came out through his sides, pumping something dark into his body in a faint rhythm. Behind him, the wall had thickened with all sorts of ports and mechanisms Ren couldn't begin to comprehend.

"What the hell..." He said, disturbed by the sight of it.

Reiji then laughed a ragged laugh through the hall.

"This is what a Pact becomes when one loses control of one's witch. Look well, Ren, and never forget it."

Even if Reiji hadn't pushed him to, Ren was unable to look away. Flesh and machinery had become indistinguishable, like an ecosystem of something parasitical that kept clinging to life. He had never seen anything like that before.

Reiji's head tilted to one side.

"And where is your witch? Ah... she left you, didn't she? To walk this alone. This is the place you prove yourself to her, is it not?"

Ren frowned, bothered by the mocking tone in Reiji's words.

"You must have gone through something like this yourself. How did that work out for you?"

Reiji's smile stopped quickly and let a few moments of silence pass between the two of them. Then, slowly, he straightened his back, and the whole wall adjusted with him. Several cables released from the wall around him, dragging along the floor as they stretched forward until finally curling around Takuma, who was still standing motionless at the center of the hall.

"You have met Takuma, I trust," Reiji said as he drove the cables closer around Takuma, brushing against his long kimono. "And Shiori too, before her tragic end."

The memory of the moment surfaced quickly in Ren's mind: the sight of Takuma's blade driving into Shiori's back, then her body turning to ash right in front of him. It came vividly to him as if it had only happened moments ago.

He then looked at Takuma, but he could see no reaction whatsoever. He didn't so much as blink. His eyes stayed forward, locked on Ren, as though waiting for something.

Reiji's laugh cut through the hall once more with that ruggedness Ren just couldn't get used to.

"He doesn't feel it anymore..." Reiji explained. "Pain, regret, hesitation... I freed him of all of that. Although..." and he leaned his head toward Takuma, "he does have his moments of rebellion."

Suddenly, as something moved in the background, Ren could see strands of cable burrowed into Takuma's back pulsing with something along them. The area where the cables had infiltrated the body was darkened and swallowed as if the infection was no longer contained to whatever was running in Takuma's veins.

"What are you doing to him?" Ren demanded, raising his voice.

Reiji tilted his head as though surprised by the question.

"Doing to him? No, Ren. I liberated him from the weight he carried. From the shackles the Pact left in him. You cannot yet understand what it does... how it digs deep inside of you until there is nothing left but a hollow vessel."

Bullshit, Ren thought. This was the maddest bastard he'd ever seen in this place so far.