Witchbound: My Power Grows With Every Trial

Listening to Reiji's endless rambling, it was more and more obvious to Ren that he would not be able to get out of this one without a fight. So as he stood there, facing the half-man, half-machine before him, he also scanned for possible angles he could use if a fight were to break out suddenly.

"I've reached this place, just as I promised," he said. "Now tell me... what happened to Kagami's eyes?"

Ren was intentionally straightforward with his question. After all, this was the moment he had endured the Sanctum's trials for, so he was determined to push as hard as he could now that he found himself at the peak of it all.

"Oh… straight to the point. I see."

Reiji didn't explain immediately, though. His body moved within the network of cables and rods that bound him to the wall, and as he leaned forward, the entire structure flexed with him, contracting or expanding panels and tubes as though the whole thing was alive. A harsh cough tore from his chest, yet he didn't look helpless at all. He was very much in control of how he moved and what moved around him. Even more than Ren realized.

"Do you know why Pacts exist?" Reiji asked, painfully prolonging the tension.

Ren frowned. "What the hell do you even mean by that?"

"A witch," Reiji said slowly, savoring the words, "is a being capable of channeling enormous amounts of power. Enough to rewrite the shape of the world if they wished to. Why, then, do you think they require humans at all? Why bind themselves to a Pact Bearer? Why not rule freely?"

Ren disliked how Reiji was steering the discussion elsewhere, as if toying with him and putting pressure on the things he actually wanted to know. On the other hand, some part of him acknowledged what he was asking. They were all valid points, ones he had never had the time or space to truly consider properly.

"You're changing the subject," he said carefully.

But Reiji ignored him, pressing on.

"Left to their own devices, witches will burn themselves down. They are ambitious, cunning, and hungry. Their nature is to consume. Without restraint, they end up destroying themselves, and if not themselves, then the world around them. That is why the Pact exists. The bearer must anchor them, even subdue them if the situation requires so, and preserve the balance that witches cannot hold on their own. After all, someone must know better."

Ren listened to Reiji's words, weighing his own experiences into the mix. It was true Kagami hadn't always been forthcoming, and more than once she had left him in the dark to find the way out all on his own. Much like she was doing now, as a matter of fact. Yet... she had also saved his life more than once, and through her, he had learned things he never would have otherwise, things that might finally make his actions matter in this world for once.

"Even if there may be truth in some of the things you say, I have no reason to believe Kagami's intentions are destructive," Ren finally chose, among all the thoughts fighting amongst themselves in his mind.

Reiji's laugh broke out, raw and jagged, echoing against the chamber walls.

"You're naive, boy," he replied. "But I understand. I was once like you, too."

And there it was. He might have been new to all this Pacts and witches business, but he wasn't new at all to cynicism. He had grown up surrounded by it. It had been in the way his relatives had treated him like an unwanted burden unworthy of the "real" world, also in the way the Hounds or street gangs mocked him, leaving only cruelty behind. He had learned to recognize that sort of voice long ago, the one that tried to dress weakness up as wisdom.

Yet, Haruki's memory pressed against all of that once again. It was his stubborn insistence that had taught him that even when the world grounded him down, he had to keep moving. No excuses. No surrender.

So he stood his ground.

"What about her eyes?" Ren asked again with a raised voice, cutting through the nonsense.

Reiji's smirk returned, savoring the cruelty behind his words.

"She will never regain them," he replied. "Nor should she. The world is safer with her as a mere cat."

The thought twisted in Ren's gut. In part, it was due to Reiji's method of judging, which seemed to be like placing chess pieces on a board at his discretion and granting himself the power to determine their worth. Then, it was also how he had no other clear clue on where or even how to look for Kagami's eyes. As crazy as he was, Reiji was in fact his only logical lead.

"She betrayed me, as she will betray you," Reiji went on. "Do not fool yourself into thinking otherwise."

"I don't believe in control," Ren replied. "I'm no expert at this sort of thing, but as far as I've seen, a Pact shouldn't be like putting chains on something... or worse, someone. It's supposed to be two-sided."

At his words, Reiji's smirk faltered as he was visibly not amused anymore. His expression turned harsh.

"Then prove it."

The cables around him moved across the floor. They coiled around Takuma, who had been staying still that whole time. They slid in slowly and settled at his back in the same place where some of them had been pumping in that black looking fluid.

"Stand against him," Reiji said. "Stand against the one who no longer hesitates, no longer suffers, and prove yourself worthier than he is."

Takuma's body stiffened as the cables drove deeper and the black fluid swelled his veins. Something inside that fluid was controlling his body and mind to the degree that it turned him into a puppet.

Takuma drew the blade he carried at his back, tilting it forward until the lanterns' light caught along its edge.

"Right..." Ren exhaled. After all, he did see this one coming.

He summoned the Pact Blade and prepared for the fight. Once again, he would have to make do without Kagami's presence, although he did wonder if she was somehow aware of him in that very moment. Wherever she was.

The glyph flared to life behind him in that same vibrant way he knew, before the energy ran down his arm and finally wrapped around the blade shape. It settled elegantly against his palm, all familiar now, yet he knew this fight would be anything but easy.