Chapter 35 – Chains on the Heart

Chapter 35: Chapter 35 – Chains on the Heart The parchment’s golden glow painted the chamber in an otherworldly shimmer, flickering across Jemil’s face like the grin of some cosmic trickster. The script shifted and swam as though the words themselves were alive, waiting to bite the moment he came too close. [Choice: Sign the Contract / Refuse the Contract] The system’s prompt hovered in the corner of his vision, taunting him like a slot machine with only one reel. Jemil rubbed his temples. "You know, if this were a video game, I’d be mashing the ’details’ button until my keyboard broke. But nooo, my system just throws out vague warnings and expects me to gamble my soul." Lyra’s fiery aura flared, her arms crossed, her glare sharp enough to burn. "Don’t even think about signing! That parchment stinks of corruption. I can smell it." Nyssa leaned over Jemil’s shoulder, her nine tails curling like question marks. Her grin was sly, the kind that promised trouble. "Mmm, but imagine what beasts we could tame with it. You could evolve me again. You like evolving me, don’t you, Master~?" Jemil choked, his ears burning. "Nyssa—!" The fox spirit grinned wider, fangs glinting. "What? I only mean for battle... probably." Kaelina slammed her hand down, making the stone table quake with a metallic clang. "Enough games! If he signs, he won’t be himself anymore. Don’t you see? That’s what the Vault does. It... it whispers until you can’t tell your own thoughts from its commands." Her voice cracked. For once, her usual tsundere sharpness faltered. Jemil glimpsed raw fear trembling underneath her pride. And in that crack of her mask, he saw something more: memory. Chains wrapped around her wrists. Golden ones, identical to those now glowing in the chamber. A vow she once swore, binding her sword-hand forever to a will not her own. She had smiled back then too, but not with triumph—just so no one could see the tears. Kaelina’s jaw clenched. She said no more. But the fear in her eyes was louder than any words. For once, Nyssa didn’t tease. Her tails stilled. Even her playful grin softened into silence. The robed stranger’s voice slithered into the gap. "Every legend begins with chains. You call them burdens... but chains are also bonds. They connect you to power, to destiny. He signs, and he becomes more than a man. He becomes inevitable." "Yeah, well," Jemil muttered, scratching his chin, "inevitable sounds like the name of a shampoo brand, not a career path." The parchment pulsed impatiently. The golden ink shifted into new words: Time is limited. Sign, or the Vault will choose for you. The chamber trembled. From the high walls, thin golden chains began to slither down like metal serpents, rattling and hissing. Their ends split into mouths—jagged, wet, hungry. Lyra summoned flames instantly, her hair flaring like wildfire. "They move!" Kaelina drew her blade, steel ringing. "That’s how it begins. First, they offer. Then, they devour." The stranger only smiled, hands hidden in his robe. Jemil stood suddenly, slamming his palm flat on the parchment. The glow flared beneath his hand. "Okay, fine, I’ll sign it." The chamber froze. Even the chains paused mid-slither. "Master—!" all three wives shouted in unison. "BUT," Jemil said, his grin cutting through their panic, "if I’m signing away my soul, then I’m adding a condition. No deal without fine print." The stranger’s smile flickered, oil breaking on water. "A... condition?" "Yeah," Jemil said, dipping the golden quill into the glowing ink. "If I’m chained, then the Vault is chained to me. That means if I go down, I’m dragging the whole shiny beast prison with me. You don’t control me—I control you. You want my will? Fine. But you’ll have to put up with all of it. The sarcasm, the bad jokes, the fact that I sometimes eat cereal with water because I ran out of milk." Nyssa gasped theatrically. "Truly, the Vault doesn’t know the horror it’s inviting." Lyra pinched the bridge of her nose. "Gods help us all." And Kaelina... Kaelina smiled. Just faintly. Just enough to soften the iron in her eyes. The parchment shuddered. The golden script flared, reshaping into chains of fire, fox tails, and sword light all tangled together—an imprint of Jemil’s madness and his wives’ essence. The stranger stumbled back. "Impossible. You cannot rewrite the Vault’s contract." Jemil scrawled his name with a messy flourish, a signature so chaotic it looked like a toddler’s drawing of a bird. "Oops. Guess I did." The parchment ignited in golden flame. The chains lunged, lashing out, wrapping around Jemil’s wrists, chest, and throat. His wives shouted and struck at them—fire and steel clashing against gold—but the chains only tightened, biting deeper. The stranger laughed, wild and sharp. "You fool! You think you’ve bound the Vault, but the Vault is older than—" And then he stopped. Because the chains didn’t sink into Jemil’s flesh. They sizzled. They smoked. And then—horrifyingly—they turned black, devoured by something deeper within his system. [New Title Acquired: Chainbreaker] [Unique Evolution Path: Unlocked] [Hidden Effect: ??? — Vault Recognition Pending] Jemil’s grin wavered with sweat dripping down his temple. "Huh. Would you look at that? I broke your shiny handcuffs. Guess my system runs on loopholes." The stranger staggered back, pale. "No. No! That’s not possible—" The chamber shuddered violently. The golden serpentine chains on the walls shrieked and writhed, slamming into the floor, as if some greater predator had noticed their prey. Kaelina grabbed Jemil’s arm, her grip fierce. "You idiot... you’ve awakened the Vault itself." The walls split open with a sound like a thousand locks turning. Behind them stretched an abyss filled with endless golden links vanishing into shadow. And from that abyss, a colossal chain began to rise—so massive it could crush a mountain, its links engraved with shifting runes that burned like suns. The air grew heavy, pressing down until even Lyra’s fire dimmed. Nyssa leaned close to Jemil’s ear, her voice sultry even as her tails bristled in terror. "Well, Master, looks like you’ve done it again. You’ve gotten us all chained up in something way bigger than we can handle." Jemil swallowed hard, watching the titan of chains ascend higher and higher. His grin stayed, brittle but unbroken. "Yeah. Story of my life." Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 36: The Vault Awakens The Vault has noticed Jemil’s defiance—and it does not take kindly to mortals rewriting its laws. With Kaelina’s past now revealed and Jemil branded as a "Chainbreaker," the group must fight their way out of a chamber that is itself alive. But when the first Vault Beast crawls out of the golden abyss, seductive and terrifying in equal measure, Jemil realizes: signing the contract didn’t end the trial. It only began it. ✨ Call to Action Jemil’s gamble turned the Vault’s chains black and gave him the title of Chainbreaker—but at what cost? Is he a loophole genius, or has he painted a target so large the Vault itself will never let him go? ⚔️???? Drop your boldest theory in the comments, rally your fellow beast-tamers with shares, and don’t forget to vote Power Stones to keep this madness flowing. The next Chapter isn’t just survival—it’s the birth of a legend. ❤️