"I erased your mory of that encounter. Did you really think you were free from suspicion because of your luck alone? No, we actually had an arrangent back then..."
Logan’s grin broadened as he began to explain.
"What arrangent?"
In response to Rey’s question, Logan reached into his robes and withdrew a small scroll, its surface covered in Curse Art symbols.
"A Slave Contract," Logan revealed. "Placed on you during our first eting. Dormant all this ti, waiting for activation. It’s a masterwork of Curse Art, Rey. So powerful that even death wouldn’t break it. Once activated, you beco my property. My slave."
Serena’s eyes widened slightly—clearly, she hadn’t known about this part of Logan’s plan.
"That’s brilliant," she breathed. "If he’s your slave, then technically all his possessions transfer to you. Which ans the thirty percent share becos yours to redistribute to the Order. It’s not breaking the contract; it’s a loophole."
"Exactly," Logan said, pleased. "And as my slave, Rey will continue to serve the Sunlit Order. His strength, his automatons, everything he is will belong to us. Forever. Well... until we make it to the Land of Aether."
He raised the scroll, and it began to glow.
"I’m sorry it ca to this," Logan said, though his tone suggested he wasn’t sorry at all. "But you should have joined us when you had the chance. Now you don’t have a choice."
The crystal blazed with purple light as Logan activated the dormant Slave Contract.
Rey felt the Curse Art reaching out, trying to establish its binding.
The Ancient MajiK was indeed powerful—he could sense the complexity of the formula, the way it was designed to override will and autonomy completely.
It’s too bad that it was of no use.
What Slave Contract?
There existed no such thing any longer—not ever since Rey beca a Soulless.
But none of these people knew this.
Thus—
—Sothing happened that Logan clearly didn’t expect.
The Curse Art made contact with Rey’s essence and imdiately began to destabilize.
Because Rey wasn’t alive.
The Curse Imprint had been long eroded by Chaos Energy
The contract couldn’t bind what didn’t exist.
Logan’s smile faltered as he felt the connection fail.
"What—" he started to say.
"I never lost the mory," Rey said quietly. "I knew about your Slave Contract from the beginning. Did you really think I’d walk into this vault without contingencies?"
Logan’s face went pale. "Impossible. That contract was perfect. It should have—"
The scroll in his hand suddenly ripped.
And with that tear, the Curse Art binding didn’t just fail—it backfired.
Because by attempting to enslave Rey, Logan had initiated a hostile action against an alliance mber. The very contract they’d all signed, with its ironclad prohibitions and severe penalties, recognized this as a violation.
Logan scread.
"Uarghhhhhhh!!!!"
The Curse Art penalties activated with brutal efficiency. His body seized, every muscle locking as magical backlash tore through him.
The contract’s enforcent chanism didn’t care about intentions or loopholes—it only recognized actions.
And Logan had acted against an ally.
"No!" Serena shouted, reaching for Logan, but there was nothing she could do.
The backlash intensified. Logan’s skin began to crack, purple light bleeding from the fissures. The Curse Art that should have enslaved Rey instead turned inward, consuming its caster.
"Help !" Logan gasped, his voice distorted by pain. "Serena, please—"
But even she knew there was no helping him.
Breaking a Curse Art contract of this magnitude carried penalties that couldn’t be reversed or mitigated.
Logan’s screams reached a crescendo, then cut off abruptly.
His body collapsed, smoking and ruined, the life already gone from his eyes. The scroll’s parchnt scattered completely, its fragnts dissolving into purple mist.
Silence fell over the Deep Vault.
Serena stared at Logan’s corpse, her face a mask of shock and horror. The other Order mbers stood frozen, unable to process what they’d just witnessed.
Rey brushed imaginary dust from his sleeve, his expression calm.
"You know," he said conversationally, "I actually appreciated Logan’s strategic mind. He almost had this planned perfectly. The dormant Slave Contract was genuinely clever—it would have worked on anyone else."
He looked at Serena directly, and she saw sothing in his eyes that made her blood run cold.
"But I was never ’anyone else,’" Rey continued. "From the mont you all approached in that prison, I’ve been planning for this. Using you, just as you tried to use ."
"The contract still binds us," Serena said desperately, raising her whip. "You can’t attack—"
"I don’t need to attack," Rey interrupted. "Logan’s death has already broken the alliance from your side. The contract recognizes that one of your leaders attempted hostile action. Which ans, technically, you’re in violation."
He smiled, and it was the coldest expression Serena had ever seen.
"That calls for a renegotiation with having an advantage. Or did you forget?"
"...."
"You don’t have to worry. I’ll be generous. I won’t take more than thirty percent, and we can even continue like this. I will just require information from you, since I won’t know what to do with more than half of the goods I will be collecting. The contract still has a few hours before it expires naturally, so you can use that period to explain things to .." His eyes swept over the assembled Order mbers. "Unless, of course, any of you want to try sothing similar to what Logan attempted?"
Rey was very astute.
He knew carrying such dangerous cargo attracted huge risks.
He didn’t need that kind of burden.
’I will have to dispose of most of these items and also use the ones that I can as soon as possible. But I don’t know the effects of so of these Mid and High Sequence Techniques, or these Artifacts. It will take too long and it will be too dangerous to figure them out on my own.’
Rey needed to be mobile.
He required connections and security above all else. He also craved knowledge.
He could use this situation to his advantage.
"Do we have an agreent?"
No one moved.
Then, Serena nodded softly.
"Good. Then there’s no need for any further delay."
Rey’s smile broadened into sothing that terrified everyone who saw it. With just a few hours left, he had turned the tables and would finally be able to fill up the gap in his knowledge.
’Finally...’ His thoughts moved with deep intent as his scheming mind continued to move.
’Everything is falling into place.’
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