I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 545: [Cost: 1,000,000]

Jack’s jaw clenched at the casual dismissal, but he recognized the accuracy of the assessment.

Fighting with one arm, rendered a dead weight, would compromise every technique in his arsenal, make dodging nearly impossible, and eliminate half his offensive capabilities.

He’d be fighting at thirty percent effectiveness, and against someone who claimed only his father or S could stop him, that wouldn’t be enough.

"You should seek me out when you become much stronger," Magnus proceeded, his demeanor conveying an invitation veiled as a challenge.

"When you’ve resolved your current... difficulties. When you’ve properly explored what it means to be a Kaiser rather than just carrying the name as a decoration on expensive clothing, there’s so much you don’t understand about your own bloodline, about what your family represents beyond simple noble status."

He paused, his golden eyes gleaming with a subtle, dark amusement derived from information Jack lacked.

"A hint for your immediate problem. Drink some god’s blood. It will lead to the solution for your arm, though not in the way you’re probably expecting."

Jack’s mind immediately cataloged the advice alongside the System’s earlier notification.

"Why are you helping me?" Jack asked, his voice carrying genuine confusion despite tactical assessment continuing to process Magnus’s every word and gesture. "You’re the Council Leader. I just killed one of your members and sent another to his death. Why give me advice instead of finishing what they started?"

Magnus’s smile widened, showing teeth that were a bit too perfect for someone who appeared this ancient. "Because watching you develop is far more interesting than watching you die. Despite what that mask represented, the Council isn’t what you think it is. Not entirely, anyway. But those are conversations for when you’re stronger, when you’ve earned the right to know what’s really happening in this world beyond the narrative everyone accepts."

Then Magnus’s body began distorting.

The effect was subtle at first, his outline becoming less defined, as if reality itself were losing confidence in his exact position.

Then the distortion intensified, his form warping inward like matter being drawn into an invisible singularity where his chest should be.

A distortion in sound that, to Jack’s heightened senses, indicated fundamental aberrations in the expected behavior of spatial magic.

It was the audio equivalent of watching glass bend without breaking, reality straining under proximity to whatever technique Magnus was deploying.

The sound built in intensity as the distortion accelerated, creating pressure that made Jack’s ears pop despite no actual change in atmospheric conditions.

Within seconds, Magnus had vanished completely.

Even Ignis was gone, the dim red light disappearing along with the old man who’d extracted it from Mira’s remains.

Jack stood alone in the center of the destroyed battlefield, smoke still clearing from his devastating attack, his right arm hanging uselessly at his side. At the same time, his mind processed everything Magnus had revealed and hinted at and carefully avoided explaining.

Then another thought crashed through his tactical assessment with sudden clarity.

Mira’s soul.

The Council member had been obliterated by his technique, transformed into slag that bore no resemblance to human remains. But her soul, that fundamental essence that defined individual existence, should still be accessible for binding through his Soul Warden powers.

He’d bound panthers, minotaurs, mistborn, the Drake, the wyvern.

Creatures defeated in combat and claimed through the chains that transformed enemies into eternally loyal servants.

A human soul should work the same way.

Jack’s consciousness reached for the technique, calling upon chains that existed partially outside normal reality.

Reality rippled as spectral chains materialized, their ethereal links glowing with pale yellow light.

The chains extended from Jack’s position, seeking the soul that should be hovering near the crater where Mira’s body had been destroyed.

They found their target instantly, wrapping around essence that was trying desperately to flee toward whatever afterlife awaited Council members who’d dedicated their existence to hunting Soul Wardens.

The soul’s panic was palpable even through the chains’ connection.

Mira’s consciousness recognized what was happening and recoiled from a fate that transcended simple death into eternal servitude.

The chains constricted, binding the soul with a force that rendered resistance futile.

Mira’s essence struggled for three seconds, her spiritual form writhing against bonds that grew tighter with each escape attempt.

Then the technique’s power overwhelmed any defense her spirit could mount, and the struggling ceased as the binding completed its primary function.

[Soul Binding Initiated]

[Target: Mira Fireheart - Former Council Member]

[Cost Calculation: Binding strength determined by the target’s power level during life. Maximum cost for human souls: 1,000,000 Death Tokens. Current target assessment: 500,000 Death Tokens required.]

Jack’s eyes widened slightly at the notification.

Five hundred thousand.

Half the maximum cost, placing Mira’s power level firmly in the upper echelons of human capability but not quite at the absolute peak, the System recognized.

That made no sense given her performance.

She was powerful enough to make him cut his own hand off, and she was considered 50% of what the most powerful should be. She was considered the strongest fir user in The Council.

Was the Council hiding stronger members? Or was Jack just that week?

[Current Death Token Balance: 41,837,250]

[Proceed with binding?]

[YES] or [NO]

’Yes.’

[-500,000 Death Tokens]

[New Balance: 41,337,250 Death Tokens]

[Soul Binding Complete]

[Mira Fireheart has been bound to your service. All memories of her previous existence involving you have been erased to prevent psychological conflict. Subject retains combat capabilities and magical knowledge but views you as an absolute authority. Disobedience is now impossible. Betrayal has been eliminated as a conceptual option.]

The slag in the crater began shifting, matter reorganizing as the binding took effect.

The process was disturbing to observe.

Flesh reforming from cooling rock, pulling itself together through means that defied natural biology.

Bones reconstructed from minerals that shouldn’t have contained calcium, assembling into a skeletal structure that provided a framework for organs manifesting around them.

Skin grew across muscle that had been liquid moments ago, covering tissue with a surface that showed no scars despite catastrophic damage that had preceded this resurrection.

Hair sprouted from the scalp that had been vaporized, growing to its previous length in seconds.

Even her clothing reformed, the fabric materializing from nothing as the binding recognized that a naked servant would be impractical and potentially distracting.

Within thirty seconds, Mira’s body lay in the crater’s center, completely healed.

Showing no signs of the injuries that had killed her or the transformation into slag that had followed.

Her chest rose and fell with restored breath, lungs functioning despite having been superheated gas scattered across a thirty-meter radius minutes ago.

Her orange eyes opened, consciousness returning as the binding completed its work.

For a moment, confusion flickered across her features.

The disorientation of someone waking in unfamiliar circumstances without context for how they’d arrived there.

Then her gaze found Jack, and recognition of a different kind flooded her expression.

Absolute understanding of what she was now and who commanded her existence.

She stood smoothly, her enhanced physique operating at full capacity despite having been dead moments ago.

Her fire magic flickered around her briefly before she recognized Jack’s presence and extinguished the flames immediately, understanding on a fundamental level that displaying power in her Master’s presence without permission would be inappropriate.

Then she knelt, her head bowing in submission that transcended simple respect into religious devotion.

"Master," her voice carried absolute submission, making her previous arrogance seem like a distant dream belonging to someone else entirely. "I await your commands."