The contracts kept burning through the chamber, each one like a thread of shadow tying me to another restless soul. The amulet against my chest had grown so hot I could feel it even through my shirt, its surface shifting beneath the fabric like something alive.

"This amulet’s being unusually loud, is it because of the ritual, or is it because of the spirits?"

[Contract Established: 2,104/3,746]

Nyx lingered at the edges of my perception, her amusement a quiet hum beneath the weight of the dead. She didn’t speak again, but I could feel her watching me, measuring, waiting to see what I would do with the army I was gathering.

The hydra’s minds moved faster now, their calculations smoother, their processing nearly effortless. Three thousand contracts would have taken me weeks to establish on my own. With their help, I’d be finished in hours.

Maybe even less.

[Contract Established: 2,687/3,746]

The shadows beneath the slabs had grown thicker and darker, spreading together until they became a single mass across the floor like spilled ink. The torchlight couldn’t pierce it. It couldn’t even seem to touch it. There was only darkness, absolute and complete, stretching from wall to wall.

I stood at its center, my feet somehow still finding the stone beneath.

"Impressive."

Nyx’s voice came from directly behind me. I didn’t turn.

"You’re still here."

"I’m always here, child. This is my cathedral. My domain." She moved in a slow circle around me, her borrowed features sharp against the dark. "Those bodies you’re claiming? They’ve been resting in my soil for months. Years, some of them. The church thought they were hiding their crimes beneath my nose."

"They were."

"Yes." Her smile was thin and cold. "But they forgot that I see everything that happens in the dark."

[Contract Established: 3,012/3,746]

The last of the contracts slipped into place more easily than the others, the remaining souls almost eager to be claimed. They had been waiting down here for so long, forgotten and alone, their deaths unavenged, their sacrifices unmourned.

Now they had a purpose.

[Contract Established: 3,746/3,746]

The shadows drew back, retreating from the edges of the chamber until they gathered at my feet like a loyal hound. Torchlight returned, flickering over the faces of the dead, and for a moment I could have sworn that some of them were smiling.

"Three thousand seven hundred and forty-six souls," Nyx said, counting them off on her fingers. "That’s quite an army you’ve collected."

"They’re not an army. Not yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I’ll call them an army once I actually use them."

"I see."

"You’re fine with me enslaving the souls of the dead?"

"If I’m being honest, three thousand is barely anything to me. Besides, you’re going to use them to deal with Elion’s pests, so I’m willing to look the other way this time."

"What a benevolent goddess..."

The chamber felt different now. Lighter, somehow, even with the shadows still pooled at my feet. The weight of three thousand restless souls pressed against my consciousness, but it wasn’t the suffocating burden I had expected. If anything, it felt almost comfortable.

Like wearing a coat made of memories.

[Contract Established: 3,746/3,746]

The system panel flickered once, then widened, showing me the breakdown of what I had just acquired. Categories. Strengths. Weaknesses. Possible uses for each soul, from the freshly dead to those who had been resting in Nyx’s soil for decades.

Most of them were ordinary. Farmers, merchants, craftsmen. People who had lived simple lives and died terrible deaths, their only crime being that they were in the wrong place when the church needed bodies.

But some...

Some were different.

[Notable Entities Detected]

The hydra’s minds drew two souls from the collective and held them apart from the rest. I could feel them through the contract, brighter than the others, sharper somehow, like stars against a night sky.

The first had been a knight. Not the ceremonial sort, the kind who wore polished armor for parades and never saw real combat. This one had fought. Killed. Died with a sword in her hand and the church’s name on her lips, betrayed by the very priests she had sworn to protect.

The second had been a mage. Her magical signature was faint now, worn down by death and time, but I could still feel the echo of what she had once been. Fire magic, mostly. The kind that could level buildings and melt stone.

"How useful."

[Dark Flame Recovery]

I cast across my entire body, gauging the casting speed using the newly gained souls. And the difference definitely wasn’t anything to joke about.

The moment I thought about it, I immediately cast it without any issue.

[Malignant Heavenly Eclipse]

Another spell, this time, the miniature black hole-like orb formed above my palm without any issue. It took at least one second, but considering how long it usually takes me to cast it myself,

it was incredible.

With this, I don’t think anything can touch Jayden while I’m protecting him. In fact, I think I can even multitask, help Marcellus with the main assault while protecting our biggest asset.

"I have to thank Elion’s church for their senseless murder. The number of restless spirits they created is enough to be worth hundreds of months of training."

[Adept: Lvl 4]

"Look at that... it even increased in level."

The system panel flickered and settled, the new level sitting comfortably in the corner of my vision.

Still adept.

Not quite master, not yet, but closer than I’d been this morning.

Three thousand seven hundred and forty-six souls would do that.

"You’re glowing," Nyx observed, her head tilted at an angle that made her look like a bird of prey. "Literally. There’s light coming out of your eyes."

I blinked, and the glow faded. "It’s just the contract settling."

"Mmm." She didn’t sound convinced. "If you say so."

The shadows at my feet stirred, stretching toward the exits of the chamber like they were testing the boundaries of their new home. I reined them in with a thought, pulling them back until they were nothing more than a dark halo around my boots.

"Are you going to tell the other gods about this?"

"About the bodies?" Nyx shrugged, her borrowed features shifting through expressions that didn’t quite belong together. "They’ll find out eventually. The church wasn’t exactly subtle about their disposal methods. But your little collection..."

She smiled, sharp and knowing. "That I’ll keep to myself. Consider it a gift."

"I didn’t ask for a gift."

"You didn’t have to."

She faded into the shadows before I could respond, her presence evaporating like mist in morning light. The chamber felt emptier without her, even with three thousand souls pressing against my consciousness.

Time to go.

[Darkfire Step]