Divine Artifact in a Scientific World-Chapter 123: Isabella (5)

Jack summoned a sharp boning knife and held it out to Isabella. Then over their connection he commanded her, "Cut off you right hand."

She looked up at him in horror. "No, please don’t make me do this," she begged.

But even as she begged, she took the knife, got up from the floor, and sat at the wood table. Then, with one swift motion, sliced across her wrist just below her thumb.

His gorge rose as he watched the tendons of her fingers snap and retract up into her forearm.

He turned and dry heaved, unable to continue watching. Reasonably certain she would finish cutting her hand off if he let her, he said, "Stop!"

He heard her sobbing in horror and relief. Without looking, he reset her manifestation to just before he’d told her to hit the wall, then deleted the blood and knife from his soul space.

She gasped in relief, and said, "Oh, master! Thank you. It was only a test. It was only a test."

As he stood and turned, she got up from the chair and lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him.

When he looked into her mind, he was stunned.

She wasn’t just relieved; she was aroused!

Apparently, what he had done was the ultimate demonstration of power over her, and that power was intoxicating to her.

Not just that he could command her to cut off her own hand, but that he could restore her afterwards.

It was this combination that had her soaking wet, and as soon as he saw her recognition of her own arousal in her mind, he smelled her arousal in the air. It was sweet and tangy.

He’d just commanded her to cut off her own hand, and she was wet! He was still mildly nauseous from the sight of her tendons retracting and was very much not in the mood. So, he gently pushed her away from him.

"Master?" she asked. "Are you displeased?"

"Do you understand what just happened?"

"Yes, master. You were testing me."

"No, not really. When soul bonding you, I did something different. I wanted to see just how much control I could gain over you. And the only way to know learn my degree of control was to see just how far I could push you. So, no, I wasn’t testing you. I was testing my control over you. Do you understand the distinction?"

"Is the soul bond not part of me? Is there really any difference?"

"Yes. If I was testing you, it’s personal, but I was just testing the depths of the connection, which is clinical."

"Oh. Will you test me?" She sounded hopeful.

"I mean, I guess I did already. When I commanded you to hit the wall the first time, you did that all on your own. I think. It was only the second time that I had to push you through our soul bond."

"Really? I don’t understand."

"The first time I just commanded you. The second time I commanded you." The second time he said command, he also pushed the word down their connection.

She opened her mouth in an O shape and her eyes widened.

"Do you understand now?"

She shook her head. "Please do that again," she begged in an almost reverential voice.

"Like this?" he asked over their connection.

She dropped to her knees, hands clasped in front of herself in supplication, pupils dilated so far her irises almost disappeared, and said with intense reverence, "Master!"

Ah, fuck! She’s worse than Miranda when she learned I won the lottery.

The look on Isabella’s face sent shivers down his spine. Isabella’s reverential look made Miranda’s reverential look seem plain and normal.

With trepidation, he looked into Isabella’s mind. It was strangely blank, open, like she was waiting with all her being for something.

With a growing certainty, but wishing he was wrong, he said over their connection, "For what do you wait?"

"I await your commandments, my lord!"

Her answer sent another shiver down his spine.

When she’d said, "lord," she didn’t mean lord of a house, or any other earthly lord, she meant divine lord, lord in heaven, her lord god!

And this wasn’t just an exuberant response to a wonderful discovery, like Miranda’s response to learning he’d won the lottery. She was dead serious. She genuinely believed he was her god!

This was well beyond anything he’d expected or wanted. He was not ready to be dealing with true believers. He’d always found true believers disturbing in their willingness to ignore logic and reason for the sake of their beliefs. And yet, here was someone expressing faith in him!

He shuddered. Was this all his doing? Was his soul bond meddling enough to cause this, or did her suppressed submissiveness interact badly with his soul bond modifications lead to her present devotion?

Realizing he was being an idiot, again. He summoned Jeeves and explained what had happened.

"Sir, at your present soul strength, you will be able to induce some level of instinctive obedience in most humans on your planet. The level of devotion Isabella shows you is atypical and likely due to the predisposition you mentioned."

"Does this mean, once I start practicing the soul enhancement technique, I could theoretically cause the same effect in anyone I soul bond?"

"That is correct. The greater the difference in strength, the easier it will be for you to establish total dominance over the person being bonded."

"And the mind reading? Is that only one way, or will she be able to read my mind?"

"At your level of soul strength, it is strictly one way, sir. Once your soul is stronger, Genesis Heart will allow you to share select thoughts or memories with one you have bonded. But only if it is safe for you to do so."

Well, that was a relief. And it explained Miranda’s reactions. Even though he hadn’t tried dominating her, her desire and willingness to be devoted to him had pushed their soul bond in that direction.

"The thing I did with Isabella, can I do that to the others even though the bond is already formed?"

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om