Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 56 - 55 - Binding

Grand Tactician Azir shook his head. He didn’t look sure that Lumi knew the gravity of what he was accepting.

This was despite the fact that Azir was the one to propose the idea to begin with. Clearly, he never expected it to go so smoothly, if it happened at all. He had to question Lumi again, trying to gain information. "Even though I could install commands that would make you a puppet? I could force you to obey any order given by someone with proper authority?"

"Yes."

"Even though I could place restrictions that would cripple your magic if you so much as thought about betraying the Empire?"

"Yes."

"Even though I could make it so that speaking certain things would cause you agony beyond description?"

"If you think it necessary, yes."

Azir stopped pacing. "I need you to realize I’m not exaggerating. These are all within my capability."

"I know." Lumi met his gaze steadily. "I also know that you’re testing me. To see if fear will make me recant. It won’t."

"Why?" The question was sharp and demanding.

Lumi looked Grand Tactician Azir in the eye, and gave three reasons.

"Because I need Herene to trust me more than I need personal autonomy."

"Because what’s coming is worse than any binding you could place on me."

"Because I’ve already accepted defeating the Dark One is more important than anything else there is."

Azir was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke. "The Empress believes you’re sincere. Merath vouched for your character. Even Alice, who trusts no one easily, spoke in your favor. But I am not so easily convinced. I’ve seen too many heroes become villains, too many saviors become tyrants."

"Then go ahead." Lumi said simply. "Place whatever bindings you feel necessary. Make them as restrictive as needed. I’ll bear them gladly if it means having the Empire’s trust. The world will need my trust for what’s coming."

"What’s coming." Azir’s voice carried a note of interest, and understanding flickered in Azir’s eyes. "You speak of when the Dark One will walk free again. Very well." Azir said, moving to a cabinet and withdrawing several vials of different substances. "We’ll proceed. Last chance to refuse."

"I’m ready."

"No." Azir corrected, beginning to pour the vials’ contents into specific points in the ritual circles. "You’re willing. Ready is different. This will hurt. The bindings must touch your very soul to persist through death. Pain is inevitable."

"I understand."

"Do you?" Azir completed his preparations and took position at the northern point of the circle. "Then let’s begin. Try not to scream too loudly. It disturbs the other residents."

Power flared to life in the circles, and Lumi had just enough time to think that Azir had undersold the pain before it hit him like a physical force. But through the agony, one thought remained clear.

This was worth it. For the world’s sake, for his friends’ sake, for his family, for Lena, the chance to change the future, this was worth it.

"AHHHHHH!"

The pain!

It hurt so much!

He wasn’t planning on screaming, not at all! However, it was a deep, soul-cutting pain. He had been through plenty of fights in his previous life, and he could say with certainty nothing hurt like this!

It was as if he had just been struck by one of the Dark One’s Elite Guard. Yet, instead of the pain ending at a single blow, it kept going.

Over and over, being struck by the most tormenting pain imaginable.

The pain was unlike anything Lumi had experienced in either life. It wasn’t merely physical, though his nerves did scream as if dipped in liquid fire.

Nor was it just magical, though his mana channels writhed and twisted as foreign energies carved new pathways through them.

This was soul deep agony, the kind that touched the very essence of what made him himself.

But through it all, one thought anchored him.

This is necessary.

Lumi wasn’t a fool. His acceptance of the bindings wasn’t born from blind faith in the Empress or Azir. No, this came from something far more concrete, his memory. In his previous life, he’d witnessed the Aria Knights’ true nature firsthand. He’d seen them stand against impossible odds, watched them sacrifice everything for strangers, observed their commitment to justice even when it cost them dearly.

Any other organization of such power, time, and influence would have been corrupted. Internal conflicts would have torn them apart. Expansionist ambitions would have driven them to conquest. Greed would have hollowed out their ideals until only the shell remained. That was the nature of power. It corrupted, always.

Except it hadn’t. Not with the Aria Knights.

The purity of their purpose had confounded enemies and allies alike. How could an organization remain so steadfastly righteous? How could tens of thousands of individuals resist the temptations that came with their strength? Many refused to believe it, searching for hidden agendas or secret corruptions that simply didn’t exist.

They weren’t perfect.

Lumi knew that well.

They made mistakes, suffered from pride, and occasionally fell to individual failings. But at their core, they were genuinely, impossibly good. In a world sliding toward darkness, they’d been the light that refused to dim.

Even at the end, when the Dark One walked free and reality itself began to unravel, the Aria Knights had stood firm. They’d died, yes. Failed, ultimately. However, they’d never broken, never betrayed their principles, never taken the easy path of compromise with evil.

That was why Lumi could endure this pain.

Because he knew, not believed.

He KNEW that these people would use the power they gained over him only for good.

Another wave of agony crashed through him as Azir’s magic carved deeper, etching restrictions into the fabric of his being. Lumi’s hands clenched, nails digging into his palms hard enough to draw blood.

However, he screamed no longer.

The initial shock may have surprised him, but he was completely serious now. Perhaps the time spent joking with Lena and farming trivial monsters had softened him, but no longer.

Hours passed in a haze of controlled suffering.

The ritual circles pulsed with different colors as each binding took hold.

Silver light. Red lights. Gold, purple, and more. Each with their own significance that Lumi didn’t quite understand. He knew some of the basics, but it wasn’t as if he mastered every magic in his past life.

Layer after layer, restriction after restriction, until Lumi felt that he was becoming a document covered in contractual obligations. Still, he endured, focusing on the future this pain would buy.

Finally, it ended.