Alex scratched his head, wondering what his next move should be. He had two options in front of him, and neither was particularly appealing.
The first was to simply use the sword as it was, without access to any of its skills, since he still couldn't connect to it due to his poor mana quality.
The second, if he truly wanted to unlock the sword's full potential, was to level up—ideally to level 5, maybe even level 6—just enough to finally form a proper connection with it.
Among these two choices, he didn't particularly like the second one—it felt like rushing, like sacrificing his future foundations just to bring out the full potential of a single weapon.
"On the other hand, it's not just any weapon. Its skills are bound to be impressive," Alex reasoned, pacing back and forth in his room.
As he weighed his options, he pulled out the weapon he had been relying on lately: the double-headed scythe.
Now, the longsword rested in his right hand, while the double-headed scythe filled his left.
"It doesn't provide the same stat boosts," he thought, eyeing the scythe, "but it has its own advantages—and depending on the situation, it might actually be more useful." After all, it was with this very scythe that he had defeated the dungeon boss just a week ago.
"Maybe until I'm able to form a link with the sword, I should use the two of—"
Alex froze mid-sentence, his words cut off by something unusual.
The empty eye sockets of the skull joining the scythe's curved blades suddenly lit up with a disturbing black-and-white glow.
It wasn't the first time he had seen this eerie light—the skull would normally glow when he channeled mana into the weapon to activate its skill. But this time was different. He hadn't injected any mana. He hadn't done anything at all. The scythe had lit up on its own, and the glow in the skull's eyes was the most intense he had ever seen.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Alex murmured, reaching to return the scythe to his space ring.
But he had hesitated a moment too long.
Before he could react, the skull at the center of the scythe began to swell unnaturally. One second, it was the size of an apple; the next, it loomed over him, grotesque and monstrous, jagged teeth sprouting from its widening jaws.
'What the hell is going on?' Alex thought, frozen in place by the sudden transformation.
Unfortunately he should've moved and then wonder what was going on.
In a flash—too fast for his eyes to follow—the grotesque skull lunged, its gaping maw snapping forward with terrifying speed and force.
But it wasn't Alex it was after.
Its target was the longsword in his right hand.
Before he could even tighten his grip, the skull's fangs crashed into the blade. Cracks spread instantly across the sword's surface like shattered glass under pressure.
The skull yanked back with brutal efficiency, wrenching the weapon from Alex's hand and flinging it into the air. Then, in one fluid, horrifying motion, it arched its head up, caught the falling sword mid-air, and crushed it between its teeth with a sharp, grinding snap.
By this point, there were so many cracks running through the blade that it simply gave way under the strain and snapped cleanly in half.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The sound of splintering metal echoed through the room, sharp and relentless, as the giant skull crunched down on what remained of the sword.
Then, under Alex's wide, disbelieving eyes, a loud gulp echoed—wet and final. And just like that, it was over.
Alex stood frozen, his whole body locked in place, a rattled expression carved onto his face.
The sword—crafted from the essence of a level 7 monster, a weapon so rare and powerful that even the greatest factions of Imperion probably want a chance to get their hands on it—a treasure he had spent ninety million gold coins to acquire… it was gone. Devoured. As if it had been nothing more than a tasty snack.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Alex roared, his voice thundering as he gripped the polearm of the scythe with both hands. "SPIT IT OUT! SPIT IT RIGHT NOW, YOU FUCKING CREEPY BASTARD!!"
He swung the scythe wildly from side to side, as if hoping to make it nauseous—desperate to force it to vomit out the sword it had just devoured.
Yet throughout his furious assault, the massive skull didn't even flinch. Its glowing eye sockets, filled with that eerie blend of black and white light, kept shining as it slowly scanned the room, acting as if Alex didn't even exist.
Then, all at once, it stopped. It twisted, turning its gaze in another direction, its focus sharpening as if it had locked onto something.
Alex followed the skull's stare—and his eyes went wide the instant he realized what it was so intently observing.
In the next heartbeat, the skull lunged like a striking serpent, moving with unnatural precision, the glow in its eyes flaring brighter than before.
"NOT UNDER MY WATCH!" Alex bellowed, hurling the scythe with all his strength in the opposite direction the skull was heading. At the exact same time, he channeled every bit of power in his legs and shot toward his bed, his momentum so intense that the wooden floor beneath him cracked and split apart in his wake.
Reaching the bedside, he moved with urgent speed. His hand closed around the artifact in the form of two daggers bound together and without wasting a second, he shoved them into his space ring, sealing them away from the skull's reach.
Turning around, Alex found himself face to face with the giant skull, now looming just inches away, its cavernous eye sockets still shimmering with that same eerie blend of black and white light.
For a brief moment, they simply stared at each other. Then, Alex was almost certain—disturbingly certain—that the skull gave him a slow, grotesque grin. The next second, it began to shrink, the grin still plastered across what passed for its face.
In the blink of an eye, the massive skull had already reverted to the size of an apple. But it didn't stop there. The entire scythe began collapsing inward, folding in on itself. Smaller and smaller it became, until all that remained was a tiny, floating blob. It wasn't solid, yet it didn't look liquid or gaseous either. In fact, Alex wasn't even sure it was made of matter at all.
"What now?" Alex muttered, his jaw clenched in frustration. He could feel something was about to happen, but had no idea what. 'Should I just make a run for it?' he wondered.
He barely had time to finish the thought before the faintly glowing blob shot toward him at a speed that blurred reality. By the time his brain processed what was happening, the thing had already pierced into his chest and vanished inside.
"What is it with things entering my body without my permission?!" Alex almost screamed, exasperated.
Seconds later, he collapsed to his knees, drenched in sweat, his breathing ragged. He felt the strange presence—the blob, or whatever it was—digging its way deeper into his body. 'No… it's not my body,' he realized, 'it's my soul.'
Thanks to his soul linkage ability, Alex was more attuned than most to the subtle fluctuations of the soul. And now, he could feel something embedding itself into the very core of his being, forming a bond—one more intimate and invasive than anything he had ever experienced before.
As that realization struck him, a translucent blue screen blinked into existence before his eyes, and a cascade of notifications began flashing in rapid succession.
[You have formed a bond with a soul weapon]
[You are now linked to a fragment of Seraphiel's Armament]
[Updating status…]
[Status update complete]
[You may now access your updated status at will]