As I approached Ascentown, I “pinged” Naea. She had been resting at Home Base and I told her to come to me before we engaged with whatever was happening. Home Base was on the outskirts of the town, with everything built in a western direction from there. Newtown was to the East, and so we approached from that direction. Naea wanted to run into battle immediately. She argued through the bond, but I reminded her of our serious conversation. “It was about me, but it wasn’t just for me. Neither of us deal with the big stuff alone again.”

She relented and met Julianna and I just outside the boundary of Ascentown. I wasn’t expecting the stink eye she gave the woman and snorted a laugh. “Naea, Julianna, Julianna, Naea.” I gestured to the ladies and introduced them. I had a strange feeling that this was what introducing a step-parent to a teenager might feel like.

Of course, Julianna knew how to handle kids. “Grant, where were you hiding this beautiful thing?” A round of gasps and oohs and ahhs needed to happen as the two women immediately bridged the start of their own relationship with each other. Naea showed off her lightning a bit, and Julianna shot a gout of fire from her fist. Deciding that this had taken up more than enough time, I clapped and just began moving again.

With the speed of our approach, I almost didn’t notice how strange it was for Ascentown to be silent. Given there was supposedly a claimant attacking, there should be some noise. I wasn’t an expert at reading the System’s intention, but when a claimant arrived in my town without me being there, I expected carnage. Destruction and damage, things to avenge. I didn’t expect it to be so… quiet.

When I stepped into the central plaza of the Outpost, I actually sighed in relief. Sure, the claimant was standing there with the confidence of a demi-god, but I wasn’t going crazy at least. That feeling of dread which had hung over my every thought over the day was confirmed, and despite the danger, I felt more comfortable.

I couldn’t fight the unknown, but I could fight whatever this thing was.

Unmoving as I approached, it was hard to tell if the thing even knew I was there. The unchanging feeling of apprehension in my gut was enough though, and the strangeness of the situation had me holding my hand. As I inspected the creature, I found my Manasight blocked. My Dao growled and ripped the barrier away.

Steel Sovereign - Level ??? (Claimant)

The text might not say monster, but my eyes did. Looking somewhere between a human and a tree, made entirely of shiny chrome metal. Though I was sure it knew I was here, I still took my time and sought to understand the being before me. To my physical eyes, it was a monstrosity of sharp metals and nearly blinding chrome but my Stormborn physiology was not just to give me fancy lines.

It was my ability to see mana that made me most worried.

I had never seen anything so powerful in my life. The Golem Prince or Firehawk Monarch were candles next to the bonfire of this being’s power. The mana within the metal body moved with more purpose, more control than I had ever seen. Its physical body was a thing of function, but the pathways that guided its magic were beautiful. I admired the framework, even if the finished product wanted to kill me.

I told the others to stay back and got closer as carefully as I could. The Alternating Armament felt strong in my hand. My mana cycled quicker and quicker, in time with my ascending heart rate. I knew exactly what those question marks implied.

This thing was strong.

Maybe fighting wouldn’t be such a good idea.

“And there he is!” As it spoke, Steel Sovereign clapped and I jumped back fifteen feet. Even without features on its face, I could tell that the metallic monster was smug at my reaction.

“What’s going on here? What do you want?” I needed more information, and the continuing silence of the Outpost was becoming oppressively ominous. Until I knew the state of my people, I couldn’t make a move. I had never felt so powerless since the System arrived.

“Humans are interesting. You tend to ask the same questions in the same order, for the most part.” As though it were discussing the weather, with a voice like a windy pipe organ, Steel Sovereign created a chair from its own body, then seated itself. There was a noticeable shrinking of its form, but I didn’t assume anything. It showed me the ability on purpose, which meant it was calculating to a worrying degree.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“What have you done?” This time, I pressed forward with my Dao. It wasn’t the full weight of my pressure, but it wasn’t nothing either. I wasn’t asking for an answer, I was demanding it.

“Yes,” the monstrosity nodded, “that one does normally come next.”

“No, what comes next is you stop playing games or I kill you, finish this quest and deal with whatever bullshit comes next, consequences be damned.” Unable to hold myself back completely, my Dao pressed outwards, my energy ominous as a dark cloud covering the sun.

“Oh, no, the threat isn’t so esoteric and far-off. It’s immediate. If I die, so do they.” The monster twitched its head and white light exploded in my vision. I grasped for my mana, my Dao, anything to fight back with but found them out of reach. My connection had been sliced by a fractional release of Steel Sovereign’s power. Goosebumps appeared on my skin, not just because the power was so vast it nearly knocked me out. No, it was worse.

Steel Sovereign hadn’t even attacked.

As one, every door in the town opened at once. Every door. People filed out of their homes and formed an orderly line. As it moved, so did everyone else. It waved a hand and over a hundred arms matched the gesture. As Steel Sovereign and everyone else waved, another steel chair and a table appeared. The thing made my skin crawl. It was acting like it was in complete control, a fact I couldn’t dispute. Just exhibiting its power for an instant was enough to send me reeling.

I was frozen. I didn’t have a way to combat this. What should I do? As my mind began to weigh up the calculus of nearly 500 lives, I became stuck with indecision. Steel Sovereign slowly steepled its fingers together. The denizens of Ascentown, as one, crossed their hands in the same way. “I hope you consider this an unacceptable consequence.”

“Don’t hurt them.” I could do nothing but beg. Even my Dao didn’t object, silently gathering power in my core instead. If I needed to avenge a single person, I would be ready to fight with all of my strength. It now felt meagre. These people needed to be saved, however I could do it. “You wanted to talk? Talk. Quickly.”

“I don’t want to hurt these humans, nor any humans, really. Survival is much more important however, so I believe the audience will remain.” As it spoke in its chromatic lilt, it emoted like a human might. The citizens that I wanted to protect so badly mimicked its movements perfectly, a macabre dance routine I never wanted to see again.

“Okay. Let’s talk.” Slowly, pausing after each word as I spat them through gritted teeth, I offered peace. I locked down my Dao, which were both screaming at me to fight this monster right here, and sat at the table it had created. “I’ll ask again. What do you want?”

There was a wail from Steel Sovereign and I flinched before realising that the thing was actually sighing. “A place in this new world. A way to exist past the quest this System has given us to kill each other. I swear I have not killed a single human in my lifetime.” Although I had no reason to, I believed that this creature wouldn’t lie. Maybe I recognised the pride in something that called itself a sovereign. Then, its dirge of a voice became coarse, a furnace burning. “That can easily change.”

I felt myself rising to the challenge inherent, but I needed these people safe. Still, I couldn’t back down fully. “I’d be safer if I killed you. These people might die, if you’re telling the truth, but I could survive.” An unspoken subtext was that this creature could easily kill far more people than just the denizens of Ascentown.

“As would I, Grant Kaeron, but could I kill you? Could you, me? Not before I kill all of these people, certainly, but maybe before I kill the one hiding with the fairy. Of course, if you do end up dying you take the fairy with you.” Words as sharp as a knife to my heart. I knew it when Naea had nearly said it, but now it was used as a powerful weapon against me.

So Naea’s life was bound to mine. Our contract had felt permanent but I never took the time to inspect it, nor ask Naea if there were any implications I needed to worry about. All of the times I risked my life and Naea’s reaction to my carelessness came rushing to my mind. Whatever guilt I had felt became magnitudes worse. I knew that the reverse wasn’t true. If she died, I wouldn’t follow because of our contract like she would. She had kept the danger to herself from me.

My life just became a lot more valuable, I thought. “So you have me at your mercy. What now?” It rankled my soul to capitulate to this monster but I could do nothing to risk the lives of the people who had trusted me. Even if they had just moved here because it was something new, it was something I had offered them. If I had to fall on a sword to get the people out of this, I absolutely would.

“Simple.” The crowd once again waved their arms in uncanny unison and a System prompt appeared. One which nearly caused my eyes to bug out of my head. I had sensed a similar tug on my soul once before, and while I had been receptive then, this one felt like an invasion of privacy. I nearly rejected the prompt outright, but stopped myself.

“What?” I barked. A flimsy bridge had formed between myself and the creature sitting in front of me. I seethed with anger, my mind desperate to refuse the contract outright. Steel Sovereign’s didn’t even twitch shift, they just waited a few moments with the silence of the captives breathing in unison to emphasise the situation.

“What?!” Naea screeched. She could feel the attempts at connection being made. I looked over to her and tried to convey love through our bond, but the feeling was tangled. Danger be damned, she flew over to me in a panic and wrapped her arms around my neck while glaring at the monster.

“What?” Steel Sovereign asked, innocently, tilting their head to the side. Cute when a puppy does it maybe, but spooky on its alien features. “Read the contract, please.”

Familiar Contract - Steel Sovereign has offered a familiar contract.

Offered by the Singular Existence, Steel Sovereign, this contract will bind the two of you intrinsically. As the one who is being offered the contract, you are the dominant. As Steel Sovereign is of a higher Grade than yourself, you may not form additional Familiar Contracts until Grade parity has been reached. This is the base level of contract, allowing for further growth but requiring nothing more than non-aggression.

Do you accept the terms?

Upon the flat face of Steel Sovereign, a thin smile appeared along with other facial features.