"What a pathetic summoner. All of you are."

The voice—deep, breathy, edged with something almost amused. Not familiar. Not human. But it scraped against my senses like something that had been waiting a long time to speak.

That was the first thing I noticed. Then the rest of it hit me.

The last thing I remembered—six-limbed, towering, coming for me. And then? Darkness. Now? More darkness. Different, though. Thicker. Heavier. Wrong.

I swallowed. My throat felt raw. My body ached in ways I didn't have the energy to catalog.

Where the hell was I?

A thought slithered in, unwelcome and immediate.

Inside the thing’s belly?

I just wished I wasn’t.

"Come on. Just give me your body and die painlessly, human."

The voice again. Smooth this time, mocking, like it was amused by the very idea of me. Amused by humans in general.

I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t. Not even close. My mouth wouldn’t move. My body wouldn’t move. It was like being strapped into a void—just my ears and my mind, trapped in black nothingness.

Who the hell was speaking? And more importantly—was I dead?

Then the pain hit. Sudden, sharp, brutal.

Like something was drilling into my skull, twisting, pressing, cracking my brain apart piece by piece. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it—veins shifting, nerves screaming, everything inside my head being crushed inch by inch.

A low chuckle slithered through the dark.

"Heh. Told you already, human. You're dead if you don’t hand it over. Stop making this hard on yourself. Just obey."

I couldn’t scream and....it was killing me.

[89% Resistance]

[95% Chance Force Domination Will Fail]

[You Are Slowly Losing Your Mind]

And that one wasn't that great news.

Force Domination. The last thing I remembered before everything went black. The beast. The fight. The sheer, stupid gamble that somehow kept me alive this long.

I’d forgotten. Or maybe my brain had shoved it aside, too busy screaming.

But that notification—it was a clue. If this was all happening because of Force Domination, then that meant…

The voice. The pain. The thing ripping into my skull.

It was my summon.

The shadow wolf. The same damn creature that tried to kill me.

“Fu—fuck.”

That was it. That was the only thought bouncing around my skull, over and over.

I wanted to scream. Couldn’t. Wanted to fight. Couldn’t. All I could do was take it—let the pain tear through me while my summon laughed.

It was infuriating. Maddening. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

At least, that’s what I thought.

Then the memories hit.

A sudden flood—sharp, disjointed, blurring in and out. Flashes of something familiar, something buried deep. It was just like before—right before I summoned the wolf.

Images. Sounds. Fragments of something important.

And all the while, the pain kept going.

And the damn wolf kept laughing.

If I survive this, I swear I’m turning you into grilled meat, you sadistic piece of shit.

“BWAHAHAHAH! Yeah, go ahead, try and crawl your way out of this—if you even can.”

[89% Resistance]

[Warning: Failure Imminent]

The flood of images stopped. Just like that..

And then—without meaning to, without even thinking—I spoke.

"Hell I will."

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Silence.

The laughter, that maddening, grating sound that had been drilling into my skull, just… stopped. The relief was instant, even though my head still felt like it was being pried open with a crowbar.

"How did yo—"

"How the hell did I even… speak?" I muttered, more to myself than anything.

It didn’t answer. Just listened.

So I kept going. Might as well poke the beast while I’m here.

"You know, for a summon, you're kind of an ass. What happened to the whole loyal to your summoner thing? Maybe try acting like a normal summon for once?"

I wasn’t trying to piss it off. Not really. But it was the only thing I could say, the only thing that made sense.

Why the hell was my own summon trying to kill me?

[80% Resistance]

[Resistance Decreasing]

Huh. Interesting.

I wasn’t sure why, but pissing it off seemed to be working. Every time I provoked it, that resistance percentage ticked down.

Not that it made the pain any less unbearable.

"Argh!"

It tore through my skull again—sharp, deep, relentless. And then, finally, the damn thing spoke again.

"Trying to escape, human? You won’t. Seems you’re mistaken."

It kept talking.

But something had changed. The pain—it was still there, still gnawing at my skull, but it was fading. Slowly, barely noticeable at first, but enough. Enough to make one thing clear.

This was connected to the summon’s resistance.

And that meant I could fight back.

"Hey."

This time, I spoke with purpose. Pushing through the ache, forcing the words out like they had weight.

"Do me a favor and shut the hell up."

Silence.

Not just a pause. A complete void. No laughter. No breath. The presence that had been pressing against me, suffocating me—it stalled.

And then,

[75% Resistance]

There it was. Dropping again.

"You… human… how can you talk back?"

I couldn’t see its face—not that I needed to. The shift in its voice was enough. Gone was the smug, mocking tone. Now, there was something else laced in—surprise. Maybe even hesitation.

It was holding back.

Yeah. That made sense.

At the end of the day, this thing was just a summon. If I pushed back hard enough, I could win. If I didn’t? Well, then I was as good as dead.

[Decreasing Resistance to 50% will enable "Force Domination."]

Fifty percent. From seventy-five. That was a hell of a gap.

How the hell was I supposed to drop it that fast?

Talking worked, sure. Challenging it, pissing it off, making it doubt itself. But would that be enough?

Only one way to find out.

"Sit."

…Oh.

Oh, shit.

That was not the clever power move I’d been going for. What the hell kind of command was that?

Too late to take it back now.

"You think you can make me sit, you bastard?!" the summon snarled. "Don’t think you can tame me with words, you insolent—"

[77% Resistance]

Damn. That was embarrassing.

And to make it worse? The resistance percentage just increased by two percent.

Great. So lame pet talk was a no-go.

Fine. Time to adjust.

"You know, you’re not actually that strong, you overgrown Chihuahua. Your attacks earlier? Barely an itch. Honestly, making you sit would’ve been easy if I actually tried."

Yeah. That was better. Right? Had to be.

There was a beat of silence. Then—

"What did… you just call me, human?!"

Oh, there it was. The reaction I wanted.

"You keep calling me ‘human’ like it means something. Like it’s supposed to insult me." I let out a slow exhale, voice flat. "Hate to break it to you, but I don’t give a shit. Not even a little. And if I had to guess… you’re losing your mind over that right now, aren’t you?"

Was that too much? Too harsh?

Nah. Screw that.

If I was going to die, I’d do it pissing this thing off as much as humanly possible.

[67% Resistance]

[Dropped significantly]

Oh, this was working.

And damn, was it satisfying.

"Just be honest. You’re scared, aren’t you?"

No response. Not a word. Just shaky, uneven breaths. Nervous. I heard it. Felt it.

Good.

"If I make it out of this, that means I win. And if I win… what happens to you then?" I let the question hang for just a second before twisting the knife.

"I’m going to own you."

It sucked in a breath like it was about to spit something back—didn’t get the chance.

I cut it off. Didn’t give it room to regain control, to think, to fight.

"That’s not even a threat. That’s a fact. But hey, I’ll give you a choice."I kept my voice steady, deliberate. "Fight me and lose everything. Or submit… and survive."

[65% Resistance]

…

[64% Resistance]

…

[63% Resistance]

There it was. Dropping. Slow, but steady.

"I will… kill you," it spat, but the words lacked the bite from before. "Submitting to a human is—nothing but a joke. I will… kill you… I will…"

No.

It wanted to believe that. But I could hear it now, clear as day.

The fear.

At this point, it felt like I was talking to myself.

I knew that tone. Fear. That barely-contained tremble in its voice, the uneven breaths. I didn’t need to hear its heartbeat to know it was there—hammering, frantic.

And the pain? Almost gone. Not completely, but nothing close to what it was before. No more white-hot agony ripping through my skull. No more feeling like I was about to crack apart.

I was winning.

"You think I need you?" I let the words drop, sharp and cold. "I don’t. I’ll summon another. And another. Until I find one that obeys. You? You’ll be nothing. Forgotten. Dead magic in a world that doesn’t care."

I let that sink in before delivering the final blow.

"Unless… you kneel."

[56% Resistance]

…

[54% Resistance]

…

[52% Resistance]

…

[50% Resistance]

[Force Domination Activated]

Effect: Resistance will drop by 1% per second.

Not barely. Not almost.

I did it.

"I won’t obey! I’ll tear your head o—"

The thing’s snarl cut off, swallowed by a scream of raw agony.

ARGHHGGHHH!

[Resistance dropping significantly]

[Summon undergoing forced taming]

[Summon transforming]

And just like that, the darkness vanished.

I opened my eyes. Everything was a blur, light bleeding into the edges of my vision. My head pounded, my body felt like I’d been put through a grinder, but I was alive.

And then—

WHAT THE FUCK?! My heart nearly stopped.

Right in front of me, staring down at me, was the six-limbed beast. The same one from before.

Smiling.

I barely swallowed the instinct to flinch, my hands twitching, breath hitching. It wasn’t attacking. It wasn’t laughing. Just watching me. And I didn’t like the way it looked pleased.

I forced myself to breathe. Focus.

I had won.

Somehow.

Beside my bloody, wrecked body, my summon stood—different. Before, it had been nothing but a black void, pure darkness given shape. Now? Now it had something. A red diamond embedded in its forehead, thin streams of crimson smoke curling from its body. It was bigger, too.

More intimidating.

[Successfully tamed a summon]

[Healing effect of summon activated]

[Experiencing accelerated recovery]

[Temporary attribute buff applied]

[Received "BIND" points for taming a summon]

Strength (STR): 5 → 9

Agility (AGI): 4 → 7

Intelligence (INT): 5 → 8

Endurance (END): 3 → 5

Perception (PER): 3 → 7

Binding (BIND): 0 → 15

While I was busy checking out the notifications, the beast across from me started laughing.

Low. Rumbling.

It sent a sharp, crawling sensation down my spine. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little freaked out. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t normal.

Meanwhile, my summon just stared at it. Silent. Focused.

It wasn’t talking anymore like before, but there was something there—some invisible thread connecting us. I could feel it. And more importantly, it wasn’t trying to kill me anymore.

[Shadow Wolf has ranked up]

[F-Rank → D-Rank]

Damn. That was a serious jump.

Impressive.

But also… slightly concerning.

My summon was now stronger than me. And yeah, that wasn’t the easiest thing to swallow. But still, I had to admit, this was a win.

Not that I was about to let it get cocky.

You goddamn wolf. The second I get a chance, I am grilling you. (just joking, I probably didn't have a chance at all)

[Amaruq]

[Shadow Wolf]

[D-Rank]

image [https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5a/bb/13/5abb13dc7d2a7c84faf682589ade6a57.jpg]