"So, what will it be?" Grayton asked, gleefully reveling in the witches' widened eyes.

"Why... are you helping a mere child?" Miranda glared resentfully, not at Grayton but at the entity within him. "Why do you let someone like him order you around? Answer me, Charon, Herald of Death!"

"I guess he's pretty famous around these parts..." Grayton thought. "Still, I wonder what he did to gain such a title."

"Can't a man do somethin' out of the kindness of his heart?" Charles remarked sarcastically. In response, Miranda started to laugh. It was neither a taunting cackle nor a smug chuckle, but instead a mirthless laugh of dismissal.

"You are no man; you have no heart." Miranda angrily shook her head. "You don't even live!"

Upon hearing those words, Grayton felt the flowing miasma around his body stiffen a little. "Must've struck a nerve."

"Don't talk to me about kindness. A monster shouldn't pretend to feel, pretend to love." She continued with her monologue. "You are no different from the undyings. You simply-"

Suddenly, Grayton's right hand jerked forward out of his control, thrusting the armblade toward the witch's neck.

"No! Shit!"

Grayton grabbed his right hand with his left and pulled as hard as he could to avoid killing the witch, but to no avail. Even once he stopped his hand from going further, Charles simply extended the armblade until it reached the witch. The blade fortunately stopped right in front of Miranda's jugular, though Grayton suspected this was by Charles's own will.

"Charles!" Grayton exclaimed. He tried to step backwards in order to increase the distance between the blade and the witch's neck, but his legs wouldn't budge. "Don't kill her!"

"Why?" Charles asked as if it was the most normal thing to do. His bright and optimistic tone had completely vanished from his voice. "We only need one of 'em for your plan, right?"

At that moment, Grayton came to the realization that Charles was not just a benevolent benefactor but a seasoned killer as well. And said killer was currently in control of his body.

"What do I do?" Grayton thought, sweating through the effort of trying to pull his hand down. "Do I reprimand him and try to take control? No, that'll just come off as pretentious and fan his flames even more."

"I-it..." Grayton stammered, his eyes widening. "It'll attract the other witches' attention if we kill her!"

"I need to do something..." Grayton thought, struggling to come up with a solution. "Anything!"

"That's fine." Charles brushed off his reasoning. "I'll just deal with 'em if it comes to that."

"I'm not getting through at all. Fuck!" Grayton thought. By now, he was genuinely panicking, and what little composure he had was quickly slipping away. "I don't want to be a murderer!"

"B-but!" Grayton shouted before clamping both of his eyes shut and desperately ripping out bits of black miasma clinging to his body in one last futile endeavor. "Please!"

Miraculously, that desperate plea seemed to have some effect, as Charles visibly hesitated, though he didn't completely retract the blade.

"I need one final push." Grayton thought, trying as hard as he could to find the best course of action before his window of opportunity closed. "That's it!"

Grayton bit down on the inside of his cheek, slowly increasing the force of the bite until it bled. The pain from the wound brought beads of tears to his eyes, which quickly escalated into full streams. Finally, Charles retracted the blade.

Miranda didn't waste a single moment of this discord. In an instant, the 3 pink petals on her eyes lit up as she turned to run away, though one of them appeared to be fading.

"I'll try to keep things hidden on my side!" Miranda called out to Keyla. "Just do as he says and stay alive; I'll figure something out!"

"To me, Themyscira!" Miranda shouted, her words brimming with the force Grayton now recognized as mana. An elegant white horse with a pair of angelic wings materialized from underneath her and carried her into the skies at blistering speeds once she finished her chant. Leaving the others behind with a gust of wind.

"I-I'm sorry, kid, I really am." Charles apologized. His tone seemed to indicate genuine regret. "I forgot yer just kid... It's my fault for-"

"Save it for later; the enemy is still in front of us." Grayton interrupted, quickly regaining his composure. "I can't believe such a lame provocation would work on you... Tceh!"

Grayton spat out the blood that had accumulated in his mouth once the metallic taste got too strong to swallow.

"You... You bit your cheek?" Charles asked, dumbfounded.

"I did," Grayton said, wiping off a drop of blood that escaped his mouth.

"Was all that just an act, then?"

"What do you think?" Grayton retorted. He would never admit that desperate pleading was genuine if he could.

"Hah!" Charles snorted, his usual carefree attitude returning. "I ain't even mad; I respect that!"

"Whatever." Grayton sighed, forcing himself to swallow another mouthful of blood. "That little hitch let that other witch escape, so-"

Grayton turned to face Keyla, looking her in the eye. He pointed his shrunken armblade at her. "Are you going to resist?"

Keyla broke eye contact by staring into the floor as she shook her head.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Good. I trust you have the components needed for a binding vow?" Grayton lowered his weapon. "And get off me, Charles."

----------------------------------------

10 minutes later

"I-isn't this just a slave contract?" Keyla nervously fidgeted. She watched as the boy and the monster excitedly chatted about the terms of the contract. "What's with that boy? How can he be so buddy-buddy with Charon? Didn't he almost force him to take a life just now?"

"Oh! Oh! I know! Add: has to bark excitedly when Grayton Laurentius enters the room." Charles gleefully suggested, leaning over Grayton's shoulder.

"Heh, let's save that for when I actually want to torment someone." Grayton chuckled. He was currently writing on the desk inside Keyla's little treehouse. Truthfully, he had his qualms about treating Charles so casually after the stunt earlier, but the words he spoke in the heat of the moment implied that he would still be on Grayton's side even if the entirety of the witches were out to get him.

"I should be fine as long as I play around his murderous bouts." Grayton thought as he wrote down the terms of the vow. "Besides, panicking and acting sensitive about it would simply risk another violent reaction, so just brushing it off for now is the optimal thing to do."

"Let's see..." Grayton reviewed the contract he wrote. "Complete obedience... May not tell a lie or omit information... May not harm me or my allies unless commanded otherwise... Am I missing anything?"

"Charles, you see anything wrong with this?" Grayton lifted the piece of paper and held it behind his back.

"Mhm?" Charles leaned closer, visibly avoiding touching the parchment. "Don't see any loopholes... Yeah, looks 'bout right."

"Right." Grayton nodded before handing the piece of paper to the witch. "Sign this."

"A-alright." Keyla gulped, hesitating in front of the paper. "What do I do? This vow is totally bad news. Should I just agree like Miranda told me to? Wait, he doesn't want to kill, right? So if I just-"

"Before you get any funny ideas, just know." Grayton interrupted when he noticed Keyla deep in thought. "I don't know what the repercussions of my existence being known to the other witches that you're so afraid of are, but I won't hesitate to spread the existence of magic and witches everywhere if you try to run away. So, why don't you consider your choices carefully?"

"That's quite a roundabout threat." Charles commented. "Why don't I just-"

Grayton gave him a disapproving look before Charles could finish his sentence. With that, Keyla quickly signed the binding vow without further objections.

"Did that suggestion come sincerely out of your heart, or was it just an intimidation play?" Grayton whispered to Charles as the two of them watched Keyla read and reread the terms of the contract with pure regret in her eyes, to their great amusement.

"Latter." Charles responded. "Y'know I ain't the type to let something slip."

"Then good job."

Charles seemed a little taken aback by the sudden compliment. "Well, uh, thanks."

Grayton stepped forward and tapped Keyla on the shoulder, causing her to flinch in surprise. "Hyah!?"

Grayton raised an eyebrow and slowly pulled his hand back, surprised by the reaction. "How little awareness does this girl have?"

"Now that you're done reading it," Grayton continued. "You're going to answer a few questions for me."

"Yes." Keyla answered before immediately putting her hand on her mouth, as if she said that involuntarily.

"Looks like it's working." Grayton smiled before checking the time on his phone. "It's getting late... I'll ask a few questions and go home for now."

"First question: why are you trying so hard to enthrall me?"

"A-at first, we simply wanted to stop someone with unique magic like you from joining another faction." Keyla explained. "But we got greedy a-and thought we could h-handle you ourselves."

"And if the elders found out, you and your friend would be in deep trouble, wouldn't you?" Grayton interrupted. "Doubly so now that I found that potion-making method."

"Y-yes." Keyla nodded rapidly.

"Alright." Grayton nodded. "Next question: where can I acquire potion-making materials?"

"Nature's keep... Ugh!" Keyla clutched her chest in pain. She appeared to have tried to resist the vow, resulting in this backlash. "I-it's some sort of safe haven for witches! There's a m-market there where we buy ingredients. Only witches can enter through hidden e-entryways around the world."

"Hmph, didn't know about the entryway part." Charles hummed. "What currency do ya people use there?"

"T-there's money changers everywhere over there, but the rules of trading are also in place." Keyla answered.

"I would've felt less bad if it was the other one..." Grayton thought before continuing. "Very well, last question for now: can you teach me how to use magic?"

For a moment, silence befell the room. Grayton stayed quiet as he was waiting for an answer; Charles was busy celebrating on the inside as he had been anticipating this very question for quite some time; and Keyla was genuinely puzzled on how to answer.

"What type?" Keyla asked after great consideration. "I'm only knowledgeable in witch magic, but I can give some pointers in human magic if you want."

"Wait, wait, wait." Charles interrupted. "Can't witch magic only be practiced by witches?"

"Y-yes but there's a small chance he is part of some witches descent." Keyla hurriedly answered. "I-I wasn't trying to lie or mislead you!"

"Tell me what I need to do to start learning them first." Grayton demanded.

"Well, the two are p-pretty much the same in terms o-of starting steps." Keyla explained. "You would have to drink a mana potion or have somebody channel mana into your system, and if you were a witch, this would allow you to 'sense' external mana. But if you were a normal human, this would allow you to 'feel' the mana circulating in your body and eventually channel it outward."

"Hmm." Grayton rubbed his chin. "So which method are we going to use? I don't see any potions lying around, so I'm assuming the latter?"

"N-no, I'm still too inexperienced for something like that; I might burst your mana vessel." Keyla waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal. "Though I'm confused about why you ask this of me, though. Haven't you already discovered your innate magic?"

"Thats... I suppose there's no risk in telling you." Grayton shrugged. "Keyla Louvencra, I command you not to share any information about me with anyone, unless not saying anything will put your life in danger."

"Hoh, someone might think you're well-versed in the art of binding vows if they didn't know any better." Charles chuckled.

Grayton smiled a little at his comment as he continued. "My portals are a result of a contract with a higher being. So no, I haven't discovered any magic powers of my own."

"I see..." Keyla said as she walked toward her drawers, picking out a few choice ingredients. "I'll have the potion ready in around... 30- no, 40 minutes."

"40 minutes..." Grayton yawned. "That's too long. Just make the potion; I'll be back tomorrow to pick it up."

Keyla nodded as she watched Grayton walk past her and exit the room. Grayton walked down the stairs of this treehouse, which was apparently located inside the tree itself.

"Sorry about earlier, by the way." Charles apologized once the two were safely out of earshot. "It's just... Over the years, the witches came at me over and over again, saying somethin' 'bout how my core can be used to make great charms. I tried to just shake them away at first. But before I knew it, killing them became trivial for me."

"It's fine." Grayton shook his head. "But you have to tell me more about yourself, Charon, Herald of Death." Grayton said teasingly.

"It's not like a highschooler like me has anything to say about the morality of killing anyway..." Grayton thought. "Just changing the subject is enough."

"Well, sure, but..." Charles seemed to contemplate his words as they walked down the street. "I am not a herald of death."

Grayton stayed silent, listening attentively.

"Death is... cruel, and petty." Charles remarked, as if speaking from experience. "I'd rather die than herald such a being." Charles chuckled at his own pun.

"As ya probably figured out already, Charles isn't my real name." Charles continued. "It's just a silly little play on 'Charon'."

"So what's your real name?" Grayton asked.

"I wonder..." Charles looked up to the sky. Or at least, his mask was pointing up. "I don't remember nothin' 'cept her name..." He muttered under his breath.

"This is where I should stay silent..." Grayton concluded in his mind.

"Perhaps I'll tell ya about my story one day, kid." Charles put his goopy hand on Grayton's shoulder. By now, Grayton was already used to the sensation. "Now's just not the right time."

The two continued to walk in solemn silence. And before Grayton noticed, Charles was no longer with him.