CHAIN SLAVE.

Johnquis stood, blood-slicked and trembling, as the Runner writhed helplessly in the narrow crush of the overturned bus.

This was it.

After months of grinding. After being stuck in the mud of mediocrity, scraping by with nothing but bruises and close calls.

After endless fights. After bleeding just to see the next sunrise.

He finally had something of his own.

A skill.

His skill.

He muttered the words,

"CHAIN SLAVE"

He thrust his right hand forward.

CRACKLE!

A red spark split across his arm, igniting the chains coiled around his wrist. They rose, floating, vibrating with unstable power.

[SKILL ACTIVATED: CHAIN SLAVE – LVL 1]

Initiating Willpower Clash…

Then—

WHOOOSH!

Chains erupted from his arm, glowing red and violet, thrashing through the stale air. They coiled and struck with surgical fury. Wrapping around the Runner's wrists, elbows, knees, and throat.

One final chain drove straight through its chest.

QUELCH!

The Runner froze mid-snarl. Its glowing eyes flared, limbs spasming as the chains locked tighter.

Johnquis gripped the chains tighter. His teeth clenched.

The Runner screamed.

"RRRAAGHSSHHKKKK!"

It thrashed wildly, its body arching against the bindings, muscles twitching with resistance.

Johnquis dropped to one knee. The air around him got heavy, thick with pressure. His vision flickered. A second heartbeat pounded in his ears, not his own.

[WILLPOWER CLASH: 0% vs 0%]

Blood Cost: 0%... 2%... 4%...

His veins burned.

He could feel the Runner's mind. A raw storm of hunger, instinct, rage. It wasn't language. It was sensation.

Johnquis gritted his teeth.

"You're not… in control anymore."

The Runner's eyes met his, wide, glowing violet, not with thought, but fury. And behind it, resistance.

[WILLPOWER CLASH: 18% vs 82%]

Blood Cost: 8%... 11%... 15%...

Blood leaked from Johnquis' nose. His hand trembled, the glow from the chains flaring brighter with every second.

More chains wrapped the Runner's torso, its movements slowing.

Still, it fought.

Johnquis stumbled forward, closing the distance, one palm still outstretched. The other gripping his stomach.

"Submit!"

The Runner snarl and lunged but the chains pulled it back, slamming its face into the bus floor. Hard.

[WILLPOWER CLASH: 33% vs 67%]

Blood Cost: 19%... 23%...

Johnquis' pulse crashed like thunder in his ears. Images burned in his mind, Lex's torn body, her reaching hand, her final scream. Mars, locked in combat with the Runner, falling in his last desperate moment. Randy's face, frozen in terror as the creature's jaws closed around him.

He screamed back at the beast.

"You owe me! And I swear, you'll pay for what you've done! For slaughtering us! For tearing everything apart!"

Violet light burst from the ground. The chains dug deeper, burning marks into the Runner's flesh. Runes flared along its chest. Its limbs shook violently, spasming under the weight of the seal.

Johnquis staggered, both knees hitting the floor, blood pouring from his mouth now.

[WILLPOWER CLASH: 50% / 50%]

Blood Cost: 27%... 30%...

He clenched his teeth. One last push. One last scream.

"I SAID—SUBMIT!"

Blood burst from his nose, his ears, his eyes—spraying down his face, dripping into his open mouth. His vision blurred. Darkness nipped at the edge of his sight. His knees buckled and then.

The Runner collapsed.

Still breathing. Still alive. But quiet.

The violet light dimmed.

Chains tightened once, then vanished. Sinking into its flesh like fading scars.

Then a small click echoed in the air.

[CHAIN SLAVE BINDING COMPLETE]

Blood Cost Final: 33%

Johnquis slumped back, vision spinning. His body shivered, the blood loss leaving him cold. But he looked up.

The Eater, the Runner was no longer snarling.

It knelt before him, head lowered, limbs twitching softly, like an obedient beast.

Johnquis stared at it. His breathing shallow.

"…Goddamn."

He reached out, barely able to lift his arm.

"You're mine now."

Then he collapsed. Blood pooled beneath him, slow and dark. He'd lost too much. His body had nothing left. His vision dimmed. His thoughts scattered.

And everything slipped away… 

A dull ping echoed in his skull.

Another.

And another.

Johnquis moved.

His eyes cracked open, dry and burning. His vision swam with static for a moment before focusing on rusted metal and broken glass above him. Sunlight leaked through the shattered windows of the overturned bus, warm and glaring. It had to be past noon.

His mouth was dry. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest. His right hand pulsed with sharp, throbbing heat. Blood had dried across his fingers. 

He looked down on his right hand with the eater stone embedded. Ahead, the Runner he had just enslaved wore a collar wrapped around its neck. It didn't move. It didn't resist. It only… waited.

[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT!]

[MISSION: FAILED]

Completion Rate: [37%]

Star Rating: [★☆☆☆☆ → ½★]

Warning: At 0 Stars, automatic punishment will be executed.

Johnquis blinked.

"…What?"

The words floated in his mind.

He sat up slowly. His body felt like dead weight, skin pale and bruised. The ache in his bones was only outmatched by the heaviness in his chest. Lex. Mars. Randy. Gone.

He turned his head slowly.

The Runner's eyes were still open but empty. The savage hunger was gone, replaced with obedience.

It was crouched, not standing. As if waiting for a command.

Johnquis clenched his teeth.

"Get… away from me." 

The Runner obeyed.

It moved in slow, careful steps toward the middle of the flipped bus and crouched in a corner, knees bent, arms low. Watching him and breathing softly.

[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT!]

— You now command: 1x Level 2 — High Eater [Runner Class]

[CHAIN SLAVE LIMIT REACHED]

Active Slaves: (1 / 1)

- To increase limit, level up [Chain Slave] by raising your feed count.

"So that's it… After you murdered everyone, now you're chained to me. Problems just never leave me, huh?"

He stood up slowly, still dizzy from the blood loss.

"Well… they weren't really my squad. I was just a fill-in. They didn't even see me as one of them, so…"

His vision blurred for a second, the world tilting.

"I need to go to the nearest Bloodpost. I'm running low… I need more blood."

He turned his head, eyes falling on Lex's body.

"But before that…"

Johnquis staggered forward, barely able to keep his balance as he moved toward Lex's body.

Her lifeless body lay on the floor, face pale, her stomach torn wide open. He crouched beside her, swallowing hard. He didn't cry. He just sat there for a long second, head bowed.

"I'm sorry, Lex…"

He reached down, tried to lift her but pain tore through his side. His arms buckled. He winced, nearly falling over.

"Nope. Not happening. Damn Chain Slave cost too much blood…"

He grunted, rolling onto his back next to her, panting. Slowly, he turned his head toward the corner of the bus.

The Runner sat there, motionless, like a demon at rest.

Johnquis called out,

"Hey."

It looked up.

He pointed weakly.

"Pick her up. Gently. Gently."

The Runner blinked, then moved.

It crawled forward, careful. Its claws retracted slightly. It reached under Lex's body and lifted her like a child holding something fragile.

Johnquis stared.

"…Okay. That's… freaky."

The Runner waited, Lex cradled in its arms, head tilted like it was waiting for further instructions.

"Over there."

He motioned toward a cleaner patch of sunlight near the front of the bus, away from blood and glass.

The Runner obeyed.

"Now just… lay her down."

Johnquis said, almost unsure.

"Flat. No bending her arm like that. She's not a chair."

The Runner paused, made a slight adjustment, and gently placed her on the ground.

Johnquis sighed.

"Okay. Now go get what's left of Randy and Mars."

The Runner turned to him slowly, tilting its head.

"Yeah, I said it. Don't act confused now."

He waved vaguely at the scattered remains. 

The Runner blinked. Then it moved.

As it collected the remnants of what used to be his squad, Johnquis sat slumped against the bus wall, holding his right arm. 

"…My life really is a mess."