A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

With a bond with the Mansion proving impossible, Henry cast his eyes around the destroyed and now burning room in hopes of finding some anchor, some structure to use, even though it was clear that there was none.

[Health: 10]

[Mana: 4200 (Overload)]

Suddenly a screen projected out in front of Henry's eyes flashing a red 'Danger' sign and beeping loudly with alerts in his head.

"Nyx, get away from here," Henry called out.

"-Nuh, huh,-" Nyx let out with a snort,

"-Why would I leave?-"

With her black coat starting to smolder due to the aggressive burning nature of Yelena's violently released Mana, Nyx trotted closer to Henry to provide her support in some way even though she had no idea how.

"Damn it," Henry said with a sinking thought that he was about to fail.

[Yelena Hadron's Mana Overload is reaching critical levels. Kill her Now!]

"Shut up!" Henry said out loud.

But the System didn't shut up;

[You are at risk of failing the Grand Quest before truly starting it. Kill the Infernal Spawn!

You would be ridding the world of potential evil if you do!]

Had Henry's mind not been occupied at the moment, he would have taken note of the System's tone slipping from the mechanical impassioned tone it always had to one of urgency that went beyond simply flashing lights into his face.

That said, Henry might not have detected the tone but he heard the words,

"Rid the world of Evil? When you ripped me from my world and put me here, did that sound like something I'd be up for?"

The system didn't answer and just repeated its earlier message;

[You are at risk of failing the Grand Quest before truly starting it. Kill the Infernal Spawn.

You would be ridding the world of potential evil if you do!]

Henry tuned it out. He had a hand on Yelena's shoulder and his other hand cradled her face, wincing but enduring the violent energy burning through him.

And then he looked all over the room. The walls were already aflame and burned so hot, they were being melted. The sight of stones melting only drove home to Henry just how pathetic this situation was.

"I wonder if Tom the Newbie made it out," he thought suddenly.

With the Vinculum off Angus' chest, those who were under his control became free, as evidenced by Yelena. If Tom woke up quickly enough, he might have had the sense to get away.

Henry was doubtful but had hope.

Nyx was now laid down on the hot ground. Holding in her pained sounds like she was trying not to distract Henry from his critical thinking.

Henry managed a smile at that before he looked back at Yelena who was now quiet in acceptance of her fate;

[Health: 6]

[Mana: 4600 (Overload)]

'If only I could find something to bind her to… Even if just temporarily.'

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Bonding Yelena with himself would only have brought her into his 'Hive' and learning from Angus' attempt at that, Henry knew that wouldn't stabilize her condition. It would just make her a mindless minion who was a slave to the Hive Mind.

Henry closed his eyes and delved deep into the power of the Vinculum.

"Something," he mumbled, "Something strong enough for a bond…"

[It's now or never!

Kill the Infernal Spawn.

You would be ridding the world of potential evil if you do!]

Henry was about to yell for the System to shut up again when he paused. He had felt something from the Vinculum when the System's alert sounded in his head.

It was faint and he might not have felt it if he was not so deep within the Vinculum's energy but he had certainly felt it.

As a Bond-Maker/Breaker, the Vinculum can empower its wielder to seek out existing bonds and make new ones and the fact that it was reacting to the System meant there was a bond there to be detected.

'Of course,' Henry thought and his eyes opened slowly,

'I AM bonded to the System… Maybe I could bind someone else to it?'

Looking at the bullet wounds he and Nyx had sustained from the subjugated Newbies and yet were not bleeding out; it seemed like stabilizing life was exactly what the System was best at.

As the idea formed in Henry's head, he gripped both of Yelena's shoulders tight and closed his eyes to seek out the intangible bond he had with the System. Now that he knew to look for it, and with the Vinculum's Bond-seeking ability to guide the way, Henry found the epicenter soon enough and found it pulsing stronger than he could possibly have imagined.

And so Henry began the process.

With him as the medium, he seized control of Yelena's Health and her weakening soul and brought it to the System to initiate a bond.

[Including a third party to the System-User Contract without prior subjugation is ill-advised!]

'She's not a pet to tame,' Henry retorted like the very notion displeased him,

'Please, just shut up and let me work!'

[I advise against this!]

'And I dismiss your advice!'

That time Henry had definitely heard the tone of urgency from the System but chose to ignore it. It didn't matter to him at the moment anyway.

[Health: 3]

[Mana: 4900 (Overload)]

'Come on,' Henry thought fervently.

[Health: 2]

[Mana: 5000 (Overload)]

Henry could feel he had started making the connection but it didn't seem to be catching up the the rate Yelena's Health was falling.

"Work, damn it!" Henry yelled out loud this time and the Vinculum let out a powerful pulse before another long crack appeared to join the one Angus had caused when he detonated his Subjugated Warlocks.

[Health: 1]

[Mana: 5100 (Overload)]

Henry's heart skipped a beat and he waited with bated breath knowing the next update to that Stat screen would either cement the oncoming doom or be his saving grace.

.

.

.

[Health: 2]

Henry's eyes widened and his eyes moved from the Health tab to the Mana tab beneath it;

[Mana: 4900 (Stabilizing)]

Henry cracked a smile of relief but his eyes widened even further as he felt something rupture inside him, forcing him to bow his head and spit out blood.

His Hit Points were critically low from the prolonged exposure to the hellish flames but even worse, his health was taking a hit from the sheer effort it was taking to forcefully connect another person's entire being to the System he did not even truly understand.

Pulling out an improved Healing Potion, Henry recovered 60 Hit Points but that started dropping point by point as well and even more of his insides were rupturing, causing him to spit out even more blood.

*Crack*

Another jagged diagonal line appeared across the Vinculum. Every bit of its Bond-Making energy was getting siphoned to facilitate Yelena's bond with the System and with every bit of energy it lost, the integrity of the purple gem suffered.

Yelena finally stirred. She felt her health begin to stabilize. Her cracking skin mended and its pale parlor started to gain color.

Beyond that, she felt an inexplicable connection with something she could not quite explain and in that connection, she felt two other parties. One with a stronger hold than the other.

She recognized those parties to be Henry and Nyx.

She was just about to open her eyes and question what was happening when her entire psyche was pulled out of her body and into a strange space filled with interlocking intangible fibers that were spinning fast and attaching to various aspects of her existence to keep her alive.

Her curse was gone since she turned Twenty-five. Her brother suffered it instead. What she was dealing with now was her mortality. Death had been kept away from her by the infernal bond a Sorcerer had made between her and the Mansion and with the bond gone, Death came to stake its claim.

But these fibers carried a powerful energy that staved Death away and sought to stabilize her life to some degree of normalcy.

"Henry— you're doing this?" Yelena asked incredulously but Henry couldn't hear her.

He was outside of that space battling to keep the stabilization going.

[Health: 30]

[Mana: 2200 (Stabilizing)]

He drank another Healing Potion but it still felt insufficient. So he drank the last one he had and even then, the points dropped fast.

"-Use mine too.-" Nyx said.

"-No, there's no—" Henry started to tell her through their telepathy but stopped when he felt she had already started supplying him. The burden he was under began to lessen ever so slightly and the speed of Yelena's stabilization sped up.

[Health: 41]

[Mana: 1100 (Stabilizing)]

[Health: 45]

[Mana: 700 (Stabilizing)]

[Health: 48]

[Mana: 400 (Stabilizing)] …

[Health: 50]

[Mana: 200]

From then on, Yelena's Health began to hike but her Mana remained the same having now lost the (Stabilizing) sign that was before tagged to the front of it.

And then finally…

[Health: 100]

[Mana: 200]

… It stopped.

The flames were gone. Violent Mana no longer surged from Yelena's body and the final dregs of the Vinculum's energy were siphoned completely in the process of creating the bond.

The purple gem lost all of its glow and all of its power. The item's tentacles detached from Henry's body so it fell to the ground and the gem shattered.

Henry was sure he heard the Vinculum's 'sense of self' curse him with the last of its consciousness but he didn't care. He was glad to be rid of it.

He was glad he had used the last of the item's power to right Angus' wrong and give Yelena some semblance of a real life going forward.

[Your attempt to bond a Third Party with the System has been deemed in line with the System's 'Exclusivity Clause']

[Bond Complete!]

[You have achieved an Extraordinary Feat!]

[Due to the System not anticipating your actions, your reward is being decided upon…]

['Main Quest: Kill the Infernal Spawn' has become 'Main Quest: Save the Infernal Spawn (Hidden)]

[Quest Completed]

[You have received 15,000 Exp]

*[Nyx has received 7500 Exp]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You are now Level 17]

[Hit Point Maximum increased to 170]

[Mana Point Maximum increased to 180]

[You now have 30 Stat Points to Allocate]

[Nyx has Leveled Up]

[Nyx is now Level 5]

[Nyx has acquired the Skill: <ShadowScape>]

[Nyx has Leveled Up!]

[Nyx has Leveled Up!]

[Nyx is now Level 7]

[Nyx's Hit Points increased to 125]

[Nyx's Mana is now 135]

The many notifications rang in Henry's head one after the other but he couldn't pay them any attention because at that moment, he slumped to the ground and his soul was pulled from his body and dragged deep into the unknown.