Chapter 13 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 13: Class-Four Nightmare

"Get back, Vesp! Now!"

Soren didn't look at me. He didn't have to. The sound of the thing hitting the cavern floor—a wet, heavy thud that echoed off the damp walls—told me everything. It wasn't just a monster. It was a Tribunal construct. A Class-Four nightmare, stitched together from dead mages and forbidden kinetics, and it was currently drooling iridescent slime onto my boots.

I didn't get back. I stepped forward, my palms itching with a surge of mana that felt like static electricity under my skin.

"Since when do I take orders from my bodyguard?" I snapped, though my heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

Soren shifted his weight, his blade humming a low, lethal note. He was blocking the breach, his broad shoulders cutting off the only exit. He looked like a god of war in the dim light, all sharp edges and cold precision, but I could see the slight tremor in his grip. The soul-bond was humming. He was exhausted, and because we were tethered, I could feel his fatigue leaking into me like a slow poison.

"This isn't a skirmish, you idiot," Soren spat, his voice a jagged rasp.