The Empire was burning.
Not in the chaotic way of sudden invasion—but in a slow, methodical collapse. Entire districts had already been evacuated, mana cannons stood silent from overuse, and the sky itself felt heavier, as if the world was bracing for something worse.
That was when they arrived.
Two figures descended from opposite ends of the ruined capital, their presences crushing, undeniable.
A General from the east.
A General from the west.
Both bearing the crest of Demon Lord Carbrarra.
The first was Morvane, the Iron Reaver—his body fused with demonic steel, limbs reshaped into living weapons, each step cracking the streets beneath him. The second was Lysreth, the Twin-Tongued Witch, floating above the ground, her countless spell-circles rotating like a cruel halo.
Either one alone would have required the full might of the Empire.
Together—
They were annihilation.
Soldiers froze. Mages faltered. Hope thinned.
And then—
Rocky stepped forward.
No dramatic entrance. No overwhelming aura.
Just a summoner in a torn coat, eyes steady, breath calm.
Risha stood beside him, her form more refined than ever—horns curved elegantly, wings of dark mana folded behind her back. Happy hovered above, wings fluttering nervously but eyes sharp, loyal.
Morvane laughed.
"A summoner?" His voice grated like metal tearing apart. "Carbrarra sends us to kill this?"
Lysreth smiled wider, her tongues flicking.
"Oh, be careful. That one's different. He smells like growth."
Rocky didn't respond.
The Summoner System unfolded before his eyes—no longer chaotic, no longer screaming warnings.
Clear.
Ordered.
Understood.
SUMMONER SYSTEM — FULL SYNCHRONIZATION ACHIEVED
Active Links: Risha (True Demoness), Happy (Aerial General-Class)
Passive Trait: Adaptive Dominion
Condition Met: One Summoner vs Many
Rocky raised his hand.
And the battlefield answered.
Two Generals. One Summoner.
Morvane charged first.
The ground detonated as he crossed the distance in a single step, arm reshaping into a colossal blade aimed straight for Rocky's head.
Too fast.
Too heavy.
Too late.
Rocky vanished.
Not dodged.
Vanished.
Morvane's strike split the city behind him in half.
Before he could turn—
Risha was there.
Her claw pierced straight through his chest, demonic energy eating the metal instead of stopping against it. Morvane roared, trying to retaliate—
Only for Happy to slam into his head at supersonic speed, her talons glowing with summoning authority.
The Iron Reaver staggered.
Lysreth reacted instantly.
Thousands of spells activated at once—curses, bindings, soul-burning hexes—flooding the battlefield in overlapping colors of death.
Rocky stood at the center.
Unmoving.
The spells bent.
Not deflected.
Submitted.
The system glowed.
SKILL COPIED: DEMONIC SPELL REDIRECTION
Source: Risha
With a flick of his wrist, Rocky redirected every spell—
Straight back at Lysreth.
Her smile vanished as her own magic swallowed her, barriers shattering one after another. She screamed, teleporting desperately—
Only to appear directly in front of Rocky.
His fist connected.
No explosion.
No spectacle.
Just a single, clean strike reinforced by summoner authority.
Lysreth's body folded.
She hit the ground unconscious before the sound reached the crowd.
The Fall of Two
Morvane roared again, ripping Risha's arm free and trying to self-repair—but Rocky was already there.
So fast he blurred.
So fast even a General couldn't track him.
Three strikes.
One to the core.
One to the link.
One to the command seal carved into Morvane's spine.
The Iron Reaver froze.
Cracked.
Then collapsed—his demonic steel body disintegrating into lifeless fragments.
Silence fell.
Two Generals.
Defeated.
Together.
Every soldier stared.
Every mage forgot to breathe.
Happy landed beside Rocky, panting but grinning wildly.
"Did… did we just do that?"
Risha looked at Rocky—not shocked.
Proud.
"You're not just a summoner anymore," she said quietly. "You're becoming something Carbrarra didn't plan for."
Rocky looked at his hands.
They weren't shaking.
But his expression wasn't triumphant.
"…This won't stop them," he said. "It'll make him come faster."
Far away, in a throne room drowned in shadow—
Demon Lord Carbrarra smiled.
"So," he murmured.
"The Summoner has learned how to fight back."
The war had truly begun
The silence didn't last.
It never did on a battlefield.
Broken stone settled. Smoke drifted upward. Somewhere in the distance, fires crackled as if unsure whether they were allowed to keep burning. The two fallen generals lay where they had dropped—one a shattered mass of demonic steel, the other collapsed in a crater of her own magic.
Morvane twitched first.
The Iron Reaver's core pulsed faintly, fractured plates dragging themselves together by instinct alone. Not regeneration—survival reflex. The command seal along his spine flickered erratically, Carbrarra's authority struggling to reassert itself.
Lysreth groaned, coughing as unstable spell circles bled out of her body like dying stars. Her connection to the demon network was severed, but not erased.
They were alive.
Barely.
Risha stepped forward, eyes narrowing.
"We should finish them," she said calmly. "Carbrarra won't forgive failure."
Rocky didn't answer right away.
He was staring at the Summoner System.
It had changed again.
No alarms. No forced prompts.
Instead, a single option hovered before him—quiet, deliberate.
NEW FUNCTION UNLOCKED
DOMINION CLAUSE — SUBJUGATION
You may bind defeated entities whose command links have been shattered.
Success Rate: Variable
Risk: High
Happy fluttered closer, lowering her voice.
"Rocky… that looks dangerous."
"It is," Rocky replied.
He took a step forward.
Understanding Power
As he walked, the system expanded—not visually, but conceptually. For the first time, Rocky didn't feel like he was reading commands.
He felt like he understood the language.
Summoning wasn't just calling.
Taming wasn't domination.
Links weren't chains.
They were agreements enforced by will.
Carbrarra ruled through fear and command seals—absolute, brittle authority. Break the seal, and the structure collapsed.
Rocky's path was different.
"…So that's it," he murmured. "I don't overwrite them."
Risha turned sharply. "Rocky—"
"I give them a choice."
Morvane's core flared violently as Rocky approached. The General forced himself upright, metal grinding.
"Summoner," Morvane growled, voice distorted but intact. "Finish it. I will not kneel."
Rocky stopped three steps away.
"I'm not asking you to kneel."
That made Morvane hesitate.
Lysreth laughed weakly from the rubble.
"Oh? Then what—are you here to save us?"
Rocky raised his hand.
The battlefield dimmed.
Not from mana loss—but from focus.
The Breaking of Old Chains
Rocky extended his will—not as pressure, but as presence.
The Summoner System projected a circle beneath both generals, but unlike previous summoning arrays, this one was incomplete. Open-ended. Waiting.
SUBJUGATION CONDITION:
• Target must acknowledge defeat
• Target must accept severance from former master
• Summoner must bear responsibility for consequences
Responsibility.
That word hit harder than any warning.
Rocky exhaled slowly.
"Carbrarra will discard you," he said evenly. "You failed. You were beaten by someone you weren't meant to lose to."
Morvane snarled, but the sound lacked conviction.
Lysreth's smile cracked.
"And you think you're better?"
"No," Rocky said honestly. "I think I'm different."
He looked at Morvane first.
"I won't control you the way he did. No seals carved into your spine. No forced obedience."
The Iron Reaver's core flickered.
"Then why would I follow you?" Morvane demanded.
Rocky met his gaze.
"Because you already lost everything he promised you."
Silence.
Metal plates stopped moving.
Morvane looked down at his own hands—at the shattered command seal, the absence where Carbrarra's voice used to be.
"…If I refuse?"
Rocky didn't flinch.
"Then I walk away. And you'll die alone, hunted by both sides."
That—
That was the truth.
Morvane let out a long, grinding breath.
"…You are a cruel summoner."
"I know," Rocky said softly. "That's why I won't lie."
The General lowered his head.
"Sever me," Morvane said. "I will not crawl back."
The system responded instantly.
SUBJUGATION ACCEPTED
ENTITY: Morvane, Iron Reaver
STATUS: Unbound → Contract Pending
Dark-red light surged—not chains, but threads, wrapping around Morvane's core, stabilizing it. The demonic steel reshaped, not into a weapon—
But into a guardian form.
The Iron Reaver stood taller, heavier.
And calmer.
The Witch's Choice
Lysreth watched everything in silence.
When Rocky turned to her, she was already sitting upright, brushing dust from her robes with shaky hands.
"…You're serious," she said quietly. "You really won't force us."
"No," Rocky replied.
She tilted her head.
"And if I betray you?"
Rocky didn't hesitate.
"Then I'll stop you. Permanently."
Her laughter this time was genuine.
"Oh, I like you."
Her expression sobered.
"But understand this, Summoner—I followed Carbrarra because he promised freedom through conquest. If I bind myself to you, I gain nothing but uncertainty."
Rocky extended his hand.
"You gain the right to choose your own battles."
Lysreth stared at his hand for a long moment.
Then she placed her palm against it.
"Very well," she whispered. "Let's see how far a summoner without chains can go."
The system flared brighter than ever.
SUBJUGATION COMPLETE
ENTITY: Lysreth, Twin-Tongued Witch
STATUS: Contract Established
Alignment: Conditional
Mana surged outward.
Two generals—once weapons of Carbrarra—now stood behind Rocky.
Not kneeling.
Standing.
Happy exhaled shakily.
"…You just did something insane."
Risha smiled slowly.
"No," she said. "He did something dangerous."
Rocky looked toward the horizon, where darker clouds were already gathering.
Carbrarra would feel this.
Two links—gone.
And for the first time, Rocky understood the weight of what he was becoming.
Not just a summoner who called monsters—
But one who could steal generals from a demon lord.
The war had crossed a line it could never return from.