As shadows twist and forms collide,
Bend the essence, where fears abide.
In fleeting shapes, the truth concealed,
Awaken darkness, fate revealed.
Shatter the silence, embrace the fright,
Let the cursed mold into night.
With shifting shadows, I bind and break,
Altered forms, the curse shall awake"
"Now this is where everyone dies"
As zuxe seemed to about to come to a hault, Hrwateek said to one of the researcher standing there, his intentions clear that he wanted Zuxe to hear him nonetheless.
But zuxe didn't seem to hear as something far more dangerous already loomed over him.
As Zuxe spoke the final word of the incantation, the book trembled, and shadows surged around him.
Suddenly, an obsidian collar formed from the darkness, shimmering with an otherworldly sheen.
It hovered momentarily before snapping around his neck, binding itself to him with a soft click.
The collar felt cool against his skin, its surface smooth yet strangely organic, glowing with symbols that pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat. Zuxe realized he had become linked to the Curse of Binding, marked by its dark power and the whispers of dark forces.
the event unfolded before their eyes, Hrwateek remembered all the horrific sights he had witnessed in past due to that book.
As the people who read the incantation written on the book, nothing seemed to happen at first.
They felt no shift, no strange sensation everything appeared as normal. But just as they let their guard down, a collar, dark as obsidian and cold to the touch, slithered up and coiled tightly around their neck.
Within seconds or sometimes a full, agonizing minute, depending on their strength the collar would constrict, squeezing out every last breath.
It didn't matter who they were or how powerful they had once been; no one was immune to its grasp.
Once they lay lifeless, the collar would loosen and unwind, transforming back into the book. But the change came at a price.
Etched onto the book's cover were now the haunting eyes of the victim, a final mark left by those who dared to touch its cursed pages.
But with the collar curling tightly around his neck, Zuxe showed almost a little sign of panic.
Instead, he looked at them calmly, as if oblivious to the threat constricting his throat.
"Bring me the remnants,the stones or rocks from the asteroid, two of them...and remember you don't have more than 47 seconds"
he said, as he glanced a the timer set on his phone which decreased down with every passing second, voice steady.
The others hesitated, caught off guard. They realized, almost too late, that they only had a minute to fulfill his strange request. If they delayed even a moment, their instincts told them that he would die right before their eyes.
Without wasting the two researchers scrambled to retrieve the stones, two fragments from the asteroid that had brought the cursed book to Earth.
Holding the stones tightly, they rushed back, their faces tense, hoping to reach him before it was too late.
They rushed to him and extended the two stones, their hands trembling. He took them calmly, one in each hand.
As he held them, a black mist began to emanate from the collar, swirling around him and thickening in the air.
Ignoring the growing pressure, he brought the stones together, their surfaces striking with a sharp clink.
In an instant, they transformed, melding into a gleaming cleaver that took shape from the energy coursing through him.
Zuxe extended his fist again, the sword solidifying in his grasp, its edge glinting ominously amidst the dark mist.
The researchers and Hrwateek gasped in unison, eyes widening as the stones shimmered and merged into a sleek, gleaming cleaver
Whispers of awe spread through the hall, everyone exchanging incredulous glances.
"W-What just happened? H-How did he do that?" one exclaimed, disbelief evident in his voice.
"I-I have no idea! D-Did he know this would happen?" another stammered, glancing at him with a mix of awe and fear.
"W-Wait!Isn't it already past two minutes, yet he is standing here alive!" Another one exclaimed,his face wide in awe and horror.
Zuxe calm expression only deepening the unease, as if he were in control of something far beyond their understanding.
With the gleaming cleaver in hand, he calmly raised the blade and drove it through the center of the collar, piercing it toward his neck.
The researchers gasped, their hearts racing as they braced for the worst.
The blade bit into his skin, but to their astonishment, no blood flowed, and he showed no signs of pain.
It was as if the collar were made of smoke rather than solid metal.
The room fell silent, tension hanging thick in the air as the mist began to swirl around him.
Just as he was about to pierce deeper, Hrwateek finally found his voice, shouting.
"Stop! What are you doing!" his eyes were wide with panic, realizing the danger he was putting himself in.
But Zuxe didn't as he continued to push until the hilt of the sword stuck the collar.
For the Curse Of Binding to not kill any people who uses it one condition needed to be met ;That being, having the knowledge on how to even activate it.
It wasn't like Zuxe was something special that he didn't got killed.
Just that he knew the process of its activation from his memories.
The person who were not able to activate it got killed, because once that obsidian collar was curled up on someone, it couldn't be removed until that person die.
And due to that person not knowing how to Activate it, the Curse of Binding deemed them useless, killing them to break free.
Only to wait for years for another person to come who knew how to Activate it.
Ignoring the warning, Zuxe steadied his grip on the cleaver and raised his voice.
"Hereby, I, Zuxe Arcane, invoke the Pact of Cursed Binding!"
His words echoed chillingly in the room.
"With this blade, I seal my fate! For the proportional amount of power I seek, I willingly sacrifice seventy years of my life,seventy years of my very existence!"
His tone turned dark. "I offer this physical pact, a cursed exchange for strength with deities of every existing dimension and voids as the witnesses"
The mist thickened around him, swirling in response to his proclamation.
The researchers and Hrwateek stared in horror, grasping the enormity of his commitment to this macabre ritual.
"W-what se-seventy years???"