Nooooo! Why? How?! Was all he could manage to think as he watched Liz try to float her way out of the lanky Cain's tight grasp. The anemic man who used to be Shane glanced over at Liz and gave her the absolute warmest of smiles.

"Frieeend! Friend! Foooound Friend!" Exclaimed the emaciated Cain as he waved his one large, clawed hand in childlike excitement.

Seeing the two Cains side by side gave Shane an accurate depiction of the severity of corruption both men suffered. One's corrosion was somewhat severe. The other's must have been no worse than the mildest of colds. Unfortunately, that seemingly didn't stop the corruption from working its way through Cain Prime's mind. Like filthy water spreading itself through a sheet of paper towel.

Cain Prime's smirk somehow grew even more as he glimpsed Shane's slack-jawed look of dismay.

"It seems your little robot friend met my friend in the hall you lot traveled from. Delightful! I've decided I'll be taking Liz with me as well," Cain Prime said while pointing at her.

Shane bit the inside of his cheek but ignored the pain. Instead, he used the stimulus to smother a wave of overpowering rage. Shane was barely emotionally prepared to give over Sharlot as an asset to not be harmed. But Liz? How could he possibly part with her, who so selflessly supported him thus far?

"I see that look of scorn on your face. If I was you, hehe, I would feel the same way," Cain Prime paused for the briefest of moments as he deliberated with himself. "I promise no harm will come to either of my new companions. As long as they don't run away or get in my way."

Cain Prime's smile, full of sharper-than-normal teeth, glared in the small light of the still burning fires. Sharlot remained off to the Cane's left—with his shadow enveloping the giant arachnid. The dramatic scene, combined with Cain Prime's fist-clenching offer, made Shane wish he never came to the stupid dungeon in the first place.

"Why, exactly, do you want my companions?" Shane forcefully tried to ask casually, like how you would ask someone what they wanted for dinner.

Cain Prime's smile didn't falter as his eyes narrowed into curious slits trying to peer through Shane's overly-nonchalant question.

"You know, I'm thrilled you asked that. I've been here for quite some time and have experienced many exciting things, people, and places. Then, I started watching you and was fascinated by how easily you made friends and began growing relationships. It was then I decided I wanted that, and what better way to experience it than through role-play!"

Shane tensed, and Cain Prime immediately noticed. The still grinning man shook his head and began pacing back and forth from left to right and back.

"Don't worry, Shane. I can't kill you, at least, not until you're corrupted by the system. What I can do is "replace" you, and that includes your dwelling too. I hope that's not a problem?" Cain trailed off and stopped mid-stride to extend an open hand toward Shane.

"We'll shake on it to seal the deal. Then, you can walk away from here a free man, and I get to experience the relationships you've begun making."

Shane peeked at Sharlot, who still shied away from his gaze. He felt terrible and wanted to take it all back and fight Cain Prime tooth and nail. The truth was he knew that would end in her existence being erased. That could absolutely NOT happen. Shane didn't care if it was selfish, and she hated him.

He couldn't let her die even if he wanted to.

This entire thing felt like theft on, ultimately, another level. How can Cain Prime be me if he feels nothing from stealing my companions? Shane questioned with intense bitterness.

He was biting the inside of his cheeks again, and he knew the handshake would be more than just a simple exchange. Still, Shane walked up to his devilish imposter and grabbed his hand with more force than one would typically give. Cain Prime didn't seem to mind as his grip on Shane's hand grew almost painfully tight in response.

Suddenly, both of their grasped hands began to glow a sickly green as Cain Prime yanked Shane a little closer. He saw raging insanity behind Cain's eyes as the corrupted man began to speak again.

"With this spell, you and I are bound to this agreement through the system itself! Haha! Neither of us can change what has been exchanged here today."

The smug, self-satisfied look on Cain Prime's face sent Shane over the edge. The moment to activate [Time Subjugation] had arrived. Shane squeezed arduously while now holding Cain's hand in both of his own.

"That's all the hand strength you can manage?" Cain Prime leaned in and whispered to Shane. "I can't even feel it, you utter scrub."

Cain continued to smirk and chuckle, but Shane couldn't hear it. In fact, he couldn't hear anything other than the flow of time itself emanating from Cain Prime's body. The melody his time made was slow, erratic, and haunting. Still, there were moments of harmonious beauty between notes of incongruent distortion.

Shane could actually see the time flow, a bright, glowing white from within Cain Prime. The man's skin was completely translucent, and he could see every vein and artery filled with the brilliant time that flowed and pulsed with every passing second. As it poured through Cane, tiny little follicles, like the most delicate white hair, seeped outside through every pore. These thousands of strands are one second's worth of his life span leaving his body. These represent his passage of time!

Instinctually, Shane felt himself absorb these tendrils of white into his own pores through the spell. At first, he could only grab one second's worth, but as each second passed, Shane began to absorb more and more. Forcefully pulling out more of Cain's time every second exponentially. As he did so, a new empty bar began to fill very slowly within his vision. It was labeled: "Time Absorbed."

The amount of time Shane absorbed seemed to also be concentrated at the point of touch. He looked down at the hand he was grasping; the light from the flow on Cain Prime's time was magnitudes brighter there.

"That's funny," Cain Prime said while studying Shane's face. "You had something up your sleeve as well. I can tell. I expected nothing less, hahaha!"

He laughed, a pitchy and weightless sound until he looked down at his hand in both of Shanes. The smile he had been wearing finally began to slip, and Cain Prime's eyes immediately went wide with concern. A quick flash of bewilderment preceded a powerful kick to Shane's stomach, sending him flying into the stone wall at the opposite end of the room.

I didn't see him move at all.

It was the only thought his mind could conclude in the quarter second it took for his body to smash into the stone wall.