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Debtbound: The Price of Power
By: Alyah NightUpdated just now
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What would you do to clear a debt you could never repay? Isaac Rhoades is at rock bottom. After taking a massive illegal loan to pay for his sister’s surgery—only for her to die anyway—he’s hunted by brutal loan sharks, fired from his warehouse job, and left homeless. Just as he's about to end it all, a strange voice echoes in his mind: “System Activation: Mission Credit Redemption Protocol Initiated.” The Debtbound System offers him a way out—but every cleared dollar requires a mission. Deliver cursed packages. Eliminate dangerous criminals. Expose corrupt politicians. Some missions save lives. Others destroy them. Every success earns him powers and a chunk off his debt. Every failure comes at a horrifying cost. As Isaac navigates this deadly path, he discovers he's not the only one bound by the system—and some users will do anything to break free. What started as a fight for survival becomes a war for redemption, power, and the truth behind the system’s origin. To win his freedom, Isaac must conquer the missions. But to keep his soul… he must conquer himself.
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Chapter 1
Chapter One: Zero Balance
The rain never stopped in the part of the city where debts go to die.
Isaac Rhoades stood at the edge of the overpass, toes curling just over the crumbling concrete ledge. Below, cars rushed like veins of light in a world too fast to care. His soaked hoodie clung to his skin, heavy with the same weight he'd been carrying for months—failure, grief, and ten thousand dollars of blood-soaked IOUs.
A gust of wind slapped his face. He didn’t flinch.
Behind him, the world had nothing left to offer. The loan sharks had emptied his pockets, his landlord had changed the locks, and his boss at the warehouse had fired him with one line:
“You’re a liability, Rhoades.”
He had nothing left. Not even the will to scream.
He looked up. “Sorry, Lara.”
His little sister’s name felt like broken glass in his mouth.
The hospital bed. The tubes. The bill they couldn’t pay.
Isaac clenched his fists. Every second she spent in that cold white room had cost him more—until the loans swallowed him whole. And when she died, they didn’t just bury her. They buried him with her.
He closed his eyes.
One step. That’s all it would take.
Then…
DING.
A sound. Digital, mechanical, clean. Not from a phone. Not from the city.
From inside his head.
Isaac staggered back from the ledge, heart hammering. “What the hell—?”
A transparent blue screen blinked into existence before his eyes, floating midair like a hologram from a sci-fi film.
SYSTEM ACTIVATION DETECTED
Debtbound Protocol Initiated
Mission Path: Credit Redemption Mode
Would you like to reduce your debt?
☐ Yes
☐ No
His jaw dropped. He stared at the words, blinking fast.
This was a joke. A breakdown. The result of no food, no sleep, and too many punches to the head.
But the interface didn’t disappear.
He slowly reached out and tapped the word Yes.
The screen blinked again.
Mission #001: Courier of Consequences
Deadline: 2 hours.
Reward: -$500 Debt, +1 System Credit
Failure: +$1,000 Debt Penalty
Do you accept?
☐ Accept ☐ Decline
He didn’t move.
Bench 14B?
He knew Cinder Park. It was just a few blocks away—dangerous turf after dark, crawling with addicts and outcasts. But… a package? What kind of twisted joke was this?
“...This isn’t real,” he muttered.
And yet—
The debt counter blinked above the screen in ominous red:
$10,000
Isaac swallowed. His entire body trembled—not from fear, but something worse.
Hope.
He tapped Accept.
The screen vanished.
1 Hour 42 Minutes Later
Cinder Park was worse than he remembered.
Trash crunched under his sneakers. Graffiti ran like veins across the crumbling walls. He passed a man arguing with a tree, and a woman sobbing into an empty shopping cart.
Bench 14B was half-buried in weeds, surrounded by dead leaves and glass shards.
Beneath it sat a small, black box sealed with crimson wax.
Isaac crouched, hand hovering over it.
“Deliver this… to who?”
A new prompt popped up.
MISSION UPDATE:
DO NOT open the package.
Survival Tip: Do NOT ask questions.
Isaac’s throat went dry.
He grabbed the box, stood, and immediately felt a shift in the air. A subtle pressure. Like the whole city had inhaled.
A voice echoed from the shadows.
“You’ve got something that doesn’t belong to you.”
Isaac turned.
A tall man in a tattered coat stepped forward. No shoes. No expression. Just cold, clouded eyes that locked onto the box.
“Give it.”
“Are you the—”
The man was suddenly inches away.
Isaac recoiled. “Back off!”
“No questions,” the man whispered.
Isaac held out the box with a shaky hand.
The man took it—and smiled.
“You passed.”
He vanished.
Literally.
No footsteps. No wind. Just gone.
A new screen popped up instantly.
Mission Complete.
Remaining Balance: $9,500
System Credit Earned: +1
New Ability Unlocked: Instinct Surge (Level 1)
▶ Grants 3-second foresight during extreme danger. Cooldown: 1 hour.
Isaac gasped.
The red debt counter flickered.
$9,500
It was real.
The Next Morning
He awoke in the alley behind a 24/7 diner, heart pounding with a mix of exhaustion and adrenaline. His system HUD floated in the air again, this time updated with new tabs:
Debt Ledger
Mission Queue
Skill Tree (Locked)
System Store (Coming Soon)
Another alert blinked:
Mission #002: Collect or Die
He owes loan sharks. You are now the collector.
Deadline: 6 hours.
Reward: -$1,000 Debt
Failure: +$2,000 Debt Penalty + Physical Injury
☐ Accept ☐ Decline
Isaac’s blood ran cold.
He knew that name. Marcus Venn was a mechanic who once helped Lara when her chair broke. A kind man. Poor, but honest.
“This… this isn’t right.”
He hovered over Decline.
But then the red counter blinked again.
$9,500
He stared at it for a long time.
Then slowly, he tapped Accept.
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Debtbound: The Price of Power Chapter Sixteen: Shadows Over Solaris
The storm wasn't just on the horizon anymore. It was here. And Solaris would never be the same.The Ruined MorningA week had passed since the Dust Rebellion was violently quelled. Solaris City wore silence like a funeral shroud—ashen skies, burnt-orange smog, and the lingering acrid smell of scorched technology haunted the air.Ryn crouched on the rooftop of a crumbled residential arc, a surveillance lens affixed to her right eye. Below, the military trucks of the Order of Gray rumbled past, all painted with the insignia of a sun devoured by shadow. The irony wasn't lost on her.She tightened her grip on the rifle slung across her back—not to fire, not yet—but as a reminder of what was at stake. Somewhere in the crates beneath those trucks were her people. Survivors from Sector Eight. Including Dax.The boy who’d once sworn never to be taken alive.“Tell me you’re seeing this, Kael,” she whispered into her comm.A click of static, then Kael’s voice came through, tense and hoarse from
Last Updated : 2025-07-27Debtbound: The Price of Power Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Waking Stones
The wind changed as the expedition reached the edge of the world.Ethan stood at the front of the caravan, gazing out over a vast expanse of obsidian rock and pale mist. Vel Tharuun was not marked by cities or roads—but by silence. A silence so deep it vibrated in the chest, echoing with an ancient warning.Kael rode up beside him. “This place isn’t dead,” he muttered. “It’s waiting.”Ethan nodded. “We step carefully.”Behind them, the mixed delegation of Skybound Nomads, Forestfolk warriors, and Shadow Sentinels moved in eerie quiet. Even the wind seemed reluctant to disturb the stone-blanketed terrain. The mist curled around their boots and cloaks like wary fingers.Aeris, who had joined after intercepting Ethan’s last message, moved closer, eyes sharp. “The stones hum at night,” she whispered. “I dreamt of them before we arrived.”“They hum?” Ethan asked.She nodded. “Like voices muffled under water. They speak in forgotten tongues.”That evening, they made camp between two great m
Last Updated : 2025-07-27Debtbound: The Price of Power Chapter Fifteen: The Dust Rebellion
The Crimson Dagger’s base stood silent under the amber twilight, nestled into the arid heart of the Dust Wastes where nothing lived but grit, broken dreams, and bitter memories. Ember stood at the edge of the outpost wall, her cloak whipping in the wind, eyes fixed on the horizon. Her heart was a coiled spring, ready to snap.“Tonight,” she murmured, her voice lost in the wind, “we change everything.”Behind her, members of the rebellion bustled like caged lightning. Vane, his face freshly scarred from the last encounter with a Void Sentinel, barked orders while calibrating his plasma pistol. Children too young to carry hope ferried messages between tents. Broken drones were being converted into makeshift bombs. Every breath, every glance, every tightened strap screamed one thing—uprising.Earlier That Day“You want to lead a rebellion in the Dust Wastes? Are you insane?” barked Captain Kael, the acting leader of the Crimson Dagger.Ember didn’t flinch. “We don’t have a choice. The Hi
Last Updated : 2025-07-24Debtbound: The Price of Power Chapter Fourteen: Reaperfall
The dead don’t scream in Reaperfall.They hum.It was the first thing Kael noticed when he stepped through the ancient stone archway leading to the city long erased from maps. A low vibration hummed through the soles of his boots, like the wind whispering secrets in a forgotten tongue. The air was thick with an ashen mist, glowing faintly under the pale moonlight filtering through the ruined canopy above.Reaperfall.Once a thriving underground kingdom of warrior-monks, now a cursed place where the past clings like cobwebs to flesh. The Hive hadn’t dared enter it. No scouts had returned. And yet, it was here Kael was told he’d find the Obsidian Lexicon the last remnant of the Bladefather’s teachings and the only thing that could break the Gray Court’s deathlock on Eldros.Behind him, Elira tugged her scarf over her nose. “This place reeks of old blood and broken oaths,” she muttered. “You sure this is the place?”Kael nodded. “We’re not here for comfort. We’re here for truth.”They pr
Last Updated : 2025-07-24Debtbound: The Price of Power Chapter Thirteen: The Forgotten Blade
Unknown Location – Beneath the Deadlink DistrictThe tunnel echoed with the sound of boots and breath. Isaac walked behind Nyx, trying to wrap his head around what just happened.She had gone toe-to-toe with the Phantom Reaper.And he backed down.Mayra limped beside him, her ribs wrapped with a temporary stabilizer, eyes sharp despite the pain. “You saw that too, right?”Isaac nodded. “He stopped. Not because of us. Because of her.”Calen followed, quiet. Watching Nyx like she might disappear at any moment.The corridor narrowed. Then expanded into a stone chamber bathed in pale blue light — tech carved into ancient walls, inscriptions humming.“This place predates the System,” Nyx said softly. “Before the Sovereign Protocol. Before the ranking. Back when users weren’t tagged. Just chosen.”“You mean like... the Archive?”She turned. “No. Older.”She raised a hand.The wall pulsed — and slid open.Chamber of the BladeAt the center floated a relic.A sword, hovering in midair, wrappe
Last Updated : 2025-06-25Debtbound: The Price of Power Chapter Twelve: Phantom Protocol
East Sector – Safehouse Bunker – 4:36 AMThe city was still asleep, but Isaac’s heart wasn’t.He sat alone, the faint hum of his HUD dancing in the dark. His mind wouldn’t shut off. The file still burned on his retina.“Phantom Reaper – CLEARED FOR REACTIVATION.”Mayra entered quietly, two mugs of something steaming in hand. She handed one to him and sat opposite without saying anything.They didn’t need words.Not yet.“I thought Phantom Reapers were myths,” Isaac finally muttered.“They used to be,” Mayra said. “Until they weren’t.”He turned the mug in his hand. “How much do you know?”She hesitated, then answered quietly, “Enough to be scared.”Flashback – Mayra’s Past (6 Years Ago)Mayra was just a low-tier scout then, barely a registered user.Her squad had been assigned to extract a group of civilians from a collapsing data node west of the Null Field.But the mission had gone… wrong.The Sovereign’s answer?They sent in a Reaper.Not to save them.To silence them.“One second
Last Updated : 2025-06-25
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