"False alarm," Chuthulos said a moment later, sounding faintly embarrassed. "That was just backlash from seven simultaneous breakthroughs happening at once. My sensors overreacted. Carry on."
"Wonderful," John said, exhaling. "Try not to give me a heart attack next time."
He didn't get much further than that before Alfred let out a low, startled growl, staring down at his own chest like something inside it had just knocked.
A pulse of black light bloomed beneath his fur, and where a normal Monster's soul gear would have settled into something bound by the world's usual rules, this one tore straight past them, crystallizing into a small, dense orb of void-black stone wreathed in slow, orbiting motes of crimson light.
[Eldritch Soul Gear: Ashen Maw]
[Bound to: Alfred]
[Effect: Grants brief phase-state during full-force charges, allowing passage through solid matter for up to two seconds.]
