The Price of Loyalty

Saranya lost all sense of time. Perhaps only a handful of minutes had elapsed, or perhaps several hours had slipped by. Her vision swam, her abdomen seared with a fiery agony, yet her skin felt chillingly cold. Her limbs were utterly numb; despite her most desperate efforts, she could barely manage to twitch a single finger.

The fox-girl, Liriel, stirred with a groan, pushing herself into a sitting position. Her fluffy tail inadvertently brushed against Saranya’s face, eliciting a muffled grunt. With considerable effort, Saranya managed to turn onto her side, her gaze fixed intently on the interaction unfolding between Liriel and Kaelan.

“Where… where exactly am I…?”

Lenix lowered her gaze, examining her own body. As she spread her defiled hands, a faint whimper escaped her lips.

“My… my body… This is Liriel’s…”

As if her predicament had finally dawned upon her, Lenix’s shoulders sagged, and her heavily scarred body began to tremble imperceptibly.

“Lenix, we meet again…”

“Black Witch—”

“Shhh… you know precisely what you did to my Xiao Ya…”

Amidst the dryad lady’s choked, indistinct screams, the witch advanced slowly, leaning closer. A surge of utterly manic killing intent first flared around her, only to be swiftly drawn back, replaced by a low, guttural rumble, like a beast holding its breath.

“Restore her, to me, to her original state…”

Unlike the painless proxy Lenix had fashioned for herself, every injury inflicted upon this fox-girl’s body was now directly relayed to its true owner. Overwhelmed by the agony, Lenix crumpled to the ground, her arms and legs seizing with violent spasms.

“Hmph… Haha… Hahahahaha!”

Even in such a predicament, Lenix, rather than yielding, erupted into a wild, unrestrained peal of laughter.

“‘Restore Saranya to her original state…? Haha… Kaelan, you are the *least* qualified to demand such a thing of me—Ah! Aaaaah!!!'”

Kaelan’s grip brutally severed Lenix’s words, twisting them into a piercing, agonizing shriek.

Kaelan remained bent over, a small, pale hand, knuckles starkly defined, pressed against Lenix’s right shoulder. She peeled back the mangled flesh where the iron hook had pierced, then plunged four fingers deep into the festering wound beneath.

The young witch, a serene smile gracing her lips, began to rotate her fingers — forcefully, deliberately, and with agonizing slowness…

“‘Ugh—! St-stop! You mad— *guttural cries and choked screams* !'”

The excruciating pain, far surpassing her threshold of endurance, abruptly choked off Lenix’s curses. Her body thrashed violently, like a carp flung from water, her large tail whipping madly behind her. Liriel’s once-charming fox face, contorted by agony, streamed with tears and mucus before Kaelan.

Only when Lenix’s throat had grown raw, incapable of producing any further wails of agony, did Kaelan, with an air of detached disinterest, slowly withdraw her fingers and leisurely straighten her lithe form.

Despite such extensive torment, Lenix remained unyielding:

“‘Black Witch… for what you have done to Saranya… the Truth Assembly will never forgive you…’

“‘The Truth Assembly? That holds no significance. My only concern is that you sullied my Xiao Ya, defiling her with your foul, crude sorcery… That is all I care about, and for that, you will pay the price…’

“‘Stop… stop this, I beg you!!!'”

Disregarding Lenix’s desperate plea, Kaelan began to chant. A swirl of grayish-black arcane light instantly enveloped Lenix, flinging the dryad high into the air. She landed precisely where two iron hooks dangled from the ceiling.

“‘Ahhh—!!!'”

With a sickening thud of metal tearing flesh, Lenix’s shoulder wound ripped open, her upper body exploding in a crimson mist as she was once more suspended in the air.

The fox-girl, overwhelmed by the unbearable pain, rolled her eyes back, her jaw hanging open as she gasped loudly, ragged breaths tearing from her throat.

‘The Black Witch’s execution… This is what the Master had been doing for over a century.’

Witnessing such a viscerally shocking scene, Saranya was utterly dumbfounded, lying motionless on the ground, afraid to even twitch.

It had to be said, Kaelan’s eyes were beautiful, truly captivating.

From her vantage point, at this distance and angle, she could even discern Kaelan’s long, delicate eyelashes trembling faintly. Within those crimson eyes, like twin abysses of hell, Saranya could find no vestige of the rationality that should belong to a human or an elf.

Kaelan tilted her head slightly, her eyes blazing with a fierce, consuming fire of resentment, reflecting Lenix’s tormented, struggling silhouette.

Upon witnessing Lenix’s horrific suffering, the witch’s lips slowly curved upward, forming a chilling smile.

Saranya found herself utterly unable to equate that expression with a ‘smile.’ It was not a smile, but rather a look of such profound evil, such grotesque peculiarity, and such suffocating viscosity that it left her breathless.

‘Psychopath.’

‘Now that I think about it, everything the Master does to outsiders, excluding me, is precisely the behavior of a psychopath.’

‘This… this is wrong…’

Lying prone on the ground, she momentarily lost her balance, inadvertently pressing against the hilt of a dagger lying nearby.

A soft ‘clink’.

Kaelan’s ear twitched, and her head snapped around, her gaze instantly locking onto Saranya.

“‘Xiao Ya…'”

“‘Mmm.'”

Saranya was paralyzed with terror, her body numb, her limbs stiff and unyielding, rigid as a corpse.

“‘Xiao Ya… you’re watching, aren’t you…?””

Kaelan’s voice was as soft and ethereal as a whisper in a dream,

“‘Xiao Ya, don’t you worry. Just watch from there. Tonight… tonight, Master will handle everything. Tomorrow, Master will even take you for a boat ride… such a wonderful prospect… it simply cannot be delayed by this trash…’

“‘Saranya!'”

Having finally managed to catch her breath, Lenix shrieked at Saranya,

“‘Have you finally seen Kaelan’s true face? Do you wish to follow such a demon, or do you desire a life of freedom?!’

For some inexplicable reason, the very instant Lenix spoke to her, that same imperative thought, like a divine decree, resurfaced in Saranya’s mind.

‘Do not listen.’

‘Saranya, do not heed Lenix’s words.’

‘Saranya, you must remain eternally loyal to Master. Being with Master is the freest, most blissful existence in this entire world…’

“‘I…'”

Saranya clamped her hands over her ears, her heart seized by hesitation. In that fleeting moment, a myriad of obscure thoughts, ones she usually dared not even acknowledge, surged into her mind.

‘Master was controlling her, Master… had employed some arcane means to exert mental control, forcing her obedience. For all this time, she had braved life and death for Master, protecting them, pleasing them, offering her very body in service…’

‘Could it be that everything she had done was not, in fact, of her own volition…?’

‘No, that’s not right. Even if Kaelan’s proclaimed “love” sent a chill down her spine, on her part, she truly liked Kaelan. There was no doubt. She liked Kaelan; she was willing to embrace and mend every facet of her…’

‘No…’

‘No, no, no… she likes Kaelan…?’

‘Does she truly… like Kaelan…?’

‘…’

‘At this point, what meaning was there in agonizing over such a matter?’

‘Just look at Lenix. Look at the fate that befalls those who dare to defy Kaelan. Saranya had no illusion that she could fare any better than Lenix.’

‘From the moment of her reincarnation, the former Commander Saranya had ceased to exist. Now, she was nothing more than a timid coward, and it was precisely this cowardice that had allowed her to survive, to continue pursuing her ideals. She saw no fault in this.’

‘Besides, that feeling she held for Master, that profound possessiveness… it could not be false. She truly loved the young witch before her. Every time Master let down her guard in her presence, allowing her desires to be sated, how could that intense, simultaneous thrill, both physical and psychological, possibly be a lie?’

‘That was clearly… the very impetus that had sustained her throughout her journey…’

‘Kaelan wasn’t controlling her. Kaelan hadn’t done anything to betray her. Absolutely not.’

‘Yes, her current predicament, all of this, was entirely her own willing choice…’

“‘Lenix… give up.'”

Saranya pushed herself to her feet, her vision utterly obscured by tears and terror, yet a bewildered, almost blissful, coy smile curved upon her lips.

“‘You cannot shake my loyalty to Master…'”