The Crushing of a Soul

“Crack!”

“Waaahhhhhhh—!!!”

The crisp snap of bone echoed starkly, followed immediately by Lenix’s heart-wrenching shriek. She arched her back as if struck by lightning, before crashing back onto the ground, her face a ghastly, ashen grey.

Kaelan lifted her small, leather-booted foot. Beneath the sole was a puddle of dark blood and a wrist twisted at an unnatural angle.

Lenix’s hand bones were shattered, a stark white shard of bone piercing through her flesh, protruding above her wrist.

“Stop… stop… please…”

Even a dryad, ultimately, was not made of iron. No matter how strong her will, under Kaelan’s prolonged, intense torture, it was only a matter of time before she broke.

“Tsk…”

The little witch shifted her weight onto her other bare foot, gently lifting her small leather boot. The tip of her boot hovered menacingly, tapping the fractured bone in Lenix’s wrist.

“Have you thought it over? Remove the curse you placed on Xiao Ya…”

“Ugh… I told you… that kind of thing… it’s impossible… you must know… that kind of curse is irreversible…”

Gone was the dignified image of a noblewoman. Lenix, now parasitic in the fox girl’s body, hugged her large orange tail close. Her two beast ears drooped, her body trembled uncontrollably, and her eyes were filled with despair, making her appear utterly pathetic.

Of course, this pitiful sight failed to move Kaelan. On the contrary, the dark witch took pleasure in inflicting pain and tragedy upon others.

“Wrong answer, Lenix… What a pity…”

Kaelan chuckled coldly, gently lowering the tip of her boot. She pressed, twisted, and began grinding the fractured bones in Lenix’s wrist.

“Ah… ah… ugh…”

The fox girl’s eyes gradually glazed over. She could no longer scream loudly, only emitting a series of dying whimpers.

“She’s almost done for, Master!”

Saranya cried out in protest, but upon seeing the boundless ferocity on Kaelan’s face, she lost all courage, trembling nervously as she fumbled with her urine-soaked trousers.

“Heh heh~”

Kaelan seemed to heed her warning, easing her pressure and lifting the tip of her boot. However, before Lenix could even sigh in relief, the witch attacked again, directly stepping onto Lenix’s forehead.

“Ah!”

“My dear Lenix, I wonder if a noble, beautiful forest nymph like yourself has ever experienced what it feels like to be ‘trapped’…”

“What… trapped…?”

“You see, even if your body dies, it doesn’t matter. I can keep your consciousness trapped inside this rotting flesh forever… I promise you’ll feel it, experience firsthand what happens after you ‘die’…”

“Ugh…”

“I can crush your head right now, squeeze out the pulp inside, and leave you trapped in this ruined corpse, slowly decaying and decomposing in this dungeon, turning into a foul-smelling stew of flesh, gnawed by flies and rats, becoming a paradise for maggots to live and breed, rotting away little by little, until nothing is left…”

“No… don’t…”

“‘Dust to dust, ashes to ashes,’ my dryad sister. In the forest, isn’t that what people say most often when someone dies? Isn’t it a supremely blissful thing for you to experience such a process yourself…?”

“I beg you, please don’t… don’t do this…”

“Hehe…”

Seeing the purple glow emanating from the pendant on Kaelan’s chest, Lenix was utterly terrified. Her psychological defenses completely crumbled. Under the witch’s boot, she shook her head frantically, a torrent of desperate pleas tumbling from her lips:

“Don’t do this to me… I—I’ll do anything! I can do anything, Master… Master! I’ll never offend you again… I won’t lay a hand on Saranya again! Please give me a chance to atone for my mistakes!”

“You are unworthy to be my s*ave.”

Kaelan’s boot tip subtly increased its pressure, and Lenix’s skull emitted a faint creaking sound.

“No no no no no—!”

Lenix’s voice instantly soared, letting out an incredibly sharp shriek, but Kaelan merely silenced her with a cold, icy gaze, leaving her to gasp desperately in her throat.

If fear itself could be seen, then Lenix at this moment was the perfect embodiment of the word.

“Didn’t you say there was no way?”

Kaelan’s tone was playful and cruel. Her lips parted slightly, her small tongue flicking gently inside her mouth.

“In that case, Lenix, you hold no value to me, do you?”

“Yes! I have value! I have value!”

The fox girl screamed hysterically, abandoning all dryad nobility and dignity. Even the last trace of elegant charm lingering in her fox form vanished without a trace. Tears, snot, and bloody foam mixed together, streaming wantonly down her pallid, pretty face.

Lenix even forcibly suppressed her survival instinct, no longer trying to protect herself. Instead, she raised her intact hand, trembling, and extremely humbly reached for the edge of Kaelan’s boot, which was pressing on her head. She didn’t try to push the small boot away, but instead gripped it tightly as if it were a lifeline, her knuckles turning white from the effort.

“I was wrong… Master… Great Master…”

Lenix spoke incoherently, showering Kaelan with lavish praises while simultaneously denigrating herself with various vile words. Her voice was not only broken but also thick with sobs, making it difficult to discern her words.

“I’m foolish… I’m arrogant… I’m a bastard… a whore… *sob*… I shouldn’t… shouldn’t have coveted your Saranya… and certainly shouldn’t have… moved against you…”

As she spoke, the fox girl looked up at Kaelan. Her once proud, clever beast eyes now held only the purest animal instincts: fear and supplication. Her pupils were dilated, yet she desperately tried to focus on Kaelan’s face, searching for any glimmer of possible forgiveness.

“That curse, although it can’t be reversed…”

Lenix panted, taking a quick breath, terrified that a second’s delay would result in Kaelan crushing her head.

“But I—I can alleviate it! I can suppress it! I can lessen or even eliminate Saranya’s suffering!”

“…”

“Master… Master… I beg you… I’m willing to do anything… clean the tavern and the dungeon… and, and lick your and Lady Saranya’s boot soles… Oh, right! You love creating new curses, don’t you?! I—I can be your experimental subject for curses… I can even be a punching bag for Lady Saranya to vent her anger! I’ll do anything you ask…”

Kaelan’s silence drove Lenix into a frenzy. Her words tumbled out rapidly, tears streaming from her eyes, her posture utterly abject.

“Please… don’t trap me here… don’t let me watch myself rot… Please… merciful Dark Witch… Master… Your Majesty! Just pity me… just a little mercy for this useless s*ave…”

“It’s ‘Liege’.”

Kaelan corrected her arrogantly. “I said you’re not worthy to call me Master. But since you’re so persistent, Xiao Ya and I will reluctantly become your Liege, how does that sound?”

“Good… good… yes! Thank you, Liege…”

Lenix curled up, her fluffy tail slipping from her embrace to lie on the blood-soaked ground, limp and stained. She lifted her head slightly, her two furry ears pressed flat against her hair, looking less like a fox and more like a frightened little rabbit.

No, she resembled a wild dog with a broken spine, whimpering and wagging its tail, begging for scraps at the feet of its tormentor.

Finally, the ferocity on Kaelan’s face receded slightly, a sweet smile slowly spreading across the witch’s lips, then blossoming.

For the witch, tormenting others’ bodies and inflicting immense pain was certainly delectable, but crushing a proud soul, utterly trampling it underfoot, savoring their pleas for mercy, and then transforming them into her servant—that was the ultimate enjoyment.

Kaelan moved the tip of her boot from Lenix’s bruised forehead, turning to look at Saranya, a hint of warmth in her eyes.

“Little fox, don’t just thank me. Your Lady Saranya has been standing there for a while…”

Saranya stood frozen, her face filled with disbelief, watching as the now-subdued Lenix arched her body, hobbled over to her, and rubbed her bloody fur back and forth against Saranya’s trouser leg, leaving damp, dirty streaks.