I was so long in Seclusion that everyone forgot about me

╭══◞ An endless time ago ◟══╮

The first night in this world was cold. Not the kind of cold that brushed skin, but one that sat heavy in the air and soaked into the earth. The sky above was wide and unmoving, painted in dull, lifeless greys. There was no wind. No stars. No sound. Nothing alive stirred here.

Wherever it wandered, life withered. Grass shriveled underfoot. Roots curled in on themselves. Even the smallest bugs collapsed without a noise. It didn't matter where it walked—this world refused to welcome it. Or perhaps, it simply couldn't.

Time passed, but the world remained unchanged. Seasons didn't shift. Nothing bloomed. The creature, the exiled, moved endlessly through empty valleys, cracked plains, and forgotten ruins with no name. A hollow began to take shape inside it—not just hunger, but something deeper. A gnawing question without an answer. Was this what the others wanted? To cast it away into a place already lost, far from the war, far from the ones who would succeed where it had failed?

Maybe they would win. Maybe humanity would fall even without it. That would have been fine. Let them claim their victory. Let them take the glory. Let them forget what it once was.

It wandered on with thirst clawing at its throat and hunger curling in its gut. Not hunger for food, but for meaning—for something to hold, to possess, to call its own. Hours turned to days. Days to years. Years stretched into long, cold centuries. Still, nothing changed. Nothing it touched could survive, and yet the world around it slowly did what it could not—it adapted. It evolved.

One day, it saw something new. A small animal, not unlike a tiger cub, cautiously padding through brittle underbrush. The moment its eyes met the creature's, it froze. Then it turned to run but only made it a few steps before its body collapsed, lifeless. When the figure stepped closer, the animal's body crumbled to ash. Even from a distance, even without meaning to, it killed. It wasn't allowed to see the living up close.

But something was left behind.

A faint shimmer in the air where the creature had died. Something invisible, but present. It stopped and focused. Waited. And slowly, it began to see them—white threadlike strands drifting through the air, like motes of dust suspended in still water, forming a ghostly yarn.

It reached out and touched it.

Instantly, heat tore through its body. Not from outside, but from deep within—inside its very core. It didn't burn. It awakened. The sensation was so vivid, so overwhelming, it didn't know what to do with it. But it knew one thing immediately.

It wanted more.

This wasn't hunger. This was need sharpened into desire. This was greed.

Only much later would it come to understand what exactly had happened that day—and what it had truly touched.

╭══◞ Now; MC POV ◟══╮

Honestly, there were only a handful of things in this world that could really infuriate me. One of them was to falsely claim something that was already and will forever be mine. So when I saw that the fingers of that disgusting pig were reaching for her, the words left my lips before I could even think about them.

How presumptuous of those humans to think they were allowed to even look at what was mine—let alone touch it with their bloated, greasy hands.

'And when they do?' asked Phim, calm and sad.

They die, of course.

'Didn't that pig just try to touch what's yours?' Ava purred.

It did.

'KiLl HiM,' Ner snapped, voice dripping disdain.

'dEsTrOy,' Sekka snarled.

I should…

'ReLeAsE tHe SeAl,' Luca commanded, clipped and righteous.

'rElEaSe?' Caedia yawned.

'Releeease,' they chanted together, overlapping in my skull like cracked bells. The sound resonated deep within my soul, too many voices tearing through the cracks of my control.

Quiet.

This damned chorus of voices—always trying to incite me. The remnants of my once-pristine Dyad, now a simple dissonant two-layered choir that scratched against my mind like broken glass. I would not loosen any of those seals more than they'd already begun to slip under that shitty System.

But they were right about the pig.

How he stood there, ogling my Ev—Teade as if she was his. How I despised humans for what they were, trying to take her away from me once ag—

No. Stop it. She wasn't her. No matter how much I would wish for it, she was gone, forever weightless debris of the moon. The day it broke, I broke. She had been part of that shattering, lost in the silence between stars. But this wouldn't change the fact that this girl right here was MINE.

And this thing, this accumulation of wasted air, still tried to get closer to her. In my presence?

Thoughtless, I emitted a certain amount of my aura into the room. Everybody that was present so shortly after the auction froze in an instant. Sophia looked mildly irritated that the thick black fog-like substance didn't affect her. The gifted bracelet shielded her—didn't want my Divieria being in the same embarrassing state as the enemies, after all.

Surprisingly, my new little fox knight eluded every effect.

"Huh, that's new," I whispered thoughtfully.

Her fluffy ears twitched as if she understood what I said, but that was impossible. My eyes wandered from her ears down to her slender neck, almost entirely covered with shoulder-length fiery red hair that occasionally bore black strands.

'All yours,' breathed Ava, like honey in my soul, lulling me into a trance as I kept ogling my Teade with frankly unholy intensity.

I snapped out of it just before I started drooling, feeling a long-lost heat rising up in me again as Mahl cackled at my demise—getting horny in a very, very weird situation. I cursed under my breath. Damnit, I had to focus! I still had some pork on my shopping list~.

As I stepped closer, the pig's knights looked at me with fury in their eyes. But those poor fools couldn't move at all. I just smirked back at them. Maybe I should let them loose, just to see what would happen, just to see their miserable attempt and crush their souls.

I shook my head. Not like this. Not this easily.

"Sophia," I called her over to me. "Could you do me the pleasure of removing this... thing?" I pointed at the archduke.

She nodded, strode past me, and slammed her talons into his gut with a single kick. He flew back into a row of his knights, gushes tearing through the layers of his fat belly. Also, strike. Well—spare. I'll allow it.

Blood ran from the pig's mouth, but he made no sound. I sighed. That was the only drawback of my aura—you couldn't hear them squeak-peep-meek.

"Mistress, this is honestly kinda boring," Sophia whined.

"Yeah. Should I dispel my aura? Do you think you could win against them?"

She froze for a second. "Oh, umm... don't think so. They look rather high-leveled, with good gear," she answered sincerely.

"Then don't be so cocky," I fake-smiled at her whilst admonishing.

"Y-yes," she replied, looking down at the floor in shame.

'Unworthy,' hissed Ner.

I groaned and did my best to ignore the Choir's grating commentary. Instead, I turned back to Sophia with a gentler tone. "Oh, come on. Don't be downhearted. Arrogance is the first step to your own demise. You're still young. You'll learn."

It wasn't wrong, what I told her. Through all my long life, I'd watched fools come at me, believing they had a chance. Every one of them ended the same. A grin crept onto my face as the choir continued their off-key hymn in my mind, each warped note reinforcing the simple truth that no one would ever have a chance against me. It wasn't arrogance if it was the truth. And I reveled in it, like I always should have but never did, and I—

I cursed. Those seals. I had to take time as soon as possible to fix them.

Luckily, Sophia was seemingly happy with my praise and moved over to the cute Teade, leaning down to examine the collar around her neck.

"Mistress, this slave collar is really weird. It emits some strange soul magic I've never seen or read before. But from what I can see… I think it tries to manipulate her mind and make her docile, like a soulless puppet. It reminds me of my first attempt to create husks," explained the Vetala.

I turned and glared at the pig, still sprawled on the floor like discarded meat. Rage simmered inside me. How fucking dare he. Doing this—to what is mine?

"Speak, hog!" I commanded with as much spite as I could muster, my aura retracting slightly around him.

He coughed blood. "You bitch! Do you even know who I am?!"

I laughed at his feeble attempt to play on his importance. "I do, but you're still unimportant. So be quiet, you useless piece of shit, and tell me what's up with this slave collar," I responded with a blank expression.

"Hahaha, you'll never be able to remove it ," he spat, grinning through broken teeth. "It's custom-made. Blessed by the Metropolitan. Holy magic. Soul-bound to me. Soon she'll be a devout little follower."

"Holy magic, you say?" I stepped closer to my new servant and inspected the collar.

I instantly recognized the same threads I'd seen on the paladins inside the ziggurat. Yes, they were still connected to the System, and even the holy signature reeked of the same origin. That blasted human goddess again—absolutely disgusting.

Interestingly, I wasn't sure if I could cut them off like before... not without damaging the seals that were already acting up badly. I sighed internally. That left me no choice but to go with the way of the good old torture. I really didn't like the idea of getting my hands dirty with that swine's blood.

Well. Whatever.

"Release," I said out loud. I didn't need to, but some people believed spells had to be spoken aloud to work. Even if that wasn't true for most—or even the majority. But also—theatrics.

The knights and the archduke stood up sluggishly.

"Oh yeah, Sophia, I forgot to tell you that I drained them a bit. You probably can handle them now. So come on, chop-chop, get some free souls."

The Divieria took her mask off—we'd both put them on again after leaving the loge—and stored it in her ring. Her eyes gleamed golden-white. In the blink of an eye, she vanished and reappeared in front of a knight, one of the gifted daggers in her hand.

With swift movements, she stabbed it into the eye slit of his helmet, the only unprotected part of the heavy armor. The man screamed, and blood flowed out through the slits, splashing across the marble floor. Ordinary folks wouldn't notice it, but a nearly see-through white flame ignited on her free hand. The Soul's Flame—proof of Vetala nobility.

It absorbed the essence of the slain and converted it into pure energy. Sophia could feast on it to increase her overall power, store it for later, or use it immediately to enhance spells or physical attacks. A convenient little thing, that flame.

She killed another two of the swine's men with the same technique and rushed toward a fourth, but unfortunately, he had recovered just enough to block the strike with his armored forearm. A loud clang echoed. Sophia backflipped, claws flashing as she tried to unbalance him or pierce a weak point. She gained some distance with a smooth, if irritated, leap.

The Divieria huffed. She clearly wasn't used to fighting opponents stronger than herself. Her stamina still left something to be desired. But that was nothing that couldn't be fixed. She moved back into a fighting stance—determined, graceful.

Before she could act again, the auction hall doors burst open. Curious guests poured out, drawn by the noise. At the same time, guards pushed through the crowd, weapons at the ready.

Only now did I notice the butler. He stood just a few feet from my Teade, staring in horror at the unfolding massacre. He gaped at the scene before him, horrified that more people had already died by our hands tonight.

Sophia did well. More and more blood seeped from the corpses, painting the floor in beautiful red pools that shimmered under the brilliance of the crystals. In their reflection, the world turned crimson. The iron scent was thick, delicious. It made me hungry.

"Halt! Cease your aggression! Under the law of the auction house, you are under arrest for breaking the rules!" shouted a random guard.

"Are we now?" I asked with a grin.

Their response was to draw weapons. How typical.

I shook my head, disappointed. Why did everyone I met act so rudely toward me? Le—

"Stop! Sheathe your swords!" the butler screeched, panicked, cutting into my thoughts.

The guards hesitated, confused, but obeyed. The archduke's knights, however, drew theirs without hesitation.

"This is high treason! You all will be executed for your—"

"Oh, shut up, you human pig that even an orc would find repulsive," I snapped. "Wait—no, that's speciesist, I think. A lot of them actually look amazing. You, on the other hand..."

At that very true remark, the pig's face turned an ugly shade of red. Sweat poured down his greasy forehead. I thought I saw steam curling from his ears. Was he cooking himself? The air smelled somewhat like steamed ham.

"KILL HER!" he screamed.

"That's so incredibly boring." I turned to my apprentice. "Sophia, get behind me."

She didn't even hesitate. "Last chance. Tell me how to remove the collar or live with the consequences."

The bastard grinned, still believing he had the upper hand. I saw the butler's pleading stare from the corner of my eye and ignored it. My patience had expired.

The knights charged, stepping through the blood puddle without a second thought. Their heavy boots squished wetly against the slick floor. Ripples spread across the surface like a warning.

'They'll die,' sang Sekka.

'Fools,' lamented Phim.

'Idiots,' murmured Magkiel.

And Azakiel laughed, 'Stupid hairless apes.'

The Dyad spoke in their usual dissonance. I could only agree. What else had I expected? Humans—so loud, so small. Their potential matched only by their stupidity.

'Now.'

'NOw.'

'nOw.'

...

...

With a nonchalant sigh, I waved my hand.

A low hum echoed. The blood began to stir.

A heartbeat later, red spikes tore out of the floor.

They erupted upwards with a sound like tearing meat—barbed, spiraling, hungry. The knights were impaled instantly. Guts, armor, metal, blood—all shredded in an explosion of meat and steel. What remained on the blood stakes barely resembled human corpses. Some were cleaved in half. Some lanced rectum to mouth. Others were pulverized outright.

A single eyeball popped free, landing at my feet with its optic nerve trailing like a worm. A chunk of brain still wearing a fragment of helmet slid down one of the stakes. Their heavy armor had offered no protection at all against my hemomancy, it was no better than parchment.

It happened so fast that no one had time to scream.

Then a lady noticed cerebral fluid on her cheek, and the crowd erupted.

Some guests shrieked. Others tried to run. A few adventurers reached for weapons.

"Silence," I ordered.

This time I let my aura fill the room completely. Bodies froze. Eyes widened. Mouths hung open, locked mid-scream. Their fear—crystallized—was balm to my soul.

But it wasn't enough.

The price they'd paid so far didn't match their offense. A human thought he could claim something of mine. That kind of arrogance... No, I wanted more. I needed more. Blood. Screams. The look in their eyes when they realized the divine had long since stopped listening.

I waved my hand again. The blood spikes withdrew, liquefying mid-air. Flesh and armor fragments dropped with wet splashes. A haze of blood mist clung to the room, perfuming the air with its sweet, intoxicating rot.

I glanced at Sophia.

She smiled. Her pupils were dilated, wild. Drunk on scent and slaughter. Just like me. The taste of violence clung to her like perfume. Yes, this was the warmonger race I remembered her kind to be.

I had spared the archduke from the full effect of my aura. I wanted him awake. I wanted to see him squirm. To feel the pressure as I peeled the truth out of him—how to break the collar on my Teade.

But when I looked into the pig's eyes, there wasn't a hint of the terror I'd hoped for. Only scorn. The quiet, festering belief that he still held the upper hand.

And something in me recoiled.

That kind of pride—disgusting. A human shouldn't even dare to show it in front of ME.

I walked up to him.

He spat blood and laughed. "You monster. You really think I'd help you take that collar off? Fuck no. That bitch is going to suffer. That collar'll make sure she only loves me, even after I'm dead. She'll crave my dick, beg for it. She'll dream of me inside her every night. She'll never belong to a lowborn thing like you. Never!"

I snapped.

In the space between two breaths, I stood before him.

How dare this ape—this bloated pig of a man—dare to speak of her like that. DARE to lay claim to what was MINE. What absurdity!

SHE WAS MINE. SOLELY MINE. SHOULD SHE NOT BELONG TO ME, THE WORLD MAY BURN. LET IT BURN, LET IT BLEED, AS SHE HAD BLED FOR THEM, FOR PEACE—AND THEY STILL MADE HER SUFFER.

NO. NOT AGAIN. THIS TIME, SHE WAS MINE. MINE ALONE.

A crack ran through my soul.

'It's crumbling,' whispered Phim.

'CrUmBlInG,' Sekka hissed.

'The seal...'

'The SEAL?'

'Wrath?'

'Wrath!'

'No—no, not Wrath.'

'...'

'GrEEd?' Ava gasped.

'Greed.'

'GrEeeeeEd!' Caedia sang.

'Yes... yes... yessss,' they all hissed, overlapping in ecstatic reverence.

The choir screamed inside my head, their voices melting, folding, splitting. Too many. Too loud. Behind my eyes, the world blurred. My tongue tasted of light and honey. I felt the weight shift inside me. A seal gone. Restraints undone.

Yet I had asked for more.

And Greed was listening.

╭══◞ Asche POV ◟══╮

The voices that sifted through the closed link screeched words in the most horrible tones I'd ever heard. Each syllable twisted, broken, too many mouths speaking from nowhere. I could feel it—the change. The horror that was about to be unleashed.

Just what the fuck was happening?!

Fucking answer me, you damned System. Is this your doing? What did you do? This wasn't what we agreed on.

I… << appeared the System's voice inside my head.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" I shouted, raw.

I… there was a factor I didn't plan. Something that offset everything. Please… hurry. I don't want to place an [Emergency World Quest]. Please, stop her before it's too late, before they notice. I can't do more. I have t— <<

The voice cut out. Silence followed.

I froze mid-step, trying to figure out where to go next. Joe and the other guards were still tailing me, but I didn't have time to deal with them. I had to stop this. I had to stop her. Whatever was happening in the main hall, it had to end.

Then something cackled through the link.

'Are you sure you can stop her? Are you sure you could love such a monster?'

"Who are you?" I snapped, ignoring the question.

Laughter echoed in my head—low, gleeful, inhuman. 'Azakiel the Endless, the first Emperor of the Dragons. The very ancestor of every dragon. You, like many, are still a child of mine. Deprived of her true form. Chained to this monster. Like me. Like others.'

I didn't have time for this. "What do you want?"

His laughter grew louder. Shrill, distorted. 'TO SEE HER IN PAIN. TO REVEL IN THE DESTRUCTION. YOU WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH FOR HER. SHE WILL NEVER LOVE YOU. SHE WILL ONLY LOVE EVA. EVER AND EVER. AHAHA—'

I slammed the link shut.

This was insane. The voices—those seals—they were fucking insane. Were they always like this? Or did being trapped for so long twist them beyond repair?

If they were all like that, maybe she'd done the world a favor keeping them sealed. And ancestor of dragons? Eva? What the hell did that even mean?

I shook my head, forced the thoughts down. I couldn't trust a word of what he said. He was clearly broken. And he wanted to poison me, just like they poisoned her.

No.

Shit.

I had to move. I had to hurry. I wouldn't let her carry this burden alone. Not again.

╭══◞ Teade; ??? POV ◟══╮

I had absolutely no idea what was happening. The entire situation was utterly ridiculous.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Before that ugly human could touch me, a voice sliced through the air—it was hers. The one they called Ancient Blood.

Then I felt it. Something spreading through the room. A presence, slow and heavy, but... warm. It wrapped around me like a thick blanket, protective and suffocating at once. The last time I'd felt anything close to that was when my mother pulled me into her arms, and we drifted asleep together.

Then I saw it. A strange black smoke—or was it fog?—filling my field of vision. It crept over everyone in the room. And yet it wasn't smoke. It didn't move like something that could be seen. It petrified. I watched as it froze every single body. Their eyes screamed, but none of them moved.

It was satisfying to watch. Especially him. That pig in silk couldn't even twitch.

My hopefully-soon-to-be Mistress whispered something—soft, almost confused. I think she was surprised that the mist didn't affect me the same way it did the others. I didn't know why that made me happy, but it did.

Everything after that moved too fast. Too blurred. Probably the damn collar again.

Her voice, now annoyed, asked someone else to remove 'something'. The words had barely left her mouth when that someone appeared beside me: a strange girl, similar to a harpy. A moment later, the disgusting archduke flew into his own knights with a satisfying crack. What a heavenly sight.

And then—oh—the scent of blood hit the air. Faint. Metallic. Tempting. My stomach growled.

Afterward, the harpy girl inspected my collar. I tried to form a clearer picture of her in my head, but my vision blurred again for a moment. That damn collar.

She must've noticed something too. She said something was wrong. I heard the vampiress demand an answer, but my mind slipped again.

When I came back, the harpy had killed three knights. The blood scent was stronger now. Almost dizzying.

I blacked out again.

And again, I came back.

The knights still alive were approaching.

'No! NO!' I screamed inside my mind. Had something gone wrong? Surely someone with a title like hers wouldn't lose to those wretched slavers.

Then, without warning—spikes erupted from the blood pools.

I had never, in all my life, seen so much blood. The sheer volume of it. The smell. It clouded my mind and awakened something deep, deep inside me.

I wanted it. I wanted to taste it. To lap it from the stone. I wanted to chew through armor for it. I craved it. It was intoxicating—and nothing compared to the bloodshed I'd seen in the colosseum. That had been survival. This? This was worship.

When the spikes disappeared and the wet chunks of what used to be men fell to the floor, I hoped the blood would splash on me. I waited for it. But... it never did.

I was so lost in the idea of blood that I didn't notice the feeling at first. A pressure, like the air was caving in. A calamity, impossible to name, was blooming inside the room.

More people were gathered now. Many more. I hadn't even realized. My gaze flicked up. The archduke was looking past me. I couldn't move, but I knew who stood there.

Then I saw her—her—standing over the now-wheezing aristocrat. The same masked figure I'd tried so hard to admire up in the loge, but couldn't. She lifted him off the ground with one hand, choking him until his feet kicked helplessly in the air.

Then it rumbled. A sound so deep and wrong that the blood in my veins turned cold. I couldn't believe it at first. The source... was her?

Her mask dropped and clattered to the floor.

Only then did I see the horns.

They curled backward in sharp arcs, ridged like ancient bone, ash gray from base to midlength, then darkening to obsidian tips that gleamed in the light. Her arm—her entire arm—was scaled in black, fading to burgundy near the clawed hand that gripped her prey.

But that wasn't what stole the air from my lungs.

Behind her, twelve long, wild foxtails writhed into view, parting the folds of her now tattered dress. They were thick, graceful, terrifying and also covered in those same scales as her arm, growing darker towards the ends. Each one looked like it could slice a man in half.

I didn't know why, but the sight stirred something in me. Something ancient.

Something... familiar.

It wasn't fear. Not quite. It was like recognition—but from another lifetime.

Before I could make sense of it, I felt it again.

Darkness.

Something inside her had changed. Something darker than anything I'd felt in the colosseum, Darker than the blood-soaked nights we spent hiding from the trainers who hunted for someone to satisfy their lust. As dark as losing the only person who ever mattered to you. I knew that kind of darkness.

Maybe that's why it felt like home.

And then I heard her voice again—inside my head.

'Sleeep.'

The word echoed through my mind, soft but absolute. My vision blurred, and the world dissolved into black.

╭══◞ MC POV ◟══╮

Sophia caught the falling Teade. I didn't want her to struggle any further to stay awake and sane. I felt her craving for blood getting stronger and stronger. How long must it have been since she'd had enough blood to sustain herself properly? Even I knew all too well how the desire for something could mess with your head—as it was doing now.

But I didn't care anymore. My instincts took over, and it felt liberating. I'd forgotten what it was like—to want something this badly. No, not want. To know it was mine. As it was always meant to be.

So I turned my head back to the oh-so-sublime archduke. He finally had the look of horror on his face that I wanted to see. Though it was no longer enough. No... not enough at all. Lemme show those ridiculous beings what will happen if they dare to even think of taking what was mine. The question was, what exactly should I do to burn it into their memory?

'What about Circe? came the intoxicating voice of a drifting soul-ghost, visible only to me. Her long, ghastly fingers bored their way into my shoulder as her voice sunk deeper into me.

I grinned at her suggestion. She wasn't wrong. Circe, my old acquaintance, had a knack for torturing people and enjoying their suffering. Maybe I could… oh, wait—of course. What a terrific idea! Something that would also involve our dear audience, that so willingly gathered here after every other exit became unusable. They would love to give me all their attention. As they should. Yes, that was exactly how I was going to play it.

'Are you excited, Ava? Are you ready for a show?' I asked the soul broken free from her reigns, reveling in my theatrics as much as I did.

Her only response was her invisible nails digging deeper into my scales and flesh, whispering endless repetition of the most obvious words—that everything in this world was mine. I had no idea how I could ever forget this.

Time for my show~.

Like electrifying thunder, my voice bellowed through the atrium, "I have an old acquaintance—a wonderful witch. She lived on an island for a long time, preying on passing seafarers. Her games and traps knew no bounds. Unfortunately, at some point, that fool fell in love with a human whose crew she had transformed. In exchange for their freedom, the human stayed. Regrettably, one day he betrayed her, and if I didn't happen to be there by pure chance, she probably would have died. Tsk-tsk, someone as powerful as her, almost struck down by love.

"Anyway, the phase that began after that 'accident' was no fun for humanity. Tell me, pig, can you guess who I'm talking about?"

His eyes rolled back further and further. Oh yeah—oops. Totally forgot that I was still choking him. I threw him on the ground next to me and heard the breaking of some bones. I couldn't wait for more to follow~.

"Speak, you ridiculous excuse of a humanized carnival interpretation of a well-dressed pig-man."

He coughed hard for a few seconds until he looked me in the eyes. I didn't know what exactly his facial expression meant, but it was a mixture of fear, horror, fright, and loathing.

"W-What kind of monster are you?!" the bastard decided to ask.

I shook my head at his obvious attempt to waste my time and undermine my position. "Haa... I asked a question first, didn't I? Have all nobles gotten dumber in my absence? Are you even aware of the situation you're in? Are your arrogance and narcissism really so bloated you can't see it?"

I clicked my tongue, "But fine. Let me indulge your ignorance—just a little. The Master Appraiser... what did he call me again? Ah, yes. Ancient Blood. That should answer your question. So let me repeat mine: are you familiar with a witch named Circe?"

The mouth of the already half-ruined animal dropped open. I noticed the frozen spectators' eyes widening, which made me giggle. Wasn't it fun to watch those poor souls squirm on stage before?
Now everyone got to be part of the show.

Focusing back on the hog, I tapped my claws against my scaled arm in an impatient, lock-clicking rhythm.

"Well?"

"Y-yes," he answered directly, trembling. Funny what that absurd title implied.

"How was I supposed to know you were friends with Circe! It's been generations since anyone from her coven had strayed here. I'm sorry, please, I don—"

"Psst, you're kinda late for excuses now," I said, scratching my head, causing me to accidentally touch my horns. Goddess damn it, I had completely forgotten they were there, mhrmm, and just how good it felt to have them, to show even a sliver of my true nature.

Anyway, I was astonished that it was probably the mention of Circe that made him spontaneously this submissive. It was good to know she was probably still alive. Couldn't believe anything till I actually saw her again, though. At least someone seemed to have earned a name for herself in the meantime, whereas I was forgotten. But I wouldn't hold a grudge over that. It wasn't her fault that those pests forgot me. I just had to remind them who I was.

So I turned my attention back to the archduke.

I cleared my throat. "To be clear. I don't belong to Circe. Were you not listening? Whatever. You're about to find out what one of her spells feels like on your own body. Quite happy she showed me that one, even though I never thought I'd actually use it."

A low hum left my mouth as I began to cast the unique spell. The archduke tried with his last strength to crawl away across the bloodstained floor—but in vain. By the time a purple ball of mana appeared in my clawed hand's palm, armored in scales, it was already too late for him.

I threw the spell at him, and the transfiguration began at once.

Now, I must admit, Circe's transfiguration magic was nothing that could be called pleasant. It was more akin to torture magic. The transformation that now took place in the archduke was an excellent example of their similarity. His bones broke, were forcibly repositioned, fell out of the flesh—which also rotted in some places and regrew in other areas. It was also what happened when you performed incorrect transformation magic or brewed change potions improperly. Still, the difference here was that the pain sensation and the regeneration speed were deliberately increased. To suffer and stay alive during the process.

Piece by piece, the no-longer-human turned under screams and hellish agonies. The new flesh swelled and writhed beneath the gums, slowly pushing the teeth loose—until they dropped, one after another, from the trembling jaw. The same happened with the other excess bones that fell raw to the ground, having no use anymore in the merging mass. His scream fractured mid-breath, twisting from a raw human cry into a shrill, porcine squeal as his throat constricted and the sound curdled into something wet, high-pitched, and wrong. His frightened eyes now became mirrors of the horror that had only begun, before those too were smashed like grapes between pulsating forming flesh, and the splattered eye-liquid arced just far enough to hit the cheerfully silent audience.

But it didn't end there.

The already transforming arms and legs broke unnecessarily further, curling inward as if they were made out of rubber. Over and over again, until the magic was finally finished.

Now standing directly in front of me, on all fours, was a fat pig. So ugly that even a butcher would not foist the meat of such a creature on his worst competitors.

The pig grunted and squealed, knowing precisely what was going to follow next.

The best part? The mind was still preserved. Intact. He understood everything.

I grinned.

When I looked at the crowd, I noticed that some had fainted while standing. Gosh, the sight of the transformation wasn't that gruesome. Compared to the horrible acts they were committing on a daily basis, this was nothing.

Though, I wasn't finished with my demonstration.

I went to the squealing pig that tried to run away from me but fell over its own feet, having no idea how to maneuver them yet, and tore out a front leg without a single pull. The anguished screams of the creature—which had been so insolent not even twenty minutes ago—were like opera to my ears. I cast a fire spell in my open palm and cooked the leg a bit, and voilà, delicious roasted pork, ready for tasting. And there was no better jury than the one already present.

With a fleeting glimpse over the people, I found the first completely volunteer participant. A cheap rose-petal mask covered the face. Long blonde hair was tucked behind pointed ears. She was a high elf. Such a prideful person was perfect, especially since she was the same one that bought the mirror wolf-kin. Such ironic symbolism, that now a similar fate with sheer helplessness would be mirrored onto her own. I ripped off three bite-sized pieces of the steamed pork for myself, then tossed the rest of the leg somewhere into the crowd, and walked up to her, beaming with delight. Unfortunately, her eyes didn't seem to reflect my joy. Too bad.

They were filled with horror as I slowly forced her shut mouth open—not giving her the small satisfaction to do it by a command either—and shoved the piece in by squeezing her cheeks and placing it inside. Tears began to well up in her eyes. Maybe I would have felt sorry for her if she didn't belong to those who would clearly sell their own kind, or if she weren't that eagerly lusting after the wolf-kin.

A smile crept across my face as I spelled the command, "E-a-t."

At the same time, I lightened my control. Idiotically, the first thing she did was to cough it up.

I sighed and looked at her in disappointment. "Really, such poor manners from an esteemed high elf? Where is your pride? Where's that bravado your people love to flaunt when they're trying to put others beneath them?"

"P-please, stop!" she begged me, her voice sobbing.

I traced one of my clawed fingers over her cheek, digging slightly into her skin and leaving an open cut. Her whole body shivered as I moved the finger back to my mouth and let a drop of her blood fall onto my tongue. Her eyes widened as the realization finally hit her—she was nothing more than prey to me.

"Tell me, how does it feel to be so utterly powerless? To be reduced to a toy in the hands of a stranger?" I tilted my head slightly. "Just how often did you do this to others and feel nothing? And now you beg me to stop?

"Oh, my dear foolish elf, this is only the beginning," I whispered slowly, my eyes drifting over the crowd. "I have to show everyone what happens when people like you think they can tamper with things—especially things that are mine. Trust me, I want to kill all of you, but who else would be left to spread the word that no one touches my property?"

I looked into the eyes of the elf, who turned her head away. With one finger, I directed her chin back towards me.

"Eat, or you will die first in a more horrible way than you could ever imagine. Do you think Circe's transfiguration magic, her flesh magic, is gruesome? No, no, my sweet child, you have seen nothing of the horrors I could unleash," I said coldly, holding the clearly delicious piece of pork in front of her.

The tears were flowing now, her mask had long fallen to the ground, but she said nothing and just opened her mouth. "Good girl," I purred, and placed a piece à la archduke inside. I could hear her whimper as I turned away from her; nevertheless, she continued to chew diligently while choking, forcing herself to savor the meat in hopes I would be satisfied.

I walked over to another person I had noticed. Her hair was red, and the magical aura she radiated was extraordinary—for an inferior race such as humans, that was. But what fascinated me was her completely calm and relaxed demeanor. She was the only one here who could keep her composure. I loosened my absolute control over her and offered her the food. She took it emotionlessly and ate it without batting an eye.

"How boring," I commented, and was about to step away when Ava whispered to me another glorious thought. The red-haired woman somehow was spoiling all my fun, so the next move promised nothing but satisfaction. After all, this right now was my show—and no one else should steal my spotlight.

As I turned, I spoke, "And now, bite into the archduke. Tear out his guts, rip his skin and flesh, and feast on the meat."

Her eyes went wide, but she moved nonetheless towards the pig that was slowly bleeding out on the ground, still trying to crawl away with glassy eyes.

"Oh, archdukee~" I sing-sang. "Where are you going? You didn't provide us with enough meat yet. Look at this wild red-head—she must be starving. Go on, girl. EAT HIM, MAKE HIM SQUEAL."

Her expression twisted with anger, but she didn't disobey. She lifted the animal as if it weighed nothing and bit into its belly without hesitation. Blood gushed everywhere as her teeth ripped pieces out, revealing the innards. The room was filled with smacking noises and the painful wails of the creature being eaten alive.

After a minute of feasting, she dropped the dying archduke on the ground, splashing guts over the once glorious floor. She turned to me, pieces of meat between her teeth, with an unwavering expression.

"Happy?"

My smile dropped. Who did she think she was to steal my show, my moment? I was about to do something, when I remembered something Zary had told me about—and whose name had also been repeated during the auction.

"No, but if you want to save your life, you might want to help me with a little request of mine. I'm sure Lord Elmaris is present. Would you be so kind as to point him out?" I asked politely.

"If you promise to let us go, I—"

"I will let you go. Only you. Well, and the slaves. As for the other scum. I will decide that on a whim. I give you five seconds to decide," I smiled.

Her eyes narrowed, but then a sigh of defeat left her. She knew she wouldn't stand a chance and that this was the only way to leave unscathed. I didn't want her in my audience either. She was boring. Not appreciating the horror.

"Fine, I agree. It's that one," she said while pointing into the group at a certain elf whose eyes were filled with betrayal and fury.

I laughed. "Hahaha, you are free to go. If I were you, I'd go into the back and look for the slaves."

She nodded and pressed herself through the frozen audience, who stared at her with pleading eyes mixed with jealousy that screamed: Why her? Why not me?

So much hope. So much to crush.

'The greed is strong in this Elmaris,' murmured Ava, licking her ghostly lips. 'Such an eager taste waiting to be harvested. Such a will to break. Let me feast on him. Let us restore more power. Let greed overwhelm us—this world. What is mine is yours, what is yours is mine. The whole world belongs in these hands. Let us begin again, like in the golden times—when my sisters still served by your sides, when I still stood beside you before Eternal sneaked her way back into this world. Let the machines sing. Let the dolls arise once more. Let this plane kneel before you, as it is meant to. Let the light fall into your shadow, where it belongs. Thou art our ruler. Thou art our Empress. The Master of Puppets.'

Her claws dug deeper into my shoulder. I laid my hand on her head and gently petted it. Ava leaned into the touch, just like the old days. Just like before the fall of Alt-Elyssar.

But something in my mind kept nagging, slipping just out of reach. Always just before I could grasp it. Something… important? Maybe. But Ava's voice was already smoothing the thought away, cradling me with clarity.

'Don't think about the things that are unimportant right now. Think about Evangeline. Think about what they wanted to do to her likeness. About how many others suffer the same fate. Imagine what they do to what belongs to you—to us. This pig was only one piece. This Elmaris is another. Show them. SHOW THEM THE PAIN THEY CAUSED. FULFILL YOUR GREED. FEED IT. FEED US!'

My lips parted. A horrible, shrill laughter burst from me, slicing through the hall in waves like a gilded bell tolling for the damned. My finger pointed at Elmaris, curling inward. "Come."

He didn't have a choice.

Robotically, he bumped into everyone in his path until he reached the center. He walked through the pooled blood, feet squelching as if in mud. Even now, even now, his soul refused to bend. I loosened the magic on his mouth.

"You damned demon! You think your kind can do whatever it wants wherever you walk? You're in the heart of the human empire. You think you'll walk out of this auction house unscathed?" he laughed, shaking and manic. "The casino below must have already alerted the High Guard and the Royal Mages. You're as good as dead, you lowly filth! Oh, and how I'll enjoy seeing you sold off as a mere plaything to the Empe—aaaAARRRGH!"

His scream shredded his sentence as I removed his nails—one by one—with a lazy wave of my hand. Slow. Deliberate. Precise. He couldn't move anything but his eyes and mouth.

"Did you say something?" I giggled, skipping in playful little steps towards him, the blood puddle gathering around his boots like magnetic ink.

"YOU BITCH! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I AM THE—"

Another scream cut him off as I forced blood into his feet, weaving it between flesh and skin like molten threads. It peeled him apart from the inside.

My giggling didn't stop as I circled him, blood filling him further, pushing into every crevice.

"Did you have fun playing slaver? Forcing free people into submission, selling innocents, raping and using them? Was it fun to ignore their cries? Their pleas?" I hissed. "I know elves like you. So noble. So 'refined'. Looking down on others as if they were insects. Invading. Colonizing. Claiming superiority while stealing from my garden like thieves. Even allying with humans. Ooh, how it must have hurt your pride."

"Y-You… y-you know n-nothing, vampirrr… w-we… we are n-noble," he spat through gritted teeth.

"Oh! Noble?" I exclaimed, feigning surprise. I bowed low. "I didn't know. So noble! So much better than everything else! A being like you should wear something worthy of your station. But what could possibly match your grandeur? Ah… I know!"

My finger pointed upwards and with it, the blood surged. It sliced the skin from his body in one clean motion, leaving it hanging like a loose cloak. I released my control entirely.

He fell. Screaming.

He tried to move, to touch himself, but the skin slid like oversized robes, folding and twisting as he convulsed. It dragged, contorted, bled from every pore. I loosened the mouths of the crowd. A wave of screams and dry heaving erupted from all directions, a rising choir of horror.

He clutched his ears—and they shifted too, dislodged by his frantic grip.

Like a conductor, I raised a single finger.

The finale began.

With one final twitch, the bloody skin on his back opened up like a split coat. And with his next step, it sloughed off. It fell in a wet slap like rotted leather, exposing raw muscle beneath. But the flaying wasn't done.

Resuming partial control, I said: "Move out of your skin. Pick it up. Wear it like a scarf. Something worthy of your noble pride."

Screaming, twitching, he obeyed.

He stepped forward. And another. Trails of fat and fluid dropped with every motion as he bent down and flung his own skin around his neck—like a silk stole at a royal gala.

"Now laugh, everyone. Laugh at the elf's new clothes."

My hand rose higher, and the volume followed. The crowd's laughter swelled with every inch—some forced, some cracked, some completely broken. Elmaris's soul began to splinter, his pride crumbling beneath pain, insanity, and shame. Laughter burst from his throat, not by my will, but theirs.

It sounded like a dying violin.

Ava wrapped herself around him, tendrils of spectral glass piercing deep. She began to feed. His skin stiffened. His bones shimmered.

He got glassed.

Not just any glass—stained, sacred, alive with judgment. A reflection of every cruelty he had inflicted, every soul he had chained during his lifetime.

His body folded inward. His essence was drawn out, consumed. Ava inhaled him like incense, slow and ritualistic. With every breath, her form solidified more than I had seen in cycles

She smiled at me.

But in her eyes, I saw the truth. It wasn't enough.

Not yet.

But in a place this steeped in greed, where pride still poisoned every soul, she would rise again. Her true form and the—

"STOP IT!" screamed a voice, cutting through everything like lightning.

A wind barrier erupted around us. I turned, slowly. Who? A beast-kin?

Why?

I… what was I d—

'Don't listen to her', Ava shrieked inside my skull.

"Who?" I whispered.

╭══◞ Asche POV ◟══╮

I looked at her, shuddering in awe and fear at the form she had taken. This scene wasn't like her—not like this, not without the performance and act. This was raw, parading her power for its own sake.

'Don't listen to her!' yelled the strange creature that looked like the origin of the doll mask she wore when we entered this place.

"Who?" she asked, her foggy red eyes locking onto mine.

'SHE IS NO ONE IMPORTANT, JUST ANOTHER BEING THAT WANTS TO STEAL FROM YOU, WANTS TO TAKE FROM YOU!'

"Be quiet, you foul spirit!" I shouted. Then, more softly to her, "It's fine. I'm here. Remember? This isn't you. Remember our fights? What you told me? How you're tired of the same cycle repeating? How you wished something would finally change? Don't forget what you told me—about the hopes you had this time. Don't let the voices take control. Don't destroy what you've worked so hard for."

Her eyes sharpened. She was wavering.

Before that thing could speak again, I rushed to her, shifting into the adult human form I had died in, and embraced her. She trembled in my arms, as if she didn't know what to do with the contact.

"I'm here," I whispered. "I won't go away, no matter how hard you push. So please, don't shut me out. Help me instead. Listen to my voice. Talk to me."

"They took her away from me," she said, her voice barely audible. "And they wanted to do it again. I'm tired of being alone. Of losing everything. I want it. I want it all. Forever and ever."

I held her tighter. "I promise I won't go. I'm here. Forever and ever."

'You think you matter to her? Hah! Azakiel already warned you. She'll never love you. She can't. Not someone like you—'

The voice broke off.

She now stood in front of it, beside the grotesque stained-glass statue, her hand gripping the throat of the unnatural doll automaton. She had blinked out of my arms.

'Y-Youu neeed mee,' it coughed.

"Back to your cage, Avarice. You are not of this era. Your dominion ended long ago," she said.

'N-Noo. It... will never be over. A-As long as Anansi lives, s-so will I c-continue to exist, m-my Empresss,' the doll rasped.

Her expression hardened. "You know full well the crime you committed to get sealed. Now vanish."

She closed her hand. The doll shattered.

The soul ghost screamed as it unraveled—sound like cracking mirrors and brittle diamonds—before vanishing into the air, as if it had never been there at all.

Then she turned to me and smiled.

"Took you long enough to get here. What a mess," she muttered, glaring at the blood-soaked space around us.

"You look... fairly hot," I admitted, admiring the changes.

"My, thank you! Already back to flirting? What was that about being here for me 'forever and ever'?" she said, smirking.

"Be quiet, you doofus. You were out of control. Just look at this. What the fuck happened?"

Her face darkened. "Something unexpected. I'm not even sure why it happened. But this isn't the place to talk about it. Not even with the wind barrier keeping our conversation hidden."

I nodded. She was right. This mess was bad enough already and needed immediate action. So I undid the barrier around us. The first thing I noticed was the pig on the ground—and someone who looked like a half-harpy cradling a fox-kin in her arms.

Wait. That harpy girl looked familiar.

'Oh, that's Sophia. Tulsi's sister. Don't ask—I'll explain later. Vetala trait. Two souls in one,' she explained quickly through the link.

"Now, what to do with this mess?" I muttered, glancing at her.

"For starters, I should finish what I did to the archduke. I guess I shouldn't kill him... but I can't let him leave like this either. Or let him go back to how he was. Ooh, I know," she said with a grin, her eyes flicking to the still-frozen crowd.

"Let that be a warning to you!" she shouted, walking towards the massacred pig that had apparently once been the archduke.

Goddess, she really did a number on him.

She pulled something from her storage that looked suspiciously like a Soul's Tears and poured the pearlescent silver-blue liquid into the pig's slack mouth.

The effects were immediate. The torn leg regrew. The stomach—ravaged as if something had bitten pieces out of it—closed up. Innards reformed. Every wound, internal and external, vanished.

'Is it really worth wasting that on him?' I asked, certain there had to be cheaper ways to heal the pi—uh, archduke.

'There would be, but I have something else in mind. Besides, he already owes me a lot... made him bid half his fortune on my goods. I'll just add it to the bill. A little gold hoarding never hurts. Honestly, I kinda want a room filled with gold coins,' she hummed.

'Of course you do,' I replied, shaking my head.

Her mood had shifted so fast it made me uneasy. I had the creeping feeling this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Once we were out, I'd finally get her to explain. Not everything, maybe—but enough to understand. I also needed to have a word with that System.

Once he was healed, she placed a hand on his head. A brief glow, and his body was wrapped in silk, gently laid on the floor.

'It'll take a moment for the spell to activate. In the meantime, I should talk to the butler. He looks like he's seen death walk.'

'Look around. He's far from the only one. Except maybe Sophia. Why is she grinning like that?' I asked, eyeing the harpy-hybrid warily.

'Some kind of trauma-power-trip high? Or something like that. Just... leave her be for now. That's a problem for future us,' she said, and her tone made it clear she actually cared. That was... nice to see.

She turned to the butler and released him from her control. He remained frozen in place.

She walked up to him and whispered, "I trust I'll still get my shiny gold coins. Also, have you found the properties in the Royal District I asked about earlier? Show them to me discreetly. I assume the scale was enough?"

He nodded, voice trembling. "W-We have some properties that might interest y-your friend. The paperwork is nearly done. If si—"

She cut him off. "Go prepare the documents. I'll follow in a few minutes. Need to clean up the mess I made. Out of kindness, of course. I trust you understand."

"Y-yes," the butler stammered, turned, and pushed through the still-frozen crowd.

'You went house hunting? But I'm not ready for a family yet!' I swooned through the link.

She choked, then turned to me, face flushed.

'Y-You can't just say that!' she exclaimed, quickly shifting her attention back to the cocoon on the floor.

My mind stopped for a moment, too stunned that I'd actually gotten that kind of reaction out of her. It made me feel... something wonderful.

╭══◞ MC POV ◟══╮

My chest was pounding. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks—and I hated it. Why was I so flustered by her words? Why did it feel... good?

I knew this feeling. I-I shouldn't, but I did.

It was happiness. Real, unfiltered, and dangerous. Something that shouldn't be happening. Not now. Not after everything.

But Ava was gone. And for the first time in what felt like lifetimes, the inside of my head was silent. No scratching, no howling, no dripping voices trying to gnaw their way out. Her absence had broken the noise. The pressure. The weight.

And yet… something had shifted. Something deep. Fundamental.

Once we were out of this place, I needed to dive back into my domain and check the seals. One was broken—definitely. The rest? Probably loosened. Richard's soul had fractured completely, that much I could feel. If something good had happened, I'd know it the moment I stepped inside.

But that was for later.

Right now, I had to deal with the mess. My greedy tantrum. The aftermath. I took a slow breath and forced my focus back into the room.

As a hemomancer, controlling loose blood was as easy as breathing. I raised my hand. All the blood—scattered in puddles, sprayed on walls, soaking the floor—began to move, pulling inward towards a single point: the cocoon.

Bit by bit, the silk threads began to stain. Pale white shifted to crimson, then wine-dark, then blackened red.

I handled the knights' remains too—cold blue flames roared to life at a gesture, disintegrating flesh and steel alike. One of the women flinched as the fire passed over her face, removing some left-over brain goo. Her eyes widened, but she wasn't harmed. I wasn't that petty.

Well. Not entirely.

When everything was clean—when all that remained was the humming cocoon of blood and silk—I stepped forward. Cracks formed along its surface. Then it split.

Out stepped a young woman, emerging like a poisoned butterfly.

She was beautiful in the exact wrong way. Silver hair, porcelain skin, fragile limbs. Small. Vulnerable A body that screamed every noblewoman's fantasy. She blinked in confusion as the cocoon collapsed into dust around her.

She looked down at herself. Her arms. Her chest. The hair that trailed to her hips.

She was about to say something, but then she noticed her hands. Her slender arms. The full weight of the transformation hit her.

Then she looked up, lips trembling. "W-What... what have you done to me?" she asked, her voice thin and brittle.

'What she asked…' Asche mumbled faintly through the link, still stunned.

I let my voice carry, making sure every conscious noble heard it. "This," I declared, gesturing to her, "is your punishment."

I took a step forward, arms behind my back, and let the silence stretch before I smiled without warmth. "Let's see how long your pride lasts... when the world sees you the same way you once saw them. Pretty. Powerless. . Yours to touch. Now? The same fantasy will cage you. You'll learn what it means to be dismissed with a glance. To be shunned by mere gossip and looks. To be beautiful... and completely unheard by those who you called best friends."

I tilted my head with a sharp little grin, letting my voice dip into something sweeter. "Well. It was meant as a punishment—but honestly? It's probably more of a blessing in the end. I didn't expect you to turn out so... gorgeous."

She stared at me, horror widening her eyes. For a moment, I caught it—a flicker of crimson red piercing through the blue. A glint of something buried beneath the magic. A beautiful shift waiting to bloom.

I leaned in close, purring the words against her ear, "Look forward to the changes, my little archduchess~."

I laughed—cruel and candied and far too pleased with myself.

Then I clapped once.

The effect was immediate. I withdrew my aura, and the nobles dropped like marionettes with cut strings. Some collapsed unconscious. Others knelt, gasping, barely holding onto their senses. None dared to speak.

Gooood.

It was time to end the show.

'Asche,' I said through the link, 'do me a favor. Get the slaves from behind the stage to Deidre. We'll leave last, after the rats scatter.'

'Sure. Don't think any guards are in shape to stop me after that little performance. But… you do realize you kind of nuked our whole infiltration plan, right?'

'Tch. Plans are guidelines. Improvisation is a sign of genius.'

She rolled her eyes, 'You just don't like being told no.'

'That too. But we'll make it work. Once I resume your younger form, we'll play it off. You stopped me. Played the hero. No one will suspect that we were working together. Maybe they'll side-eye you, but it's manageable. The guards will be too busy pissing themselves to do anything useful. And anyone foolish enough to try… well, just do what needs to be done.'

'Sounds fine to me,' she said. Then added, with a smirk I could feel through the link, 'But if you ever shut me out like that again… I'll kill you.'

'Then I better not do it again~,' I smiled.

And she smiled back. Her eyes meet mine—and held.

…

I took a deep breath.

Void, I hadn't meant to let her in. But goddess, it felt so good.