Rebirth Of The Bastard Spirit Summoner

Kaeri had spent the past few days running from place to place just to figure out a solution to her slave mark.

She could have fled, run back to the floating islands in hope for a cure, but the mark made her unable to do so.

Darell's command kept her trapped in place…

So instead she brushed through every book, followed every lead, and that was how she had arrived here.

There were only two ways of breaking a slave mark available to her at the moment. Darell's death, or black magic…

As his slave, she could not physically harm Darell, so she went for the next best thing.

Immediately Kaeri stepped into the room, multiple candles flickered on, illuminating the space in an eerie purple glow.

There was a strange sweet smell in the air, mixing up with the scent of incense and something else.

Kaeri looked around the room, but even with the illumination of the candles, it was hard to piece anything together.

The room seemed foggy? The book sleeves swirled in her vision and her sense of balance failed her. Before she knew it, she was kneeling on the floor.

"W-what is going on??" she asked, her words slurred.

"Chaos weed." Came a female voice from all around her, quiet and ancient, but with a touch of hostility.

"It will examine you…"

"It will examine you…"

"It will examine you…"

Like an echo, Kaeri heard her three times before it eventually disappeared, but even with the many repetitions, she was too delirious to piece out what she had said.

"If your intentions are without ill intent… then you will live."

There was a short pause.

"But if you harbour evil in your heart—you will VANISH!"

"Haaaa—!"

Kaeri sucked in a sharp breath and opened her eyes, her vision coming to focus on the area around her.

She was still in the witch's hut, at least she thought she was, but it looked very different.

Unlike before, she could now see without much hindrance, and the purple flames had turned pale blue instead.

In front of her was a low-hanging table, and at the other side of it was an impossibly old woman with pure silver hair and tired violet eyes.

"What did you do to me?"

The old woman scoffed. "It wasn't me, it was the weed."

Kaeri cocked her brow. "You drugged me?"

She shrugged and began placing a few items on her table; a stack of dried branches, a bottle of red liquid, gold dust, and a quill.

"I drug a lot of people, that's how I separate the trash from the decent folk. Now tell me, what have you come here for?"

Kaeri was going to protest about her poor treatment, but instead held off on it. She had far more important things to deal with, after all.

"I want to have my slave mark removed."

The witch was about to place a small mortar on the table, but after hearing Kaeri, she paused.

Her tired violet eyes met Kaeri's vibrant green and then she scoffed. "Get out."

Kaeri was taken aback. "What do you mean get out? You're a witch, aren't you? Surely you know a little black magic!"

Frustration was slowly beginning to seep into her voice as she spoke. She had tried every other thing available. This was her last chance at getting free.

"Or are you just incompetent?"

The witch glared at her, a strange emotion in her eyes. "I am the best witch this rundown town has to offer, don't insult me."

"Then do it then, fix me!"

Kaeri felt like a soulless puppet. Darell used her like a lab rat, always trying to see the limits of the slave mark.

He had even been making some strange advances of late, making difficult requests that pushed her to the edge.

For now, she had resisted them, but just barely. Very soon Kaeri knew she would fall, and the day that happened she would lose herself.

"There is a high chance this process will kill you, do you still want to go on?!"

"Yes! Anything is better than this, than being a slave!"

The woman's gaze hardened, and then she smiled. "I just needed to know you were sure…"

"Huh? So all this time…"

"Yes, I already knew what you wanted. I just wanted to make sure you knew how much you were sacrificing."

Kaeri pouted and sat properly, sending a nasty look at the witch, but she paid her no mind, she was busy preparing the spell.

She placed the gold dust and the branches in the mortar dirt before pouring the strange liquid that oddly resembled blood.

Then she closed her eyes and began to murmur in a strange language all while grinding the mixture together.

"Forma, confractus, amittere."

"Gratis, maledicto, concu-ture."

The little house began to tremble, the sounds of many rattling bottles reaching Kaeri's ears as the witch closed her eyes.

Kaeri took a deep breath, her fingers trembling at her sides. If this failed, then she would remain a slave for the foreseeable future, or she would die…

The thought of it made her heart tremble. Just a few months ago, she had been heading to the northern continent, a proud and talented elf with a bright future.

And now she was a slave… all because of that man.

After a few seconds, the shaking stopped, the witch opened her eyes and took out a knife.

"Your hand…"

Kaeri did not hesitate. She gave the woman her hand and winced when she ran her dagger over her finger, adding her blood to the mixture.

Immediately her blood touched the concoction, black smoke emerged from it and the substance immediately changed to a black colour.

The witch sighed. "Slave marks are a type of seal, a command seal of sorts."

Kaeri nodded. She had read about them in the library for so long that she knew all the details.

The witch continued.

"The difference is that while command seals are regular spells, slave marks are dark magic, but that is not all…"

"The reason slave marks are so hard to remove is because in every slave mark lies a wild spirit, a Leashì—"

"Or as we witches call it, a demon."