Blood Contract

The smile on Kalliope's face was dazzling yet her eyes appeared clouded, almost dead. He stared at her like a proper hunter for the first time after a long time. This was truly an opportunity and it would be a lie if he said he wasn't interested. However, her now concealed emotions bothered him.

A contract drew a lifetime. And the only freedom she offered was her life, but that would only be the case if he was capable of seizing her.

"What say you, dear Devil?"

Instead of answering, he asked, "...why?"

"I know of your greed. Your hatred as well. They are painfully clear. But, why do you desire so much of this darkness, when you already have so much in you than you care to admit?"

Her pupils trembled slightly. But, soon, her delicate shoulders shook as she was tittering in delight. Amusement was painted all over her face. Her ruddy lips curved deviously.

"Who said I don't admit it?" Her eyes turned crescent. They shone sinisterly, creating a picture of nightmare under the darkness within the chamber.

"How amusing. I don't speak of it and it means I don't care? I care enough, dream about it too much, spend years wondering why, until one day I stopped."

He sensed the turmoil in her beating heart when she continued, "Because I finally understood, no matter what answer they give me, it will never be an apology nor guilt...just excuse."

Kalliope moved her hand and clutched tightly onto the chain that bound his neck as if she was restaining something from erupting. "I remember how it felt when they first told me about my parents. The great Valkyrie Serphent and Alana Autumn."

The young and accomplished duke who had been both intelligent in mana control and skilful in the art of sword. He had a magic affinity towards wind and was capable of combining the element into his swordplay (aura blade), gaining the title "Airknight".

His understanding over mana had also made him one of the chief researchers at the Moonlit Cloud Tower where magic relics were created by utilizing the Orb of Ufeus. A mystical orb that held a fragment of each elemental spirit. Thus, making it capable of gathering and filtering mana double the usual speed before storing it inside the orb's boundless space.

It was also where the ancient scrolls and grimoire were researched. Hence, the Moonlit Cloud Tower could be considered as an independent faction detached from the royalty and Slidora Academy.

Meanwhile, Alana Autumn was the daughter of the King's brother who had served as the King's right hand. Alana had been the high priestess of the Enchanted Coven which consisted of white mages. It was a coven that was similar to a church and they worshiped the great elemental spirits as their dominion.

The both of them, Valkyrie Serphent and Alana Autumn, were the golden couple whose achievements brought many miracles and advancements into the magic world.

Kalliope had grown up listening to their legends. And all those times she had dreamt, imagined, and wished, to grow up to be just like them but ended up learning that the diseased heroes were her parents.

Tears had gathered in her eyes. She was not proud.

She was broken.

------

The once darkened chamber gradually brightened as violet flame burnt inside the stone vessels that hung down from the wall. With a quivering voice, she retold the memory.

"There is no guilt in their gaze, just pure admiration. No sadness...just…" she gritted her teeth. "Just happy, relieved that they're alive. What rights do they have to be able to live when my parents were the ones who had to die?"

A drop of tears fell from her eyes. She chuckled. "They said my parents are the heroes. If they worship them so, then why? Why did they not rightfully bury them instead of an empty casket?"

"I couldn't feel them when I touched the soil of their graves." Kalliope gazed absentmindedly at her palm. "More than a century has passed and they never even tried to retrieve their bodies?"

She scoffed. "The only thing they're capable of is running away like a coward and leaving my parents' bodies to rot."

There was a daunting tension for a moment before she finally broke down. Before, it was a small chuckle that came with her frustration, but now, it was a full-blown laughter. With her hand clasped onto the chain, she confessed with madness dancing in her eyes.

"I want their blood..."

"Those humans who hunted my parents and sorcerers who turned their back."

"I want both of them to end worse than my parents were and feel the pain worse than I did for a hundred years."

An eerie chuckle escaped from her lips. A terrible hunger for revenge burnt ever so brilliantly from her entire being.

"I wish to listen to their screams and pointless begging as I drew on their body." Her breath trembled with excitement. "I shall paint them with the color of their blood. Every stroke of scar would be a masterpiece."

A sizzling noise along with a faint smoke came from the collar as it grazed the demon's skin from Kalliope pulling the chain.

There were black veins all over his body and gray scales covering half of it. A sharp monstrous thorn grew on the shoulder that was covered with scales. His nightmarish incomplete form was a representation of his low rank.

Yet, Kalliope stared at the demon as though he was her salvation. A guardian fucking angel that could answer her prayer.

"A soul tainted with sin. A soul dripped with vengeance. It's such a beautiful soul, don't you agree?"

The demon's breath grew heavy. Those pair of devilish eyes shone with everlasting hunger. Even the holy water on his chain didn't feel that painful anymore as his whole focus was robbed by this luscious soul sitting on his lap.

Kalliope leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Desire me as I unto you."

And that was the final tipping point.

The chain clanked.

Kalliope's head was wrung to the side before she experienced a sweet pain as their lips melted together. Blood trickled down her chin and Kalliope's mind instantly went blank.

But soon, she closed her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks. One drop after another, uncontrollably they fell, until it almost felt like her heart bled out instead of crying.

A feeling that she never realized remained alive and breathing, tenderly, fiercely, yet broken and splintered beyond mending.

And now, the only thing she could do was to let go. Kalliope reached out and embraced the demon.

He had a choice but from the beginning, this was her only one.

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A flash of thunder boomed repetitively outside before a gloomy silence descended for a few seconds in Zarronium. Then, along with the pouring rain, a crimson-colored crest bearing the demon's mark flashed above their heads. It burnt menacingly with a crackle of black lightning surrounding it.

After that, the bittersweet feeling disappeared. What came next was a jolt of electrifying pain that Kalliope had never felt before. It was like thousands of blades stabbing into her skin over and over again.

She felt her mana core burning up as dead mana began to flow into her vein, clashing against the pure mana within her.

From there, it was a battle of perseverance as the pain doubled up each time from the two opposite mana denying the forceful merging. Black veins covered her body, slithering towards her beating heart.

Kalliope gritted her teeth in agony. Her mind wrecked into complete chaos. Cold sweat soaked her body and her breathing staggered while she endured the process.

Time passed, before she lost her consciousness, she heard a gentle whisper that delivered an unspoken danger along with a wintry touch on her soft lips.

"Hold on to me as tightly as you can, My Lady."

"...Because once you slip…"

"You'll be completely under my mercy."