Breaking The Shapeshifter

Julius smiled upon seeing Astra and Elish, taking them to where their merchandise was stored. According to him:

"Sir, I immediately had them placed in the most secure spot in this entire auction house after you bid for them."

'Still trying to look good in front of me, huh? Isn't that charming…' Just as he had expected, everything was going accordingly. 

Sure, Elish ended up spending a bit more than the estimated amount, but it was inconsequential anyway. 

After all, what he was gaining would be worth far more.

Julius opened the door to a luxurious-looking vault. Not only did it look truly exquisite, but it also appeared highly fortified. Elish sensed divine power from the vault itself, so it must have been powered by a relic. 

Elish entered the vault and saw the wings on one end and the shapeshifting slave on the other end, standing and folding his hands. Of course, chains were tied to his feet, both hands, and his neck. 

He didn't seem to mind, though. 

The slave kept glaring at Elish, which he found to be audacious, though unacceptable.

'Judging from the stunt he pulled earlier, he hasn't been properly trained yet. Perhaps he needed to be disciplined…' Elish found himself thinking. 

Even Astra, despite being the person she was, had enough sense to show fear when she first saw him. 

'Ah, I see. It's my mistake…' Elish smiled as he narrowed his gaze on the slave before him. 'I still haven't shown him any of my power.'

The slave must have taken him for a rich person who bought him while being ignorant of his race's notoriety.

That was tragically laughable.

"Kneel."

The slave smiled a mischievous smile, refusing to budge at all. The look in his eyes, and the fact that he did not obey Elish's orders could be somewhat translated to one thing:

'Or what?'

"You'd do well to remember your position, filthy vermin!" Julius's voice suddenly echoed within the chamber, most likely very infuriated by the slave's bad manners to his new master.

"You're fortunate that someone bought you at all, considering your worthless race's bad name!"

The slave only shrugged.

"Not like I wanted to be sold in the first place, or even caught for that matter… " 

"What was that? What did you just say?" Julius roared, now appearing even more pissed off.

He wasn't just angry because the shapeshifter had spoken defiantly at him, but also due to the language that was used.

Julius did not understand a word of what was said, so that made him all the more furious. , 

"That's enough, Julius," Elish swiftly raised his hand, unable to stand the unnecessary drama at this point.

The slave was quick to give Julius a cocky smile, knowing he could not do anything against him. Elish could only smile at the sight.

'He's a sly one, and he has the eyes of a survivor. But there's something else…' 

Before anything else, however, Elish determined that had to do something about his attitude, though.

"I'd like to have a word or two, privately, with my slave."

"U-understood!" Julius gritted his teeth in annoyance as he left the room, his fists clenched as he did his best to maintain his self control.

If he wasn't already bought, Elish knew the slave would have suffered greatly at the Branch Head's hands for his defiance. 

Perhaps the slave understood that too. 

"First things first. Pandora, obtain the Fairy Wings in this vault."

The ring responded and glowed, shining and sucking the wings within itself. 

It felt more convenient that way. 

Once it was done, Elish looked at the shapeshifter slave, and he looked really fascinated with his ring, Root. 

'He looks like he wants to steal it. How bold…

"Looks like I'll have to give you a short education," Elish said, turning toward him and eventually reaching him since the vault wasn't so big.

The slave kept glaring at him and gritted his teeth. This continued for a few seconds until Elish finally broke the silence with a sigh.

"Your eyes. I don't like them."

~SPLOOOSH!~

That very moment, the slave's eyeballs popped out of their sockets, and blood gushed all over the floor of the vault. The eye jelly, mixed with blood, made a very disgusting and noticeable puddle on the clean ground.

"ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" A scream greeted the air..

He desperately tried using his chained hands to hold his face and wail even more.

"My eyes! My eyes!!!!" He cried in agony.

Just as fairies needed their wings for their special abilities and a fairy without one was useless, so did shapeshifters require their eyes to change to their targets, which was their specialty.

"Still feeling defiant?" Elish asked calmly.

"S-S-Screw you!" He grunted.

'Looks like he still needs more…'

His mouth, they said some things Elish didn't appreciate. 

He assembled matter using his essence and created a thin sword, immediately lunging at the slave's mouth and slicing his tongue.

~FWISH!~

"Gwoughhhhthuhhhh" The agonizing slave groaned. 

He fell on his knees now, his body was already trembling 

'Now, just one more push should do it.'

"Next is. Let's see." Elish smiled, observing the screaming young slave.

"Gahhhhmnoughhh!"

'How sad it is to see one of the shifting creatures so miserable. Perhaps it was a waste buying him. I expected more.'

Rubbing his chin skeptically, Elish leaked out another sigh.

"Let's see, I should just end this now; you've been a waste of time."

"W-Wait!" He said, rushing his words while groaning due to the pain in his eye sockets and mouth.

'How clever, he transformed an uninjured part of his body to his mouth. Let's hear what he has to say.'

"Y-You can't just do this to me!".

"Why not? You're a slave, or rather, you're now my slave. As your master, I have full control and domination over you. It's that simple," Elish simply responded.

"I never asked for this. I never asked to be captured and sold. It's all the fault of you humans!".

"I don't care." Elish snapped his fingers, and his right hand burst into chunks of flesh, scattering all over the room.

"GAHHHHRGHHHHH" The slave screamed even more.

"How pathetic. You have committed three sins today, slave," Elish began.

The slave could hardly concentrate on the voice that spoke to him due to how much he groaned and grunted while holding his destroyed right hand.

"First of all, you are disobedient. Secondly, you give too many excuses and cast blame. If you're unhappy about something, change it. If you can't, look for someone who can, instead of whining. Finally, you insulted me. How dare you compare me to humans?" 

At this point, the slave was muttering unintelligible words. It seemed the pain was getting to him too much, and naturally, he would have passed out at this point, but all this was as a result of Elish's influence. 

He'd feel every single pain without relief until he properly learned his lesson.

Slowly and suddenly, the bleeding victim looked in Astra's direction. She was merely in one corner of the room, observing what was going on in silence.

"H-How can you serve this kind of master? How can you...?" He winced and groaned again.

She remained silent. She could not answer; this entire ordeal probably reminded her of how Elish rescued her from the soldiers. 

The blood and all that.

It could be trauma, or it could be that she feared that if she spoke, she could be next.

'Well, she's not wrong.' Elish smiled, turning his attention back to his slave.

"I'm not done breaking you."

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[A/N]

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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