Soul Crusher

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Meliesse stared at Kin as the boy tried to lie his way out of the situation. Ever since Rafa and Daisy explained their encounter with Kin, she had begun to gather more intel about him. When Majeed visited her for a possible alliance, she had asked him about the boy with golden hair. When Majeed gave her the information he had, Meliesse grew suspicious about his identity. Someone that was found wandering the desert, a few days after the night of the fallen sun—it was too good to be just a coincidence. Besides, the more she thought of it, the more it made sense that Kin was the prince of Wize. When Hana and Rebecca described the boy's fighting style, only one name came to mind: Jai. A sly and deceptive fighting style that involves masking your real attacks in previous attacks—that was the style most people knew the god sword adopted. And, unless Jai was in the business of teaching orphans his fighting style, she could not imagine Kin being someone else but Jai's nephew. Although she didn't share her opinion with Majeed, the young man was far from being a fool. She was even sure Rashid also had his suspicions about the boy's true identity. The most compelling thing that made her suspect he was the prince was none other than his curse. Not just anyone can summon a curse, and when she saw Ashell in Kin's soul, she knew that thing wasn't an ordinary curse. Ashell might look like a beautiful goddess to Kin, but Meliesse could see past her deceptive visage. She was certain the boy's curse was anything but normal. She didn't really care, though, as long as she stayed away from Kin's soul. That damned monster couldn't touch her in her own soul.

She stared down at Kin as the boy tried to deny her accusation.

"You think I'm the prince? I don't even look like him," Kin lied as fast as he possibly could. He couldn't afford to be exposed, at least not now.

"Oh please, you're not the first person whose curse would change their appearance. Do you think I was born with eyes like this?" Meliesse asked. "Your hair, eyes, and even your size could have easily been altered when you summoned your curse. So answer me while I'm still being polite. Are you the prince of Wize?"

"Damnit, Ashell, I thought you said you were one of a kind. How are you one of a kind when others have experienced the same thing as I did from summoning you?"

"Well, I don't know why you would think that, but I wish I was the prince," Kin replied. "I'm a lowly orphan from the streets of Amresh," he added.

"I thought you told Lord Majeed you were from Dura," Meliesse asked.

"I'm pretty sure I said Amresh," Kin replied, not falling for the obvious trap.

Meliesse clicked her tongue and held Kin's jaw. "I'll enjoy breaking you, Your Highness," Meliesse said.

Immediately, two chains arose from the lake of blood beneath their feet, grabbed Kin, and pinned him to the ground.

"Let's see how long you can resist," Meliesse said. "Do you know the most dangerous thing about attacking someone's soul? It's the sheer amount of pain that the body has to endure from the backlash. You see, a human soul, unlike our bodies, is very strong, resilient, and powerful. It won't break easily, and most certainly can't be easily damaged. But, that's also its weakness. If your soul takes even the slightest damage, no matter how strong your body is, it will find it difficult to recover. That's why, although it is difficult to harm the soul, it's also the most effective way to break someone's mind, body, and spirit all at once. Just a little damage to the soul will break even a god sword. That's why I'm the perfect assassin. Not only am I strong enough to tear most men limb from limb physically, I can also break a man's soul if the need arises. So, are you going to make me do this or will you save yourself and just tell me the truth?"

"I already told you the truth. I'm not the prince of anything. I'm just a lowly orphan. Nothing more," Kin replied.

"Very well then, you Oruns have always been a pain anyways" Meliesse said.

She brought her palm towards Kin's face and a crimson flame burned in her palm. Immediately, the flame got to his face. Kin felt a slight discomfort. Although he wasn't burning yet, he could still feel the flame was causing him discomfort all over, and it grew each passing second.

"Are you going to keep up with this?" Meliesse said after a few seconds.

Kin was still holding on. It was still bearable, but for how long, he wondered.

"Your soul is powerful, I can tell, but you're in my territory. I've got all the time and I've got all the advantage," Meliesse said as the flame grew more intense. This time, Kin knew it was only a matter of time before that thing that was preventing him from feeling the flame broke, and when it does, he couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen. He remembered the feeling of having his flesh burnt off. It wasn't a great feeling, neither was it something he wished to relive. And if what she said was true, he would probably not be able to recover if the flames succeeded in burning him.

"I'll probably be a vegetable for life," he thought. "Tch, damnit. Why does this have to happen to me?" Kin thought. "Is it that the gods hate me so much, or am I just really unlucky?"

Kin didn't realize that neither was the case. It was just fate; he was just dancing to the tune of fate. "Screw it," Kin thought as he felt his discomfort growing.

He opened his mouth to talk, but before words could form from his mouth, the entire soulscape shook...