At the main entrance of the Mist Southwest Sector, Elis, who was idly swinging her ordinary staff, suddenly felt the air around her shift.
The next second, Truth blinked directly in front of her, those blazing red eyes filled with aggression.
“What’s going on, what’s going on, I didn’t do anything!” Elis hurriedly stepped back, but Truth advanced, standing on tiptoe to grab Elis’s collar.
After a moment’s hesitation, Elis cooperatively crouched a bit to make it easier for Truth to seize her.
“Tell me your master’s rank, class, and special trait!” Truth demanded coldly.
“You… you mean Heavenfire Lord? As for rank, I think it’s King Rank, as for class… Heavenfire?”
“And the special trait?”
“Uh… Heavenfire?”
The trait of Heavenfire is, well, Heavenfire that can burn anything! Elis really had no idea why Truth was asking such a well-known question.
But Truth just stared coldly at Elis for quite a while:
“Looks like I’ll have to interrogate your soul before you’re willing to tell the truth.”
“Eh? I really am telling the truth!”
Seeing Truth begin to prepare a particularly wicked Ancient Black Magic, Elis instantly panicked.
Heavenfire is just Heavenfire—what else could it be?!
But in Truth’s eyes, Elis’s answer was so simplistic that she either truly knew nothing about Heavenfire, or she was deliberately hiding its trait.
For the Five Great Cataclysms, “trait” was a crucial matter.
For instance, with Heavenfire’s claim of burning all things—could it really burn even mana or Faith Power, or was that just exaggeration?
If Heavenfire’s trait wasn’t “burning everything,” then perhaps it had another trait.
What if, right in the middle of a fight, Heavenfire suddenly said, “Actually, my trait is immunity to all Assassin-class attacks, hahaha!” or something like that?
If that happened, Truth would totally lose it. She had to get to the bottom of this!
As for whether Elis was telling the truth… it didn’t matter; she could just extract her soul first and find out later!
“Big sis, big sis, I really didn’t lie, I only know this much, ah! My soul, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts…”
“Waaah! Mother, I’ll call you mother now! Please, mother, don’t torture my soul! I really only know this much, I don’t even know if what I know is actually true!”
Faced with Truth’s little paw, radiating thick black mist and forcibly pulling her soul from her body, Elis struggled with all her might.
But Truth’s strength was simply overwhelming for Elis. If she kept resisting, her soul would only end up torn apart.
“Are you sure you only know this much? If so, I’ll let you go for now.”
Truth gradually stopped her action, and Elis finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, her back drenched in cold sweat.
It was one thing to have Bloodburst Art cast inside her body, but now her soul was about to be sucked out too…
Maybe she should just spill the fact that Heavenfire Lord’s body shrinks as she gets injured, Elis thought.
Even though she’d heard that from her Teacher, and apparently it was Heavenfire Lord’s reverse scale—anyone who spoke of it was done for!
But in this urgent situation, if she didn’t say it, she’d be done for anyway. She had to save her soul first:
“A-actually, I accidentally learned something about Heavenfire Lord from my Teacher. I can tell you, but… but, will you really let me go if I say it?”
Tsk tsk, as expected, she’s finally willing to talk. Only then did Truth slowly let go of Elis’s collar, and Elis looked as if she had narrowly escaped death.
But at that moment, with almost no warning, and while Elis was letting her guard down, Truth channeled Soul Leech at full force:
“Liar!”
It had taken all that intimidation just to get that much, so if she didn’t strike hard now, who knew what would happen later!
Because she had let down her guard and the level difference was so great, Elis’s soul was completely extracted in just two seconds and then tossed by Truth straight into the Core of the Mist.
Feeling her body hollow out, Elis knelt to the ground in utter despair, her eyes gradually turning red:
She had now become soulless, meaning Truth had her utterly in her grasp.
Normally, only Demons or black mages enjoyed torturing others’ souls, relishing the feeling of total control over life and death.
And as a Mage, Elis couldn’t connect with the spirit world without her Soul—let alone use Soul Magic.
The longer her soul was out of her body, the weaker her magic would become, until finally, it would dry up completely.
“A mage who can’t use magic—what’s the difference between that and just killing me, waaah!”
Elis burst into sobs, and Truth conveniently patted her head in consolation:
“Don’t cry, don’t cry, it’s far from over. I haven’t even started assembling all my instruments to torment your soul in a new way every day. You’re crying way too early, you know?”
“Meee!” Elis bawled even louder.
“Alright, alright, there’s really no helping you. How about this—sign this contract. As long as you abide by its terms, I’ll return your soul intact when the contract ends.”
Truth snapped her fingers and conjured up a—slave, ahem—Friendship and Mutual Aid Contract for Elis to inspect.
Elis took a glance, and her wet red eyes filled with confusion.
Isn’t this contract called ‘Friendship and Mutual Aid’?
Why does the more I read, the more it looks like a Slave Contract for pawning my soul?!
Looking more closely, Elis felt that the whole thing screamed ‘EAT PEOPLE’ in big bold letters!
Unconditionally serve the Mist for ten years, or your soul gets tormented for a hundred years… Go spy on Heavenfire or a hundred years of soul torment…
Don’t reveal anything about the contract or a hundred years… Don’t—
Excuse me, isn’t this supposed to be a Friendship and Mutual Aid Contract? Which clause is actually about “friendship and mutual aid”?
“Here.” Truth pointed to Article Seven:
【7. Should either party be attacked by Heavenfire, the other must offer full assistance, or else be punished by drinking a cup of iced cola.】
How is that friendship and mutual aid?!
Elis trembled with rage. Attacked by Heavenfire? As a Heavenfire follower, would Heavenfire ever attack her? Only this Blood Demon in front of her would!
Basically, this clause was asking Elis to be a traitor.
And the final line about when the soul would be returned was just a single sentence:
【Depends on Truth’s mood】
Even Li Hongzhang wouldn’t dare sign an agreement like this…
“How is this any different from selling myself?!”
Elis grit her teeth and protested. Don’t think she’s easy to bully! She’d show them—well, she’d end up bullied anyway!
Curu Xi…
“I’m not after your body.” Truth glanced at Elis’s modest B-cup chest and shook her head.
“That’s not what I meant! I meant this contract! Who would dare sign it?!”
“You dare refuse?”
Honestly, this kind of slave contract was optional for Truth.
Even without it, Truth had countless ways to make Elis obey; it would just take a bit more time.
Besides, these Natives seemed to like contracts, so using the soul as leverage was simply faster.
See? The silly child started to speak up on her own:
“Actually! I always felt that Heavenfire Lord is paranoid, always suspicious for years now. Even Huoyun Island has personnel recognition restrictions. And… and I also know she’s been in frequent contact with Demons—every few years, they head to the Land of Exile together. Also, also…”
“Alright, alright, you can tell me the rest later. Be good and sign the contract first.”
“Uu… at least give me something to hope for?”
Knowing she couldn’t refuse, Elis started bargaining for some rights.
After some back-and-forth, Truth finally promised not to tamper with Elis’s soul and to personally destroy the contract after ten years to set Elis free.
With that, Elis’s bleak future seemed just a bit less dark. Only ten years of slavery… she could endure that.
Besides, she still had Suna—surely Suna would help her!
So Elis waited for Truth to amend the contract, but after a while, Truth still hadn’t moved.
“Um… aren’t you going to change the terms in the contract?”
“Change what?”
“Add in those promises you just made!”
“Why would I do that? What, you don’t trust my word?”
“I’m not like you Natives, always needing a contract to make a promise binding. If I say it myself, I’ll definitely keep it!”
Truth answered, arms akimbo, looking completely righteous.
“How can this be…”