"Stop! Please stop."
You didn’t even let my mother beg for her life," he snarled. "So don’t waste your breath. You’re just making this more enjoyable for me."
The words came out even crueler than he expected.
Before, he wouldn’t have even been able to think—let alone say—something so merciless.
But now?
Now, it slipped from his tongue without hesitation.
And it felt great.
"I was wrong—I was blinded by power, I-I regret everything!" she sobbed, her voice trembling.
She could tell. Ripping her soul from her body? That was just the beginning.
He watched her with cold, detached amusement, his lips curling into a smirk.
"Hurts, doesn’t it?" he murmured. "This is nothing compared to what my mother felt." he paused for a moment after recalling her life with him.
"Did you know?" Asher’s voice was quieter now, but it carried a weight far heavier than any shout.
It was as if, after all the rage, all the fury that had consumed him… now there was just nothing.
"Her whole life was nothing but misfortune."
He let out a breath, shaking his head.
"She was poor. Always had been. And when she finally had a family—when she had something worth living for—her real son got sick." His jaw clenched.
"They couldn’t afford to save him. She had to watch him die in her arms, helpless to do anything." Enjoy more content from freewebnovel
His chest ached, but he forced himself to keep going.
"And still… even when she had nothing left, even when she was barely holding on herself, she took me in. A baby abandoned, left to die. She could’ve ignored me. Should’ve ignored me. But she didn’t."
A bitter chuckle slipped from his lips, but there was nothing amused about it.
"She gave me everything she had. What little money she earned, what little food she could afford, all so I could live."
"And when her body finally gave out—when she got sick from all the years of working—she never once complained or blame me."
His eyes flickered back to Kitsune, and whatever warmth had been there was gone.
"Of course, you wouldn’t understand," Asher scoffed, his voice dripping with contempt. "You’ve had thousands of years to live however you wanted. All the power, all the wealth—you had everything."
"But it still wasn’t enough for you, was it?"
"Even with all that, you still weren’t content. You still had to take. Stealing from the weak and poor, crushing what little happiness they had—just because you could.
"I’m sorry. I will change. Just please, spare me."
"You’ll change?" he echoed, tilting his head. "Do you take me for an idiot?"
The chains began to vibrate violently, a low, ominous hum filling the air.
Agony ignited in her very essence, a fireless burn that spread through every fiber of her being.
Her spectral form convulsed, flickering erratically as if she might shatter apart at any moment.
"LET ME GO!"
Kitsune thrashed, her spectral form flickering violently as the pull grew stronger.
She fought against it with everything she had, clawing at the air, trying to push herself away.
"N-No!" she screamed, her voice breaking.
Then—SHNK!
From his body, more chains erupted.
They struck like vipers, coiling around her arms, her legs, her waist.
Kitsune wailed, her body convulsing as she tried to pry them off, but the more she struggled, the tighter they pulled.
There was no stopping it.
A final, brutal yank ripped her from her body, tearing her soul free in a violent surge of energy.
She hovered in the air—a flickering, translucent wraith—desperate to escape, to flee.
"Now. Get inside this thing." he commanded.
With a steady hand, he lifted a crystal orb.
The moment the swirling remnants of her soul drifted close, the orb pulled, inhaling her essence like a starving beast.
"NOOOOOOO—!" Her scream rang out, desperate, and useless.
The once-empty orb glowed with a golden hue, its smooth surface shifting until the faint, distorted outline of her face appeared.
Her expression was one of pure agony—wide, pleading eyes, lips trembling as they formed broken words.
She clawed at the barrier of her prison, her spectral hands pressing against the translucent walls, but they could not break free.
Asher stared at the orb, watching the faint outline of her face.
Kitsune kept begging, sobbing, pleading—but he just stood there, enjoying every second of it.
Her cries were like music to his ears.
The more she wept, the better it was.
So instead of sealing the orb away in a satchel like Lenon would have, Asher had a better, crueler idea.
He lifted a hand, and a jagged, blackened hook took shape in the air.
Slowly, he latched the orb onto the hook at his waist, letting it dangle like a trophy.
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Kitsune’s cries didn’t stop. If anything, they grew more frantic as she realized she would be carried like nothing more than an ornament—an eternal reminder of her suffering.
"Go on," Asher murmured mockingly, giving the orb a small tap with his fingers. "Cry me a river."
At his words, Kitsune’s sobs twisted into rage.
"You scum!" she shrieked, her voice echoing from within the orb. "I swear, I’ll make you pay for this! I’ll kill you!"
"There it is. I was wondering when you’d drop the act."
She kept pestering him, her voice grating against his ears.
Once he’d had his fill of satisfaction, he sighed, bored, and cast a spell over the crystal.
A dark shadow crept over its surface, swallowing the faint golden glow until it turned completely black.
"Now," Asher murmured, fastening it securely to his waist, "you’ll have all the time in the world to think about your sins…"
He didn’t know why, but something inside him felt… broken.
It wasn’t closure. It wasn’t peace.
He hadn’t moved on—not even close.
He was just too exhausted.
’What should I do now…?’
His gaze drifted to the dark sky, searching for something—an answer, a sign, anything.
But there was nothing. Just the same suffocating emptiness clawing at his chest.