CHAPTER 42: A NEW SLAVE

As his body slammed into the side of the building, Jayhan let out a cough, blood pouring violently from his mouth.

He couldn’t help but stare at the white stain on the ground, almost mesmerized by it.

Not too long ago, he was the one making Adonis bleed.

And yet, despite witnessing firsthand the boost in Adonis’s power, Jayhan was still confident in his victory.

It should be quite obvious by now; he had seen what the power of the second form could do firsthand.

Even if he were to increase all his stats to 100 each, he still couldn’t physically overpower the form of the king.

...A fitting name for such an ability.

But not enough to shake his mind.

He had already expected it to play out like this from the start.

While he did have a divine blessing that could even the field, the curse that followed was not something he wanted. Not yet.

That was why he made up his mind before they ever set out on their mission.

If the goddess Ereshkigal was of no use, he would use his second divine blessing.

Slowly standing to his feet, he watched as Adonis dramatically took steps closer.

’Showing off as usual.’

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Adonis grabbed Jayhan by the throat, raising him up, his feet dangling in the air.

The tight sensation of Adonis’s wrist cutting the blood flow from his neck was so intense that Jayhan began to see a blur.

His dagger was still well in his possession; all he’d need to do was slice off his arm, or at least try to.

Instead, a creepy smile formed on his face.

"How long... do you think you can burn for?"

Adonis raised a brow, not understanding what Jayhan was trying to say.

It started as a simple spark, the purple flames dancing around Jayhan’s fists.

They moved like water, as if alive, wrapping themselves around Jayhan’s arms and slowly moving upward.

"Is this supposed to be your ace? You’ve underestimated what I can do... maybe... I need to show you."

Not once did the smile leave Jayhan’s face.

[You have activated the divine blessing Child of Flames. (Flames of Retribution.)]

[The Flames of Retribution shall burn those who have hurt you for eternity, only to be put out once you have deactivated the divine blessing.]

Jayhan didn’t need to say anything; his eyes already gave away everything needed to be known.

Adonis, picking up on the upcoming danger, used his other hand to grab Jayhan’s hand, already crushing it, forcing blood to spew from Jayhan’s eyes.

Right at that very moment, Jayhan touched him, allowing the flames to transfer all the way to Adonis.

It felt like a simple burn after it made contact with his skin, something he could ignore, long enough to squeeze Jayhan’s eyes out.

However, that wasn’t the case for long.

Jayhan firmly gripped his dagger, stabbing Adonis in the chest and leaving it there, only to dig his finger right into his eye socket.

A loud grunt escaped Adonis’s mouth as his blood painted Jayhan’s fingers.

Surprisingly, he still didn’t stop trying to crush Jayhan’s head. His conviction was far more important than the pain he felt.

Even as the poison and curse from the dagger halfway through his guts were coursing through his veins, his hand remained tightly gripped around Jayhan’s head.

"Today you die, Child of Death!!! I won’t have it any other way."

Jayhan could feel his skull giving way to fracturing under the strength of the King’s form.

’Come on...’

There was nothing Jayhan could do but hope for results before his head was macerated.

As if the world itself prayed for his victory, the flames began to do what they were born to do.

Burn... till eternity.

"Ahhh!"

As the pain began to intensify, Adonis lost control of his limbs, causing him to release his hold on Jayhan.

In a simultaneous motion... they both dropped to their knees.

While Jayhan had his hand around his throat, coughing violently as he bled from every hole on his face, Adonis’s pain was more brutal.

He screamed, a painful cry that could be heard from miles away. No different from the roar of a violent beast.

Desperately patting his hands all over his body, he tried to put out the flames, but alas, nothing he did worked.

The fire still burned.

Pain... scorching.

Though he was a bit farther away, he could still feel the heat kissing his face.

If the situation were a tad bit different, Jayhan would have felt some kind of guilt or remorse.

Having to watch a person burn alive was not a scene most would choose to watch.

Except, that didn’t apply to this situation.

Due to the power of the King’s form, Adonis would constantly be healing, his powers fixing every damage until he ran out of energy. Mind you, his energy was vast, enough to cover the whole city in a heavy miasma.

In other words, as Adonis burned, his death was as uncertain as the pain he was forced to endure.

Jayhan stood to his feet, a triumphant look on his face as he stared down at Adonis.

The scream of the young man echoed inside his ears.

From his feet, blue flames began to envelop his body and then began to heal all his wounds perfectly.

In less than a couple of minutes, Jayhan had been completely healed.

Every injury that marred his face was no longer there. His skin looked even better than it originally did.

’I should brace myself for the curse. But compared to Ereshkigal, this curse should be easy to overcome.’

’I can only use this ability once a day, and it takes a couple of days to fully recharge. I can’t complain; it’s a very hard-to-counter ability.’

He then looked at Adonis, who was still struggling on the ground.

’His curse should already be active. All that is needed is for me to play my role right.’

"Admit defeat, and I’ll put out the flames."

That’s right, the curse placed on Adonis was a curse not many gods had.

The monkey god was known to never follow anyone, an arrogant god who wouldn’t yield to submission even if his life was on the line.

As such, the curse that was passed on to his contractee was Slavery.

Whoever was able to defeat Adonis first would have the honor of having him as their slave.

This was Jayhan’s target from the very beginning.

But in order for the curse to be active, Adonis needed to awaken the second form, which could only be accessed through strong conviction over something.

Just like his divine blessing, which has three different categories, the weaker category can’t activate the curse, but the one following it always will.

Raising his head to look at Jayhan, Adonis screamed with all his might—

"I refuse!!!"

Jayhan’s calm facade almost slipped.

He knew the King’s form was powerful, but having to withstand the pain of burning scorching from the inside out had to be unbelievable to pull off.

’...How badly does this guy want to beat me?’

Jayhan sighed before sitting down on the ground.

’No problem. I’ll wait for him to submit. He can’t do this forever.’

...

A couple of hours later, the sun had begun to set, and all the slim bats had returned to hiding.

Jayhan was still seated on the ground, scrolling through his system as he had been doing for the past hour, when he suddenly heard a whisper...

"I...I surrender...s...spare me—"

Jayhan instantly shot his gaze up, his face lighting up like a kid who had been handed candy.

"About time..."

Dusting off his trousers, he calmly stood up.

[The Child of Flames has been deactivated.]

Adonis was surprised to see the flames that were once tormenting him finally give him peace.

His King’s form shattered like glass, revealing Adonis’s unharmed body.

The hours of torture he went through left no marking on his skin. It was as if he had never been burning in the first place.

But the pain still lingered in his mind regardless.

"It stopped..."

He fell flat on his back, eyes focused on the sky.

No words were said for a while, just two men looking at the red sky as if seeking answers for what lay beyond.

Suddenly, Adonis decided to speak—

"You knew this all along... didn’t you?"

"Yes."

"And you chose this divine protector knowing the curse it would lay on me..."

"Yes."

"And I fell for it all, like an idiot."

Jayhan gave a sidelong look.

’I’m guessing the monkey god already told him about the curse.’

He turned his gaze away.

"I won’t blame you if you hate me. I would do the same if I were in your place. That said, whatever hate you feel toward me is one I can endure for as long as life is still coursing through my body. Your power is something I need to shape this world.

I am not naive enough to think all good will come from the path I’ve chosen. I am not a hero of any kind. All I want is to take the world back from the ones imprisoning us. I don’t mind breaking a couple of morals to get that."

"Is that so?"

"In the end, we both want the same thing."

"That’s a stretch."

"Yeah."

Pa!

Adonis slapped himself.

"You defeated me fair and square, and as promised, I, Adonis Wilson, stand by your side for all it’s worth."

"If you betray me, your heart stops."

"I’m aware of that..."