The valley was silent, save for the faint rustle of the trees. The night sky shimmered with a nervous tension. Altherion's wrath had not subsided. One of its mortal kin—its wife, a woman of cunning and steel, whose heart burned for vengeance—had tracked the boy. She moved through the shadows, clutching a blade imbued with the faint luminescence of her celestial husband.
She found him at the edge of the burnt village, small, pale, and deceptively fragile. His eyes glimmered in the firelight of the scattered ruins, glinting with a cruel anticipation.
"You…" she hissed, raising her weapon. "For my family—you will pay!"
Azkarel tilted his head, curious, almost childlike in expression. "Pay?" he whispered softly. "You mistake me for a man, not a predator."
System Message:[New Skill Opportunity Detected: Devious Exploitation of Mortal Emotion.]
The fight began. She struck with precision and fury, her blade slicing through the shadows, sparks of her celestial essence mingling with the smoke of ruin. Azkarel dodged effortlessly, weaving between her attacks with a grace that was more calculated than instinct. Every step, every pause, was measured—not to kill yet, but to humiliate and disorient.
He did not strike her outright. Instead, he toyed. A whispered lie here, a subtle illusion there. Her senses betrayed her: the boy appeared behind her, in front of her, across the battlefield. Every time she lunged, she found only empty air—or a shadow mimicking her own movements.
Then he let her strike him once—barely touching his shoulder, enough to ignite the Chains' reaction. Pain became a weapon in her mind. She saw visions of her children being torn apart again, their screams echoing through the valley. The terror consumed her, and in that terror, Azkarel fed.
[Skill Unlocked: Tongue of Lies – Emotional Corruption Enhanced.][Reward: Shadow Veil – Allows subtle manipulation of mortal perception.]
Finally, Azkarel moved with deliberate precision, closing the distance. Small hands, delicate and unassuming, trapped her against the charred remnants of a wall. And then—he defiled her, not with brute force, but with the intent to anger, humiliate, and shatter Altherion's trust and pride. Her screams of horror and violation carried up to the heavens.
Altherion's light faltered. Its fury burned hotter, brighter, yet it could not act fast enough. Its mortal wife's torment echoed into its very being—an emotional dagger, sharper than any sword, more painful than any physical strike.
Azkarel whispered into the chaos, his small voice carrying like a knife through shadow:
"You cannot save them. You cannot touch me. You are weaker than your own fear."
The woman collapsed, broken and trembling, her mind corrupted by illusions and cruelty. She would carry the memory of this night forever, a constant, inescapable torment. Azkarel stepped back, hands unsoiled by her blood but dripping with the weight of her despair.
System Message:[Title Earned: Heartbane – The heavens' trust is now your battlefield.][Next Quest: Subvert the Stars – Corrupt and terrorize without direct conflict.]
From the heavens, Altherion shrieked in fury, its light flickering wildly. The rage was palpable, yet it could not strike a child whose cruelty was patient, precise, and terrifyingly subtle.
Zorvak's laughter seeped into the valley. "Excellent. Fear, shame, despair—these are stronger than death. They will remember your name, Azkarel, long after your hands have left them untouched. Let them writhe in the knowledge that their star cannot save them."
Azkarel smiled, small and sharp, eyes glinting with infinite patience. The Chains pulsed faintly beneath his skin, feeding. His hunger was eternal, methodical, and now honed by cruelty beyond imagination.
The night deepened. The constellations trembled. And Azkarel—Ash-born, Angel-Breaker, Devourer of Dawn—had perfected a lesson the heavens would never forgive.