Summoning his magic, Kol points both of his hands towards the kid before him. A sickly green glow emanated from a magic circle between Kol and Angel, blinded by his fear for the girl.

"Careful now. You wouldn't want to hurt poor little Angel, now would you?" said Angel, her eyes smiling a bright red.

Kol expected his magic to fail since he had a permanent ability regarding Desherine. But he lowered his hands nonetheless.

"That's a good boy," Angel says as she relaxes and starts pacing around Kol. "I must say, I was rather surprised to know you were an orphan."

"What are you doing here?" Kol asked, keeping track of her movements as she circled around him.

"Don't you remember?"

"I remembered waking up to an empty bed. Nothing but me in it."

"Yes, well. I didn't want to interrupt your reunion." She stopped pacing. "But I am here because of the deal we made."

"Why?" Kol asked. "I upheld my end of the deal," Kol lied.

'It was easy. That means her charm is not in effect.' Kol thought to himself.

Kol lied to test the effects he was once under the influence of, despite knowing the consequences.

"Eden was killed; therefore, I earned my freedom."

"Ah, but you didn't kill her, did you? she smiled.

"Does it matter? She's dead," Kol refuted.

"Oh, I wish it were that simple, baby boy," she said, "but you told me that you would be able to kill Eden by your own hands to earn your freedom."

Kol already knew he would lose his soul the moment he saw Eden's lacerated body in the cave, though he thought he would have more time to prepare before she came to collect.

The thought of her tricking Kol, to make it seem like he had control over the matter and now using Angel, a member of his family, made his blood boil.

'If only she wasn't using Angel's body,' he thought to himself.

"You tricked me," Kol said. "You knew they were coming. I don't know how, but I know you knew."

She started pacing again.

"You just wanted my soul," Kol continued.

"A deal is a deal, baby boy." She said, confidently twirling her hair as she paced around him. "Your soul is mine by law, but if you can prove that there was foul play prior to signing the contract."

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The thought of their time together in Eden's room flashed in Kol's mind.

"Then the contract would be void." She stopped and raised her right hand. "I swear it, in the name of Desherine, the Queen of Hags and Witches."

She smiles as she watches Kol's expression shift to that of someone struggling to catch the answer already in the tip of their tongue.

"Can you prove it?" She asked confidently.

[Intelligence D20 + D4 roll] - 7

Kol's thoughts raced to look for the answer but could only come up with one solution. She must've used magic, but a binding contract made by the queen of witches would need concrete evidence and therefore would not accept a vague answer such as that.

Kol sighs as he admits to himself of his failure to find proof to free himself from her clutches.

She gives off a small chuckle and says, "Well, since you don't have proof, I, Desherine, claim your soul."

She conjures her magic, and three magic circles wrap around Kol's body. When she tightened her grip, so did the circles, though it did not harm Kol; to his surprise, it felt light and warm.

'I wish I had the chance to see you again, Nicole,' he thought to himself.

The magic then shatters into nothing as it fades into the wind.

Kol takes a breath, and to his surprise, he is still alive.

"There you go, your soul is not mine," she said as she dusted her hands with a smile.

Kol's confused expression turned to shock as a familiar blue screen appeared before him.

[Marked by the Queen of Hags]When you die and your soul is corrupted, it will immediately be sent to the Queen's domain.

Corrupted soul: 10/100

"I'm sure by now a prompt has appeared in your system," said Desherine. "Don't worry; it won't be fun for the both of us if you die right away. Drink this."

She summons her magic and reaches into it, pulling two vials. One with a cloudy white substance inside and the other black and opaque. Her magic circle then shatters as soon as she pulls her hand out and tosses Kol the vial with the black liquid.

Kol gingerly catches the vial inches from the ground.

"What is this?" Kol asked.

"Are you a religious man, baby boy?" She asked in response.

"I read all the books in the church's library," Kol answered.

"Good. How much do you know about the gods?"

'Is this a trick?'he thought.

"I know there used to be 3, but now there are 4."

Kol recalls reading about the Gods, how the balanced tree first created 2. The god of future sight, who watches over the tree during the day, and the god of insight, who waits during the night. After the creation and conflict of the divine breasts, the balanced tree made another god to watch over them and to act as the tree's voice; it was Messenger. But after causing an imbalance between the divine breasts, the tree split Messenger into two. Obedience to watch over the surface and disobedience to guard the roots.

"Ha! Leave it to the church to twist the history to their favor," Desherine said as she sat at the base of the apple tree. "The 4 gods you are referring to are products of the tree, correct?"

"Yes," Kol answered hesitantly as he thinks about her statement of the church lying about their history.

"Then, what about the divine breasts?" she asked. "Are they not products of the tree as well?"

The question lingered in Kol's mind.

"The church proclaimed that the divine beasts are inferior to the 4 gods you mentioned, but in reality they are all equal in power," she says. "The church judged them as inferior only because of their beastly nature."

Kol remained silent as he thought about the nature of people in the balanced world. All the races were made in the image of the divine beasts, and to simply degrade them as inferior to the 4 gods would be an insult to the divine beasts. But the church has been spreading this false story as far back as a thousand years or so. Clearly if the beasts found out, there would be repercussions, but there haven't been. Which means either the gods are unaware or they don't care.

The thought of the gods not caring about the people of the balanced world sent shivers through Kol's spine.