"Hold on...did you just say you killed a god? My dearest Willow...using that much Insenium might have had its effects on your brain."

His skepticism was warranted. What Willow had said was not only utterly insane and impossible, but highly heretical. Even the King and Queen of the Circle of Dawn—the leading Circle in religion—wouldn’t be able to get away with something like that.

Not that it mattered, only he and she were here after all, and only they had heard what she had said.

Without much of a reaction, Willow spoke: "I am sane in mind. Let me finish before interrupting, poison tester."

"But if you so desire, I can always poison you again...I have some left."

The mention of poison, twice at that, chilled Leonidas to his very bones. He had tasted more than enough poison to last both his lives.

A disturbed expression made its way on his face. He wanted to keep asking her questions just for the sake of annoying her, but he was also afraid that Willow might make due on her threat; the woman was insane after all.

Split between two ends, he eventually decided curiosity wasn’t worth death. With clear reluctance, Leonidas raised his hands...well, hand, since he only had one.

Willow nodded at the gesture and continued.

"Where was I...ah, yes, killing Contract. As you already know, Marks are a single skill taught to you by a god whose favor you earned in your trial. For me, Contract was that god."

She paused as she stared at the crimson curtains, seeming to gaze at the world beyond their shrouded embrace.

"He had told me at our first meeting, right when I was about to get the quest to complete, that I was special. A god had told...me that I was special, of course, his words stuck with me. After that day, for over half a year, I kept pestering him daily, asking him what he meant, and finally, he relented."

A dark look appeared on Willow’s face, storms of thoughts rolling through the raven abyss that were her eyes.

What could she be thinking about? Does she find that time fond, or does she hate it?

In all honesty, Leonidas couldn’t tell. Sometimes her voice was soft and eyes smiling, as if she had recalled her fondest memory, while others, she barely seemed to be able to hold back her anger.

A single conclusion came to his mind, one that he had made the moment he had seen Willow.

Women are scary...and weird.

"He taught me the art of seeing what only gods could, invisible wisps of the Source Elements, present inside the Insenium we use. It was an awe-inspiring sight, especially since I could neither use nor touch Insenium.

Shepherding, he called it, the art of coercing those wisps to come to you and allow you to harness their abilities."

As if to demonstrate, Willow raised her hand, and it burst into a haunting vermillion flame, dancing in her hands, stretching deep black shadows across the room.

Under the pale warmth of the fire, Willow’s face turned dark. It was like she had donned the nightmare version of her armor, a demonic visage with obsidian flames instead of eyes, staring at him. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He blinked, and the scene was gone, only Willow staring at him.

"What you just saw was also an application of Shepherding. You thought I was using fire, and wouldn’t be able to do anything else, but instead, you were already under my illusion."

She blew at the fire, and it was gone.

"There was no fire in the first place; all there was an illusion of fire, and the illusion of me wearing my liquid armor."

That is just...insane.

She had just threatened Leonidas. Her telling him he was under her illusion was the same as saying, ’I can kill you whenever I want, so don’t try something stupid. It was ridiculous.

How strong could someone be? In what world was that legal? The only strict rule the world followed was that the 27 gods and the Source Elements derived from them are absolute. You can only use one.

And Willow’s mark allowed her to use all of them. All 27 Source Elements. Did that not make her an anomaly beyond description? Did she not break all established rules and traditions, the chains that held together what little understanding mankind had of its new world?

But then again...I, too, break those chains and those very laws.

If he could, what stopped Willow, someone who had learned directly from a god? Leonidas opened his mouth to speak, but Willow cut him off with a raised hand.

"I know what you are about to say, and I’m going to stop you before you do. Yes, the Mark is strong, but its downsides are even worse."

She paused as if unsure whether to continue or not...eventually, Willow bit her lip and spoke up again, this time her voice strained.

"With each use, it takes away something essential from me, from the concepts of individuality. It might take away bits and pieces of my memory, restrain my thoughts, make it harder to control my will, or in the worst case, damage my soul."

Willow shivered at the last part, almost imagining the mind-numbing agony messing with a soul would bring.

A few breaths later, Willow composed herself and gave Leonidas a vicious smile.

"What I had just done to you didn’t do me much damage as the period was small, and it was used on a rather dumb person, but had I attempted it on someone smarter, there would be a large chance that I would lose something core to me being...me."

There she goes again with the insults...but why is she...?

It was a question that had been on his mind since the conversation had begun, and it had been bothering him.

"Of course, you are above me, after all, you were the one who begged a god for power, not me. But my dearest Willow, why in the world are you telling me this, especially after the whole spectacle you made of not trusting me?"

"The God of Contracts is also the god of many other things, and he is also the God of Sacrifice and Betrayal."

She grit her teeth, the sound echoing in the umbrella-like shelter.

"But he was still the God of Contract, before I managed to kill him, the bastard God forced a contract on me. I must share knowledge of my Mark with anyone who asks, enough to satisfy their curiosity."

"Oh!"