❖ A TERRIBLE REBIRTH ❖ (P/Mythica)

The girl was strange, though it might have been a stretch to label her as a girl at this point. Louie came to this country knowing how rich it was with mana and sorceries, but nothing could compare to seeing it in action. It made him crave its power even more.

"Fate? I'd hardly call this fate. These fools have nothing to do with my future." Louie stopped walking and looked at her, adjusting his tie. "If you are not here to release me, then state your business. I'd rather bite my tongue than chat with a girl like you." Louie glared, finally fixing his tie.

A deep resentment began to swell within his stomach. The room was dark, but the fire in his regal eyes burned passionately. There was no chance of him breaking out or bribing his captors like this, and he still had business to attend to outside. Lady Twilight never came, but he only began to crave the power of magic even more after her disappointing absence.

Louie's face soured, averting his gaze from the strange girl and clicking his tongue angrily. "That damned receptionist! I'll have him fired for his lies! What foolery!" he cursed, overtly unconcerned with his charges. His eyes floated around the room, "These animals think they can put me in this pig pen? They'll pay with their lives! Tch!"

Louie continued to vent and brood outwardly, kicking rocks with the tip of his loafers against the wall. A hidden bloodlust veiled behind his visage beaming with each word. They were nothing! These beasts were born for him to walk on, and to think that they could intervene with his destiny?! Outrageous! Their livelihoods would not satiate his anger—something greater had to be forfeited for this heinous treatment!

"They'll pay for this... I guarantee it... merde!"

---

"Looking for you?" Louie glared at the girl in front of him, realizing what she meant. Suddenly, his expression became more venomous. "So you're Lady Twilight. Well, I'll be damned," he began to smirk as his crimson eyes floated from her head to hear heels, "you're f*cking insane."

Who would've thought that the infamous Lady Twilight would have been so screwy? What sort of drug was she taking? But, so be it! She didn't need to be sane to fulfill her functions. A sick hog will still yield bacon, after all, and the meat he was craving was like no other he's ever craved before. Being in a land of sorcery without possessing it himself was beyond unacceptable. The power of mana, the lust for greatness possessed him. And Lady Twilight was going to grant him that strength.

"Enough of your nonsense!" Louie began to grin, "Listen very carefully! I, Louie Calvin Klein, have sought you out to gain the power of magic! You won't reject me, will you? Once I have this..." his eyes almost seemed to grin now, as if he weren't looking at Lady Twilight, but were looking at his future in his mind's eye, "My future is littered with prizes that even you wouldn't hope to understand. You and all the other animals of this country can't fathom something beyond you. I am even willing to make a trade if your unfortunate soul needs it to fulfill my demands!"

Louie could feel his desire creep up his spine and coil him in a dangerous embrace. He could see the sight of sucking away the very life of all of this prison's guards! He could smell their tears and feel their hot breaths as they beg for mercy! To think that they could imprison him! Louie Calvin Klein! Unacceptable! Unacceptable! Unacceptable!

One way or another, they'd pay with their lives.

---

As far as Louie was concerned, he was ready to end this exchange with Lady Twilight. She clearly wasn't of sound mind, which was something the pigs of this country at least had. They were pea-brained fools with too much power than they could ever hope to wield, Lady Twilight included. But none of that mattered. Not after today. The exchange between him and this girl would be only a stepping stone on his path of greatness, which is a destiny that would shine so brightly that not even Louie could see what lied at the end of it. If there was magic to be wielded, he would wield it! If there was wealth to acquire, he'd acquire it! The world was meant to become his oyster, and all of its fruits he was born to devour! The people of this nation and the next played no important role in his story, as they were simply extras. His destiny held no room for any other!

The thought made Louie's face harden. He was right—the people of this world were extras, and that included the crazy girl babbling next to him. Who was she to make him wait for something so basic? It was time to take what was his, and then to break out of this prison.

"My soul? Is that it?" Louie began to chuckle, "Very well. Take it! What's a soul have to do with my future, anyway? Be grateful that you'll possess it!" he shrugged, not thinking much of it. Why would he, after all? It was a small sacrifice for something far greater, and something he was willing to part with even if it meant being without it for eternity. Louie's lips began to smirk. "Now then! Give me what is rightfully mine!"

---

The entire cell seemed to rumble with a dark and animated energy, slabs of stone falling from the ceiling just shy of striking the blonde. Louie was apprehensive by the rumbling and cracking at first, but he seemed to ease into the chaos after only a few moments of looking around his cell. Lady Twilight possessed immense power, and he would not only take that power, but he'd surpass her and everyone else too.

Out of nowhere, Lady Twilight pulled an unbelievably long scroll of paper out of thin air with impossibly tiny words scribbled across it. At the bottom of the scroll was a thin, blank line, and placed into Louie's palm was a dagger engraved with complex designs. The blonde was a businessman, and so he knew a contract when he saw one. He looked at the dagger with his dangerous, contemplating gaze. But his contemplations were brief, for only moments after feeling the cool metal in his delicate hands did the smirk return to his lips. "Broken? Why would I wish for that?" he pierced his fingertip until enough blood oozed out for him to sign his full name onto the scroll, "This is a fine trade."

Louie Calvin Klein wrote the signature, the small wound still fresh on his fingertip. He looked at it and then at her. "You have my soul and my blood. Both are very priceless things. Now, give me what I want, Lady Twilight."

---

Louie wasn't expecting the exchange to be without some sort of laborious feeling. But this? This was agonizing. It wasn't like anything Louie had ever felt before. Light drained away from the cell like water down a hole, concealing everyone and everything in darkness. Louie could feel a gut-wrenching, skin crawling chill creep up his spine and thieve him of his warmth. What was this terrible feeling?

Abruptly, there was no more time or room for thinking, just an agonizing pain overwhelming him. Like a fingertip hovering too close to a flame, an inexplicably scorching pain seared his chest, and then his entire body. It was as if he were set aflame whilst the gut-wrenching chill still crept over him. It was the sort of torment that made the piercing of sharp daggers or the snapping of one's bones look mediocre compared to this torture. It was nearly unbearable, and Louie could only stand there stiff, all of his face writhing and wincing but his eyes. No—his eyes were more akin to blood than they were to rubies, and no amount of agony could ever contest with that look of desire and greed.

He could feel something within him depress, like a hole opening up within the earth. Wildly, Louie tore away the buttons of his shirts and the garments that covered his torso, revealing the small, black vortex swirling on his unblemished chest, glowing with orange light. Like a lost game of tug-of-war, Louie watched as his soul was violently wrenched away from him like an invisible beast ripping away meat from its kill, his body aquiver with pain.

The blonde had almost fallen to his knees after being relieved of the brief but terrible torture of that exchange, but not once had he whimpered or grunted during the process. Even before this trade, Louie had refused to ever be seen crying or in a moment of weakness. He stifled his groans and choked on his hot breaths, and when the pain had finally subsided, he vomited.

Louie stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily through his mouth as saliva ran down his mouth. He could see it before it vanished—his soul. Its hue was like a Tuscan sun, bright and glowing. But the flame in his eye burned even brighter than any sun could ever burn at that moment.

"Heheha...!" In almost a whisper, Louie let out peals of sardonic laughter, exploding into bursts of unconstrained euphoria. It was brief, for when he rose his marked hand above his head to behold the symbol of their pact, a wild grin settled onto his face."So this is the high of mana? Incroyable! Well done, Lady Twilight! Because of me, you've fulfilled your purpose. Now," Louie faced the cell bars in front of his, holding out his hand and sending a flurry of orange flames barrelling at the iron, melting away a large hole in its cage and stepping through it. Suddenly, all of the jubilation in his countenance vanished like dust scattering in the wind, replaced with a spiteful glare. "witness the culling of these pigs."

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