After the Villainess Failed to Overthrow the Gods

Chapter 17

It's Archer standing behind me, offering me his hand. As expected Archer was really the god of order or more accurately the puppet of god of order. A puppet only held a very small portion of a god's power and soul. 

I could fight him. I told myself. With just a pierce of the dagger that killed the god of light, I could even injure the god of order's soul.

I resumed slicing the ward with the pendant in my right hand, hiding my left hand with my body, I slipped the dagger I hid up my sleeve into my left palm. I hid the dagger with me from the start, inside a charmed box. With just a bit of hypnotic power with my eyes, I hid the dagger from the beast's view. After my escape from the beast's town, I had taken out the dagger from its charmed box.

I squeezed the dagger in my hand. I just had to pierce him, like many times before. It's simple. Go, Lorelei. Go.

I had to do it. For my escape. 

Archer repeated with his gentle voice, "Let's go home."

Without thinking I retorted with anger that spurted out from deep inside me, "It's not my home. It's never my home. I lost my home thousands of years ago!"

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I turned around and faced him again, hiding the dagger in the folds of my dress and plastered my usual smile on my face. "What would other gods say when they know the perfect god of order lost his prisoner?" I chuckled like a lunatic. "I told you not to be so full of yourself."

"Let's go home," he repeated again firmly and gently. 

"When did you recognize me?" I asked as I touched my face, tainting my new body's face with blood from my wounded hand. "I even changed my body!" I walked towards Archer and placed my hand in his. I leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Do you miss me?"

I was met with silence like many times before.

"Do you like my new voice?" I giggled. "Ah, with this voice, I can finally sing. Do you want to hear me sing?" I looked at him through my eyelashes. I whispered, "Do you know how hard it has been these three thousand years? My voice is my life to me. And it's all your fault!" I shouted towards the end, I became hysterical. Hatred I never knew deep inside my heart kept pouring out like deep dark ink pouring out from a shattered glass bottle.  

I pulled out the dagger from behind me and plunged it into the chest of Archer. It happened so quickly, I did not even have the time to regret. After so many times, I finally felt the satisfaction of piercing a dagger into flesh.

Laughing maniacally, I cried, "I escaped. I told you not to be so full of yourself. I escaped! You didn't uphold your side of promise first. I would not let you hold me down."

Tears seemed to be flowing down my cheeks. Why was I crying? I should be happy. I escaped. I killed the puppet of the god of order. Now all I had to do was to break the ward with the pendant and escaped before the real god of order came. I shouldn't waste any more time. 

I turned around and ran towards the edge of the forest, leaving Archer and his soulless body behind. I took out the pendant and resumed smacking it at the ward. 

Once.

Twice.

Thrice...

No matter how many times I had to do this, I had to break this ward. I had to escape. This is my only chance to freedom.

Tears slid down my face. Blood dripped down from my palm to the floor. 

At last the pendant shattered into million of pieces in my hand and a small hole was formed on the ward. A small hole was enough. As long as my soul could pass through. I detached my soul from the body I occupied and slipped my soul through the hole.

Freedom.

As soon as my soul passed through the hole, searing pain shot through my soul. Cracks begun to form in my once translucent soul. I smiled bitterly.

I was just a bit away from freedom when I was pulled back. Someone was holding me back. I turned around just to find the god of order standing behind me, his hand circling my wrist, chaining me down.

"You know," he stated calmly. "You know you'll be dead as soon as you leave the forest."

"Of course I do." I smiled widely, even the voice of my soul was as coarse as an old croak. "The gods put a curse on my soul too. Do you think I could not feel it?"

He sighed softly like he always did, like he could not figure out what to do with the spoiled child in his hand. "Let's go home."

"No," I said firmly. "It's not my home. Just let me pass through the ward, you'll have one less thing to deal with. I'm heading to freedom, you're too! I'm freeing the two of us."

My smile turned sly. "You don't want other gods to call you out for failing your mission? Well, who asked you to not uphold your end of promise? And failing as a warden? Don't worry, they'll all forget your mistake sooner or later." I giggled. "Now let go of me."

"Let's go home." He repeated stubbornly and pulled me closer to him. Until at last he was embracing me. 

I tried to resist, but instead deep intense pain jolted through my soul.

"There's one thing you might not know," he said softly, but his upcoming words shattered me into million of pieces. "It's me who put the spell on your soul. Linking my soul to yours. I can locate your soul no matter where you go."

The shocking words finally stopped me from struggling.