A Caged Siren

She hastened her steps toward the dark grounds where the young girls were supposed to get rid of Stellar’s body. The moment she arrived, her violet eyes widened in complete disbelief. Her worst nightmares she had been anxious about happened right before her.

Stellar—despite having his beating heart torn from his chest—stood alive. He was drinking the blood from Yue and Yuna’s unconscious bodies. The younger twin was in his hands, seemingly draining her life from her body while the older twin was lying limp on the dirt, her skin pale and neck punctured with two small holes.

Then, as if sensing her presence nearby, Stellar turned his head toward Mitsu, cold and ruthless.

“Watching someone while they’re having a meal is rude, you know, Mitsu.”

Mitsu froze in place. Hesitating to do anything or say a word. One wrong move and he might not be as merciless as he was in her chambers.

“If you’re worried about them, don’t be.”

Stellar casually continued to drink the younger twin's blood, feeling Mitsu’s terrified eyes were on his back. He figured that she might have an ounce of concern for the servants. “Neither of them is dead. I simply drained their strength. That’s all.”

"What are you?" She asked, her lips trembled.

Stellar lowered Yuna gently to the ground before answering her question. His back was still facing her as he stood up from the ground, dusting his garments off from dirt and dust.

"I figured you would ask that right away.." He said, finally turning around and looking directly towards her, "To answer your question: I’m just a guy traveling from the North. You were very clever to back away from me. Survival instinct, perhaps? Either way... you're quite interesting."

Mitsu could feel her body urging her to flee from him. Something tells her that he was lying about his identity. The aura emitting from him was far too dangerous to be swept off under the rug. But despite her body telling her to leave, her legs were as if glued to the ground. Too scared to even move another inch.

"Who are you? Why did you come here?" She gritted her teeth, her palms were sweating cold and her heartbeat thumping heavily in panic and anxiety. She slowly backed away as he started to step closer to her directions.

Deep down, she already knew what she expected him to say. He had come to hunt her and sell her limbs to high bidding merchants as a prized possession. Or perhaps he intended to take her away from Lady Fujiwara and sell her as a slave somewhere else.

Just like what had happened to her before.

Before she gained legs out of desperation and survival, Mitsu was a siren who had been born with an exceptionally alluring voice and a figure far more seductive than any woman could compare. The men sought her as a beauty blessed to the lands, the women see her as nothing but a homewrecker in their marriage. Her worth is measured by how much a man can pay to sleep with her and end up as nothing but scarce food for her. Her beauty was used as a mockery for what she is among the women.

And she hated the fact she belonged nowhere in society.

To gain a pair of human legs is to discard your identity as the prideful predators of the sea, is what the elders in her colony would always tell her. And the guilt remains to this day. She never wanted to give up her life in the seas hunting sailors and bullying mermaids as sports. She would do anything to get that life back.

But after the sailors caught her and were sold to slavery, she was robbed a life from where she truly belonged.

And if she decided to return to the sea in this form, her body would disperse into sea foam and eventually fade from existence.

Only death is waiting at the door. And she’s not ready to let him in yet.

For years, the beasts hunters and syndicates alike had pursued her, intending to sell her into slavery to satisfy the desires of various races—not only humans. Or perhaps her head as a trophy to be placed as a decoration in a mansion.

Eventually, she ended up here in the Red Light District of Meijiro, serving as a high ranking courtesan. This place was supposed to be the best place she could have found. Perhaps it wasn't truly the best. But at least there was no abuse or violence like the kind she had suffered in the past.

Yet a slave is still a slave.

The binding magic collar around her neck controlled her actions and restricted her freedom, making her suffering no different from anywhere else. But what other choices does she have in the first place?

Then Stellar finally broke her trail of thoughts. His answer was enough for Mitsu to stand frozen in place.

"I'm looking for a man."

“Pardon?” She blinked in surprise.

"He’s an old drunkard who admires beautiful women. I thought there was a chance he might have passed through here, so I came to look for him."

“What was his name?” She asked.

"Caelios Astralius." He replied, hoping that it would jog memories of him.

Hearing the information, Mitsu tried to recall the customers who had visited the establishment who goes by Caelios Astralius. But she was certain she had never met anyone by that name.

Until a memory suddenly resurfaced.

She remembered an old drunk man who used to bother Lady Fujiwara to let him see her when she first arrived at the brothel. She got so frustrated that she banned him from stepping inside the property and made sure he was at least five meters away from coming closer to the brothel. Since then, he has set foot to bother them again.

"I think I saw him once—"

Before she could finish speaking, Lady Fujiwara suddenly appeared and interrupted them.

"Oh, my! It's the handsome customer from earlier. She glanced around before continuing with a sly smile, a scent of tobacco coming from the smoking pipe. "I was wondering where three of my employees had disappeared to."

Her smile widened. Sickening even, "If you'd like some private service with all three of them, I'm afraid you'll have to pay extra."

Then her eyes fell upon Yue and Yuna laying on the ground, alive but too weak to be moving. She instantly noticed that the binding magic she had casted around their necks was gone. And realized that Stellar had figured out their secrets that she had been desperately trying to keep.

Her face contorted into a burning rage as she clenched her teeth, her red eyes gleamed into a dangerous fury that Mitsu instantly cowered beneath her.

Furious, she stomped towards Mitsu's direction and grabbed her shoulders, enough to make her wince in fear and pain.

"Deal with him." She whispered, her tone was a bad omen if she refused. "Otherwise, I'll serve you your favorite dish that I had been saving."

Misu's body stiffened. A look of genuine horror painted on her face. Stellar watched them from a safe distance, eavesdropping to their conversation. Whatever it was, it was definitely something horrible to her palate.

She stood there for a few seconds, unsure what to do. But the fear of being tortured again was enough to make her lower her head and comply with her demand.

"Yes... Lady Fujiwara." Mitsu answered, only a soft whisper under her breath.

“Good. Make sure to dispose of the girls too.” Fujiwara quietly walked away from the scene, leaving a faint trail of smoke behind her steps. “They’re no longer useful to the brothel.”

Mitsu’s eyes widened in shock. The twins were only sixteen and their future was brighter than she ever could dream of. “Lady Fujiwara, please! I will get rid of him and make sure he’s dead and gone but please let Yue and Yuna leave!”

But instead of showing a hint of mercy, she was greeted back with a look of pure malevolence carved on her face. Her crimson eyes shot a look at her that could instantly make her quiver in submission. He could swear he saw a fox overshadow her before she disappeared into the shadows.

He knew that she was a kitsune early on, but was uncertain of how many tails she had due to her masking her true form.

If anything they have to deal with, it's her.

***

The sound of explosion can be heard from a forest not too far off from the city, yet a manageable distance to keep passerbys away. Mitsu requested that they fight to death somewhere far from the people and preferably where Yue and Yuna are safe from their attacks. He noticed that she seemed to care about the servants as if they were her family. But from the looks of it, she doesn't want anyone to work in the brothel under Fujiwara— regardless if she cared about them or not.

Stellar lunged forward, his dark magic swirling around him like a suffocating gust of shadows. He kept on launching wave after wave of various crushing attacks, expecting a fierce retaliation from the siren.

Mitsu scrambled backward, parrying his attacks with a sword conjured from water magic. But her sword faltered after usage; the water magic was potent for a desperate offensive, yet too fragile when forced to defend against the overpowering dark magic. Every clash sent shockwaves through the room, pushing her closer to her breaking point.

She opened her mouth, desperately trying to channel her vocals, the real power of her siren voice to turn the tide into a fatality. Instead, only a strangled gasp escaped her lips. The heavy, enchanted binding magic Fujiwara had locked around her throat tightened like a vise, ruthlessly choking off any magic coming to her voice. She strictly made sure that Mitsu can only use her voice when she is inside or nearby the brothel. Any further than that and her voice magic instantly gets locked.

Stellar was up above the sky, raising his hand for a final, decisive blow, his amber eyes narrowing, ready to end the fight once and for all— until he caught the frantic terror of her fear looking back into his eyes. He noticed how her hands clawed desperately at the collar rather than striking at him, and how her eyes begged for mercy rather than bloodshed.

The dark magic instantly dissipated around his fingertips. He lowered his hand, realizing with a jolt that she wasn't trying to fight him at all, she was only trying to survive and protect the girls in the brothel from the sly fox..

And for that reason...

Stellar decided to free her from her chains of slavery and cruelty. As cruel as he can be, he couldn't help but to pity a creature who was thought to be as the most powerful creature in the sea only for her to survive as a courtesan in the Red Light District.

So in a blink of an eye, he vanished into thin air. Mitsu quickly looked around to find where he would be hiding from her. She could feel the palpitations of her heart rising from his sudden teleportation.

And before she knew it, he was behind her and swiftly knocked her out on her neck with the edge of his palm, her consciousness faded to black immediately and her body hit the ground after passing out .

At the same time, his prompt attack shattered the binding magic collar around her neck, giving her the freedom that she deserved. He used his magic to unbind the kitsune’s spell on her.

He watched Mitsu and made sure she was unconscious and weak, his golden optics scanned to see her powers slowly returning.

He knew that Lady Fujiwara would be seething if her most valuable asset was finally free from her grasp and no longer in her control. How would she make money if the prized possession is no longer hers? That question alone is enough to make him shiver with excitement.

As for the young twins who had to take care of the disposal of his body, he made sure that they were now somewhere safe. The wounds of his bite were treated and made sure that the girls were nowhere near them. Those poor kids were frightened to death seeing him coming back to life. Luckily he managed to use his black magic and drained their strength to a good amount where they won't die. It's up to them to find their way back home.

Now to take down Fujiwara’s brothel empire completely and wipe her out.