God of creation system : The apocalypse

Chapter 11 : zhui backstory

I never expected things to turn out this way, especially since the divine flame was the ultimate pride of our clan as warriors. To me, showing weakness was unacceptable, which meant I had to finish this matter immediately.

Yet, to my utter disbelief, the moment I raised my blade to strike, he suddenly grabbed me by the leg.

"Wait, what am I doing?"

I was completely shocked that this human managed to hold onto me for this long without losing consciousness.

He had no visible special traits—who on earth was this guy?

It didn't make sense. The sheer power of my soul-eater abilities should have slowly shredded his soul to pieces the moment he touched me, and I hadn't even actively tried to kill him with that contact yet.

"Insolent fool, let go of me!" I shouted, kicking out at him.

Our soul-eater lineage was feared across the realm for our ability to devour the souls of living beings and convert them into a power source.

And because I was of royal blood, my power was far stronger than the rest; a mere touch should have stripped away his soul instantly.

That was why it baffled me that a low-tier creature like him could grab hold of me and endure it for so long.

Wait... could he possibly be the special being the elders always talked about?

No, no, no.

They couldn't possibly be referring to a pathetic low-tier creature.

Because our race had long been branded a threat to the survival of others, the other factions had banded together to wipe us out in the past. Ever since, the core mission of our remaining survivors had been to find our true match—our soulmate—so we could rebuild our clan.

In the fifty years I had spent searching, I had never found a single soul capable of withstanding my soul-eater abilities, which was why I had nearly given up hope of ever finding them.

This was the very first time I had encountered a being who could touch me for this long. I knew it sounded ridiculous, but could this low-tier nobody actually be my soulmate?

How humiliating. It was a complete nightmare for a member of the royal Khan family.

The other royals would laugh me out of court if they ever found out about this.

He had to disappear before anyone else caught wind of it.

Panic gripped me, and I grew utterly determined to kill him right then and there to spare myself from ultimate embarrassment.

Before I could make my move, however, my spirit pet Serphia spoke up.

"Think carefully about what you're doing, Your Highness."

Serphia was a serpentine spirit beast who had served and guarded the Khan clan for thousands of years. When our kingdom was overthrown by our enemies, I was entrusted with the right to claim her as my personal guardian.

"The moment you kill him, you might never find anyone like him ever again," she added.

She reminded me that ever since she bonded with me, she had never sensed a single soul that resonated with mine—except for the man right in front of us. She also brought up the grim reality of our dying lineage, with fewer soul eaters left alive with each passing day.

"I don't know why this weakling turned out to be your soul match, but one way or another, you have no choice but to accept it."

Hearing those words sent a shiver down my spine. It felt like she was nudging me to accept this guy as my destined partner. I knew preserving our bloodline was important, but forcing a proud princess like me to settle for a single human husband felt entirely unreasonable.

"I don't need a weakling like him," I argued back to Serphia.

Serphia persisted, reminding me that I couldn't simply run away from my responsibilities or the physical demands of my nature.

She slithered out, gliding up into my clothes and coiling tightly around my torso. As a spirit beast intertwined with my very essence, Serphia could freely move in and out of my body as her home.

"What are you doing, Serphia? S-stop that."

Serphia had a playful streak sometimes, and she knew just how sensitive my skin was when she moved across it. I couldn't help squirming, feeling a mix of ticklishness and mortification whenever she pulled that stunt.

Even so, I knew she had a point. Who genuinely wanted to spend another fifty years completely alone?

Besides, maybe he wasn't completely useless. Not all humans were weak; some actually possessed the potential to become fierce warriors, much like the people of the Irish Kingdom.

With that thought, I decided to interrogate him. "Hey, human, are you from Irish? Which rank do you belong to?"

I had briefly hoped he might harbor some hidden potential, but fate really wasn't on my side today.

"Rank? I don't know what you're talking about, but all I know is I came from a massive mansion where I was kept locked up in the basement," he answered.

I winced, deeply disappointed, as irritation began to bubble up inside me.

"Locked up? Don't tell me you're just a lowly servant?" I demanded.

This was a massive mistake. Not only was he a useless crybaby, but he was literally at the absolute bottom of the low-tier food chain.

I snapped, rage taking over as I raised my weapon. "This is ridiculous! I'm getting nothing out of you—you're better off dead!" I screamed.

In an unexpected twist, the man suddenly lunged forward and hugged me tightly. Before I could process what was happening, my body completely froze.

I could feel the heat radiating from his body as he wrapped his arms around me in a desperate embrace. For the very first time in my life, I felt my heart pound furiously—and it wasn't out of fear.

How bizarre. Was this a natural desire, or was it truly because he was my soulmate?

Even with that strange feeling washing over me, my rational mind screamed that this whole situation was wrong.

"Please, I'll do whatever you want—just don't kill me," he sobbed.

All I heard from him was pathetic begging, which only heightened my irritation at his utter weakness and cowardice.

"Let go of me! Do you have any idea how many people I've killed the moment they laid a hand on me?" I warned him.

He didn't listen. Instead, he gripped me tighter, babbling on about how he had no clue how he even ended up in this place.

"The people at the mansion probably threw me out just like they did to the others."

I brushed off his rambling since his sob story had nothing to do with me, threatening that I would execute him on the spot if he didn't let go right this second.

I wanted nothing more than to cut ties with him and move on, but Serphia slithered out from my sleeve to meddle once again.

"You really need to temper that hot head of yours. Calm down for a moment, Your Highness."

She pointed out that even if he was just a servant, he possessed a unique trait that made him my soul match, and throwing him away would be a massive waste if I let my temper cloud my judgment.

She added that with the right guidance and training, he actually held high potential to grow into a formidable warrior.

"You want me to train him? I can't even take him with me because of my enemies."

Serphia was well aware of that danger; if our enemies spotted him trailing behind us, he'd be slaughtered in seconds. But she had a workaround in mind that wouldn't require him to travel with us.

"Your souls are synchronized. If you lend him the Sanitoshi and grant him your blessing as your soulmate, the blade will instantly recognize him as its new temporary wielder," Serphia suggested.

"What do you think of that plan, Your Highness?" she added.

I fell silent, weighing her words. As much as my pride rebelled against his pathetic, low-tier status, I couldn't afford to throw away a rare potential match—especially when finding another one might take another fifty years.

I didn't give her a direct answer, but Serphia knew I had run out of alternatives, so she took the liberty of speaking to the man kneeling before us.

"Hey, human. Do you want us to give you a chance to live?"

"If you agree to our condition, we'll give you the means to defend yourself against others," Serphia proposed.