Soul Breaker {Kaisoo § Chanbaek}

Chapter 8

Jongin has a plan. It isn't the best plan he's ever conceived, but he doesn't care. Where's the fun in being sure to succeed?

He explains it over dinner, the eyes of his brothers attentive and excited. Even the Soul Breaker seems glad for a change.

He's been doing much better at his training in the past week. Something must have happened. He was close to breaking, Jongin could feel it in his mind. He was beginning to be disappointed in the man, losing interest.

Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps the man was just like the others.

But he wasn't.

No, he'd caught himself and thrown himself back in with resolve, his mind back to calm dark waters. He still failed to defeat Sehun, which was expected, but now he was taking every failure as a lesson, every cut and bruise as a reminder of his mistakes.

The sword, without Kyungsoo realizing, was beginning to ply to his will, sensing the strength of its new owner.

Durandal is far from a gift. It is beautiful, deadly, the sharpest to ever be forged. But it is also capricious and heavy with its past. Its previous masters were an emperor and a knight of Heaven. Those are difficult burdens to bear, difficult masters to surpass. But Kyungsoo is doing it. He is taking ownership of the sword.

He is overcoming light with both darkness and humanity in a way Jongin has never seen.

It makes him feel so alive, the strength of the Soul Breaker making his blood rush deliciously. He has forgotten this feeling, has never known the power that comes with humanity.

The possibilities, contradictions, senseless decisions. They have a choice. They can be light or darkness, they can be a little bit of both. They do not have to succumb. They can resist in a way angels cannot.

They are free. A freedom Jongin was denied at birth. A freedom him and his brothers all tried to claim back, without success. They are creatures chained to their desires, unable to escape their very nature, no matter how many times they try, no matter what they do.

But Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo is free to choose and his choices are music to Jongin's ears.

"You want to do what?" Jongdae interrupts Jongin's reverie.

"I want to capture an angel."

Silence welcomes his words. They didn't expect this.

"Angels are the only ones who know how to cross the barrier. If we're going to get any shot at getting that sword before they realize we've located it, we need to make one of them tell us how to get through."

They all see the truth in his words. Reluctance is there however, along with understanding.

"And how do you suppose we capture an angel?" Sehun asks, dubitative.

Jongin eyes gleam in anticipation.

"We trap his soul into the Soul Breaker's stone."

Kyungsoo stares, his eyes focused on Jongin, listening intently. "I can do that?"

"Theoretically, yes," Jongin answers with a reassuring smile. "But you're not strong enough to fight an angel yet. Which is why I will come with you."

Kyungsoo does not react. He considers the possibility of the both of them fighting together methodically. There is no thrill of anticipation, no flaring of hope or desire. Kyungsoo doesn't react the way any other servant has, thrilled at the opportunity of working alongside his master. He is impervious to those feelings, those pathetic little things Jongin is so used to see in the eyes of his followers.