Surrendered To The Lord Of Sin

Chapter 93: Last piece of restraint

Whatever stirred didn’t feel like power. It felt like something tearing loose from the deepest part of her and surging violently to the surface. Heat seared through her veins, while an opposite cold sank into her bones. The contrast is unbearable. It stole the breath from her lungs and dragged a broken cry from her throat, the sound echoing across the ruined, half-empty fair.

Lucrezia gasped, he fingers digging into the frozen ground as the sensation spread around her body like a toxin.

No, worse than a toxin. This was... alive—scorching her raw.

She could hear the distant crash of splintered wood and the shrill, inhuman cries of the creatures, feel the power beneath the earth, and see the creatures looming nearer, their hollow eyes fixed on her like those of starving wolves closing in on wounded prey.

Panic clawed at her chest. She tried to hold it back. Gods, she tried, but it was too impossible!

Her hands trembled as she clutched at herself, as if sheer force could keep whatever this was from spilling out. But the more she fought it, the stronger it became.

It surged through her in violent waves, impossible to contain, impossible to silence. Her shock gave way to fear, which in turn gave way to confusion, and confusion gave way to something far more terrifying, taking her off guard.

She could feel an abrupt strength wash over her entire body like molten lava. It felt unnatural, and blinding, wrapping her body until her body became numb.

The force of it hit Lucrezia all at once, shattering the last fragile piece of restraint she had left, as another half-strangled cry, sharp enough to pierce the cold night air, tore from her throat.

At that moment that felt like a bail, it broke free, her restraint shattering like glass. For one suspended heartbeat, the world seemed to hold its breath with her until light exploded outward.

It did not bloom gently. It erupted, and the world seemed to bend under such pressure as a blinding burst of white-gold radiance tore from her body in a violent wave, sweeping across the shattered fair with enough force to split the silence apart.

It surged from her chest, her hands, her very breath, expanding in a wide arc that distorted the air itself. The ground trembled beneath her as broken wood, ice, and scattered debris were hurled outward. The creatures closest to her were caught in it first, their bodies twisted violently as the light struck them, flinging them backward with brutal force.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Some were thrown across the frozen earth, crashing into the wreckage of broken stalls while others simply vanished into the brightness, their forms breaking apart like shadows beneath the sun.

The blast raced farther, wider, swallowing everything in its path along with the painful cry that echoed in the sky.

A sharp ringing filled Lucrezia’s ears, the weight of such a sudden blast shredding her mentality. For a moment, she could see nothing but light... and the unbearable brilliance pouring from her, as though the very air had caught fire around her.

She wanted to stop. To seize from the heat that scorched her bones, and cold that froze her to place, allowing the overflowing power surge without restraint... but she couldn’t.

It suddenly felt like her body was being controlled by someone else entirely, just the strangled cry being one of her own.

Pain became everything until Lucrezia could no longer tell where her body ended as the agony continued. It tightened around her, swelling a pain-blinding power that answered from within.

Her body arched violently against the power strain. Cold and heat existed at once like a paradox that burned while it froze, touching places that had been touched before. Places that were claimed during her abduction.

It was black and incandescent, so sudden it stole the pain’s dominion, erupting without control. It wasn’t rooted in her flesh alone but threaded through something deeper, emitting violent waves that enclosed the space before her.

Sensing the weight of the ability approaching, the ember-eyed man immediately wrapped both his hands into thin air, immediately creating a barrier that shielded him and a few creatures from the looming power. The force bounced against the barrier effortlessly, moving past him, as though sensing a greater strength.

However, that didn’t happen without a grunt, his face flickering a single emotion for a fleeting moment; effort. The noise produced by such an ability was like a scratch to one’s ears, rattling the objects present in the ruined fair.

Those amber eyes burned fiercely when they settled on the brown-haired witch. His nostrils flared. So it was true. She truly was the one.

Lucrezia writhed in pain, power surging through her body like a concussion in thick waves. All she could see was black and white, blinded by pain and strength, though weak in control.

Her muscles trembled violently, spasming under the strain of channeling something her body wasn’t meant to hold. Gradually, her heart slowed, each beat becoming heavier than the last.

Lucrezia tried to stop, but she couldn’t. Trying was the same as failing, and endurance became the only option. Yet that was the problem as she could no longer hold onto the fragile strength of her body being controlled by a sudden overwhelming power.

But then, just as suddenly as it came, it receded at once, leaving a thick unnatural silence that followed in the already-ruined fair. Smoke curled lazily in the air, rising in thin, wavering threads from the fractured ground and shattered wood.

The light was gone. Gone so completely it almost felt imagined.

Lucrezia swayed where she stood, her chest heaving as she dragged in uneven breaths, the cold rushing back to claim her skin now that the heat had vanished. Her hands trembled in front of her, fingers barely obeying her as the last faint traces of warmth slipped away.

For a moment, nothing moved, nothing dared to. Lucrezia’s vision returned slowly, gradually until she could clearly picture something real. It felt surreal, utterly unbelievable to have him back in sight.

But it only lasted for a moment when she dared a glance forward, only to gasp at the horrendous sight before her.