Veponia was sitting inside her own room, alone, leaning backward in a leather armchair. The room had no light source besides the moons shining in through the only window and the pulled-back curtains. She silently watched the empty fireplace while she held the booklet she bought in the auction, placed across her lap with a completely emotionless face. She had already read it multiple times and could clearly see that the Lord of the Spire of Ren did not lie about its effects, nor did she lie about the difficulty of learning it. With her best estimate, it would take decades for her to master it to a level she could defend herself and her own mind, making it mostly useless as she knew time was not on her side.
"Then it falls on the shoulders of one of my own…." She murmured, closing it, thinking which son or daughter of hers has the same affinity and the luck to not be brought away by Corvux.
"Maybe I can help you out with it." traveled a friendly voice into her ear, making Veponia's calm face finally twitch, but it took only a moment before everything returned to normal as she closed her eyes.
"It is an honor to meet you once again, Lady Ren." she stood up, turning towards the window, and bowing deeply.
"You surprised me! I thought you would give it to him." Ren said, going before her.
"If he knew I had it, I would be dead already." she shook her head, signaling to the neighboring armchair.
"Hmm… I can see that!" Ren nodded, walking over and sitting down leisurely.
"I may not even have that much time anyway. I guess sooner or later, Elinus is going to replace me. It is weird not to have me pregnant, and I was already left alone for six months. This rarely, if ever, happened." She shook her head. She was still wearing her revealing dress as she stood up. Walking towards a decorated wooden cabinet with her wide hips swinging charmingly. She picked out a bottle and two small cups, pouring strong alcohol out for them both.
"Geez… this has a really feisty aroma…." Ren smiled but grabbed it, downing it in one go, the same as Veponia. Even if her mouth refused to smile, her eyes did so as she watched the reaction of Ren, squirming in her armchair.
"It burns away the smell… and the taste. The only thing that helps." Veponia replied, refilling the cups.
"And the nerves, I assume…!" Ren coughed a little "If I were not at the stage I am, I would be drunk by only one shot! Haaahh… did you brew it?" Ren asked as she downed the second cup.
"I have the recipe, yes. But it is not me who does it. I never… had the time to learn it."
"When did this all start?" Ren tilted her head, watching Veponia pour shots for herself and downing one before anytime she spoke up.
"It has been going on since the day I can remember anything." she blinked her blue eyes slowly. No matter how many glasses she emptied, her expression remained composed, without any blush from the drinks, same with her speech. It was fluent and devoid of emotions. "I was made, altered, configured, and tested. When I was working as intended, I was then placed here as the main gear in the human-machine of Corvux's factory."
"Human-machine…" Ren murmured with a severe gaze, watching Veponia from the sides. Even if she couldn't tap into others' feelings like her disciple, she could still guess what she felt inside her heart.
"Yes… and as my usefulness diminishes, I will be replaced by a new and improved version of myself in the form of my son, Elinus. Or at least the thing that wears my son's face."
"You won't. He is already dead." Ren said, shaking her head and stopping Veponia from raising the glass to her lips. She trembled a little before downing it.
"Thank you for releasing him from that fate he was thrust into."
"What about you? Do you also want to be released?" Ren asked, her voice even and serious.
"Very much so," Veponia answered without hesitation.
"Then why buy my book?"
"So I could do it myself. I am a doll, nothing more." she shook her head slowly. "I have my strings, and if I can't cut them off, how will I do anything I want and not what my puppeteer wants? But that was only one reason. The second is to pass it down to a child who may one day cut his or her own strings before it's too late."
"I see… what if I do it for you?"
"I would be dead." she put down the empty bottle, turning fully towards Ren, looking into her eyes. "Corvux would feel it and kill me. I never had a free decision in my life for hundreds of years. Everything I did was because someone else pulled the strings for me. I want my death to at least be my own doing and not because someone else decrees it."
"Don't worry, he is way too weak to notice it~" Ren grinned as the room was soon filled with a violet hue coming from her eyes.
Veponia suddenly found herself unable to tear her eyes away from Ren's gaze, completely lost in it. What she heard next was lightning flickering near her, yet it was not frightening, nor did it feel dangerous. She breathed heavily when she finally blinked her blue eyes and regained awareness of her surroundings. Her fingers were already touching her face while tears flowed from her eyes. She collapsed forward, sprawling out on the hard, wooden floor, twitching and gasping for air.
"Easy, easy! Don't try to breathe in and out simultaneously!" Ren knelt beside her, raising Veponia's head while she was trying to say something. It was only an unintelligible mess as she was trying to say too much at once. Her words did not come in order, her voice couldn't find a fixed pitch, continuously altering octave after octave, and her emotions were wildly crashing against her brain. "First try crying. Usually, it helps…." Ren whispered and let her bury her head into her lap, crying for who knows how long. It was the first time she ever felt her emotions unsuppressed and not pushed back into her by an invisible hand. The sudden rush almost completely shattered her consciousness.
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"Your Majesty!" Yavik rushed up the stairs of the Spire, chasing after Corvux, who was walking upwards to his bedroom to sleep away his frustration from the auction.
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"What is it?" He turned towards him with an already annoyed look in his eyes.
"Veponia is here, Your Majesty!"
"Huh?" Corvux blinked, showcasing a genuinely shocked expression. "What the…? What is she doing here? Why is she even alive?"
"I… I don't know…." Yavik shook his head, "But she did not come by herself."
"Elinus?"
"No." he shook his head. "We still have no news from him. Maybe they missed each other?"
"Probably. Elinus's body has been completely altered and infused with multiple demonic components." Corvux smiled, following Yavik down the stairs to see what Veponia wanted. "Nothing escapes from that body. It is like a completely sealed iron box. I couldn't implant my usual failsafe and tracking methods, so I also can't tell where the hell he is."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Yavik followed him with a slightly bowed head.
"Nah, even if he goes berserk, I made him! I know how to deactivate him if necessary!" Corvux laughed, arriving at the bottom floor where Veponia stood with an emotionless face beside a small, 10 or 11 years old girl. She had black, long hair but completely violet eyes. "Oh?" Corvux exclaimed as he was already intrigued by her gaze, especially enjoying the fear he saw in them. "What is this?"
"A descendant. I ought to bring special subjects to you, My Lord!" Veponia bowed elegantly, pushing the little girl forward. "She was uninteresting until a few nights ago; Then her eyes changed as she matured into a woman."
"Mmmh… Good work. Did you meet with Elinus?"
"..." at first, she did not say anything, but soon she just gently shook her head. "No."
"I see. Okay, go home. Leave her here!"
"Yes." Veponia walked backward, soon disappearing, leaving a terrified little girl there, dressed in only a white pajama.
"What is your name?" Corvux walked up to her, caressing her face. "How nice… I could carve you into such an interesting doll…."
“N-ner… my name is… Ner…" She whispered with a weak and trembling voice.
"Luckily, it is a short name. I hate long names. You can keep it." He nodded, letting her face go. "I'll go draw up how I should play with you! Yavik, bring her down to my laboratory and wash her down!"
"Yes!" He nodded with pity, watching the little girl, knowing she had just stepped through hell's gate. It seemed Corvux was already in a good mood after receiving a specimen he was excited to sculpt to his own liking.
Arriving at the basement, what welcomed the two were a completely white room, cleaned up and almost sparkling. On the walls, dozens of different tools were hung up, ranging from instruments for surgeries to tools for carpentry. On the tiled floor, multiple plugholes were installed to make it easy to wash away blood and whatever else lands on the floor.
"Strip," Yavik ordered, summoning a sphere of water above his palm to wash off Ner's body, but what he found himself looking at was a grinning youngster tilting her head to the left.
"Pervert. All of you are like that, huh?" came Ren's voice from between the lips of Ner as her image flickered, dispelling an illusionary image and revealing her true self.
"You-!" but Yavik could no longer continue as Ren's glowing eyes stopped every movement of his.
"Stay put. I still need you as a scapegoat!" she waved her hand before closing her eyes and letting water flow from her toes right down the sinkholes.
When Yavik tasted Ren's aura, being so close to her, his face turned completely white as every color left his body. Now even if Ren's powers did not keep him immobilized, he would not dare to breathe loudly. At that moment, he realized that whatever Corvux did or wanted to do was futile. They were only dancing clowns, putting up a show. Rudrick died in an ambush? Against multiple cultivators surrounding him? Bullshit! Who spread such rumors? No wonder Zelig let her come here. He was not in a position to say no!
"Interesting!" she opened her eyes, cutting off Yavik's panicked thought process. "Keina's, Rabout's, and My Spire has a different portion of the same formation, it seems… Corvux also has a different part, but they are connected somehow… Now I only miss the one in the last Spire…" she crossed her hands, deep in thought, while Yavik had no idea what she was talking about at all. "Oh well, it is up to Levictus to figure this shit out!" she scratched her head, ruffling her hair as she greatly hated working with formations. "Tsk, why do formations even exist… bah! Anyway, let me make my great escape!" She giggled, shaking away her thoughts, and looking at Yavik. He tried to speak, but no air escaped from his lungs as Ren walked up to him. She was forcing him to his knees and placed her hand on the top of his head. "Now it is my turn to play puppeteer~ Relax; it only hurts a little to place hooks into your brain and attach my personal strings to it~ You can take it; you are a big boy already!"
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About an hour later, Corvux walked down to the basement after a refreshing bath and dinner. He was excited to examine his new plaything but when he opened the door to his 'workshop,' what welcomed him was a panicked Yavik, kneeling in a pool of blood and gore, pieces of flesh. Bones and organs littered the floor and walls all around him.
"Your… Majesty…" He looked up at him with tears in his eyes. "I…."
"What the fuck did you do?!" Corvux roared, his eyes glowing like two suns, immediately invading Yavik's mind. He saw how the young girl resisted him from taking off her clothes and letting him wash her body. In the end, Yavik just lost it, using too much force, blowing her up completely. “You fucking imbecile! You can't even restrain your own powers?!" Corvux blew his top immediately, falling into an even worse mood than after the auction.
"I… I did not…!" he tried to speak, but he couldn't continue as his soul felt trapped inside his body, no longer capable of independent actions.
"Good… I had enough of your shit…." Corvux's voice turned cold and distant. "I came to do some work… if she is no longer available… You will do!"
Soon Yavik's screams filled the room, and his blood flowed freely. Corvux did not even realize that the fresh, warm blood did not mix with the dead girl's on the floor. He was too focused on taking his rage out on Yavik, so he completely missed how the previously present blood slowly disappeared, replaced by Yavik's own.
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"01, 02, go, integrate into the Brightseed family." Ren said, standing in her own Spire's basement, "You are going to act as Veponia's two new studs."
"Eh…" both of them twitched their mouths at her words, looking at each other.
"No inappropriate thoughts!" Ren smirked, watching the two. "Dye your hair and change your eye colors. Keep her safe!"
"Yes!" They cupped their hands before leaving while Ren turned to the mirror image appearing from the formation behind her.
"Oh, it is Uncle Dermitos again, Father?" She giggled, watching the struggling ex-emperor on the other side, serving as the energy source for the formation.
"Well, he and Sentios are brothers; they connect with the most stability!" he chuckled as the brothers exclaimed simultaneously.
"Fuck. You."
"Ahaha!" laughed the father and daughter duo at the same time. "What is it now, Ren?"
"This. Give it to Elder Levictus!" She threw the paper with the formation's image under Corvux's Spire.
"Mmmh." Xendar nodded, catching it on the other side. "This may help. He was mumbling about something missing, but I'll let him talk to you next time."
"Okay! Thanks, Father!"
"Ren… be careful!"
"No promises~" She winked, ending the connection and then stretching with a happy smile. "Go, have a Rest!" She moaned, looking at Sentios with one eye. "Corvux is completely pissed off, and when morning comes, and he learns the death of Elinus, I bet he is going to explode~."
"Hmf… best would be if he dies from a stroke," Sentios replied, smacking his lips.
"Pft~ If he does, I'm going to dance naked in the main square~" Ren laughed, turning towards the door then stopping with an unsure expression, murmuring under her breath, "Usually, I always had bad luck when making statements like this… now he may really have a stroke… damn…." She cursed softly, now hoping she would be wrong, as her mouth once again moved first before her brain followed suit.