Surrendered To The Lord Of Sin-Chapter 60: Severance of Form

From the way the air thickened, pressing inward, Lucrezia felt something ripple outward like a shockwave, causing the crowd to lean forward as one.

The force slammed her briefly, expanding through the amphitheatre. Her breath grew shallow as she watched the faintest tremor pass through his form in resistance until his presence felt... diminished, as something invisible peeled away.

It took her a heartbeat to realize it. What just happened?

Lucrezia was confused, as she searched herself for the sensation that should have followed his arrival. The tightening in her chest, the strange heat beneath her skin, or the awareness that pressed against her thoughts even when she tried to look elsewhere. It wasn’t there anymore. Like it was... gone.

She blinked in unsettlement at the feeling that came right after. It wasn’t relief. She could feel the wrongness curl around her chest that almost made her sick from the air around that no longer seemed to bend toward him. He was still powerful, unmistakably, so but the pull was absent, like it never existed in the first place.

Around her, the crowd reacted in fragments and it took her a moment to realize she wasn’t alone. They felt it too. They felt what she couldn’t explain.

Lucrezia swallowed.

The woman beside her remained still, yet Lucrezia could read the calm certainty in her expression. The weight pressing on her shoulders eased slightly at the realization that nothing had gone wrong, though she straightened immediately, bracing herself against the invisible tension that still hummed in the air.

It felt all new and fast to the point that she could barely adapt faster than the crowd did. The fact that all these, everything in general, was less than a trial and more of entertainment in the eyes of spectators, made the food in her stomach turn into ashes.

Below, Vaeron remained motionless against the obsidian floor, and this time, Lucrezia felt the change when she looked at him.

She could not see it, not truly, but she felt the loss like pressure releasing from her. The air around him no longer bent, nor yielded, and the gold markings flared brighter as though in concurrence.

Vaeron’s posture adjusted by a fraction, his legs trembling as if some unseen weight had been extracted. The change was so subtle she might have imagined it, if not for the collective intake of breath that swept through the amphitheater.

Power had drained from him, leaving his body unstable and raw. Lucrezia could see the strain etched into every line of his form as he clutched at his chest, fingers digging into the fabric as if to anchor himself to the world. Undeniable pain flickered across his features, and for a moment he seemed to teeter on the edge of collapse, barely held together by sheer will.

It took every ounce of control to stifle the gasp that clawed its way from her throat, and for a heartbeat, she almost rose to her feet despite herself. She leaned back to steady herself, and out of concern, her voice trembled, tethered between instinct and caution. "W-What just happened?"

"He’s in his raw manifestation now," She replied, her tone calm but edged with some kind of caution that made her wary. "All the glamours are gone. What you see is him, stripped down to who he is in the absence of his essence,"

As if on cue, Vaeron got back on his feet, though she could still see the strain in the taunt of his features behind that mask.

Lucrezia swallowed hard, her eyes flicking back to the woman. "And... is it safe to watch?"

The woman’s gaze didn’t leave the arena. "Perhaps. But it will test more than your courage, how much of yourself you can endure in the presence of something that should not exist,"

Lucrezia’s throat tightened. She had never seen power reduced before. Never watched something ancient be made... specific.

Finally, the gold lines stopped shimmering. The faint, almost imperceptible distortion that marked divinity flattened, leaving him standing stark and undeniable against the obsidian. A sigh escaped her lips before she could control it.

There was a subtle shift from the dais and tiers, and her eyes darted around. Relief washed over her like warm water when she asked, "Is it over?"

"Partly," She replied, and Lucrezia felt the hope she never knew she once carried, diminish at her words. "Now he’s stripped off from his essence, the Severance of Form is complete. What remains of him is his body that would be tested,"

Lucrezia was not given time to dwell on her words. A modest disturbance rippled across the arena, and from the shadows lining its periphery, a movement stirred. Her gaze narrowed below once more, noticing the first challengers emerging, stealing the breath from her lungs.

She felt the weight of thousands holding their breath, felt it press against her ribs until she feared she might shatter beneath it. Figures draped bare-chested like the ones she’d seen, with marks all over their bodies. But that was not all.

Each figure stood broader and taller than any mortal frame, shoulders heavy with layered muscle. They were larger than Vaeron, not monstrous but built with a density that made his frame seem almost lean by comparison. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

This couldn’t be his opponents, could it?

Her stomach knotted in response. She’d seen him, though not truly, fight against those beasts on their way to Blackvale. Lucrezia remembered the vast shadow they cast, shapes times two the size of these men, yet that memory offered her no comfort now. Those battles had been fought with his power intact, and his... Sin wrapped around him like armor. Here, stripped and exposed, facing opponents who were larger, heavier, and wholly prepared for this arena, the difference felt terrifyingly real.

The figures moved into position, spreading out across the obsidian floor until they formed a loose arc before him. Lucrezia realized they were four in numbers and Vaeron stood still and composed in the center, though his presence was sharp against the widening space they left between themselves.

Lucrezia couldn’t help the manner in which her pulse thundered at the suspense in the air. It was even worse when she felt the shift from the dais where the Nameless King’s voice spoke, ringing thunderously in the amphitheater.

"Why don’t you take off your mask, Lord Vaeron?" he drawled, voice smooth and sly, carrying effortlessly across the arena. Lucrezia has never known her heart to race as much as it did at the power and dominance he emanated, which the crowd responded to at once. "Let us see what remains when there is nothing left to hide."

Lucrezia’s pulse thundered in her ears. Vaeron’s fingers loosened on his chest, and he tilted his head just slightly, the faintest flicker of awareness passing over his features as those cold eyes found the one who spoke.

Even stripped bare, even weighed down by the absence of his essence, he radiated a presence that demanded attention. Every inch of him seemed measured, deliberate, and yet impossible to anticipate.

Just when she thought he would ignore the proposal, Vaeron’s hands paused at his face, fingers brushing the edges of the mask. Time seemed to stretch right after, and Lucrezia’s pulse thundered wildly, her stomach tightening as she felt the collective expectation pressing against her ribs.

And finally, he removed it, peeling the mask from his face.