CHAPTER 36: | SURRENDER YOURSELF, ASTRIA!
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Clack! Clack! Clack!
The sound of footsteps echoed as the shadow of a being, neither human nor monster, stretched towards them.
A chilling dread permeated the air, causing their very bones to ache with a raw, primal fear as their greatest terror materialized before them.
Gulp!
A suffocating dread clamped down on her offspring, their small bodies convulsing with terror as its crimson eyes, like twin embers, pinned their kneeling figures.
Slump!
One crumpled to the ground, her limbs refusing to bear her weight, as the being's gaze bore down on her, a palpable weight pressing the air from her lungs.
"Please spare us!"
A human-like being pleaded as she tried to lift her eyes to meet the unknown being's eyes.
But before she could even meet its gaze, a searing agony erupted in her neck, a shockwave of pain that threatened to buckle her knees.
She clenched her teeth, then smashed her head on the ground.
Splash!
Blood bloomed from her forehead, warm and slick against her skin, as she bit her lips until they bled, then shouted.
"Please spare my children!"
I gazed at the humanoid woman below me, kneeling and pleading, as she smashed her head against the ground again and again.
Thud! Thud!
"Please! Just spare my children!"
My eyes gleamed with interest as I lowered myself, then lifted her chin to meet her beautiful blue eyes.
"Tell me... what would you offer me, woman?"
She gulped her saliva, her face taking on a more resolute expression as she bit her lips defiantly.
Her face showed hesitation as she bit her lip.
"I-I offer my everything to you! Use me in any way you want! Be it as a slave, servant, or anything! So please spare my children... they-they are my everything, so please spare them."
Tears welled, then spilled, hot trails down her cheeks, she sobbed, not from pain, but from the unbearable, dissecting gaze of the man before her.
His gaze stripped away her defenses, leaving her feeling utterly exposed, her very soul laid bare and vulnerable.
For the first time in her life, a profound weakness invaded her, a bone-deep helplessness that stole the strength from her limbs under his unwavering stare.
Who seemed normal at a glance, but something deeper, darker, was hiding in his gaze, it was something broken.
A chuckle burst from the man before her as she forced herself to stop crying.
"Interesting... so you're offering yourself, your everything, to me, correct?"
She nodded her head uncontrollably.
A smile broke across my face as I clenched my grip on her face harder, my gaze meeting hers.
Fear was palpable on her face, and that made it the more interesting for me.
Like a devil's voice, my voice echoed.
"You said that you'd offer your everything to me, right?"
My irises took on a darker shade of crimson as she clenched her fist...
"Mother! Please escape from this place!"
The crabman, filled with defiance, vanished from his position as he brandished his weapon at me.
Clang!
Liora's blade moved with swift precision as it cut through his exoskeleton, then ran across his hand as blood exploded.
"Noooo!"
Her voice, filled with despair, echoed as her hands reached for her child, tears pouring down from her beautiful sky-blue eyes.
She cried out as she saw Liora raise her swords, her iridescent golden eyes gleaming coldly.
Splash! Thud!
Her child's head rolled across the floor, then stopped just inches before her as she screamed like a broken doll.
"Ahhhhhh! My son! My son! My son! My son! My son!"
Her wails, raw and guttural, ripped through the air, each sound a testament to a mother's shattered heart, as she cried, reaching her hands to hug the head of her son.
But she couldn't do so, as her head was still under the grip of the man before her.
She couldn't do anything but wail and cry.
Her children clenched their teeth and looked down at the floor with dark expressions as they mourned for their brother.
"Sob... sob... My son, why? Why did you foolishly charge?"
Life with her son flashed in her eyes, of when he was born, of his childhood, of his dreams to become a great general.
To expand the reach of their small tribe from this lake, to be accepted under the banner of the very god of this lake.
She cried for her son, who was no more, she wept, for she couldn't see the smile of her child.
She felt the pain of her world collapsing as she saw her own child being executed in front of her.
She gazed at the man before her, her blue eyes losing their color as she muttered with a hoarse voice.
"Hey... what are you doing to us right now, oh my captor?"
Her will was broken as she questioned the man before her, something she couldn't do when she was wide awake.
Pity draped my gaze as I looked at the broken mother before me with slight interest.
"Interest me, woman, and I shall spare your child! Show me your loyalty, and I shall grant you heaven!"
She gazed at me as she clenched her clothes, then ripped them apart as she smiled and spread her arms.
Her round, pink nipples gleamed with a lustrous light, and her pink lips shone with a seductive sheen, and her breasts were visible.
"My name is Astria, my lord, and I shall offer myself to you."
I gazed at her, then shook my head as I let go of my grip, then walked to the throne and sat.
One could hear her children shouting and feel the concern as they comforted their mother.
"Mother, please don't give up! I, no, we, your children, shall protect you, so escape!"
Her children brandished their weapons, pointing at me as Liora, now beside me, giggled as she glanced at them with pity.
"You lustful demon! How dare you covet our mother!"
The siblings shouted, while their forms trembled as they gazed down, too scared to meet mine.
"Foolish... Didn't I declare that you shall prove yourselves worthy to me?"
The siblings clutched their hands as they charged toward me, as I let out a sigh.
"Liora, deal with them."