Chapter 285 (2/2)

More and more meaning was syphoned out of Lucretia, so much so that she was forced to start sacrificing parts of herself. Emotions swirled, and one at a time, she gave them away. Hatred for Gerroark. Impatience for this to end. Her deathly fear of how this would end…

The blows between the two fighters destroyed buildings, but their inn simply trembled, protected by the strange rock man.

In the bed, Shal stirred, and immediately Lucretia focused. She currently had three emotions remaining in her body, and one of them surged, becoming unstoppable, completely all consuming. Struggling to her feet, Lucretia hobbled over to his bedside.

As her other emotions ran dry, and Lucretia wanted to save her personality, to speak with Shal, she fed her curiosity about the Ghosthound into the rift. It was a wide and powerful emotion, as this boy continued to mystify her, and would do nothing for her. Right now, maintaining other things was more important.

Shal opened his eyes, blinked, and then sat up. Then he shook his head, and his eyes focused, taking in the room. Again the inn shook.

Their eyes met, and Lucretia smiled. She could hear Gerroark’s roar of fury outside, and a deep rumbling from the rock man, which might be a chuckle. In the small room, neither spoke for several long seconds.

Then Shal said. “...that’s why. Why it was so strange. Why they wanted me to lose the honor of the Spear Phantom Style, so my skin couldn’t be dyed this color.”

Smiling, Lucretia reached and drew back her sleeve, revealing her arm. Her skin was thin and translucent, and through it several thick blue veins could be seen, carrying her blood.

But Shal was still talking. “Even as Pronto was being consumed by that cursed spear, addicted to the rush of Devouring, feeding away his personality… I was sent away too. Aemont couldn’t bare to see either of us for the longest time. If he could… he would have stayed… but we both reminded him of his failures. Pronto, of Aemont’s lack of strength. And I…”

Shal fell silent for a few breaths, and then said. “But…. I can still feel he loved me.”

Her curiosity ran out, and Lucretia had a choice of which emotions to feed now. After a brief hesitation, and she followed her instinct and fed to it the emotion that had driven her so long; fear of death. The emotion that made her the Eternal Witch, running away from her doom.

Lucretia had seen her parents slaughtered by the Calamity, and hated it. Hated how fragile they were, how easily killed. How the world would end something so finally. So she fought and struggled and scratched and tore to find a way to live. To find methods to shatter the System, and avoid death.

Now, the Ghosthound was a lead, but…

Lucretia chose to feed that fear of death to the hungry syphon, maintaining the rock man, ignoring the fact it was the basis on which she had lived for so long. She just looked at Shal with bright eyes, waiting.

He opened his mouth and asked. “So… you are from the other world…? The world opposite us on the front lines….?”

Lucretia nodded, and spoke, drawing his attention back, somehow savoring this bittersweet truth. “...Aemont avoided you because you reminded him of something that defied his very reason for living, for working so hard. You were a symbol that trivialized it.”

Again, the inn shook, more powerfully this time, as the struggle outside appeared to be reaching its later stages. Still, Lucretia did nothing to prevent herself from being sucked away, consumed.

Shal closed his eyes, sighing. “Because… the third and final gift that Lucretia gave to Aemont… was a son.”

Lucretia’s eyes crinkled at the corners, as she nodded. No longer did the being consumed bother her, because that emotion of fear was gone. Now she began to feed the largest, the final, the most confusing emotion she had in her heart into the rift: a mother’s love for her son.

“So I’m a half…”

But Lucretia’s eyes hardened, because while fear had driven her to do some terrible things, a mother’s love took even fewer prisoners, and was much more active in seeing what she wanted.

Now that she was sure he was aware, she wanted to spend more time with him, slowly growing closer to knowing him. In addition, her induced coma had finally rid Shal of the mark left by Aemont, holding his strength and memories. Whether it was destroyed or consumed, Lucretia didn’t care, because now Shal was solely hers.

But that was for later. For now…

Holding onto the soul of Dian, and the head of the Yeti, Lucretia threw herself into the Soul Skill, before it could consume her. She needed resources, because she couldn’t avoid its pull now. But she could put herself in a position with power.

Because only then would she be able to break out.