Surrendered To The Lord Of Sin-Chapter 37: The cost of mercy

The creature stumbled as the world snapped back into place around it. Confusion drained from its face, replaced by a dangerous understanding. Though pale, one could notice the manner in which terror marred its features as its eyes gazed upon the familiar forest that had not changed.

That realization struck harder than the relocation itself and his head jerked up slowly.

Vaeron stood exactly where he had been before. His hands clasped loosely behind his back now with a relaxed posture, as if the interruption had been nothing more than a courtesy extended and withdrawn. Those hazel eyes remained fixed on the stunned creature, which still struggled to believe he had returned.

The earlier gentleness in them dissolved into hard steel, and the darkness that once lingered intensified. Its state of shock and alarm should’ve entertained him, but it only increased his urge to obliterate its existence.

"Y-You lied," Its raw voice cracked from power loss and terror as it glared at him. He could barely keep his weight. The portal didn’t just return it to the forest, but sap the little strength it had.

Vaeron’s smile thinned. "Ah," he murmured. "There it is. The voice we’ve been waiting for,"

It tried to hide the striking terror at the pronoun ’we’ but failed miserably. It staggered backward, nearly collapsing as its legs failed it. Whatever strength it had regained through the portal was already unraveling, bleeding out of it in faint, smoking threads that vanished into the air.

Vaeron watched with detached interest. This was the last place he thought he would find himself after the previous encounter. However, he needed to cool the rage burning inside him. He didn’t need anyone discovering him looking like this. Not in control. Not in guise. Not in himself.

All because of someone he was meant to destroy. All because her pain ticked something in him that needed to be buried. Rage he hadn’t felt in almost centuries. An emotion he didn’t remember existed.

"If you expect to get anything out from me, you’re wasting your time," It spat in cold disgust, lifting its chin in defiance despite its trembling limbs and glared at the unsettling calm creature before it.

Vaeron’s attention returned, and he pursed his lips, "Mm," he said. "I was expecting to get acquainted with each other. Especially now I am quite gracious in offering you a helping hand,"

It clenched, as though the words had struck something sharp behind its teeth. "Gracious?" It repeated. "You offered nothing but lies!"

"Shouldn’t you be grateful death thought to offer you a chance of survival?" he questioned back. "Or weren’t you taught how... frail such generosities could be?"

It didn’t respond immediately. It simply locked eyes with his, contemplating whether or not to sprint into action but its failing energy could barely keep him standing.

And at the end, it was under the mercy of Lucifer. However, what it failed to realize was that a creature like him offers no mercy but destruction and despair.

"You said you’d help," It talked as though questioning its own stupidity in believing such an offer would’ve been granted easily. Food can make a man hungry, but power can make one desperate.

"I said I would help," Vaeron replied calmly. "I did not say I would release you," The last sentence dropped like spiked ice.

In the blink of an eye, it disappeared without thinking, only to return thrown to the ground, and an agonizing sound tore from its throat. The sizzle of bones filled the air with the stench of smoke and magic.

Vaeron clicked his tongue, studying it for a long moment, as though assessing a flawed blade. "Tsk. Tsk. You should really learn. Weakening yourself would make this less enjoyable and hastens the moment I stop being kind," His voice echoed in the forest like frost against skin and bones.

"What did you-" It breathed, and then groaned loudly as pain lanced through its body again. "What did you do?!" It demanded hoarsely, throwing his face to the ground to resist trembling.

"Helping," Vaeron simply replied, and his eyes grew colder. "Let’s get to the fun part now, shall we?"

He did not raise his voice. He did not need to, and moved, walking towards it.

The forest itself seemed to lean inward as he approached the creature lying half-buried where it had fallen. Its breath shuddered in every attempt to rise ending in a fresh tremor of pain.

When he was close, "I’d make this quick. However, it depends on how pleasing I find them to be,"

The creature laughed weakly, the sound breaking apart before it could finish. "You can... break me," It rasped. "You already know that. It won’t change anything."

Vaeron regarded it for a long moment. Those eyes searched the pitch-black ones with detached curiosity. Then he smiled - not with cruelty, but with understanding. "Oh," he said quietly. "I have no intention of breaking you." he hummed.

The creature frowned despite itself but stiffened as an invisible pressure closed around its chest, compressing just enough to make its breathing conscious, yet laborious. It happened so fast, and before it could process anything further, the pressure deepened, earning a shudder from it.

"W-What are you—?!" It groaned, clutching its chest with its bony hands. The sound of sizzling flesh and the smell of smoke and magic filled the air as its energy sapped. If launching into the portal earlier drained its energy, whatever was used against it was far worse than depletion.

Vaeron crouched a short distance away, resting one forearm casually on his knee, as though settling in for a long conversation by a dying fire. His cold eyes bore neutrality for humanity’s vaguest sentiment as he watched his tortured creature.

The turmoil inside of him wasn’t even close to the suffering of his tormented. It burned and cooled in a manner of instantaneous evolution. It ached for something to kill, shatter, and destroy. However, he needed information.

It was the only one that survived his vandalism, making it stand out among the others. Leader, perhaps, but something inside him doubted. It was too weak for magic. Vaeron gave himself the benefit of the doubt to believe it could barely survive in an environment such as this. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Cold weakens them, but they needed it to perform their fruitless scheme. They won on a part—kidnapping the wolf Princess, and that enraged him more than it should. What about this place seemed special to them but saps their energy?

Its groan echoed through the empty woods, causing a faint shudder on the ground.

"Pain," Vaeron started, "is crude. Effective, yes—but crude. It forces the body to betray the mind," His hazel eyes sharpened as he said. "You, however, are not restrained by flesh alone," The creature’s breathing slowed with suspicion creeping into its gaze, then gasped when the pressure grasped its chest. "You are bound by expectation. By anticipation. By the certainty that some things must never be said," He tilted his head as he went on. "That is where I will work."

He gestured lightly and the pain vanished.

The creature gasped, breathing fresh air. Its eyes remained startled by the sudden absence, and its muscles locked in confusion as if to question what exactly happened. Even with the little time it’d spent with him, it knew not to trust whatever came from the hazel-eyed creature and waited for the next strike.

But none came.

Vaeron stood slowly, letting the forest exhale with him.

The silence that followed was deliberate and heavy. He let it stretch until the creature’s breathing evened out. He doubted because it was calm, but because it had no choice. Silence, Vaeron knew, invited the mind to gnaw at itself far more viciously than pain ever could.

"You’re wondering why I stopped," he said at last in that mild tone. "You should be. My generosities are short-lived,"

The creature swallowed, before clicking his throat dryly. "Y-You enjoy hearing yourself talk," It muttered, though the bravado rang thin.

Vaeron smirked faintly. Not something that would be considered a smile, but the tug of his mask proved otherwise. "I enjoy watching things reach the wrong conclusions," He straightened, hands once more clasped behind his back. "Now. Let us begin properly." The air shifted when those words fled his lips. "Who sent you?"

The question was unadorned with no threat or force. It was designed in a way to deceive and manipulate, not soothe and consider. A way to lure both pure and tainted to their doom.

The creature’s lips parted, and then closed again. Its jaw clenched so hard that Vaeron heard the faint grind of bone. Whatever answer pressed at the back of its mind never made it past its teeth. He could tell it was being controlled and lifted a finger.

The pressure returned—not crushing this time, but precise. It coiled around the creature’s spine like a cold hand, but this time waited. Perhaps, for an order strike. The creature’s body stiffened instantly and its breath hitched as sweat beaded along its pallid skin.

"You feel that?" Vaeron asked conversationally. "That is not pain. That is inevitability,"

It trembled, teeth chattering despite the absence of cold, and glared bitterly at him. "You’re wasting your time," It hissed. "D-Do whatever you want, but that won’t change anything..." And it eyed him up and down before adding, "Sin,"

Vaeron’s gaze sharpened. "Interesting choice of words."

The pressure that had been restrained before slid upward, brushing against the base of its skull before striking hard. It drove inward in a sharp and absolute pattern before finding its way to its chest once more.

Its vision dimmed as if the world were being squeezed through a narrowing funnel, causing thought and breath to stall together. Muscles locked and its jaw trembled as a thin, helpless sound tore from its throat. The pain didn’t flare or fade but held it in a crushing certainty that pinned every nerve in place and left it shaking. Worse, it wasn’t granted the desire of death but was left conscious, and unable to resist the torture.

Vaeron recoiled a fraction in irritation. Those lifeless eyes pinned it to a spot, watching the torture upsurge as controlled. The longer the torture unfolded, the colder he became.