Chapter 122: The Cursed Chalice
"You... you are not my mother," Ren's voice was a ragged whisper, dripping with a mixture of heartbreak and murderous rage. But the realization had come too late.
The entity wearing his mother's face didn't respond with words. Her kind expression distorted into a jagged, unnatural grin. Before Ren could even raise his injured hand, the lady moved with a speed that defied the laws of physics. She grabbed Ren by the throat, her grip like heated iron, and slammed his head into the wooden wall with bone-shattering force.
CRACK.
The wall splintered, deep fissures radiating from the point of impact. Ren's world spun into darkness as a thick stream of blood began to coat his face. His body went limp, and he collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
"REN!" Mina screamed, her voice echoing through the dissolving house. She tried to rush forward, but the horror was just beginning.
One of the surviving Vaners, driven by sheer panic and loyalty, grabbed a heavy wooden chair and swung it with all his might at the lady's back. The chair shattered into a thousand pieces upon impact, but the woman didn't even flinch. She turned her head 180 degrees, her neck cracking loudly, and delivered a devastating kick to the man's chest. He was launched across the room, his body denting the far wall like a ragdoll.
With a flick of her wrist, the lady spawned a jagged, black-steel knife out of thin air. She threw it with pinpoint accuracy. The blade whistled through the air and buried itself deep into the Vaner's forehead before he could even hit the ground. He died instantly, his body sliding down the wall in a heap of gore.
Mina didn't stop firing. BANG! BANG! BANG! Every bullet hit the lady's chest, but they simply passed through her like she was made of smoke, leaving no wounds.
"Stay away from him!" Mina yelled, her hands trembling as she reloaded.
The lady ignored her. She turned toward the second Vaner, who was trying to draw his sword. In a blur of motion, she appeared in front of him, a second knife already in her hand. She drove the blade through his throat, twisting it with a sickening squelch. Another life was snuffed out in seconds.
"No... no, please!" Mina sobbed, the weight of the deaths crushing her spirit.
The lady began to walk toward the unconscious Ren. Mina, desperate to save the man she had grown to trust, sprinted forward to intercept her. But the entity simply raised her hand into the air.
Suddenly, an invisible force seized Mina. Her feet left the floor as she was lifted high into the air, her lungs gasping for breath as an unseen grip tightened around her throat. With a casual wave of her hand, the lady threw Mina across the room. Mina slammed into Adam Lee, who was struggling to stand near the door, and both of them tumbled into the corner in a tangle of limbs.
The lady reached Ren. She knelt beside him, her dark aura pulsing like a heartbeat. She bit into her own wrist, but instead of red blood, a thick, tar-like black substance began to flow. She forced Ren's mouth open and began to pour the corrupted blood down his throat.
"No! Stop it! What are you doing to him?!" Mina screamed, struggling to get up from under Adam.
Adam Lee's eyes widened as he watched the ritual. He knew what this was. This wasn't just a kill; it was a corruption. "She's turning him into a vessel... she's feeding him the essence of the Void!"
Adam knew he had only one choice. He was severely injured, but he still had his trump card. He closed his eyes, his remaining hand sparking with blue electricity.
"Mina, get down!" Adam roared. "THUNDER MODE: STRIKE!"
The roof of the house—already half-dissolved by the illusion—was obliterated as a massive bolt of sapphire-blue lightning descended from the heavens. The thunderclap was deafening, shaking the very foundations of the mountain. The lightning struck the lady directly, the sheer purity of the electrical energy vaporizing the dark aura and the entity within a millisecond.
There was a blinding flash, and then... silence.
The house was gone. The warmth, the carpets, and the cinnamon smell had vanished, leaving only a charred circle in the snow and the remains of two dead Vaners.
Mina scrambled toward Ren, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "Ren! Ren, wake up!"
Ren's body was cold—colder than the snow around him. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
Mina recoiled in horror, a gasp escaping her lips. Ren's eyes weren't sapphire anymore. They weren't even red. They were solid, abyssal black—no iris, no pupil, just two voids of darkness that seemed to swallow the light.
His body twitched once, a dark, oily vein pulsing on his neck, before he fell back into the snow, completely motionless.
Adam Lee collapsed beside them, his breath wheezing. "The lightning killed the ghost... but the blood... the blood is already inside him. We've saved his life, Mina, but I don't think the man who wakes up will be the Ren we know."
The storm roared louder, as if laughing at their small victory. Ren lay in the center of the devastation, a dark king reborn in the heart of a frozen nightmare.