Chapter 774 The Baroness In The Flesh
As Lenny and Victor approached the heart of the city, the sight that unfurled before them was one of ominous grandeur.
A colossal dark castle loomed in the distance, its silhouette a stark testament to the malevolence that had taken root in this place. The castle was unlike any Lenny had ever encountered; it was not just its size but the aura of dread it exuded.
The closer they got, the more the castle seemed to pulsate with a life of its own, as if breathing in the despair that surrounded it.
The walls, shrouded in shadows, appeared to be alive with writhing figures. From afar, it had seemed like mere architectural embellishments, but now, it was horrifyingly clear that these were not designs but depictions of agony.
Faces etched into the stone seemed to scream silently, their expressions twisted in eternal torment, pleading with those who dared approach to flee.
The air around the castle was thick, charged with an energy that made the hair on the back of Lenny's neck stand.
Lenny was a very strong man, but even he got such a reaction from this place.
Indeed, they had reached the Baroness's home, the heart of her domain.
A chilling wind whispered through the air, carrying with it the faint echoes of cries and wails, as if the castle itself was recounting tales of the horrors it had witnessed and inflicted.
On reaching, lenny and Victor noticed that the subplane pulled them back to Earth.
For some reason, flight was not exactly allowed in the area and even if they could do it, it was not for long.
Yet, another rule of the subplane.
Even the ground seemed to reject their presence, the path to the castle a winding trail of despair that few had traversed and none returned to tell the tale.
Each step they took was heavy, not just with the weight of their resolve but with the oppressive force that the castle exerted, as though it was aware of their approach and relished in the fear it inspired.
This was a place forsaken by light and hope, where darkness reigned supreme, and every stone and shadow held a story of suffering.
As they moved forward, Lenny couldn't shake off the feeling that they were not just entering a physical domain, but crossing into a realm where fear and darkness were sovereign, and they were the unwelcome intruders.
The sight that greeted Lenny and Victor was beyond the realm of their darkest imaginings.
As they stepped through what felt like a threshold between worlds, a bubble of sorts, they found themselves staring at a spectacle that seemed to defy the very laws of nature and magic.
The giant castle, already a beacon of dread, now played backdrop to something far more sinister. Before it stood two spheres, gargantuan in scale, their presence exuding a palpable sense of power and foreboding.
The first sphere, enveloped in shadows and a roiling red aura, seemed to pulsate with an inner life.
Within its murky depths, a heart of colossal size beat slowly, each throb sending ripples of dark energy cascading through the air.
The sight of it, a heart untethered to any being and yet alive, was unsettling in its impossibility.
The heart was impaled by six hundred and sixty-six rods, each as thick as pillars and inscribed with runes that glowed with a sinister red light, snaking about the rods as if little organisms living a quiet life of theur own.
These rods did not just pierce the heart; they seemed to be draining it, leeching the chaos magic within and dispersing it into the ground below.
The arrangement of the rods, the number, and the dark energy they channeled spoke of a ritual or a purpose that was malevolent beyond comprehension.
At the core of this heart, three inverted eyes arranged in a triangle stared back at them, a silent witness to the darkness that was being fed into the very soil of this realm.
The eyes, unblinking and omniscient, seemed to peer into their very souls, leaving a trail of unease that was hard to shake off.
Lenny and Victor, despite their experiences and the battles they had faced, could not help but feel a chill run down their spines at this sight.
It was clear that they were standing at the precipice of something ancient and evil, a power that had been set into motion long before their arrival.
This was no mere decoration or show of strength; it was a statement, a beacon of dark intent from the Baroness herself.
The heart, with its rhythmic beats and the rods that siphoned its magic, was not just an artifact of power; it was a key or a lock to something even they could not yet comprehend.
As they stood there, taking in the magnitude of what lay before them, the reality of their mission weighed heavily upon them. This was more than a battle for territory or revenge; it was a fight against forces that sought to reshape the very fabric of their world.
After all, the next sphere was a striking contrast to the first.
The second sphere which was a stark departure from the dark malevolence of the first held a being of such ethereal beauty and serenity that even in its obvious state of torment, it seemed to radiate a light of purity and grace.
This humanoid figure, with its majestic wings folded and pinned, managed to evoke a sense of divine calm amidst its clear suffering.
The angel's eyes, a deep blue that shimmered with an inner light, seemed to hold galaxies within them, their beauty transcending the physical realm.
These eyes, though marked by exhaustion and the weight of untold sorrows, still retained a hint of the celestial power that this being once wielded freely.
Lenny found himself momentarily lost in their depths, feeling an inexplicable pull towards the peace they promised.
The skin of the angel, resembling finely milled white sand or perhaps the delicate dust of stars, shimmered subtly, casting a gentle glow around its form. This was a creature not of this earth but of the heavens, brought low by forces cruel and unyielding.
The seven thick white rods that impaled the angel, anchoring it to this sphere, were inscribed with runes that glowed a sinister red. Blood, a dark blue color, seemed to seep from the points of contact, a stark contrast to the pure white of the angel's form. These rods, particularly the one driven through its forehead and abdomen, spoke of a deliberate attempt to suppress and contain the angel's divine essence.
The additional rods driven through the angel's wings, pinning them to the ground, were a symbolic gesture as much as a physical restraint, stripping the angel of its freedom and its connection to the divine.
The bloodied runes on these rods suggested a corruption of something sacred, a perversion of the angel's inherent purity.
Lenny, standing before this sphere, subconsciously felt a mix of awe and deep sadness. This angel, a being of light and divine grace, had been subjected to unimaginable torment. The juxtaposition of the two spheres, one containing a heart of darkness and the other a being of light, both bound and restrained, painted a picture of balance and conflict of cosmic proportions.
It was clear to Lenny that these spheres and their captives were central to the Baroness's plans, embodying the duality of chaos and order, darkness and light.
These were obviously the source of magic he had felt from underneath the earth when they arrived at this place.
Somehow, the asmodeus family had managed to mix such extremities together to harvest their powers for their own personal gain.
The angel, even in its weakened state, represented a piece of the puzzle that Lenny knew he needed to understand, comprehend and consume for him yo face what was to come ahead.
However, looking at the angel, the only thing he felt was peace and a pulling away from violence.
He even felt the need to rush and protect it. These were unnatural feelings that he should not have.
As Lenny and Victor beheld this sight, the weight of their task became ever more apparent.
They were not just fighting for their lives or for revenge; they were embroiled in a battle that touched upon the very fabric of creation itself. The angel, with its sad yet beautiful eyes, seemed to silently plead for release, for justice.
Surprisingly, the heart gave the impression that it pleaded for mire punishment.
At this moment, Victor patted lenny, drawing his attention to a dark throne made of living, bent and remolded humans, fixed right in between the two spheres and the figure of Coco lying on the ground with deep holes all over his body.
On the throne was the disastrously beautiful Baroness.
Her every movement spoke volumes if her tenderness and softness.
She almost looked fragile. But somehow both men felt a sense of lust towards her.
Like a raging of their blood to mount her and take her.
The moment this feeling was roused, Lenny willed a blade and stabbed it into his own belly....
(Author's note: finally, we face her. So golden tickets please.)
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m