Chapter 61: Severance of Form II

Lucrezia’s breath caught when the mask came off his face.

Even stripped of his essence and revealed without the glimmering lines that had once marked him as something untouchable, his face was undeniably striking.

Harsh angles softened by the curve of his lips, sharp cheekbones, and hazel eyes that seemed too vast, too deep, and too aware beyond mortal glory. Scars streaked across his skin, resonant and unappealing, but they only added weight to his allure, and his proof of resilience rather than a mere flaw.

Her gaze lingered on the faint tremor at the corner of his jaw, the slight curve of a scar running down from his temple to his neck where his hair, as dark as obsidian, fell unevenly over his forehead, yet it only emphasized the strength in the lines of his face. She had never seen him like this… exposed, bare, yet undeniably commanding.

It took her a while to adjust to his true form without his usual mask, and Lucrezia couldn’t help but question how a creature can look frightening and enchanting at the same time.

A slow, deliberate exhale left her as her mind tried to reconcile the dichotomy: the creature she knew and the force she now faced. Again, she wasn’t alone in that realization.

The crowd, previously held in breathless anticipation, let out a shiver of awe. Even without the distortions of his essence, Vaeron drew attention as if the air itself bent toward him. Wasn’t it meant to sever his form?

“Is his essence still stripped off without his mask?”

The woman nodded in response. “Yes. His mask was built to control his Sin and without it, and his essence, there’s no power left to protect or defend him automatically. His body is simply on its own,”

Lucrezia absorbed the statement slowly, letting it settle in her mind. Then why did she feel… She brushed the thought as quickly as it came.

She had assumed the mask was some kind of ceremonial ornament, a fashion of a Sin or perhaps a symbol of his status. She had never realized that it had been a cage, holding in check a force that could tear the world itself. And now, with his Sin stripped away, the power that had made him untouchable, and made the crowd bend and shiver in awe, was totally gone.

Vaeron stood there unguarded, yet still entirely commanding. His body alone bore him now, but fragile in ways it had never been before.

Lucrezia’s chest tightened. She had known him as a creature of power, almost untouchable. But this… this was something else entirely. She had never witnessed him truly vulnerable, and yet the sight of him, stripped down to nothing but his body and a fragile piece of mind should have enticed her to watch. Rather, it provoked a fear that mingled with awe.

The challengers shifted, cracking knuckles and stretching sinewy limbs. Each exhaled a low, guttural sound, with anticipation thick in their movements, yet Vaeron didn’t flinch for a moment.

He simply stood in the center, gripping the hilt of his sword, its steel gleaming faintly under the flickering lights of the amphitheater. His stance was measured and controlled, yet beneath it, Lucrezia noticed the tension coiled in his muscles, betraying the weight of the trial, and her heart sank.

Without his Sin, the edges of his power were gone, leaving his body the only weapon; and the strain of that truth was already visible in the tight set of his jaw, the flare of his nostrils as he drew shallow, deliberate breaths.

H-He wouldn’t make it, she trembled a thought. Gods, how could he when he could barely raise his sword properly?

“You worry for nothing,” The woman beside her said, and Lucrezia struggled to meet her gaze. She didn’t realise she’d spoken her thoughts out loud. “If there’s one thing I know about Vaeron, it’s that his impatience is often a strength.”

Lucrezia didn’t understand what that meant but she forced a nod. She could only hope sincerely that nothing bad would happen.

Across the obsidian floor, the four challengers formed their arc, armed with deadly weapons that made her stomach knot with unease.

The first carried a double-headed axe, the polished blades catching the light as the man shifted his grip. He rotated it in a practiced flourish, the weight of the steel obvious in the strain of his forearms, shooting a deadly look at the creature in the middle.

The second gripped a spiked flail, chains coiling from a jagged iron head that threatened to rend anything it struck. Its unpredictability made it a fearsome choice; one misstep, one lapse of focus, and the blunt, brutal spikes could crush or pierce with equal ease.

The third carried a long spear tipped with serrated steel, its shaft reinforced with iron bands. The weapon’s reach made it a predator’s tool, that would seem to force Vaeron to commit fully to every movement. He would have to calculate the distance perfectly, or he would be skewered where he stood.

The fourth wielded a pair of curved sabers, glinting like twin crescents in the arena light. Their wielder, the smallest of them all, moved with predatory fluidity.

Vaeron’s sword, by contrast, was a single, stark polished instrument, its edge sharp and unyielding. It was not enchanted, not enhanced by his Sin, yet even in its simplicity, it radiated the potential for devastation in his hands.

He shifted slightly, testing the weight of it, feeling the strain in his wrist, and the tug in his shoulder. Every swing, every block, would leave a mark on him, but so would every one of their weapons if he faltered.

Lucrezia hadn’t known dread and anticipation as much as she did now, when the arena held its breath again. Every eye traced the poised confrontation of the four challengers’ weapons. Vaeron’s sword caught the light once, twice, and he inhaled slowly, bracing for the storm that would erupt the instant movement began.

Right at that instance, a deep thunderous voice echoed in the amphitheater with a command that shook her bones and left a profound hold in stomach.

“Let the trial begin!”

Then, as one, the challengers lunged.

The movements were not a slow advance. It came as a sudden and brutal storm. The first two moved in tandem, sweeping low toward Vaeron’s legs, hoping to destabilize him from below.

He pivoted in a single, fluid motion, and sidestepped, the edge of his boot grazing the arm of the nearest challenger. It happened all so fast that Lucrezia barely caught the movement if not for the collective gasps that followed in the arena.

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