As for who was in his claws, it was none other than the matron; only, she was no longer the lower sovereign she once was. Now, she was but a pitiful, transparent figure identical to her former self, a soul on the brink of fading out of existence.
She remained silent at her captor's disdain, only gazing at him with indescribable venom, venom laced with hidden mockery and joy. The joy of knowing that soon her captor would experience a far greater suffering than that he had inflicted upon her.
'Soon you will come to realize your greatest folly, the folly of daring to set foot within the source of evil.' She laughed chaotically in her mind, for she knew that she was dead, but knowing that her captor would follow in her footsteps, knowing that he had fallen for her schemes filled her with joy.
Suddenly, her mind drifted to the moments before she ventured to the crab world. to that little demon who had given her the greatest pleasure she had ever received. She couldn't help but wonder, would her situation be different if she hadn't foolishly reserved her strength for her upcoming world travel, gone all out, caught him, and spent the remaining months with him like she had planned to....
Suddenly, Vadnuk's head snapped to the east as he locked onto one of the insects he had ignored, an insect in the air, an insect daring to gaze upon him without his permission.
Without a second thought, he decided to punish it. His ice-blue eyes shone with killing intent. Then he took a step forward. As he raised his foot, the very space before him shrank. When he completed the step, he was five kilometers away.
Just like that, he continued swaggering toward the insect.
If only he knew… the moment he entered the abyss, a sleeping monstrosity had awakened.
Somewhere, in a place composed entirely of bloody filth and silence, slumbered an indescribable demon. The demon opened its millions of disgusting eyes and cast its gaze upon Veal's cradle. Then, its insidious mouth arched into an indescribable grin.
Then it vanished.
At that very moment, Vadnuk froze as indescribable fear washed over him, a fear so heavy that his body began trembling uncontrollably.
The next moment, the world went dark, as if something had put out the sun.
He slowly raised his head toward where the sun once stood. As he did, his instincts screamed at him, not to look up, not to see what blocked the light. But his body wouldn't listen. It was as if something held his chin, lifting it forcefully.
In but a moment, his head was tilted enough for him to see it, the monstrosity that blotted out the sun.
His mind stuttered, as it tried to process what he was gazing at.
When it did, his eyes dimmed, his bravado extinguished, and he dropped to his knees.
'Wh-what is this?' he stuttered in absolute dread and hopelessness.
Suddenly, the monstrosity laughed,
"Sniffff—sniffff… Oh, the sweet scent of a pristine INSECT… Hehehehehe!"
Its voice was like the detonation of a chaotic explosion laced with vileness. It was so heavy his mind began to collapse. Blue blood spilled from his nose, eyes, ears, and web-like cracks appeared on his body. He fell from the sky like a broken bird.
and,
PASH!
The barrier surrounding the cradle shattered like glass.
And just before he struck the ground, Vadnuk felt an irresistible force envelop him. After which his world spun, and the next thing he knew, he was prostrating before a monstrosity he could not describe.
He knelt, upper body tilted backwards, and his blurred eyes trembled as they gazed at what they could perceive of the monster, a darkness so deafening and horrifying it brought his worst fears to life, and those fears devoured his already broken mind whole.
Crunch!
He unconsciously bellowed one last, gut-wrenching scream before his mind completely collapsed.
"AAAAAHHH!"
Seeing how easily he crumbled, the monstrosity laughed.
"Hehehehehe… so feeble, yet so daring to defy the rules of the abyss."
Then it opened its world-devouring mouth and consumed the empty shell of a corpse, which was like a speck of dust compared to it.
And vanished, just as seamlessly, as it came.
.....
{A day later.}
Veal's eyelid twitched a few times before slowly opening. His eyes darted around the darkness that encased him, then toward the passed-out Velra and Alexandra, tightly wrapped in his arms.
"We survived… I survived… praised be the Ocean of Lust," he whispered weakly. He felt utterly drained because of the vital blood he had lost. Fortunately, his heart had stopped burning the moment he passed out, or else, he would've burned himself to death.
'How long have I been unconscious?' he wondered.
A question he could not answer without surfacing.
He looked upwards, considering whether to rise.
A second later, he lowered his head. He decided to wait. Who knew if the one who enforced the abyss's rules still lingered above?
Sometime later, Velra regained consciousness.
Her crimson eyes snapped open. They flickered with confusion before settling, realizing she had survived, that he had survived, and that she was still in his embrace.
She gazed into his beautiful purple eyes. Her lips trembled as she tried to speak, but before she could speak, he devoured her lips.
He shifted, positioning his pulsating rod at her entrance and thrust, parting her folds.
Her eyes flew wide open. She moaned into his mouth as orgasmic pleasure shocked through every fiber of her body.
*pah *pah *pah*
He ravaged her mercilessly. He needed to recover. Each collision bloomed treadmills of lust energy. His heart devoured some, replenishing his lost blood, while the rest flowed into Velra, healing her torn flesh.
A day later, Alexandra awoke.
Realizing they had survived, the first thing she did was embrace Veal, burying her beautiful face into his chest and wept.
She thought she would never see him again. never feel his warmth again, a fate she could not bear.
Not three seconds into her sobs, Veal spread her legs and drove into her warm, tight folds.
She moaned loudly, smiling through her tears, while the crest on her shimmered, devouring lust energy.
Another day passed unknowingly. Veal decided it was time to surface.
His heart ignited once more. Vital energy blazed around him, slowly melting the sand encasing them. Velra followed suit, her aura flaring.
Together, they dug like sand worms. Their claws and tails moved at after-image speeds, pushing the sand to the sides.
Alexandra was tightly cradled in one of his arms.
Halfway through their ascent, they noticed the sand had turned black.
They ignored it, deciding to investigate once they surfaced.
Hours later…
"!?"
Their eyes widened in shock at the almost unrecognizable world around them.
A suffocating darkness blanketed the land. Even with their demonic eyes, they could barely see beyond a kilometer.
They instinctively looked up at the sun. What they saw made their hearts skip a beat, then drummed.
BA-DUMP!
The abyssal sun was still there… but something blocked its everlasting glow. Something they could only describe with one word.
"Stain."
Something demonically ungodly had stained the sky before the sun. Like black ink spilled across a white canvas.
"The Enforcer was there." Veal and Alexandra thought simultaneously.
Veal's nose twitched. he suddenly noticed the abyssal air was way filthier than before. Not just the air, everything.
He glanced at the black sand and muttered,
"Polluted."