Chapter 82 Quickening
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Suzuri had once imagined that the world she wished to restore was no mere echo of memory—no fading dream—but something carved deep into her very soul. Yet what manifested before Yuuri was neither her hometown nor the capital of eighty years past. It was darkness—pure and infinite.
The instant he recognized it, the world seemed to lurch. Pain pulsed through his skull—THROB, THROB—as if his thoughts were colliding. He knelt without meaning to, legs failing him, warm liquid soaking through his robes. The air stank faintly of life and metal.
”Ahh… forgive me.” The words slipped out before thought could follow. But to whom was he apologizing?
Then came confusion, his body rebelling against itself—arms twitching, knees buckling. He gasped and choked, face sinking into the mucous pool. For a terrible moment, even the act of lifting his head was denied him. Terror flowered where breath should be.
”Yuuri! Are you unharmed!?” A familiar voice rang clear through the fluid murk. At once, something white pressed beneath him—soft yet firm—seeking to lift his body. He clung to it blindly, desperate. The world steadied.
He tried to speak her name, but what spilled forth were broken syllables: “Auh… eua… uh!?” Speech itself had deserted him. His flailing arm struck something—someone—and a faint cry escaped. Suzuri fell soundlessly, obedient even in pain.
”My lord, please be at ease,” she murmured, voice unwavering though her form trembled. “This one’s body is forged to endure. Move not yet—thy limbs have forgotten grace.”
Yuuri could only pant. But slowly, focus returned. Through the haze, he saw her face hovering above, smiling softly—pain hidden beneath courtesy.
”Yes,” Suzuri whispered, “in time thy body shall remember itself. Thou hast done this before, my lord, and shall do so again.”
He let his eyelids fall, finally submitting to stillness. The warmth of her presence anchored him. When sensation crept back, he realized he had been resting upon her lap. Around them—motion. The walls themselves pulsed with life. Veins ran beneath their slick surface, throbbing in slow rhythm. A living womb of meat. Horror and awe intertwined.
”This… this is your domain,” he breathed. “The cage of flesh you desired.”
And indeed, no greater danger lurked—only the slow pulse of memory. He exhaled.
”I… hurt you, didn’t I?”
”Pray, trouble not thy heart,” Suzuri replied, bowing slightly though she knelt in slime. “This one, too, erred—rejoicing to see thee return. Had I perceived thy soul sooner, such panic need not have seized thee.”
When strength at last returned to his limbs, Yuuri raised himself. Suzuri followed, serene despite the mucus clinging to her ceremonial robe. Even her pristine white sleeves now glimmered wetly, yet she did not flinch.
”Then tell me,” Yuuri said. “Where is this place? Why did my body… betray me so?”
Suzuri lowered her gaze, fingers tracing the faint sigil glowing upon her abdomen. “Here, my lord, is where thou didst grant me thy mark,” she said reverently. “The cradle of my servitude.”
And Yuuri remembered—the void where she had been petrified, the contract sealed in despair. Once only darkness. Now this: the living, breathing interior of his own sin.
Suzuri, cheeks flushed, leaned closer—her devotion palpable. Even beneath her thick white robe, the curve of her form pressed gently against him, not of desire, but of faith unbroken.
”This is the place where thou didst breathe new life into one already ended♡ The place where these shattered limbs were granted anew♡ Though I am forbidden to demean myself, how divine the joy that filled me, knowing I had been mended into usefulness again♡”
Yuuri’s voice quivered. “I—I see. It’s precious to you, that’s why your domain remade it. But why did my body—why couldn’t I move when I arrived here?”
Though the pain had dulled, memory of it throbbed still. He could hardly imagine this as a place of affection. Yet Suzuri leaned closer, her bliss unbroken, breath warm against his ear.
”‘Tis only natural, my lord♡ This fleshly space is all of thee. To move but the human shell whilst neglecting the whole is folly♡ Had it been Kurage-dono, perchance it might differ, yet I desire that my master command all of himself—and thus, all of me♡”
Yuuri froze. “All of me…? Then this, this writhing mass—am I this monster?”
He could see too much—the air, the scent of Suzuri, the rhythm of her pulse. No light, yet all illuminated. Every wall, every beat, was himself. The lone foreign thing within this place was Suzuri. The rest was unified, the Familial Workshop system humming through him. Horror bloomed.
Suzuri clasped her hands, eyes agleam. “A blessing most rare♡ Should Yuuri learn to master these forms, perchance thou couldst… love me anew, as oft as thou wilt♡”
”But—these things… what good are they? They’re hideous—”
Her smile faltered not. “Ah, my lord speaks as one still waking♡ For these tendrils may please or punish as thy heart decrees♡ From any wall, as many as thou wishest, in any form thy will imagines♡”
A sharp ache lanced through his skull. The moment he envisioned them, the flesh responded: tentacles unfurled in droves, gleaming and twitching, their shapes obscene in their variety. Some tipped with teeth, others with supple fingers, others lined with barbs. Information poured into his mind—instinctive knowledge of what each could do, how pleasure and agony mingled in their grasp.
Suzuri shuddered in rapture. “Ahh♡ These very limbs once crushed my insolence and taught me the bliss of surrender♡”
Yuuri’s breath caught. “You—endured this…?”
Their voices overlapped—his in horror, hers in joy. The world pulsed around them like a living heartbeat.
When his hesitation lingered, Suzuri narrowed her crimson eyes, lips curling. “Nay, my lord, rob not thy servant of delight. For mastery’s sake, thou must command them wholly. Come—let us play a chase♡”
Before he could answer, the main tendril binding her vanished. She whispered behind him, “Behind thee, Yuuri-dono♡”
A sudden touch pierced his back like claws through flesh—sharp, electric. He spun, too slow, to see Suzuri standing free among the coiling tentacles, smiling. Even the workshop’s laws bent to her will.
”This much I may escape through simple art♡ But bind my joints apart, and I am thine to punish♡ Should not this errant servant be seized and chastised?”
Yuuri’s eyes darkened. “Very well. Then lend me your strength, Suzuri. For mastery’s sake—I’ll not hold back.”
He focused. The realm hummed. The tentacles stirred, sluggish at first, then synchronizing with his will. Pain throbbed once more—proof of connection. Soon they would move with him, swift enough to catch even her.
Suzuri smiled like an angel awaiting judgment. Around her, the living walls trembled, poised for the hunt.
For now, he could not yet touch her—but he would. The pursuit had begun.
Notes:
• Suzuri – A scout who braved the labyrinth and lured a petrifying monster to protect her friends, she endured long isolation while frozen in stone and relied on inner magic to preserve her sense of self.
• Kurage – A jelly-like monster that produced magic and restrained Suzuri in the darkness, it showed intelligence in battle and used tentacles to outwit and capture its target.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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