Chapter 14: The Obsidian Cathedral and the Twisted Vow

"Damn... it..." he rasped, his voice barely a whisper as dark spots danced across his eyes.

Through his fading, hazy vision, he caught the faint sight of her smooth, pale legs taking slow, rhythmic steps toward his prone body.

Then, everything went pitch-black.

When Ren slowly forced his eyes open, his vision swam with heavy, disorienting blurs. The air hit his lungs like ice, thick with the damp, ancient smell of moss and iron. He tried to reach out to steady his balance, but his arms refused to move.

He blinked, pulling his head back in sudden panic.

He was seated upright in a cold, heavy wooden chair. Thickets of thick, dark leather straps bound his chest tight against the backrest. Worse, his thighs were pinned flat, and his wrists were secured rigidly to the armrests. The binding went all the way down to his hands—his fingers were wrapped tightly in layers of reinforced leather strips, locking each joint flat so he couldn’t even curl his palms into a fist.

"Where... where the hell am I?" Ren gasped, his heart hammering against his ribs.

He jerked his upper body, craning his neck to survey his surroundings.

To his left and right stood long, parallel rows of ancient, dust-covered stone pews stretching deep into the gloom. Towering stained-glass windows depicting grotesque, forgotten beasts framed the massive hall, letting in the ominous crimson light of the red moon outside.

He was trapped right at the center aisle of a hollow, silent cathedral.

"Damn it!" Ren snarled, throwing his weight side to side.

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!

The heavy chair creaked violently against the damp stone floor, but the bindings held firm, biting sharply into his skin.

"Shit...!" He gritted his teeth, his breathing growing rapid and shallow.

It was useless. The sheer weight of the chair, combined with the merciless precision of the restraints, rendered physical struggle completely pointless. Every desperate twitch only drove the leather deeper into his flesh, cutting off the circulation to his fingers.

He closed his eyes, taking a long, forced breath through his nose to steady his raging pulse.

Calm down... think.

He cast his eyes forward. Past the rows of stone pews lay an elevated altar carved from polished black marble. On either side of the grand altar, twin arched corridors plunged deep into the rear structure of the cathedral.

He remembered the fight on the cobblestone path—the sheer speed, the lethal purple aura, and the violent blow to his jaw that took his consciousness. The mysterious woman had knocked him out cold and dragged him here.

But why?

Ren searched through every corner of the previous owner’s memories. There was no record of a woman like her. Was she an ancient enemy of the original Ren Celestial? Or was she connected to the former Princess Evelyn? The deeper he dug, the less sense the situation made.

His rescue mission for the princess had dissolved into a nightmare. He was separated from Ryu, Reika, and Miku, completely isolated in a hostile dimension, and bound hand and foot.

’Even if I use the System to construct a blade or a wire-cutter... it’s impossible,’ Ren thought, staring down at his immobilized hands. My fingers are completely pinned flat. I can’t grasp a tool even if it materializes in my palm.

"Dammit..."

TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.

The crisp, deliberate clicking of high heels echoed out from the left corridor beside the altar.

Ren’s posture instantly locked up. His pupils dilated as his eyes darted toward the dark stone archway.

From the shadows stepped the woman.

She walked with an agonizing, fluid grace, her long off-shoulder black dress swaying softly with every step. Her deep purple hair sat in an elegant, messy bun, framing an ethereal, striking face. But what made Ren’s stomach drop was her expression—a wide, unnaturally brilliant smile stretched across her lips, her glowing purple eyes locked onto him with a terrifying, unhinged intensity.

It was the look of someone consumed by pure, unadulterated obsession.

She closed the distance between them, her gaze never leaving his face. With every step she took down the aisle, the cold atmosphere in the cathedral seemed to compress around Ren’s chest.

She stopped inches from his chair.

Ren’s face went pale. He leaned his head as far back as the headrest allowed, his jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached.

The woman leaned down slowly, her soft, fragrant breath brushing against his cheek. She reached out a pair of delicate, pale fingers, gently cupping his jaw with a touch so surprisingly tender it made a shiver run down his spine.

"Ren..." she purred, her voice dripping with sweet, intoxicating affection. "Finally... after all this time, I can look at you again."

Ren’s eyes widened in sheer shock.

There was no mistake in the radiant glow of her eyes or the subtle trembling of her fingers. It was an obsessive, terrifyingly deep devotion aimed directly at this body.

"Do you remember me...?" she whispered softly, bringing her face so close that their noses nearly brushed.

Feeling her icy breath on his skin, Ren recoiled, thrusting his head backward into the wood. "You crazy bitch... untie me right now!" he barked, his voice echoing loudly off the high arched ceiling.

The woman froze. Then, her shoulders began to tremble.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!"

She threw her head back, bursting into a loud, shrill laugh that echoed maniacally through the empty cathedral. The sudden sound was sharp enough to make Ren’s blood run cold.

Then, as instantly as a flickering flame, her laughter snapped off.

Her head dropped down. Her expression shifted into a heartbreaking, sorrowful pout, her purple eyes brimming with shimmering tears as she stared at him.

The sheer velocity of her emotional shift sent a wave of raw horror down Ren’s spine. His heart hammered against his sternum. ’This woman isn’t just dangerous... she’s completely insane.’

She stepped closer, her teary eyes turning impossibly dark as her voice dropped into a low, terrifying whisper.

"How could you say something so cruel to me, my love?" she murmured, her delicate fingers sliding down his throat to rest lightly over his collarbone. "After everything I’ve done to bring you to my side..."

Her expression hardened, the sorrow instantly evaporating into a cold, ruthless sneer. "Listen to me very carefully, Ren. You belong to me now. You will stay right here, by my side, and obey my every desire."

She leaned in, her lips touching his earlobe as her tone turned razor-sharp. "If you refuse me... if you dare try to run away or look at another woman... I will snap your arms and legs. I’ll tear your tongue out so you can never shout at me again, and I’ll feed your flesh piece by piece to the beasts outside until there is nothing left of you but a hollow shell that belongs only to me."

Ren’s chest heaved as panic flared in his veins. Sweat beaded along his forehead, dripping down his temple in a cold trickle.

Seeing the droplet of sweat on his skin, the woman’s expression softened into a sweet, seductive grin. She leaned forward and gently licked the bead of sweat straight off his temple, her warm tongue trailing softly against his cold skin.

Ren shuddered violently, his throat tightening in complete disgust and shock.

She pulled back, offering him a satisfied, flirtatious smile. Slowly, she raised her right hand and snapped her slender fingers.

SNAP!

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The heavy stone floor of the cathedral trembled violently under a sequence of massive, thunderous footsteps.

From the shadow of the right corridor emerged a colossal, dark figure. It was a massive humanoid beast, standing nearly eight feet tall, its grotesque, muscular frame covered in jagged, obsidian-like bone protrusions. Its face was a nightmare of twisted ivory plates, featuring a row of glowing crimson eyes that locked onto Ren with icy, carnivorous hunger.

It wasn’t like the low-tier Aberrants from the cave, nor was it the towering titan from his first day in this world. It was a completely new, mutated variant—an Apex Aberrant radiating sheer, crushing physical threat.

BOOM!

The beast came to a halt right beside the altar, its red eyes staring down at Ren as a low, guttural growl vibrated through the stone floor.

Ren instinctively pushed his feet against the floor, his chair scraping back a few inches in a frantic, involuntary surge of fear.

The woman chuckled softly at his reaction. She stepped up to his side, placing a delicate hand smoothly on Ren’s shoulder, pressing down with just enough weight to halt his struggling.

"Shh... don’t be frightened, my darling," she whispered playfully, leaning her red lips down to his ear, her voice carrying a sweet, intoxicating cadence. "He won’t bite... as long as you behave yourself."

She ran her nails lightly down his chest strap, her glowing purple eyes locking onto his with absolute possession. "Just be a good boy and give me what I want... and I’ll make sure nobody in this world ever hurts you again."

Ren sat frozen, his jaw set firm as cold sweat soaked through his shirt.

To any ordinary man, being captive to a woman of such staggering, otherworldly beauty might have felt like a twisted fantasy. But Ren, feeling the immense pressure of her hand on his shoulder and the carnivorous gaze of the eight-foot monster looming above them, knew the absolute truth:

One wrong answer, and this woman wouldn’t hesitate to end his life.