章節 5: Power Unleashed

The following weeks were a blur of exhaustion and unease. The boy continued his duties in Madame Rose's estate, but her words haunted him. "You're special… power buried deep within you." Every time she looked at him, it was with that same unnerving intensity, like she was waiting for something.

And then, one night, it happened.

He had just finished his evening chores, his body aching as usual, when two of Madame Rose's guards appeared at the door to the servant quarters. They didn't say a word as they grabbed him roughly by the arms and dragged him down the hall. The other servants watched in terrified silence, their eyes wide with fear.

The boy's heart pounded in his chest. He knew where they were taking him.

Madame Rose was waiting for him in the same dimly lit room where they had spoken before. But this time, the air was thick with something darker, more sinister. Strange symbols had been drawn on the floor in red ink—no, not ink. Blood. His stomach twisted at the sight.

"Ah, you've arrived," Rose said, her voice smooth as silk. She was standing by a table covered in gleaming, wicked-looking tools—knives, needles, and instruments he couldn't even begin to name.

His blood ran cold.

He struggled against the guards, but they were too strong, forcing him to his knees in the center of the room. Chains rattled as they clamped metal cuffs around his wrists, then pierced metal hooks through his hands, "Arggghhhh" he screamed, tears running down his face, the pain unbearable as blood trickled down his hands to his torso. With the pull of a lever, he was hung by his hands facing her. Pain and panic clawed at his throat, but he bit it back, trying to not be seen helpless, broken. He didn't know what she wanted, but he could feel the threat in the air, thick and suffocating.

"I told you before, didn't I?" Madame Rose said, stepping closer. "There's something inside you. Something waiting to be awakened."

Her eyes gleamed with an unnatural light as she picked up a thin, cruel-looking blade from the table. The boy's breath quickened, his heart slamming against his ribs.

"You'll thank me for this," she murmured, her smile twisting into something monstrous. "Once the power is yours, you will be a glorious sacrifice."

She stood beside him, dragging the blade across his skin in a slow, deliberate motion. A sharp sting followed by a warm trickle of blood. His hands clenched into fists as he bit back a cry. She wasn't just cutting him—she was searching for something.

The pain intensified as she continued, carving lines into his flesh digging into his flesh with her hands, muttering strange incantations under her breath. His vision blurred, his head spinning from the blood loss. He couldn't hold back the scream that tore from his throat.

"Ah," Rose cooed, leaning closer. "I can feel it. You're close."

'No, this couldn't be happening'. The boy's mind screamed in protest. He had survived so much already—being sold into slavery, the cruelty of this world. He couldn't die here, not like this, not at the hands of this woman.

But then, something shifted.

It started as a faint warmth deep in his chest, a slow burn that spread through his veins like wildfire. The pain didn't fade, but something else rose to meet it—something darker, more primal. His body trembled, and his vision turned red, blurring at the edges.

A roar echoed in his mind, not his own, but something deep, something ancient. Power surged through him, like a dam breaking inside his very being.

The cuffs around his wrists snapped with a violent clang, his hands which were hooked through the metal ripped as he yanked them with force twisting and shattering as if it were made of paper. His body convulsed, wracked with pain and power all at once, as tendrils of dark, writhing biomass erupted from his skin, wrapping around his arms and legs. The sensation was overwhelming—like his very flesh was coming apart and re-forming, changing into something far beyond human.

Madame Rose stepped back, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe, fear and obsessive madness. "Yes… yes! That's it! The power is awakening!"

But she had no idea what she had unleashed.

The boy looked up at her, his vision now filled with the dark, shifting mass of tendrils that coiled around his limbs. His breathing was ragged, his mind barely able to comprehend what was happening to him. But one thing was clear: he wasn't just a slave anymore.

He was something more.

And she was going to die for what she had done to him.

With a snarl that didn't even sound human, the boy lunged at her. His hands, now transformed into sharp, jagged claws made of the same black biomass, slashed through the air. Rose barely had time to scream before the tendrils wrapped around her body, pulling her toward him with terrifying speed.

"No! Wait!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with terror. "I gave you this power! Guards, guards!".

But there was no stopping it now.

The biomass twisted and writhed, tightening its grip as it enveloped her. In one swift, violent motion, the boy's claws tore through her chest, ripping her apart in a spray of blood and flesh. Her body crumpled to the floor, lifeless, the look of shock frozen on her face, the same tendrils somehow started enveloping her body, it was as if they were eating her, consuming her. As that happened, the boy felt immense power coursing through him. And he reveled in its sensation, the surge of power flowing through him felt liberating after a long time of being a powerless little lamb.

The room was silent, save for the sound of his ragged breathing. He stood there, trembling, staring at the bloodstained floor, at what he had done. The power still coursed through him, but it was quieter now, settling like a weight in his chest.

He had killed her, he had consumed her, more like whatever was in him did.

For a brief moment, he felt nothing but the cold satisfaction of survival. But then, reality crashed down around him. He couldn't stay here. The other servants, the guards—they would find her body. They would come for him.

Without wasting another second, he turned and bolted for the door, his body still partially covered in the dark, twisting tendrils. He could hear the alarmed shouts of the guards as he sprinted through the corridors, but they were too slow, too unprepared for what he had become. He killed whatever came his way, his brain too high on the power coursing through him. As two guards came in his view, he grabbed one by his hand and the other was swiped up with him by his claws piercing through his stomach.

With a guard in each hand, he ran, using them as human shield.

The front gates of the estate came into view, and with a surge of strength, the boy threw the guard impaled by his claws to the side. He threw the other in front and kicked him to the gate, the body splattered into pieces after crashing into the gates, breaking them, his body leaping over the estate walls and into the open fields beyond. He ran without looking back, the cool night air stinging his face as the world blurred around him.

He didn't stop until the estate was far behind him, the forest ahead looming like a dark sanctuary. Finally, he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath. His body was still trembling, the last remnants of the biomass retreating back into his skin, leaving him exhausted and alone.

As the wind rustled through the trees, the boy clenched his fists, staring down at his bloodied hands. He was free. But at what cost?

And now, with the power that had awakened inside him, there was no turning back.

The titans were coming.