Chapter 21: Worshipful, fanatical, and yandere
Morning light filtered through the stained glass, marking Liang Lai’s seventh sleepless night in the study.
Her second pair of golden pupils gleamed strangely in the dawn, and blood-red crystals at her fingertips shone like pearls.
This was the “Pure Shadow Seed,” crafted per the parchment’s instructions, fusing seven days of morning dew with her blood.
“Mom~”
Delucia burst in, her hexagram pupils locking onto the crystal.
Liang Lai swiftly hid it in her sleeve, noticing her left pinky had fully crystallized, now translucent.
“A little gift to help you sleep well.”
Liang Lai forced a smile, feeling a sting in her eyelids—a sign her third pair of pupils was awakening.
As dusk fell, she set up a ritual circle in the twins’ bedroom.
Seven silver candles, arranged like a star map, had wicks soaked in her blood crystal powder.
Asteris sat at the center, clutching her one-eyed teddy bear, her shadow thick and tangible.
“It might hurt a bit.”
Liang Lai placed the blood-red crystal on Asteris’s forehead, dizziness hitting her.
Her third pupil emerged, its translucent, pale iris casting a veil-like filter over her vision.
Through it, she saw a pointed-hat figure huddled in Asteris’s shadow.
As she chanted the spell, her power drained rapidly.
The blood-red crystal dissolved into golden-red threads, piercing Asteris’s shadow like living tendrils.
The shadow surged, emitting a piercing hiss.
Delucia lunged, wrapping her arms around Liang Lai’s waist.
Her inverted cross brooch pierced her palm, black blood dripping onto the circle’s edge, resonating with Liang Lai’s power.
“Mom, it hurts so much…”
Asteris’s voice trembled with tears, golden cracks spreading in her pale green pupils.
Liang Lai bit her tongue, spraying bloody mist onto the crystal.
A Saintess’s blood could ignite Darkborn.
Golden light flared, and the humanoid shadow was ripped out, dissolving into black smoke amid screams.
But Liang Lai knew this was temporary, a fleeting reprieve.
They’d return.
She suspected Claudius’s scheme tied to the papal throne, though she couldn’t fathom a villain’s mind.
In novels, they chased power or revenge.
The ritual left her drained.
Her third pupil faded, leaving a faint burn on her eyelids.
Asteris collapsed, her shadow returning to normal depth.
“Mom’s amazing!”
Delucia threw herself into Liang Lai’s arms, her hexagram pupils flashing with morbid fanaticism.
Asteris struggled up, tearing her teddy bear apart.
“Mom’s… our savior…!”
Liang Lai, pale as paper, barely stood.
She’d expelled the shadow’s intruder, but this was just the beginning.
At the ritual’s end, she’d seen a strange smile on Delucia’s lips.
As if she’d anticipated it.
Maybe… just fatigue playing tricks.
Delucia clung to Liang Lai’s shirt, knuckles white, breathing rapid.
Her hexagram pupils swelled, nearly filling her eye sockets, glowing an unnatural green.
“Mom, Mom!”
Her voice twisted with cloying sweetness, her nose rubbing Liang Lai’s neck like a greedy animal marking territory.
“Only Mom protects us like this. Only Mom…”
Asteris spiraled further.
Crawling to Liang Lai’s feet, her delicate features contorted in ecstasy.
Her cracked, pale green pupils gleamed, her mouth stretching unnaturally wide.
“We saw it!” she cried.
Delucia’s head snapped up, slender fingers trembling as they touched Liang Lai’s eyelids.
“It’s true!”
Her voice deepened, laced with eerie piety.
“Mom’s the one we’ve waited for… the one we’ll be with forever!”
The twins rushed forward, each clutching a side of Liang Lai.
Their rapid heartbeats and feverish skin pressed against her.
Delucia’s nails dug into her arms, drawing tiny beads of blood.
“Never leave us…”
Asteris’s tearful voice carried a strange smile.
She nibbled Liang Lai’s fingertips, as if in a bizarre ritual.
Delucia was bolder, pulling open her collar and pressing herself against Liang Lai’s soft frame.
“Look, Mom, we’re one…”
Liang Lai tried to pull free, but their grip tightened.
Their body heat surged, breaths scalding.
Asteris pressed the bear’s broken left eye to her chest.
“This way, Mom stays in us forever…”
Her voice turned metallic, less human.
Delucia giggled, her hexagram pupils narrowing to slits.
Liang Lai’s third pupil flared unbidden, an invisible wave gently pushing the twins back.
They fell to the floor but gazed up at her with fanatical eyes, like worshippers before a deity.
“Mom, you’re so powerful! You protected us…”
Asteris and Delucia clasped their hands over their chests, like praying nuns.
Liang Lai froze, stunned.
The twins had never shown such fervor, such wild words.
Why now?
Had the ritual failed?
She blamed herself, never suspecting their prior sweetness was a facade.
Seeing Liang Lai’s shock, Asteris reacted first.
She glanced at her sister, speaking silently:
“We moved too fast. Look at Mom’s eyes. This isn’t right, Delucia. We can’t let her doubt or hate us… We can’t lose her, so…”