In the darkness, Lin Xi's eyes snapped open.
It wasn't fear that roused her, but an unfamiliar stirring within her body. It didn't belong to her. The Alpha energy left behind by Lucifer lay dormant like a temporarily tamed beast, lurking within her meridians and bloodstream, growling with each breath she took. It replenished her depleted psychic energy, yet brought with it an ever-present sense of confinement. She could distinctly "feel" its presence—heavy, scorching, carrying its unique scent of fir trees and gunpowder, like an invisible brand.
Outside the window, the royal city remained asleep, still hours from dawn. Yet sleep eluded her. The location of that subterranean energy source was etched into her mind like coordinates, accompanied by the whispers of "Crescent" and "Harvest," keeping her nerves taut.
She sat up, attempting to summon a thread of her own power. That fragment of chaotic energy from another world now coexisted distinctly with Lucifer's power, as separate as oil and water. Her force attempted to navigate around it, yet was subtly suppressed and enveloped by the more vast, orderly Alpha energy. This sensation of being watched, confined, felt more suffocating than the shackles on her ankles.
The door opened without a knock.
Lucifer entered, now dressed in his signature black military uniform, immaculate and precise. It was as if the man from last night—lazy, aggressive, forcefully pumping power into her—had been an illusion. Only his crimson pupils, as they swept over her, flashed a faint, almost satisfied glint, like he was confirming his possession.
"Ready to go?" he asked, his tone flat.
Lin Xi pulled back the covers and stepped out of bed, the chains around her ankles clinking once more. She stood straight, ignoring the foreign energy stirring restlessly within her at his approach, and nodded. "Yes."
He said nothing more, turning to walk out. Lin Xi followed in silence.
They carried no retinue, just the two of them, one ahead, one behind, traversing the palace corridors at their darkest before dawn, heading toward a hidden entrance leading underground. The air, damp and heavy with the stench of mold and filth, replaced the palace's incense. The staircase descending into the underworld was narrow and steep, its walls sparsely inlaid with faintly glowing green fluorite.
Lucifer walked half a step ahead of her, his towering silhouette nearly blocking all light. In the darkness, her other senses sharpened. Lin Xi could hear the steady thud of his military boots on the stone steps, smell the lingering scent that now clung to her own body, and sense the faint yet unsettling energy pulse resonating with the coordinates in her mind, not far ahead.
The deeper they descended, the clearer the pulse grew. Simultaneously, the energy of Lucifer within Lin Xi seemed stirred, becoming active and forming an extremely subtle, antagonistic resonance with the distant energy source. The sensation made her scalp tingle, as if she had become a living detector—or worse... a deliberately placed lure.
"It's just ahead," she whispered, her voice echoing in the narrow passageway.
Lucifer halted and stepped aside to let her pass. Ahead lay a more open junction of abandoned waterways, murky currents murmuring beneath their feet. At the junction's center, a dark purple crystal cluster pulsed like a heart, shrouded in some force field and rooted in the silt. This was the source of the "Shadow Eye's" energy fluctuations, a hundred times more intense than the crystal itself.
The instant Lin Xi locked her gaze upon the crystal cluster, a sudden shift occurred!
The Luciferic energy within her seemed fully activated by the cluster, erupting violently. No longer a gentle resonance, it now blazed with Lucifer's own Alpha dominance, as if provoked!
"Hum——!"
As if stimulated by this sudden, hostile force of the same origin, the dark purple crystal cluster blazed with intense light. Twisted, black thorn-like energy tendrils erupted from it, silently tearing through the air as they lunged madly toward the source of the pressure—Lin Xi!
Too fast, too close! Lin Xi's pupils contracted sharply. Her body reacted far faster than her mind could process. She instinctively lunged backward, but the energy thorns, as if possessed of life, pursued relentlessly!
Just as the black thorns were about to pierce her body, a towering shadow materialized before her like the most impenetrable barrier.
Lucifer didn't even draw his weapon. He simply stood there, raised his hand, and spread his fingers. An even more colossal, purer dark-gold Alpha energy erupted from his palm. It wasn't an attack, but formed a solid, runic-flowing wall of light before him.
"BOOM!!"
The black thorns slammed into the light barrier with a thunderous, hollow crash. Energy fragments scattered wildly, carving deep gashes into the surrounding stone walls. The barrier remained utterly unmoved, and Lucifer's figure stood as steady as a mountain amidst the violent winds stirred by the energy collision.
He tilted his head slightly, his crimson pupils sweeping over Lin Xi, who stood behind him, breathing raggedly from fright. A faint, emotionless curve touched his lips.
"It seems," his voice carried clearly through the lingering echoes of the energy blast, "it doesn't care for the scent I left on you."
Before the words faded, his splayed fingers snapped shut!
"Snap!"
The dark-gold light barrier compressed inward like an invisible giant palm, crushing the raging black thorns and the central dark-purple crystal cluster into oblivion! A blinding flash of light flickered and vanished, leaving only crystalline powder scattered across the ground and the lingering scent of scorched energy in the air.
Silence returned, broken only by the steady flow of water.
Lucifer lowered his hand, turned, and looked at Lin Xi. A few specks of energy dust settled on the shoulder of his military uniform, but he paid them no mind. He stepped closer, until their breaths mingled.
"Scared?" He raised a hand, wiping a faint blood trail from her cheek where an energy shard had grazed her. His touch held the focused scrutiny of one examining spoils of war.
Lin Xi's heart still pounded wildly, not just from the attack but from the look in his eyes now. Gone were the earlier teasing or probing; only a pure, dark possessiveness remained. The energy within her that belonged to him, having crushed the external threat, did not subside. Instead, it surged more vigorously through her veins, as if celebrating victory, or more accurately, deepening its imprint.
"No." She forced herself to meet his gaze, though her voice betrayed an almost imperceptible tremor.
Lucifer chuckled softly. His fingers slid downward, gripping the nape of her neck and forcing her head back slightly.
"Very good." He leaned in, his scorching breath brushing her lips. "Remember this feeling. Your fear, your crisis—only I can give it... and end it."
His kiss landed, unlike the previous ones—neither rough nor tentative. It carried an undeniable sense of plunder and declaration of ownership, deep and lingering. Lin Xi's body stiffened. The intertwined forces within her grew more chaotic under this kiss, a twisted blend of humiliation and a strange, unsettling sense of security born from being sheltered by overwhelming power.
When he finally released her, Lin Xi's lips were slightly swollen, her breath uneven.
Lucifer licked the trace of her scent from his own lips, his crimson pupils narrowing in satisfaction.
"The 'Sower's' toy has been disposed of," he said, his voice returning to its usual coldness as he wrapped an arm around her waist and led her away from this filthy place. "Now, it's time to flush out the rat."