The Villain Alpha's Cursed Mate-Chapter 137: It’s True Form

Thadius’s grip on Esme’s neck loosened, and she crumpled to the floor once more, gasping for air. Dazed and shakened, she crawled backwards, her eyes fixed on Thadius as if he were some apparition from a nightmare.

It was so unexpected, but a flash of motion had saved her life. However, it was a sudden, vicious stab that struck Thadius in the throat, and he clutched his throat from the attack.

Following the weapon’s path in stunned belief, Esme’s gaze fell on what should have been her sword, except it wasn’t a sword.

A whip had taken its place!

When it clattered into the pool of blood belonging to Jason, the petals had already begun to darken within seconds, soaking in the blood beneath it, and the once gentle bloom morphed ominously.

Streaks of blood-red veins marred the petals, imbuing them with a deadly new life, and a soft hum thrummed from the weapon before it sprang free like a spring that had been snapped. The angular sharp end flew out, piercing Thadius’s throat from the side like an arrow striking its target.

Esme immediately rose to her feet, instinctively reaching for the hilt of the whip, but as her fingers closed around the hilt, she hesitated — it was slick and warm to the touch, coated in fresh blood. Her blue eyes then narrowed as it followed the design, no longer trusting her own sight, but it was unmistakable.

What she’d thought was a blade was, in truth, a formidable whip, a weapon that only awoke to its lethal potential after consuming blood.

Thadius, on the other hand, staggered, clawing desperately at his throat where the whip’s serrated metal tip had punctured him. Crimson liquid seeped from the jagged wound, and Esme’s gaze turned slightly darker, whilst she rose to her feet.

With a sudden sharp tug, she freed the weapon, watching as it glinted and clinked to the ground. It felt deceptively light in her grip, despite its lethal design.

Thadius barely had a moment to recover when Esme viciously swung the whip once more. It unfurled through the air, precise and controlled, and it coiled around his neck with deadly grace.

Her face set in a grim determination, she yanked hard, and with a sickening snap, Thadius’s head separated from his body, collapsing to the ground. She knew their weakness, since Donovan and Revana wouldn’t stop singing it in her ear.

To end them, she had to go for the head or heart using a cursed blade.

Esme sank to her knees, her breath hitching as she stared at the lifeless form before her – Thadius’s head resting in a corner, while his body remained sprawled across the cold stone floor. Her chest heaved, each breath sharp, and her gaze finally dropped to the whip she was still holding in her hands.

"So... this is its true form." She murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. Turning the whip over, she winced as the petals sharp edge grazed her finger, drawing a bead of blood. The weapons hidden nature unsettled her, and a sudden realization struck her.

’Donovan had never once called it a sword. Is it possible he knew all along the true transformation of the weapon?’

Esme thought to herself, her mind racing, but she was extra careful with the whip to avoid hurting herself with it. With a resolute breath, she steadied herself and pushed herself up to her feet.

She sluggishly dragged her body towards the bathing chamber, and began to wash the blood from the whip’s menacing edges.

She cleansed her own face as well, watching as the dark stain swirled away into the water.

The petals remained diabolically red, glistening with a sinister hue that made them almost look alive. When she studied the whip, she noticed immediately that the edges of the petals had sharpened to razor precision, honed to slice through flesh with a mere touch. This was clearly no ordinary weapon, cause it was as dangerous to its wielder as it was to the enemy.

Esme knew when she’d wrapped it around Thadius’s neck, that the whip’s petal edges would finish the work it started, and each petal was linked on each segments of the whip’s silver chain that formed the whip itself.

But where in the Moon Goddess’s name did the chain even come from?

It sort of suited her, yet wielding the whip demanded caution; any slip in control could turn the weapon against her since it needed someone with great flexibility to master it.

The petal’s blade were indiscriminate, threatening even the one who commanded it.

Taking a steady breath as she popped down on a carpet, Thadius’s words before he died began to claw their way into her head, but they remained a tangled web. He’d spoken of her father’s death, and she recalled the few survivors from her pack who informed everyone that her father had killed the demon, but ended up dying with him since he sustained a lot of injuries and couldn’t heal fast enough to suppress them.

But if the true victor – the true bearer – had killed her father like Thadius claimed, the war wouldn’t have been called a victory at all. There would be no survivors from her pack to tell the tale, and the battlefield would have been a grave for all.

The mysteries weighed heavily on her, lingering like a shadow she couldn’t shake, yet one she had to confront.

"I’m too tired to even make sense of it," Esme muttered, brushing aside Thadius’s ridiculous words, and she dismissed them as the demon’s trickery. It must have filled Thadius’s head with false memories, whilst the more she thought about everything he said, the more absurd it sounded.

Casting a tired glance at the bowl of water nearby, she dipped a finger inside, but it remained still and unremarkable. Sighing, she grabbed her whip and left the chamber.

Descending the stairway, she spotted Cora on the first floor, and she was cradling a small boy in her arms.

"You found him?" Relief softened Esme’s gaze, and Cora responded with a quiet nod.

"He cried the whole way," she whispered, "I had to lull him to sleep before bringing him out here."

Hearing this, a pang of empathy twisted in Esme’s chest for the innocent boy, but the good thing was, he was alive and safe.

"Where you able to find what you were — where did you get that?!" Cora’s voice was laced with astonishment as her eyes fell on the whip trailing at Esme’s side. freēnovelkiss.com

It’s sections were adorned with razor-sharp petal-like blades, ending in a jagged, dark tip that resembled a long, deadly arrowhead. Esme followed her gaze and shook her head as if it were nothing.

"We should return to the keep–" Esme’s words were cut short by a sudden explosion, a thunderous blast that rattled the fortress. She clamped her hand over her ear as the impact resounded through the stone, and the floor shook violently beneath them, as if something immense had just fallen outside the fortress.

She and Cora exchanged alarmed glances, the urgency in their eyes mirroring each other’s fears.

"They’ve breached the gate!" the two of them exclaimed in unison before turning around, and they sprinted towards the direction of the manhole, hoping to slip back underground before it was too late.

Cora descended first, and Esme quickly passed her the child, her hands lingering long enough to steady them both. But, when Esme tried to descend, the vicious growl of a wolf nearby made her pause in alarm.

To Cora’s shock, Esme abruptly slid the heavy cover back over the opening without getting in.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Cora panicked in confusion and bewilderment.

"Stay quiet, and don’t worry about me. Just go!" Esme shouted back, her words swallowed by her rapidly retreating footsteps. But then, mingling with the sound of her sprint, came another set of heavier, relentless footfalls. Cora heard a sharp snarl, and it became clear that something, or rather a demon wolf was giving Esme a chase.

"Oh no," Cora’s face paled rapidly.

_-_-_- ⁠♡ -_-_-_

In one of the dimly lit undergrounds chambers, Leonardo sat cross-legged, with absolute calmness in his composure, an old book resting open in his hands.

His gaze intermittently flickered to the unconscious men and women sprawled around him, their bodies limp from the sedatives that was administered to them. He’d been tempted to abandon Dahmer in the fortress, leaving him as prey, but a pang of conscience held him back.

Leonardo knew he wasn’t entirely without mercy. Instead, he’d keep Dahmer alive, letting Esme decide his fate.

His gaze settled on Lennox, who lay motionless nearby, and he clicked his tongue softly, caught between sympathy and disappointment. Despite all of Lennox bad decisions, Leonardo found himself unable to muster hatred for him.

After all, he had grown up at Lennox’s side after Irwin took him in, and they sort of bonded during that time. He was the only one who truly understood how deeply Lennox’s despair ran.

"Regardless of what you’ve done," Leonardo murmured, eyes fixed on Lennox’s still form. "I can only hope you’ll end this madness and find some peace within yourself."

In that moment, Lennox’s lashes flickered slightly.