Free and Unfettered 142 Disrupted!

"Thank you, Nox," she said. There was a warm glow of relief and certainty that he was there to catch her when she fell.

She never expected that she would be so blind as not to notice the Undead Titan's core had been influencing her. Whether it was conscious or not was another matter, but the fact was that she had been influenced.

In fact, it felt remarkably like what she thought her Charm felt like to other people. The more she pondered on it, the more she felt like it was something that the core had inherited from her magic.

The fact that the core could 'learn' her Charm made her apprehensive, and she as not the only one that felt it. Luckily, the moment she learnt that she had been under its effects, she was able to dispel it with Nocturne's help.

Although she was now safe from the effects, it made her scared to think about what might have happened should she have been under its effects any longer. Luckily, action had been taken promptly by Nocturne, and she was very grateful for that.

Likely, had she been under the core's effects for long, she would have ended up like Misha, completely devoted, without another thought. She would have been unable to form a negative thought about whatever being was taking refuge in the core, incubating itself.

Nine repressed a shiver. She would rather kill herself than let that happen to her.

The core's Charm had slowly snuck under her skin, like how you slowly heated a boiling pot, so she never realized that something was wrong until it was too late. Nine ran a tongue under a sharp incisor, drawing a faint hint of blood.

The tiny pinprick of pain grounded her further, allowing her to feel the anger that bubbled under skin, but not lose herself in the process.

Unacceptable.

When had she ever been on the losing end in terms of magic? This was the first taste of defeat she had felt ever since she died on Earth, and Nine was not ashamed to say that she was not accustomed to losing. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

It was both mortifying and humbling. Had she slipped so far that she lost her reservations about caution and vigilance?

Nocturne stared into her eyes deeply, still a tinge of worry hidden deep in his eyes. Nine caressed the side of his cheek. She wondered what she would do without this man. After the deep betrayal in her past life, she never thought she would find someone else again, but here he was.

Though he wasn't perfect, he was perfect to her in all the ways that it mattered, and she would never trade him for anyone else. He was hers, and she was his. The deeply possessive part of her that reflected itself so identically in Nocturne said that his entirety belonged to her. Naturally, that not only included the good parts of him, but also the flawed aspects of his personality.

Nocturne stared into mesmerising blue refractions, and as Nine's gaze got colder as she thought about how to deal with the Undead Titan's core, Nocturne could feel himself melting and heating up.

There was something to be said in the way that his husband's cold and calculating look of retribution set him on fire.

As Nine thought about how to deal with the core, Nocturne continued peppering her with faint, teasing kisses. She hugged him closer as she indulged in the affection that she had not realized she had been missing as she had been under the core's Charm.

Some distant part of her had been missing it even whilst she was thoroughly entranced, and that filled her with a bone deep satisfaction.

"You know," she whispered with the intention of teasing her wife, "I could feel how much I missed you, even while I was under the effects of the core."

Nocturne shivered violently as Nine's whispered words into his ear set alight the flame that had been burning lowly in him. Hungrily, he pressed Nine's firm, muscled body up to the door, and Nine obligingly ran a hand up his back.

Nocturne felt up Nine's muscles and abs in her male form, so similar to his own, but somehow so much more pronounced, and he felt slightly jealous, but mostly hunger.

Nine laughed lowly, causing Nocturne to flush, feeling like his thoughts had been seen through.

"Insatiable wife," she murmured, her voice low.

Nocturne bit Nine lightly on the side of the neck, licking the faint trails of blood. "Insatiable husband," Nocturne retorted back, his cheeks flush.

The sound of Nine's low, teasing bedroom voice sent shivers of anticipation through him, causing him to squirm slightly.

Before he was about to pounce, Nine stopped him. "You want to do it in an unlocked room, ah?"

Nocturne glared at her, his eyes already slightly misty. "Don't. Care," he bit out, pulling on Nine's shirt, pressing their lips back together.

Nine smiled, picking up her Nox with ease. She sent a bit of magic to block the door. While Nocturne would not care now, if anyone ever walked in on them, there was no telling how he would react.

Personally, she put her money on him cursing them into next week…

X

The unknown being was growing antsy. Its food source was gone. Where had it gone? It rolled around in circles but was unable to track where Nine had gone. However, this room was saturated in the lovely, singing magic, so the unknown being resentfully took in the older magic instead.

It had grown picky over the course of ingesting Nine's magic, to the point where it didn't think that it could live without a constant supply. Everything else just tasted bland and disgusting to it.

After much trouble, the core was able to trace Nine's magic into a nearby room, but the magic was muted, like it was under something else.

Unhappy, the core bumped into the door a few times, but received no response from inside. It frowned. Nine should have rushed over to cradle it in warm, magically charged arms, but it was… being ignored?!

Angry, the core bumped on the door harder, causing the entire door to give way. Happy when it felt Nine's concentrated magic, it rolled in that direction, the glow brightening and cast different shades over the room, like a kaleidoscope, but only using shades of white and yellow.

It rolled halfway there, when it was suddenly impacted by a strong force of magic that caught it off guard.

The unknown being whited out as an influx of magic suddenly overwhelmed it, sending its consciousness into unconsciousness.

The last thing it saw was a flare of concentrated darkness magic that was full of anger, resentment and jealousy. The strong force of the emotions radiating from the magic was the opposite of what it was formed of, so its body shut down to preserve its function.

X

Nine gently patted a furious Nocturne, speechlessly looking at the door. She hastily repaired it as she worked on the core.

Without her realizing, a rather sinister grin had crept up on her face as she tinkered with it.

Nocturne, who had been barely appeased after releasing his emotions onto the unsuspecting Undead Titan's core, returned back to staring at Nine's dark grin, squirming.

He swallowed. His throat was suddenly very dry at the tantalizing sight. Maybe everyone else would have been terrified of the way Nine currently looked, but Nocturne only felt like the passion of anger and fury increased Nine's attractiveness.

While Nine worked, Nocturne silently helped himself to Nine's pale, unblemished neck, biting deeply. Nine sucked in a deep breath, her eyes darkening with lust. She carelessly chucked the core on the ground. It wouldn't wake up for a while, so they were free to continue their previous actions…

Chapter end