Hugging himself, Charles trembled incessantly, looking as if he might collapse at any moment.
Linda reached out to support him, but Charles stopped her with a gesture. He stood his ground resolutely, gritting his teeth as he endured the pain ravaging his body.
As the pain and coldness spread through his veins, Charles's shivering gradually faded. Although the strange sensation had vanished, this was the first time Charles truly felt the relic's power. He moved numbly in circles around the laboratory, his eyes drifting to Linda in her white coat and the assistant beside her.
Now Charles felt no emotion in his heart, as if his capacity for feeling had simply disappeared.
He pressed a hand to his chest. It was utterly silent; his heart was no longer beating.
But with a mere thought, the sensation enveloping his heart rapidly receded, and human emotions returned. Charles now had a feeling that he could control the return of that state at will.
