Cultivation World - Palace Training Chamber
The specialized combat chamber hummed with contained energy as Lia and Varek circled each other, sweat glistening on their skin despite the formation-regulated temperature. Two weeks of intensive training had transformed them both—Lia's advancement to Foundation Establishment level 4 was visible in the way qi crackled around her movements, while Varek carried himself with the focused intensity.
"Again," Varek said, settling into his stance with fluid grace. The ancient scroll's teachings had become second nature to him, even if the technique remained frustratingly incomplete.
Lia's response was immediate. The shadow leech flowed down her arm like liquid darkness, its form now significantly larger than when they'd first arrived. What had once been a small creature covering her heart had grown to encompass her entire left arm and half her chest, writhing beneath her training robes like living armor.
She extended her shadow-clawed hand, fingers elongating into razor-sharp talons that gleamed with dark sharpness. But instead of striking at Varek directly, she swept her arm in a wide arc, her claws raking through the air itself.
Dark crescents of cutting shadow erupted from her fingertips, each one capable of severing stone as they raced toward Varek. The technique was far more advanced than what she had previously tried.
Varek's response was instinctive, drawing on two weeks of intensive meditation and practice. His hand moved to his saber's hilt, but instead of drawing steel, he drew light itself.
"Celestial Dawn—First Form: Morning's Edge!"
A blade of pure, concentrated light materialized in his grip, its radiance so intense it cast stark shadows throughout the chamber. The saber made of light was dead quiet but varied in the way it glowed.
He flicked the luminous blade upward in a perfect arc, and where it passed, Lia's shadow attacks simply ceased to exist. The darkness dissolved, her cutting crescents unraveling the moment they touched the light.
"Impossible," Lia breathed, her purple eyes wide with amazement. "You're actually channeling the Dao of Light into a weapon form."
"First stage comprehension only," Varek replied, though his grin suggested he was pleased with the results. "But apparently that's enough to counter shadow-based attacks."
The saber of light flickered and vanished as his concentration wavered, leaving him slightly breathless from the effort. "I can only maintain it for about thirty seconds. And it's nowhere near the power level the technique requires."
Earth - Tim's Apartment
"Bullshit!" Riku shouted, throwing her controller onto the couch as her smashed against the tv screen and slid down. "You're totally cheating!"
Tim smirked, his own controller resting casually in his hands. "I'm not cheating. I'm just better at Super Smash Brothers than you are."
"You were losing every match last week," Riku protested, crawling across the couch to get closer to the screen. "Nobody improves that fast at fighting games."
"Maybe i was letting you win," Tim replied innocently, though his eyes sparkled with mischief.
The truth was more complicated. As Varek had been learning to read combat patterns and anticipate attacks through his light Dao training, Tim had almost advanced to level 2 qi refining. He had managed to get the soul qi technique going 24/7. The enhanced reflexes from the increased qi were translating into gaming skills that definitely hadn't existed before.
"One more match," Riku demanded, settling back into her spot beside him on the couch. "And this time, no mysterious sudden improvements."
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Lia launched herself forward with the Void Strider Steps, disappearing into the grey mist between spaces before reappearing directly beside Varek. Her shadow-clawed hand swept toward his ribs in a strike that should have been impossible to dodge.
But Varek's newfound understanding of the Dao of Light had given him something unexpected—enhanced perception. Light revealed truth, exposed what was hidden, and as Lia stepped through the void, he could see the faint disturbance she created in the space around her.
He spun away from her strike, his own hand moving in a complex pattern that drew ambient light into a defensive barrier. The improvised shield wasn't part of any formal technique, but his growing comprehension allowed him to instinctively manipulate illumination.
"How are you tracking my void steps?" Lia demanded, frustration creeping into her voice as she landed in a crouch.
"Light shows truth," Varek replied, his voice carrying the certainty of someone who had touched genuine understanding. "Even when you step between spaces, you disturb the light around you. I can see the ripples."
Lia's jaw tightened. Her amazing dantian had allowed her to advance three entire levels in two weeks, but cultivation levels meant nothing if she couldn't land a hit. Varek's combat instincts and Dao comprehension were making him nearly untouchable.
She tried again, this time combining void steps with shadow manipulation. Appearing behind him while simultaneously attacking his shadow on the ground, creating a two-pronged assault that should have been impossible to counter.
Varek's response was a blur of motion and light. He summoned his light-saber again, using it to slice through her shadow attack while simultaneously pivoting to block her physical strike. The choreography was perfect, each movement flowing into the next with mechanical precision.
Earth - Tim's Apartment
"This is ridiculous!" Riku threw her hands up in exasperation as her character was launched off the screen for the sixth consecutive time. "You're moving before i can react!"
Tim paused the game, noting the genuine frustration in her voice. "Hey, I'm sorry—"
"It's not your fault," Riku interrupted, though her cheeks were flushed with annoyance. "It's just... frustrating when you can't hit someone no matter what you try."
The parallel between their gaming session and the cultivation world training was becoming uncomfortable. Tim could feel Lia's mounting frustration as Varek continued to effortlessly counter her attacks, just as Riku was experiencing the same helplessness against his improved gaming skills.
"Want to try a different game?" Tim suggested. "Something where reflexes matter less?"
"No," Riku said firmly, her competitive nature flaring. "I want to figure out how to beat you."
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Lia stood in the center of the chamber, her chest heaving with exertion and frustration. The shadow leech writhed restlessly against her skin, responding to her emotional state with increased agitation. Two weeks of intensive cultivation had made her exponentially more powerful, but raw power meant nothing if she couldn't land a decisive blow.
"You're thinking too much," Varek observed, his saber of light dissolving as he relaxed his stance. "You have overwhelming qi advantages, but you're fighting like you're still level 1."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lia snapped, her purple eyes flashing with irritation.
"It means you're still thinking like someone who has to be careful with their energy apart from the void steps," Varek replied, moving closer with the confident stride of someone who had just discovered his advantage. "But you're level 4 now. You have more qi than some Golden Core cultivators. Stop fighting conservatively."
Lia's frustration boiled over. "Easy for you to say! You're dodging everything I throw at you!"
"Because you're telegraphing every attack," Varek continued, his voice carrying the patience of an instructor. "Your void steps are predictable, your shadow strikes follow obvious patterns. You're not using your real advantages."
"Then show me what I'm doing wrong," Lia challenged, her voice carrying a dangerous edge.
Varek's smile was sharp and entirely too confident. "Gladly."
He moved forward in a blur of motion, not attacking but simply closing the distance between them. Lia reacted instinctively, her shadow-clawed hand sweeping toward his chest in a strike that should have forced him to retreat.
Instead, Varek stepped inside her guard, his hand glowing with controlled light as he deflected her strike with minimal effort. The movement brought them close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body, close enough to see the satisfaction in his dark eyes.
"Your problem," he said quietly, his voice carrying that infuriating confidence, "is that you're overthinking."
Before Lia could respond, Varek's hand came down in a sharp, playful smack against her backside.
The crack echoed through the training chamber as Lia's eyes went wide with shock and indignation.
Earth - Tim's Apartment
Tim's controller clattered to the floor as his hands shot to his face, his cheeks burning bright red. The sensation of Varek's hand connecting with Lia's backside had translated through their shared consciousness with perfect clarity.
"Ah sorry?" Riku said, staring at Tim's suddenly flustered expression. "Varek's brain got out of hand?"
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Lia spun around to face Varek, her face a mixture of shock, indignation, and something else she wasn't quite ready to acknowledge. The shadow leech was writhing more actively now, responding to her heightened emotional state.
"Did you just—" she began, her voice carrying dangerous undertones.
"Spanked you? Yes," Varek replied with shameless confidence, his grin widening at her flustered reaction. "You were getting too frustrated, too in your head. Sometimes you need to relax."
"Relax?" Lia's voice rose an octave. "You think humiliating me is relaxing?"
"I think," Varek said, moving closer again despite the warning signs in her posture, "that you're at your most dangerous when you stop overthinking and start reacting on instinct."
He gestured toward the shadow leech, which was now covering nearly half her chest and writhing with increased activity. "Look at your companion. It's responding to your emotions, becoming more active. That's not weakness—that's power you're not using."
Lia glanced down at the shadow creature, noting how its movements had become more aggressive, more eager. The connection between her emotional state and its capabilities was something she'd been trying to control, but maybe Varek was right. Maybe she should be embracing it instead.
"You want to see instinct?" she said quietly, her voice carrying a dangerous promise.
"I'd love to," Varek replied, though his confident smile faltered slightly at the tone in her voice.
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Lia's purple eyes blazed with controlled fury as she extended her hand, qi flowing from her dantian in massive quantities. The familiar water serpent began to form, coiling through the air with liquid grace—but this time, it was different.
The shadow leech flowed down her arm like living darkness, merging with the water construct in a display that made the air itself seem to thicken. But as the hybrid creature took shape, something new happened. Lia's understanding of the Void Strider Steps, combined with her emotional intensity, began to influence the technique in ways she'd never attempted before.
The shadow-water serpent writhed in the air, its form shifting between liquid, darkness, and something else entirely—brief flickers where it seemed to exist partially between dimensions.
"Interesting," Varek murmured, his stance shifting as he analyzed the new threat. "The viral videos showed the shadow-water hybrid, but this is different."
The serpent struck without warning, its massive coils racing toward him with impossible speed. Varek responded immediately, summoning his saber of light with a brilliant flash of illumination.
"Celestial Dawn—First Form!"
The blade of pure light sliced through the air toward the serpent's center, a cut that should have dispersed the entire construct. But at the moment of contact, the creature simply vanished—not destroyed, but sliding into the void between spaces.
Varek's saber of light cut through empty air as the serpent reappeared behind him, its jaws snapping toward his neck. He spun desperately, barely managing to dismiss his weapon and dodge as the creature's fangs passed inches from his throat.
"Void techniques?" he breathed, his eyes wide with genuine concern. "You taught it to use spatial steps?"
Earth - Tim's Apartment
Tim and Riku had both abandoned their controllers entirely, sitting frozen on the couch as they concentrated on the increasingly intense battle happening in their other bodies.
"Holy shit," Tim breathed, his eyes unfocused as he experienced Lia's surge of power. "I can feel the serpent's consciousness. It's like having a third mind in the technique."
Riku's hands clenched into fists, her body unconsciously mimicking Varek's defensive postures. "The saber of light isn't enough. It can't cut something that keeps phasing between dimensions."
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
The void-serpent struck again and again, each attack coming from impossible angles as it flickered in and out of dimensional space. Varek found himself constantly on the defensive, his light-based techniques useless against an enemy that could simply step out of reality whenever he tried to counter.
"This isn't fair," he panted, sweat beading on his forehead as he barely avoided another strike. "You're basically cheating with dimensional physics."
"You wanted to see my real power," Lia replied, her voice carrying cold satisfaction as she guided the serpent through another complex attack pattern. "This is what happens when I stop holding back."
The creature coiled around the entire chamber now, its massive form creating a cage of shadow-water-void that left Varek with nowhere to run. Every direction he turned, another section of the serpent waited to strike.
Varek's breathing became more labored as he realized the futility of his situation. His light techniques were devastating against normal shadow attacks, but what could light do against something that existed partially outside of reality itself?
Earth - Tim's Apartment
"You've got him," Riku said quietly, though her voice carried a note of worry. "Varek can't touch the serpent when it's void-stepping."
Tim nodded, feeling Lia's confidence building. "It's over. He has no counter for—"
He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening as something shifted in Varek's approach.
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Varek stood in the center of the cage, surrounded by the writhing void-serpent, his chest heaving with exhaustion. For a moment, he looked genuinely defeated—a warrior who had finally met an obstacle he couldn't overcome.
Then his expression changed.
Instead of trying to track the serpent's movements, instead of attempting to counter its attacks, Varek did something completely unexpected. He dismissed his saber of light entirely and looked directly at Lia, ignoring the massive creature that was preparing to strike.
"You know what your weakness is now?" he said, his voice carrying that dangerous confidence even in the face of certain defeat.
"What?" Lia replied, confused by his sudden shift in focus.
"You're controlling the technique from outside it," Varek said, and then he moved.
Not toward the serpent. Not in any defensive pattern. He launched himself directly at Lia herself, using every ounce of his enhanced speed and combat instincts to close the twenty-foot gap between them.
The void-serpent reacted instantly, all its coils converging on Varek's position to intercept his charge. But Varek had timed his move perfectly—the creature's own momentum worked against it, the various sections of its body colliding with each other as they tried to protect their controller.
Lia's eyes went wide as she realized his strategy. "Oh shi—"
Varek crashed into her with the force of a avalanche, his momentum carrying them both to the chamber floor. His hands caught her wrists, pinning them above her head as his weight settled over her, trapping her beneath his larger frame.
The void-serpent dissolved instantly, its connection to Lia's concentration severed the moment she hit the ground.
For a moment, they lay there in the sudden silence, both breathing heavily from the exertion. Varek looked down at Lia's flushed face, her purple eyes wide with shock and something else that made his pulse quicken.
"My win," he said with a cheeky, confident grin that was absolutely infuriating in its smugness.
Earth - Tim's Apartment
Tim gasped as he felt the impact of Lia hitting the ground, the sensation of being pinned beneath Varek's weight translating through their consciousness with perfect clarity. His face burned bright red as he processed the intimate position—Varek's hands holding Lia's wrists, his body pressed against hers, the way she could feel every ripple of his chest through their training clothes.
Riku was staring at Tim with wide eyes, her own cheeks flushed as she experienced the victory from Varek's perspective. "That was... that was actually brilliant," she admitted breathlessly. "He ignored the technique entirely and went straight for the source."
"Get off," Tim muttered, though his voice lacked any real conviction as Lia's body responded to Varek's proximity in ways that made his masculine consciousness deeply uncomfortable.
"Why?" Riku asked with a wicked grin that was pure Varek. "You lost. I won. I think Varek will stay right there for a while."
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Lia struggled against Varek's grip, though they both knew she could break free if she really wanted to. Her massive qi reserves gave her physical strength that could match his, but something about being pinned made her feel strangely breathless.
"That was cheating," she protested, though her voice came out more breathless than indignant.
"That was strategy," Varek corrected, his grin widening as he noted the way her struggles were becoming less forceful. "You were so focused on making the perfect technique that you forgot the most basic rule of combat."
"Which is?"
"Always protect yourself first," he said, leaning closer until their faces were mere inches apart. "All the power in the world doesn't matter if you can't stay conscious to use it."
Earth - Tim's Apartment
"You know what your problem is, sensei?" Riku said, her voice carrying that dangerous edge that meant she was about to do something that would completely derail his thinking.
"What?" Tim replied, though he was still mostly focused on the intimate position in the cultivation world, trying to process the conflicting sensations.
"You're still trying to control everything from both sides," Riku said, shifting closer to him on the couch. "Maybe you should just... let go for once."
Before Tim could ask what she meant, Riku's hands cupped his face and she kissed him.
It wasn't like their previous kisses—hesitant or born from adrenaline. This was deliberate, confident, and absolutely devastating to his concentration. Her lips were soft and warm, and she tasted like the strawberry lip gloss she'd been wearing. The kiss deepened as Tim's surprise melted into response, his hands moving to her waist almost without conscious thought.
The connection between his male consciousness and Lia's body became distant, muffled, as his Earth-bound awareness focused entirely on the girl in his arms.
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Lia felt the shift immediately. Tim's male side of his mind was busy. Without his masculine consciousness fighting against her feminine instincts, her body's responses became purely her own.
The breathless feeling intensified, her pulse quickening as she became acutely aware of every point of contact between her and Varek. The warmth of his hands on her wrists, the weight of his body pressing her into the training mat, the way his dark eyes were looking at her like she was the only thing that mattered in the world.
"Varek," she whispered, her voice carrying none of Tim's usual resistance.
"Lia," he replied, his voice rough with something that made her stomach flutter.
He leaned down slowly, giving her every opportunity to protest or pull away. But without Tim's consciousness fully engaged, Lia found herself tilting her face up to meet him instead.
When their lips touched, it was like completing a circuit. Every feminine instinct in her body responded to his kiss, her back arching slightly as she pressed closer to him.
Earth - Tim's Apartment
Tim finally broke away from Riku's kiss, his eyes wide and breathing unsteady. "Riku, what—"
"Shh," she whispered, her fingers still tangled in his hair. "Just feel it. Stop fighting it."
Tim's consciousness snapped back to the cultivation world just in time to experience Lia melting into Varek's kiss, her body responding with an intensity that made his head spin. The feminine pleasure, the way her heart raced, the soft sound she made against Varek's lips—it all crashed into his awareness at once.
"Oh god," he breathed, his face burning as he processed the dual sensations.
Riku smiled against his lips. "Now you're getting it," she murmured, pulling him into another kiss even as they both experienced their other selves' passionate moment.
Cultivation World - Training Chamber
Varek's hands released Lia's wrists, moving to cup her face as the kiss deepened. She responded eagerly, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pulled him closer. The training chamber, the competitions, the political implications—all of it faded away as they lost themselves in each other.
When they finally broke apart, both were breathing heavily, their foreheads touching as they stared into each other's eyes.
"Well," Varek said, his voice rough with emotion, "that's one way to end a training session."
Lia laughed softly. "You're still smug about winning," she accused, though her tone held no real irritation.
"I'm smug about a lot of things right now," Varek replied with a grin that was pure masculine satisfaction. "But mostly about finally getting you to stop overthinking long enough to kiss me properly."
Earth - Tim's Apartment
Tim and Riku separated slowly, both of them flushed and slightly breathless from their dual experience. The complexity of feeling attraction in both bodies simultaneously was overwhelming and intoxicating.
"That was..." Tim began, then trailed off, lacking words for the intensity of what they'd just shared.
"Amazing," Riku finished, her eyes bright with satisfaction. "And long overdue."
Tim ran a hand through his hair, still trying to process everything. "This is getting really complicated."
"Good," Riku said with a smile that was both tender and mischievous. "I like complicated. It's more fun than simple."