A figure stepped through the smoke, a tall female figure in black clothes, loose armor over curves that felt designed for distraction. Her eyes glowed too. Her grin? Pure chaos.
"Wow," she purred, scanning the room. "So this is the famous Bond Weaver glitch. He's cuter than the reports said."
"Famous?"
Kaito immediately slid behind Lyria. "Nope. I've had enough people trying to kill me for one week."
The stranger smirked.
"You must be Kaito, I can smell the unstable sync data leaking off you."
She tilted her head, eyes locked on his.
"Delicious."
Lyria stepped forward, sword raised.
"One more step and I'll remove your teeth with it."
"Relax, berserker princess. I'm not here to kill him."
She pointed at Kaito.
"I'm here to touch him."
Kaito made a strangled noise. "Lady I'm not into that kind of..."
The bounty hunter moved.
FAST.
One blink and she was across the room.
Lyria clashed swords with her in midair.
CLANG!
Sparks flew.
They hit the ground in a slide, blades locked.
"She's synced to a Core," Lyria growled. "Watch out."
"I am watching," Kaito shouted from under a table. "It's very hot and very scary!"
[SYNC WARNING – ENEMY ATTEMPTING BOND OVERRIDE]
[TRIGGER DETECTED: FORCED FLIRTATION – ENGAGING AUTO-SHIELD]
[ABILITY UNLOCKED: EROTIC RESISTANCE LV.1]
(You're now 10% less susceptible to horny manipulation.)
The bounty hunter laughed as she flipped backward.
"Your boy's evolving," she taunted. "That resistance trigger? That's Core- compatible tech. E.R.O.S is waking up in him."
Lyria lunged again, this time the floor shattered under her boots.
SLASH. SPIN. KICK.
The bounty hunter dodged with inhuman reflexes, flipping over a table and landing beside Kaito.
She reached out.
[WARNING – PHYSICAL SYNC ATTEMPT DETECTED]
"Let's play, glitch-boy," she whispered.
Kaito panicked, then Slapped her hand away.
[DESIRE COUNTER – ACTIVATED]
[TARGET: Control-Seeker]
[RESPONSE: Submission Shock]
A ripple burst out from Kaito's palm.
The bounty hunter jerked back, stunned.
Her eyes widened.
"Ohh," she teased. "You're more dangerous than you look."
Lyria didn't give her time to regroup.
She landed behind the woman, sword glowing..
BOOM.
A wall of steel slammed the bounty hunter through a bench and into a beam.
Wood cracked.
She spat blood, but smiled through it. "That's cute. You're jealous."
Lyria's eyes glowed red.
"We'll see."
[LYRIA: Emotional Sync Fluctuating – Rage / Lust / Fear of Loss]
[TRIGGER AVAILABLE: BERSERKER BOND STRIKE – Locked (Too Public)]
The bounty hunter rolled, then vanished in a flicker of static, teleporting through a glitch in the air.
Kaito's system beeped one final time.
[WARNING: TRACE DEVICE PLANTED]
[SIGNAL LEAKING – LOCATION SHARED WITH UNKNOWN CORE]
"Crap," Kaito muttered. "I think she marked me."
"I think I'm marked."
Lyria cursed under her breath.
People in the tavern were shouting now, Guards on the way.
"We need to leave," she said. "Now."
Kaito followed.
But not before hearing one last message flicker through the static.
A soft voice, deep in his brain.
"I see you now, Weaver."
They ran out the back of the tavern, through a fence, over someone's chicken coop.
Kaito was panting, limping and trying not to die. Again.
Lyria didn't say a word, not one.
Not while they reached the forest line.
Not while they found a quiet cave near a cliff.
Not even while Kaito collapsed onto a rock with a scream.
"Okay," he gasped. "That wasn't horrible. I mean, I've had worse, a vending machine killed me once."
Still silence..
She stood near a cave entrance, sword down, back stiff.
The wind picked up.
Kaito watched her.
Waited.
Then...
"Lyria. Talk to me."
She didn't turn.
"Was it the tavern? The bounty hunter? The scarecrow guy, okay it's not the scarecrow."
Still nothing.
So he pushed.
"You pulled away ever since the bond deepened, you won't talk to me, you won't even look at me."
"I'm protecting you."
Her voice was sharp, but shaky.
Kaito stood.
"From what huh?"
She finally turned now, eyes glowing.
"From me."
The air got heavier.
Her breathing was uneven. Her fists clenched, she looked like she wanted to either kiss him or throw him off the cliff.
"Every time we sync, I lose control. You saw what I become, the fire, the rage. If it pulls you under with me..."
"It won't."
"You don't know that!"
"I don't care!"
The echo bounced off the cave walls.
Lyria froze.
Kaito walked toward her, step by step. Voice low now.
"I don't care if you lose control, I don't care if you melt half the forest, I'd rather burn with you than spend another second feeling you pull away."
(Well, that Was Romantic..)
She stared at him like he'd lost his damn mind.
Maybe he had.
He stepped right into her space.
"You're not protecting me, Lyria. You're punishing yourself."
She opened her mouth..
Didn't speak.
Instead with no words, no hesitation..
She grabbed his shirt with both hands and shoved him hard against the cave wall. His back hit stone with a dull thud and before he could blink, her mouth was on his...
She kissed him like she hated herself for wanting it, it wasn't soft, it wasn't careful, it was the kind of kiss that left bruises. That stole breath.
Kaito gasped into it, trying to keep up, but she was faster, hungrier. Her hands already tearing at the layers between them like they were in her way, Because they were.
She didn't want slow.
She wanted him, and she wanted him now.
[SYNC LEVEL CRITICAL – DOMINANT FLARE STATE ACTIVE]
"Say it again," she growled against his lips, breath hot.
"Say what?" he panted.
"That you don't care."
He didn't even think. "I don't care."
That did it.
She grabbed him again, spun him, shoved him to the ground. He landed with a grunt, half-dazed, half turned on.
Before he could recover, she straddled him. Climbed on top like she owned him.
Her eyes glowed, her breath heavy.
His? Gone.
Clothes ripped. Armor scraped. Cool air hit skin. Then heat.
Skin to skin, like fire meeting gasoline.
She pinned both his wrists over his head, tight grip. Her body pressed against his, every inch of her sending a message.
"No touching unless I say so."
He nodded fast, eyes wide, pupils blown.
"Yes."
God, yes.
She moved slow first, teasing him. Drawing shaky breath after breath out of his chest, then faster, Rougher. Her hips grinding, claiming, his body responding whether he wanted it to or not.
He couldn't think. Couldn't speak.
Just feel.
And she made sure of that.
[SUBMISSION SYNC – FULLY ACTIVE]
[BONUS UNLOCKED – HEAT IMMUNITY +20%]
[CONTROL OVERRIDE – ACTIVE]
"Mine," she growled low in his ear.
"Yours," he breathed, voice cracking. "All yours."
And he meant it.
He was hers every sound, every muscle, every ounce of control she tore from him.
She kept moving. Pushing him higher. Biting at his shoulder like she needed something to hold onto when her own body started to tremble. She didn't stop, even when her breath hitched, even when her back arched, even when her whole frame shook above his.
She took what she wanted.
And he gave it all of it.
When he couldn't take it anymore, when his whole body arched and gave in beneath her, she still didn't let go of his wrists.
Not until he was done.
Not until she'd drained every last bit of strength from him.
Then finally... finally she let go.
Collapsed half on top of him, chest rising and falling, sweat still clinging to her skin.
She leaned close to his ear, voice like smoke.
"Next time," she whispered, "you don't get to come unless I say."
Kaito was panting, half ruined, mind blank, heart racing.
"Got it," he breathed. "Yes, ma'am. Absolutely."
She smirked, no guilt this time, no regret.
Just fire in her veins and power in her hands.
Somewhere deep inside the system...
"Their bond is growing…
But not fast enough.
The test is near."
But neither of them heard it.
Because in that moment, nothing else existed.
Just the cave.
The heat.
And the beginning of something dangerous.