It had been seven days since Kaito claimed the Throne of Flesh.
Seven days since he ended heaven.
Seven days since the world bent to his desire.
And yet, in the quiet halls of his new palace—a shifting, sensual fortress made from living energy, born from the bond between him and the Seven—Kaito felt the stirrings of something he hadn't known in weeks.
Unease.
It wasn't in the moans echoing from the eastern wing, where Lilix had seduced a council of emissaries into submission.
It wasn't in the training chambers, where Selene taught angels-turned-mortal how to wield blades with honor instead of blind devotion.
Nor was it in the moonlit sanctum where Velyra slept with her back against a glowing pool of pleasure magic, whispering prophecies in her sleep.
No.
It was in Aya.
And she was missing.
---
The sun had not yet risen. Kaito walked barefoot through the garden maze of his palace—soft grass pulsing under his steps, petals shifting color with his mood.
He reached the center of the maze.
She stood there, alone, blindfold gone, her pale violet eyes staring at the stars.
She wore only a thin black silk robe. It clung to her form in the humid night, revealing the curve of her hips, the soft sway of her breasts, the smooth muscle of her thighs.
But her body was not relaxed.
It was tense. Coiled.
"Aya," he said.
She didn't turn.
"You've been avoiding me."
"I've been watching," she said softly. "The world loves you now. Even the sky opens when you moan."
He stepped closer. "You're part of that."
She laughed—but it was dry. Bitter. "Am I? Or was I just… necessary?"
He froze.
"Aya, no. You—"
She turned to him, finally.
And for the first time, he saw it—the emotion she always kept hidden beneath precision and silence.
Doubt.
Pain.
"I was trained to kill you," she whispered. "Built to resist seduction. Raised to see love as a weapon. And yet… you broke me with a whisper. A touch."
He reached for her.
She let him—for a moment.
And then she stepped back.
"I gave you everything, Kaito. My loyalty. My skill. My body. My name. But the others… they shine brighter. You kiss them with worship. Me?"
She bit her lip. "You kiss me like a tool you've sharpened."
Kaito's heart twisted.
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?"
She stepped forward now, close enough that her breath tickled his neck.
"I want you to see me. Not as an assassin. Not as Number Seventeen. Not even as Aya."
She took his hand and placed it on her chest, over her fast-beating heart.
"I want you to see me."
He looked into her eyes.
And what he saw there shook him.
Desperation.
Loneliness.
Love.
And a blade hiding beneath it all.
"I see you," he whispered. "And I want you."
Her breath hitched.
He leaned in, slowly, tenderly, lips brushing hers with reverence, not hunger.
Their kiss was silent—no moans, no gasps. Just a lingering press of lips that tasted of salt and sorrow.
Her robe slipped.
She let it fall.
He didn't touch her.
Not yet.
She placed a finger to his lips.
"Tonight… not as your weapon. Not as your harem. As your equal."
He nodded.
And in the quiet grass, beneath stars that wept silver light, he made love to Aya—not with dominance or divine pressure, but with devotion.
She cried.
He did too.
Because this wasn't just sex.
It was healing.
And it should have been enough.
But far above them… in a dark tower no one had yet discovered…
A shadow watched.
And smiled.
The night after Aya gave herself fully was still and breathless.
The bond between her and Kaito shimmered with a strange purity—no screaming magic, no burst of divine color. Just a soft, silent thread of warmth that wrapped around both their souls.
But Kaito couldn't sleep.
He sat on the edge of his chamber's grand bed, staring into the obsidian mirror wall. Seven reflections danced behind him—his women, always close, always pulsing through his blood.
But one of them… shimmered strangely.
A flicker.
A delay in movement.
A glitch.
He narrowed his eyes.
The mirror corrected itself.
But the feeling remained.
---
Elsewhere, in a chamber hidden beneath the palace—carved not from magic but old, ancient stone—Lilix stood alone.
Nude, barefoot, and dripping sweat from her most recent indulgence, she stared into a bowl of dark blood.
Not hers.
She dipped her finger into it and drew a sigil onto her chest.
One not bound to Kaito.
But to something older.
Behind her, a voice spoke, soft and feminine.
"You're falling behind."
Lilix didn't flinch. "No. I'm waiting for the perfect moment."
"You touch him every night. You should be the one closest."
"I am. He fucks me like I'm the world. But he doesn't trust me like he trusts her."
"You mean Celestia?"
"No," Lilix hissed. "Aya."
She turned toward the shadow in the corner of the room.
"You promised me he would crumble. You promised I'd have his throne."
The voice giggled. "And you will. But not through war. Through crack. One heart at a time."
Lilix smirked.
"And Aya is already bleeding."
---
Back in the palace, Aya sat on the garden balcony, arms wrapped around her knees. She wore a simple white gown, unbound hair falling in pale rivers down her back.
Her eyes—open, alert—flicked toward the stars.
She could feel something in her blood.
A pulse that didn't belong.
A hunger… not hers.
Kaito appeared behind her silently.
"You felt it too?" she asked without turning.
"I think someone's tampering with the bonds," he said quietly. "Lilix has always been wild, but her magic felt… off today."
Aya looked up at him. "You trust me?"
"More than anyone."
Her lips twitched. A soft smile, wounded but real.
"Then come with me."
---
She led him to the Chamber of Sighs—a new section of the palace shaped by their combined bond. It was quiet, warm, with soft beds of silk petals and floating candles that moved to the rhythm of heartbeat and breath.
"I want to test something," Aya whispered.
She guided him down.
Not for sex.
But for silence.
For something beyond pleasure.
She climbed atop him slowly, straddling him, not moving—just watching him. Letting his breath synchronize with hers. Letting their auras merge.
And then…
> "There's something foreign in the bond," she whispered.
He saw it too.
A black thorn. Buried deep. Pulsing, writhing.
In her.
In him.
She reached for it in their shared aura—
And it cut her.
She gasped, bleeding from her lip in the real world, eyes wide.
And then—
A voice.
Not hers. Not his.
But Lilix's.
> "My sweet king," it cooed from deep within.
"Did you really think I'd share forever?"
Kaito's eyes snapped open.
Aya collapsed in his arms.
Blood ran from her nose.
She was convulsing.
Something was poisoning the harem—from within.
Aya was dying.
Not in body—but in bond.
Kaito sat beside her in the healing chamber, her breath shallow, her limbs twitching. Silver veins had begun to crawl along her skin, pulsing with cursed energy—corruption laced with pleasure, designed to seduce even as it destroyed.
"I can't cut it," Velyra whispered, her hand glowing with lunar magic. "It's woven into her core. She's resisting, but… it's Lilix. Only she could reach this deep without triggering our defenses."
Celestia's hands glowed too, runes pouring golden light into Aya's body. "She used sex to do it. Deep imprinting. Repetitive contact."
Ravyn snarled from the doorway. "I knew that bitch was too quiet lately."
Selene stepped forward, eyes hard. "Then we confront her."
"No," Kaito said.
He stood. Slowly. Calmly. But something in him burned.
Not rage.
Not betrayal.
Revelation.
"She wants us to confront her. She's been laying this trap since day one. And if we move now, we play her game."
He turned to Seraphina, who stood by the mirror gates that overlooked the entire palace grounds.
"Where is she?"
Seraphina pointed silently.
A distant tower.
Once thought sealed.
---
The stairway twisted like a serpent.
Carved from obsidian. Lined with breathing walls that sighed with every step. Kaito walked alone—he'd told the others to stay. This wasn't a battle.
This was a confession.
He reached the top.
The doors parted.
And there, surrounded by incense, naked slaves, flickering firelight, and floating sigils of ancient language—stood Lilix.
She sat on a throne not of his making.
A demon's throne. Low, pulsing, seductive.
Her body was nude, her tail swaying lazily. Her eyes glowed red and gold, and her lips were smeared with blood and honey.
"Welcome, my king," she purred. "Come to punish your favorite whore?"
Kaito didn't speak.
She tilted her head, sighing. "You look so beautiful when you're silent. Like a god unsure whether to smite or spank."
He walked forward.
One step.
Two.
"You poisoned Aya," he said.
Lilix giggled. "Not poison. A gift. A seed. I wanted her to feel what I feel when you look at the others. That ache. That jealousy. That fire."
"I gave you everything," he said.
She stood, slowly. Her hips swayed. Her nipples hardened in the cool air.
"You gave me your cock," she said. "You gave them your heart."
Silence.
"Do you know what I was before the gods bound me to this game?" she whispered, stepping closer. "A queen. Of fire. Of lust. Worshipped by mortals and demons alike. I fucked cities into madness. I burned empires between my thighs."
She leaned in, lips brushing his ear.
"Now I moan on command like a trained pet."
"You're more than that," Kaito said. "You always were."
Lilix pulled back. Her eyes shimmered.
"But you never told me that, Kaito. Not once. Not after we bonded. Not after we bled together. Not after I begged you to love me like you love her."
He stepped forward, touching her cheek.
And for a moment, her mask cracked.
She trembled.
"I didn't mean to hurt her," she whispered. "I just… wanted you to notice me again. Really notice me."
"You didn't have to use the old magic."
She nodded, slowly.
But her eyes shifted. The glow returned.
"But it worked, didn't it?"
He stepped back.
And she smiled.
"That's the difference between me and them, Kaito. They believe in healing."
She opened her arms, power flaring.
"I believe in control."
---
The tower shook.
Dark sigils rose from the floor.
The throne melted—becoming a living spell, coiling around her like tendrils.
Lilix floated into the air, her body glowing with forbidden energy.
"You can have all of me," she whispered, voice echoing with layered tones. "But only if you bind me. Fully. Strip me of will. Make me your slave, your queen, your addiction."
Kaito stared.
And whispered:
"No."
She froze.
The tendrils snapped.
Lilix collapsed.
Naked.
Shaking.
Silent.
"You're already mine," he said, kneeling beside her. "You always were. Not because I owned you. But because I loved you."
Her body began to break—glowing cracks splitting her skin.
She gasped. "It's… too late."
"No."
He kissed her.
And unleashed the same bond he gave Aya. The same whisper. The same surrender.
And Lilix screamed—not in pain—but in release.
Her demonic form shattered.
And what was left?
Was a girl.
Small.
Pale.
Alone.
She collapsed into his arms, whispering: "I'm sorry… I didn't know how to be loved."
He held her tighter.
"You'll learn."