No matter what happened next, Saikyō Aiko was ready.
She was a sharp, clever girl—at least clever enough to realize that Taisu would never allow her to take a quiet, ordinary bath.
"Taisu-sama~ hmm~ Taisu-sama loves me~ and I love Taisu-sama~"
Her voice trembled as she sang softly to herself.
One hand reached toward the faucet, adjusting the temperature, while her mind swirled with a mess of emotions—shame, anxiety, fear, anticipation.
She had no idea when or where her cruel god might strike next, so she pretended calm, humming nervously into the warm air.
"Taisu? Are you there?"
No reply.
Her expression didn't change, but she blinked in surprise, her tired crimson eyes narrowing slightly.
"...Moshi moshi?"
She tapped a finger against her flat stomach—like knocking on a door.
Still no response.
Silence.
No voice echoed in her mind. No mocking laughter from within.
The quiet stretched long enough for a chill to creep up her spine.
Where… where did he go?
A cold wave of terror flooded through her.
Taisu's presence was her life now—his essence animated her heart, his body replaced her organs. If something had happened to him…
Then her body would collapse from the inside out.
It wasn't death she feared.
Even after everything she'd endured—after dying once already—Saikyō Aiko no longer feared the end itself.
What froze her blood was something far crueler—
the loneliness of abandonment.
She had already been left behind once by her father.
Again by her mother.
And finally, by the world itself.
Even as her humanity rotted away, she had clung to one last connection—this bond with the god who now lived inside her.
Through that blasphemous union, she had found salvation.
She didn't just belong to Taisu.
He belonged to her.
It was the first time she'd truly belonged anywhere.
In that possession lay comfort—and in comfort lay purpose.
After revenge had stripped her life bare, she believed her remaining meaning was to repay Taisu—to offer her soul, purity, and future as tribute in exchange for one fragile, forbidden thing.
Peace of mind.
Humans live for that peace—however small, however false.
Take it away, and they die like fish pulled from water.
Now, Aiko understood that truth too well.
Her breath caught.
Her strength drained away.
The world spun.
The panic hit her throat like a physical chokehold. She clawed at her chest, ready to open the window and fling herself into the night air just to feel something—
But it was only an illusion, a psychosomatic collapse born of trauma far too deep to heal.
Even the strongest heart, once twisted by terror and torment, could break under silence.
And when she could no longer hear Taisu's voice, that old wound tore open all at once.
"A-ah… I've already become… someone who can't live without Taisu-sama, haven't I…"
Her whisper cracked—and broke into a scream.
Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.
The words dissolved into sobbing breaths. She wanted to smash the mirror in front of her, to claw open her own abdomen and look inside, to prove that her god was still there.
"He's just sleeping… right? That's all. He's just resting!"
"Yes! That must be it!"
But the panic rose, bright and hot, overwhelming her reasoning.
"No, no, I can't—if he doesn't speak to me for even a minute, I'll lose it! I'll really go insane!"
Her eyes darted wildly across her reflection. "I have to see him—right now—right now!"
The symptoms of full-blown dependence burst through her like wildfire.
Her crimson pupils dilated, burning with manic devotion as she stared into the mirror.
And then—
Something moved behind her.
A massive, shadowed form filled the reflection—so large the mirror couldn't even frame his shoulders.
The air thickened around her, humming with impossible energy.
Then came the voice—deep, grand, gleefully arrogant—and all her terror vanished, replaced by an almost religious relief.
"Rejoice, Aiko-girl! This humble dwelling has been blessed by my divine visitation! In an instant, your hovel becomes holy ground!"
"This place is now exalted beyond the mortal realm—a temple for my magnificent presence! And here, within my sanctum, my supreme power shall manifest!"
"Now, gaze upon and adore my perfected sacred form!"
Taisu hadn't been silent from neglect.
He'd been working.
While she panicked, he had been constructing his divine temple—turning her home into a pocket between worlds.
Such a ritual was delicate and dangerous, requiring complete focus.
He had replaced the space itself, overlapping it with the chaotic reflection of the cosmos known as the subspace plane.
To put it simply: reality and the beyond were like two sides of a pancake.
Taisu had flipped it—turning the invisible side outward.
Simple in theory. Catastrophic if mishandled.
Even the faintest trace of that dimensional pulse could attract unwanted eyes from rival entities.
For now, Taisu preferred not to be found.
"Rejoice, my dear Aiko! From this moment on, within my temple, you may serve your most beloved god to your heart's content!"
The dark god's black-and-scarlet body loomed before her—towering, muscular, every line pulsing with infernal might, tendrils slithering behind him like living whips.
And now he intended to demonstrate the strength of that form.
Spreading his arms, he laughed—and effortlessly lifted Aiko into the air.
Her toes failed to reach the ground, kicking helplessly in the open space. Instinctively, she clutched his hard chest to steady herself, her fragile body small against his overwhelming mass.
Taisu spread his grin wider.
"Now the bathroom, too, is part of my temple! And within my temple, my will is absolute!"
He raised one clawed hand like a priest declaring new commandments.
"Hear these decrees!"
"For my pleasure shall be law!"
"The maiden who enters my sacred sanctuary shall be toyed with when she breathes in, toyed with when she breathes out, toyed with when she holds her breath—toyed with even when she stops breathing altogether!"
"If she pouts or flirts, she shall be toyed with! If she frowns in disgust, she shall still be toyed with!"
"If she pays the proper tribute, I'll reward her—with extra playtime! But if she tries to get away without paying—double the play!"
He was losing himself in his own absurd litany—until he noticed her face lift from his chest.
"Ahh… haaah... Taisu…"
She inhaled deeply, eyes unfocused, cheeks flushed.
"The smell… you smell so good…"
Her lips parted, drool glistening at the corner. A stray strand of hair stuck to her damp mouth. The mask of coldness she always wore melted into a dazed, euphoric smile.
Her red eyes sparkled with delirious joy.
It was pure, childlike rapture—the bliss of one reborn after suffocating too long in the dark.
Taisu blinked.
And stared.
Those crimson pupils—
They bloomed into pink hearts.
For a moment, the god was speechless.
Then, laughing incredulously, he slipped a tendril into her mind—and saw exactly what she felt.
Complete surrender.
A dependency so pathological that even he, a god of distortion, found it exhilarating.
"Well now," Taisu murmured, delighted. "This kind of madness is… adorably perverse."
Her voice came soft and trembling.
"It's fine… I can take it. I can take all of you, Taisu-sama…"
His entire form trembled with amusement.
"Excellent! Then bring me your devotion—hotter still! I'll welcome it in full!!"
There was no more need for foreplay, philosophy, or patience.
There was only one command left to give—pure, primal, divine.
"Battle."