The lightning fizzled out just inches from Kai's face, leaving the smell of ozone and scorched dirt. Aria's hand trembled—not from effort, but from something that looked a lot like fury trying to stay caged.
"You have ten seconds to explain why my system is screaming your name," she said. Each word came out clipped, precise, the way she probably spoke to monsters right before deleting them.
Kai coughed blood onto the moss. His shoulder was a mess of torn muscle and jacket, but the pain felt distant now, like it belonged to someone else. The golden panel still hovered between them, bright and impossible to dismiss.
"I didn't exactly fill out an application," he rasped. "One minute I'm running from a Rogue Gate, next minute I'm lunch for rock dogs, then bam—your name shows up like we're matched on some cosmic dating app."
Aria's eyes flicked to the panel. Her lips thinned until they were almost white.
[Sync Partner: Kai Veylan
Stage 0: Linked (Forced)
Warning: Refusal to cooperate risks Sync Collapse. Symptoms include progressive stat decay, internal hemorrhage, death.]
She exhaled through her nose, slow and controlled. "This isn't possible. Pair-bond systems are theoretical. Mythic-tier at best. No F-rank nobody gets one."
"Yeah, well, tell that to the glowing letters." Kai pushed himself to his knees. The Domain around them groaned—trees creaking like old ship masts, fog thickening. Rogue Gates didn't stay open forever. If they didn't clear it soon, the collapse would spit them out somewhere worse. Or not spit them out at all.
A low rumble rolled through the ground. More red eyes ignited in the mist.
Aria glanced at the approaching pack—six this time, bigger, with crystalline spines along their backs. Then she looked back at Kai like she was calculating how much effort it would take to carry dead weight.
"Stay behind me," she ordered.
"Lady, I just woke up with a sword origin and zero sword. I'm not planning on sightseeing."
He staggered to his feet anyway. The system fed him new info in cold, calm text.
[Domain Core Law Detected: Pack Predation — Monsters gain strength per allied kill within radius.]
Great. The more they killed, the stronger the rest got.
Aria raised her hand. White-blue arcs danced across her knuckles, bright enough to cast harsh shadows. "Then don't die in the first three seconds. I'm not dragging a corpse."
The pack charged.
She moved like expensive machinery—every step perfect, every gesture lethal. Lightning lanced out, forked, speared two wolves mid-leap. They burst into black ash and drifting cores. The remaining four howled, spines glowing as they absorbed the kill strength. Bigger. Faster.
Kai gripped the broken branch again. Useless, but better than empty hands. He darted left, trying to flank. One wolf peeled off toward him, jaws wide.
He triggered Basic Slash on instinct. The branch lit with faint silver, edge suddenly sharp. He buried it in the wolf's neck. Hot ash sprayed his face.
[Kill assist registered. XP shared with Sync Partner.]
Aria's head snapped toward him. Surprise flickered across her face—just a flash—before she pivoted and fried another wolf. Three left.
They fought back-to-back without meaning to. Kai blocked claws with the branch (it splintered further), slashed when he could. Aria's lightning cracked the air, precise and merciless. Every time one of them landed a killing blow, both their panels chimed softly.
[Sync Efficiency: 12%
Shared XP bonus active.]
The last wolf—an alpha, twice the size, spines like swords—leapt straight for Aria. She raised both hands, storm building above her palm, but the monster was already inside her casting range.
Kai didn't think. He shoved her sideways, took the hit meant for her ribs. Spines punched through his side, lifted him off the ground. Pain went white-hot.
Aria's eyes widened. Something raw and furious flashed there.
She touched his arm—barely a brush of fingers—and lightning poured through the contact point, down the spines, into the alpha. The wolf detonated in a blinding flash.
Kai hit the dirt hard. Vision tunneled.
[Critical injury sustained.
Sync Pulse activated involuntarily — 30% stamina transferred from Partner.]
Warmth flooded his veins, knitting torn muscle, slowing the bleed. Not healing—just borrowing from her reserves. Aria staggered, face paling, but stayed upright.
The Domain shuddered violently. At the center of the clearing, a cracked stone pedestal rose from the earth, glowing with the Gate's core.
Aria stared at her hand like it had betrayed her. "I didn't authorize that."
"Yeah, well, thanks for the juice," Kai wheezed. "Pretty sure I'd be dead otherwise."
She glared, but the ice in it had thinned. "Get up. We finish this."
Together they limped to the pedestal. Aria slammed a bolt into the core. It shattered. The twisted forest dissolved into violet light.
They spilled out onto Harbor Street amid sirens and emergency barriers. Night had fallen while they were inside. Hunter Registry vans ringed the block. Civilians gawked from behind tape.
Aria straightened her posture the second fresh air hit—shoulders back, chin high, Ice Queen mask sliding into place. She turned to walk away without a word.
Three steps.
She froze.
A red warning flared across both their visions.
[Distance Limit exceeded. Sync Strain initiating.]
Pain lanced through Kai's chest—like cold wire tightening around his heart. Across from him, Aria pressed a hand to her sternum, eyes wide for the first time since he'd met her.
A black van with the silver crown emblem of Astral Crown pulled up hard against the curb. The door slid open. A man in tailored guild leathers stepped out, tablet in hand, expression unreadable.
"Miss Kline," he said smoothly. "The Registry flagged an anomalous pair-bond linked to your ID. The Crown requires your immediate presence for verification."
His gaze slid to Kai, dismissed him in a blink, then returned to Aria.
"And your… partner will need to come as well."
Aria's fingers curled into fists. Lightning flickered, then died.
Kai met her eyes across the barricade tape.
For the first time, she didn't look like she wanted to kill him.
She looked trapped.
(To be continued...)