The forest was darker now. Not because of nightfall, but because something was chasing them.
"Left!" Lyria barked, sword already dripping blood. Kaito turned around a tree just in time to miss an arrow that would've impaled his skull. His system flared to life—erratically, of course.
> [ALERT: SYSTEM INSTABILITY. Threat Level: Deadly] [ERROR 819: Map Not Found. Run like hell.]
"Seriously? Not found?!" Kaito shouted.
Lyria didn't slow. She jumped over a fallen log with her usual, terrifying speed. "Stop yelling at your ghost box and run, idiot."
He ran, breath heavy, feet slipping on wet ground. They hadn't even had time to clean themselves after the other night—after the ruins, the blood, and the unexpectedly wild, panting sex on a shattered chapel.
He was mostly mad about his interrupted morning.
Not that he was complaining. Except now his thighs were sore and his pants stuck in the worst places.
"Hey, can we talk about boundaries...."
Lyria glanced back, her smirk dangerous. "You didn't have any last night."
Kaito flushed. "Well, you started it!"
"And you moaned like a little virgin. Now focus, perv."
He did but she liked it.
They cleared the tree line and the terrain dropped sharply into a stone basin. An abandoned temple stretched upwards, some part of the building was destroyed others were half swallowed by vines and fog. Lyria pulled him behind a crumbling passage.
"They don't go near this place," she muttered. "Too many... echoes."
Kaito stood besides her, trying not to die from adrenaline or arousal. Possibly both. "What kind of echoes?"
(It's believed to be cursed)
Before she could answer, the ground lit below them. Glowing runes appeared across the stone floor.
> [WARNING: Divine Architecture Detected] [Fragment Compatibility: Pending... Syncing... 1%...]
"Whoa."
The temperature dropped. Air thinned.
Kaito's vision blurred, briefly overlayed with code. And then—
"Shit. That wasn't supposed to happen yet," came a new voice. Female.
Kaito flinched. Lyria drew her sword.
From the shadows stepped a woman Cloaked in black robes, black long hair and eyes that sparked with too much amusement. Her staff glowed.
"Congratulations," she said, voice like glass. "You've tripped every ward I laid. Brainless, or just reckless?"
"Who the hell are you?" Lyria growled, stepping forward.
Kaito's interface pinged sharply:
[SYSTEM FRAGMENT DETECTED: Magic]
The mage tilted her head. "I'm Seren. And you're the morons trying to walk into a temple ruin like it's a sandbox. Or did the sword for brains forget how mana traps work?"
"Excuse me?" Lyria snarled.
Seren smiled thinly. "Oh good. She understands. I was worried."
Kaito stepped between them, holding up his hands. "Let's dial down the death stares for two seconds."
"Tell your pet sword to sheathe her blade," Seren said, crossing her arms.
"I'll sheathe it in your—"
"Calm down, Lyria." Kaito interrupted "We are just trying to hide from the Imperial forces."
"Don't worry, glitch. They won't come in here."
"Glitch?" Lyria eyes still locked on seren. Suspicious now. "Have you been stalking us?"
"Don't flatter yourself, sword for brains. I was stalking him." Seren's gaze locked on Kaito.
"Glitch boy. Still not dead. Impressive."
"Me?" Kaito asked confused.
"And you're the berserker. That explains the stench of lust."
"Watch it," Lyria growled.
But Seren wasn't looking at her anymore.
She was looking at Kaito like he was an unstable equation she needed to solve with her tongue or a scalpel, he wasn't sure.
He made that last part up.
Kaito raised his hands. "Look, I have no idea what's going on, but I'm open to anything that does not involve killing me."
> [SYSTEM UPDATE AVAILABLE: Magic Fragment Detected Nearby]
Lyria and Seren still squared off like wolves.
"So let's not murder each other yet," Kaito said weakly. "We're inside a cursed temple, right?"
"Not cursed, just alive." Seren replied
The temple was definitely not just alive.
"Maybe... Let's focus on not dying first? Also monsters are still after us. Let's find a way out."
Seren sighed dramatically and turned. "Fine. But if your friend here comes near me, I'm setting her on fire."
Lyria hissed.
They moved together deeper into the temple. Doors opened on their own, reacting to Kaito's presence. The walls hummed with dead voices, and at one point, a mural screamed when they passed.
"I hate this," Kaito muttered.
"Good," Lyria said. "Means your fear response still works. Unlike your defense stat."
Lyria was irritated the whole walk.
"Hey, I've got charm!"
"Charm doesn't stop spears."
"It did last night," he replied fast maybe too fast.
Lyria flushed, opened her mouth
> [ERROR 001: Trial Chambers.]
And then the floor gave way. The fell.
The fall into the chamber was like plunging through the sky.
They landed in a circular chamber. Symbols spun in sequence around them, glowing gold. Three doors, all sealed. A puzzle lock floated above a platform.
Kaito landed on solid marble face first, as usual, with Lyria grunting beside him and Seren floating down like she was born in an anime.
Seren's eyes gleamed. "Now this is interesting."
Seren waved her hand. The puzzle shifted: floating glyphs that responded to Kaito's system interface.
The Trial Chamber was larger than Kaito expected. The air buzzed, the kind of holy but horny energy that made him instinctively check his pants.
Which were, again, sadly not armor rated.
"Where are we?"
"Looks like we have to form a stable mana triangle," she murmured.
"What does that mean in not nerd?" Kaito asked.
He was a nerd too, just not the smart one.
Lyria leaned over his shoulder. "It means touching her, dumbass."
"What?!"
"Her mana needs to sync with yours to stabilize the door glyphs. Intimate contact makes it faster."
"Define intimate.."
Seren was already stepping in, fingers brushing his neck. "You're lucky I don't need candlelight and a violin, glitch boy."
> [System Alert: Mana Synchronization Initiated] [Bond Threshold: 17%]
He was slightly Turned On. Of course.
Lyria folded her arms. "You moan, I kill you."
Kaito groaned. "I liked it better when the system just insulted me."
The glyphs shimmered, gears grinding behind the central door.
Seren's face was close, her breath warm against his cheek. "You smell like panic and bad decisions."
"And you smell like.... You actually smell good."
She smelt like mist and expensive soap.
The puzzle clicked into place with a loud thud. The central door began to open.
> [Synchronization Complete: Partial Magic Fragment Acquired]
From the darkness beyond: a growl.
"Something's coming," Lyria said, drawing her blade.
Seren stepped back, staff at the ready. "I do hope it bleeds."
Kaito's system flared again.
> [Trial Objective: Survive. Submit. Stimulate.]
He glanced at the two deadly women beside him.
"…So this is what dating feels like in this world."
Lyria cracked her neck. "No, this is foreplay."