I had to figure out how to make those two lethal beasts fall for me without getting obliterated all over again.
The agony of Ignis’s claw driving through my sternum hadn't been an ordinary wound; it was total cellular combustion.
Before my bones even had time to shatter, the incandescent heat vaporized the air in my lungs, boiling every drop of blood in my veins to steam.
I snapped back to life all at once.
The mystical pool water flooded my throat as I surfaced with a violent convulsion.
Collapsing onto my knees against the wet stone, I coughed up mouthfuls of glowing violet liquid, my claws scraping desperately into the freezing rock.
With frantic porcelain hands, I felt along the center of my chest, searching for the gaping wound—the charred crater where her blazing talon had cleaved me in two.
The phantom sensation was still seared into every fiber of my being.
Yet beneath my palms, there was nothing. Only smooth, milk-white skin and the frantic hammering of my kitsune heart.
“Damn lizard...” I panted, hot tears of pure rage spilling down my burning cheeks. “She atomized me in half a second flat, all over a scent. Damn dragon...”
I pressed my forehead against the freezing stone, forcing myself to take slow, measured breaths.
I couldn't afford to lose control.
My twin silver tails floated limp and waterlogged behind me.
Closing my eyes, I forced my physiology into submission.
In the dim recesses of my mind, the System interface pulsed discreetly without obstructing my vision:
[Loop #7 Initialized | Vital Signs: Stable | Mana Suppression: Ready]
[Are you ready to change your fate?]
I had a little over two minutes before the echo of Carmilla’s heels heralded her arrival.
There was no room left for basic trial and error; I knew the Progenitor’s pattern down to the millimeter. The lethal trap I had just uncovered didn't lie in Carmilla herself, but in the venomous rivalry festering between the two guardians.
Carmilla smelled of ancient crypts, heavy silk, and withered roses.
Ignis lived in an inferno of brimstone, ash, and molten stone.
Carrying the scent mark of one into the other’s domain was an immediate death sentence without trial.
If I want to talk to the dragon, I can’t carry a single trace of the vampire’s territory on my skin.
Just as the thought settled—
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Iron heels shattered the silence of the cavern.
Let's get this damn game started.
I rose from the water with measured grace, letting the rising mist veil my curves.
By the time Carmilla emerged from the shadows, her commanding presence and crimson pupils devouring the dark, I already had my posture rehearsed: showing neither the fear that provoked her predatory instincts nor the false arrogance that stirred her suspicion.
“Well, well...” Her voice sounded identical to the previous loops, steeped in that lethal cadence. “It’s been over three hundred years since anything living tumbled into this miserable pit.”
She bridged the distance in a breath, locking her gaze onto my face.
I delivered the exact same lines that had succeeded in previous loops: Lucas’s betrayal, Elena’s murder, my plunge into the abyss.
I kept my pulse slow, steady, and ice-cold. And when she glided her silky, freezing fingers along my jawline to test my resolve, I held her stare without blinking.
“A Kitsune who understands the weight of betrayal...” the Progenitor murmured, trailing the back of her hand along the curve of my neck. “Come with me, Elina. Such a refined toy does not deserve to wither in this puddle.”
I followed her through the damp corridors into her Gothic salon.
Everything repeated with surgical precision: the tarnished silver candelabras, the sweet scent of blood-wine, and the heavy crimson velvet drapes.
Carmilla opened the carved chest and withdrew the black silk robe embroidered with silver thread.
“Put this on,” she commanded softly.
“With your permission, milady,” I said, offering a slight, measured bow, “I would be grateful for a moment to cleanse myself first and meditate beside the water currents to stabilize the mana from my metamorphosis.
The silk is exquisite, but my skin still weeps the residual fire of the pool. I would hate to stain such fine fabric with spiritual impurities.”
I can always wear it later—and you can strip it right off me in bed whenever you please.
Carmilla arched a brow.
Her gaze scrutinized every pore of my naked body, weighing whether there was any deceit behind my request.
“Vain little thing...” she purred, laying the garment across the divan. “I like that you appreciate my belongings.
Step out into the intermediate passages if you wish, but do not stray too far from my presence.
The darkness of this abyss devours careless creatures.”
“I won't forget it, Lady of the Night.”
I waited until she reclined upon her throne and closed her eyes in that meditative torpor characteristic of the undead.
The moment her breathing softened into an imperceptible sigh, I slipped out of the salon in complete silence.
Time to hunt down that damn dragon.
I didn't touch the silk robe. I stepped into the corridor completely naked, guided only by the spectral glow of my twin silver tails and the poise of my magnificent new body.
My first destination wasn't the dragon’s domain, but a geological fault line I had spotted during my flight in the previous loop: an intermediate rift where freezing runoff from the heights collided with the first subterranean magma vents.
I reached a narrow trench where the water churned, thick with heavy minerals, sulfur, and volcanic salts.
The steam rising from the pit was dense and acrid, stinging the back of my throat.
Without hesitating for a second, I plunged completely into the boiling water.
The pain was sharp and immediate. The sulfurous brine scalded the outer layers of my kitsune skin, but I gritted my teeth and channeled my Spectral Fire to spark an alchemical reaction within my own flesh. I let the sulfur sink deep into my pores, dissolving every trace of withered roses, aged liquor, and cadaverous chill that had clung to me while crossing Carmilla’s salon.
I had to do this if I wanted to make that lizard fall for me.
I scrubbed my arms, my silver hair, and the base of my fox ears with volcanic mud until my skin was steeped solely in the scent of scorched stone, mineral steam, and the primal essence of my own spiritual mana.
When I emerged from the water, my body gave off a distinct, smoky vapor.
My silver fur dried instantly beneath the heat of my mystical flames.
[Olfactory Cleansing Complete | Vampiric Residue: 0.0% | Assimilated Essence: Fire & Brimstone]
I’m ready.
“Now then,” I whispered, feeling the taut power coiling in my animal muscles.
“Let's see if you look me in the eye before trying to charbroil me this time, your scaly majesty.”
I began my descent into the depths.
This time, the spike in temperature didn't catch me off guard.
With my mana channels open and sulfur coating my skin, the scorching air of the basalt rift felt almost natural to my new anatomy.
My bare feet strode firmly across the black stone slabs pulsing with incandescent veins of lava.
Crossing the grand vaulted entrance, I halted at the edge of the colossal subterranean cavern.
The lake of magma continued its chaotic dance, hurling tongues of golden fire toward the black rock ceiling.
The mountain of treasure, forgotten weapons, and gold-draped skeletons dominated the heart of the abyss.
Atop that peak of riches, the Calamity Dragon slept in her beast form: a mountain of crimson scales the size of a feudal castle, her iron wings folded tight and her breath rumbling like titanic bellows.
I didn't hide behind a pillar. I didn't creep forward like a thief.
This time, I would not fail.
I walked straight toward the base of the golden hill, letting my two tails of silver fire fan out behind me in their full mystical radiance.
The cold white light of my magic sliced through the reddish gloom of the cave, casting long shadows across the ancient coins.
A sharp metallic crunch echoed beneath my bare foot as I stepped atop a forgotten iron crown.
The beast’s massive head snapped up instantly.
A colossal eye of liquid fire opened in her armored skull, locking onto my naked figure with murderous intensity.
The heat multiplied in a heartbeat. Yet instead of incinerating me from afar with a roar like in previous loops, the behemoth paused.
Her titanic nostrils flared, inhaling the steam-heavy air.
No roses.
No walking dead.
Only hot sulfur, pure mineral water, and the electric spark of a wild spirit that refused to bow.
A whirlwind of fire and ash engulfed the mountain of treasure. Get faster updates on g.com.
The reptile’s monumental form collapsed inward in a blinding burst of golden light that forced me to narrow my eyes.
When the smoke cleared, the woman of fire descended the golden slope.
There was no denying that in her demihuman form she was breathtaking—so stunning I wanted to run my tongue over every inch of her body.
Ignis walked with the heavy, deliberate cadence of a war goddess.
Her curved black horns grazed the spark-laden air; her mane of golden fire spilled over broad shoulders and a back dappled with ruby scales.
Her bronze skin radiated a heat that warped the air around her, and her long, scaled tail struck the ground with a rhythmic crack that matched the tempo of my own breathing.
She stopped less than two paces away. Towering over me by more than two heads, she forced me to tilt my chin up to hold her gaze.
Her eyes were twin pits of incandescent magma, their slit pupils sharp as guillotine blades.
“A silver Kitsune in the heart of my forge...” Her voice thundered inside my skull, charged with a rough, dangerous magnetism that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. “And you come to my bed without clothes, without weapons, and without the stench of cowardice. Who do you think you are?”
“I come unarmed because human weapons melt before true fire,” I replied with a steadiness that surprised even my own ears, letting a defiant smile curve my lips. “And I come without clothes because molten stone has no respect for fabric, Ignis. Better to let you appreciate every inch of a body that could belong to you, my great mistress.”
The dragon arched a scaled brow. The sheer insolence of addressing her by her given name inside her own sanctuary made the scales along her forearms crackle with white fire.
“You know my name, vermin,” she growled, taking another step forward to invade my personal space completely. The heat radiating from her torso nearly blistered the bare skin of my chest. “Give me one reason why I shouldn't turn you into slag this very second. The weaklings who tumble into this hole usually end up on their knees, weeping to their pathetic gods before they burn.”
“Because I am not weak,” I said, stepping forward and deliberately pressing the tips of my porcelain claws against the scaled plating over her hardened abdomen.
She was going to be mine, and I would be hers, no matter the cost.
The contact between our bodies sent a searing jolt through my hands that lightly blistered my fingertips, yet I didn't flinch.
“No god saved me when I was cast down here,” I continued, locking my eyes onto hers. “I died as a betrayed human and was reborn in the waters of the abyss. I don't seek your pity, Queen of Ashes. I seek your strength to shatter the seal imprisoning us both.”
Ignis went completely still. She glanced down at my hands resting against her stomach before raising her gaze back to my golden eyes. I could feel the tremor of her aura: a titanic force, a volcano on the verge of eruption, yet devoid of Carmilla’s paranoid hysteria. This was pure, unadulterated dominance.
Slowly, a razor-edged claw rose and closed around my throat.
The pressure was suffocating, though she stopped short of crushing my windpipe. The heat of white-hot iron bled into my skin, ripping a sharp cry from my throat as her talons grazed my carotid pulse.
“You have guts for a newborn fox spirit,” Ignis hissed, leaning down until her fiery breath licked across my lips. “I like meat that doesn't shiver when held by the throat. I’ve spent millennia sleeping atop shiny garbage while the outside world rots away. I had completely forgotten what it felt like to have a living creature look me in the eye without pissing themselves in panic.”
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Ignis Affection: 0.0% \rightarrow 3.0%
Emotional State: Intrigued / Awakened Dominance
Active Condition: Respect earned through physical defiance.
“Then stop sleeping...” I murmured against her fangs, ignoring the searing pain of her grip. “And help me reduce that world to ashes. I want my vengeance...”
Ignis let out a savage laugh that boomed off the cavern walls like a rockslide. Her hand released my throat only to slide to the nape of my neck, tangling her fingers in my silver hair and yanking my head back to bare my neck completely.
“A pact isn't sealed with pretty words, little vixen,” the dragon purred, crushing her monumental body against mine with breath-stealing force. I felt the unyielding hardness of her crimson scales pressing into my bare breasts and stomach. “If you want a Calamity to walk at your side and shatter the gods' seal... you’ll have to pay the tribute owed to my nest.”
“What tribute?” I breathed, feeling the heat of her scaled tail coiling possessively around my legs.
“Tonight, you will be mine,” Ignis declared with a ferocity that brooked no refusal, her golden eyes blazing with destructive lust. “You will enter my bed of gold and ash, and you will prove to me whether that spiritual fire of yours can withstand a dragon’s heat without disintegrating. If you survive my bed of love until dawn... I’ll hear out your plan.”
“Deal...”
My heart gave a violent lurch. I had done it: a successful first contact without being incinerated on the spot. The path to the dragon’s devotion lay wide open before me.
In that exact instant, the basalt inferno froze over.
An icy gale, carrying the unmistakable stench of centuries-old crypts and rotting roses, tore through the vaulted entrance of the lava cavern. The flames of the magma lake dropped several meters all at once, hissing against an invasion of black frost that crept over the incandescent rocks like a plague.
A long, liquid shadow stretched across the stone wall behind us.
“Well, well...” A voice dripping with homicidal, heart-wrenching venom echoed through the air, turning my breath into freezing mist. “So this was your 'spiritual meditation,' my sweet Elina...”
Ignis tensed instantly. Her scales bristled with a metallic rasp, and her horns ignited in white flame as she whipped her head toward the entrance.
Hovering half a meter above the floor at the threshold of the burning chamber, her red eyes blazing with absolute yandere madness, stood Carmilla.
The Vampire Progenitor wasn't smiling. Her face was a mask of pure hatred, tears of blood spilling from her eyes as hordes of spectral bats swirled around her like a swarm of black swords.
“Fleeing from my arms... only to offer yourself naked at the feet of this filthy lizard...” Carmilla whispered, her voice trembling with an unhinged fury that made the ceiling of the abyss groan.
“If you will not be mine, Elina... THEN NOT A SINGLE SPECK OF YOUR ASHES WILL REMAIN IN THIS WORLD!”
Both monstrosities unleashed their maximum power in the exact same second.
I was trapped dead center in the collision between absolute zero and stellar heat, without a single scrap of cloth to cover me, and with the absolute certainty that Loop #7 was about to end in the bloodiest massacre of my existence.
This can't be happening!