The Awakening Center trembled under the catastrophic pressure of Liora’s overloaded mana core as the once-stable obsidian stone cracked like fragile glass beneath a sledgehammer.
Silver light poured from the fissures in jagged streaks that scorched the air and left the distinct taste of ozone on Liam’s tongue. He forced his newly regressed and woefully unconditioned legs to carry him up the stage steps, his boots loudly cracking the cheap linoleum floor beneath him.
Every survival instinct honed over ten years of hunting world-ending abominations screamed at him to run in the opposite direction, yet he threw himself directly into the blinding epicenter of the storm. The heat radiating from Liora was suffocating, burning away the oxygen in a tight radius around her while the sheer force of her runaway magic pinned her hands to the glowing rock. She was completely paralyzed, her eyes rolled back into her head while her slender body vibrated violently under the strain of channeling power her physical form simply could not handle.
"Liora, you need to let go right now!" Liam shouted over the deafening whine of overloading mana, though he knew perfectly well that she could not hear a single word he was saying.
He lunged forward through the dense wall of silver energy, feeling his skin blister beneath his plain clothes as he wrapped his arms firmly around her waist. He tried to yank her backward with pure physical strength, but the mutated mana had effectively glued her palms to the stone surface.
A golden window slammed into his field of vision with an obnoxiously cheerful chime that sounded utterly absurd against the backdrop of an impending magical explosion.
[Notice: Pure physical force is insufficient to break an Astral feedback loop.]
[Solution: Utilize your unsealed Shadow Seed to siphon the volatile energy directly from the Target’s body. Note that this requires maximum physical contact to establish a proper mana circuit. The System recommends a full-body embrace for optimal absorption. Please proceed with the cuddling.]
Liam cursed the Goddess of Fate with every fiber of his being as he adjusted his grip, pressing his chest flush against Liora’s trembling back and sliding his arms down to cover her hands with his own. The moment his bare skin touched hers over the fractured stone, he forcefully activated the tiny droplet of dark energy resting near his heart.
"Devour it," Liam commanded his nascent shadows, pushing his consciousness into the frozen pathways of his own body.
Wisps of cold, ink-black smoke seeped from his pores and immediately sank into Liora’s glowing skin, acting like a desperate sponge soaking up an overflowing ocean. The sensation was agonizing, as the searing heat of her mutated silver starlight crashed directly into his freezing, abyssal shadows, creating a volatile reaction right inside his chest cavity.
Yet alongside the blinding pain came an unexpected, intoxicating rush of shared intimacy, a profound blending of their raw life forces that made his heart hammer furiously against her spine.
[Ding!]
[Physical Intimacy Threshold Reached. Initiating Proto-Dual Cultivation Protocol.]
[Target’s raw mana is acting as Yin fuel. Processing energy...]
The obsidian stone could no longer contain the warring forces of light and dark clashing upon its surface. With a sound like a thunderclap detonating inside a tin can, the massive crystal shattered into a thousand razor-sharp fragments, plunging the entire stage into darkness for a split second before the emergency lighting flickered to life.
The shockwave threw Liam and Liora violently backward through the air, sending them crashing onto the hard wooden floor of the stage in a tangled heap of limbs.
Liam immediately twisted his body mid-air to ensure he took the brunt of the impact, wrapping himself around Liora to shield her from the rain of flying obsidian shrapnel. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the breath completely from his lungs, sliding several feet across the polished wood before finally coming to a halt with Liora safely pinned beneath him.
The hall was engulfed in a stunned, terrified silence, broken only by the sound of debris clattering against the bleachers and the frantic gasps of the examinees.
Beneath him, Liora slowly opened her eyes, her chest heaving as she struggled to process the absolute chaos that had just unfolded. Her pale blue eyes locked onto Liam’s face, which was currently hovering mere inches above hers, his dark eyes still glowing with the faint, crimson residue of his shadow magic. She was intensely aware of his heavy weight pressing down on her, the heat of his breath grazing her cheek, and the undeniable fact that he had just risked his life to throw himself into an exploding magical anomaly just for her.
"Are your internal organs intact?" Liam asked, scanning her face with the cold, analytical precision of a combat medic while completely ignoring the incredibly compromising position they were in.
A furious, beautiful shade of crimson flooded Liora’s cheeks as she stared up at him, her lips parting slightly as she realized just how tightly his arms were wrapped around her waist.
[Ding!]
[Interaction Log: +15 Affection with Liora Selene (now 59). Status updated from ’Acquaintance’ to ’Crush’.]
[Congratulations on successfully completing the ’Save the Consort’ quest. Calculating rewards...]
Before Liam could push himself up, the holographic display above the ruined pedestal violently flickered back to life, projecting a massive string of text that cast a blinding blue glow over the entire auditorium.
[Liora Selene]
[Rank: S]
[Affinity: Astral Weaver (Mutated / Unique)]
The suffocating silence in the room instantly shattered into absolute pandemonium. S-Rank Awakeners were anomalies that appeared perhaps once every five years in a city this size, and a unique mutation meant she was practically royalty before she even stepped foot in a dungeon.
The heavy oak doors at the back of the auditorium slammed open, and half a dozen smartly dressed Guild Recruiters who had been comfortably sipping coffee in the VIP lounge came sprinting down the aisles like hungry wolves smelling fresh blood.
Liam finally pushed himself off Liora, offering his hand to help her stand just as the vanguard of the corporate swarm reached the edge of the ruined stage. Leading the pack was a tall, impeccably groomed man wearing the silver and blue uniform of the Silver Vanguard Guild, the very same guild that Julian Vance’s father helped manage.
"Miss Selene, please do not move, as we have medical personnel on standby," the recruiter declared smoothly, projecting his voice to drown out the other approaching scouts. He stepped up onto the stage, completely ignoring the debris, and immediately moved to position himself between Liora and Liam. "I am Director Vance of the Silver Vanguard. We are prepared to offer you an S-Class development contract this very second, including an immediate signing bonus of five million credits and relocation to our central spire."
Director Vance then turned his gaze toward Liam, looking him up and down with an expression of undisguised revulsion, clearly having checked the earlier logs on his tablet. "You, the E-Rank boy. Step away from the VIP. You have no business loitering around a national asset, and your cheap clothes are tracking dust onto her."
Julian, who had finally recovered enough from his humiliating takedown to stumble toward the front row, barked a harsh laugh. "Tell him, Uncle! The rat tried to assault her during her awakening! I saw him grab her!"
Liam did not say a word in his own defense, merely analyzing the precise amount of force it would take to collapse the Director’s windpipe using only his thumb and forefinger. He was fully prepared to fade into the background and let Liora take her rightful place in the spotlight, just as she had in his past life, when a small, trembling hand firmly grasped the sleeve of his jacket.
Liora stepped out from behind the Director, her knuckles turning white as she gripped Liam’s arm with startling strength, completely refusing to be separated from him.
"Do not speak to him like that," Liora commanded, her voice shaking slightly but carrying a new, resonant weight that echoed with the faint power of her newly awakened starlight. She glared fiercely at the Silver Vanguard Director, then cast a look of absolute disgust down at Julian. "When the crystal overloaded, every single one of you highly paid professionals ran away to hide behind the chairs. Liam was the only person in this entire building who tried to save me. If you disrespect him again, I will never sign a single piece of paper with your guild."
Director Vance froze, his polished smile fracturing slightly as the other competing recruiters gleefully began to circle him, sensing blood in the water. To be publicly reprimanded by a newly minted S-Rank was a career-ending disaster, especially with rival guilds watching.
"My deepest apologies, Miss Selene," the Director backpedaled hastily, bowing his head. "I was merely concerned for your safety."
"Liam is my escort," Liora stated firmly, pulling him slightly closer to her side, sending another jolt of electric warmth radiating through Liam’s arm. "And we are leaving together."
[Ding!]
[Public Defense of your Honor detected! Female empowerment activated.]
[Quest Reward Distributed: Second Seal Broken. +5 to all Physical Stats.]
A sudden, intense rush of power flooded Liam’s veins, washing away the lingering aches of his weak body and solidifying his muscles with dense, compact strength. However, before he could properly appreciate the glorious sensation of his returning power, Liora gasped sharply, her grip on his arm turning completely agonizing as she stumbled forward.
Her face drained of all color, replacing her furious blush with a sickly, translucent pallor, and the silver veins beneath her skin began to pulse erratically. She collapsed against Liam’s chest, coughing up a small splatter of glowing silver blood that stained his shirt.
[CRITICAL ALERT!]
[Target Liora Selene’s mana pathways are suffering catastrophic micro-fractures due to the temporal mutation of her Awakening.]
[Immediate stabilization is required to prevent permanent core collapse.]
[Method of stabilization: Direct Mana Transference via mucous membrane contact.]
[Translation for the romantically impaired: You have exactly thirty seconds to kiss her deeply and force your shadows down her throat to repair her pathways, or she will permanently lose her magic and likely her life.]
Liam stared at the glowing golden text, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs as he held the rapidly fading S-Rank beauty in his arms while the entire city’s elite watched them.
He had twenty-eight seconds left to decide whether he was willing to become public enemy number one for the sake of his first consort.