The silence that fell over the Grand Plaza was deafening.
Archon Gabriel lay broken in the rubble of the shattered stone wall, his Mythic Holy Sword lying in pieces beside him. The two lieutenant Archons had vanished into the rainy night, leaving behind two hundred defeated, scorched paladins.
I stood in the center of the plaza, my right hand still smoking from the residual kinetic fire of [Ashen Cleave].
PING!
[WARNING: Starlight Essence Buffer Expired!]
[Soul-Channeler Stabilization Inactive!]
The moment the 15-minute buffer ended, the massive Aether drain hit my vessel all at once.
My vision spun out of control. The silver gauntlet on my right arm went ice-cold, and my knees slammed into the wet cobblestones. I coughed up blood, my body shivering violently as my soul-channels buckled under the immense strain.
Valeska sheathed her six-foot black greatsword, the dark flames fading into the rain. Her featureless visor glowed dark red as she looked down at me. She didn’t insult me this time. Instead, she reached down, picked me up by my waist, and hoisted me onto her armored shoulder like a sack of grain.
Ten minutes later, the heavy door to Room Thirteen in the Underworld Guild slammed shut behind us.
Outlaws in Oakhaven were celebrating the retreat of the Imperial Vanguard in the taverns below, but inside our dark room, the air was suffocatingly tense.
Valeska set me down gently onto the wide wooden bed.
My entire body was shivering uncontrollably. Black and purple veins of Aether feedback were pulsing visibly under the skin of my arms and neck.
"Your vessel is destabilizing," Valeska said, her voice echoing in the quiet room. "You forced too much of my kinetic power through your mortal soul-channels."
"Yeah... felt pretty cool... while it lasted..." I wheezed, lying on my back, trying to draw a full, steady breath.
Valeska stood beside the bed for a long moment.
Then, she raised her hands to her neck.
CLINK.
Her featureless, horned visor unlocked and dissolved into crimson sparks, revealing her face in full detail under the pale moonlight filtering through the window.
She was breathtakingly, terrifyingly gorgeous.
Her pale, porcelain skin was framed by a resplendent, wild mess of crimson red hair. Her eyes were deep, burning crimson slits, and a single tiny mole sat below the corner of her right eye, giving her cold, lethal beauty a wicked, dangerous edge.
She reached up and unbuckled the collarplate of her obsidian armor, letting the dark metal loosen around her shoulders and chest. Beneath the plate, she wore a tight, dark silk tunic that strained against her voluptuous, hourglass frame.
"What... are you doing?" I panted, looking up at her.
Valeska stepped onto the bed, straddling my waist as she sat down directly on top of me. The heat radiating off her bare skin was intoxicating.
"I am stabilizing your soul," Valeska said, her voice stern. "The second stage of Soul Synchronization requires unarmored skin-to-skin contact. If I do not harmonize my Aether directly with yours, your soul-channels will rupture."
She leaned down, her long crimson hair falling around my face like a curtain.
"Channel your remaining Aether into my hands," Valeska commanded, her voice dropping into a low, husky whisper. "And be warned... now that your Soul Essence has crossed the 1,000 threshold, the world’s Axioms will resist your expansion. Expanding your soul-reservoir from this point forward will be excruciatingly slow."
I closed my eyes and pushed my remaining Aether into her bare, warm palms.
BOOM!
A blinding wave of heat exploded between our chests.
The spiritual connection hit us both like an electric shock. My Aether swirled directly into her soul, and her Ashen Flame flooded back into mine in a flawless, circular loop.
"Ah...!" Valeska let out a soft, broken gasp, her head snapping back.
My innate trait activated on its own.
[Innate Trait: [Somatic Overload Lv. 1] Triggered via Soul Synchronization!]
The overstimulating sensory feedback surged through the link.
Valeska’s eyes rolled back slightly, her pale cheeks burning a deep, passionate crimson. Her hands slid from my chest up to my shoulders, her fingers digging tightly into my jacket as her six-foot-two frame shivered uncontrollably on top of me.
"Y-You... insufferable... insect..." Valeska panted, her voice trembling with raw, flustered need. "It... is... too intense..."
"I... can’t control it, Empress..." I groaned, my hands instinctively reaching up to grab her slender, unarmored waist.
The moment my bare fingers touched her warm skin above her hip-guard, Valeska let out an alluring, breathless moan that echoed softly off the stone walls of Room Thirteen.
Her body arched into my touch, her heavy chest pressing against mine through her silk tunic. The intense soul-resonance swirled between us, washing away all the pain and fatigue in my body and replacing it with pure, electric heat.
Her crimson eyes met mine—hazed and flushed, carrying a complex blend of embarrassment, dominance, and the faintest trace of affection. Or perhaps that was simply what I wanted to see.
"Do not... look at me like that..." Valeska whispered, her breath hot against my lips. "I am... the Ashen Monarch... I do not... yield to a mortal..."
"You’re not yielding, Empress," I murmured, sliding my hands higher up her back, pulling her closer. "We’re synchronizing."
She bit her lower lip, her heart hammering against my chest as our souls locked into deep, intimate harmony.
PING!
[SOUL SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE (STAGE TWO)]
[Resonance Level: 18% -> 25%!]
[THRESHOLD > 1,000 APPLIED: Soul Essence Increment Reduced!]
[Soul Essence Expanded: +80 (1,000 -> 1,080 / 3,000)]
[Progress to 2nd Calamity Unlock (Lilith): 1,080 / 3,000]
The soul-link slowly stabilized into a warm, steady hum. All the black and purple veins on my arms vanished, and my Aether pool was completely refilled.
I stared at the floating System HUD in absolute disbelief.
"Only eighty?!" I groaned, slumping back onto the bed. "Are you fucking kidding me?! We just went through a deep soul synchronization and I only got eighty points?!"
Valeska lay on my chest, her crimson hair scattered over my shoulders, her fast, shallow breathing slowly calming down.
Through her translucent, flushed skin, she looked down at me with a faint, tired smirk.
"I told you, mortal," Valeska whispered, her voice soft and heavy against my neck. "Beyond 1,000, every single drop of Soul Essence must be earned through grueling, painful refinement. There are no shortcuts to 3,000."
I looked at her, then looked at the System HUD floating above us.
1,080 / 3,000.
I let out a long, dry laugh, running my fingers through Valeska’s soft crimson hair as she rested her head on my chest.
"Well," I muttered, looking out the rainy window toward the dark city below. "It’s gonna be a very long climb."