Before Seris could respond, his face was suddenly right in front of hers, and without warning, his tongue slid across her lips, licking away the blood.
A violent shiver ran through her body.
{WHAT ARE YOU DOING!, DON'T LICK !}
Lykos tilted his head again, unconcerned.
"Don't worry," he said calmly, "I'm listening to my mom. I won't eat you till you're dead."
He gazed at her unblinking, unwavering.
"I'm just tasting you first."
Seris stared back, her heart hamring against her ribs. Those feral silver eyes held no hatred. No cruelty.
Just hunger.
Seris stared down at her sword, her breath ragged while her hands trembled. She tried one last ti to lift it, to force her body to obey, but her strength was gone. The blade remained where it was, heavy and unmoving.
Across from her, Lykos watched in silence. His silver eyes darkened while a low growl rumbled in his throat.
"Do not dare," he said with his voice sharp as a blade. "If you even try, I will have to kill you." His posture shifted while his muscles coiled, ready to strike.
Seris let out a weak, bitter laugh.
{So what if you kill ? Nothing will change. I will die anyway, and you'll still end up eating . It's no different than if you just did it yourself.}
She reached for the sword again. Her fingers barely curled around the hilt before slipping away. No strength left. Nothing.
Lykos hesitated. For the first ti since hatching, doubt crept into his mind. He was strong, born a Tier 3 entity the mont he cracked free from his shell, but he was still only four hours old. Knowledge had been placed in his mind from hunting, fighting, and survival... but knowing was different from understanding.
He frowned while rubbing the side of his head. "If you die right now… does that an I killed you? Did I break my mother's rule?"
Seris blinked. {"What? That's not—I an, yes. Exactly that."}
"But if you die, it isn't my fault. I didn't crush your bones."
Seris forced herself to sit up straighter.
{"Watching die when you could have done sothing... That's the sa as killing ."}
Her vision blurred. Her head felt too heavy. Words spilled out before she even knew what she was saying.
Lykos took a step back, startled. "W-what!?"
From above, unseen but ever watchful, Xytrallia narrowed her eyes. The great mother of the Khryssari had raised many children, each sharp, ruthless, and instinct-driven. But this one… this one was different. He was slow. Gullible. And sohow... strangely cute in her eyes...
She exhaled in sothing like amusent.
Lykos, while panicking, made his decision. "Then... I'll heal you! But you have to promise to beco mine!"
Seris stiffened in an instant after hearing those words.
{"What!?"}
"My mother told never to do anything for free. If you want sothing from , you have to pay. And since the only thing I want is your body, you will belong to . Forever."
Seris's heart nearly stopped. Her face burned red.
{"My body? Do you think I'd ever agree to that? Absolutely—"}
"You have already said yes!" Lykos declared, as though that settled the matter.
Before she could argue, his fingers elongated, stretching unnaturally thin. With swift, fluid precision, they pierced through her armor, through her skin, into the very structure of her failing body.
Seris gasped, the pain sudden and blinding. A foreign substance flooded her veins, sothing cold, sothing alive. It twisted through her bones, breaking them down, rebuilding them, reshaping her into sothing more.
Lykos tilted his head. "Why are you screaming?"
Xytrallia sighed from the shadows.
The night air burned with the scent of ozone and scorched earth as Lilla and her two paladins fought for their lives. Their enemy, Jiro, moved like a phantom in the darkness, his laughter sharp and mocking.
He wasn't like the others Lykos had slain. No, this one was stronger. A Tier 3 Peak Void creature, faster and more ruthless than anything they had faced before.
"Hah! Is this all the so-called Paladins can do? Pathetic!" Jiro's voice echoed through the trees, his form a blur as he weaved through the laser fire. He used the forest like a second skin, vanishing into the shadows, circling them, taunting.
"Saintess, stay in the middle! The shields are down! We're out of energy cells!" One of the paladins shouted while throwing her depleted shield aside.
The other had already sprung into action, reaching behind her back and pulling out a spear in separate pieces. A flicker of magnetic energy crackled between her fingers, and in a flash, the weapon snapped together with perfect precision.
Jiro's laughter ca again while circling them like a predator. "Kukuku… Running out of tricks already, Saintess? Where is your goddess now?"
"Show yourself, filth!" The dual-wielding paladin snapped, her eyes scanning the shifting darkness. She t her ally's gaze, gave a quick nod, then moved forward with her blades drawn and ready for anything.
A rush of movent faster than breath appeared on top of her.
Jiro pounced at her, but the second he struck, the figure in front of him flickered; it was a hologram.
Before he could react, the illusion exploded.
Jiro hissed, twisting midair, barely escaping the blast. But before he could land, sothing else shot toward him; it was a spear, moving like a bolt of lightning.
He swung his arm up just in ti, deflecting it with a sharp clang, but the mont he did, a shadow dropped from above.
The dual-wielding paladin struck without rcy.
Blades clashed in a violent storm of steel. Sparks flew as she pressed forward, forcing Jiro onto the defensive. Faster than him? No. Stronger? Not even close. But she was relentless, her twin swords carving through the air with ruthless precision.
"What's the matter, void scum?" She sneered between strikes. "Weren't you going to kill all of us? Cat got your tongue?"
Jiro snarled while his eyes flicked to the side, where the sa spear as before was coming back, again and again.
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Every ti he deflected it, it returned with the sa deadly speed. It was forcing him to dodge, forcing him to reposition, keeping him from overwhelming the paladin in front of him.
"Saintess, we're in position!" one of the crusaders reported through the communicator. "Awaiting your signal!"
Lilla didn't hesitate before ordering. "Activate the cage."
A deep hum filled the air as the trap was set.
Energy surged in a wide arc around the battlefield. The paladins, still locked in combat, didn't look back, but they didn't need to.
They knew it wasn't necessary. In one swift motion, Lilla summoned the huge white hands, massive glowing constructs that appeared next to the paladins. They grabbed them and pulled them clear of the closing periter.
Jiro's eyes widened. "What!?"
The laser cage snapped shut.
"You really think this can hold ?" Jiro shouted, his muscles tensing. He crouched low, then launched toward the weakest point in the cage, the section still finishing its connection.
He almost made it to the exit hole, but then—
A massive, white-hot fist slamd into him from above.
The impact was thunderous, the force sending him crashing back into the center of the cage. Smoke curled from his body as he skidded to a stop, his eyes flickering with fury.
Outside, Lilla lowered her glowing hand. "You were saying?"
"Kukuk, do you think you've got trapped?" The void creature scoffed, its voice sounding like a rusty gate scraping against concrete.
"This laser cage is a futile attempt to hold captive; it's a waste of energy, and when it inevitably collapses, I will unleash my wrath upon all of you... KUAHAHA!" The creature's maniacal laughter sent shivers down the spines of the crusaders.
Lilla stood tall with her eyes locked onto the void creature's twisted form. "Shrink it," she commanded, her voice firm and resolute.
In an instant, the laser cage began to contract, its walls closing in on the creature with rciless precision. The air was filled with the acrid sll of burning flesh as even the slightest movent set off a maelstrom of flas that danced across the creature's body.
The paladin's voice rang out, laced with urgency. "What are you all staring at? Hold it tight now!" The crusaders sprang into action, producing lengthy rods with U-shaped tips that they used to restrain the creature.
As they attached the rods to its body, a restraining device sprang to life, injecting a potent cocktail of drugs into its system. The void creature's struggles grew weaker as the sedatives took hold.
"Kukuku... what you're doing is... useless," the creature muttered, its eyelids drooping as it fought against the darkness closing in. "You won't get any information from ... I don't feel pain..."
Lilla's smile was icy as she waved goodbye in a sweeping gesture. "Don't worry, I know soone who would love to dissect you and extract every last shred of knowledge from your mind. So rest tight... you won't be waking up again." Her words were laced with an unnerving certainty that sent a chill down the spines of even her allies.
The void monster's response was barely audible as it slurred out a faint "W-what...?" before finally succumbing to the darkness.
The paladin stood over the creature, her spear poised at its head in case it stirred. "Bring the transport ship and chains! Put this abomination in cryostasis; it's coming with us." Her voice was firm and commanding as she oversaw the preparation for their departure.
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