"Hana. What is that look on your face?"
Hana did not answer. She was still contemplating it.
It was +5000 points if she succeeded altogether and 24 hours of agony if she failed.
The 5000 points were a drop in the ocean of her debt, but in her world, you didn't leave resources on the table just because it was too little. Especially not when the alternative was a massive penalty of point deduction and twenty-four hours of Agony.
"Is there a problem?" Caspian asked again.
His voice was a low rumble against the back of Raiden's head. He was still pinning the fox down, his massive chest huffing with a suppressed, jealous heat. He looked at Hana, his golden eyes scanning her face, trying to read the sudden wall she had built behind her eyes.
"You have that look again," Caspian grumbled, his tail lashing the grass. "The one you had before you… before we…"
He didn't finish the sentence, but the orange glow in his scales intensified, turning a violent, wary shade.
Caspian couldn't see the screen or her missions, but he saw the calculation in her gaze. He saw the way she was looking at the fox—not as a pest anymore, but as a target.
Raiden let out a broken, wet cough. His head resting back against Caspian's shoulder, even if he hated it, his green eyes hazy and even more unfocused. He looked truly pathetic, his pink hair plastered to his forehead with sweat.
"Great... Female..." Raiden rasped, his voice barely a whisper now.
His hand, cold and trembling, slid across the dirt until his fingertips brushed the edge of Hana's knee. "It's… cold. Everything is going… dark."
Even as his life force flickered, there was a desperate, magnetic pull in his touch. He was a schemer to his very marrow, reaching for her as if she were the only light left in the world.
Hana looked at the dying tail. The Moon-Glow moss was losing its shimmer, and the flesh was turning grey again.
"Caspian," Hana said, her voice terrifyingly flat.
She had already made her decision.
"What?" the dragon snapped, his grip on Raiden's shoulders tightening instinctively.
"Move your hands to his waist," she ordered. "Keep him pinned down and don't let him move an inch."
Caspian froze. The heat radiating from him became suffocating. He looked at the fox, then back at Hana, his pupils narrowing into razor-thin slits. He didn't need to be told about what was going to happen next.
The air in the clearing felt like it was about to ignite.
Hana could feel the heat. It was hot, but for some reason, it did not scorch her.
"Hana," he warned, a low growl vibrating deep in his throat as he narrowed his slit eyes. "Don't."
"Do it," she commanded, her eyes locking onto his with a cold, iron authority. "This is a transaction, Caspian. Nothing more."
Raiden's fingers curled slightly against her skin, a faint smirk ghosting his pale lips even as he gasped for air. He knew. He had won a seat at the table.
Hana reached out, her hand moving toward the fox's face.
Caspian didn't move at first. The orange glow of his scales flared into a violent, blinding gold, threatening to burn all of them. His chest heaved, and for a second, it looked like he might actually snap Raiden's neck rather than hold him.
"You would do this?" Caspian's voice was low and dangerous, his pride slightly broken. "For this... this pink rat? After what we just shared? After… you are carrying my heir."
Hana didn't flinch. She met his golden stare with eyes as cold as a wasteland winter. "I told you, Caspian. Don't get ideas about 'forever' or 'belonging.' I have a debt. And I don't leave points on the table. I will use whatever method I can to clear that debt. And right now, this will help me. Me carrying your child does not change anything."
She leaned in, her shadow falling over Raiden.
"Move your hands," she repeated, and it definitely wasn't a request.
With a muffled roar of pure, jealous frustration, Caspian shifted his grip. He slammed his palms down onto Raiden's waist, pinning the fox to the gnarled tree roots with enough force to make the wood groan.
He turned his head away, his tail lashing the grass into a shredded mess behind them.
Raiden let out a sharp, pained gasp as Caspian's weight bore down on him, but as Hana's hand reached his face, his emerald eyes flickered with a dark, triumphant spark.
"Ah... Great Female," Raiden whispered, his voice a ragged, silken thread. He reached up, his cold fingers trembling as they closed around her wrist, pulling her closer. "I knew... You wouldn't let a beautiful thing like me... simply wither away."
He wasn't acting anymore—at least, not entirely. His core was fracturing, and the coldness of death was settling into his limbs. He looked at her lips with a dazed, predatory hunger that made Hana's skin prickle.
"Shut up, Raiden," Hana hissed.
She leaned down, her hair brushing against his damp forehead. She wasn't doing this because he was handsome, nor was it because he was 'cute.' She was doing this because she refused to let the System win.
As her lips met his, it wasn't the scorching heat she felt from the Dragon. Raiden tasted like winter rain and sweet, rotting flowers. The moment their skin touched, a sharp, electric hum vibrated through the air.
The 'Primal Bond' hit her.
Between her shoulder blades, the Dragonwing mark flared with a sudden, agonizing heat, as if it were trying to reject the new connection. But the System pushed back and made it possible.
A new sensation, light and airy like a breeze, began to weave itself into her spine.
Raiden's eight healthy pink tails suddenly stiffened, fanning out in a frantic, vibrant blur. The mangled ninth tail, which had been grey and lifeless, began to glow with a soft, silver light.
"Mmm…" Raiden moaned into the kiss, his fingers digging into Hana's shoulders as he drained the life-force he needed to steady himself.
Caspian's growl was constant now, a low-frequency vibration that made the very ground shake. "Hurry. Up."
Hana pulled back just enough to breathe, her lips parted, and her eyes locked onto Raiden's. The fox looked revitalized, the deathly pallor of his skin replaced by a faint, healthy flush that made his pink hair look even softer against his pale brow.
He looked at her not with gratitude, but with the look of a gambler who had just hit the jackpot.
"More," Raiden rasped, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. "It's working… I can feel alive… again..."
Hana didn't give him the satisfaction of a response. She looked at the blue screen flickering over his shoulder.
> [SYNCHRONIZATION IN PROGRESS: 60%...]
> [ALERT: MULTIPLE BONDS DETECTED. KARMIC TURBULENCE IMMINENT.]
"Keep holding him, Caspian," Hana commanded, her voice steady despite the vibration in her blood.
"I'm holding him," Caspian snarled, his eyes fixed on the treeline as if he were imagining burning every single leaf. "But when this is over, Hana… we are having a talk about these 'transactions.'"
Hana ignored him. She had a month to survive, a million points to earn, and now, a second beastman trying to burrow his way into her life.
And why should I care? If you want to talk, go talk with the trees.
She leaned back in to kiss Raiden again, ready to finish the mission before something else crops up.
> [MISSION PROGRESS: 80%... 90%...]