My eyes opened slowly.
My head was wedged in a tight, warm space. My arms were coiled against my chest. Everything around my face was brown, cheeks pressed into two soft curves. The womanly scent I'd caught earlier was now overwhelming, saturated, flooding my lungs with a similar smell as warm milk and salt.
'Hmm…' I shut my eyes again. 'It's comfortable...'
The warmth around my face rose and felt like breathing. Then, a steady heartbeat.
'Hm?' I blinked, confused.
I noticed arms that encircled my chest, gentle fingers resting on my back. And a powerful thigh that pinned my hips down against the mattress.
! !
My eyes snapped wide.
I instantly used [Flash] to where my gear was. Backpack, blades, even the utility vest I was wearing before I slept was gone. Leaving me only in simple shorts and shirt.
'Did she take them?'
"Not a complete horny baboon, I see."
My body took a screenshot.
The voice came from the bed.
The strange woman was still lying there, propped on one elbow, head resting on her hand as she watched me. Her curves, her body beneath the silk robe were impossible to ignore.
The situation was bizarre. I wasn't sure how to play it yet, so I started with the basics: check my body.
No poison. No wounds. No headache. Actually… I felt better than ever.
I studied her.
A strand of her long white curled hair fell onto her face. A fire-gust-like tattoo sweeping across one arm. Overwhelming confidence radiating off her like pressure. A constant, oppressive aura.
'She could kill me if she wanted to. She's a threat.'
I relaxed my shoulders and said in a calm tone:
"Sorry about breaking in." I offered a bow. "Also I couldn't help but notice... Did you do something to me?"
She met my eyes. Then raised one finger.
SWISH!
In a blink, invisible force yanked my wrists behind my back, like invisible cuffs shutting. Instead of standing, she levitated straight off the bed. The room's air whipped violently—hair, fabric, loose objects all ravaging around her in a sudden gale.
She floated down and landed inches from me. Breathing was difficult.
"How did you do it?" she asked.
'...'
'…Is she talking about [Flash]?'
"I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"How are you fine with so much elemental essence in your body?"
'Elemental essence?'
"Care to explain what that is?"
She stared at me like I was the dumbest thing she'd ever seen.
"Don't you have an element you manifest? That's the energy that activates it."
'Oh. She means mana. Maybe I really am dumb.'
'But… "too much" mana in my body?
Would it be… the rune? Gathering Storm? But how do I explain that?'
"Mhm. Yeah, I might have. But I don't know why."
She studied me intently, searching for any sign of a lie. Then she spoke again.
"If you don't want to cooperate, that's fine." Her hand lifted to cover my head. "You'll spit out everything anyways."
'Shit.'
My wrists strained against the invisible cuffs, twisting wrong to break free. At the same time, I jumped back and heat surged inside me—temperature spiking fast. Muscles snapped taut; flames hissed out of my mouth in a desperate burst toward her.
But she didn't flinch.
"Using fire against me?"
[Ignite]
Her eyes widened. The reflection of my flame bloom doubled, then tripled in size, engulfing her in a roaring inferno.
Yet—
A dense, slithering layer of wind coiled just above her skin, deflecting every lick of heat. No damage.
Amidst the flames a small smile curled her lips.
'Nothing. Then how about this,'
Even with broken wrists screaming in pain, I forced my hands through straight, precise gestures. The flames wavered and turned blue, then…
her wrists were yanked back by it.
"What?" she let out, surprised, then easily shattered the hold in one flex. It lasted barely a second, but she couldn't hide the grin. The boy was skilled.
But I was far from done.
'One second is all I need.'
[Aftershock]
My skin flashed white, then green. Brilliance poured down to my feet, heavy and grounding.
CRACK!
The room split. Light exploded outward in a circular pulse; the floor shattered beneath us.
THRUM-UM-HR-UM!
Debris and dust choked the air, covering us both.
'This is my chance.'
I locked onto the crumbling balcony and dashed—
A hand pierced the fog, reaching for me.
I dropped just in time; she missed.
I glanced back. She blew the dust away with a casual gust, standing at the edge, staring down at me. Strangely, her expression wasn't anger; it was joy. Pure, predatory joy.
After a messy landing I stumbled but kept running.
'I need to get away from her to use [Recall]. Since it brings me to the statue then I should bring her far away from it.'
I ran. And ran. My hair whipped back,
then suddenly blew forward. A violent wind roared past me.
Then the temperature spiked.
Out of nowhere, a towering wall of deep red flames surged up. Not rising from the ground, not building slowly. It simply appeared, thick and complete, caging me in on all sides.
"Uh, what the—"
I swung quick gestures, trying to force the flames open. They refused to obey.
"Give up."
Her voice echoed from above.
The white-haired woman descended through the inferno itself, hovering calmly.
"Don't worry, kid. I'm not—"
"AHA! A BUG!" I shouted, stomping hard.
ZIING!
A gigantic glowing blue cross bloomed beneath my feet.
[Glacial Augment]
ZWIIZHH!
Frost exploded outward from the cross. One line of ice surged straight through the flames, carving a narrow passage of frost and red fire.
'The effect is way bigger than before too.'
It was massive. Larger. Wider. Fiercer.
[Nimbus Cloak] [Ghost] [Celerity]
I bolted through the gap.
She stood there, mouth open and tensed eyebrows. She had a look of disbelief.
"Okay, that's it." She muttered.
Before I could go far my feets lost contact with the ground. Winds swirled me and sucked me up without time for me to do anything, throwing me in her direction with a powerful woosh.
Vrmm!
I came to stop in front of her.
Her mouth opened:
"Stay still for a moment. You're not in trouble. I am—"
[Cleanse]
Whatever stun effect she'd layered on me shattered like glass. I dropped, then bent my back mid-fall, leveling my palm with my feet. Heat surged from my soles in a sharp whoosh, blasting downward hard enough to hover.
"What!? How!?" she yelled.
Before I reached the ground she swirled the air around me and yanked me upward again. I stopped inches from her face.
"Why don't you listen!?" She grabbed the hem of my shirt and shouted, voice cracking with genuine exasperation.
But the noise had drawn attention.
A small crowd gathered into the streets. Curious faces searching for the source of noise. The lady looked at her clothes—transparent silk—then at the people again, then back at me.
"Let's get out of here." She said, pulling me against her side to grab me like a lifeless corpse. Then leaped forwards in a powerful surge.
.