The iridescent water of the bathhouse had finally stilled, the glowing ripples lapping gently against my frame as I leaned against Malphas's marble-hard chest.
My breath was still a jagged, wrecked mess, and my skin felt hypersensitized, as if every pore had been reprogrammed by the King's cold, magnetic touch.
But as the "After-Action Report" of our physical merger began to settle in my brain, I realized the "Dividends" weren't just physical.
I closed my eyes, tilting my head back against his shoulder, and that's when I felt it. It wasn't a thought or a memory—it was a Frequency.
Suddenly, my internal sass wasn't just showing me mana-levels and territory logistics. It had a new, dark-violet tab labeled "Under-Realm Connectivity."
Because of the "Hostile Takeover" we'd just completed in the water, my soul-signature had been braided into the very fabric of the Citadel. I wasn't just a guest anymore; I was a Co-Signatory of the abyss.
