Eric quickly jumped through the portal, coming up in a roll, Crimson Orb manifesting with a surge of his will as his right fist clenched and crackling with ruby-colored lightning. Darting eyes showed no specters approaching, so he took the long seconds needed to summon his blood shield ward, ready to unleash crackling doom in the blink of an eye.

Yet there was nothing to be seen, save for the flickering remnants of a phantasmal city revealing the featureless expanse of an impossibly vast cavern marching off in the distance, broken only by a massive crater that seemed to waver and flicker between hyper-intense resolution, and a misty discorporeality that Eric sensed it would be a Very Bad Idea to walk through.

Fortunately, Eric had no sense of shifting electromana pressures presaging any sort of collapse… nor was he even sure how he was able to sense such a thing. But his danger sense wasn’t tingling any sort of warning. Not unless he moved too close to the rupture fault line.

As for the specters that had come so close to surrounding him before, he caught sight of only a few distant wisps of ethereal malice, buried in the corners and crevices of the remains of the city, with absolutely none inhabiting the area by the crater.

Of course that was the first thing his friends focused upon emerging, Yuki taking the lead, immediately blending into shadow and giving the entire cavern a 360 pannoramic glance before confirming with a single nod from him that all was well. Then she faded back into the gloom, Eric certain she must have jumped back through, and seconds later it was Rich leading the charge with a glowing ward radiating something very similar to a cultivator’s pristine spiritual energy springing up the moment that he stepped through, shield glowing like the gates of heaven in all the cathedral frescoes he had ever seen.

“Eric? What’s the word?”

“Only a handful of Greater Specters left, fearless leader. They’re lurking in the corners of the cavern. If you look in the far distance you can see the crackling portal of black and crimson light, near identical to the entrance. I’m betting my bottom dollar that gate leads to the boss room. Now, if we want to try hunting down revenants, I’m pretty sure I can find at least a few of them. Or, you can do your own thing.”

Steve whistled. “Jeez, this place is dark and dreary and that flickering half-real city is giving me serious creep vibes.”

Emily swallowed. “Eric?”

“What’s up?”

She pointed toward the crater. “That… thing. Half the time it’s so painfully crisp and detailed that I feel like I can make out every cracked rock and grain of sand to the point my mind screams from over-stimulation. Then, a minute or an hour or a second later, all I’m seeing is a rough-hewn sketch of reality.” She paled and shivered. “How could that be? How could that even exist, unless we’re also some part of the collective drawing here?”

Yuki paled, before flashing a nervous smile. “Jeez, sister. Just had to go with the hardcore metaphysical questions, right?”

“Oh that. Don’t worry about that. That’s just where I ruptured the rift.” Eric explained, ignoring the stares he was presently being subjected to. “Though I’d sort of recommend avoiding that area… just in case you don’t come back? Yeah. I’d definitely avoid it, unless you have spells or skills that let you survive oblivion long enough to crawl back in.”

Ron was giving him the strangest look. “You weren’t kidding about rupturing the rift, earlier, or about any of the other ridiculous shit you claim to have done. I mean, I thought you were shit-talking… I knew you were shit-talking. But you weren’t shit-talking at all, were you?”

“No. Why would I bother?”

Ron gave a bitter laugh. “Fucking monster. That’s what you are.”

Steve just shook his head. “Come on, Ron. He’s a Contender. Let’s let it go at that.”

Yet now it was Emily crossing her arms and glaring at Eric. “It doesn’t fucking matter! How the hell is it that he’s so fucking strong that he can rip a hole in reality and, what, go skipping across dimensions?”

Eric paled, recalling for a horrible second with visceral clarity just how terrifying it had been to be sent hurtling through the void, eternal inky blackness crushing him to nothing while the light of all that was warm and cheerful, the sweet blush of existence itself, slowly spun away from him, sealing itself up forever, consigning him to the eternal void.

“Eric? Eric! What the fuck, man. We need you focused!” Yuki hissed in his ear, jolting him out of the horror of his own thoughts.

He flashed his friends an anxious smile. “Sorry, um… I guess I’m not quite as over it as I had thought.”

Emily swallowed, gazing at Eric a bit more gently than she had been before. “I’m sorry, Eric. I guess that was uncalled for.”

Eric forced a chuckle. “Tell you one thing… I wasn’t skipping. More like screaming a desperate few last words that just barely allowed me to race back through the closing gate and into this precious world that I will never take for granted again… or we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I’d be dead. Maybe worse than dead.” He shuddered. “Alright, come on. Let’s get this over with.”

He could sense the looks exchanged behind his back as he led them to the closest specter he sensed, just a short distance away. He was surprised to feel Yuki’s gentle touch upon his hand. “Um… Eric?”

“What’s up, Yuki?”

She gazed at him, lips pressed tightly together, looking torn. Before her entire face lit up with a strikingly pretty smile. “I guess it’s kind of silly for me to hold back when you’ve shared so much of your own secrets, and granted us boons and knowledge I think we’re all grateful for.”

Eric’s tense features eased into a genuine smile. “It’s not problem. No skin off my back, and honestly, I’m happy to earn a good-guy checkmark from at least one group of delvers who don’t want to stab me in the back, use me, or squeeze me of any more than I’m willing to give.”

Yuki snorted. “Oh, we are most definitely taking advantage of your generosity, Eric Silver. And if you for one moment don’t think we’re grateful in turn...” He winced when he felt her finger flick his ear a bit too hard for a mortal, anyway. “Then you truly are an idiot.”

He didn’t quite shudder when her husky breath sent shivers down his spine, cheeks flushing as f he hadn’t engaged in earlier wildcat flirting while he was high with the sheer rush of just being alive… and he still wasn’t sure where his head was at, and maybe it didn’t really matter in the end. All that mattered was that they survived, leveled up, and embraced a path that would get them so strong that no overbearing tyrant could casually slaughter them on a whim.

So he chuckled at his own expense. “You’re probably right about that. But don’t worry. I still have every intention of locking in a few kills for our group and taking out the big boss, locking a sweet take-home bonus for the entire team.”

Her gaze softened “Eric?”

“Yes, Yuki?”

“Do you mind if I try something?”

He stopped, turning his focus entirely on her, measuring the weight underneath her intent gaze. “Sure, go for it.”

She took a deep breath. “Will you yield party control to me?”

Eric frowned. “I thought Rich was the...”

She covered his mouth, giving him a mock glare. “Please, Eric. Don’t insult us.”

Eric smirked, noting that she was at least graceful enough to keep her tone low enough that the others could pretend not to have heard anything at all.

Eric swallowed, sensing his lips falling ever closer to her own… or maybe hers rising to meet his... and how did she have such sweet breath smelling of peppermint and cinnamon after sandwiches and bear? He quickly shook himself free of his daze with too many people staring their way, giving a quick nod.

“Of course. Control is now yours.”

An unexpected silvery glow abruptly overtook Yuki’s form. Her eyes widened with what almost seemed muted ecstasy as she gazed around the massive cavern with a fire in her eyes. “Yes! Perfect! Thank you, Eric!”

She turned back to Rich. “We are on, Fearless Leader!”

Rich grinned. “Excellent. Where’s the first key?”

Yuki, to her credit and Eric’s amazement, didn’t miss a beat, immediately turning down a flickering alley in an odd direction it hurt his head to even look at.

“It helps just to hold hands. At least for this part,” Jack said, Eric now finding himself in the very back of the group, Jack’s powerful grip claiming his own hand as a bemused Eric allowed himself to be led. The entire group took a winding path he sure as hell hadn’t expected, his belly doing flip flops, surprised to find himself sprinting past ruins and obstacles and abominations he had seen absolutely no sign of just seconds ago…

While simultaneously knowing that they had barely moved at all.

“Jack, what the fuck is going on?”

“Hold that thought! We got trouble up ahead.”

Eric blinked in surprise, suddenly finding himself in a grand alcove somehow both beside the cavern and, according to his interface map, nowhere near any other point he’d ever been to before.

He was about to curse, before noting the trio of specters rapidly racing about a golden corona of light, hiding a secret in its heart.

Yuki’s eyes widened. She cursed softly under his breath.

No longer feeling so dizzy that he was about to hurl his cookies, Eric crept to her side. “What’s up?”

Yuki glared at the specters. “Those fucking monsters… if they so much as touch us, we’re all dead!” Her features were one of desperate focus. He could see the way her hands were trembling.

“But it doesn’t matter. All I need to do is touch the locus point, retrieve the key, and we’re out of here.”

Eric frowned at Yuki, thoughts racing, when suddenly he grinned.

“Fuck it, you have some sort of badass perk! You do, don’t you? Because I sensed no weird tunnels sloping in unnatural directions when I was in here before, and I never once sensed anything like this. A pocket realm full of level seventy specters guarding a golden globe of whatever it is… is definitely radiating some serious power!”

Yuki flushed, but eventually nodded. “I do.”

“What’s it called?

“Now’s not the time, Eric!” Richard hissed, his voice tense. “Yuki needs to grab it and we need to get ready to jet in two seconds time!”

Yuki closed her eyes, whispering fervently under her breath as she prepared herself for the snatch. Eric found himself embracing slow-time as well, focusing entirely on the trio of specters, looking for the slightest tell that they could sense the utterly unremarkable blob of shadow rapidly approaching them.

Closer and closer shadow approached, and the trio of specters did nothing.

Not even when the golden globe abruptly blinked out, Eric’s eyes widening with something close to awe when a pristine golden key coalesced into being, before falling right into Yuki’s hand.

Her eyes danced with the thrill of victory, before growing wide with horror when it became clear that Eric could see her perfectly. As could all her other friends, and the specters as well.

“Run, Yuki!” Rich cried when she froze in horror for one endless moment, before the specter’s shrieked and charged her as one, and the air lit up with Lightning.

“Sanguis Fulmen!” Eric roared.

In less than two seconds the shrieks of the damned were replaced by the stench of ozone as a pair of powerful spirits were instantly ruptured, and then there was but one.

And Yuki was still standing there, Eric horrified to see that her feet had been frozen in place by a fourth spirit that none of them had sensed, and Eric was already racing forward as Yuki inhaled a scream, knowing in that split second as he darted forward that there was no time for him to spit out the words to a fresh pair of bolts. NO time when Yuki’s flesh was being frozen by specters laughing at frequencies that made his soul scream as his fist BLAZED with heat he hadn’t dared unleash before newly made friends, revealing his greatest secret, the flesh freezing off his face as a specter’s claws ripped free his ear just as he ripped a screaming Yuki free of frozen feet in a spray of blood and struck out with a fist blazing like the sun.

“FIRE FIST!”

You have struck multiple Greater Specters with FIRE FIST infused with transcendent flame!

10 Qi spent. 10 Temporary Soul Points spent.

Revenants are immune to flame!

Higher Order elemental manifestations TRANSCEND all limitations!

Critical hit!

YOU HAVE OBLITERATED YOUR FOES!

Pocket realm successfully saves versus higher order infusion!

Artificial construct FAILS to save versus higher order infusion!

You have slain two Greater Specters of greater level than yourself using martial mastery and spiritual energy!

Fire Fist is now Rank 15!

Blood Lightning is now Rank 14!

NOTE you have used the direct manifestation of a higher order of reality to make your kill.

No cultivation levels have been earned.

Eric wasted no time, already sensing the sudden sharp instability as he held a screaming Yuki tightly, Blood Mastery instantly sealing the crimson stumps of her shins as he raced back to the horrified party.

“Okay, Yuki. No time to waste! Get us out of this pocket realm you’ve made. It isn’t stable!”

“Eric! What the fuck’s going on?” Rich’s panicked voice washed over Yuki’s screams.

“Those fuckers were about to kill Yuki. I did what needed doing. Now we need to go!”

Steve, however, was looking at Eric with horror. “You did something… you damaged the very fabric of this place. This chamber behind us is fucking melting!”

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Eric dared but a single glance back and winced, realizing that it was so, regardless of what the interface message had said. The entire strange chamber of stone and glowing golden light was melting like ice before the roaring blast of Eric’s Fire Fist which had somehow frozen like ice itself. Ice so hot that it transcended the very concept of temperature, effortlessly melting a construct of a construct. What Eric was somehow certain wasn’t the actual dungeon but Yuki’s interpretation of it, or an adjunct to it. Something containing a key that would no doubt unlock some prized treasure… but not if they all perished before getting back to where they nneded to be.

Eric’s voice took on sudden urgency, breaking through Yuki’s agonized daze. “Yuki. We have no TIME for your pain! We need to get out of here NOW!”

He sensed her flinch before his urgency, but he just didn’t give a fuck at that point. He knew exactly what was waiting for them if they didn’t get their asses in gear.

“Look, you just point the way and I’ll get us out of here. I promise!”

His words were a plea.

She finally responded, whimpering as she pointed a trembling arm in a direction that gave him a headache even looking at, till Jack’s voice snapped him free.

“I got your elbow, it’s fine! Just go in that direction, Eric. Come on!”

And he did. Making use of a handful of desperately whispered runes to make gravity a bit more flexible than it should be, he raced forward for all he was worth, paying no attention to the way his belly did backflips as space seemed to twist and fold in on itself, merely following Yuki’s desperately pointing hand while keeping his panicked feet slow enough that absolutely no one was left behind.

Slowly, the weird twists along a stone tunnel that somehow became a flat plain and a passageway through the flickering remnants of the cavern solidified to a spot right by the entrance to the delve itself.

Eric felt a sting in his cheeks as he took in half a dozen faces wet with tears of relief, terror, or pain, all of them sinking to the ground as Yuki finally gave back to the agonized screams she had clearly been holding in.

Eric’s heart bled with sympathy. He understood exactly what she was enduring right now, so kissed her forehead before placing her trembling thrashing body in Jack’s capable hands and standing upright once more, ignoring his own heart’s frantic pounding, and the horrific feeling that even now a rift of perfect darkness was forming right behind him, a rift that would lead right to the featureless eternal void, and it was eager, so very eager, to suck him right in.

“Eric?”

Eric snapped around to catch Richard’s anxious gaze, flinching before him, which made absolutely no sense, all things considered.

“It’s alright. Yuki needs time to recover, and with most of the specters down… the normal ones, I mean, we’re best off doing it in here. But since her cries might be attracting fresh Revenants… best I patrol.”

Richard just nodded, no one else saying a word beyond Emily’s soothing whispers as Yuki thrashed and sobbed, Eric stepping away from the party as they huddled near the entrance, so as to be able to facilitate nearly instantaneous escape if any unexpected guests arrived.

But all Eric saw was a single pair of spirits slowly misting their way.

And all it took was a moment’s furious focus to make sure they’d never bother Eric’s friends again.

“Sanguis Fulmen!”

You have critically struck 2 60th level Revenants! Experience earned!

“And now I’m over halfway to level 64. Silver linings and all that,” Eric whispered to himself, trying not to think about what had almost happened.

How it had felt to channel not just fire, but transcendent destruction. A higher order of flame.

Only the second time he had ever used it.

He shook his head, trying to wrap his head around how different it was from the Essence Related skills he had learned.

Because Burst of Strength, Dominion’s Resilience and Command, Heat Surge and even Infravision all took advantage of his connection to certain elemental truths of reality itself. Inspired by them. Empowered by them. Much like lush green vines, a metaphor for Dominion’s Resilience, were nurtured and fed by the sun.

But his Fire Fist Qi Attack had evolved from inspiration to fusing with its platonic ideal. It wasn’t one step removed from the sun’s golden light… it was channeling the might and fury of the sun itself.

And ever since he had gotten a certain Interface message he was terrified even to look at… afraid that he had just bricked his build after all his efforts to walk a pristine path without limits… something drastic had changed.

His Fire Fist was even more potent than it had been the first time he had used it while directly channeling a Higher Order Concept, obliterating 3 minotaurs with a single blow. Then never daring to use it again, when he had felt that hot frisson within his fourth meridian node.

A node he was planning on using only after he had researched yet another powerful, flexible, and most importantly, utterly balanced power much like Runic Lore and Runic Spell Forger, and hopefully nothing like Unified Restoration which did little more than heal him very, very quickly, which had certainly saved his life, but might one day be eclipsed by nothing more special than a singular triggered spell.

But even Unified Restoration was, in the end, perfectly acceptable, because he had managed to transform that blossoming ability in such a way as to encompass all the major elements needed to somehow balance it, so his path forward as a Classer or Cultivator wouldn’t be permanently impaired by a single desperate choice after suffering goblin sniper fire.

He groaned, rubbing his eyes as he replayed the system message that he really didn’t want to see.

UNORTHODOX ABJURATION HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY FUSED TO THE ESSENCE OF DOMINION!

Your fourth node has SUCCESSFULLY ASCENDED!

Making sure there were no more revenants insight, he took a quick look at a condensed version of his character sheet cutting off at Node abilities and Essence affinities, anxiety crawling up the pit of his stomach as he carefully examine his bricked build.

_____________________________________

Eric Silver Level 63 Primal Adventurer

Rank 29 Cultivator (Death’s Disciple)

Level 31 Master Necromancer

Physical Characteristics

Strength – 303

Vitality – 313

Finesse – 253

Quickness – 433

Appearance – 26

Mental Characteristics

Scholarship – 25

Perception – 239

Willpower – 84

Charisma – 14

Potency Pools

Arcane Potential – 184

(Mana Pool = 2217)

Spiritual Energy – 272

(Qi Pool =3272)

Psionic Potency – 19

(Psion Pool = 237)

Soul Reserves – 113

Stamina – 3133 Points

Health – 4366 Points

Resistances & Recovery

Physical Resistance – 59

Physical Regeneration – 31 health per second

Elemental Resistance – 33

Qi Resistance – 51

Mental Resistance – 33

30% Bonus to all Strength points above 300

30% Bonus to all Vitality points above 300

30% Bonus to all Quickness points above 300.

20% Bonus to all Spiritual Energy points above 200.

10% Additional bonus to all ability points earned! (Additive with all other modifiers)

Physical Age = 17 Years (+ 32 years, 10 months, 12 days, & 4 hours that Arcane Magics cannot restore! Superhuman vitality allows you to keep your youth, even if you’re now burning your candle at both ends! Note! Your meridians now anchor 12 Divine Tier Spirit Peaches. Life expectancy has increased by 12($%^&^%) years!)

Primal Adventurer Powers

1. Runic Lore - Rank 28 (Soul Infusion, Tier 2 Runic Spell Evolution, Runic Focus, Blood Runes.)

Greater runes known: Wood (herbam), Wind (ventus), Fire (ignis), Wrath (iram), Dominion. (dicio)

Lesser runes known: One (unus) / Many (plures) / Now (hodie) / Sun Duration (dies) / Weaken (debilito) / Strengthen (roboro) / Resilience (mollet) / Freeze (Congelo) / Fulmen (Lightning) / Torment (Cruciatus) / Sanguis (Blood)

Gravity (Gravitas) / bend/curve/warp (incurvo) / invert/reverse/turn upside down (inverto) / attentio (attention – concentration duration, in other words) / Resilient (mollet)

Fragor – Rupture (Psionic Explosion)

CONGRATULATIONS! You have successfully unlocked an unorthodox application of Runic Lore! You understand the link between will, form, and potency better than ever before! And what’s more potent than your own life force? You may now substitute temporary Soul Reserves for Mana whenever you carve runes into any surface using your blood!

Note! This variant of Runic Lore does NOT work with shouts or chants! Only physical representations of runes.

2. Unified Restoration – Rank 11 (13) (This Power allows you to infuse your body with your own spiritual reserves whenever you take an injury for near immediate healing, over and above your basic regeneration rate!) - Perk evolution deferred.

3. Runic Spell Forger – Rank 9

- Inevitable Doom (105 Mana & Qi) - Rank 6

- Hell Vines (140 Mana & Qi) (You can direct this spell!) – Rank 8

- Lightning Bolt - Fulmen- (30 Mana & Qi) – Rank 12

- Blood Lightning – Sanguis Fulmen (15 Mana & Qi, 1.5 (.50%) SR) – Rank 14! (Efficency Perk)

(This spell dispels/abjures/& can cut through soul wards & partially heal.(X2 heal baseline Bloodmastery Synergism!)

- Fire Bolt -Ignes Pilum - (15 Mana & Qi) – Rank 8

- Psionic Rupture – Fragor (30 Mana & Qi & 4 Psion) – Rank 6.

- You have earned the free perk: Hit Them Where It Hurts! You have a chance to score a Critical Success with Find Weakness skill checks when using Psionic Rupture… if you’re willing to hit them where it hurts! (Note. This perk effects biological males only (for obvious reasons!)

4. Essence Fusion – Rank 1

You now have the option to evolve essence-linked skills, spells, and powers to embrace a Higher Order Transformation!—Why should your Fire spells be inspired by the essence of flame when they can BE the essence of flame?—Warning! Soul reserve cost = Double Mana or Spiritual Energy costs (modified by skill rank, class synergisms, and perk evolutions).

Note! ALL immunities and damage mitigators are NULLIFIED against Higher Order attacks! - Singular exception: Countermeasures involving similar or opposing ESSENCES!

Note! Should opponent save versus obliteration, baseline damage will still be multiplied by 1x Essence Rank! (Fire Fist infused with Pristine Flame at Rank 4 will do 5-fold baseline damage with all resistance checks & damage mitigating effects automatically countered!)

Warning! Your evolution will earn the interest or ire of ALL known powers and principalities who find out about it. DISCRETION is strongly advised!

Warning! Now that your fourth node has ascended, you will experience the FULL power of this ability, whenever a successful skill check is made.

All seers can sense the use of this gift upon the surface of Terra. (Though they might not know who embraced it, they will know this ability is now in play! You’d better believe they will take steps to CRUSH any outsider who dares make use of it!)

Any use of Essence Fusion within rifts must save versus rupture unless YOU make a successful skill check against catastrophe!

NOTE! There is a PRICE for POWER That must be PAID! You presently have access to only 3 ESSENCES. You have FAILED at achieving 3-Dimensional Stability. Your Potential is presently limited to GOLD-tier ascension.

Essences Claimed:

Fire – Blazing - (Rank 4, White Tier)

Wrath (Rank 1, White Tier)

Dominion (Rank 1, White Tier)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Eric stood there in numb shock.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It seemed like he had stumbled upon a synergism so powerful that he was tapping into a higher order of reality. One that would wash away all resistances, immunities, and whatever advantages being a Bronze Classer might grant one. Eric already knew damn well that his standard Fire Fist blows had been mitigated to a tiny fraction of their potential while fighting a certain minotaur scion.

And never had he been happier that he had trusted his own gut feeling, deliberately NOT infusing his punches that day with the Platonic Ideal of flame. Because not only would he have been striking a minotaur momentarily descended from Bronze impenetrability to mortal vulnerability, he would have been hitting for 5-fold damage on top of that.

A strike which would have certainly obliterated the scion who’s surrender he had been more than happy to take, especially with the prize he had earned that he still didn’t dare open.

Because had he chosen a more ruthless path that earned him no cultivation growth at all, he would have earned the ire and enmity of an entire faction of powerful cultivators that had most definitely been observing their contest while revealing powers that would supposedly earn him the interest or ire of absolutely everyone. To say nothing of the fact that they had already proven themselves more than capable of snuffing him out like a light, humbling and humiliating him even as the feted him with a gift that their pristine cultivation foundations alone forced them to pay.

Or such were his suppositions, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to go asking Minose’s faction for confirmation.

And considering the fact that he was now seriously considering declaring war on the whole bloody world… or at least every last territory where the UFN was trying to wave around their clout, he needed to keep his cards close to his vest, more than ever before.

Which meant that he had a deadly trump card he never dared use, unless the situation was set up perfectly. An exquisitely powerful ability he’d have to skill-check every time he used in a rift, just to make sure he didn’t rupture whatever dungeon he was training in, daring fights that clearly wouldn't improve his cultivation, if he was using higher order attacks to clean-sweep entire floors of baddies.

And worst of all, by far, was that he now had to deal with an ugly reality of a hard limit that he had never had to worry about before.

Because for all that Gold was leagues beyond what most would ever even dream of achieving, Silver itself being the rank of world emperors and those who might dare even more, Gold was the rank of those who could do more than conquer with the might of an army… they could rule by fear alone, possessing power so great that they could destroy any world that failed to yield before them.

Yet there was still so much farther to go. So many limits to transcend, unlocking abilities and wonders he could scarce conceive of.

And as for what exactly those powers greater than Gold truly were? Classers and Cultivators so great they could control the fate of entire clusters? Perhaps even galaxies?

Clearly he would never know.

For at the cutting edge of divine potential, a single mistake was more than sufficient to turn all those absurd dreams to ash.

Eric chuckled bitterly, glaring at his own clenched fists. “Fuck. I’m such an idiot.”

He shook his head, then froze, sensing a presence behind him.

He spun around, prepared to deliver hot death… before he lowered his fists with an apologetic chuckle, seeing Yuki smiling shyly before him.

And how much of a relief it was to see her with two perfectly healthy looking feet, even if her exotic magically enhanced beast-hide armor was now absent a pair of missing boots.

Yuki gazed at Eric for long moments, looking strangely awkward in a way Eric hadn’t seen before. She puffed her cheeks and exhaled, before boldly striding up to him.

“This isn’t easy for me to say, so let me just get it out there. You’re an arrogant ass and you nearly got us all killed, using fuck-all I don’t know powers I could feel searing my eyes with higher order concepts that will give me nightmares for a long time to come. And you saved my life when you could have run. Should have run. But you didn’t. And now we’re here, together, having this conversation.”

Her voice had turned breathy at the end, honey-brown eyes that looked so captivating in the dungeon light peering far too deeply into his own. Eric could taste her breath, sweet and spicy, soft warm lips suddenly pressing against his own.

His heart started to race as their lips locked, so fiercely ashamed when he fell into her kiss… and not giving a fuck.

They were alive when so many things that wanted them both dead had fallen before their fury.

Eric savored the moment. And the second Yuki’s ardor lessened… he stepped back with a smile.

Surprised that his heart was pounding so loud it was a roar in his ears.

“I’m glad to see you back on your feet,” he said with a smile, earning a quick glare that turned to a throaty chuckle.

“You’re such an ass, Eric Silver.” She took a shuddering breath and shook her head. “I’m probably going to have nightmares for a long time to come.” Her gaze turned pointed. “And you’re going to help me with that.”

Eric blinked. “I am?”

She smirked, then turned back around, hips swaying as she headed back to the group, but not before flashing him a hungry smile. “Come on, hero. We got monsters to kill and first clears to earn.”

Eric swallowed. Was she purposely strutting her hips?

“Yes, I do believe she is,” he muttered to himself, shaking away his dismay at his own personal dilemma as he appreciated just how sweet life could be in ways that had absolutely nothing to do with risking one’s life in fearsome crucibles of power and peril… before shaking even those thoughts free of his mind and getting his head fully back in the game.