Crap, crap, crap... Why is it that lately, the exact thing I dread the most is the only thing that actually happens?

The sword in Sera’s hand — the very same one Lucian had given her — was aggressively leaking chaos energy. From a distance, it looked wild and unstable, but in reality, Sera was precisely blending her mana into the blade without losing control.

Nearby, Elira was wielding a massive, jagged ice sword. The two of them had completely cornered Iris, looking as if they had finally found the perfect excuse to permanently remove this ’poor girl’ from the picture.

[ALERT: Partner Condition]

[Seraphina: 88% chance of entering Berserker Rage]

[Elira: 87% chance of entering Lethal Rage]

[Your signature escape move is about to be nerfed. Silver tongue, slick.]

[Pro tip: Panic now. Or just, you know, fight like you mean it.]

Stop yapping! And Quit adding fuel to the fire and give me an actual solution!

No reply.

Asshole system...

Just then, Sera drew her sword back and, with a single sudden leap, completely closed the distance to Iris. At the exact same time, Elira vaulted into the air, descending rapidly with her ice sword aimed straight at Iris’s.

However, Iris’s reaction was entirely unnatural. She simply stood there, calmly watching the two girls charge at her. She didn’t make a single movement to dodge. There was absolutely no fear in her eyes — in fact, looking closely, she seemed to be genuinely enjoying the deadly situation.

Lucian didn’t have a fraction of a second to think.

He instantly leaped through a spatial rift, tearing another portal open directly behind Iris. He wrapped his arm tightly around her waist, yanking her back through the void just as it snapped shut.

BOOM!

The girls’ weapons violently smashed into the ground exactly where Iris had been standing a millisecond before, cratering the earth and sending a massive spiderweb of cracks ripping through the dirt.

A short distance away, the exit portal snapped open. Carrying Iris’s momentum, Lucian lost his balance and fell hard onto the ground, landing in a seated position with Iris dropping perfectly into his lap.

Pressed so intimately close to his body, Iris could no longer suppress her true expression. Gritting her teeth, her fingers twitched as a deeply twisted, possessive grin stretched across her cheeks and lips. Her face radiated a wildly unsettling, psychotic vibe, though Lucian was completely blind to it.

From his position behind her, all he could see was the rapid, erratic rising and falling of her shoulders, along with the sudden, heavy sweat on her skin. He completely misinterpreted her twisted thrill for genuine terror.

Yet, Iris was getting a bizarre, twisted sense of intimacy from the entire situation.

My love... is putting himself in harm’s way just to protect me... Ahh, I love this... As the thick dust settled in the clearing, the two girls saw nothing but an empty crater. Their eyes snapped sideways, locking onto the new location.

There she was —sitting right in Lucian’s lap, while his arm was wrapped securely around her waist.

That single sight was more than enough to push Sera and Elira’s rage meters straight past 95%.

Lucian instantly scrambled backward and jumped to his feet, holding his hands up.

Fuck... I need to explain.

"H-hey... um... girls... calm down," he stammered. "It’s not what it looks like, just listen—"

Elira completely snapped. Gripping her giant ice sword tightly, she leaped high into the air, raising the blade above her head with a crystal-clear target: Iris.

At the exact same moment, Sera lunged from the side, her chaos-infused blade leveled for a sweeping strike...

Right now, only one thought possessed their minds: Lucian is holding another girl. That girl is the root of the problem. Eradicate the root before it grows. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Meanwhile, Iris was still sitting there with one leg casually curled up, completely lost in her own euphoric daydreaming, making zero effort to move.

Shit, shit!

Without a second thought, He dove down, hooked his arms firmly under Iris’s armpits, and yanked her backward, falling straight into another portal.

BOOM!

Both swords missed their mark once again, leaving only smoke, shattered rock, and deeper fissures in the clearing.

That bitch... Sera cursed Who the hell is she? How dare she try to steal my man...

Tch. Elira clicked her tongue in frustration. She was probably kicking herself for ever telling him he could mess around with other women, realizing now that she couldn’t even control her own murderous instincts when someone actually tried to take him.

Miles away, on the sandy shore of the island, a portal snapped open. Still gripping Iris tightly, Lucian tumbled out and crashed hard onto his back in the sand.

"Huff... huff..."

For a few moments, he just lay there staring at the sky, gasping for air, his hands still securely locked around Iris’s ribs.

She didn’t mind the rough handling at all. Lost in her delusions, she was enjoying the close physical contact way too much.

Man, trying to explain anything to those two right now... he shook the thought away. Nah, forget it. Whatever. I’ll explain everything after this mission is over. Not right now.

He knew that, no matter what it took, he had to corner Cassian and completely expose his twisted true nature. If he failed, that invisible noose of death would just keep hanging over his girls’ heads twenty-four seven. And with that kind of suffocating anxiety creeping up his neck, he wouldn’t be able to focus on a damn thing moving forward.

He blinked a few times, resting his forearm over his eyes to block out the harsh glare of the island sun.

Am I actually getting sentimental again?

High above them, completely unnoticed by the two on the sand, that bird-like magical familiar hovered silently in the air.

Tsk... why did all of this have to be recorded? He scowled while dusting the wet sand off his clothes as he stood up.

I didn’t want to show my entire hand yet... I mean, come on, pretending to be weak and striking from the shadows is way better than showing off like some dumb, overrated villain.

Suddenly, Iris — who had been lying perfectly still in the sand daydreaming — snapped to her feet.

She stepped directly into Lucian’s personal space, aggressively grabbing his right hand with both of hers while leaning in dangerously close, her posture radiating an overwhelming, possessive obsession.

Up this close, Lucian could finally see it clearly. Her emerald pupils dilated into wild, completely unhinged circles, stripped of all their usual elegant composure.

"Lucian... I-I will do it. I won’t just kill this one... I will hunt down and destroy every single streaming familiar on this entire island for you. Just say the word... please, just say it once."

He leaned back slightly, a wave of genuine confusion and discomfort hitting him.

Wait... how did she know I was annoyed by the familiars? And why is she acting like this?