The noise of the ballroom faded into nothing. The balcony was wide and empty.

Stone railings overlooked the sprawling lower rings of the capital.

He looked back through the glass.

Eevy was tracking them from across the room.

She stood near a marble pillar with her hand hovering right near her hidden dagger.

Kai caught her eye and gave her a small, sharp signal with his fingers.

He needed her to stay back.

If a fight started here, a rogue would die in seconds.

Millenia walked over to the stone railing.

Her crimson dress rustled softly against the floor.

She leaned forward and looked out at the city below. The wind caught her bright red hair.

"I am not going to kill you," Millenia said.

Her voice was calm and even.

"I want to be clear about that."

Kai stood a few feet away from her.

He kept his posture relaxed, but his muscles were coiled tight.

"That is reassuring," Kai replied flatly.

"But here is the problem. Vampires usually do not pull people onto balconies just to talk about the view."

Millenia smiled.

She kept her red eyes fixed on the flickering torches of the outer slums. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"I have been watching you since the elf village," she said.

Kai felt a cold knot form in his stomach.

He had fought hard in that village.

He had used his system.

’She has eyes everywhere,’ Kai thought to himself.

"The ability you carry," Millenia continued.

She turned her head slowly to look at him.

"The Devouring Seed. I have not seen it active in a very long time."

Kai felt his heart skip a beat.

She was talking about his cheat skill.

His Dominant Absorption and Greed Feast.

He knew it by the system names, but the root of the magic was clearly what she called the Devouring Seed.

"You know what it is," Kai said.

He kept his face perfectly still, not letting a single ounce of surprise show in his eyes.

"I invented it," she said simply.

The words hung in the air.

Kai stared at the beautiful woman standing in front of him.

His game-designer brain practically short-circuited.

’What the fuck is going on?’ Kai thought to himself.

’If she invented the seed, then my system is directly tied to the final boss of the region. That means she knows exactly how my stats work.’

He remembered the opening message that said a vampire succubus was inviting you.

’Shit.’

Millenia turned her back to the city.

She leaned against the stone railing and crossed her arms.

"Not for you specifically," she continued.

"It is a seed I scatter occasionally. It is a little experiment of mine. Most people who receive it never activate it. They just live normal lives and die normal deaths. They never find the trigger."

"I activated it."

"You activated it within days," Millenia corrected him.

She finally looked right into his eyes.

Her gaze felt heavy, like it was pressing down on his chest.

"That means you are either very driven or very desperate. I find both of those traits equally interesting."

Kai processed the information quickly.

He needed to understand the rules of her game.

She planted the seeds to see what would grow.

He was just a plant that sprouted faster than the others. That made him a curiosity, not an immediate threat.

"What do you want from me?" Kai asked.

He dropped the polite, noble act.

She tilted her head.

The crystal chandeliers from the ballroom cast a faint glow over her pale skin.

"Come stay at my residence in the West," Millenia said.

Her voice was smooth and inviting.

"I have a proposal for you. We can discuss it away from these boring, fragile politicians."

Kai looked at her.

He knew going to a vampire’s private lair was essentially suicide.

It was walking straight into the jaws of the beast.

But refusing the offer right now might trigger her aggressive side.

"I will think about it," Kai said carefully.

Millenia pushed off the railing.

She walked slowly toward him.

The sweet scent of her perfume wrapped around him again.

She stopped just an inch away from his chest, reached up and adjusted the lapel of his coat.

"You can say no," Millenia whispered, her red eyes sparkling with dark amusement.

A long pause followed.

"Once."

She stepped back into the bright ballroom, leaving him alone in the dark.

Kai let out a slow, quiet breath.

He looked down at his own hands.

The system had given him a cheat skill, but it came from her.

The power he was using to build his strength was originally her magic.

’If I want to beat her, I have to use her own power against her. But if I push the seed too far, she might be able to control me.’

He stepped back into the noisy party.

Eevy was standing exactly where he left her.

She looked at him with silent questions in her eyes.

He grabbed her arm gently and pulled her away from the lights, guiding her into a quiet corner near the servants’ entrance.

Eevy looked at his face.

She read his expression instantly.

"You are going with her," Eevy said before he could even speak.

It was not a question.

"It was the right choice."

’If I walk away now, I will be fighting blind,’ Kai thought to himself.

’I cannot afford to have a weakness I do not understand.’

Eevy crossed her arms over her chest.

Her eyes were sharp and worried.

"Or she kills you the moment you are alone in her private estate. You are walking into a trap."

"But here is the problem with that logic," Kai countered calmly.

"She had ten different opportunities to kill me tonight. She could have ended me on the dance floor. She could have pushed me off the balcony. She did not take any of them."

Eevy was quiet for a long moment.

She stared at the stone floor, processing his tactical read on the situation.

She finally let out a slow sigh and looked back up into his dark eyes.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked.