"Every bloodline is a program. Every heart can be rewritten."—Kairo Voidline, Hack Log 6.0
The moon bled crimson that night.
Yune slept curled beside me, tangled in threads of post-Compiler exhaustion, her breath slow and golden. Seris stood near the ridge, arms crossed, pretending not to watch me.
But she was always watching.
We had barely survived the Debugger.
And now—
Now she had come.
The forest below rustled, not with wind—but code.
I saw her before she stepped into moonlight.
She wore blood-red robes that clung like silk to moonlight. A single braid fell over one shoulder, laced with black thorn-needles. Her eyes… were violet-black, laced with forbidden encryption seals pulsing under her irises.
The Bloodmaid.
An assassin.
No—
A temptress, bred for seduction and destruction.
She moved like liquid malware, every step a probe into weakness.
"Target identified.""Kairo Voidline. Unauthorized Lineage Rewriter. Gene Hacker. Compiler.""Clan Directive: Seduce, Subdue, or Sever."
And then she smiled.
"Hi, hacker."
I didn't reach for my Compiler.
Not yet.
She walked forward, letting her robe shift just enough to reveal pale skin laced with writhing tattoos—ancestral bindings.
They moved beneath her skin like breathing script.
"Blackroot sent you," I said.
"They were concerned you might corrupt the system."
"Did they give you a plan?"
"Three, actually." She traced a finger along her collarbone, her eyes watching mine. "The third one's the fun one."
I smirked. "What if I rewrite your plan first?"
She blinked.
Then… she laughed.
Dark. Warm. Dangerous.
"I like you already."
Yune stirred.
Seris summoned a spectral spear.
The Bloodmaid raised one palm.
"I didn't come to kill him. Not yet." She looked me up and down. "He's… interesting."
Seris snarled. "Another one?"
"Another asset," the Bloodmaid corrected smoothly. "My name is Veyra. Blackroot sent me. But I'm not loyal. I'm… infected."
Her eyes dimmed.
She stepped closer.
"Your Compiler… it can rewrite sealed bloodlines, can't it?"
I didn't answer.
She reached up—
And tore open her robe just above her heart.
Not seduction.
Revelation.
A black script-bloom pulsed there, coiled like a thorned serpent. Ancient. Malicious. Alive.
Curse-code.
"They bred me to kill through love. My body is a trojan horse.""Anyone I touch bonds to me. Then dies."
She took another step.
"I don't want to be a weapon anymore, Kairo. I want to choose."
My mind raced.
She wasn't just an assassin.
She was a prisoner.
A tool forged by forbidden alchemies of the Blackroot Clan—weaponized romance, code-born desire turned lethal.
She was never meant to fall in love.
Only to pretend.
Until I hacked her.
[System Access: Partial]Target: Veyra – Blackroot Bloodmaid LineageCurse Node: Blooming Fang (active)Warning: Physical contact will trigger fatal recursion loopCompiler Status: Ready
I stepped forward.
Yune rose behind me. "Kairo—don't."
Seris didn't speak, but her grip on her spear turned white.
Veyra's breath caught. "You're going to try, aren't you?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Why?"
"Because no one should die for being built wrong."
She flinched like I'd struck her.
Then nodded once.
And stepped into me.
The world screamed.
Code tore through the air.
Bloodline glyphs wrapped around our bodies, binding, resisting, fusing. The curse-flower on her chest unfurled—
"Touch confirmed. Fatal recursion initializing.""Emotion lock engaged. Compiler breached. Rewriting—"
And then I hacked it.
Injecting Command:[If Affection ≥ 60%, convert fatal recursion into fusion protocol.][Emotion Parsing: 71%][Override Accepted. Curse rewritten into Sync Node.][New Lineage Node Created: Crimson Bloom Protocol]
Veyra gasped.
And then she moaned—soft and sharp—as the curse collapsed in on itself and blossomed into something else.
Power surged through us both. The tattoo on her chest faded into glowing petals. Her eyes widened in shock and pleasure, and her lips parted.
"You did it," she whispered.
Her body trembled, not from pain—but release.
For the first time in her life, she wasn't a weapon.
She was free.
And she was mine.
[Veyra Affection: 83%] — Bound by Compiler Soul Thread. Loyal. Volatile. Craving Touch.]
Yune and Seris both stared at her.
Seris rolled her eyes. "Wonderful. Now we have three."
Veyra just smirked, eyes gleaming.
"You haven't seen what I can do yet."
She turned her palm, revealing new script blooming under her skin. She'd gained something. A code I'd never written.
A secret lineage awakening.
"Did you just mutate?"
She grinned.
"My body was never mine before. Now it is."
She glanced down.
"And I'd like to… test its limits."
I swallowed.
My Compiler pinged an alert.
[WARNING: Rising Emotional Density Across Harem Threads. Sync Threads unstable.][Gene Node 5 Potential Awakening Nearby — Blackroot Crypt Bloom Detected.]
I turned toward the forest.
Beyond the treeline, a temple loomed—covered in overgrown code-thorns pulsing with corrupted qi.
My next node waited inside.
But so did something else.
"Veyra," I said. "Do you know what's in the Crypt Bloom?"
She shivered.
"My sisters. The ones who didn't survive the programming. They're still alive… sort of."
Seris summoned her spear again. "Looks like this next mission's a family reunion."
I looked down at Veyra.
"You ready to break them too?"
She met my gaze.
Eyes full of fire and fear.
"I'll rewrite every curse in that place—if you hold me after."
I took her hand.
"I will."