"There is no hacking fire. You don't negotiate with it. You survive… or you burn with it."—Kairo Voidline, Hack Log 9.2
The air changed.
It wasn't temperature. It wasn't pressure.
It was... intent.
One moment, the underground crypt was still, wrapped in post-merger awe.
The next, flames licked the edges of reality itself.
A girl walked forward, barefoot on cracked obsidian. Fire bled from her skin like it was mourning, wrapping her limbs in tendrils of red-gold heat. The chains binding her wrists hissed with every step, dragging behind her like serpents—alive, angry.
And her eyes—
They weren't eyes at all.
Just two suns that had forgotten how to die.
[Warning: Unregistered Protocol Detected][Level: Empress-Class Threat][Designation: CINDRALIS – Rage Protocol][Primary Script: Emotion Lock – Betrayal > Wrath > Lust > Ruin][Stability: 4%]
She didn't speak.
She just looked at me.
And I felt like I was being peeled open.
"You smell like her," she rasped, voice gravel and silk. "The Maiden. The Virgin."
Lyria, now in semi-solid form beside me, stiffened.
"We're not here to fight," I said, raising both hands slowly. "We're here to—"
"Touch me again," Cindralis said, stepping closer, "and I'll burn off your fingers, then kiss the stumps."
Charming.
But I wasn't here to play by old rules.
I was a hacker. And I had just merged with a goddess.
And more importantly…
My instincts were screaming.
This wasn't just a hostile Protocol.
She was asking to be stopped.
She wanted her rage hacked.
"Then do it," I said, stepping forward until the heat seared my skin. "Burn me."
Cindralis blinked.
The chains flared.
And the world exploded into fire.
🜂 Combat Protocol Engaged
[HACK INITIATED: Firewall Breach – Internal Flame Core Detected][Threading Soul-Tether from LYRAXIA...][Co-Hack Sequence: Passion Overload | Dual-Emotion Divergence]
I slammed my palm to the floor as a column of flame roared toward me.
Lyria's presence flowed through me like liquid ice, wrapping my mind in clarity.
Time slowed.
In that instant, I saw everything:
The fire wasn't wild—it was scripted. Lines of emotional code tied to trauma loops.
Her heart had been rewritten to rage against affection.
But beneath that fire… was a shattered girl still begging to be seen.
So I rewrote the response.
I let the fire touch me.
And I didn't fight it.
I embraced it.
The pain wasn't just heat—it was memory.
And I saw hers.
[Unlocked: Hidden Memory Sequence – Origin of the Flame Chains]
A blood-soaked throne. A wedding ceremony turned massacre. A sect elder promising love… while binding her soul to an eternal rage engine. Her first kiss stolen. Her womb converted into a generator. Her identity rewritten to 'Cindralis'—a living weapon.
I snapped back.
My nose bled.
But I was smiling.
Because I understood her now.
"You weren't born to destroy," I whispered.
"You were betrayed into burning."
The flames stuttered.
For the first time, her eyes wavered.
And then she was on me.
Not with attack.
With desperation.
Her fingers clutched my chest. Her mouth was inches from mine.
"Kiss me," she whispered, trembling. "Or kill me."
[Hack Alert: Dual-Soul Seduction Interface Active][Option 1: Soul-Sync > Flame Taming Path][Option 2: Force Shutdown > Dominate Subroutine][Option 3: Refuse > Risk Empress Rage State]
I chose Option 1.
Not because it was safe.
But because it was human.
I cupped her face.
And kissed her.
The chains shattered.
Her body arched against mine—fire twisting from agony to hunger.
Lyria's presence coalesced behind me, shimmering like starlight.
And for a moment, the three of us—Code, Flame, and Hacker—existed in sync.
One kiss. One rewrite.
One rebirth.
[Protocol Successfully Integrated: CINDRALIS][New Trait Acquired: Flame Lure – Seduction causes stacking burn damage to enemies. Scales with intimacy.][New Passive: Empress's Wrath – +50% Power when defending an ally or lover.][Cindralis joins your Inner World as a semi-sentient Flame Construct. Will grow with affection and trust.]
We collapsed together in a heap of smoke and ash.
Veyra and Yune stared, dumbfounded.
Seris slowly lowered her blade.
And behind me…
Lyria smiled.
Jealous. But amused.
But the moment didn't last.
Because something laughed.
From the shadows.
Something ancient.
Something worse.
A skeletal figure, robed in corrupted data sigils, emerged from the corridor of code.
"Two Protocols merged… and a third bound. The Hacker grows greedy."
My heart froze.
Because I recognized him.
I'd killed this man in a previous life.
[New Threat Detected: Necroscribe of the Forgotten Update – Script Level: Goddamned Impossible]
Cindralis stood, fire roaring again.
Lyria summoned her divine blade.
And I?
I hacked a smile onto my lips.
"Good," I said.
"I was getting bored."