No time for hesitation.
Darcy moves like death itself.
Her daggers flash, her feet silent, her body blurring into shadow after shadow.
Kain, however...
He dodges without effort.
Casual.
Relaxed.
Almost mocking.
Every blow she strikes only kisses empty air.
Every slash only meets the dying echo of his grin.
Finally, with a lazy spin, he slaps one dagger away with a bare hand, and her wrist explodes with pain from the impact.
Not broken, no.
But a warning.
A clear warning.
Kain stands there, arms wide like a conductor commanding an orchestra of despair.
"This is it, little assassin?"
"All that fire... all that loyalty... and yet—"
He steps closer, each a slow, heavy beat against her soul.
"You didn't even do your fucking homework"
Darcy grits her teeth, blood dripping from her palm.
"I know enough!" she spits.
Kain just laughs.
Deep.
Cruel.
Echoing.
A laugh that belongs on the edge of a battlefield, not here among school walls.
"Really? Tell me then—"
He leans down slightly, voice taunting.
"Did you believe little Finn, blessed by the fucking power of friendship, cleared all those A-Rank dungeons?"
He chuckles darkly.
"Did you think waving around cheesy lines and a sword made of hopes and dreams let him solo bosses designed to wipe out guilds?"
Darcy stiffens.
Doubt, small and trembling, flickers across her eyes.
And Kain sees it.
He feasts on it!
Kain's voice grows colder.
Sharper.
Like a dagger sliding between ribs.
"Every time. Every. Single. Time!"
He holds up a single finger.
"I flicked my wrist—"
He imitates it, lazily waving his gauntlet-clad hand.
"And the 'unstoppable, unkillable' bosses fucking exploded"
He spreads his arms wide, mocking the heavens.
"And your precious Finn? Your naïve little hero?"
"He basked in the glory while I wiped the blood off my gloves"
Darcy trembles.
Not with fear.
With rage.
With confusion.
Everything she believed.
Everything she was told.
It clashes violently with the monstrous truth standing before her.
Kain stepped even closer now.
So close she can smell the bloodlust rolling off him like perfume.
"You're good, Darcy"
"You're very good"
"But next time... before you point your knife at a me"
He taps her forehead with a single finger, gently but condescendingly.
"Maybe do your fucking research"
Darcy, in her wild determination, beautiful in her fury, makes her final move.
A blur.
A flurry.
A deadly, desperate dance meant to end this monster before her.
But Kain moves faster.
Not because he wants to.
Not because he enjoys it.
But because she won't stop otherwise.
With a blur of speed unseen by mortal eyes, he slips behind her.
A brutal, controlled grab to her wrists.
A twist.
Darcy is pinned.
Breathing hard.
Fighting, struggling, a cornered beast against something she cannot kill.
Kain holds her easily.
"Enough," Kain mutters, voice low, almost pitying.
"You'll only break yourself at this rate"
Silence.
Only the sound of her heart hammering.
Only the weight of her failure crushed her chest.
Then, casually, as if discussing the weather, Kain leans close and asks:
"Tell me, Darcy"
"What do you think of Finn's little... harem?"
Darcy snarls, twisting in his grip.
But her words burn with sincerity.
"They're honest girls!" she snaps.
"They love him! They're loyal!"
"Unlike his best fucking friend!"
She spits the last words like venom.
Kain chuckles.
A deep, amused sound that echoes under the moonlight.
He doesn't argue.
Doesn't justify himself.
He simply murmurs, almost lazily:
"Is that so?"
"Tell me, Darcy..."
"Do you want to be part of it too?"
She froze.
Her face, normally cold and calculating, erupts into a furious blush.
Stammering, trying to wrestle her heart back under control.
Kain says nothing more.
He simply releases her wrists and steps back, flexing his gauntleted fingers like a man brushing off dust.
Darcy glares at him, desperate to salvage her pride.
"Maybe I'll just tell Finn what you really are!" she bites out, trying to sound brave.
Kain smiles wider.
To the point she thought it was death itself telling her to be quiet.
Without a word, he lazily points toward his dorm room.
Where a massive gaping hole yawns in the wall, still smoldering from a mere flick of his wrist.
The message is clear.
'Tell Finn, and she'll drag him into a storm he can't survive'
Darcy looks at the hole.
Then back at Kain.
Her fists tighten, but the tremble in her arms gives her away.
The system chimes softly in Kain's mind.
[ Affection Toward Kain. 0% → -20%]
[ Loyalty Toward Kain. 0% → -15% ]
Darcy wiped the blood from her lip.
She glared at Kain like she could kill him with a look alone.
He stepped forward, not as a monster, but… strangely, almost gentle.
He leaned down, his voice dropping low, near a whisper meant only for her.
"I'm sorry," he says.
"I wanted this to go differently"
His eyes glow faintly in the dark.
The weight of his words feels real.
"You can still protect him," he says softly, a flicker of something almost... sincere in his expression.
"Just keep your mouth shut"
"If you do... He'll be as happy as can be"
Darcy stared at him, stunned for a heartbeat.
And then.
The fire returns to her eyes.
The blade in her words sharp as ever.
"Go fuck yourself," she snarls.
For a fraction of a second.
Just a heartbeat.
Darcy sees something.
Kain's face falters.
The grin slips.
The wall he keeps is so perfectly built.
Cracks.
There it is.
Pain?
Regret?
Loneliness?
Something human.
But it's gone almost instantly, replaced by his usual mocking smirk.
Without another word, Kain leaps back toward his room, effortlessly vaulting the ruined balcony.
His crimson cape flutters like wings behind him.
With a lazy flick of his hand, magic surges through the air.
The massive hole he left in the wall shudders and begins repairing itself, bricks grinding back into place with unnatural smoothness.
Darcy watches from the courtyard, fists clenched, heart pounding.
She doesn't know what the hell just happened.
She doesn't know why it feels like she won... and lost at the same time.
But one thing she knows for sure:
Kain Rei Crowhurst is not normal.
The courtyard falls silent once more.
The only signs of the earlier battle are the faint scorch marks on the grass, the hairline cracks in the walls.
Darcy lingers a little longer, staring up at Kain's repaired room.
She can still feel the heat of his strange aura, the sheer overwhelming strength he radiated when he dropped his facade.
"That bastard... What is he?"
She mutters under her breath, still gripping the dagger hidden in her sleeve.
In her mind, she replays it:
His apology.
His cracked mask.
That strange, fleeting sadness.
She thinks it was some deep emotion.
Some tragic, beautiful heartbreak...
Meanwhile, inside his room...
Kain, Demon of Many Faces.
Lean against the wall, dragging a hand down his face.
His breathing is ragged.
Not from battle.
No.
From pure, burning, unfiltered HORNIESS!!!
"Fuck," he mutters, banging his forehead softly against the door.
"God fucking dammit... why the hell is she so hot when she's trying to kill me?"
The flick of her hair.
The flash of her dagger.
The fire in her eyes when she told him to go fuck himself.
"She even threatened to kick my nuts in," he whispers, voice cracking slightly.
"I'm so fucked..."
HE WASN'T SAD.
HE WAS BATTLING HIS OWN DESIRES.
Not a tragic antihero.
Not a mourning king.
Just a man at war with the raging demon of his own libido.
He sat in his cold-ass room, back against the wall, arms limp at his sides.
The soft ticking of the clock mocked him.
Tick
Tick
Tick
Every second that passed was another victory for his cursed, unrelenting horniness.
He had tried everything.
Cold shower?
Failed.
Punching a wall?
Failed.
Reading homework?
Failed, started seeing Darcy's smug grin in every textbook margin.
This was war.
He was losing.
Meanwhile...
Ruby, Lyla, and Beatrix were lurking outside his room like cats sensing blood in the water.
They all felt something was wrong.
Beatrix, arms crossed and brow furrowed, whispered:
"Something's wrong with Kain…"
Ruby twirled a lock of hair, smiling slyly.
"Maybe he's just lonely"
Lyla, looking worried, added:
"Should we go... comfort him?"
A wicked, silent competition sparked between them.
They couldn't go too far.
Kain had ordered no kissing, no lewd stuff until the Darcy Operation succeeded, but... comforting was allowed... right?
They peeked through the cracked door.
Kain was sitting there, looking like he had fought an army, completely dead inside.
Ruby tilted her head, heart pounding.
"...Is he crying?"
Beatrix scoffed.
"He doesn't cry"
Lyla wiped a tear.
"He's so strong yet so broken..."
They all believed he was grieving.
For what?
For who?
They didn't know.
He was just battling his own dick.
Darcy, meanwhile, stood on another roof.
Watching from a distance.
Arms crossed.
Eyes sharp.
"That dumbass..." she muttered.
She had seen the flicker in Kain's face earlier, before he jumped back into his room.
The sadness.
But she didn't buy it.
Not for a second.
Her instincts screamed that something else was happening.
That Kain Rei Crowhurst wasn't some tragic prince.
He was something worse.
A chaos engine wearing human skin.
"...I'll figure you out, asshole," she promised the night.
Little did she know the true enemy she faced.
An idiot fighting his own horny brain cells.
Inside the room
Kain finally stood up, running a hand through his sweat-soaked hair.
"Alright... fuck it"
He wasn't going to break.
He wasn't going to fall.
He was KAIN REI FUCKING CROWHURST.
He was going to survive the night.
Somehow.
Someway.
He staggered toward his desk to work on his homework.
His bloodshot eyes glaring at the math problems like they personally wronged him.
Outside his room
The girls huddled.
"We have to do something," Ruby insisted.
"We can't let him suffer alone"
"We should each bring him something... something comforting," Lyla suggested sweetly.
"Like what?" Beatrix frowned.
"A hug?"
Ruby smirked devilishly.
"Or a 'you-did-your-best' headpat"
(She meant giving him a hand)
The mission was clear.
Rescue Kain's soul... without violating orders.
Meanwhile, Darcy narrowed her eyes from the rooftop.
"If those girls get too close..." she hissed.
"I'll have to step in"
Thus it began.
Ruby prepared to "accidentally" bump into him with hot cocoa.
Lyla was writing a cute "You're amazing!" note and slipping it under his door.
Beatrix was standing menacingly at the door like a bouncer in case anyone else dared comfort him first.
Darcy sharpened her daggers, preparing to "save" them from Kain's "corruption."
All while Kain...
Struggles.
Suffers.
And does math problems with tears in his eyes..
But the Night deepened
Kain, trembling, phone in hand, stared at the group chat.
The messages were relentless.
Ruby:
I'm making you cocoa! Wait for me, kay?
Lyla:
We're here for you, Kain, always~
Beatrix:
Tell me who I need to punch
He gritted his teeth, his entire body vibrating from the struggle.
The primal, carnal voice inside him screamed:
"ACCEPT THE COMFORT. BASK IN IT. YOU DESERVE IT"
But Kain was a man of discipline.
A man of focus.
A man fighting to obtain Darcy.
With quivering fingers, he typed:
"If you guys don't stop, I'm canceling all rewards after Operation Darcy. I'll even take your plushies hostage"
And hit send.
Silence.
The notifications stopped immediately, like he had hit them with a nuke.
He exhaled.
Slumped against his bed.
Victory.
But then.
Kain looked at his hand.
The hand that could have been holding Ruby's cocoa.
The hand that could have been patting Lyla's head.
The hand that could have been carrying Beatrix's "you're doing great" sandwich.
He buried his face in his arms.
A single, lowly tear escaped.
One miserable, pitiful tear slid down his cheek.
"Even their pictures... I can't even treat myself to their pictures..."
"Because Darcy's watching..."
He wept for his lost dignity.
He wept for the love he dared not indulge.
He wept for the stupid, stupid rules he himself had written.
Back at the rooftop, Darcy stared.
She had been watching the whole thing, ready to stop any suspicious activity.
But now.
Now she froze.
Eyes wide.
Heart slowing.
Breath caught.
Kain looked so...
Broken.
It wasn't the usual fake sadness, the arrogance, the confidence.
This was... a boy on the verge of collapse.
And for some sick reason.
It hurt.
It physically hurt to look at him.
Her chest tightened.
Her throat ached.
"...Why?"
"Why does seeing him like this make me want to..."
She shook her head violently.
"No. He's an asshole. He's a liar. He's dangerous—"
But then—
DING!
A sudden, golden light blinked in Kain's vision.
A [System Notification].
[Darcy's Affection/Loyalty: -35 → 0]
He blinked.
Looked up.
Wiped his tears without even realizing it.
A hollow laugh escaped his throat.
"...All according to plan"
It wasn't.
Morning
Kain woke up feeling like the moon itself had sucker-punched him right in the chest.
He stared blankly at the ceiling, his whole body aching, not from injury, but from the sheer mental exhaustion of repressing himself last night.
"...Maybe next time I'll just die instead"
"...No, too much paperwork"
With a groan, he rolled out of bed, threw on his jacket, and stumbled out into the hall.
Downstairs, in the academy's dining commons
Darcy sat at the corner table, arms crossed tight against her chest, looking everywhere except at him.
The second Kain entered, she flinched.
Not enough for a normal person to notice.
But Kain?
He caught it instantly.
'...Still suspicious'
'...But... confused too?'
Darcy narrowed her eyes, pretending to read a book she was holding upside-down.
She was watching him.
Not like yesterday's sharp, judgmental way, but with something...different.
Something almost concerned.
Almost.
Across the room, Ruby, Lyla, and Beatrix sat neatly in a row.
Straight-backed.
Angelic.
Perfect actresses.
Each one was carefully obeying Kain's text from last night.
[ Don't act weird, or you get no reward after Operation Darcy ]
And oh, did they want that reward.
Ruby
'I can already feel his hands on me... stay strong, Ruby!'
Lyla
'Just... a little longer... then I can pounce…'
Beatrix
'I'm gonna break his back. In a good way'
They sat perfectly behaved, sneaking occasional side glances at their beloved Kain like loyal dogs waiting for a treat.
Meanwhile, Finn sat at the head of the table.
Smiling like a dumbass.
Spilling his orange juice.
Bragging loudly about how "cool" he must have looked clearing the A-Rank dungeon last month.
"You shoulda seen it, dude! One punch, the boss went flying!"
He totally forgot it was Kain who flicked the boss into atoms.
Kain didn't even blink.
He simply sipped his black coffee, the bitterness grounding him against the ocean of stupidity.
Darcy watched all this unfold.
Confused.
Suspicious.
...and a little intrigued.
There was something about Kain today.
Something heavy.
Something was broken behind that fake smirk of his.
It unsettled her.
And deep, deep inside.
It pissed her off that she cared even a little.
The morning dragged itself forward like a wounded beast.
Kain finished his coffee without tasting it, standing silently as the others laughed and talked around him.
Darcy kept glancing over, pretending not to look, pretending she wasn't bothered.
Finn, meanwhile, was too busy spouting nonsense.
"Bro, I totally carried. Be honest, I was killing it, right?"
He grinned so wide it was a miracle his skull didn't split open.
Kain didn't even bother replying.
He just gave a noncommittal grunt, setting his mug down and slipping past the table.
Ruby, Lyla, and Beatrix straightened like soldiers the second he moved.
Not that anyone else noticed, everyone else thought they were just being "ladylike" or some other fantasy.
Only Darcy caught the strange current running between them.
Only Darcy saw how the three girls' eyes followed Kain's back, and not Finn's, with something dangerous, something reverent.
She squinted down at her book.
It was still upside-down.
She didn't fix it.
Kain headed for the training yard behind the dorms.
It wasn't even noon yet, but the weight on his chest was unbearable.
He needed to move.
To hit something.
Or someone.
He stripped his jacket off.
That's when he heard footsteps behind him.
Sharp.
Precise.
Darcy.
She stopped a few feet away, arms crossed, eyes sharp.
"You're different today," she said.
Kain stretched lazily, pretending to think about it.
"Maybe I just slept wrong"
She didn't buy it.
"You were crying," Darcy said quietly, not accusing, just... observing.
Kain tilted his head slightly, a lazy grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah, happens when you realize you're surrounded by idiots," he said lightly.
She didn't laugh.
Didn't even blink.
Instead, she dropped into a fighting stance, low and tense.
Kain raised an eyebrow.
"You serious, sweetheart?" he drawled, flexing his fingers.
"Didn't get your fill last night?"
Darcy's glare sharpened.
"You're hiding something," she said.
Kain's smile thinned.
"And you think beating the truth outta me's gonna work?"
"I don't know," she said.
"But it'll make me feel better"
Kain rolled his neck, feeling the bones pop.
"Fine," he said.
"Let's dance"
The air between them snapped taut.
Darcy moved first, fast and fierce.
Kain matched her without thinking.
Every punch, every kick, he moved through them like a shadow.
He caught her wrist mid-strike and twisted, flipping her clean over his shoulder.
She hit the ground hard but rolled back up with a grunt.
Good.
Kain respected that.
He respected her fire.
Respected her enough not to hold back.
They circled, and again, she lunged.
And again, he dismantled her.
Until finally, he caught both her wrists in one hand and pinned her lightly against the training dummy.
She struggled, furious, but Kain just held her there, unbothered.
Once again, asking the same question, hoping for a different answer.
"What do you think of Finn's harem?" he asked suddenly, voice low.
Darcy blinked, thrown by the question.
And once again… she gave him the same answer.
"They love him," she snapped.
"They believe in him. Unlike you, stabbing your best friend in the back, and for what!"
Kain chuckled.
Low and dark.
"You really think that's love?" he murmured, like it was the funniest thing he'd heard all year.
"You really think they stayed with him because of him?"
Darcy frowned, but he didn't let her answer.
He leaned in, close enough that his breath brushed her ear.
"They stayed because I told them to"
She froze.
Kain pulled back just enough to catch her reaction.
"You still wanna be part of it?" he asked, almost lazily.
"Or are you just pissed you're not already?"
The color hit her face instantly, deep, furious.
She opened her mouth, probably to curse him out, but Kain just tipped his head toward the dorms.
At the faint scorch mark on the wall.
"I broke the wall again with a yawn," he said dryly.
Darcy clenched her jaw.
Kain released her wrists gently and stepped back.
He hesitated, only for a second, before murmuring the same words from last night.
"I wanted this to go differently"
Darcy scoffed.
"Go to hell"
For a moment, just a brief, flickering second, Kain's mask cracked once again.
Something real, something wounded, passed across his face.
Then it was gone.
He chuckled lightly, turned, and walked back toward the dorms with a lazy wave.
Darcy stayed frozen in the middle of the training yard, fists clenched.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
Her mind screamed at her.
And she hated, hated how much she wanted to understand him.
Kain moved slowly, deliberately, like a man walking away from a crime scene, not even bothering to hide it.
He looked like death warmed over.
Dark circles under his eyes.
Muscles tense.
A chill rolled off him in waves.
Darcy watched him like a hawk, heart thudding painfully in her chest.
And right when she thought things couldn't get more tense.
"YO, BRO!!"
Finn's idiot voice shattered the atmosphere like a thrown brick.
Kain didn't even flinch.
Just kept walking, each step sounding heavier than the last.
Darcy spun around, and sure enough, here came Finn, strutting toward them like he was hot shit, dragging Ruby, Lyla, and Beatrix behind him.
The girls were smiling, way too forced, like they were seconds away from slapping him unconscious.
Finn, meanwhile, looked so proud of himself.
He puffed his chest out.
Flashed a dazzling grin.
Winked at Ruby, who barely resisted rolling her eyes.
Darcy's instincts screamed at her.
She bolted toward them, heart in her throat.
She had to stop him.
Had to.
Before Finn could say anything, Darcy cut him off, throwing herself between the two.
"L-let's fight!" she blurted, trying to distract him.
Finn blinked at her.
"...Huh?"
She scrambled for something, anything, to pull his attention.
"Come on, Finn!" she said, a little too loud, a little too desperate.
"You and me. Right now. Let's spar!"
For a second, just a blissful second, Finn looked like he was considering it.
And then he flashed his brightest, dumbest smile and said:
"Let's have a real fight! Kain and I! Like old times!"
The world stopped.
Ruby, Lyla, and Beatrix all stiffened so hard you could practically hear their spines snap.
Darcy's soul left her body.
Kain... stopped walking.
Slowly... ever so slowly... he turned his head.
The look he gave Finn could've boiled oceans.
Could've cracked the heavens.
It was not the look of a friend.
It was not the look of a man ready for a spar.
It was the look of a man on the edge of complete, feral violence.
A man who hadn't gotten laid in a week.
A man whose patience had been sawed through with a rusty knife.
Finn, blissfully, idiotically, misread it.
"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Finn beamed, clapping Kain on the back like he wasn't signing his own death warrant.
"I knew you'd come around, bro! I'll go easy on you!"
Kain's eye twitched.
Just once.
Ruby, Lyla, and Beatrix shared a collective look.
A look that said 'we are about to witness a goddamn execution.'
Darcy frantically stepped in again, arms wide like she could physically block Kain's fury.
"H-hey! No need for that! It's just a joke, right, Finn?" she laughed awkwardly, sweating bullets.
But Finn just kept going.
"C'mon, Kain!" he said, bouncing on his heels like a Golden Retriever.
"I'll even give you the first move! For old times' sake!"
Kain slowly tilted his head, you could hear the bloody screams he was holding in.
His voice, when it came, was low.
Dead calm.
Dangerous.
"...You want my first move?"
Finn grinned.
"Hell yeah, bro!"
Ruby subtly stepped back.
Lyla started silently mouthing prayers.
Beatrix looked two seconds away from screaming.
Darcy grabbed Finn's arm.
"Abort," she whispered harshly.
"Abort, you moron—"
But it was too late.
The moment Finn flashed his cocky grin, Kain's fist was already moving.
Not a slow, telegraphed punch.
No.
It was instantaneous.
Like a thunderclap.
Like the grim reaper himself swung his scythe through the air.
Finn only barely ducked, more from dumb luck than skill.
But Kain pivoted, grabbing him by the collar, and launched him across the field like a human javelin.
BOOM.
Finn crashed into the training ground wall, cracking it straight down the middle.
Ruby, Lyla, and Beatrix gasped, partly in horror, partly in awe.
Darcy screamed, "OH MY GOD, FINN!!!"
But Kain didn't even flinch.
Didn't even breathe.
He stalked forward like a machine programmed for one thing.
Destruction.
Finn stumbled out of the crater, coughing.
"Good one, bro!" he wheezed, grinning with a chipped tooth.
"You got stronger!"
Kain didn't answer.
He just moved.
Faster than humanly possible.
The second Finn planted his foot, Kain was already there, sweeping his legs out from under him, grabbing his shirt, and slamming him back into the ground hard enough to make the dirt explode.
Finn gasped, wheezing like a dying fish, but he still, somehow, smiled.
"You're not holding back, huh?" he laughed.
Kain's eyes narrowed.
He was done pretending.
Done humoring him.
Done.
The next few minutes were a blur of brutality.
A punch to the ribs that sent Finn skidding.
A knee to the stomach that left him retching.
An elbow to the shoulder dislocating it with a sickening pop.
Every move was clinical.
Precise.
Angry.
Darcy and the girls were screaming now.
"STOP IT!"
"HE'S GONNA DIE!"
"KAIN, PLEASE—!"
But Kain barely even heard them.
Finn finally collapsed in a heap, arms shaking, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, still, trying to push himself up.
"You're... tougher than you look..." Finn gasped.
Kain crouched beside him.
Voice low.
Final.
"Not yet… not yet"
He stood up, brushing the dust off his pants like Finn was already a corpse.
The girls rushed in, not to Finn, but to Kain.
Ruby crashed into him first, grabbing his arm, her whole body shaking with pent-up hunger.
"Kain," she whispered, breathless.
"Please. Now. I don't care who sees"
Lyla pressed into his other side, clutching his shirt like a lifeline.
"I miss you," she said, eyes wide, cheeks flushed.
"I miss how you touched me..."
Beatrix clung to his back, pressing herself against him so tightly it was like she wanted to disappear into him.
"I don't care about 'Operation Darcy' anymore," she murmured hotly.
"I need you"
Their bodies pressed against him, desperate, trembling.
The hunger in their touch was more dangerous than the fight itself.
Darcy watched in horror and confusion, too stunned to move.
She saw it.
All of it.
The way Kain's shoulders shook, his jaw clenched, his breath hitched.
Not from exhaustion.
Not from rage.
From pure, barely contained need.
And worst of all.
Darcy found herself blushing.
Found herself wondering what it would feel like to be held like that.
To be looked at like that.
Finn groaned in the background, still trying to figure out which way was up.
But nobody cared.
Not anymore.
Not when the real monster was right here, breathing heavy, surrounded by women who knew exactly who he was.
And loved him for it.