"… Cute and Loving what?"

"Kai?"

"Master?"

"Darling?"

"Explain."

Kaiden's soul re-entered his body solely so he could suffer properly.

His face drained of color.

He looked two seconds away from performing a full backflip off the nearest high-rise balcony.

Kaiden stood in the center of a ring of women, every one of them staring at him as he'd just confessed to kicking puppies for fun and cackling manically as he watched them trying to stand just before the next kick came.

He dragged a hand down his face, then lifted his gaze toward the ceiling, wry and resigned.

"… Don't all glare at me at once."

They didn't stop glaring.

Before he could even attempt damage control, Alice scoffed loud enough to make the air vibrate.

"Are you all deaf? My big brother is in 'Cute and Loving Little Sister's Boundless Love for her Beloved Big Brother!!' mode! Hmph!"

The halo above him hmph'd.

Audibly.

Then it flared like a dramatic diva demanding applause.

That did it.

Nyx's lip twitched.

Then trembled.

Then…

She doubled over laughing, clutching her stomach as tears burst from her eyes.

"Pff! Hahahahaha! Kaiden-!" she choked out, laughing so hard she had to grab a pillar for support.

Between wheezes, she managed to get just enough out to say, "We… heard you loud and clear, little sister.. We just-" Another wheeze. "We just have so many questions."

Alice paused.

"Oh."

All of a sudden, something changed.

The halo flickered.

Then dimmed.

Kaiden blinked and looked up.

The light drained away. His left eye's glow weakened.

"Alice?" he asked, voice tightening. "Is everything alright?"

Her reply came after a heartbeat.

<… I don't know… I suddenly feel… tired…>

The halo flickered twice more, then Alice burst out of the conduit in a spill of light.

A body dropped toward the floor in front of Kaiden, who lunged and caught the girl before she hit the ground.

"What?" His heart skipped a beat when his brain registered what he was seeing.

The girl in his arms was not the same Alice who had fused with him.

She was not the angel-like being, but neither was she the Alice Kaiden knew before the last minute happened.

Instead, she seemed to have… fused? Mixed? Kaiden didn't know how to even begin describing it.

Her black hair was now half white, half black, split perfectly down the middle.

Her red eyes also changed, with only one remaining that vivid crimson.

The other became pure white.

Before Kaiden could begin worrying, as she was not responsive, Bastet stepped up and pressed her fingers to Alice's throat. She remained quiet for only a second before smiling. "Pulse present. Breathing stable. Slipping into unconsciousness only."

Kaiden exhaled, releasing a long, shaky breath of relief.

His shoulders slumped.

Aria and Calypso finally stopped bickering about their anti- and pro- incest stances long enough to stare.

"What," Aria said flatly, "just happened?"

"Yeah," Calypso nodded, looking at the sleeping girl. "What is she? Your sister looks similar, but something changed, and I'm not just talking about hair and eye color. The change is more than cosmetic."

Kaiden looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms.

A slow, tender smile softened his face, one that made the women exchange looks.

"I suppose," he murmured, brushing a thumb over Alice's new two-toned long hair, "our bond reached a new height. It became so strong that a reaction occurred."

Nyx, Luna, Aria, Bastet, and Calypso all shared another confused, suspicious stare.

But one look at their man, at his gentle, protective gaze, focused entirely on the sleeping girl's face, told them everything they needed to know:

He wasn't in the mood for a lengthy Q&A session right now.

So the women sighed in sync, smiling together.

"Fine. I'll ask later."

"It is what it is."

"Sure."

"Just another day in the crazy saga that is our lives."

Kaiden only offered a grateful, small smile of his own before turning and carrying Alice out of the room.

…

Alexandra had already prepared a guest room.

Kaiden pushed the door open with his shoulder.

Inside, a plush black-and-cream bed awaited, blankets soft as whispers.

He lowered Alice onto it with slow, careful movements.

He tugged the blanket over her chest, smoothing out the folds, and then, suddenly, her eyelashes fluttered.

"Big brother…?" she whispered, voice sluggish and groggy. "Mm… Where…?"

Kaiden reached out and gently stroked the top of her head.

The change in Alice was immediate.

Her confused, groggy tension dissolved, evaporated from one moment to the next. Her shoulders sagged, her breathing softened, and a tiny, relieved sound escaped her as she leaned into his palm, even going as far as pushing her head more firmly against him, looking as if she simply couldn't get enough of his warmth.

She looked… safe. His touch alone anchored her. Her confusion did not recede, but her brother was at her side, calm, so all was safe in the girl's world.

He couldn't help the small, warm smile that rose to his lips just before he answered the girl's question about their whereabouts.

"We're home, Alice."

She froze in stunned silence.

Home.

The word, while simple, meant the whole world to the girl.

She had never lived here, nor in the bunker. She had never been allowed to. She had never been part of his daily life, of his space, of the world he'd built with the women who loved him.

But he'd just said it.

Her breath hitched. Her eyes glistened. Tears rolled down her cheeks before she even realized.

"Huh…?" She blinked rapidly, touching her cheek. "Tears? Why am I…?"

"What happened…?" she whispered, but mid-sentence, memories flared across her mind.

"Oh! I became your conduit!!"

Kaiden kept petting her hair while giving a helpless little shrug.

"Something like that. Though I'm still not sure I understand the terminology."

Alice brightened instantly, tears forgotten.

"Then we have to test our new bond, let's do it right now!! Let's become one again!"

Her excitement was… dangerous.

And her words were… very easily misinterpreted.

Kaiden gave her a wry, pointed stare.

"We'll test stuff tomorrow, if you're feeling fine in the morning," he clarified dryly.

Alice nodded rapidly, still beaming.

"How are you feeling, by the way? You left your conduit state and just collapsed."

Alice gasped as she realized that that was indeed what happened. Her world threatened to collapse instantly.

"D-Does that mean I might not be able to become one with you again!?"

Kaiden's chest tightened in existential pain.

Before he could reply, a notification chimed in his mind.

[Initial transformation required significant energy expenditure from the Conduit. Alice Ashborn did not simply enter Conduit State; she likely underwent physical and spiritual remodeling. Future transformations are projected to be stable, as the remodeling is anticipated to be a one-time event.]

The fact that even the system used uncertain terms such as 'likely' and 'anticipated' meant that even the Heavenly Demon did not have a lot of information on whatever occurred between the two of them moments ago, or at the very least he did not impart it into the system as he remodeled it before his defeat, when he sent it with the mission of finding a Successor.

"… The system says it was a one-time thing most likely," Kaiden muttered.

Alice's eyes sparkled like twin stars.

"I can become one with my brother again!! Yay!!"

Kaiden closed his eyes.

For inner peace.

For sanity.

For survival.

He opened them again only dozens of seconds later.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.