Viktor scrambled backward, his hands slipping on the wet stone as he tried to extract himself from the compromising position.

As he pulled away, the slight drag of his lips over the newly exposed nub made her flinch, a tiny, involuntary shiver running through her.

The now-erect nipple, no longer tucked safely inward, brushed the cool air and she hated, absolutely hated, how sharply she could feel it.

Her face burned hotter.

He didn't notice the change, but she did.

She clamped an arm over her chest the moment he shifted far enough, fingers pressing flat in a desperate attempt to hide the traitorous peak before anyone could see anything different about her.

Her other arm stayed tight at her side, the only thing stopping her short, battle-worn mini-jeans—those skirt-like pant guards riding low on her hips—from slipping any further.

The damp fabric clung to her thighs, the frayed hem barely covering her ass.

But she knew.

For the first time, her nipple had come out.

And it was this idiot who'd done it.

That thought alone made her want to punch something.

But his knee caught between her thighs, and the motion made him accidentally grind against her for half a second before he finally managed to roll sideways and flop onto his back beside her.

"So," Viktor said, his voice cracking slightly. "Tastes like... impending death."

Kaida lay there, chest heaving, her face so red it looked like she might actually combust.

Under her forearm, she could still feel that unfamiliar hardness, throbbing faintly against her own skin, refusing to retreat back into its safe little hollow.

"You," she said slowly, her voice trembling with barely contained rage and a fresh layer of mortified frustration, "are the 'unluckiest' man alive."

Viktor stared up at the cave ceiling, his own face flushed. "That's... probably wrong if you see from my eyes."

"You grabbed my breast."

"Accident."

"Your mouth was on my chest."

"Accident."

"And then you—you—!"

Her mind flashed back to that moment of suction, the strange internal pull, not only she could imagine shape of his cockhead on her anal ring but now the way her nipple had finally emerged like it had been waiting for this exact kind of stimulus.

He have left two marks on her body and due to her senses of enhanced battle vetran, she cant shake then off.

She choked on her own words, fury and embarrassment tangling together.

"Okay, that one was 'definitely' an accident."

Kaida sat up slowly, her hands clenched into fists so tight her knuckles had gone white. She looked at Viktor. Then at her own body—the single arm still glued over her bare tits, droplets sliding down her toned abs.

Then down at the clinging, ripped mini-jeans sitting crooked on her hips, one strap of leather guard hanging loose at the side, then back at Viktor.

"If you 'ever'," she said carefully, "tell 'anyone' about this—"

"I'll take it to my grave," Viktor said immediately.

"Good."

She shifted, trying to stand, the short skirt-like denim bouncing against the curve of her ass as her hips moved.

The motion made the tiny garment ride up even more, showing off wet, powerful thighs. She yanked the waistband down with a vicious tug, as if punishing the fabric for existing.

They sat there for another moment, both refusing to make eye contact.

Then a small, trembling voice broke the silence.

"U-Um... Sir Viktor? Miss Kaida?"

Both of them turned to look at Bella, who was standing at the edge of where the water had been, her golden eyes wide as she stared down into the now-empty basin.

She was fully dressed—simple tunic clinging to her damp skin, leather shorts and boots splashed with droplets, cloak half-stuck to her back. Her ears were flat, tail twitching nervously behind her as she hugged herself, but at least her clothes were intact.

"There's... there's a passage down there," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "I can see it. The water's gone, and there's—it looks like a tunnel. Or maybe a door? It's hard to tell from here, but it's definitely something."

Kaida and Viktor exchanged glances.

Then both scrambled to their feet—Viktor still fully naked and dripping, Kaida half-naked, bare from the waist up with only those short, clinging mini-jeans on, still mortified—and rushed over to where Bella was pointing. Kaida's hips swayed with each hurried step, her improvised skirt-guard bouncing and slapping lightly against her thighs.

Sure enough, at the very bottom of the drained lake bed, barely visible in the flickering firelight, was a narrow opening in the rock wall.

A passage.

Viktor's eyes narrowed as he stared down at it.

'That mechanism I triggered... it wasn't just a drain. It was a 'lock'. Which means...'

"Someone built this," he said quietly. "This whole place is artificial."

Kaida frowned. "But who would—"

A low rumble echoed through the cave.

All three of them froze.

The ground beneath their feet began to vibrate.

"Oh," Viktor said. "That's probably not good."

'!'

The ground beneath their feet began to vibrate.

"Oh," Viktor said. "That's probably not good."

The rumble grew louder, deeper, like the earth itself was groaning. Dust rained from the ceiling, pattering against their shoulders in soft clouds.

Bella's ears flattened against her skull. "S-Sir Viktor..."

The stone walls—ancient, moss-covered, untouched for who knows how long—suddenly started to crack.

Not small fractures. Deep, splintering breaks that spread like lightning across the surface, glowing faintly with an eerie purple light.

"What the—" Kaida stepped back, her hand instinctively moving to where her dagger should be. Right. Bare from the waist up, no armor, no weapons, just her stupid tiny battle shorts barely covering anything. "Viktor, what did you do?!"

"Me?" Viktor's tail swished defensively behind him. "Why is it always my fault?"

"BECAUSE IT ALWAYS IS!"

The cracks widened. Chunks of stone broke free, tumbling to the ground with heavy thuds that echoed through the cavern. And then—

The walls just... 'crumbled'.

Like sand. Like they'd been held together by nothing but time and stubbornness, and now that hold was finally breaking.

Bella let out a startled squeak, stumbling backward as a massive section of wall collapsed near her feet, revealing... nothing. Just more darkness beyond.

But the ground—

The 'ground' was glowing.

A deep, pulsing purple light surged up from beneath their feet, spreading outward in intricate patterns that looked almost like—

"A magic circle," Viktor breathed.

It was massive. Easily twenty feet in diameter, with symbols and runes spiraling inward toward the center where the three of them stood. The lines pulsed with energy, brighter and brighter, until the entire cavern was bathed in violet light.

Kaida's eyes widened. "What the hell is this?!"

Viktor opened his mouth to respond—

And then something 'changed'.

The air around him shimmered. Distorted. Like heat waves rising off scorching stone.

His back arched involuntarily, a sharp gasp tearing from his throat as power surged through him—hot, electric, 'wrong' in a way that made his teeth ache and his vision blur.

"V-Viktor?!" Bella's voice, high and panicked.

He couldn't respond. Couldn't speak. His body was moving on its own, muscles spasming as something inside him 'awakened'.

The tail behind him lashed violently, the spaded tip cutting through the air with audible 'cracks'.

And then—

'They appeared'.

Horns.

Not the small, barely-there nubs he'd had before. 'Real' horns, curving back from his temples in elegant arcs, obsidian-black and gleaming wetly in the purple light. Translucent, like colored glass, but sharp enough to gore.

And wings.

Bat-like. Leathery. Unfurling from his shoulder blades with a wet, tearing sound that made Bella flinch. They spread wide—easily eight feet from tip to tip—casting massive shadows across the glowing circle.

But they weren't solid. They were 'translucent'. Flickering. Like they existed somewhere between reality and illusion, there one second and fading the next.

Kaida's mouth fell open. "What... what the 'fuck'..."

Bella's golden eyes were the size of dinner plates, her entire body frozen in shock. "Sir Viktor... your... your..."

The power reached its peak—and then 'vanished'.

Like a candle snuffed out.

The horns disappeared. The wings folded inward and dissolved into nothing. Viktor staggered forward, gasping, his hands braced against his knees as he tried to remember how to breathe.

"What..." Kaida's voice was shaking. Actually 'shaking'. "What the hell was 'that'?!"

Viktor straightened slowly, his chest heaving. "What was what?"

"WHAT WAS WHAT?!" Kaida shrieked, pointing at him with a trembling finger. Her arm slipped a little, flashing the hardened nipple she was trying to hide before she slammed it back over her chest. "Your—your 'horns'! Your 'wings'! That—that 'thing' that just—!"

"What horns?" Viktor frowned, genuinely confused. "What are you—"

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