Rae let out a long sigh as her head sank back into the pillow, dejected. "Not much to report. The members we faced… they took some kind of vile poison. Made it so when they died, their bodies dissolved into putrid shit. No recognizable traces, no corpses, nothing proper left to identify. There were attempts to capture a few alive, but… it was like some remote kill switch was in place. The moment they were restrained—snap. Dead instantly, after which came the slime cosplay attempts."

"The explosive bastard, though, beat the living shit out of me. But we kept him busy until the dungeon overflow spat out so many monsters that, by the time backup arrived, he had no choice but to make a run for it."

"So troublesome…" Kaiden grunted.

Riven finally looked up from her desk. "There is one piece of good news."

Kaiden's gaze turned to her.

"We found the agent who leaked information on our movements. It was a member of the Association. He was the one who gave away the data of your registration for the dungeon undertaking with Runewoven. That's how they knew where you'd be."

Aria's silver eyes narrowed. "Has he been questioned?"

Riven went silent, her gaze sliding away.

Nyx's lips curled into a sly smirk as she purred, "Let me guess. He turned into 'putrid shit' as well, hmm?"

Rae's chuckle wheezed out from behind her casts. "Bingo."

"Haaah… So what now? I imagine you won't be back to action for a bit."

"Yeah, it'll take a few days," Rae replied. "In the meantime, you'll likely have to get reacquainted with Agents Hugh and Oren."

Those two were the same tall, stoic bodyguards who accompanied Secretary Grace when she paid them a visit in their home.

Kaiden's lips twisted instantly, souring as if he'd bitten into something rotten.

Rae burst out laughing despite her cracked ribs. "Oh-ho~! Don't tell me that face is because of them! You'll have to do the pussy pounding quieter for the next few days, Mister Yandere~" Her giggle turned into a wheeze due to extreme amounts of pain, but her smirk was downright wicked.

The truth was simple: Kaiden had specifically asked Grace to replace Hugh and Oren with female agents. Not because he doubted their ability, but because he could not—or rather, would not—stand the idea of two stoic men overhearing the moans and cries of his women echoing through the walls of his home. That would be no home to him, but prison. This request of his was why Rae and Riven ended up being assigned to him in the first place.

Now, Rae weaponized it, and Kaiden's mood curdled darker than storm clouds.

"Pfft!" Rae barked into raw, howling laughter, so hard she started coughing and writhing against her casts, face contorting with pain. "O-Ohhh fuck, it hurts so bad!"

A sharp jab nudged Kaiden's side. He turned his head to find Aria elbowing him. The motion was gentle, for she would never hurt him, but the intent was clear. Her silver eyes were narrowed in disapproval, though the pink dusting her cheeks betrayed her embarrassment.

Nyx, naturally, only giggled with shameless amusement.

Alice blinked around in confusion, a bit lost.

Bastet, on the other hand, purred deeply, leaning closer until her teeth nibbled teasingly at Kaiden's ear and her tanned thighs tightened possessively around his waist.

For a brief moment, the atmosphere softened. The tension melted into a serene tenderness. Kaiden let out a small breath. "Aria already said it, but I want to say it too. I'm truly grateful for what you two did for us, Rae and Riven. I won't forget it."

But before Rae or Riven could respond…

The temperature plummeted.

The lamps above fizzled and died.

A suffocating darkness pressed down on the room.

Alice instantly yelped. "No! No no no no!"

She bolted for the door with panic clear in her voice. But before she could even reach it, her own shadow betrayed her.

From the black smear stretched beneath her feet, a figure rose.

Vespera Ashborn herself.

With a casual grip, she seized Alice by her long dark hair and yanked her back.

"NOOO!!! I DID NOTHING WRONG!!!" Alice shrieked, thrashing like a madwoman. "LET ME GO, YOU CRUEL WOMAN!!! KAIDEN ALREADY SCOLLED ME, I KNOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW I WAS BAD!!!"

Her mother's expression was colder than death, completely unreadable. Without a word, she dragged Alice down.

The girl clawed at the tiles, nails scraping ear-piercingly against the floor as she wailed. "BIG BROTHER! HELP ME! PLEASE! DON'T LET HER TAKE ME INTO THE SHADOW REALM!!!"

Kaiden didn't move an inch. Neither did his Valkyries. Their faces were uniformly deadpan as they watched Alice get reeled into her own shadow like a hooked fish.

Just before vanishing entirely, Vespera paused. Her sharp eyes swept the room, taking in its occupants.

"Good job."

That was all she said before both she and Alice sank into the darkness and disappeared.

The silence afterward was deafening, until Rae broke it. Her eyes were wide and sparkling like a fangirl meeting her idol. Well, that was exactly the case right now.

"Wait! Wait just a second! Did THE Vespera Ashborn just congratulate me on a job well done?!"

"Yep, she did," Nyx giggled at the tanned woman's extreme fanaticism for anything Vespera. Almost all girls preferred someone righteous like Evangeline, the Judicator's Scales, for how she smited evil down. Others loved Scarlet the Flame Monarch for her extreme power of flames that defeated hordes of monsters in a second, while having an upright personality that many could associate with. Of course, handsome awakened men sported a large female following as well.

Vespera, meanwhile, had very few big fans. She was feared, not loved. Only oddballs like this tanned chaos girl could idolize her.

"If only she patted my head and said I was a good girl and that she was proud of me like I was her doggy…" Rae whimpered dejectedly.

"Those psychologists were definitely fake if they declared you normal," Nyx said.

"They grabbed the paycheck and bolted," Riven agreed while screwing a bolt into her newest creation.

…

As the good atmosphere settled and Alice was about to receive the scolding of a lifetime, Kaiden looked forward to the future. The dungeon breaks were still going all over the country, as it had been only a few hours since they broke. He wanted to get back into the fray so that as few citizens as possible would be eaten alive.

And, of course, he also wanted to level up alongside his lovers.

The next goal was level 50!

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