The corridor was supposed to be sealed.
Not locked. Not restricted. Deleted.
Kai walked at the center of the formation, the academy's deeper layers humming faintly beneath his boots. The lighting here was softer than the upper levels, deliberately non-threatening, designed to calm students and staff alike. That design choice now felt like a liability. Comfort bred blindness.
Eira moved half a step ahead of him, posture rigid, every sense sharpened. Lyra flanked the left wall, silent and predatory, eyes tracing reflections in the polished surfaces. Nova followed just behind Kai, her attention split between reality and invisible data layers only she could fully perceive.
The system remained active, but unusually restrained.
TACTICAL ADVISORY: LIMITED
INTERFERENCE DETECTED: INTERNAL
RECOMMENDATION: MANUAL JUDGMENT PRIORITIZED
That alone was disturbing.
"They're inside the trust perimeter," Nova murmured. "No forced access. No trace signatures. Whoever did this was already… allowed."
Lyra's jaw tightened. "Then someone opened the door for them."
Or someone was the door.
They reached the coordinates: an old observation chamber once used for neural synchronization experiments. The academy had decommissioned it years ago after early system trials proved too invasive. Too intimate.
The door stood open.
Eira raised a hand, signaling halt. Kai felt it then—a shift in the Harem link. Not a spike. Not a surge.
A pull.
Subtle. Intimate. Wrong.
WARNING: EMOTIONAL VECTOR INTERFERENCE
SOURCE: UNKNOWN
EFFECT: DESIRE CALIBRATION DRIFT
Nova swallowed. "That's not external pressure. Someone's… tuning the link."
Lyra's voice dropped. "I don't like this."
Kai stepped forward anyway.
The chamber beyond was dim, illuminated only by a single holographic projector suspended midair. No figure. No ambush. Just a woman's silhouette rendered in soft blue light, deliberately indistinct.
She spoke before anyone else could.
"Axis," the voice said calmly. "You came faster than projected. Good."
Eira's hand snapped to her weapon. "Identify yourself."
The silhouette tilted its head, amused. "Not yet."
The system reacted violently.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS: HAREM LINK PARTIAL MIRRORING
CONSENT STATUS: UNDEFINED
EMOTIONAL FEEDBACK: BIDIRECTIONAL
Kai clenched his fist as heat rippled through the link—not raw desire, but something more dangerous: recognition. Familiarity without memory. Intimacy without touch.
Lyra hissed under her breath. "She's inside our resonance."
Nova's hands shook slightly as she worked to isolate the signal. "She's not forcing it. She's aligning with it."
The silhouette stepped closer, the hologram sharpening just enough to suggest intent rather than form.
"I designed early behavioral resonance models," the woman said. "Long before Creed corrupted them. Before the academy sanitized the data. What you're experiencing now is not an attack."
She paused deliberately.
"It's a conversation."
Kai lifted his gaze, voice steady but edged with steel. "You don't start conversations by breaking into my core systems."
A soft laugh echoed through the chamber. "And yet you didn't shut it down."
The system pulsed again, conflicted.
AUTHORITY OVERRIDE: AVAILABLE
COST: HAREM LINK STRAIN
RISK: TRUST FRACTURE
Eira turned slightly toward Kai, eyes sharp. "Say the word. I end it."
Lyra added, quieter, more dangerous, "Or I do."
Nova looked between them, then at Kai. "If we sever this abruptly, we lose whatever she already copied. And she has copied something."
The silhouette observed them all, clearly pleased.
"Such beautiful tension," she said. "You balance loyalty, control, and desire with remarkable discipline, Axis. But discipline is not the same as immunity."
Kai exhaled slowly. "You're testing proximity. Seeing how close you can get without provoking a strike."
"Yes," she admitted. "Because proximity is where truth lives."
The hologram shifted again—just enough to suggest a face, eyes glinting with intent.
"And because I want to see which of them you protect first when pressure becomes personal."
The Harem link trembled.
Lyra felt it and stepped closer to Kai without thinking. Nova stiffened, jaw tight. Eira's hand rested briefly against Kai's back, grounding, possessive, controlled.
The system registered everything.
RIVALRY INDEX: RISING
DESIRE RESPONSE: SUPPRESSED
EMOTIONAL ANCHORS: STRAINED BUT HOLDING
Kai made his decision.
"You don't get to choose the terms," he said evenly. "If you want access, you earn it. No shadows. No manipulation."
The silhouette studied him for a long moment.
Then she smiled.
"Very well," she said. "I'll step into the light soon. But understand this—what I bring will force your harem to confront what they are to you. Not as assets. Not as anchors."
She leaned in, voice lowering.
"But as liabilities… or commitments."
The hologram dissolved.
The chamber lights returned to normal.
Silence pressed in, heavy and unresolved.
Nova was the first to speak. "She left residual code. Nothing harmful. Yet."
Lyra crossed her arms, eyes dark. "She was enjoying this."
Eira looked at Kai carefully. "And she's not done."
Kai nodded once. "No. She isn't."
The system chimed softly, almost reluctantly.
NEW STATUS: PROXIMITY ANTAGONIST IDENTIFIED
THREAT TYPE: PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL STRATEGIST
NEXT PHASE: DISCLOSURE
As they exited the chamber, the Harem link slowly stabilized—but something had changed. Not broken.
Marked.
The enemy had stopped throwing blades.
She had started touching the threads that held Axis together.
And the next move would not be subtle.