It was said that eyes were windows to the soul. But for Lukas Aguilar, it was several steps beyond that.

As a certain goddess had once told him, plenty of things could get to him if he were caught unaware. One example was maintaining prolonged eye contact. But back then, he had thought of it in terms of emotions and overexaggerated metaphors.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

One moment, a beautiful blonde had entered through a massive hole in the wall, and in the very next, he was gazing into the most gorgeous pair of glacial white eyes he had ever seen. The fact that he was currently surrounded by predators failed to register as a rush of pleasure overtook him from seeing a fellow human being in this world full of monsters. His pupils dilated as—

Lukas stilled, as the anomaly around him slowly stopped mattering. All he could feel was—

Exhaustion.

Here he was fighting monsters, in a place he didn’t want to be, for a goddess he couldn’t even trust. He had survived extensive trials, but after each one was yet another ordeal to take care of. Another monster to fight and bury, with the only alternative being death.

His shoulders helplessly drooped as a horrible weight settled onto his heart.

Damn it, hadn’t he been through enough? More than enough? Hadn’t his life handed him enough misery and grief and pain and loneliness these past few months? It was always something else, something new and scary galumphing towards him by the legion. What was the point? No matter what he did, no matter how much stronger or smarter he got, no matter what monster prototypes he collected, the bad guys would only become bigger and stronger.

All of that suffering, in a hopeless attempt to return to a home that may not even exist anymore?

Was he an idiot?

His hands shook and knees weakened, slowly losing their ability to stand firm. No, it would be far simpler to just give up. It was just as Inanna said— let someone else suffer her whims. He’d earned his rest.

The blonde goddess that stood before him offered sweet rest. Freedom from his suffering. Eternal silence. All he needed to do was— it was—

No.

“I. Won’t. Give. Up,” he growled through clenched teeth, staring straight into the face of a newcomer who was now looking at him in a new light. “Because we have an accord, one I intend to honor.”

And then, Lukas did something he had sworn to never do.

He let Inanna take over.

It was over in an instant.

One moment, She was slowly tearing through the bremetan’s wall of defiance, one stone at a time. She had exerted her thrall upon him, pleased to see it take root in her prey’s mind. All that power, all that potential, ready to be devoured by Her without a second thought. She had no idea who the stranger was or what he represented. Or what made him feel special to her.

It didn’t matter.

For what relevance were petty political affiliations when she could feel the lifeforce singing in his veins? And what an amount it was. The usual lifeforce inside bremetans were like thin ripples, perhaps even a shallow stream cutting across dry land.

But this?

This was like waves crashing against the seashore.

Utterly intoxicating.

The Frost within her sang for its power. It wanted her to feast upon this newcomer and make him Hers. Had he been a mere monster, she’d have thrown a shard of her Everfrost towards him and been done with it. But this one was a bremetan.

Perhaps even an Asukan.

Special.

He was to be devoured slowly, savored, relished. And what better way than to start with a conquest of his very willpower?

So Winter took hold of his spirit within her claws. But then, a blazing wall of resistance greeted her. The tendrils of her thrall were snapped like dead twigs, and for the first time in her life, she responded in a way she had never thought possible. She coiled back into herself, as if struck.

For the first time, Frost was hesitant.

Angry.

Afraid, even.

It was impossible.

It was impossible, impossible, impossible—

“Scum!”

The voice hit her like a sledgehammer, almost as if the word itself held physical weight to it.

“Shard of an Emperor. You think I’d not recognize that vile stench?”

She recoiled at that. This… stranger knew what She was? Impossible. She had made it certain that no one who had experienced her wrath lived to tell the tale. She was Everfrost. She was Winter. She was the Ice that would feed on life and destroy to her heart’s content until the universe was wholly submerged into eternal darkness. She was the Claws, the Teeth, the horror that made bremetans seek shelter within their homes.

She would not be denied, not by some impertinent stranger.

“Not even a God, yet you try to steal what is mine.”

The stranger’s lips twisted into something malicious and cruel.

“Know your place!”

And then, for the first time since the cataclysmic battle between Emperor Meynte and Goddess Amaterasu, Everfrost found itself facing the raw, indomitable might of Wildfire.

Lukas had been in this situation before.

His body was no longer his own, his consciousness adrift in a web of raw energy as he gazed through his own eyes while, at the same time, stared at himself from a different vantage point. His eyes had lost their natural brown hue, replaced by an electric green that pulsed with familiar power and authority far greater than his own. Power that could burn, destroy, and annihilate everything that stood before it.

But unlike last time, he wasn’t forced to live through it all.

This was something he chose voluntarily.

Quite naturally, the Screen was going crazy over it. Only, a different kind of crazy from before.

System Augmentation Detected!

Analysis of newly integrated information...

Analysis Complete.

Mana Forge Available.

Forge Linking…

Mana Forge Activated!

New Skill Created!

SKILL

SOUL CAPACITY CONSUMED

Mana Manipulation [Level 3]

67

Safety Off!

Overclock Set.

Intercepting Routines.

Enact.

The surge of power that erupted from his body was so intense it blew several pieces of the surrounding monsters into the air like styrofoam, spiralling down to the floor in what looked like a helical sine wave to him. The remaining monsters that had gathered around him, possibly attempting to take advantage of his inattention, had all frozen in place, before they exploded one by one into blood and tissue.

He heard Inanna speak through his lips.

“I know of your ilk. Vestiges of a power lost to darkness, clinging to life by staining the souls of your descendants.”

Lukas had no idea what she was talking about. This had been the first time she’d actively warned him against fighting someone, and more importantly, offered to battle in his place. No words had been spoken, no bargains struck, and yet he had known precisely what she thought.

He didn’t know whether to be happy or frightened by that.

“I know of your kind. Cast-offs that forever live in the delusion of getting it all back. Becoming a whole that you never were.”

The woman with the golden tresses seemed to get increasingly agitated with every word Inanna spoke. Perhaps it was because of the temporary link he now shared with her from the mental assault, but he was able to perfectly understand what she was feeling.

Rage.

Fear.

Confusion.

It was just as Inanna had said. An angry foe was a predictable one. Easily manipulated into doing one’s bidding.

“I know of you.”

Lukas spread his hands almost invitingly.

“But do you know of me?”

And the blonde girl nodded. Her anger could have filled the entire chamber, but she nodded. Her hesitation was palpable, her knowledge of what Lukas was visible in her pained expression. This— this thing that had made him drown in an ocean of helplessness was grudgingly admitting to Inanna’s might.

To her significance.

His teeth showed in a brazen grin.

“Then why are you not kneeling?”

It was as if a switch was flipped. The hesitant expression fled from the blonde’s face, leaving behind a soft smile that looked utterly demonic on a face so beautiful. And then, she threw her head back and laughed. It was a silvery sound, one that shattered the darkness slowly creeping around them. Scorn rang true in that laughter, along with genuine amusement— a cold, alien amusement.

“You do not know me very well, do you?” she replied, her voice both human and not— the irony was not lost on him. Echoes of that hair-splitting laughter still rang in her tone. “I have fought the native Gods of this world and established my dominion. I have fought Amaterasu at full power and survived her blazing wrath.”

Lukas looked towards Inanna, the Supreme Queen of Heaven, Butcher of Gods and beasts alike. She stood outlined in his mortal form, seeming much taller than his body would have allowed, the smile on her— his face reflecting every shade of the primal dictator he had come to know so well. She stood in defiance of the Winter queen, power whirling about his body like a cyclone.

“I know not of where you hail from, Stranger. But for bringing me such quality food, I’ll make your demise quick.”

Inanna smiled.

“I won’t.”