CHAPTER 178: GOING LIVE

"So be it."

Not a syllable wasted. Not a motion imperfect. A single nod from her was equivalent to a strategy forged in steel.

As she rose, sleeves trailing like clouds, her handmaidens stared with inner reverence.

’She is grace itself. No demon nor god could break her rhythm.’

’Even a kami would bow before my lady!’

’Surely, no man could ruffle her perfection.’

Lady Tsukikage turned toward the crystal scrying pool.

...

Scientific Community

The Hall of Madness – Undisclosed Location

Screaming. Smoke. Glowing anatomical diagrams rotating in midair. And in the middle of it all, shirtless under his lab coat and covered in ink runes, stood Dr. Elias Roht, evolutionary mage-biologist and high priest of academic insanity.

"THEY’RE SOON LIVE," he screamed at no one in particular, arms raised like a prophet struck by thunder. "THE STREAM IS GOING LIVE ANY MOMENT AND I CAN SMELL THE PHEROMONE DATA THROUGH MY SCREEN!"

His underpaid assistants ducked as enchanted charts exploded into flames behind him.

"Sympath Core resonance! Species empathy! VOCAL MODULATION TRIGGERS! IF HE CONFIRMS LIMB COUNT FLEXIBILITY OR PHEROMONE TRIGGERS I WILL REWRITE TWENTY YEARS OF MONSTER COGNITION THEORY!"

"Doctor, please-"

"PREPARE THE CERVICAL SHAPE COMPARISON DATA!"

"But—"

"I NEED A 3D MODEL OF HER SPINE NOW!" Roht jabbed his finger at a floating hologram of Bastet and Kaiden doing the deed during their recorded subjugation video. "THAT RIGHT THERE! LOOK AT THE TAIL WRAP! HE’S BONDED AT THE HIP. AT THE HIIIIIIIIIP!"

Another assistant wept softly in the corner as a self-writing quill scratched out a research paper titled "The Apex Bonded Specimen: A New Paradigm of Human-Monster Anatomical Merging Through Emotional Triggers!!"

As lightning flashed through the windows and more charts ignited, Dr. Roht cackled to himself, eyes wide with prophetic obsession.

"We stand at the dawn of a new biological age," he whispered, clutching a tablet showing Kaiden’s smirk and Bastet’s curled paw around his arm.

"The age... of symbiotic monster romance evolution!"

...

Europe – Guild Coalition

London – Guild Coalition HQ, High Assembly Chamber

A massive oak table dominated the center of the vaulted chamber, surrounded by stained-glass windows and banners from Europe’s most powerful guilds: Excalibur, Valkyrie Order, Duskborn, and others less vocal but equally hungry.

Sigils glowed on the table, pulsing with territorial magic.

The doors slammed open as a courier sprinted in, breathless and pale. "The stream goes live in under an hour!" he shouted. "Kaiden’s opening the floor for questions! Supposedly, any questions. The monster should be present as well!"

Silence struck the room for a few seconds like a spell detonation.

Then:

"They’re calling themselves Valhalla’s Sinners!" the Valkyrie Order envoy declared, voice crisp with conviction. She stood tall in her radiant white and gold plate armor that ended in a stylish skirt, her imagination of how a proper Valkyrie should dress.

"This confirms what I’ve always said," she continued. "Their aesthetic, their fire, even their flair! They belong under our wing. With proper guidance, we could elevate them into paragons of divine warfare."

Across the table, Excalibur’s tactician rolled his eyes as he leaned back, arms crossed. "Yes, I’m sure that’s what the world needs: Kaiden Grey in an open tunic, flexing his muscles for posters in your ridiculous recruitment temples with you and the rest of your submissive bitches- er, I mean dearest colleagues, kneeling under him for clout."

His voice dropped an octave.

"A man capable of subjugating a boss monster with his body alone should be with us. Not primped and paraded like a prized pet." He jabbed a finger toward the projection. "He should be slaying dragons, breaking sieges, leading our charge into the grandest dungeons, not prancing around in your gilded feathers."

The Valkyrie envoy bristled. "You speak as if we are weak. The Valkyrie Order clears just as many dungeons as Excalibur does, so I’d appreciate it if you’d stop speaking as if we were useless women with a severe submissive streak in them. "

"I speak," he corrected the woman coolly, "as someone who hasn’t forgotten what war actually looks like."

The room grew tense again. As it always did when the stakes were high.

Then, as always, Duskborn’s envoy slid into the conversation like perfume on silk. Reclined languidly in her seat, she was draped in velvet-black fabrics that exposed far more than they concealed. Her full, dark lips curved in a smile as she slowly licked the corner of her mouth in more hunger than mere amusement.

"Children..." she purred. "Must we always bark and bite like dogs over a meal we’ve not yet caught?"

Both the Valkyrie and Excalibur reps looked at her, expressions dry as dust.

She stretched lazily, causing her large chest to rise like a rising tide under the moon. "We are a coalition, are we not? We can’t woo him alone, but together, we can ensure he belongs to us—all of us. He gets recognition. We get influence. And maybe..." She trailed off, eyes glittering with an obvious husky need in them that she didn’t try to hide one bit, "I get a taste of what he hides beneath all that self-righteous defiance."

"You mean steal him for yourself after the rest of us put in the work!" the Valkyrie envoy accused flatly.

"Hardly subtle," muttered the tactician, adjusting his collar.

But Duskborn’s envoy only chuckled. "I’d never be so cruel," she whispered, her smile widening. "I’d let you watch."

Seraphine’s subtle cough from the head of the table brought everything to a standstill. The High Chairwoman of the Court let her fingers curl once around her ancestral ring before speaking.

"We act as one. One plan. One push. Flood the stream with our questions. Coordinate phrases, bait topics. He’s surrounded by unpredictable allies, but that makes his leash all the more valuable."

She met each of their gazes in turn.

"If Kaiden Grey’s existence is more than some immense luck that allowed him to accomplish something that had never been done before, then his favor will tip the scale of global power. Let us ensure it tips our way."

...

All across the world, mental screens flared to life inside people’s souls. Every guild, every kingdom, every underground lab and celestial shrine froze in collective silence. From dragon-slayers to black-market summoners, from saintly priestesses to depraved academics... millions leaned forward as one, eyes wide, breath held.

The notification pulsed in blazing gold:

➤ Valhalla’s Sinners: [LIVE]

Then the screen faded to black...

A heartbeat passed.

Two.

Three.

And then...