CHAPTER 145: [KISS UPGRADE]

This time, the pain didn’t just sting — it snapped Eli awake.

The cold pressure of the water crushed around him, familiar and suffocating, that same old sensation of drowning threading through his ribs like a vice.

He could see it through the blur: Kairo’s body jerking as dozens of those nightmare phantoms clawed at him, their red eyes burning in the dark like coals in a pit.

They looked even worse up close.

Not just shadows anymore but things — wet, skeletal, scaled hands dragging, tails whipping like eels.

Their skull-faces split open as they hissed, teeth like cracked coral snapping inches from Kairo’s boots.

Eli’s whole body tensed, but he couldn’t move. Kairo’s arm was still locked around him like a steel bar, keeping him pinned to his chest.

He wanted to speak. He wanted to scream.

"Do something."

But they were still under water, and his voice would be nothing but bubbles.

Completely useless.

And God, the headache — it was back, harder, hammering against his skull, every throb making his vision splinter into dark cracks.

’What can I do? This is all my fault.’

The thought struck sharp and ugly. He hadn’t been pulling his weight. He hadn’t been strong enough.

He’d gotten himself controlled, turned into a weapon, and now Kairo — the only one still holding him up — was being dragged under because of him.

It was frustrating.

Humiliating.

If he’d just accepted that task earlier... if he hadn’t hesitated...

Wait.

He’d neither confirmed nor denied.

’So...’

His eyes widened slightly even as pain clawed at his temples. ’System? SYSTEM?!’

Inside his mind, the thought slammed like a fist against a locked door.

He looked into the darkness in front of him, but his gaze kept flicking back to Kairo — to the man who was still fighting, still kicking, his boot cracking through a phantom’s skull with enough force to make a shockwave shudder through the water.

Eli bit down on a groan, forcing himself to focus. His head felt like it was splitting, but he kept calling.

And then —

Ding.

The sound wasn’t muffled like before. It was loud,clear, like a bell ringing inside his skull.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Welcome back, Eli.

His pulse spiked.

’That offer... Is it still available? If yes. Yes!’ His mind screamed the words, his desperation bleeding through. ’I’m willing to do anything for a temporary power-up! Anything. Please.’

He begged it. Not even caring how he sounded — begging the system, clawing at it with his thoughts.

He waited.

Waited for the system to respond.

To say something.

To unlock something.

The water pressed in tighter. Kairo’s legs kicked, the phantoms closed in, their claws raking closer to Eli’s ankles.

He hoped. He wished. He prayed.

That the system would help him again.

It had tried before. It had tried to warn him, to reboot him, to protect him.

And now, he needed it more than ever.

Eli waited.

Seconds dragged like hours. Every part of him trembled with the ache of exhaustion and cold, but he waited.

And then—

Ding.

The sound cut through the water, clear and merciless.

[SYSTEM NOTICE: ADDITIONAL MISSIONS ASSIGNED]

You will be given [2] additional missions.

Mission 1: Complete the current MAIN mission [KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE].Upgrade: The kiss must now be on the lips instead of the cheek.Status: Active.Duration: 60 SECONDS.

Eli stared.

’Kiss on the—’

His thought cut off halfway, a bubble of disbelief escaping from his lips. For a split second, the urge to scream at the system burned in his chest.

Was it seriously doing this now?!

’You’ve got to be kidding me—’

But then his eyes flicked toward Kairo.

The man was still fighting — still kicking against the phantom swarm that refused to die, his movements sharp and deliberate even beneath the crushing weight of the water.

One arm locked Eli tightly against his chest while the other cut through the dark, striking away the clawed hands that reached for them.

Every kick sent a shockwave rippling through the depths.

Each blow cracked against phantom flesh that wasn’t quite solid, shattering it into clouds of black silt that drifted apart like smoke underwater.

They just kept coming.

Hands. Faces. Fangs.

Kairo didn’t stop. He couldn’t. He twisted, kicked, and pushed through the current, muscles straining, veins burning, his breath running thin.

Every movement was an act of defiance against the pull dragging them both down.

And through it all—he never loosened his grip on Eli.

Never once.

And for the first time, Eli really looked at him.

The tension in his shoulders. The cuts along his neck. The sheer effort behind every move.

The disbelief melted.

He couldn’t bring himself to complain.

Not when Kairo looked like that — strong and unshaken on the outside, but bloodied, exhausted, and barely holding them both up.

Eli’s chest ached. His heart hammered painfully against his ribs. Every pulse seemed louder than the distant screaming of the phantoms.

He wanted to stop himself.

He tried to.

His hands were shaking even underwater, trembling against the belt that still bound his wrists. The world tilted around him, his breath catching in his throat, though there was no air to take in anyway.

Still, he moved.

Slowly.

Cautiously.

He shifted closer to Kairo.

The man turned his head, black eyes flicking down in faint surprise — confusion threading through his gaze as if trying to read whether Eli was still under control.

Eli’s pulse spiked. His lungs burned. His mind screamed at him to just do it before he lost his nerve.

’Here we go... here we go... it’s just a kiss. A simple kiss.’

His eyes fluttered shut.

He leaned forward.

The last few seconds ticked down in the corner of his vision.

[00:05]

[00:04]

[00:03]

The system’s glow dimmed, and then—

He pressed his lips against Kairo’s.

A simple kiss.

But it didn’t feel simple.

The moment their mouths met, everything stopped — the rush of water, the pressure, the noise — gone. There was only warmth, soft and strange, spreading through the cold between them.

Eli felt Kairo tense under him, muscles locking like iron. For a heartbeat he braced himself to be shoved away, to feel Kairo’s grip break and the cold rush of water swallow him whole.

But the push never came.

Instead, Kairo stayed frozen. His body stiff, his black eyes wide, his usual razor-edged composure stripped down to something raw—shock.

Ding.

The sound rang even underwater, muted yet unmistakable, like a bell struck somewhere deep inside his skull.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]Mission Progress:

Task: [KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE]. Success.Additional Task: Kiss on the lips. Success.

’Thank God.’ Eli’s lashes fluttered. He wanted to exhale, to let out the breath coiled in his chest, but reminded himself with a sharp pang that he couldn’t—not down here.

Ding.

[SYSTEM REWARD NOTICE:]Missions Success.

Player has successfully fulfilled the main mission along with the additional mission upgrade. First reward shall be given to Player.

Warning: This might hurt a bit.

’It might hurt...?’ The thought flickered across his mind right before it hit.

Pain—sharp, biting—shot through his wrists, searing like invisible blades carving into him.

Eli’s eyes squeezed shut; a muffled wince escaped against Kairo’s lips before instinct forced him to pull back.

His chest heaved, water rushing cold over his face. Kairo was still staring at him, expression unreadable but eyes fixed and stunned, almost oblivious to the phantoms clawing up his legs.

Their fingers slid higher, dragging dark trails through the current—straight toward Eli.

’They’re trying to get me? Again?’ The thought struck like ice, coiling his gut tighter.

And then—he saw it.

Blood.

It didn’t drip.

It bloomed.

Thick red clouds unfurling around him, spreading outward like ink spilled into black water.

It clung to his skin, curling in ribbons that pulsed faintly, alive.

There was no one else it could belong to. No wound but his own.

That pain from his wrists—it had split him open.

’Is this...the power-up? Am I not going to die of blood loss?’ Eli’s heart hammered. Fear tangled with a strange, fierce hope.

No—he knew the system wouldn’t kill him like this.

Not now.

Not after everything.

Kairo’s eyes widened fractionally — a rare, almost human crack in his composure.

For once, the unshakable S-Class Hunter looked like he didn’t know what to do.

His fingers twitched around Eli’s waist, hesitation flickering across his sharp, controlled features.

But Eli saw it — that flicker — and he refused to let him freeze.

Their eyes met through the blur of blood and bubbles, black locking onto gold.

"...Use..." Eli mouthed, his throat burning, lungs screaming for air. The words barely left his lips, lost to the current, but Kairo saw. He always did.

Eli’s chest ached, every second stretching thinner and thinner. Pain crawled through him — not just from his wrists, but from the suffocating weight of water pressing down. His body begged him to stop, to breathe, but he pushed through.

"...the blood..."

His voice broke, air bursting from his lips in a stream of silver bubbles. The last of it. His plea.

And Kairo understood.

For a split second, something like realization — or maybe fury at himself for hesitating — flashed behind his eyes. Then the change hit.

Kairo’s hand shot out into the crimson haze. The blood that had been drifting — Eli’s blood — shuddered, drawn to him as if gravity itself had shifted.

It twisted.

It moved.

Kairo’s aura flared — the faint shimmer of red veins pulsing across his forearm. The blood obeyed, solidifying, condensing under his command until it formed a blade — jagged at the edges, glimmering with an otherworldly sheen, half-liquid, half-steel.

A blood sword.

Even underwater, it radiated danger.

Kairo gripped it tight, the crimson glow painting his face in streaks of violent light. His legs moved like pistons, kicking through the dense water as he turned on the swarm that had surrounded them.

The phantoms lunged — but Kairo was already moving.

The blade cut through water like fire, leaving trails of red energy that burst into steam with every swing.

One strike — a skull shattered. Another — claws severed, shadows dispersing into nothing.

The pressure of each hit thumped through the water, muffled but heavy, like thunder trapped beneath the surface.

Eli could barely see, barely keep his eyes open through the haze of pain and blood, but one thought burned bright through the blur:

’He listened...’

Presently...

"I—" Eli stammered, his throat tightening the moment Kairo’s voice cut through the echoing silence.

He hadn’t prepared for this.

Not for that question.

The moment they resurfaced, the air still stung his lungs, his body was sore, and the adrenaline hadn’t even faded yet.

He’d been too busy trying not to drown, too busy pretending the kiss never happened, to come up with an explanation for it.

Still, he could at least explain the other thing — the mind control.

"My danger detection... my ability," Eli began, forcing the words out between shallow breaths. "It gave me so many headaches—I don’t know, I just... snapped out of it completely, eventually."

It wasn’t entirely a lie. His danger sense had helped him break through the fog, but not the way he was making it sound.

The truth—that a kiss was part of some absurd "mission" the System forced on him—wasn’t something he could ever say out loud.

He tried to keep his tone even, but his voice trembled faintly at the edges. "So yeah. I’m... fine now."

Kairo didn’t reply immediately. He just looked at him—black eyes steady, unreadable. The kind of stare that felt like it could peel away every layer of his thoughts.

Eli’s stomach twisted.

’Oh god, he knows. He’s not saying anything because he knows.’

But then, finally, Kairo gave a slow, almost imperceptible nod. No words, no expression. Just acknowledgment.

Eli let out a shaky breath, a small, relieved laugh escaping him. Maybe that was it. Maybe they could finally move on, regroup with the others, and—

"So," Kairo’s voice came again, calm and low. "Why did you kiss me?"

Eli froze.

His relief died instantly, replaced by the sound of his heart hammering in his ears.

’Fuck.’