Now that the fog was gone, she still looked beautiful—stunning even—but that irresistible charm had dulled. She was human again, not some vision from a dream.

Joseph sat frozen. His face drained of all color as he looked down at his seat—then gasped aloud.

The chair beneath him had a clean, almost surgical chunk cut out of the wood. Directly under his crotch.

He felt an icy shiver crawl up his spine.

“Captain Lilith,” Luke said wearily, rubbing his temples. “Not traumatize him?”

Joseph, meanwhile, was practically shaking. If she’d gone even an inch deeper, his manhood would’ve been history. Just the thought made his thighs clench involuntarily.

He looked up at Lilith with a mixture of awe and pure fear.

When I hit level five, we’ll see who’s laughing, he thought, lowering his head and muttering to himself.

Luke cleared his throat and made the formal introductions. “Axel, this is Lilith—Captain of the Flower Poison Team.”

So far, every team leader Axel had met—Luke, Wesley, Vince—had been disciplined, composed men. But this?

Axel blinked. This woman is the captain of a Whisper Syndicate team?

“And this,” Luke continued, “is Axel, the Obsidian team’s latest recruit.”

Lilith’s eyes locked onto him instantly, her gaze sharp.

“So you’re Axel,” she purred, her voice like silk over a blade. She looked him over like a rare species on display.

Axel met her gaze with calm indifference, something that only intrigued her more.

“Oh? Captain Lilith’s heard of me?”

Instead of answering, she gracefully slid into the seat beside him, her lips curling with a fox-like smile. She leaned close, her perfume brushing past him like a whisper.

“Of course I have,” she said. “You’re practically famous. Tell me—who’s prettier? Me or your vice-captain Rosaline?”

Axel choked on nothing. A trap question if there ever was one.

He coughed, choosing diplomacy. “Both are beautiful in their own ways.”

Lilith’s smile widened like a cat who just found a new toy. She draped an arm around the back of his chair, her fingers nearly grazing his neck.

“No wonder Rosaline guards you like a national treasure,” she teased, laughing in a high, silvery tone that turned heads across the restaurant.

Axel could feel her charm aura pressing in again, almost like a drug. But he tightened his mental defenses, forcing himself to stay composed.

Then her breath tickled his ear. “Would you like to explore the human body with me tonight?”

Luke nearly dropped his drink.

Shit, he thought. The tension between Rosaline and Lilith was Syndicate legend. If Axel fell for it, things would get ugly fast.

Seeing Axel silent, Lilith smirked. “No fun,” she whispered, leaning back and settling into her seat like a queen on a throne.

Luke exhaled in relief. “Captain Lilith,” he said, trying to refocus, “anything else you want to say before we wrap?”

Lilith waved him off lazily. “Just this—don’t try to be a hero. If you spot the chromatic dragon, fall back and call for support. If anything happens to you,” she said, nodding at Axel, “Rosaline will come for my head.”

Axel raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll leave the planning to you, Luke.” Lilith gave him a playful wink, turned, and walked off.

Once she was gone, Luke visibly sagged with relief.

“Axel,” he said, “Don’t be fooled by her act—every guy who ever caught feelings for her ended up in pieces. Some metaphorically. Some literally.”

Axel nodded, then excused himself.

As soon as he left, Luke turned on Joseph. “You still wanna run your mouth? Axel handled that way better than you.”

Joseph grumbled. “Whatever. And maybe he just doesn’t like women.”

Luke gaped at him. “He’s eighteen. You’re twenty-five. What’s your excuse?”

Joseph started to protest—then hesitated. He turned toward Zara. “Anyway, he’s not better than me right now, right? Zara?”

Zara looked at him seriously and said with a faint smile, “You’re both strong, Joseph.”

He sighed and slumped in his chair. “Whatever..”

......

After leaving the restaurant, Axel’s phone rang. It was Rosaline.

“Lilith’s been assigned to the Dune mission. Did she give you a hard time?”

Rosaline and her teammates had already returned home. She’d mentioned they were planning to spend Christmas together—something warm, simple, and familiar.

Axel scratched his head. “Uh, no. She was... nice.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then Rosaline’s voice came back, laced with a tight sarcasm.

“Oh? Nice, huh? What exactly’s nice about her? Her long legs? Her huge tits? Or that ‘sultry schoolteacher’ voice?”

These two had a worse relationship than he’d thought. He suddenly wished the call would drop from bad reception.

Just then, he heard a familiar voice yelling from Rosaline’s side. “Who the hell has long legs and a pretty face?!”

Millers.

There was a rustle of movement, and then the phone must’ve been yanked away because Axel heard Millers’ voice loud and unfiltered. “Wait—Lilith?!”

BANG.

From the sound, the phone had either hit the wall or the floor.

Millers' voice came again, muffled but clear. “Bro, I’m serious—stay the hell away from her! That woman’s a goddamn succubus!”

The line went dead.

Axel stood there in the chilly dusk, blinking down at his phone. Then, sighing, he slipped it into his pocket and walked on through the familiar streets of Dune, boots crunching softly against the frost-tipped stone.

He opened his messaging app and scrolled to the class group chat. Only three days left till Christmas. The reunion was scheduled for the night before.

......

Christmas decorations had gone up around town, and at home, Annabelle had gone all out. Ribbons, fake snow, ornaments, a tree—even hand-tied bows on the stair railing. The whole house felt warm, like something out of a cozy memory.

Axel stood in the hallway, watching her work. A soft smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

But then his eyes drifted toward the hidden compartment under the stairs—the one where he kept his father’s old belongings.

His smile faltered. Ronan…

As an official member of the Whisper Syndicate, Axel now had the clearance to access citizen records. If he wanted, he could dig into his father’s disappearance. There might be something—

But he hadn’t checked. Not once.

Not because he forgot. But because… he had no time and part of him was scared. Scared of what he might find.

After this Christmas break, he’d ask Luke how to file a data request.

......

The following days passed quietly. Axel didn’t leave the house. He buried himself in training—revisiting the Syndicate’s tactical archives, refining every move.

When he finally mastered the last of the basic combat techniques, something clicked.

Out in the courtyard, his body moved on its own. One moment he was nimble like a monkey, darting between potted shrubs. The next, he exploded with force, sending a blast of air rippling through the snow.

Punches. Kicks. Evasive steps. He flowed from stance to stance like water.

“So that’s what it is…”

He exhaled, and a white arrow of mist shot from his lips.

“All the fighting styles—they’re meant to merge. It’s one complete system.”

Now that everything was integrated, every blow Axel threw felt alive—sharper, faster, with lethal clarity. Combined with the burning enhancement from his fire spirit, the result was deadly.

......

Around 5 PM, with Dune cloaked in early winter dusk, Axel finally stepped outside.

He checked his messages. Luke had sent an update. Yesterday, their teams had tracked the Level 5 chromatic dragon again and engaged it.

It slipped away again. But it was injured—and still hiding somewhere inside the city.

Well, at least they were managing. If Luke and Lilith could hold their own against it, they didn’t need him yet.

The venue for tonight’s party was the Seraphim Supper Club.

After Wolfe’s death, his entire business empire had collapsed. It didn’t take long for Seraphim—a sleek restaurant chain out of Langford—to swoop in and take over his old prime property in Dune. Now, the second floor of the restaurant had been cleared out for the reunion.