Opening his eyes, the sight that greeted Raven left him momentarily in shock. The sky was a magenta pink, mixed with streaks of gold and violet. Scattered across it were stars, and occasionally, an asteroid with golden flames would streak past. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Unconsciously, he sniffed the air. As it flowed into him, his body was filled with vitality and strength. Looking down, Raven saw that he was standing on clear, silvery-blue water. The texture of the water was the strangest thing—so soft he could feel himself sinking into it, yet solid enough to walk on. The sensation of the water caressing his feet was indescribable, like sitting in a hot, steaming bath while being massaged by a vibrating chair at the same time.
"Damn, I did not expect this place to look like this."
Raven looked around, amazement clear on his face. Suddenly, his gaze froze in a singular direction. Amazement was replaced by rage as his eyes locked onto the reason he was here in the first place.
In the middle of a waterfall stood an ethereal sight—a woman. Her golden hair flowed gently in the wind. Her skin was the color of snow, smooth and clear like marble, without a single blemish. Her figure was full and succulent, a toned yet feminine body. Large, ample breasts led down to thick, creamy-white thighs. Covering all of this was a simple black kimono embroidered with dragons.
Aria's closed eyes fluttered open, her icy blue gaze falling upon him.
"I have a plan to figure out where we—"
Aria was interrupted by a fist barreling toward her face.
Despite the impending danger, her expression remained calm. With impressive speed, she raised her hand, gently touching Raven's fist with her palm. A slight tilt of her wrist redirected his strike, making it flow harmlessly past her face.
"I understand your anger, however—"
Raven bombarded Aria with punch after punch, but she merely sidestepped each one, her hair flowing gently in the wind. In a swift motion, she caught him, folding his arm behind his back.
"Are you done?" she asked, her voice composed, as if she weren't the one who had just been attacked.
---
Aria suddenly released Raven before jumping several steps back. All around him, the water rippled as his body became enveloped in a crimson aura, his hair floating in the air. Her face remained in its usual cold expression, but deep within those icy deeps, a flicker of excitement surfaced.
The water around Raven shook, splashed, and distorted—each disturbance a result of the crimson aura radiating from him. Raising his palm toward Aria, the energy coalesced into a giant ball that shot forward.
Moving quickly, Aria leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the sphere of energy heading toward her. But she wasn't out of danger yet. Just as she dodged the first attack, Raven fired a second sphere of energy, just as large and fast approaching.
Right before the attack made contact with her body, Aria was coated in golden energy. With lightning speed, she kicked off the air, propelling herself toward the ground.
But once again, Raven had predicted her movement.
Just as she was about to make contact with the floor, he was already there—fist flying toward her face.
Unconsciously, a small smirk spread across Aria's face. Swiftly, she grabbed his incoming fist, using it as leverage to twist her body before delivering a flying kick to his face.
Raven felt himself launched back several meters before crashing into the soft texture of the water. His body was about to spring up to continue fighting—but something stopped him in his tracks.
He could feel the coldness of metal pressing against his neck.
Looking down, he saw Aria's smooth white hand holding a dagger dangerously close to his throat.
"You have potential, but you're far too inexperienced," her smooth voice rang out.
Despite the danger to his life, Raven, fueled by righteous anger, was about to attack her regardless—until the sting of pain woke him from his trance. Instinctively reaching for his throat, he felt hot crimson blood running down his palm. But strangely, his wound seemed to be healing at an impressive rate, and as quickly as the pain appeared, it was gone.
Realizing Raven was now out of his trance, Aria pulled back the dagger, retiring it into her robe.
"Good, you're awake. Now that I have your attention, let me remind you—we are in a strange forest where we have no knowledge of the predators around us. We don't even know if the settlements or civilizations outside this forest are hostile or not. So, like it or not, we're going to have to work together until you're safe.
Because, as you've realized—we now share a body.
So, the logical conclusion is: if you get hurt, I get hurt. Or worse—if you die, I die.
So... let's get you out of danger first.
And then you can continue your pathetic attempts at trying to kill me."
"Oh, so you're back in... your ice princess persona, huh?" Raven retorted, a smirk on his face. "I gotta hand it to you—you're good at pretending. If I didn't experience this firsthand, I wouldn't think such a beautiful and calm woman would be capable of turning into a psychotic bitch who gets off on eating people."
Raven shrugged. "All right, bitch. We'll work together. For now." His eyes gleamed. "But don't think the moment we're out of danger, I won't rip your heart out and feed it to you."
"You're welcome to try."
---