Piper's hands were already wet with power when they hit the safe house floor. She dropped to her knees beside Lika, pressed her palm to the girl's cheek, and pulled water out of the air like she owned the sky. It wrapped Lika's face in a cool sheet, then poured down to her chest and ribs, humming with that ocean-blue thrum only Piper could make. Mortis paced in tight little circles, muttering curses at the ceiling.
"Stay with me, dummy," Piper whispered, and the water flared brighter. "I said you are fine."
A few minutes of focused breathing and the glow dimmed. Lika's lashes twitched. She blinked, squinted, and groaned. "Uh… Piper? What happened to me?"
Piper didn't even answer with words. She hauled Lika up, hugged her so hard the water halo broke into glitter, then kissed her full on the mouth. "Oh my sweet, ridiculous soft brain, you're okay." She peppered kisses all over Lika's lips and cheeks like she owned them. "Mwah. Mwah. Mwah."
Lika blushed, dizzy and pink. "We need to go help them, right?"
Piper's face went cold in one breath. "No. As much as I love Kuina, she knows exactly what she is doing. We wait for her at the safe house like she wanted."
Lika stood slowly, shaky but stubborn. "I am not ready to just sit. My heart says we have to help her."
Mortis cut in, bored and mean. "I am over this whole saga. Let's nap. Kuina lost her damn mind."
Piper flicked him in the forehead so hard it snapped his skull back. "Shut up, idiot. Do not talk about my goddess that way. And Lika, I won't stop you, but I am not dragging you into a blender. Me and Mortis are going. Now." She hopped onto Mortis's back like he was a ride-share with legs. "You coming?"
Lika looked at them, jaw tight. "Sorry, Piper." Her voice dropped to a soft spell. "WILD HIPNOTIC SOLAR."
Her eyes went sun-bright, two coins of gold. Power slid through the room like warm honey. Piper's pupils blew wide. Mortis straightened like a puppet on a fresh string.
"You two are coming with me to help Kuina," Lika said, calm and iron. "No more side talk. Move."
"Yes," they answered in unison. She didn't even smile. They launched together, three streaks of light carving a return path through the scorched air.
Far across the broken city, Clara reached the temple. She passed beneath its cracked archway like a knife through silk, carried Mira's body with both arms, and laid her down on the white stone dais in the center. The girl looked small and fierce at the same time, red curls tangled, skin pale. Clara closed her eyes, lifted her hand, and breathed once. The temple listened. It always had.
"You are full of love and compassion," Clara said, voice steady and bright. "This will be easy."
She pressed her palm to Mira's chest and pushed. A clean yellow light erupted under her hand, not gentle at all, not today. It flooded Mira's body in a wave. Her red outfit shredded like paper under a storm. The light wanted skin, wanted truth, wanted a path with no cloth in the way. It took it. The temple walls flashed with sacred sigils, and Clara didn't flinch. She just held steady, poured power until the air tasted like citrus and heat.
The blast slammed outward like a bell. Then silence. Mira's eyes flew open.
Clara's lips parted. She laughed and cried in the same sound. "I did it. You are alive." She bent down and hugged Mira carefully, like holding fire in bare hands. Mira was weak, but her arms found Clara's shoulders and clung. She leaned to Clara's ear and whispered, shredded and tender. "Thank you. Clara, I owe you forever."
Clara wept like it cost nothing. "I am so happy, Mira. We barely know each other, but I already feel like you are close to me."
Mira coughed, smiled crooked. "That is flattering, Clara. Where are we?"
"In my temple," Clara said. "This is where I live and rule. Do you know what our tradition is here?"
Mira blinked. "What?"
"We make love," Clara said, eyes soft and fearless. "A lot of love. When someone returns to life, we celebrate with whoever they feel close to. I want to make you feel like a queen. Only if you are ready to let me try."
Mira stared, blush rising under the yellow glow. "I literally just woke up. I am flattered, really, but I need a breath."
Clara touched Mira's cheek with her fingertips, slow and warm. "We are both already bare. It is a sign. Are you sure the breath you want is not this one?" Her voice teased, but the care in her eyes didn't move.
Mira looked down at herself and squeaked. "I am naked? Why? What the hell?"
"I did not undress you on purpose," Clara said, honest and light. "The heal burns clothes so it can flood the body clean and make the blessing stick. If we do not seal the gift, it will fade. That is how this magic works."
"You are making that up," Mira said, redder. "There is no way."
"We can wait thirty minutes and watch the blessing drain away," Clara said, playful. "Or we can seal it properly."
Mira opened her mouth to argue, then Clara leaned in and kissed her. It was soft at first, warm and tasting like light. Mira made a tiny sound, and it landed in Clara's hands like a secret. The kiss deepened, turned wet and slow, breaths mixing. Clara pulled back, breathless and smiling. "Your hair," she said. "Those red curls. You are so beautiful. Strong. I want you to feel me. Feel my chest. Feel my heart."
She took Mira's hand and pressed it to herself, over the steady drum. "You feel that?"
"Your heart is on the other side," Mira murmured, smirking through the heat.
Clara giggled quiet, then lifted Mira's hand to her lips and licked a lazy stripe along her fingers, eyes locked on hers. "Miaow," she whispered.
Mira made a face that said cringe and want at the same time. "Clara, what was that. Why did you meow like a cat."
"Because I am your cat now," Clara said, and kissed her harder. She pushed Mira down gently, climbed over her with careful weight, and their bodies met in a line of heat. Mira's breath hitched. Clara raised her, and they kissed standing, hips brushing, hands hungry in clean ways. Mira pulled back for a second, panting. "How long are we supposed to, you know."
"Four hours minimum," Clara said, smiling wicked and sweet. "If it is not full heart, the heal will not hold. Understand me, baby."
Mira flushed deeper. She swallowed. "Okay. For that." She slid her hands down Clara's back, gripped her, lifted her. Their mouths crashed again, eager and claiming. The temple hummed around them like it approved.
Back on the battlefield, the air tasted like metal and thunder. Kuina stood with blood on her lips and fury in her eyes. Kylie hovered beside her in full gold, pupils shining. Molly pushed herself up on one knee, breathing hard, ribs wrong under her shirt.
"Kuina, please, do not scare me like that," Kylie said, voice shaking but held tight.
The sky snapped with a sound like a cracked bone. The System cut in, cold and clinical, zero emotion.
Mira, Queen of Fire, has returned to life. Previous mission with Michael completed. Reward granted: FLAMEHEART. Sex reward with Mira recognized. Levels +500. Current level: 20,500. Due to uncontrolled surge, temporary level set to 100,000. Current mission: kill Naamo officially. Reward: Form of the Gods and access to the Gods' Realm to meet a mysterious woman.
Kuina exhaled like she had been underwater and hit air. Something loosened behind her eyes. Color crept back into her stare, not much, just enough for a single heartbeat.
Kylie caught it and smiled. "Mira," she whispered. "Of course. Our fire queen."
Molly cracked a grin through the pain. "Good."
A white-brown missile of light tore the air. Naamo came in from above like a judge. "You are open, redhead."
Kuina snapped into focus and moved. She tried to roll out, but the blast still clipped her shoulder and spun her sideways in a spray of sparks. Kylie slammed a gold shield into place, a thick honey dome that rang like a bell when the next volley hit it.
"Use it," Kylie shouted. "You got a ridiculous gift, use it."
"Not on my watch," Naamo snarled. He blinked, vanished, and reappeared behind Kuina. She smiled like she had been waiting. His fist went through her back with a sound like paper. She exploded into smoke and light.
The real Kuina stood behind him. "Hi."
Her hand drove through his chest, fingers flaring with black and pink and the first hint of ember gold. They both froze, shocked on contact. Blood hit the air in two perfect ribbons. Naamo grinned with hate and snapped a heel up into her gut. Kuina's eyes went white for a fraction. She yanked her hand free. He caught her wrist mid pull, muscles locked and divine.
"Time for my favorite," he hissed. "Holy Venom. Even the strongest god chokes on this."
Power gathered in his palm, a sick silvery white. Molly pushed off the ground and launched at him like a bullet. He saw her coming, palmed her face, and slammed her sideways into the dirt. Her body bounced, then stayed down.
High above, three lights cut the haze. Lika, Piper, and Mortis dropped like meteors. Lika's eyes flared. "Sleep."
Naamo stuttered, mid-venom, like somebody put a hand on his throat. The hold was not perfect. He was fully awake, fully blazing. "Screw you," he snarled, but his grip loosened. Kuina tore her wrist free and skidded back, eyes on Kylie.
"Kylie, distract him," she shouted, voice sharp and electric. "I am using Flameheart. Lika, good job."
Kylie exploded forward, hands up, gold streaming off her like ribbons. She threw a curtain of kisses, fast and playful. "Golden Seductive Kiss." The pulses hit Naamo's face and chest, not damage, just pressure and heat, like two dozen soft slaps in a row. It messed his timing, knocked his swagger sideways.
For a heartbeat Naamo could not move. Then he screamed. "No." The word cracked stone. He tore through the hypnosis like a bear through paper and landed hard. He drove his fist into the ground, and the world answered.
The city groaned. The battlefield split like it had been zippered from beneath. Lines opened and spat lava the color of bad fruit. Heat punched upward in a dragon's breath. Stone towers collapsed in sheets. Kuina stared at the rip spreading under her boots, then looked up, furious and a little scared. "Damn. Damn. Everything is going."
Naamo laughed with a sound that did not belong to men. "This is the warm up, idiots. Come on, get mad at me. Do it."
Somewhere under a calmer sky, Clara and Mira were already past talking. Clara had Mira pinned against a column with her hands above her head, kissing like the world was a secret in their mouths. Mira gripped Clara's hips and pulled her in, thigh to thigh, chest to chest. The temple light slid over them like sun on water. Clara trailed kisses down Mira's throat, slow, reverent, hungry. Mira gasped and arched. Clara smiled against her skin, whispered praise, lifted Mira and carried her to the garden strip with soft grass and glowing flowers. They did not rush. They took turns being careful and then not careful at all, finding a rhythm that felt like prayer and trouble. Fingers learned curves and sighs. Breath broke and returned. Mira laughed into Clara's mouth once, surprised by her own body waking with such joy after dying. Clara laughed too, cried a little, kissed tears away like they were sweet. The tremor rolled underfoot, a deep warning. Mira tensed. "Something happened. Damn it."
Clara lifted her hand without looking away from Mira's eyes. The temple hummed. A clean yellow shield rippled out, wrapped the walls, sank into the floor. Air stilled. Heat thinned. "We will not hear any thunder in here," she said, voice soft and absolute. "I set a barrier to keep the temple safe. We will continue."
Mira exhaled hard, then smiled like a sinner shown mercy. "Then show me," she said, and Clara did, for a long time, with patience and heat, making the celebration feel like the exact spell it was meant to be. When they finally collapsed into each other, glowing and breathless, the magic on Mira's skin had settled like a second heart. Clara stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. The bond was sealed. The heal sang steady under Mira's ribs.
Back in the ruin, Kuina spread her fingers and reached inward. The System line about Flameheart was not a suggestion. It was a door. She kicked it open.
Flameheart, she thought. Mine.
Heat lit behind her sternum, then burst outward. Her black and pink aura thickened with veins of bright gold, ember sparks at the edges like a fire that learned to behave until it didn't. The ground around her steamed. Her hair lifted like it had something to say. She looked up at Naamo and smiled with no warmth.
Kylie slid to her side, gold shield jittering under the shaking earth. "He is trying to bring the whole field down. You got this?"
Kuina's voice was low. "I always had this. I just needed a reason."
Naamo launched another wave, three white torpedoes that screamed through the air. Kuina flexed her fingers. The first hit an invisible line and shattered. The second curved away like it remembered its mother. The third reached for her face. She swatted it and it died.
Mortis finally did something that was not complaining. He planted his feet and fired a straight, thin beam that cut through a falling tower and kept it from crushing Kylie. Piper stepped in front of Kuina and threw a wide arc of blue. Water hit lava and turned to hissing white steam. The field became a foggy hell, vision down to silhouettes and glows.
"Do not breathe that," Piper snapped, and wrapped herself and Kuina in a shell of clean damp air.
Naamo flashed to Kuina again, elbow cocked for her spine like last time. He was fast. She was faster. She let him hit another illusion. He caught on half an inch too late. The real Kuina slid under his guard and tapped his ribs with two fingers. Flameheart slid with the touch like paint on glass. He roared and swung. She took the hit on her forearm, rolled, and came up with a black-pink-gold halo filling the space behind her. The ground trembled again, angrier.
Lika floated above the fog, eyes bright. "Sleep," she tried again, softer, like singing. It did not lock him this time, but it made his next spell sloppy, lines crooked where he was usually perfect.
Kylie sprinted through the steam and kissed Kuina's cheek fast. "That was for luck," she said, gagging a laugh. "And for being stupid hot when you are furious."
"Focus," Kuina said, but her mouth twitched.
Naamo planted his feet, palms out. "Enough. All of you die. Not just the redhead." He slammed his fists together and drove them into the ground. The quake that answered wasn't a tremor anymore. It was a decision. Cracks ran like black lightning, opened into hungry mouths filled with molten orange. The battlefield became islands. One swallow and you were gone.
Kylie cursed. "This is bad."
Piper held the air shell and glared. "Understatement of the century."
Mortis stared at the lava and scratched the back of his head. "New plan. I vote flight."
Kuina did not move. The Flameheart inside her was still climbing, a pressure that felt like it wanted out through her eyes and hands. She thought of Mira breathing, of Kylie's kiss, of Lika's stubborn little heart, of Clara's clean light. She thought of Naamo standing over a dead world, and her hands stopped shaking.
"Kylie," she said. "Light him up. I am going through."
Kylie nodded and blew another barrage of golden kisses, faster, brighter, a chain of spark-pop smacks that made Naamo throw an arm up like it actually hurt. Piper threw a column of water across a lava seam, and Lika laced a hypnosis thread along it so the steam bent around Kuina instead of blinding her. Mortis tossed another razor-thin beam at a falling slab and turned it into pebbles.
Kuina ran. The ground fell behind her with every step. She did not look back. Flameheart roared inside her chest, spread through her arms, bled into her fingers until her hands looked like twin suns wrapped in night.
Naamo saw her coming and grinned like a devil. "Come on then."
They hit each other in the center of the last unbroken circle of stone. The impact blew the steam away in a ring. For one second the world was clear. Kuina's fist grazed his jaw. His knuckles cracked against her shoulder. Blood flew again, red and shining in the firelight. She grabbed his wrist with one hand, his throat with the other, and the Flameheart tried to climb into him. He choked, eyes wide, then smiled with too many teeth.
"You think that saves you," he hissed. "Watch me erase your witnesses."
He snapped his free hand downward. The last circle trembled. The lava rose like a tide.
Somewhere inside the temple, Clara and Mira felt a ghost of that shake through the barrier. Clara lifted her head for a second, listening to the quiet that used to be noise. Mira cupped her face and pulled her back down. "I am here," Mira said, voice full and certain now. "Seal it. Seal me."
Clara smiled against her lips. "Sealed, my fire," she said, and the magic answered her like a vow.
Outside, Naamo laughed at the screaming earth. "This is only the beginning," he said, and the sound carried over the broken city like a promise and a dare.
To be continued.