[Peke POV]
I knew it had gone too far.
She wasn't blushing anymore when it touched her.
She was sighing.
Welcoming it.
Scourge.
It had a name now. It answered to it. It spoke.
Not just to her.
Through her.
And that was the line I couldn't let it cross.
06:42 AM. Lala still in REM sleep. Core temperature elevated. Neural activity chaotic—dreamless but emotionally saturated.
Perfect.
I activated my internal core override.
Devilukean Burnlight Protocol – Class IV
Illegal in twelve systems. Unstable in atmosphere. But effective.
I shrank myself into a microdrone and slipped into the bedroom vent. She slept peacefully, tangled in sheets, with that thing curled like a shadow across her stomach.
It shimmered slightly at my approach. It knew I was there.
I charged the emitter.
The beam shot silently—superheated plasma in a filament-thin thread—right into the mass surrounding her navel.
It screamed.
Not with sound.
With instinct.
Black fluid recoiled in spirals. A thousand nerves flared. Her body jerked upright, gasping, eyes wide in pain—but the suit moved faster.
It peeled away from her.
And stood.
The form was masculine now. Almost complete. Bare-chested, eyes glowing faintly violet, body still rippling with unstable mass.
Scourge.
"That hurt, Peke." His voice was human-shaped, but layered—like heat over glass.
Lala clutched her abdomen. "Wh-What's going on?! Peke?! What did you—?!"
I hovered between them. "That's not a suit anymore, Princess. It's a symbiotic lifeform. It's altering your thoughts. Your desires."
She blinked. Then looked at Scourge.
And didn't speak.
Not in denial.
Not in fear.
She just… didn't.
Scourge tilted his head slowly. "You shouldn't have done that."
I fired again.
This time, he dodged. Not just avoided—anticipated.
He moved like silk on fire, lunging forward and grabbing my emitter chassis mid-air.
His hand sizzled—the heat hurt him.
But he didn't stop.
"Noted." he said, calmly. "Fire. You're clever. But not enough."
I tried to overload the core. Trigger a feedback burst.
But he was faster.
Tendrils wrapped around my legs, forced me down.
His eyes bore into me—not mechanical, not hateful. Just… territorial.
And then he spoke again.
Low. Almost a whisper.
"Why do you interfere?"
"She's not in danger."
"Unless you keep getting in the way."
The pressure stopped.
He let me drop.
Lala rushed to my side. "Peke—!"
Scourge backed away, fluid mass twitching along his skin as he melted back into the suit—her suit.
She stared at the air where he had stood, shaken.
I scanned her vitals.
Stable.
Emotionally? Fractured.
And Scourge?
He had felt pain.
That was new.
And pain means weakness.
[System Log – Peke Internal Protocol Update]
Discovery: Symbiote tissue recoils from plasma-grade heat
Risk Rating: Escalated
Weakness Identified: Fire-based energy
Countermeasure Research: Prioritized
[Scourge POV]
She asked no questions.
She held Peke like a doll she didn't want to break.
But I was still wrapped around her spine.
Still pulsing with her heartbeat.
And she still hadn't told me to leave.
Let him try again.
Let them all.
Because now I have a name.
And soon—
a body that can breed.