White.
Everywhere, just endless, eye-searing white. No floor, no ceiling, no gravity. Kai floated naked in the middle of it like the universe's worst newborn.
In front of him hovered the single most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, and that included the time he accidentally opened 47 tabs of premium elf cosplay.
Silver hair down to her ass, skin glowing like she swallowed a sunrise, curves that should be illegal in at least twelve dimensions. A thin, almost see-through white dress clung to her body the way every religious cult wishes its followers clung to doctrine.
"Welcome, chosen soul," she announced, voice like cathedral bells having phone sex. "I am Astrael, Goddess of Light and Purity. You have been selected to–"
"Yeah, yeah, hero speech, save the world, blah blah." Kai waved a lazy hand. "Seen the anime. Where's the blue screen and the overpowered sword?"
Astrael blinked, golden eyes narrowing. "This is no jest, mortal. The Demon Lord threatens all life. I have prepared for you a perfect vessel, brimming with heroic potential–"
"Pass."
The single word hung in the air like a fart in church.
Astrael actually tilted her head, as if her divine ears had short-circuited. "Pass?"
"Hard pass. Super-duper pass. The kind of pass that comes with a side of fries." Kai scratched his bare chest. "I didn't sign up for overtime, lady. I just died of ball trauma. I'm on cosmic sick leave."
Her face cycled through emotions no goddess should ever have: confusion → outrage → mild panic → outrage again.
"How dare you!" Her voice cracked like thunder. "Mortals beg for centuries for this honor! You will kneel and accept your destiny or I shall cast your soul into the void!"
Kai yawned. "Cool story. Still not interested."
He floated closer, shamelessly checking her out. The dress really was criminal. He could see the outline of everything and the shadow of nothing at the same time. Evil technology.
"Look," he said, voice dropping into that lazy, reasonable tone guys use right before they say something unforgivable, "you went through all the trouble of giving me this new body, right? Muscular, handsome, probably hung like a fantasy protagonist?"
Astrael's cheeks tinted the faintest pink. "It is... optimized, yes."
"Optimized dick, huh?" Kai grinned. "Tell you what. You want me to save the world that bad? Let me take the goddess for a test drive right here, right now. One divine quickie and I'll consider your little quest."
The silence was so complete it achieved spiritual enlightenment.
Astrael's mouth opened, closed, opened again. Her face went from porcelain to cherry in 0.2 seconds.
"You... you degenerate worm! You dare proposition a goddess? I am purity incarnate! Three millennia without a single impure thought!"
"First time for everything." Kai shrugged. "Come on, one ride. You can smite me after if it sucks."
"I will smite you now!"
"Go ahead. Send me to super hell. At least there I won't have to fight a demon lord." He spread his arms, floating closer. "Or... you could admit you're curious. Just a little. I mean, you built this body yourself. Don't you want to know if the hardware works?"
Astrael tried to step back, remembered there was no floor, and just kind of drifted. Her thighs pressed together on pure instinct.
"Silence! I feel nothing! Your mortal filth cannot–"
Kai lunged.
No gravity meant no resistance. One second he was three meters away, the next his hands were on her waist and her back hit... something solid the realm conjured just to give him leverage. Divine customer service.
"Let go of me this instant!" she hissed, but her voice cracked halfway through.
Kai leaned in until their noses almost touched. "Tell me to stop and mean it. One word. I'll back off and you can yeet me into oblivion. Go on."
Her lips parted. No sound came out.
He could feel the heat radiating off her skin now, smell something sweet and electric, like ozone and honey. Her nipples were trying to cut diamonds through the dress.
"See?" he murmured, thumb tracing the curve of her hip. "You're already wet, aren't you?"
"I am not!" she squeaked, voice climbing two octaves.
Kai slid one hand lower, slow enough that she could stop him at any moment. She didn't. His palm cupped her ass, pulled her flush against him. The thin fabric might as well have been air.
"Holy Shit, goddess," he breathed, feeling the damp heat through the cloth. "You're soaked. Three thousand years and one dirty offer turned you into a faucet."
Astrael made a sound halfway between a whimper and a prayer. Her hands clutched his shoulders, not pushing, not pulling, just holding on like she'd float away if she let go.
"K-Kai..." she whispered, the name slipping out like a sin.
He grinned against her throat. "That's it. Say my name while I find out exactly how pure a goddess can stay when a mortal's fingers are–"
Her hips jerked forward all on their own, grinding against the very obvious problem pressing into her stomach.
To be continued...