Chapter 18: Skin To Skin

Lumi breathed heavily as she stared at Evan from a few metres away.

"Here... come... I am your Fated Guide... Don’t hurt others!"

The moment she finished speaking, Evan suddenly appeared in front of her again.

Lumi’s heart nearly stopped for what felt like the hundredth time.

She parted her lips, trying to force the words out.

"I... I..." She closed her eyes, desperately trying to calm herself.

When she slowly opened them again, the grand hall was gone.

"Huh?" Lumi froze.

Darkness stretched endlessly in every direction, with no walls, no floor, and no ceiling that she could see.

A flash of blue-white lightning suddenly tore across the darkness.

BOOM!

Lumi flinched violently and covered her ears.

"Aah!"

Another streak of lightning flashed somewhere in the distance, briefly illuminating the strange space around her before everything fell dark again.

Lumi looked around in panic.

There were no screaming guests, no Sentinels, and no Guides—Nothing. Just darkness and the terrifying sound of electricity crackling somewhere around her.

’Where am I?’ She slowly turned around, her breathing becoming faster again. ’What the hell happened?’

She took a cautious step backward. Then she felt it. A terrifying pressure surrounded her from every direction, yet somehow, it felt strangely familiar.

Lumi swallowed nervously. "Excuse me? Hello? Is there anyone here?"

Her voice echoed through the darkness, but no one answered. She slowly turned around, trying to find a way back to the grand hall.

’I want to go back...’

Another flash of lightning suddenly tore through the darkness.

Lumi flinched and took several steps backward.

"What the hell is this place...?" Her voice trembled as she looked around again. "Don’t tell me... did my wish come true? Another hell?"

She swallowed nervously, her eyes darting around the endless darkness.

’I just wanted to get away from my family... not end up in another hell!’

Before Lumi could figure out where she was or why she had suddenly ended up in this strange place, she heard the faint sound of footsteps coming from somewhere behind her.

Her entire body stiffened.

She slowly turned around, her heart beginning to pound as the sound grew closer, and when another flash of blue-white lightning illuminated the darkness, the figure standing several metres away finally became visible.

Lumi’s eyes widened.

It was him.

Even in this strange place, there was no mistaking that tall figure, the familiar brownish hair, the sharp features, and those distinctive eyes that had terrified her twice already.

"Evan..."

He didn’t answer.

He simply stood there, surrounded by faint sparks of electricity that crawled across his body before disappearing into the darkness around him, while his gaze remained fixed on her as though he had been searching for her all this time.

Lumi instinctively took a few steps backward.

Evan started walking toward her.

She immediately took another step back, watching him warily as the distance between them slowly disappeared.

"Wait..." Her voice came out much weaker than she intended, and she swallowed before trying again. "Don’t come any closer..."

’Why is he following me again?! Ahhh... How do I get out of here?!’

Evan continued approaching without saying a word, but there was something different about him this time. He wasn’t rushing toward her with the same terrifying violence from the hall, nor was there the murderous expression she had seen when he had thrown those Sentinels around as if they weighed nothing.

Instead, his expression was strangely calm.

Lumi’s nervous gaze moved over him, trying to understand what was happening, until Evan finally stopped in front of her and slowly raised one hand.

She immediately raised both of her hands defensively.

"Don’t!" Her voice echoed through the endless darkness.

Evan’s hand stopped halfway. His gaze fell to her trembling hands before slowly returning to her face, and for some reason, that made Lumi even more nervous.

’Please don’t choke me again... I really don’t have another neck to replace this one.’

She swallowed hard and instinctively reached toward her own neck, remembering the bruises hidden beneath her collar.

’My neck is already suffering because of you, you know?!’

For several seconds, Evan didn’t move.

Then Lumi noticed something strange. The violent sparks surrounding Evan had begun to weaken.

The lightning that had been tearing through the darkness only moments ago was becoming quieter, and the oppressive feeling that had filled the strange space seemed to be slowly fading with it.

Lumi stared at him in confusion. ’Wait...’

She looked at Evan again, wondering if she was imagining it. The violent sparks surrounding him had clearly weakened, and even the oppressive feeling that had been suffocating her moments ago seemed to have eased considerably.

’Did I... calm him down?’ Lumi blinked several times. ’Is it really this easy?’

Her relief lasted only a moment.

When a woman’s voice suddenly echoed through the darkness.

"Evan... listen to me..."

Lumi froze. She looked around, but there was no one there. It was still pitch black.

"Evan, control your power."

The moment the voice reached him, the faint sparks around Evan’s body erupted violently, and the entire mental space trembled beneath the force of his Sentinel energy.

Lumi’s eyes widened.

’What?! Who is that?!’

Another flash of lightning revealed a fleeting image of a young boy standing in front of a woman.

"Don’t surpass your brother, Evan."

The image disappeared almost immediately, but the voice remained.

"I can do it."

The young voice echoed through the darkness.

"I can become stronger. I can take you out of here."

Lumi stared in confusion, barely able to process what she was hearing.

’His mother...?’

Before she could think any further, Evan suddenly appeared in front of her. His hand closed around her neck.

"Ghk!"

Lumi’s feet lifted from the ground as she desperately grabbed his wrist, panic flooding her mind.

She struggled for breath while Evan stared at her with those terrifying eyes, completely consumed by his Rampage.

Then his mother’s voice echoed once more, but this time, Lumi could finally see the woman. Not just her, but the entire hall had returned around them.

"Evan! Stop!"

His grip tightened the moment she called for him again, and Lumi’s vision began to blur.

At what she was certain might be her final moment, Lumi’s mind should have been filled with regrets about her family, the life she had never been allowed to choose, or perhaps even a desperate wish to survive.

Instead, the most ridiculous memory surfaced.

The video.

The streamer Guide she had watched after discovering that she was apparently the Fated Guide of an SSS-rank Sentinel.

"Now, if you’re dealing with a Sentinel in Rampage, the most efficient way to soothe them is skin-to-skin contact."

The woman on the screen had leaned closer to the camera with a mischievous smile.

"And when I say skin-to-skin... I mean the kind where the closer you get, the better the result."

She had paused dramatically before giving the camera a playful wink.

"The warmer, the closer, the wetter..." She dragged out the last word with a teasing grin before laughing, "the better."

’Why did I think of that video?!’

Her face burned despite the lack of oxygen.

’But—but... she was talking about kissing, right?! She was definitely talking about kissing!’

Lumi stared at Evan’s face.

’Right?’