The Solution

"Pronos! Calm down!" Nyx shouted to get the Hydra's attention and rushed to stand between him and Flegra. Almost instantly, his focus was entirely redirected toward her. His gaze carried with it an overbearing force that sought to petrify everything for eternity.

She resisted with a harmless stance and approached with a soothing pace. She placed her hand on the neck of one of his heads and whispered, "It's okay. She is not the one who did this to him; she is helping us. She saved him, but he's not out of trouble yet. Do you understand?"

The Nine-Headed Serpent slowly pulled back his heads and with a growl, the shaking stopped and the marks of infinity faded away from his eyes. Immediately after, he popped back to his smaller form and climbed over Rakna again with an audible whimper.

Shin-Woo sighed in relief and Flegra eyed the Hydra for a moment, "This is his Soul Beast?"

Nyx glanced at her. "Yes. Why?"

"I assume he is contracted," the old woman followed up. "Otherwise, the state of his master's soul would have killed him already by this point. That, or by some chance, may have cut them off."

"Do you think a Resonance between them might help Rakna?" Nyx suggested after she thought of the option, but Flegra shook her head.

"It would worsen the situation if anything. The obsidian might even spread to his Soul Beast and then we will have double the trouble."

"Um… sorry to interrupt you but…" Shin-Woo raised his voice and pointed at Pronos. "What is he doing?" He asked and the two women looked at the Hydra to see him forming a link of soul power with the unconscious therian.

Flegra quickly approached to see what was going on, and through her own Soul Sight, she verified what the Nine-Headed Serpent was doing. "He's… retrieving something?" She muttered. "There is something gravitating at the top of the young wolf's soul storage. Since it can still be accessed, he most likely tried to bring it out before he passed out, but failed."

Right after she finished saying that, a stone tablet with various engravings coalesced above Pronos out of purple flames. Nyx didn't recognize it, but Shin-Woo and Flegra immediately knew what it was.

"It's a Call Plaque," the regressor remarked. "When broken, it summons the person that it is bound to. It's a Red Item and a sort of emergency measure used by high-level Hosts."

Nyx's eyes widened. "Then, that one is probably bound to—" In the middle of her sentence, Pronos bit the plague and shattered it from the top. Immediately, a strong wind blew inside the house and a storm of azure flames formed a miniature tornado. It gradually shrunk into a human figure with nine tails and fox ears.

"Wolfy, I did say you could use it whenever, but in the middle of a Raid is a bit…" A playful voice echoed from within and the flames scattered to reveal Kaelith, her hair tied in a ponytail and clad in slightly less casual clothing than usual.

The vixen scowled when the first thing she saw was Nyx looking at her with a mix of apprehension and sadness. She then glanced at Shin-Woo and noticed Flegra. "You… old hag…" She muttered in surprise and looked around. "What is this place? Where is wolfy…?!"

Kaelith's expression fell terribly. All traces of composure were gone in an instant when she took in the sight of Rakna, motionless with Pronos whimpering miserably in her direction.

"No… no, no, no…" She rushed to his bedside and tripped to her knees. "Please… you can't… Don't do this to me…" Her voice came out unsteady and already out of breath.

She clenched her chest as if it was hurting her, tears already forming in her eyes. She supported herself against the mattress and her tails started releasing black smoke that didn't look anything like the beautiful flames she normally used.

"You promised…" Her broken voice echoed, but before she could devolve into further emotional turmoil, Nyx swiftly crouched next to her and hugged her gently.

"Shh, it's all right. You are a Kumiho; you can't lose control. If you convince yourself of it, you will be gone before Rakna can recover," she whispered in her ears softly. It seemed to work as Kaelith's breathing gradually returned to normal, the ominous smoke dying down.

Flegra watched it happen with a melancholic eye, "This boy only keeps bringing surprises… even the little fox, huh?"

"What is happening to her?" Shin-Woo asked sensibly whilst looking at Kaelith shivering.

"She is a Kumiho. Like all Nine-Tailed Foxes are," the old woman said with closed eyes. "It is said that when they find their true love, the latter's death can destroy them. The loss kills them. And it seems… that the bond between her and the young wolf may have already reached the state of soul mates. Perhaps one more effect of his peculiar condition…"

"Flegra," Nyx raised her voice and slowly stood up. She held up Kaelith at the same time who could not take her eyes away from Rakna. "You didn't finish earlier; how do we help him?"

The old woman squinted in thought. "Actually… this is perfect," she muttered. "The little fox should make things more guaranteed if she is his lover," she said and Kaelith trembled.

The vixen bit the inside of her lip and turned around. "Just tell me what to do; I don't need an explanation. Please, if it's something I can do… I beg you to let me do it."

Flegra smiled at her. "You have grown much since your Mental Trial," she stated kindly and turned back to Nyx. "First, we have to wake him up. That will be up to you."

"How?"

"Share your divinity with him."

Nyx briefly furrowed her eyebrows. "Will that do anything? If anything, the obsidian will probably reject or absorb it. Astraea couldn't do anything with hers…"

"Let me reiterate," Flegra interjected. "I want you to share your Divine Essence with him. It needs to be something that directly interacts with his Stele, not the soul."

"Wha--?!" The Night Goddess opened her mouth wide and her cheeks reddened. "Do you have any idea of what it means for me to do that?!" She shouted and Kaelith briefly narrowed her eyes as if she knew what it meant already.

"I am well aware. But does that make you unwilling?" Flegra fired back with a knowing smile and Nyx closed and opened her mouth several times. "I don't know exactly what category of Celestial you belong to, but you don't appear simple to me. There is no doubt to me that your Divine Essence is powerful enough to wake him up without hurting you, as well as compatible enough."

"I…" She stuttered and looked away in mortification. "This isn't something I should do arbitrarily without his permission… and he already has Kae--!" She tried to argue but Kaelith put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know what it implies, and I'm completely fine with it," the fox heiress said with a small smile. "I couldn't be any happier with someone like you by his side. You just proved it to me by comforting my frenzy… thank you."

"You…" Nyx blushed even harder and groaned weakly. She covered her face for a moment before facing the bed. "All of you are outrageous. Why am I the only normal person around him…?" She grumbled to herself and shakily raised her hands as they began to generate divinity, colored silver and dark blue. But it was not the regular kind.

Divine Essence was the source of divinity itself. In a sense, it was a God's Domain. It was what they represent and a literal part of themselves. Sharing it… was an act closer to a ceremony.

"You stupid… dumb… idiot…" Nyx sputtered in an unusual show of embarrassment. Kaelith smiled lightly and stepped back while the goddess put her hands on the therian's face. "You better take responsibility for this," she whispered inaudibly and leaned down.

Her eyes flickered and burst with the colors of her divinity, completely obfuscating her pupils and irises. As she got closer to Rakna, she closed them and their lips joined. On cue, divine energy filled the room from their conjoined embrace and spread in the air, forming all kinds of shapes.

For a brief instant, Nyx gained an ethereal pair of lupine ears and nine tails. They were formed by her divinity as if to mirror Rakna. They quickly faded away and the energy that manifested them scattered back to where they came from.

The Divine Essence rewound its path and was inhaled by both Nyx and Rakna with a delicate noise accompanying it. Nyx opened her eyes afterward and directly met the gaze of the therian, who had awakened.

In that moment, they gazed at each other for what felt like hours before Nyx ultimately pulled back and separated them. Her face was flushed, but despite that, she tried to keep a composed face.

"Why…" Rakna blinked in a daze and tried to bury the little voice in his head that wished the kiss he had woken up to lasted longer. He sat up with a grunt while the Night Goddess half-looked away as if she didn't know how to hold herself.

Normally, the therian would have found the scene amusing and quite endearing from her, if it was not for the sheer confusion he felt. He put his hand on his neck and felt the crystal recede into his body little by little. But it was still pushing back to some extent.

Additionally, there was a strange warmth pulling his soul power back together, one that strikingly reminded him of Nyx. Not to mention he also had this odd sensation that unconsciously made him aware at every second of how far she was from him.

"What did you…?" Before his question was even voiced out, he was tackled by Pronos who happily hugged his head with all nine of his. "...right," Rakna tried to pry him off, but the snake didn't want to let go. "Come on, little guy. It's a tad creepy the way you're latched onto me right now…"

"Oh, believe me, wolfy, that's the least of your worries right now," Kaelith's sharp tone made the therian shudder and he looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Rather than find an explanation as to why she was here, or even Shin-Woo, nervousness set in immediately.

At this point, if he still didn't fear it when she looked at him with such a cold smile, even a neutron star wouldn't be enough to describe how dense he was.

"…should I be worried about the shiny stuff stabbing into me or you?" He asked wryly whilst trying to tug at the small Hydra's tail to get him off his face.

The vixen only tilted her head and her smile widened silently.

"…I'm sorry," Rakna tactically apologized.

"A-anyway," Nyx spoke up and turned toward Flegra. "It's done. Now what?"

"What is don—"

"Shut up, wolfy," Kaelith interrupted the therian and he pursed his lips. She also turned to the old woman and raised an eyebrow, "Old hag, tell us."

"It is quite simple," Flegra smiled lightly. "I will step out of the house for a while and give you some privacy. In the meanwhile, you merely need to let yourself go. Go wild, as the youth would say."

The reactions were mixed. Kaelith blinked in confusion, Nyx's face became even redder, Shin-Woo looked perplexed, and Rakna blanched.

"Am I missing something?" The vixen wondered aloud and looked at the goddess next to her. She knew her well enough to know she rarely broke her calm. And if this was something embarrassing enough for her to react like this…

The fox heiress smiled impishly as a guess came to her mind. She checked Rakna's expression and grinned at the oh-so-sweet mortification on his face, seemingly aware of what Flegra had implied.

"Now, this is something I can get behind," she licked her lips and the therian quivered. "See? I told you that you would need to unlock it sooner or later, wolfy," she professed triumphantly and easily seized Pronos before flinging him over her shoulder

The Hydra cried out in surprise at the sudden treatment and landed squarely in Flegra's arms with his heads spinning. The elderly woman smiled in amusement at the small creature and waved her hands to close the curtains once again.

"Very well, enjoy yourselves plenty," she said in a perfectly innocuous tone and opened the front door. She also gently pushed Shin-Woo out with her as he blinked in confusion. "I shall not disturb you until you are done."

"What the…" The regressor was still lost. He was unconsciously denying the assumption he had at the top of his mind due to how ridiculous it felt.

"W-wait, I d-don't have to…" Nyx stammered and tried to follow her, only for a fiery vulpine tail to wrap around her waist and stop her. Her throat went dry and she mechanically looked behind her to see Kaelith smiling innocently at her.

"Now, now, don't be shy," the vixen whispered mirthfully. "What you've just done is practically the same as turning yourself into his fiancée. You can't run away now."

Nyx wanted to retort but her current mental state was such a mess that not a word came out. On the other hand, she hiccupped once she heard the door of the house close. The light dimmed in the room and the soft glow of the fireplace somehow made her even more anxious.

"My… what?" Rakna repeated owlishly at the same time and Kaelith didn't waste any time pushing him down. She straddled him afterward and he held his breath. "Foxy, this isn't…" He showed a conflicted expression but Kaelith silenced him with her finger.

"Rakna, look at me," she whispered and he gazed at her.

Her smile had disappeared; the teasing glint in her eyes no more. She was not making a joke, and she certainly was not making fun of him. Non-verbally, she was screaming at him; her actions are not part of some sort of unavoidable circumstance. If anything, Rakna saw something he was very familiar with in her gaze… hunger.

To the side, Nyx stood unsure. She similarly watched the vixen's countenance fill up with resolve and desire, and for a moment… she felt defeated. She glanced back at Rakna and the alien feeling only got stronger.

"So, wolfy…" Kaelith narrowed her eyes and untied her hair. "Shut up," she uttered and leaned in.