Three days later, the world was still reeling. Tim lay splayed shirtless on his couch, his skin gleaming with a thin sheen of sweat as Japan's spring took a sudden, oppressive turn toward summer heat. The local government had declared a five-day emergency holiday while authorities scrambled to investigate the inexplicable phenomenon at the park.
On the television, a frantic news ticker scrolled past as a theoretical physicist discussed the "New Energy" appearing in the atmosphere. Scientists were calling it everything from "Solar Flaring" to "Quantum Atmospheric Leakage." Tim watched, a grim tightness in his chest. He knew the truth. It wasn't particles or radiation; it was Qi.
How long until people try to harness it? he wondered. And even worse, how long until the plants and animals start changing? A squirrel with the power of a Qi-refining beast was a nightmare the world wasn't ready for.
Cultivation World
In the opulent guest quarters of Crimson City, Lia lay splayed on a silk-covered couch, her posture a perfect, unconscious mirror of Tim's back on Earth. The heat in the Crater was even more intense, the air thick with the scent of blooming flowers.
"Ugh, gotta let these puppies breathe," Lia muttered to the empty room. She had unceremoniously yanked her shirt off, still struggling to adjust to the weight and sensitivity of her new breasts. She flicked through the glowing screens of her communication ring, her eyes scanning the SpiritNet headlines.
The reveal of the Cradle-Guardian—the Level 9 Nascent Soul floral monstrosity—had sent a shockwave through the Central Continent. A high-level summit had been called for later that evening with Marcus, Elena, and their royal parents. Tim and Riku were the guests of honor, but for now, they were just trying to survive the physical and mental exhaustion of the battle.
Earth
A sharp knock echoed through Tim's small apartment. Still half-dazed by the heat, he rolled off the couch and walked toward the door.
Cultivation World
In total synchronization, Lia heard a knock on her chamber door. Without thinking—her mind still tethered to Tim's movements—she mimicked his action, rising from the couch and striding across the room.
Earth
Tim swung the door open. Riku stood there, but she had traded her usual oversized hoodie for a tight tank top. There was a beat of absolute silence. Riku's eyes traveled down Tim's chest, tracing the hard, defined lines of his abs and the corded muscle of his shoulders—the "cultivator physique" he had built was paying off.
Riku took a visible gulp, her cheeks flushing. Damn... when did Tim become so sexy?
Tim, meanwhile, was having his own internal crisis. Without the baggy hoodie, Riku's figure was on full display. The tank top was fighting a losing battle to contain her breasts, and Tim found himself staring, his brain short-circuiting. Wait... is she even wearing a bra under that?
"Can I come in?" Riku asked, her voice a bit breathless as she broke his train of thought.
Cultivation World
Distracted by Riku's "personality" on Earth, Lia absentmindedly swung her chamber door open. Varek stood there, his hand raised to knock again.
"Hey, Li—"
Varek's voice died in his throat. His jaw literally dropped, his eyes going wide and vacant as if he'd just been struck by a lightning bolt. He stared intently, his gaze locked onto the very things Lia had just been complaining about "letting breathe."
"Varek?" Lia muttered, blinking. Did this guy just get a lobotomy? she thought. Then, she followed the line of his intense, predatory stare downward.
The realization hit her. Lia's face went from pale to a shade of crimson that rivaled the Crimson Lotus.
She slammed the heavy wooden door directly in Varek's face with a resounding THUD that shook the hallway.
Earth
Tim turned and walked back to the couch, Riku trailing behind him. She voiced the thought that Varek hadn't been able to form into words.
"Nice tits, Tim," she teased, her voice dripping with the newfound, aggressive confidence she'd gained from the Varek persona.
Tim went beet-red, slumping onto the couch and leaning back. It had become a routine over the last months; Riku sat down first, and Tim naturally rested his head on her lap. Her hands immediately found his hair, her fingers tracing soothing patterns against his scalp.
Cultivation World
A few minutes later, Lia reopened the door. Despite the stifling heat, she was now wearing an oversized, heavy woolen jumper that swallowed her frame entirely.
"Come in," she muttered, unable to meet Varek's eye.
Varek leaned back against the plush cushions of the couch, patting his lap with a smug, expectant look. Lia hesitated for a heartbeat—her "Ice Queen" pride warring with her "Tim" exhaustion—before she sighed and let herself fall back.
However, as her head hit his thighs, she didn't find the usual softness of a relaxed lap. Instead, she felt something decidedly... firm. Lia's eyes snapped open, and she immediately shifted her head a few inches away from the hard obstruction, her face heating up instantly.
Varek didn't pull away; instead, he let out a low, rumbling chuckle that Lia could feel through the back of her skull. He loved this, making Lia flustered. He watched with a predatory grin as a deep pink hue flooded her neck and cheeks.
"Comfortable?" Varek teased, his voice dropping an octave as his large, calloused hands reached down to cradle her temples.
Earth
At the exact same moment, Tim felt Riku's softer, smaller fingers begin to knead into his scalp. He let out a long, ragged exhale, his eyes fluttering shut in both worlds. The sensation was a perfect, double-layered symphony of relaxation.
"How are you recovering?" Varek asked in the Crater, his thumbs tracing slow, deliberate circles against Lia's forehead.
Lia leaned into the touch, her breathing finally evening out. "Honestly? I'm holding it together," she murmured, her voice soft and airy.
Earth
"...but I'm definitely worse for wear," Tim finished the thought on the couch, his voice a low rasp.
This had become their "special frequency." Managing two bodies across two worlds was a mental tightrope walk, and to keep from going insane, they had developed a unique way of communicating. They didn't repeat themselves. Instead, they spoke in a relay; Lia would start a sentence in the cultivation world, and Tim would finish the sentiment on Earth, their thoughts flowing seamlessly between their four bodies. It was a level of intimacy that no one else in either world could ever hope to understand.
"The mental load of the fight was one thing," Lia picked up again, feeling the tension bleed out of her shoulders. "But trying to keep everything together as i was dying as Tim"
"...it felt like awful" Tim finished, his head sinking deeper into Riku's lap. He felt the phantom heat of Varek's hands and the real warmth of Riku's skin simultaneously. It was dizzying, but perfect.
Lia opened one eye, looking up at the upside-down face of the massive warrior looming over her. "How about you? You were the one doing the heavy lifting while I was playing dodge-the-shadow-king."
"Yeah, physically I'm all okay," Varek said, his deep voice vibrating through the jumper-clad Lia resting on him.
But on Earth, the composure finally cracked. Riku's hands, which had been gently massaging Tim's scalp, began to tremble. A single, hot tear splashed onto Tim's cheek, followed quickly by another.
"I thought I'd lost you," Riku whispered, her voice hitching as the dam finally broke. "In both worlds. I thought you were just... gone."
Varek didn't shed a tear in the Crater, his warrior's pride holding the line, but his eyes glistened with an uncharacteristic wetness as he looked down at the woman in his lap. The shock of that day, suppressed by the need to survive the cleanup and the beast attacks, was finally surging to the surface.
Tim sat up on the couch, his shirtless chest pressing against Riku's tank top as he pulled her into a fierce, protective hug. In perfect synchronization, Lia sat up and shifted, straddling Varek's muscular lap and wrapping her arms around his thick neck in a desperate embrace.
"I'm sorry," Tim murmured into Riku's hair, feeling her sob against his shoulder. The weight of her grief was heavy, the dam gates fully open now.
"Tim, I saw you get skewered," Riku cried, her voice muffled against him. "Saving me while Lia stepped into the void after Xotl... I didn't know how much you truly meant to me until that second. I thought it was all over. I thought you died in both worlds."
Lia squeezed Varek tighter, the wool of her oversized jumper bunched between them. "I'm sorry, Riku. I won't take risks like that again," she whispered. "But when I saw that demonic cultivator coming for you... I didn't think. I just knew I had to save you. Even if it meant my life."
The heavy, tearful atmosphere shifted in an instant. The raw vulnerability of the confession sparked a different kind of heat, born from the relief of still being alive. Riku pulled back just enough to look Tim in the eye, her gaze searching his before she leaned in, claiming his lips in a deep, desperate kiss that tasted of salt and profound relief.
In the quiet of the guest quarters in Crimson City, Varek didn't wait for permission. He reached up, his large hand cupping Lia's face and lifting her chin, drawing her gaze to his. He pulled her down, meeting her halfway with a kiss that was just as deep and possessive, their souls anchoring each other across the divide.
The kissing grew frantic, a desperate search for friction and heat that blurred the lines between their four bodies. On the couch in Japan, Riku's breathing turned into ragged hitches as she began to grind her hips against Tim's. Through the thin fabric of his jeans, Tim could feel the rhythmic pressure of her search for friction.
Cultivation World
In the sweltering heat of Crimson City, Lia felt a sudden, dizzying rush of heat. Her body—driven by Riku's movements on Earth—started to mimic the rhythm, her hips rolling against Varek's massive "thigh". Wow, this actually feels incredible, Lia thought, her mind reeling as she experienced the friction of dry-humping from a female perspective for the first time. The biology of the Lia was highly sensitive, and the sensation was a strange, addictive contrast to what Tim was feeling on the couch.
Egged on by Riku's low, encouraging moan, Tim let his hand slide upward, his palm cupping the curve of her breast over the ribbed fabric of her tank top.
Earth
At the exact same moment, Varek's hand mirrored the move, his large, calloused palm molding over the wool of Lia's oversized jumper.
Tim hesitated for a fraction of a second, his heart hammering against his ribs. This was a game of sexual chicken, and the stakes were higher than they had ever been. He knew the rules: whatever he did to Riku, Varek would do to Lia. He slipped his hand beneath the hem of Riku's tank top, his skin finally meeting hers. He groaned as he cupped her bare breast, his thumb grazing the hardening peak.
Cultivation World
Varek's hand followed suit, sliding under Lia's jumper and finding the soft, heavy weight of her breast. Tim's mind started to short-circuit. He was simultaneously the man in Japan, relishing the feel of Riku's skin, and the woman in the Crater, feeling the intrusive, powerful grip of a man's hand. The sensation of being "gropped" by the massive warrior was a sensory overload—a mix of Lia's soaring arousal and Tim's masculine brain trying to process being on the receiving end.
This is insane, Tim/Lia thought.
Lia pulled back for a second, her face flushed a deep, sunset crimson. She reached for the hem of her jumper and yanked it over her head, tossing it onto the floorboards. "You've seen them already," she whispered, her voice a mix of Tim's waning resistance and Lia's breathy desire.
Now, both Lia and Tim were shirtless. Riku and Varek pulled their own shirts off. The sexual tension was a physical weight in the air, a coiled spring ready to snap. Riku's grinding became more insistent, her hands tangling in Tim's hair as she pulled his mouth back to hers.
Tim felt himself reaching a breaking point, but his male mind—the analytical core that kept him sane—clung to the emergency brake. He wasn't ready for Lia to go all the way with Varek. He wasn't ready to experience the total surrender of his female self, even if the "fondling" was quickly becoming addictive.
The frantic rhythm finally slowed, the air in both worlds thick with the sound of four lungs fighting for oxygen.
Earth
On the couch in Tokyo, Tim and Riku collapsed against each other. Both were shirtless now, their sweat-slicked skin acting like a conduit for the heat radiating between them. Riku's head was tucked under Tim's chin, her bare breasts crushed up against his chest. Tim's arms were wrapped tight around her, his hands resting on the small of her back, pulling her into a protective, possessive embrace. The spring heat was stifling, but neither moved to pull away; the physical connection felt like the only thing keeping them grounded after the chaos of the last three days.
Cultivation World
In Crimson City, the scene was a mirror image of raw vulnerability. Lia, now completely free of the heavy jumper, was curled into Varek's massive chest. Her "puppies" were finally breathing, pressed flat against the rock-hard wall of Varek's pectoral muscles. Varek's arms were draped over her, his hands splayed across her back in a strong possessive/protective embrace.
Lia let out a long, shaky breath, her eyes closed. This is too much, she thought, the sensation of Varek's skin-on-skin contact sending ripples of warmth through her making her insides ache with desire.
Earth
"My heart won't stop hammering," Riku whispered into Tim's chest, her voice muffled and exhausted.
Cultivation World
"...it feels like it's trying to break out of my ribs," Lia finished the thought, her voice a soft, airy echo in Varek's ear.
Varek tightened his grip, his thumb tracing a slow, rhythmic line down Lia's spine.
Tim looked down at the top of Riku's head, feeling her hair tickle his nose. He felt the sheer weight of Varek's body in the other world—the raw power and the alien hunger of a high-level cultivator—and contrasted it with the soft, fragile reality of Riku in his arms. It was a dizzying, beautiful mess.
They stayed like that for a long time, shirtless and tangled, the sexual tension slowly cooling into a deep, quiet intimacy.