"And...it's no use..." Wu grunted, rolling back on the ground once again after yet another failed attempt to activate his One-Shotter. It had now been two whole days with him stuck here alongside Ver. The Cast applied to the cubic prisons by John King seemed to have the same effect on the Wave as his own Cast of Containment and Void domain, but according to Ver, it does not feel exactly the same, and sadly, the Kraken's isn't here to help confirm that intuition. Sure, both serve to disrupt the use of the Wave, but they operate on very different principles. Wu's Void Domain works off stifling the very flow of the Wave in the air by imposing a field of highly concentrated Wave arranged at intervals of high and low Wave intensity. But according to Ver...the King's Palace works more as if they are carried by a raging river, where a single direction of Wave flow dominates over the others, as opposed to the Void Domain like lines of fences trapping the Wave in. And for the past little while, Wu and Ver had been working to revert or fight against the flow of this overwhelming Cast which dwarfed even Ver's Kraken Manifestation, or even the gemstone within Wu's One-Shotter, as indicated by the inability to activate either. No wonder John's so confident with leaving the two of them alone inside the cubes. "This is no fun." Ver said, her arms crossed behind her and napping on her side, "We can just fight back against John once he opened up the prison to do the Conversion instead." "If he could suppress our powers in this state, surely he will be able to do exactly the same when he comes for the Conversion," Wu said, glancing over towards Ver who opened one eye and glared back at him. "Sigh...I'd much prefer your Cast of Containment when it comes to shutting up the Kraken. Right now, I just keep hearing the same line being repeated by him again and again..." Ver said, rolling to her side and sliding a piece of bread into her mouth. "What, he can still talk to you?" "Nah, just the last message of his somehow looping..." That was when the sounds of gears turning filled the ambiance, and Wu spun around to grab the new arrivals to their little prison. Every two hours or so, some food and bowls of water would magically appear from the middle of the cubic prison, and that was the first exploit Wu and Ver tried to use. However, even if that's a way to the outside, none of them could actually fit through the tiny gap. There are also another little gap in the far corner of the prison, where either used to relieve themselves. "Right..." Wu said, looking down at the patterns over his hand which are responsible for creating the Void Domain. Thinking back to earlier, he did have a brief clash against John, and it seemed like his Void Domain interacted in a very interesting manner against John's own King's Palace Casts. In fact, it was a stalemate of sorts now that Wu's thinking about it. With Wu's Void Domain, he was even able to stifle the dominant wave flow of the King's Palace. So...that means Wu actually won in that exchange. If he could replicate the same thing, would that mean he will be able to overpower the prison too? Wu put his hands up and pressed his palm against the wall of the cube. Then, he shook his head and chuckled with a pained smile as nothing happened. That would work in theory, but to use the Void Domain, Wu needs to use the Wave from the gemstone to power it. And right now, the Wave is trapped within the gemstone, and nothing will come out. It's not just about which Cast is stronger, but also which one is activated first. "Shit man...if I could use the Wave..." Wu murmured with irritation as Ver slowly rolled around and yawned. "You going crazy finally?" She asked, as Wu stood up. The cube prison's height is just enough to allow him to stand up fully, though his hair is scraping against the low-hanging ceiling already. "I suppose you can say that." Wu said, unzipping his suit and slowly taking off the layers. First, he unloaded the light armor and placed it on the ground before undoing the strings that keep his shirt tightly fitted around his body. His well-built frame hinting beneath the layers of fabric as Ver glanced at him intensely with a slight smile of excitement. "So...you wanna do it?" Ver asked, sitting up and slowly unzipping her jacket with a cheeky smile on her face. "What? No..." Wu said, revealing his abdomen as Ver's eyebrows danced up. His entire torso is covered by thin dark lines of a certain kind of Cast, and an intertwining pattern crossed over around his heart before extending towards his shoulders and down to his hands. "This...is my Void Domain." Wu said, pointing to the tattoos over his body, "I made sure that no one could ever take this power away from me, by imprinting the miniatured version of the Void domain onto my body." "You call THAT miniatured?" Ver said, leaning forward and pressing her finger into Wu's abdomen as his face turned red with her touch, "How big was Lera's then?" "She had to embed the entire Cast into the Cast Array itself using her Rapid Layering." Wu explained before he sat down, though Ver found her eyes locked onto his chiseled abs still, "I clashed my Void Domain against John King's King's Palace before you were teleported, and I am fairly certain that my Void Domain won out in that battle..." "Then why didn't you use it to get us out of here?!" Ver asked quickly before her expressions froze, and she started to connect all of the dots, "Oh..." "So that leaves us with few options." Wu said, looking down at the lines of writing on his body, "The Void Domain stifles the flow of the Wave even within one's body, but King's Palace seemed to allow for Wave usage within one's body. So I can try to...embed the gemstone into my flesh too, but I do not like the prospect of it a single bit...plus, we don't know if it will actually work..." "If only you have some Wave in your body..." Ver murmured, nodding her head. Then, she turned her attention towards the layers of Light armour where the gemstone is currently embedded within. Her eyes lit up briefly, then her face became red as she avoided Wu's eyes. "You got something?" Wu asked, and Ver spun around in a circle before hugging her legs tightly, "Sorry...I will put my clothes back on. Demo's over." "Yes...No..." Ver said, scratching her head as she whirled her dark blonde hair around her finger, "Us Manifesters were taught how to transfer the Wave in between individuals since we were small...as a way to replenish Wave in each other's body in emergency scenarios because of how volatile our powers are..." "For real?!" Wu sat up excitedly, then the gears in his head started to turn slowly as Ver's face became redder than before, "Wait...what do you have to do?" "You will see." Ver said, making up her mind and taking in short breathes. Then, she sat up and started slowly taking apart her own clothes, revealing her scarred shoulders before slowly removing her top. Her skin is white and smooth in between the scars. Underneath that are layers of densely packed musculature, her shoulder blades rolled around with great mobility as she turned around, her arms covering parts of her naturally lush breasts. Wu held his breath, and he tried to look away as Ver crawled towards him before reaching out with both hands and grabbing onto Wu's shoulders. Kicking back with her legs, she pushed Wu to the ground, her soft body fully pressing into his. Wu swallowed, and he seemed to have felt Ver's heartbeat through the two soft pillow-like masses over his body. "Ver..." Wu said, his breathe heavy as his heart pounded so much that even Ver could feel it back, "What..." "Don't...don't overthink it..." Ver said, blood rushing to her head as she rested her hands over Wu's chest. Then, she guided the flow of the Wave within her body and focused it towards her tongue, "This is to...transfer some Wave into you..." Then, she leaned in for a kiss as Wu closed his eyes, his hands outstretched to the side and clenched into fists as Ver's tongue penetrated through Wu's lips and tangled with his very own, a warm fluid slowly exchanging between them. Is his heart beating as fast as mine? Ver wondered, her entire body warming up as she wrapped her legs around Wu. They both kept their pants on, but Wu naturally saluted down below as a smirk floated up Ver's face. Somehow...she's enjoying this a little too much. Then, a shot of heat exploded in Wu's mouth, and his eyes shot open as Ver pressed away, their soft lips unsticking from one another. She looked at Wu, and he's breathing rapidly with his eyes dazed and face redder than an apple. Absolutely adorable. "I have just transferred a small amount of Wave into your body." Ver said, smiling cheekily, "Don't get too excited." "I...I am not..." "Try to feel it. Try to guide that heat towards the origin of the tattoo Cast." Ver continued, her eyes locking with Wu's. He nodded before Ver leaned in, this time coming with more intensity as Wu's arms slowly wound up and hugged around her back instictually. As the ball of heat entered into Wu's body, he tried to wrap his own consciousness around it, shaping it and morphing it into a tiny droplet before trying to move it. However, it resisted against Wu's manipulation and started burning up on the inside like a candle. The pain stung, and Wu grunted in pain as Ver caressed his face and tried to pull away. No...Wu thought, reaching up and holding onto Ver's head as her hair dangled over his face like curtains hiding away their forbidden secrets. Their lips continued dancing with one another, and Ver slowly guided more and more of her Wave towards Wu. Despite the protests of the Wave itself, Wu is eventually able to usher at least some of it towards the origin of the tattoo Cast at the very end. It was a rather wasteful way of controlling the Wave, but eventually, he succeeded. The lines of Casts over his torso lit up as the Wave from Ver entered into the Cast itself. Then, a dark grey aura expanded out from Wu's body, sweeping through Ver's body before cracking the cubic prison and shattering it all. As the King's Palace collapsed around them, Ver smiled, but kept her lips locked with Wu. After all, she had just started to enjoy all this. Wu, on the other hand, had no idea that the King's Palace is shattered. After a long while, Ver was the first one to pull back, and she noticed the lines of sweat over Wu's body. He looked around, eyes unfocused and chest rising and falling rapidly, "I think...we did it." "You don't say." Ver giggled, pressing away and starting to dress up once more, "You kissed like you haven't kissed in a long time." "It's...it's not that..." Wu said, scratching his face with slight embarrassment, "I just wanted to do it right, but you are pretty intense..." "Deal with it." Ver laughed, dressing up fully as the voice of the Kraken returned to her mind, "So...what's the deal with you and Lera anyway?" "I don't know." Wu said, sitting up and wiping away the sweat. Then, he also dressed up while observing the darkroom they are in, "She said we will talk about it, at some time, but..." "Well, if she is going to be this slow," Ver said, marching towards Wu until she pushed him all the way back against the wall, "Then I will be on the offensive!" Wu swallowed hard, and Ver stared into his soul for a moment before laughing and slapping him in the shoulder. "HAHAHA! I am just kidding! I would never fall in love with someone as powerless as you!" Ver said, turning around rapidly and holding onto her racing heart, "I told you not to overthink it! Now...let's go get this John King bastard." "But it's cause of the Void Domain that we..." "I said let's go!" Ver said, then before exiting the room, she turned around and pointed her finger at Wu, "Also...don't you dare tell anyone about what happened here! It's...between us! Like the deal! Okay?!"