The thin black claw slid out of Wei Chen's chest like a shadow learning how to be a hand. It was not flesh. It was cold law, shaped into fingers. The crack in the black sun brand widened just enough to let it breathe.
Lin Xue froze, lips still close to his skin. Her eyes went wide. "Chen Wei…" she whispered, like saying his name could pull him back inside himself.
Wei Chen's whole body went tight. He could feel the claw moving under his ribs like it belonged there. He grabbed Lin Xue's waist and pulled her back from his chest, not rough, but fast. "Stop," he growled at the claw, like it could hear him.
The claw didn't stop.
It reached toward Lin Xue's wrist mark.
The copy of Lin Xue smiled, pleased, like it had been waiting for this. "There," it murmured. "The door is learning to walk."
Su Mei stood with black eyes and calm face. Her hand hovered near Wei Chen's chest again, ready to help the claw open wider.
Wei Chen snapped his fan open and struck the claw. The metal passed through it like hitting smoke. The claw only shivered, then reached again, hungry for Lin Xue's mark.
Lin Xue shoved her palm onto Wei Chen's chest, right around the crack, frost spreading like ice ink. "Black sun," she commanded, voice sharp, "stop."
For one heartbeat, the claw hesitated.
Wei Chen exhaled like he had been drowning. He leaned close to Lin Xue's ear and whispered, shameless even in terror, "You just ordered my heart like it's your pet."
Lin Xue's cheeks flared red. "Focus," she hissed, but her hand didn't leave his chest.
Wei Chen turned his face toward hers, eyes fierce and warm. "Rules," he said low. "Stop means stop. Do you want me to burn it?"
Lin Xue swallowed. She looked at the claw, then at his face. "Yes," she whispered. "But not your heart."
Wei Chen nodded once. "Then stay on me," he murmured. "Anchor me."
Lin Xue's breath hitched at the words, because they sounded too intimate in a tunnel full of monsters. Still, she stepped closer. Her cold body pressed to his heat. Her fingers held his robe like she was holding the only real thing left.
Wei Chen tilted her chin up. "Do you want a kiss?" he asked softly. "For courage."
Lin Xue's eyes flicked to the copy, then to Su Mei's black stare, then back to Wei Chen. She nodded once. "Yes."
Wei Chen kissed her—slow, deep, steady. Lin Xue clutched his collar and pulled him closer, not forced—chosen. Their breath mixed. Heat and frost hummed together, and the bond rope between them flared brighter for a moment.
Wei Chen pulled back just enough to ask, "Do you want me to stop?"
Lin Xue shook her head. "Don't stop," she whispered. "But burn it."
Wei Chen's grin flashed, wicked and human. "Bossy," he murmured, then turned serious. He placed his hand over Lin Xue's hand on his chest, right over the crack, and breathed in.
Golden heat rose in him like a furnace door opening.
He didn't explode it. He shaped it.
A thin stream of Nine-Suns fire pushed into the crack, trying to cauterize the door without burning the heart around it. The claw jerked, hissing like it hated light.
The copy laughed softly. "Careful," it purred. "Burn too hard and he breaks. Burn too soft and you feed it."
Lin Xue's jaw clenched. She pressed colder frost around Wei Chen's brand, making a tight ring. "My frost will hold the edges," she whispered. "Your fire bites the middle."
Wei Chen's breath shook. "Stay close," he rasped. "If I slip… pull me back."
Lin Xue looked into his eyes. "Chen Wei," she whispered, voice trembling but clear, "stay real."
Wei Chen swallowed. "Lin Xue," he said, forcing the counter-anchor. "Stay with me."
The claw shrieked silently and snapped toward Lin Xue's wrist mark again, like it wanted to cut the bond rope at the source.
Wei Chen's control wavered for half a breath.
Heat surged too high.
Lin Xue felt it and grabbed his collar hard, pulling him down to her mouth. "Chen Wei," she whispered against his lips, "stop means stop. Stop the surge."
Wei Chen froze his heat by sheer will, then kissed her back, rough and steady, like he needed her mouth to remember who he was. He broke the kiss just enough to ask, breathless, "Do you want me to stop?"
Lin Xue's cheeks were burning. "Don't stop," she whispered. "Use me. Anchor."
Wei Chen's eyes darkened with a hungry, roguish look, but he kept his voice clean and clear. "You choose this?" he asked.
Lin Xue nodded. "I choose it."
Wei Chen pressed his forehead to hers and poured his heat into the crack again—controlled, focused. The claw trembled. The black edges smoked with cold.
Su Mei stepped forward, black eyes calm, and reached for Wei Chen's chest.
Wei Chen snapped, "Stop!"
She didn't stop.
Lin Xue turned her head sharply, eyes like ice blades. "Su Mei," she commanded, "stop."
Su Mei paused—just a tiny pause—then her arm moved again, like the pause had been a joke.
The copy smiled wider. "Your rule is weakening," it whispered. "Because the bond rope is bleeding."
Lin Xue hissed as her wrist mark burned again. The law-thread tightened, chewing the bond thinner. The gold-silver rope in her mind flickered like a candle about to die.
Wei Chen felt the flicker and his heart jumped. "No," he growled. He shoved more Nine-Suns fire into the crack.
The claw screamed and recoiled—
Then split.
A second thin claw pushed out beside the first, like the door was growing teeth.
Lin Xue's face went pale. "It multiplied…"
Wei Chen's voice went rough. "Then we burn harder."
Lin Xue grabbed his jaw and forced his eyes to hers. "If you burn harder, your body overloads," she whispered. "You'll break."
Wei Chen's grin flashed, naughty even now. "Then you'll have to cool me down," he murmured, close to her lips. "Strictly for survival, of course."
Lin Xue's cheeks flared. "Idiot."
Wei Chen's voice softened. "Do you want me to stop teasing?"
Lin Xue swallowed, eyes bright. "No," she whispered. "Just… live."
Wei Chen nodded. "Then hold me," he said.
Lin Xue wrapped both arms around him, pressing her cold body to his heat like a living seal. Wei Chen locked one arm around her waist and kissed her again—deep, chosen, steady—while his other hand pressed over the black sun brand.
The tunnel runes flared.
The crack fought back.
Both claws shot forward at once—one for Lin Xue's wrist mark, one for Wei Chen's throat.
And from behind them, the coffin-sealed wall made a low grinding sound… like something on the other side had found the lid and started knocking.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
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