An hour had passed.
Kama lay weakly face-down upon the bed, her breathing still not entirely steady.
Her body trembled faintly from time to time, like the last leaf still clinging to a branch after a long storm had finally passed.
Her silver hair was in disarray, partially covering her face, while her fingers could do little more than weakly clutch the sheets with the little strength she had left.
On the other side of the bed, Tamamo sat extremely close in front of Kuro while clinging to him affectionately.
Almost without distance between them.
Close enough for their breaths to continuously brush against each other.
And within that thin boundary, something like a warm serpent continued moving playfully among damp petals that seemed freshly kissed by midnight rain.
Its movements were slow.
Steady.
Yet never stopping.
The warm current created between them gradually left the sheets beneath them damp without either of them realizing it.
Tamamo's body itself moved with a low and consistent rhythm, almost like the quiet motion of a machine piston working through the middle of the night.
"H-nggh... haah... haah..."
Even so, Tamamo's breathing gradually began to falter.
Her eyes became half-lidded.
Her tails swayed restlessly behind her several times.
"My dear..." Tamamo murmured softly while looking at Kuro. "Weren't you a little too cruel to Kama? She can barely move at all now..."
Kuro merely smiled faintly at that.
"Good grief," he replied casually. "And now you're calling me cruel? I was only letting that flow keep filling her chalice until there wasn't any empty space left."
Tamamo immediately let out a small laugh.
"Hehe..." she said as she leaned closer until her forehead nearly touched Kuro's. "That still counts as cruel, you know?"
"The difference is that you do it like a warm serpent slowly coiling around its prey... too gentle, too sweet, to the point that the one trapped within it finds it difficult to truly hate you."
Kuro chuckled softly after hearing that answer.
"If that's the case..." he said casually. "Does this fox want to experience the same thing Kama did?"
Tamamo's eyes widened slightly.
Then slowly, her sly smile returned.
Her tails swayed softly behind her like fox fire dancing within the dark night.
"Fufu~"
Tamamo wrapped her arms more tightly around Kuro's neck.
"Isn't it already too late to ask that now, my dear?"
Her body shifted slightly closer.
Allowing the warm serpent to move even more freely through her garden of petals.
"Besides..." she whispered softly near Kuro's lips. "A fox like me is weakest against a man who treats his prey too gently... while slowly filling her until she overflows."
Without saying a word, Kuro slowly turned Tamamo's position.
Now the fox girl's knees and both palms rested against the soft sheets beneath her, while her pink tails swayed gently within the dim atmosphere of the room.
After that, Kuro's hands held Tamamo by the waist from behind, and that serpent-like warmth began moving again—this time with a rhythm far faster and more forceful than before.
"AHH...!!"
Tamamo's breathing immediately grew even more uneven.
Her body trembled faintly several times as that warm movement slowly began touching the deepest core of the foxfire chalice within her.
The sensation made her thoughts feel weightless, as though her consciousness was being lifted high into the sky only to be slowly brought down again and again by that merciless rhythm.
"Ah... d-darling..."
Tamamo's voice broke softly.
Meanwhile, Kuro continued moving calmly behind her.
Every now and then, his gaze drifted toward Tamamo's swaying tails, watching them react alongside each subtle tremble running through her body.
"Caster," Kuro said casually. "I just realized something about your tails. Why did they increase? I don't remember you fighting that much lately."
Tamamo stayed quiet for a few seconds.
Her breathing still hadn't recovered properly.
And every time the warm serpent shifted deeper inside her, her body gave another faint shiver, making it difficult for her to answer normally.
"Nh... isn't it... obvious already...?"
She glanced back at him slightly through half-lidded, hazy eyes.
"It's... because of you... dear..."
Kuro fell silent for a moment after hearing that answer.
Even though his rhythm never stopped, his thoughts began recalling the details of Zen of Joy and Divine Corruption.
The synchronization of energy.
The gradual existential changes born from abnormal intimacy, and the possibility that those two skills were indeed affecting Tamamo little by little.
A few moments later, the corner of Kuro's lips lifted faintly.
"It seems..." he murmured softly, "...you weren't wrong at all."
The next second, Kuro's movements gradually came to a stop.
Yet instead of pulling away, he pressed deeper instead, as though allowing that warm serpent to reach the most hidden core of Tamamo's foxfire chalice.
A moment later, Tamamo's body reacted sharply at once.
"H-ngargh...!!"
Her breath caught suddenly, as though every bit of air in her lungs had been stolen away in a single second by the heat that abruptly overflowed from within her.
Her golden eyes widened completely.
Meanwhile, the fur of her tails stiffened all at once as the warm current began overflowing into the core of her fox fire chalice in an amount far too great to contain at once.
"Ah—...! hah...! hah... y-you..."
Her voice came out fragile and broken between breaths.
"...too much..."
Tamamo's voice broke into a soft whimper.
Her body trembled faintly atop the sheets.
And from the narrow seam of those damp petals, a small portion of warmth slowly slipped free, like droplets of dew falling after a long night of rain, leaving a faint stain upon the sheets beneath her.
Meanwhile, Kuro remained still behind Tamamo, allowing the lingering warmth that continued filling the fox fire chalice to flow little by little.
As though he were intentionally letting Tamamo sink deeper into the sensation of a warm serpent slowly coiling around both her body and consciousness.
Slowly, Tamamo's gaze, which had widened moments before, began to grow hazy again, her eyelids half-lowered as her irises gradually rolled upward.
Her tongue slipped out slightly, while her breathing still trembled unevenly.
Meanwhile, her tails moved weakly behind her body, like foxfire beginning to lose its shape after taking in far too much heat at once.
"D-dear..." she whispered faintly with a nearly broken voice. "You really... intend to melt your fox completely tonight... don't you...?"
Kuro let out a soft chuckle, the edge of his voice sounding heavier within the dim warmth filling the dark room.
"That's right..." he answered casually while still allowing the warm current to flow until the very last moment. "A perfect ten points for you, Caster."
Once the warm flow finally subsided completely, Kuro slowly released Tamamo.
The fox girl's body swayed faintly atop the sheets, a subtle trembling still lingering within each of her breaths.
Her tails moved weakly behind her, like foxfire beginning to lose its shape after taking in too much heat.
And from that spread of still-damp forbidden petals, the remnants of the earlier flow slowly escaped without restraint, leaving wet traces across the sheets as though the fabric had just been touched by a heavy summer night rain.
Seeing that sight, Kuro grinned mischievously.
Then without another word, he turned Tamamo's body over upon the sheets until the two of them faced each other at an impossibly close distance.
Tamamo's half-hazy golden eyes looked weakly up at him.
"And since you were still able to answer earlier," Kuro said casually, "That means this fox hasn't completely melted yet."
Tamamo's eyes widened slightly.
"D-dear... wait..."
But before her protest could finish, Kuro's hand moved once again, allowing something like a warm serpent to slowly slip back into the fox girl's forbidden garden of petals.
Tamamo's body immediately trembled faintly.
Her breathing shattered softly.
Especially as the serpent continued to brush against the gateway to the fox fire chalice deep within her, never allowing her even a moment to breathe.
"Ah... hngh..."
Her gaze wavered once more.
Kuro's movements grew heavier this time.
Deeper.
Far crueler than before.
As though he truly intended to melt Tamamo's fox fire completely within his embrace.
Tamamo immediately wrapped both arms tightly around Kuro.
Her fingers weakly clutched at his clothes while surrendering her entire body to the rhythm of the warm serpent steadily eroding her consciousness little by little.
"D-dear..." she whispered tremblingly near Kuro's lips. "At this rate... I really am going to melt..."