Chapter 18 - Experiment

After Reina and Kiana arrived at their apartment, they noticed right away that Siegfried was no longer there. The living room lights were all off, and the place felt quiet and empty.

Reina flipped the switch, lighting up the room, and without wasting a second, Kiana threw herself onto the couch with a heavy sigh.

"Ahhhh, I'm so tired," she groaned dramatically. "Hey Reina, let's watch TV."

"We should wash up first," Reina replied, setting her bag aside. "Let's go to the bath."

"Ehhh, but I'm still tired... Let's just lie down for a bit and take a bath later," Kiana said, shifting to get more comfortable.

"No. Your body is sticky from the sweat, and honestly... you smell really bad. So let's go to the bath."

"Aaahhhh, fine, fine..." Kiana pouted before glancing at her with a playful grin. "But we're bathing together, right?"

Reina let out a soft sigh. "Alright, fine."

"Yeaahhh!" Kiana jumped up with sudden energy, grabbed Reina's hand, and eagerly pulled her toward the bathroom like an excited child dragging their favorite toy.

But that excitement didn't last long. During the bath, Kiana grew drowsy-so sleepy, in fact, that she almost nodded off right inside the tub.

Reina had to pull her out before she ended up drowning, ending their bath earlier than planned.

"C'mon, Kiana, we need to dry your hair. If not, it's gonna be a mess tomorrow," Reina said gently, setting Kiana down on the vanity chair in front of the makeup table.

"Aaaa... buut am sleeeeepyy...." Kiana slurred, her voice groggy as she struggled to stay upright, her eyelids heavy and drooping.

Reina could only shake her head at the sight. In the end, she resorted to using magic to dry Kiana's hair, her hand glowing faintly with soft energy as she carefully worked through the strands. Once Kiana's hair was dried, Reina picked her up with ease and carried her to their bed.

Yes-Reina did have magic. It was the same kind used by the Astrals from the Sky Realm, the world she originally came from.

Unfortunately, Astrals were prideful beings who disliked relying on magic. They preferred to use their own unique power-Creation-rather than something they saw as "lesser." And Reina, even though she was only a duplicate of someone else and held just half of the original power, still shared that same stubborn blood.

Every time she used magic, something in her heart sank. Her mood soured, her chest tightened-and like always, she ended up blaming her original self, who had also stubbornly refused to rely on magic, even when it would've helped.

After carefully tucking the blanket over Kiana's sleeping form, Reina stepped out of the room quietly-choosing not to lie down beside her like she usually did.

Closing the door quietly behind her, Reina made her way into the living room. She raised her right hand forward without a word.

As soon as she did, a faint crack formed in the air where her hand hovered-thin at first, but quickly spreading outward like shattered glass. The fracture widened, deepened, and with a sharp, silent rupture, the space finally broke open.

Beyond the gap, a familiar realm revealed itself-her Zero Dimension.

Without hesitation, Reina stepped through the opening.

As she entered, she was greeted by an endless, wide expanse. The sky here was filled with soft drifting clouds, and floating throughout the space were enormous, blue cubes that pulsed gently with light. Far in the distance, a radiant glow shone down from above, a lone light source illuminating the otherwise surreal void.

Before her, suspended in the air, were three large cocoons-each one glowing with a powerful energy that pulsed like a heartbeat.

This was where Reina doing her creations are.

The first cocoon contained Core of the Void, that she replicate from Sora core but it's still incomplete and unstable.

The second held the Judgment of Shamash, a weapon she replicate from Siegfried but still doesn't have the core.

And the last... the last cocoon held her most cherished piece: a katana she had created a year ago, formed entirely from her memories.

Her favorite weapon.

Unfortunately, Reina wasn't there to continue her experiments or run more tests on the Core like she usually did.

"That incident..." she whispered, closing her eyes as she remembered what happened an hour ago, when she met that girl named Miyuki.

She could still feel how her body reacted to that girl-how her mind stopped working, how her body heated up with desire.

All she could think about was how badly she wanted to take that girl for herself, right there and then.

"But that shouldn't be possible..."

One of the special things about having an Astral body is that it's immune to everything-things like Curse, Poison, Mind Control, Reality Manipulation, Soul Manipulation, Conceptual Manipulation, Gravity manipulation, Fate Manipulation, Reality warping, Physics Manipulation, Law Manipulation, Causality Manipulation, Life Manipulation, Death Manipulation & Space-Time Manipulation.

So the fact that Miyuki's power was able to affect her like that-it made no sense. And that's what confused Reina the most.

With no other choice, Reina decided to test her body with everything she could think of.

She tried using curses, tried to mind control herself, even went as far as cutting off her own limbs, using poison, and many other dangerous things.

She spent almost five hours just testing her body over and over before finally confirming that nothing had changed—she still had full immunity to everything she tested. And whenever she wanted, she could heal instantly thanks to her regeneration ability.

"Hahhh…" she let out a breath, clearly tired after using so much Honkai energy—the same energy she got from Siegfried and the infected people in the city.

Since there was no Mana in this world, the only way she could use most of her powers—including regeneration—was by converting the Honkai energy floating in the air or taken from infected people.

She could use the power from her six wings too, but she was saving that as her trump card.

"So, only one thing left…"

She still hadn't tested the effect of an aphrodisiac on her body—leaving it for last.

Reina took a deep breath. She knew what she needed to do next.

From her memory one from her original self years ago she remembered a strange potion. It was something Cagliostro once made Rei drink. A potion filled with a strong aphrodisiac. But unfortunately for Cagliostro, Rei's body was completely immune to it, so it had no effect.

But now, Reina was going to recreate that same potion. Not because she needed it… but because she had to know if Miyuki had really affected her in a way no one else ever had.

She raised her hand slowly, focusing all her energy into the palm.

Her six dark wings burst out from her back—each one glowing faintly with dark power. Her whole body was now covered in a thick dark aura. The ground around her started to hum and shake from the amount of energy building up.

Closing her eyes, she pulled the memory forward—the exact details of the potion, how it looked, the concept, the ingredients and the effects. She focused every detail into her creation.

"Creation: Potion of Lust," she said in a low voice.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the dimension around her shook. The sky above flickered, and some of the floating blue cubes trembled. But thankfully, because this was her own dimension, the chaotic energy stayed contained.

On Reina's right hand, a soft purple light appeared, floating and pulsing. That light began to change shape, slowly becoming more solid, more detailed… and then finally turned into a small, glowing potion bottle. The liquid inside was a shimmering purple color, and even from a distance, it gave off a warm, strange scent.

Reina looked at it for a long time. Her expression was serious. If the potion worked… it meant something was really wrong with her body. Or maybe not wrong… maybe just different.

"…Let's find out," she whispered, lifting the bottle slightly.

Reina stared at the glowing bottle in her hand.

Slowly, she opened the cap.

The moment the seal broke, a wave of thick, sweet scent rushed out. It hit her like a wall. Her eyes widened slightly. She hadn't even drunk it yet, but her body was already reacting.

Her skin started sweating almost instantly. A light tremble ran through her hands, then her legs. Her heart began to beat faster. She could feel it thumping loudly in her ears. Her lips parted as she tried to take a slow breath—but the scent only made things worse.

Her head felt light, spinning just from the smell. Her mouth watered.

She could stop now. It was clear that the potion was already working—even just from opening it.

But Reina wasn't the kind of person to back down. Especially not from something she needed to know. She was an Astral. Even if her body reacted this way, she had to understand how deep the effect went.

Without wasting another second, she brought the bottle to her lips—and gulped it all down.

The liquid slid down her throat smoothly. It tasted like roses and peonies—sweet, soft, almost like honey, but with a hint of something more dangerous underneath. The warmth spread fast, filling her chest, then her stomach, and rising toward her head like a wave of heat.

Her eyes fluttered closed.

Her knees almost buckled.

The bottle slipped from her fingers and vanished before it could hit the ground.

Reina stood still for a moment, breathing heavy.

Then it started.

Her body began to burn. Not from pain—but from something much worse. A deep, aching heat that crawled under her skin and refused to go away. Her thighs pressed together on instinct, her breathing faster, harder.

Her fingers twitched.

She grabbed her own arms, trying to hold herself still, but it didn't help. Her body wasn't listening to her. Her heart pounded wildly, her legs weak and shaking, and her lower stomach felt hot—almost too hot.

And her mind—

It was filled with nothing but one thought.

Touch. Skin. Warmth. Pleasure.

Over and over, like whispers echoing inside her head.

She gritted her teeth, trying to think. But no matter how hard she focused, her thoughts kept slipping away. Everything about her felt… needy. Desperate. Hungry.

She staggered backward, leaning against one of the floating cubes to stay upright. Her dark wings twitched, reacting to the wild energy running through her body.

"Damn it…" she muttered.

She had tested everything. Curses, poisons, manipulation—nothing worked on her. But this?

This potion broke through everything.

And she had no idea how.

"I'm really starting to think this was a mistake..."

Reina's body trembled as she slumped to the floor, her legs tightening together instinctively. Sweat ran down her skin, and her breaths came out in shallow gasps. Her body burned from the inside out, her mind drowning in waves of heat and dizziness.

She tried to focus, to force the potion out of her system using her control over energy—but trying was a generous word. Her thoughts were fuzzy, her vision blurry, and the only thing her mind craved now was pleasure.

At least, she thought, she was alone. If it came to it… she could just deal with this herself.

"Ughhh, what is this smell? It stinks so bad!"

Her heart skipped a beat at the voice. She knew it instantly—it was Kiana's, but something was off. The tone, the cadence... this wasn't Kiana. It was Sora.

Panic surged through her. Turning her head toward the crack in the air—the one connecting her dimension to the apartment—she spotted Sora covering her nose, clearly disturbed.

"Sora... Get away from here," Reina rasped, her voice barely above a whisper, weak and broken. Her body refused to cooperate.

Sora's eyes widened. She quickly scanned the space and locked eyes with Reina, who was crumpled on the floor in a mess of sweat and trembling limbs.

"Reina?!" Sora instantly teleported across the gap, landing beside her, worry written all over her face.

"What happened here?! What kind of experiment did you do this tim—ugh, that smell again!"

She gagged, covering her face. "It's horrible! What is that?!"

"Well..." Reina muttered with a strained smile, still trying to keep herself together.

A few seconds later, after a quick explanation...

"Are you kidding me?! You cut off your limbs, cursed yourself, poisoned yourself and drank aphrodisiac all in one night?!"

Reina gave a weak grin. "Ahh... so you do care about me..."

"That's not the point!" Sora shouted, crouching down, her hands reaching out to check on Reina's body.

But before she could touch her, Reina jolted and crawled back with what little strength she had left. Her eyes were glassy, but her voice was sharp.

"No—don't touch me!"

"My body is really sensitive right now... so just leave me alone for a few hours..." Reina said through gritted teeth, her voice still trembling as she struggled to keep herself steady.

"Sensitive? Is this like what that Tuna feels every day?"

Reina froze. That was... not what she expected to hear from Sora.

Did she just say Kiana felt like this every day? That burning heat in her body, the dizziness, the overwhelming urge for something more from her...? And Sora knew because she could feel what Kiana felt?

"...Probably," Reina muttered under her breath. "So just leave me be."

Sora didn't say anything for a while. She just stood there, quietly staring at Reina with those sharp, bright yellow eyes. Her gaze moved slowly—from Reina's sweat-covered forehead, down to her trembling legs.

She never see her this weak before, because usually Reina is the one that always scared her with some weird power.

But now, seeing her weak, flustered, and defenseless like this...

Something inside Sora stirred.

"Hmm~~"

That sound escaped her lips, playful and curious.

Instead of backing off, she stepped closer.

"Sora...?"

Before Reina could react, Sora suddenly tackled her to the floor, pinning her down with ease.

"Sora?!" Reina's voice cracked, still weak, as her back hit the cool ground.

Sora now above her, their faces only inches apart. From that distance, she could clearly see how much Reina was sweating. The thin clothes she wore had turned nearly transparent, sticking to her skin, revealing the faint outline of her underwear beneath.

Sora's eyes lingered for a moment, not out of intention, but pure surprise—her usual curiosity starting to blend with something else as warmth flushed her cheeks.

Then Reina's voice pulled her back. "W-What are you doing? Get off me..." she said, trying to push Sora away.

But Sora only smiled—mischievous, as always—and with one swift motion, grabbed both of Reina's wrists with her left arm and pinned them above her head.

"Wha—Sora!!" Reina struggled, but she couldn't resist with her body still weakened and hazy from the potion's effect.

"I'm just curious," Sora said, her voice low and playful, a hint of mischief dancing in her tone. "It's the first time I've seen you like this, Reina." Her smile widened, and she leaned closer, her breath warm against Reina's skin.

Reina's heart raced as Sora moved, her face brushing close to Reina's ear. "Do you want my help?" Sora whispered, her voice a soft, tantalizing murmur that sent a shiver down Reina's spine. Then, in a fleeting, bold moment, Sora's tongue lick the edge of Reina's ear, a playful gesture that was entirely unlike her usual self.

"Eghhh!?" Reina gasped, her eyes widening in shock. Sora had never been so forward, so… provocative. Reina's mind spun, wondering if Kiana, with her wild influence, had somehow rubbed off on Sora, coaxing out this unfamiliar, daring side of her.

Sora tilted her head, her white hair falling like a curtain as she leaned closer again.

"So," she whispered "do you want it?" The words hung in the air, teasing and heavy with promise.

Reina's body trembled, a wave of warmth spreading through her, amplified by the strange, intoxicating haze clouding her thoughts. She couldn't think clearly—her mind was a whirl of sensation, her lower body tingling with heat. All she could manage was a shy nod, her teeth biting her lower lip as she tried to steady herself.

Sora's smile grew, a mix of delight and something softer, almost bashful. Her cheeks flushed a bright pink, betraying a hint of embarrassment beneath her bold facade. But she didn't pull back. Instead, she leaned in, her lips curling with a playful edge.

"Then beg for it," she teased, her voice low and sultry, her tongue darting out to brush her own lips in a fleeting, coy gesture.

Reina's breath hitched, her heart pounding as she met Sora's gaze, caught between nervous anticipation and the thrilling pull of the moment. Whatever had sparked this change in Sora, it was electrifying—and Reina wasn't sure she wanted it to stop.