Level Up Love Life System

Chapter 6: The 65-Degree Coffee Mission

Thick dust still hung heavy in the air, blurring Felisa's vision. Her heart pounded wildly, a sensation she had never felt before. She ignored the three stone gargoyles beginning to surround her, her eyes fixed solely on the mound of ruins where Saddam had just been standing.

"Saddam?" Felisa whispered, her voice choking up.

Behind the clouds of dust, a faint blue light suddenly flickered. It was the glow from the system screen, triggering Saddam's emergency ability. The ear-piercing sound of massive stones shifting rang out. Saddam emerged from behind the rubble with his clothes torn at the shoulder, his breath coming in gasps and cold sweat soaking his grime-streaked face.

"I'm not ready to die today, Captain!" Saddam shouted between coughs.

Felisa reflexively took a breath of relief, but she immediately hid her emotions back behind an icy mask. "You absolute fool! How dare you worry me like that!"

Without waiting for Saddam's reply, Felisa lunged forward. With one elegant movement, she swung her Eisbrecher sword, now enveloped in a golden light from their synchronization. She sliced the first gargoyle in half with one clean stroke.

Saddam watched his system screen as it blinked rapidly. Tactical data appeared before his eyes. "Felisa, two other gargoyles are trying to flank you from seven o'clock! Use an ice stomp on the floor!"

Felisa didn't think twice. She trusted the courier's instincts completely. She slammed her right foot onto the shattered marble floor. Ice spread with lightning speed, freezing both monsters into fragile crystal statues. Felisa then spun around and shattered the statues with a single thrust of her palm.

"Good," Felisa praised briefly, though her face looked slightly flushed from exhaustion and the thrill of battle.

The two of them stood amidst the chaos, their breaths echoing one another's. Saddam approached until they were only inches apart. He could feel the cold radiating from Felisa's body, a sharp contrast to the heat of the lingering rift magic still drifting through the room.

"You always know exactly what I should do, don't you?" Felisa asked, her gaze softening for a moment, though there was a sharp glint demanding an honest answer.

"That's because you're all I can see, Captain. In my eyes, you're the only real thing in the middle of this nightmare," Saddam replied, attempting a smooth line he hoped would increase their synchronization points.

Felisa's face instantly turned bright red. She wanted to scold Saddam for being so bold, yet her body refused to move away. "You really have no fear, talking to me like that, do you?"

Before their romantic debate could continue, the hall floor shook again. A new dimensional rift, far larger than the previous one, appeared directly above them. This time, the aura didn't belong to a minor monster. A giant claw made of pitch-black shadows gripped the edge of the rift, slowly pulling the body of a much more powerful demon into the physical world.

"Zara," Saddam muttered, recognizing that cunning aura.

Felisa tightened her grip on her sword. "A high-level demon. Saddam, if this is the end, at least I'm glad I don't have to die alone."

Saddam was stunned to hear those words. He looked at Felisa, who stood there in silver armor that was slightly cracked but still radiated the majesty of a Valkyrie. "We aren't going to die. Because I'm not letting you go anywhere until I get a proper coffee date with you."

Felisa let out a small laugh that sounded rare and beautiful. "You really are a madman. Get ready, because I'm going to use every last bit of my mana reserves for this attack. If I fall, you must escape."

Saddam clenched his fists, feeling his system reach a critical point. "If you fall, I'm falling with you. Those are the rules of our contract, aren't they?"

The atmosphere suddenly became deathly silent. The demon emerging from the rift let out a roar that shattered the castle windows into fragments. A purple light filled the room, swallowing Felisa and Saddam in a shroud of lethal energy. Felisa turned toward Saddam, looking at him with a gaze full of suppressed longing.

"Take my hand, Saddam. Let's see just how far we can go," Felisa said in a soft tone that pierced the heart.

Saddam reached for Felisa's cold fingers. That touch triggered a blinding explosion of golden light, far more powerful than anything they had ever created. The entire castle hall was enveloped in a synchronization aura that wrapped them both in a single bond of energy. Felisa felt her power double, while Saddam felt as though his heart might explode from the intense sensation of happiness.

Both of them jumped simultaneously toward the giant demon, Felisa's ice sword now glowing with a blinding gold. Just as they were about to launch their final strike, the dimensional rift suddenly sucked in all the surrounding energy, creating a powerful vacuum.

Saddam felt his body being forcibly pulled into a vortex of darkness. He still gripped Felisa's hand tightly, unwilling to let go even as the vortex tried to tear them apart. Felisa looked at Saddam with teary eyes, her cold hand now feeling incredibly warm in Saddam's grasp.

"Don't let go!" Felisa screamed amidst the deafening roar of the wind.

"Never!" Saddam shouted back.

The vortex carried them into an intermediate dimension, a place where time and space lost their meaning. They fell into an infinite darkness, held together only by the golden light of their strengthening synchronization bond. Felisa pulled Saddam's body into her arms to shield him from the dimensional shock, creating a moment that was both deeply intimate and deadly at the same time.

Saddam could feel Felisa's rapid heartbeat right against his chest. He returned the embrace tightly, feeling as if the world around them no longer mattered. However, as they continued to fall, a massive shadow appeared before them. It was Zara, waiting at the edge of the void, holding a black rose with its petals now fully bloomed.

"Welcome to the real game," Zara whispered, her voice echoing throughout the dimension.

Saddam and Felisa landed hard in a strange place filled with thousands of mirrors reflecting their faces in various intimate positions. Felisa released her embrace and looked around with deep suspicion. They were no longer in the castle. They were in the heart of a hidden demonic dimension.

"Where are we?" Felisa asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Saddam stared at a mirror reflection showing him kissing Felisa's forehead. He looked at his system screen, which now displayed a shocking new status.

[Synchronization reached 50 percent. Side effect: User and Target will share their deepest emotions with one another, unable to hide them.]

Felisa saw the reflection too. Her face flushed a deep crimson. She could feel the love, fear, and desire that Saddam kept locked away in his heart. And vice versa, Saddam could feel Felisa's doubts and her deep longing to be loved by someone who could see her true self without the military armor.

"So, this is your secret, Saddam?" Felisa whispered, her eyes now tearing up as she stared at their reflections, which looked so incredibly fragile.

Saddam could only stand in silence, unable to say a word as Felisa's emotions flooded his mind, far too intense to hold back. Suddenly, one of the mirrors in front of them cracked, and the giant demon they had just fought emerged from within—only now, it had taken the form of a human with a face identical to Saddam's.

"Let's see who survives if you must kill one another to get out of here," Zara's voice echoed from behind the shadows of the mirror, issuing a challenge that made both their breaths catch in their chests.