the aftermath of the war

After the last of her intense, unrestrained orgasms finally faded, Shenhe collapsed against Aether on the cold floor of the throne room.

All the feral bloodlust and exaggerated emotion drained away, leaving something much softer. She nuzzled into his arms like an oversized, contented puppy — face pressed against his chest, body curled around him, making small, happy sounds as she clung to the man she had just protected with everything she had.

Cloud Retainer stood over them, staring in open disbelief.

She had suspected it after the events on Mt. Aocang, but seeing the proof so clearly still left her momentarily speechless. The calamity she had raised and restrained for years only truly calmed — only became capable of this kind of gentle attachment — when Aether was near. Her suspicion had been correct. He was not the trigger that made Shenhe lose control. He was the only thing that gave her control over herself.

Still, the restraints needed to be restored.

Cloud Retainer quickly repaired the shredded red ropes with adeptal power and stepped forward to put them back on her student.

Shenhe’s reaction was immediate and completely childish.

She turned her face away, clinging tighter to Aether, and actually pouted.

“I don’t wanna…” she mumbled, voice small and stubborn. “Don’t like them… feel better without…”

The ancient adeptus looked like she was about to have a headache.

Only when Aether gently stroked Shenhe’s hair and quietly requested it — “It’s okay. Put them back on for now.” — did the tall woman reluctantly release him.

She sat still with a sulky expression while Cloud Retainer carefully re-applied the full set of restraining ropes. The moment the final binding settled into place, the change happened again.

The open emotion, the puppy-like affection, the childish pouting… all of it faded.

Shenhe’s face returned to its usual blank, stoic mask. She stood up, posture rigid and socially awkward once more, and simply said in her flat tone:

“…Understood.”

The contrast was almost jarring.

Cloud Retainer let out a long, complicated breath of relief mixed with lingering amazement.

Aether had just watched his most dangerous companion go from unrestrained calamity, to clingy puppy, to pouting child, and finally back to the quiet, expressionless woman they all knew — all in the span of a few minutes.

In the aftermath of the chaos outside Tenshukaku, Rosaria finally released Kujou Sara.

The tengu general had been pinned face-down in the dirt for what felt like an eternity, one of the nun’s cold boots pressing between her shoulder blades while frost still clung to her wings and armor. Rosaria had deliberately sought her out during the battle — not because Sara was the greatest threat, but because she was the one who had ordered the artillery strike that knocked Aether unconscious.

The nun had spent the entire fight playing with her.

Not killing. Not even seriously maiming her, mostly. Just systematically breaking her down with precise, sadistic efficiency: freezing joints, breaking bones, slamming her into the ground over and over whenever she tried to rise, all while whispering filthy, mocking commentary about what Aether would do to her later if he felt like it.

Now Rosaria finally stepped off her.

Sara pushed herself up on shaky arms, armor dented, feathers cut, one wing still half-frozen. She looked around at the scattered remains of her forces and the absolute maniacs who had torn through them.

In her eyes, every single one of them was insane.

The bloodlust Rosaria had shown her was nothing compared to the pure, protective catastrophe Shenhe had unleashed inside the throne room… but it was still more than enough to leave Sara’s hands trembling.

She didn’t want revenge.

She didn’t want to report back.

She didn’t even want to understand what the fuck had just happened to her Archon.

Kujou Sara, general of the Tenryou Commission, simply wanted to go home, take off her armor, and pretend this entire day had been a fever dream.

Rosaria watched her stumble away with a lazy, satisfied smirk, already turning back toward the palace where Aether and the others were.

“Tell your friends the next one who points cannons at him gets the same treatment,” she called after the tengu, voice light and almost cheerful. “Or worse.”

Sara didn’t answer.

one very broken tengu general was finally allowed to leave with nothing but the memory of a sadistic nun who had decided she needed to be taught a personal lesson.

Sara’s only remaining goal in life at that moment was a quiet room and the chance to never see any of these maniacs again.