Investing In My Four Crippled Yandere Wives Get 1000x Returns
Chapter 15|Phoenix Down

Chapter 15: 15|Phoenix Down

The warmth hit Allen in his sleep, spreading through his chest like a slow-burning ember, and he woke gasping on the couch just past midnight, heart pounding, skin faintly flushed with heat that had no obvious source.

[Reward Manifestation: Bloodline Acquisition]

[None → Salamander Bloodline (Minor)]

[Effect: Host gains minor fire resistance, minor regenerative capability, and passive low-tier heat generation. Bloodline dormant; further exposure and bonding will accelerate evolution.]

Allen sat up slowly, staring at his own hands in the dark, half-expecting to see flames dancing across his fingertips. Nothing so dramatic happened, but when he pressed his palm flat against the cold wooden floor, he could feel a faint, steady warmth radiating outward, like his own body had quietly decided to run a few degrees hotter than it used to.

’A bloodline. An actual bloodline.’ He thought back to the accumulated points from the hearing, from Myria’s kiss, from three weeks of quiet, steady effort finally cresting some threshold he hadn’t realized was there. ’Dormant, it says. Meaning this is just the beginning.’

He didn’t get much more time to process it before the soft creak of footsteps in the hallway announced Irene’s arrival, red hair mussed from sleep, expression caught somewhere between curious and concerned.

"You okay?" she asked, voice pitched a little too loud for the late hour, as always. "I felt something weird. Like heat, almost. Woke me right up."

Allen blinked. "You felt it?"

"Phoenix bloodline," Irene said, tapping her own chest. "We’re sensitive to fire-adjacent energy shifts nearby. Kind of comes with the territory." She studied him more closely, eyes narrowing slightly. "Wait. Is that— did you just get warmer?"

"...Apparently I have a Salamander bloodline now," Allen admitted.

Irene’s eyes went wide, delighted surprise breaking across her face. "Okay, WHAT. You have got to explain that later, but right now I need you to know that’s actually really exciting, because—" She dropped onto the couch beside him without waiting for an invitation, tucking her legs up, red hair catching the faint moonlight. "—phoenix and salamander bloodlines are cousins, basically. Both fire-affinity, different branches of the same old family tree. It’s practically fate."

"Practically," Allen echoed, amused despite himself.

Irene grinned, then, after a beat, her expression shifted into something quieter, more thoughtful — a rare stillness from someone whose default setting was restless energy. "Can I tell you something? About the phoenix thing."

"Always."

She drew her knees up further, wrapping her arms loosely around them. "Phoenix bloodlines are supposed to be about rebirth. That’s the whole legend, right? Burn down, rise back up stronger. Real poetic stuff." A humorless laugh. "Funny how nobody mentions that the rising back up part isn’t guaranteed. Sometimes you just... stay burned."

Allen said nothing, letting her continue at her own pace.

"I awakened Mythic-tier pyrokinesis when I was fifteen," Irene continued, quieter now than he’d ever heard her, volume dropping despite her inability to hear herself well. "Youngest Mythic-tier awakening the Association had logged in a decade. Everyone called me a prodigy. My family paraded me around like a trophy." She picked at a loose thread on the couch cushion, gaze distant. "Then during a raid two years ago, an enemy caster hit me with a sound-based attack designed to disorient. Overloaded my eardrums instead. Permanent damage. Couldn’t hear a thing after that."

"Irene—"

"The worst part wasn’t losing my hearing," she said, cutting him off, voice tightening. "It was watching my family’s expressions the moment they realized deafness meant I couldn’t verbally coordinate with a raid team anymore. Like watching a light just... switch off behind their eyes. One day I was their prodigy. The next, I was a liability with excellent flames and no future in active duty." She let out a short, bitter laugh. "Rebirth, right? Burn down, rise back up stronger. Except nobody warned me the rising back up part requires someone actually willing to catch you first."

Allen reached out, hesitating only slightly before resting his hand over hers where it still picked anxiously at the loose thread. "I’m willing," he said quietly. "For what it’s worth."

Irene went still, gaze flicking up to meet his, something raw and unguarded flickering behind her usual bright, restless energy. "You mean that?"

"I do."

Something in her expression cracked, just slightly — the constant performance of loud, cheerful energy she used to armor herself against exactly this kind of vulnerability finally slipping, if only for a moment. "You’re annoyingly sincere, you know that?" she said, voice thick. "Makes it real hard to keep pretending I don’t actually like having you around."

"Is that so bad?"

"Terrifying, actually," Irene admitted, a wet laugh escaping her despite herself. "I don’t do vulnerable well. Never have. Easier to be loud and annoying and let people underestimate how much things actually get to me."

"I don’t underestimate you," Allen said simply. "I don’t think I could, even if I tried."

Irene stared at him for a long moment, something warm and fierce and entirely unguarded blooming behind her crimson eyes. Then, without further warning, she surged forward and kissed him — quick, fierce, and utterly unrestrained, nothing like the soft, hesitant warmth of Myria’s kiss the night before, but no less genuine for its intensity.

She pulled back just as abruptly, cheeks flushed, expression caught somewhere between triumphant and mortified. "Okay. Wow. Didn’t plan that. But also, zero regrets, so."

Allen laughed, warm and surprised, some of the ache from her earlier confession easing at the sight of her grin creeping back into place, brighter now, more genuine than the usual performance she wore.

[Investment Detected: Milestone — "Dependent shared deep vulnerability, followed by unprompted romantic intimacy."]

[Sincerity: Very High. Emotional Impact: Extreme.]

[Reward Generated: +550 Investment Points.]

[Bonus Condition Met: Bloodline resonance detected — Phoenix and Salamander affinity alignment. Bonus Multiplier +4x applied.]

[Total Reward: 2,200 Investment Points.]

[Reward Manifestation: Bloodline Evolution]

[Salamander Bloodline (Minor) → Fire Drake Bloodline (Rare)]

[Effect: Significantly enhanced fire resistance, active low-tier flame generation, improved regenerative capability under fire-adjacent conditions.]

Allen felt the warmth in his chest flare briefly, sharper and more present than before, and glanced down to see the faintest curl of orange light flicker across his knuckles before fading.

Irene’s eyes went wide, delighted. "Okay, that’s just showing off now."

"I didn’t do anything," Allen said, though he couldn’t quite suppress his own grin.

"Sure you didn’t." Irene bumped her shoulder against his, settling more comfortably beside him on the couch, some of her usual restless energy softened into something quieter, more content. "Guess we match now. Fire and fire." She glanced up at him, something soft and genuine in her expression despite the teasing edge of her voice. "I could get used to that."

"So could I," Allen said quietly, and meant it entirely.