Harem Cultivation System

The man in the flame hoodie flicked the blood off his sneaker like it was nothing more than rainwater.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he called out, loud enough for the entire cabin to hear through the shredded hull, "this is a hijacking. Nothing personal — just business. Cooperate, and you all go home with a wild story to tell. Don’t, and well..." He gestured lazily at the headless corpse behind him. "You’ve already seen the alternative."

Four more figures dropped down from the sky behind him, landing in a loose formation along the wing. A woman with skin like cracked porcelain. A hulking man whose muscles bulged unnaturally beneath his coat. A thin, twitchy man with mismatched eyes. And a bald man who hadn’t stopped smiling since he landed.

"We represent the Cindre Consortium," Flame Hoodie continued. "You’re going to make a very generous donation to us, or this pretty bird is going down in pieces."

*Ransom, huh.* Haruki cracked his knuckles. *Guess breakfast is postponed.*

"Sorry, buddy." Rosalia stepped forward, cannon already reforming around her arm. "Wrong plane."

"Oh?" Flame Hoodie grinned. "Feisty one. I like that."

"Wait." Nibel raised a hand before anyone could charge in. Her purple eyes flicked toward the terrified passengers cowering behind their seats. "If we fight here, this metal bird falls out of the sky with everyone in it."

"So what do you suggest, oh wise one?" Ariel asked dryly.

A slow, wicked smile crossed Nibel’s lips. "I suggest we borrow them for a while."

Space folded.

It wasn’t like Dao warping, which merely shifted a body from one point to another. This was different — deeper, colder. A void split open beneath each of the five assailants like the world itself had grown a mouth just for them.

"What the hell is thi—" The porcelain-skinned woman didn’t get to finish before she vanished into the dark.

One by one, they dropped through the tears in reality, screaming curses that cut off the instant they crossed the threshold.

"Nibel, you scary woman," Rosalia said, equal parts admiration and terror.

"I call it the Hollow Between." Nibel examined her nails. "A pocket outside of this world. No collateral damage, no witnesses, and best of all—" her scythe materialized in her grip, "—no escape."

"You didn’t tell us you could do that," Haruki said flatly.

"You didn’t ask."

Four more voids opened, one beneath each of them.

"I’ve assigned you each an opponent," Nibel said, already halfway through hers. "Try not to die. It would be terribly inconvenient for my afternoon."

Haruki barely had time to process the sentiment before the floor disappeared from under him.

—

He landed in absolute darkness, save for a faint grey horizon stretching in every direction — an empty, featureless plain suspended in nothing.

Two figures stood waiting for him instead of one.

"Well, well." Flame Hoodie cracked his neck. "Looks like the shadow witch decided to double up on you, kid. No offense, but you don’t exactly scream ’main event.’"

Beside him, the hulking man rolled his shoulders. Veins bulged along his forearms like coiled rope threatening to burst through skin.

’Great. Just great.’Haruki exhaled slowly, crimson Dao gathering in his palm. *Guess Nibel has a sense of humor after all.*

"Names would be nice before I put you both down," Haruki said.

"Kagen," Flame Hoodie said, spreading his arms as fire licked up from his sleeves. "And this brute here is Dosk. Strongest arm in the Consortium. Try not to let him hug you — his last hug victim needed a new spine."

"Charming." Haruki’s blade condensed fully now, red edges humming faintly. "Let’s get this over with. I have places to be."

Dosk moved first — no warning, no buildup, just raw speed packed into a frame that shouldn’t have been capable of it. His fist came down like a falling mountain.

Haruki barely rolled clear. The ground where the fist landed didn’t crack — it *crumbled*, a small crater blooming outward with a shockwave that flattened the grey mist around them.

*Copy didn’t catch a strength trait like that from anyone yet. Have to play this smart.*

"Web," Haruki muttered, threads of pure Dao snapping into existence around Dosk’s ankles.

Dosk simply flexed. The webbing snapped like wet string.

"Cute trick," Kagen said, flames curling higher around his shoulders. "My turn."

He snapped his fingers, and a wave of fire rolled across the grey plain, chewing through the mist itself.

Haruki barely got his blade up in time, crimson Dao clashing against orange flame in a shower of sparks.

"Dao: Fluxen Hitches!"

The same technique that ended the demon back in Toru Village — a fracture of red and black slashes tore toward Kagen in an instant.

Kagen didn’t dodge. He simply grinned wider, and the flames around him *bent*, swallowing every slash whole before they reached him.

"Nice try. But fire eats everything eventually." He licked his lips. "Even your little cutting technique."

*He absorbed it. Not blocked — absorbed.*

Dosk closed the distance again while Haruki was still processing that unpleasant discovery, driving a knee into his ribs hard enough to send him skidding across the endless grey floor.

Pain lanced through his side. Something had definitely cracked.

"Copy: Enhanced Vitality," Haruki gritted out, forcing his Dao into the fracture. It knitted, slower than he liked, but it knitted.

"Oh, you can heal yourself too? Adorable." Kagen raised a hand, fire coiling into a spear of pure white heat. "Let’s see how well that works against this."

"Haruki-sama doesn’t lose," came a distant, muffled voice — Ariel’s, somewhere beyond the walls of his own pocket of the Hollow Between, fighting her own battle and somehow still finding breath to shout encouragement.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Bit busy right now."

Haruki surged forward, Dao condensing into twin blades this time, aiming for the gap between Kagen and Dosk before they could box him in again.

He nearly made it.

Dosk’s arm shot out and caught him mid-stride, fingers closing around his throat with bone-crushing force.

"Got you," Dosk rumbled — his first words, low and gravelly, like stone grinding against stone.

"Perfect timing," Kagen said.

The spear of white-hot flame surged forward, and Dosk didn’t let go.

"Any last words, kid?" Kagen asked, almost gently.

"Yeah." Haruki managed a strained, bloody grin despite the grip crushing his windpipe. "Ariel’s going to be pissed you ruined her new wallpaper photo."

Kagen blinked. "...What?"

The flame hit him anyway.

It didn’t just burn — it consumed, rolling over his skin, his clothes, his Dao, swallowing him whole in a pillar of white and gold that lit up the entire grey void like a second sun.

Somewhere, faintly, he thought he heard Ariel scream his name.

Then there was nothing but fire.

— End of Chapter —