"Ahh- agh, yes... fuck me harder!"
The woman on the big screen let out a ragged moan that filled the studio.
Thup-thup-thup.
The rhythmic sound of skin hitting skin echoed through the speakers. Onscreen, the man, sweaty, focused, and relentless, growled back at her. "You like that? You like that, you fucking slut?"
That man was me.
We were huddled in the editing suite, reviewing the dailies from my latest scene with Mariah Red. Our director, Mr. Carlson, sat between us, his face illuminated by the blue light of the monitors. From the flush on Mariah's cheeks and the predatory glow in Carlson's eyes, I knew we'd nailed it.
I was a pornstar. Still an amateur by industry standards, sure, but this scene? This was the one. Looking at the way Mariah was arched on that screen, I could tell it was the best work I'd done since I started.
Beside me, the real Mariah kept glancing my way every time her onscreen persona screamed my name.
Fuck, I thought, watching her. She really felt that. If I play my cards right, she's back at my apartment tonight.
Mr. Carlson finally reached for the remote and clicked pause. The frame froze on a messy, high-def shot of our climax. After a few seconds of heavy silence, he exploded out of his chair.
"Come here!" he boomed, throwing his arms wide. "You deserve a hug!"
He pulled Mariah into a crushing embrace, kissing her on both cheeks, before spinning toward me. He grabbed my hand and pumped it with enough force to dislocate a shoulder.
"That's what I'm talking about, Thomas! That's what I'm fucking talking about! That scene right there? That's gold, motherfucker. Pure, unadulterated gold!"
I grinned, leaning back into the pride of it. "Told you I had it in me, Carlson. I know how to use my equipment."
I had to. In this world, you either have a gift or you're a footnote.
Ten years ago, the mana apocalypse hit. The sky tore open, the world drowned in magic, and beasts started pouring out of dungeons to turn us into appetizers. Some people "awakened", gained superpowers, leveled up, and became the new aristocracy. They got the glory, the money, and the safety of the inner walls.
The rest of us, the unawakened, were the bottom-feeders. We couldn't hunt monsters, so we had to find other ways to keep the lights on.
Turns out, even when the world is ending, people still love to goon. They need a distraction from the reality that a dungeon break could happen tomorrow and they'd be getting fucked by a manticore instead of a starlet.
I'd chosen porn. Not just for the paycheck, but because if the world was going to hell, I wanted to be balls-deep in as many beautiful women as possible before the curtain closed.
"What do you think, Mariah?" Carlson asked, still buzzing.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking at me with a coy smile. "He was fantastic. Honestly? Probably one of the best I've ever had."
I felt a little prick of ego. "Just one of the best?"
She giggled, a sharp contrast to the moans we'd just heard. "I've had a lot of men, Thomas. I don't know if you've cracked the top five yet, but you're definitely in the elite tier."
"Jesus," Carlson laughed. "Remind me what the body count is at now?"
"Counting Thomas? Probably fifty-eight, fifty-nine," she said casually.
"Faaaaahhh!" I joked, throwing my hands up. "I've got work to do."
I wasn't actually that far behind her, maybe fifteen bodies off, but in this business, those were rookie numbers.
"Still low for a pro," Carlson said, clapping us both on the shoulders. "You've both got a long way to go before you're legends. But for today? We're done. That's scene twenty-four for the Lady and twelve for the gentleman. It's a wrap!"
I watched Mariah walk away. She'd been a hell of a fuck on camera, but the way she moved when the red light was off? That was even better.
"I'll text you both about the next shoot," Carlson called out, packing his gear. "And remember the rule: No extracurriculars. Don't you two dare touch each other off-set."
That was his 'Sanctity of the Scene' protocol. He had some bullshit theory that if we fucked for free, the chemistry on camera would go stale. He was the only one who actually believed it. In this industry, boundaries were for people who still had something to lose.
The second Carlson's car pulled out of the lot, I caught up to Mariah near the equipment lockers.
"So," I said, leaning against the cold metal. "You want to spend the night actually finishing what we started?"
She didn't even blink. "You read my mind, Thomas. I was about to invite myself over anyway."
"My place or yours?"
"Since you asked first, yours," she said, a wicked little smirk playing on her lips. "Wait for me outside. I'm going to ride the life out of you tonight."
I watched her disappear into the changing rooms. That ass was a goddamn masterpiece, a perfect, defiant bubble butt in a world that was falling apart.
I'm going to destroy it, I thought, the anticipation already tightening in my gut.
I headed outside into the biting night air. It was pitch black, the kind of darkness you only get when half the city's power grid is being diverted to the Hunter Academy.
A few shadows, unawakened laborers like me, hurried along the cracked pavement, heads down.
I sparked a cigarette, the cherry glowing bright as I took a greedy drag.
Fifty-nine bodies, I mused, watching the smoke vanish into the smog. Rookie numbers. We both still have a long way to go.
Everyone in this shithole had a dream. The kids in the slums dreamed of awakening as S-Rank Hunters, soloing dungeons, and living in penthouses.
My ambitions were simpler. I wanted the record. I wanted the highest body count in human history. I wanted to bed every beautiful woman left on this dying rock before my heart or my cock, gave out.
"Mariah's taking too long," I muttered, grinding the cigarette butt under my boot.
Then, the air changed.
A low hum started in the earth, followed instantly by the soul-chilling wail of the sirens.
This was the jagged, rhythmic pulse of a Dungeon Break.
"Fuck," I hissed, looking toward the skyline. "At this hour?"
The sound wasn't coming from the secure zones.
It was close, too fucking close. The sky a few blocks away began to bleed a sickly, neon purple.
Something was wrong. My pulse hammered in my throat, not from lust anymore, but from pure, cold instinct. There wasn't a Dungeon Gate for five miles in any direction.
This shouldn't be happening.
Before I could even wrap my head around the logistics, the world exploded.
CRACK-BOOM!
A shockwave of dust and pulverized concrete slammed into me, nearly knocking me off my feet. Something massive had just vaulted out of the sky and caved in the roof of the studio I'd just stepped out of.
I froze, my heart trying to kick its way out of my chest. My eyes darted through the billowing gray clouds, searching for the source of the impact.
That's when I saw her.
Perched on the edge of the opposite rooftop was a Hunter. She had red hair and a matching armor. She didn't look like a hero; she looked like a bored predator.
A piercing, multi-tonal shriek tore through the air from inside the studio. I spun around, my stomach dropping through the floor.
The structural beams were groaning. The entire building was tilting, pancaking under the weight of whatever monster that "hero" had just drop-kicked into it.
Mariah.She's still in there.
The realization hit me at the same time I noticed the shadow growing over my head. I looked up.
That shitty red-haired Hunter had sheared off a massive decorative cornice in the process. A three-ton slab of reinforced granite was hurtling toward me, blotting out the neon purple sky.
I didn't even have time to scream.
CRUNCH.
Darkness. Absolute, fucking heavy, and fucking silent.
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A/N: As promised guys. This is my new project. Please support it by adding to your Library and voting with powerstones.