It happened so fast, nobody had time to process it.
One moment, they were lounging at the newly-renovated guildhall, basking in post-dungeon victory glow. MC was reclining in a hammock he'd insisted on installing right in the middle of the common room, wearing sunglasses, sipping juice through a twisty straw, and declaring himself the "Harem Hero Supreme." The girls were spread out around the room — Kira sharpening her blade (with unnecessary aggression), Iris meditating while floating three inches off the ground, Lina reading an advanced grimoire titled Please Don't Explode (Again), Luna doodling sigils with dreamy precision, and Ciel cleaning her sword with clinical intensity while mumbling, "Systems are dumb. Systems are fake. I do not like him."
And then it pinged.
DING!
[Affection Level: Kira - 100% ♥]
[Affection Level: Iris - 100% ♥]
[Affection Level: Lina - 100% ♥]
MC blinked.
Then blinked again.
Then sat up so fast his juice flew into the air.
"Uh... Guys? Girls? Ladies? Wonderful, amazing party members who definitely aren't about to murder me?"
They all looked at him. Simultaneously. Too simultaneously.
Something shimmered in the air — visible sparkles of pinkish-gold system energy pulsing between them. Magical threads wove through the space, linking Kira's flaming rage, Iris's serene power, and Lina's chaotic brilliance into a single, overwhelming triad of affection-triggered feedback.
"Waitwaitwait—" MC held up both hands. "We can talk about this. Slowly. Calmly. Without magic. Or explosions. Or—you know—existential annihilation."
Too late.
The magic surged.
A sudden whirlwind of elemental chaos erupted: fire spirals danced with timestream ripples, while wild arcane glyphs formed midair and began merging. The system blared in his ears:
[Tri-Fusion Detected!]
[Harem King: Passive Ability - Heart Sync Overdrive (Unlocked)]
[Caution: Affection Overload Threshold Exceeded.]
[Biological Vessel (YOU) Not Optimized for Fusion Feedback.]
[Initiating Emergency Magical Containment.]
"Emergency what now—?"
The air cracked with light.
Kira's blade ignited into a phoenix shape that shot around the room, carving burning runes into the walls (Kaela would not be pleased). Iris glowed with silver light as her body briefly split into multiple timelines, then snapped back together with a thunderous BOOM. Lina's eyes glowed like twin suns as her spellbook flipped itself open and began casting spells on its own — in Latin. Probably ancient Latin. Probably the kind that screams.
MC, bless his dumb heroic heart, tried to keep up.
"Okay—Kira, you're angry and adorable! Iris, you're calm and slightly terrifying! Lina, you're smart and—AH, STOP THAT BOOK!—but I love how you always back us up and—WHY IS MY ARM GLOWING—"
His body lit up like a mana Christmas tree. Symbols pulsed across his skin. His feet hovered slightly above the floor. His pupils turned into tiny hearts, and he managed one last confused sentence:
"I think I'm becoming magical girl bait—"
Then he promptly fainted.
Nosebleed.
Epic one.
Face-first into the hammock.
The girls stood over him, glowing and steaming with residual power, each looking mildly horrified, extremely embarrassed, or — in Kira's case — completely in denial.
"I didn't mean to hit 100%," Kira muttered, cheeks red as her flames. "I blame the potion from last dungeon."
"I told you this might happen if three of us synchronized," Iris said calmly, floating again. "Though… the synchronization level was higher than I predicted."
Lina turned several shades of red. "I-I didn't think the affection system was literal! It's not like I like him or anything—okay maybe a little—but that was just a spike! A magical spike! Anyone could've had one!"
"He's... still twitching," Ciel said, poking MC's glowing forehead with the hilt of her sword. "That can't be good. Also, what the hell is Heart Sync Overdrive?"
"It's... a phenomenon," Luna said, eyes distant, reading a glowing System window only she could see. "Three or more maximum-affection links causes system convergence. Basically, their feelings overloaded his stats and created... well... a magical meltdown."
"A magical harem meltdown," Kaela corrected from the doorway, raising a cup of tea with disturbing calm. "Saw it coming. Honestly surprised it didn't happen sooner."
They stared at her.
"What? You don't name your spreadsheets after potential affection-triggered explosions?"
Ciel groaned. "This guild is insane."
"Insanely lovable," MC mumbled from the hammock, now tangled in magical sparkles and his own nosebleed. "Ten outta ten. Would faint again..."
"Don't tempt us," Kira growled, though her fire flickered a soft pink for just a moment.
Outside the window, dark clouds began gathering. The world was shifting.
But inside the guildhall?
Chaos had a new name.
And it was "Affection Overload."
END OF CHAPTER 81