Lilith didn't move.
Not after catching her.
Not even after the others spoke.
She stayed there, still as stone, Chiori's head resting against her chest—too light, too quiet, but breathing. Barely.
Her hand hovered over the faintly glowing seal on Chiori's palm, where Yukihana had vanished moments ago. The pulse of gravity around it had faded, but the memory hadn't.
Lilith looked down at her.
Not with fear.
With something harder to name.
"You always push past the edge," she whispered. "Even when it tears you apart."
Her fingers brushed a lock of hair from Chiori's forehead, slow and careful.
"I don't know if you're a miracle or a warning."
A breath.
Then softer:
"But I know you didn't deserve to carry this alone."
The words weren't for anyone else.
They weren't even for Chiori, not really.
They were for herself.
Because for the first time since she met her, Lilith realized she hadn't been watching Chiori grow.
She'd been watching her fracture.
Quietly.
Gracefully.
And now publicly.
And Lilith had no idea how to stop it.
She pulled Chiori in a little closer, shielding her from the cool air, the broken glyphs, the eyes still lingering behind them.
"You're still you," she whispered. "Even if no one else understands what that means."
She looked down at her face—peaceful now, too still—and something behind Lilith's eyes cracked just slightly.
"…She used to look like that too. Like she could bear the world if no one else would."
Her hand lingered near the seal on Chiori's palm.
"I always hated that about her."
A pause.
"I think I hated that she was right."
Then she blinked, caught herself, and closed her mouth before anything else could slip through.
She adjusted Chiori's weight gently on her back.
Stood up.
Her expression was carved from something colder than frost. Controlled. Tired. But clear.
She turned to the others, voice cutting through the stillness.
"Fall back."
Eldric blinked, still slouched against the wall. "What?"
Lilith shifted her grip on Chiori. "We're not staying down here any longer. The glyphs are broken, the mana's unstable, and the entrance could collapse if another surge happens. We're moving now—before something worse wakes up."
One of the soldiers hesitated, looking toward the broken remains of the slime. "Are we even sure it's safe out there?"
"I didn't say safe." Lilith's eyes flared faintly. "I said move."
Asmodeus stood slowly, rubbing a cracked shoulder, eyes flicking between her and the shadows at the edges of the chamber.
He rolled his wrist once—then whistled.
Low.
Sharp.
The kind of sound meant for trained ears only.
From the darker corners of the ruin, three cloaked figures emerged—silent, faceless, their mana signatures completely masked until now.
One stepped forward, kneeling with a hand over their chest in the style of old Napaji vassals.
"You called, young master?"
Asmodeus nodded toward Lilith, now carrying Chiori with a death-grip calm. "Escort formation. Sweep ahead and behind. No gaps."
He paused—then added, quieter but sharp:
"She's the mission now. No questions."
The shadows didn't blink.
They vanished just as fast as they arrived.
As the last of Asmodeus' shadows slipped into the gloom, the quiet returned.
But it didn't last.
A breeze that didn't belong stirred the dust.
Then—a drop.
Not of water.
Of silence.
A new figure materialized out of nothing—landing lightly in a crouch, masked, cloaked in dark Saegusa garb. Their crest glinted only once: the crescent of House Saegusa, inked in steel thread.
Not one of Asmodeus' agents.
Hinata's.
The figure rose slowly, eyes locking on Asmodeus.
"Report."
Asmodeus, still brushing cracked mana crust from his gloves, glanced around the ruin—at the destroyed glyphs, the shattered slime husk, the 2 unconscious guards and a bruised Lilith with an unconscious Chiori.
His voice came low.
"The anomaly wasn't a mana zone. It was a monster exuding massive amounts of mana."
The shadow stilled.
"Clarify."
Asmodeus nodded toward the remains of the chamber. "Mana corruption. Slime-based organisms. Not local—summoned or drawn in. Rain began on approach to cave entrance. Full saturation. No skyshift indicators."
The agent said nothing. Just waited.
Asmodeus inhaled once. Sharply. "The anomaly wasn't the structure. It was what got pulled to it. Something was feeding below—corrupted, adaptive. It wasn't just a normal slime."
"Mutated?"
"Slime with a crown. Dumb, yet smart at the same time. Fast. Resistant to elemental spells. We took some injuries. Eldric took a direct hit. He is seriously injured. So did Chi."
The shadow's gaze flicked toward the girl in Lilith's arms. "Was it the young lady?"
Asmodeus' jaw tightened. "No. She's the reason we're alive."
A pause.
Then: "She neutralized the anomaly?"
Asmodeus didn't blink. "Completely."
The shadow tilted their head faintly. "Describe how."
He didn't answer.
Not directly.
He just folded his arms.
Then said: "You'll want to let my father hear it from me. In person."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Not hostile.
Just loaded.
Then the shadow gave a sharp nod.
"Medevac protocol engaged. Five minutes. Northeast ridge extraction. Bring all personnel to surface level. Shadows will secure the perimeter."
Asmodeus nodded once. "Thank you."
The figure disappeared again—silent as before.
The air hadn't fully settled by the time the shadow vanished.
The silence left in its wake was colder than before—like it had pulled some of the temperature with it.
Eldric stirred where he leaned against the wall, still breathing hard, face pale but conscious.
"…Are all your family's shadows like that?" he muttered, wincing as he shifted. "I swear that one didn't even blink."
Asmodeus let out a soft snort—less humor, more exhaustion.
"Worse, actually," he said. "That was one of the nicer ones. My dad doesn't train agents—he forges obsessions."
Eldric raised an eyebrow. "I can't tell if that's impressive or horrifying."
"Both," Asmodeus replied with a crooked grin. "You learn to live with it. Or they learn to live without you."
Eldric pushed off the wall with a grunt, clearly trying to walk it off.
He didn't make it far.
His right leg buckled.
"Whoa—easy there, knight boy." Asmodeus caught him by the arm before he could fall flat. "You've already been flattened once today. No encore."
"I'm fine," Eldric lied.
"You're full of shit," Asmodeus replied, looping Eldric's arm over his shoulder and half-hauling him up.
"I'm also heavier than I look."
"And I'm stronger than I act," Asmodeus grinned through gritted teeth. "Suffer in silence, like the rest of us."
A few paces behind them, one of the remaining soldiers knelt beside the unconscious pair still slumped near the crater's edge. He gave one a quick slap to the face. "Oi. Wake up. Slime's dead. Time to pretend we survived it with dignity."
The second soldier stirred groggily, armor creaking.
The first groaned louder, then blinked up at the ruined chamber. "I had a dream that I got eaten."
"You lived. Count it as a win," the other said, helping him sit upright.
They both looked at Chiori—still unconscious in Lilith's arms—and didn't speak.
Didn't need to.
They got it.
No one here would forget what they'd seen.
Darkness didn't feel like sleep.
It was too awake.
I drifted—not falling, not rising. Just... suspended.
Weightless, but not free. There was pressure all around me, like space trying to remember what gravity felt like.
Somewhere, a faint light pulsed.
Not warm.
Not cold.
Just there.
Each beat echoed in the hollow space behind my ribs.
Then a voice followed it.
[Vital systems stabilized.]
I didn't flinch.
Because I knew that voice now.
Metatron.
"…You still in my head?" I asked, though my mouth didn't move. Words didn't echo here—they just existed.
[Affirmative.]
"Did we win?"
[Victory condition met: hostile core obliterated.]
[Casualty count: nonfatal. Noble ally severely wounded.]
"...You could've just said 'yes.'"
Silence. Then—
[Humor detected. Response flagged.]
I let out a breath I didn't remember holding. It disappeared like smoke in the dark.
Something about this place always felt familiar. Not like home. Like memory.
Like the space between all the things I wasn't allowed to think about when I was awake.
Metatron spoke again—different now.
[Subject designated King Slime recorded as anomaly.]
[Analysis: corruption strain present in King Slime shares 81.3% resonance with previous encounter—designated: Satoshi Hoshino.]
My chest tightened. "The same thing that infected my father."
[Correct.]
So this wasn't just random.
It wasn't just a mutated monster in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Someone—or something—had sent it.
Or worse... it had sensed me.
I floated there in the dark, too heavy to rise, too light to fall.
"…Is there more of it below?"
A long pause.
Then:
[Unknown.]
[Notice: subterranean glyph density increasing beyond recorded decay levels. Structure contains deeper sectors—currently sealed. Anomaly may have been a fragment.]
A fragment.
Just a piece of something worse.
I hovered.
Not in space.
In something deeper.
Something shaped by thought, will, instinct—and systems older than I could name.
The silence pulsed again.
Then something else slithered through it.
The void twisted slightly.
Images flickered in my mind—memories I didn't own. Slime eyes. Splintering glyphs. The way the King Slime's body twitched before every teleport.
It wasn't just moving.
It was phase-stepping.
[Adaptable locomotion identified.]
[Spell variant available for acquisition.]
The light in front of me sharpened into a ring of glyphs—silver and violet—hovering in the dark.
[Extra Skill unlocked: Phase Slip]
→ Instantly shift short-range through gravity distortion. Inherits erratic patterns. Higher control required for trajectory refinement.
Another glyph peeled away and rewrote itself mid-air.
[Secondary trait conversion in progress…]
I winced. Felt it behind my eyes.
That pulse.
That feeling the slime gave off just before it attacked—how it read us, targeted us, adapted.
It hadn't just mutated.
It had learned.
[Combat prediction pattern analyzed.]
[New Extra Skill unlocked: Reactive Memory]
→ Briefly retain hostile attack patterns post-contact. Grants reflexive counter-adaptation for 5 seconds. Cooldown applies.
"Wait…" I murmured, heart skipping.
"That's new."
[Predator evolved via Metatron integration. Adaptation efficiency increased. Skill development now includes latent trait synthesis.]
I blinked.
Then smiled, just faintly in the dark.
"I'm becoming a nightmare, aren't I?"
[Classification: Undetermined.]
[But statistically… yes.]
I felt it then.
Not power. Not progress.
Something else.
Something wrong.
It pulsed in my chest like the echo of someone else's heartbeat—off-tempo. Ancient. Intrusive.
[Alert: Unknown mana classification.]
[Source: residual trace from consumed Corrupted Slime Core.]
A glyph flared red in the void.
[Designation confirmed: COSMIC INHIBITION.]
The name didn't sound like a warning.
It sounded like a sentence.
[Status: Celestial in origin. Not indexed. Discordant with foundational systems.]
I blinked. "So it's divine?"
[Unclear.]
[Celestial signature detected. Alignment: unregistered. Not among Twelve.]
I felt my breath tighten—though I had none in this space.
Metatron continued.
[Strain acts as anti-harmonic force. Rewrites mana behavior. Unstable, mutagenic.]
[Containment: 92%. Long-term effects: unknown.]
"…But it's still in me."
[Trace only. Integration minimal. No active threat detected.]
The glyphs pulsed red for a moment longer.
[Status: Contained.]
I took that as permission.
And waved it off.
"Fine," I muttered. "I'll deal with the creepy space rot later."
I turned inward again, toward what I had done. What I still felt threading through my limbs even now.
"…That form," I whispered. "That was me. It wasn't a summon. It wasn't a spell. It was like… instinct dressed up in gravity and teeth."
[Affirmative.]
[Classification: Partial Transmogrification – Void Aspect.]
[Subtype: Gravimetric Dragonoid Hybrid.]
The words struck something deep.
I hadn't summoned a monster.
I'd become one.
"…Why now?" I asked. "Why did it stabilize this time? Back with Calamitas, it was just chaos."
[Factors aligned: mana saturation, neural pressure threshold, external threat priority.]
[But primary trigger: emotional override.]
My thoughts caught.
"You mean… fear?"
[No.]
A pause.
Then—
[You were not afraid.]
[You were angry.]
I didn't speak.
Because it was true.
Something about factors aligned made me question what Metatron meant by it.
Before, I was a mass of void. As Calamitas says.
A…summoned/unsummoned 'dragon' that protected my body when my mana went haywire.
I narrowed my eyes into the void.
"'Factors aligned' isn't good enough. What changed?"
Metatron responded immediately, like the question had already been queued.
[Enumerating conditions for Partial Transmogrification:]
[1. Subject age: physical development reached critical maturity threshold.]
[2. Mana refinement: 412% increase in channeling efficiency compared to baseline. Interference zones minimized.]
[3. Combat experience: advanced predictive adaptation patterns formed through prolonged survival stress.]
[4. Weapon resonance: bond with sentient armament Yukihana established—99.3% compatibility.]
[5. Emotional threshold: override triggered. Rage, not fear.]
Each line felt heavier than the last.
"…So it was always inside me," I said slowly. "It just needed the right combination of scars and steel to wake up."
[Affirmative.]
"And Yukihana?"
[Catalyst. Anchor. Interface.]
I blinked.
"She's not just a weapon, is she?"
[Incorrect. Relic called Yukihana is labeled as an anomaly.]
[Original design: unknown. Stability: intentionally restricted.]
My pulse skipped.
"Wait. Restricted?"
[Affinity rejection protocols embedded in core. Weapon not intended to sync. Acceptance probability below threshold: 3.2%.]
"…But she did accept me. Even back then."
[Correct.]
Another pause.
Then—
[Unexpected sync confirmed. Resonance parameters: undefined.]
[Stabilization achieved without known catalyst. Classification: anomaly.]
I blinked slowly.
So not even Metatron understood why it worked.
Not Calamitas.
Not the system.
Not the world.
But it did.
"…Good."
The void unraveled like silk slipping through fingers.
Light returned first.
Then cold.
Sharp, mountain air—biting against my skin and lungs like I'd been holding my breath for days.
I coughed.
Once. Twice.
My chest spasmed, and I felt the world snap back into place—hard stone beneath me, too loud voices echoing in the distance, and the scent of blood and wet stone thick in my nose.
"—Chi?"
A voice cut through the noise. Urgent. Familiar.
I blinked. My eyelids felt like they'd been glued shut.
Shapes flickered in my vision, and one of them leaned closer.
Silver hair. Storm-blue eyes. Cold hands cradling my cheek just a second too long.
"…Lilith?"
Her breath caught.
"Welcome back," she whispered.
I lay wrapped in a thick cloak, head resting on something that might've been Lilith's thigh. Her hand was still resting on my face like she hadn't moved the entire time.
I tried to sit up. Instantly regretted it.
My ribs screamed. My spine threatened to revolt.
Lilith caught my shoulder before I could fall again. "Don't. You're still—"
"Hurting," I croaked.
"Yeah," she murmured. "That."
Footsteps approached—familiar boots scraping across stone.
"She's up?" Asmodeus called, sounding halfway between relieved and annoyed. "Thank the stars. I was about to start making up a dramatic coma story."
"Shut up, Az," I rasped.
"Yep. That's our Chiori," he muttered with a smirk I could hear without seeing.
When my vision fully returned, I realized we weren't inside the ruin anymore.
We were in a makeshift camp—half a kilometer out, nestled against the rocky ridge under a shallow overhang. A soft wardlight pulsed gently along the perimeter, anchored by three of Asmodeus' family shadows, each stationed at perfect triangular distance, cloaked in silence.
Minimal footprint. Maximum control.
House Saegusa efficiency.
Someone had even set up insulated mats beneath us and a canopy overhead to break the wind. A small rune-heater hummed nearby, pushing back the chill. It wasn't comfort—it was survival. And it was enough.
Then, with just the faintest edge of tension: "You were out longer than expected."
"How long?"
"Three hours. Maybe more. You nearly stopped breathing twice."
My heart skipped.
She noticed.
"…I'm fine," I said.
"Liar."
I turned my head and looked up at her.
Lilith didn't meet my eyes.
She just reached down and gently tugged the blanket tighter around me. "They brought everyone out safely. Eldric's awake. Soldiers too.
Eldric sat nearby, heavily bandaged, back braced against a supply crate, watching me without blinking.
The soldiers sat in a loose circle across from them. Alert. Talking softly. Not to me.
Just about me.
One of the shadows passed by with a folded cloth, eyes scanning everything in silence. Another adjusted a ward anchor.
It was a controlled camp.
But it still felt like a waiting room.
The silence thickened.
I started to push myself upright—slowly, every muscle tight.
Lilith moved with me, sliding one arm behind my back, the other still steady at her side.
Across the firepit, Asmodeus caught my eye, mana still dancing faintly in his palm like he knew something was coming.
Then—
The wind split.
No footsteps.
No warning.
Just a blur of motion tearing through the camp's outer edge—fast, precise, aimed straight for me.
A blade.
Thin. Curved. Wrapped in wind pressure.
The shadows didn't react.
Because they already knew who it was.
So did I.
"MOVE—" Asmodeus barked—
Lilith's staff slammed into the ground, an ice wall spiking up mid-air. My tails flickered out instinctively, gravity rippling around me. Asmodeus surged forward, a lightning crackle flashing as he threw a disruptive arc into the blade's path.
The impact cracked the air.
The ice shattered.
The mana flickered.
And standing just behind the shimmering remnants of the spell, smiling with way too much satisfaction—
Hinata Saegusa.
He exhaled and lowered his hand. The blade vanished into vapor.
"…Excellent," he said. "You reacted. Together. No hesitation."
Lilith didn't lower her staff.
I didn't lower my tails.
Asmodeus just stared, scowling. "What the hell was that?!"
"A live test." Hinata glanced around the camp, clearly unimpressed by the state of things. "You all survived something you shouldn't have. Means you're useful now. Time to see if you're still sharp when the adrenaline's gone."
Chiori stared.
"I was unconscious five minutes ago."
"You're awake now," he replied without apology. "The world doesn't care about recovery time."
Lilith muttered something under her breath that might have been a swear in three languages.
Hinata grinned faintly.
"Always good to stay on ten toes."
Hinata's grin lingered just long enough to feel dangerous.
Then his eyes slid toward Eldric—calm, unreadable.
"…House Albrecht prides itself on detection, doesn't it?"
Eldric straightened slowly, every inch of his posture trying not to look sore. "We do."
"Then you should've sensed me before the blade was in the air."
A pause.
Eldric exhaled through his nose. "You were suppressing your signature."
"I was," Hinata said, not denying it. "So? Adapt."
Eldric didn't argue.
Just nodded once.
"Good," Hinata said. "Because next time it might not be me."