Chapter 105: ~Chapter 36~ Part 3

"At last, some progress!" I exhaled in relief when the gang assembled in the main hall once again.

As per my previous request, my companions all changed into something more... well, I wanted to say 'practical', but considering Snowy was wearing her Abyssal outfit made of black leather strips held on by magic (or double-sided tape, one or the other), it probably wasn't the right word. 'Comfortable'? No, it didn't look that either. How about 'appropriate'? Well, considering she had high-heeled boots on a transformation/uniform that existed (supposedly) for high-speed, high-stakes supernatural combat… I have to say, I really wanted to meet whoever designed it and give him a friendly pat on the back with a fireman's axe.

A broken-ankle-in-the-waiting and justified homicide aside, I was getting ahead of myself again, so I'd say we should start from the beginning. Or, in this particular case, from left to right.

First in line was the already discussed Abyssal sister of mine. She looked just like the last time I saw her transformed, with the fetish outfit, horns, and all else. On second thought, maybe not 'all else' after all, as she didn't have her wings out. I didn't even know those were retractable.

Anyways, it was hard to tell if she was uncomfortable with the amount of skin she was showing or if she was simply feeling cold, but judging by the way she was sending bashful glances at Josh (who was naturally unaware of this, as he was conspicuously averting his eyes from her with a blush on his face), my money was on the former. Speaking of him, my friend was wearing his gym uniform, and would've probably stuck out of the group like a sore thumb, if not for Elly being dressed in the same manner... Which, in retrospect, made both of them stick out of our group of supernatural misfits showing off all their fancy and highly impractical attires.

Speaking of fancy and highly impractical clothes, the fourth person in the line was Angie, in her equally familiar white Celestial outfit, complete with her retractable bow-armguard-thingy. She didn't have her wings out either. On the bright side, at least her footwear didn't have high heels. At this point I took my silver linings wherever I could find them.

The one closing the line was naturally Ammy in her eminently frilly white and green dress. She didn't have her huge witch hat on, nor did she wield her staff, so as of now she only looked like an unusually brightly dressed gothic lolita, which actually came across as fairly tame in this context. As they say, everything is relative, including supernatural fashion.

When taken as a whole, our little group looked as eclectic as ever, but I decided not to let it bother me anymore and just get started with the serious business.

"All right, everyone, let's get things on track! Judy, you are on record duty."

"On it," my assistant responded while lightly waving her phone.

"Good. First, let's discuss your transformations again. In particular, I want to know a bit more about that barrier you guys mentioned earlier." After saying so, I directly addressed the class rep, as she was the most knowledgeable about these subjects. "You said something about it forming upon transformation and shredding clothes. What else does it do?"

"It is in the name," Ammy stated the obvious.

"I want specifics. What does it protect against and how? Is it static, or can it be recharged? And more importantly, does it vaporize clothes even after the transformation?"

Our resident Magi gave me an intrigued look and contemplated for a moment before she presented me her answer.

"It is a passive form of protection, so it naturally cannot be compared to active defenses."

"Like the one Neige's brother used," Judy spoke without glancing up from her notes.

"Precisely," Ammy confirmed with a nod. "It was a multi-layered directional shield, as opposed to the Winged Ones' omnidirectional barrier."

"We saw it was pretty resilient. I guess the passive barrier is less so," I added while observing Angie to see if I could detect any trace of the subject of our discussion on her. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything unusual beyond a very weak glow surrounding her. But then again, it might have been exactly what I was looking for.

"It depends on the individual, but it should be able to greatly reduce incoming physical impacts."

"Define 'greatly reduce'," Judy chimed in again, causing our resident Magi to frown.

"As I said, it's different from person to person."

"All right, then let's particularize the question," I told her and then pointed at Angie. "Let's take her as our baseline. What would happen if Josh punched her?"

"Why am I getting punched?" Angie complained with a hint of alarm in her voice

"The better question: why am I doing the punching?" Josh cut in with a skeptical look and an equally displeased voice, but I ignored both of them and waited for Ammy to give her answer.

"Well..." she began while giving a furtive look to the Celestial girl. "Her barrier would absorb a lot of the force behind the blow, and then spread the rest over a larger area. In practice, it would reduce a violent punch into a stiff shove."

"I think I get it," Josh suddenly declared with an expression that said he just received a minor revelation. I signaled to him to share it with us by tweaking my brows, and he did so by clarifying, "Last Sunday, when I punched Lili's brother, it felt like I was hitting a bag of molasses. I thought it was because I had scaly hands and what have you, but it was probably this barrier thing you're talking about."

"Very likely," the class rep confirmed after a moment of consideration. "As a Lord of the Abyss and a powerful individual, Noire's passive barrier is likely leagues beyond Angie's. It is safe to say that the only one of us who did any damage to him was Eleanor."

"Oh, man," Josh slouched his shoulders and then continued, with an exaggerated pout, "And I thought I was doing fairly well for myself back there."

"What if Josh had a weapon, like a knife?" I voiced the next logical question that came to mind. "Would the barrier protect Angie against cuts or stabs?"

"Why is it me again?" Angie grumbled, but she was summarily ignored by us.

"Depends, but passive barriers are slightly less effective against those than blunt force attacks," Ammy answered, this time a little uncertainly.

"Bullets?" came my next question.

"It's… fairly resistant to small caliber firearms, but it would still hurt a lot."

"Magical attacks?" Judy took the words out of my mouth, but I clarified after her all the same.

"Let's say we throw a fireball at Angie. What would happen?"

"That also depends on the person, but at a glance, Angie's barrier seems decently resistant against mystic phenomena. However—"

"Do barriers get weaker as they absorb damage?" Judy threw the next question without allowing any breathing room.

"Naturally, yes."

Ammy's response made my assistant let out a satisfied grunt, then she looked at me and stated, with perfect seriousness, "HP."

"My thoughts exatly. We'll discuss it later, please pay attention for now," I told her in response before once more focusing on the increasingly befuddled Ammy. "We are going to test the durability and efficacy of those barriers later. For now, let's continue with the most important question: do they shred clothes after the transformation is already done?"

"They shouldn't," Ammy answered with an expression that said she had no idea why I considered that so important.

"Unless the person gets attacked," Snowy contributed to the conversation in a quiet voice. I gestured for her to speak up, and after a little more encouragement she added, "It's as Amelia said. If you get struck by an attack while transformed, the barrier spreads out the damage, and if you are not wearing special clothes, it will cause large tears."

"Chief," Judy called out to me while gesturing for me to lean closer. I was a little skeptical of her, considering her recent track record, but I decided to humor her for the time being and obliged. "People have HP, and now we have clothing damage," she whispered to me while pointing at her notes. "I believe… we live in an eroge RPG."

I gave my assistant a wry look and told her, firmly, "Not now, Dormouse."

"It's a valid hypothesis," she pouted, but didn't press the issue.

I shook my head at my assistant's outburst of weird conclusions and faced Snowy again.

"So, if I understand this right, if you have your barrier up while wearing normal clothes, and then get hit, then the clothes get damaged." Snowy ruminated on my words for a moment, then she ultimately nodded with conviction. "Okay, so if I turn that around, does that mean that if you don't get hit while your barrier is already up, the clothes won't get damaged?"

"I… suppose they won't," my sister confirmed my words, this time around with slightly less conviction.

"That's what I wanted to hear!" I exclaimed happily as I quickly peeled myself out of my customary black long coat and then promptly draped it over Snowy's shoulders. Since it was about five sizes too big for her, she looked a tad ridiculous, especially with the lost look on her face, but it was better to look silly than to be cold. Or to look like a shy dominatrix. That's just too bizarre. In any case, I flashed her my brotherliest smile and told her, "I figured you were feeling chilly."

"I'm feeling cold too," Angie quietly muttered on the side, yet the target of her comment was apparently too lost in his thoughts to respond.

"Me too," Elly added on with an even quieter mumble. Fortunately for her, I wasn't lost in my thoughts, so I gestured for her to come over.

"I don't have more coats, but I can keep you warm."

After a moment of incomprehension, she gave me a bashful smile and she pattered over to my side, at which point I grabbed hold of her waist and pulled her closer. To be fair, with her draconic metabolism it felt like she was the one keeping me warm like this, but she was happy enough, so I decided not to dwell on it too much (and to ignore the annoyed whispers of 'showoff' coming from a certain dense harem protagonist) and instead I turned to Snowy again.

"Okay, so we are clear on the wardrobe-shredding properties of your barriers now. I have two more questions." When I said that, I also glanced over to Ammy to let her know they were mainly aimed at her. "So, these barriers initially form upon transformation. Does that mean that, conversely, you don't have any such protection when you're not transformed?"

"That's correct," Snowy confirmed with a serious nod.

"That sucks, but it's good to know in case of an emergency," I declared solemnly. "My last question is this: can this barrier be recharged or replenished in any way?"

"Once again, it depends," Ammy stated while adjusting her glasses in a contemplative and yet peevish manner. "The strength of the barrier depends on the amount of mana released during the unsealing process. It's usually impossible to reinforce it after the fact, but it can slowly regain its peak strength over time."

"How much time are we talking about? Is it applicable in battle?"

"No," this time the answer came from Snowy. "The rate is too slow, at least for us."

"Now that you mention," I spoke while glancing at the silent Celestial girl in the back. "Hey, Angie? Come here for a moment."

"No," she replied and took a long step away from me instead.

"Um… Is there a problem?" I asked her with a puzzled frown, but she only shook her head at me.

"No way!" she declared again while crossing her arms in front of her chest, probably as a form of self-defense. "I don't want to get stabbed!"

"Those were just hypotheticals," Judy told her, but the Celestial girl only shook her head again.

"No! You guys are scary!"

"Okay, then you don't have to come closer, just stop complaining and answer my question," I compromised, then to further emphasize the importance of this discussion, I added, "What we are talking now about can save your life one day."

She gave me the stinkeye for a few seconds, but then she finally relented and gestured for me to ask.

"I was curious if your barrier works differently from Snowy's."

"I don't know," she shrugged after a moment of thinking. "Actually, a lot of this is news to me too. The first time I ever got into a fight was last Sunday, so I have no experience with my barrier taking damage." At this point she paused and hastily added, "Nor do I want any, so don't punch me!"

"I'm not going to punch you," I wearily told her before I focused on Ammy again. "Can you add anything on the topic?"

She was deliberating for a few seconds, then told me, "As far as I know, Abyssal and Celestial barriers are similar in strength and utility, with individual differences far outstripping the racial ones in this regard."

"I see," I whispered as I considered all the new information I learned. "I suppose the best way to make sure no one gets hurt is to avoid getting hit in the first place, but it's good to know that Snowy and Angie have some emergency defenses. Speaking of which, we already discussed how draconians are tough even without a barrier, but what about the Magi? Do you have anything similar going on?"

"You could say," Ammy answered while gesturing at her clothes. "My conjured robes contain a few shielding enchantments that automatically trigger when I'm about to be injured."

"How does that work?" Judy inquired in my stead while I was busy reigning back the impulse to tell her that what she was wearing wasn't even in the same ballpark as a 'robe'.

"It's a form of reactive defense," Amelia stated while patting her chest. "It possesses five charges, and when triggered, it deploys a directional shield that can neutralize most incoming attacks."

"I have a question," my assistant interjected with a raised hand. "Why didn't you use it against Neige's brother?"

The class rep gave her an odd look before simply stating, "I was grabbed."

"Wait a moment," this time I cut in with a hint of alarm. "I'm seeing a trend here. Do you want to tell me that all of these defenses are only against getting hit? No protection against grappling whatsoever?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Ammy asked back like it really was, prompting me to groan aloud.

"Oh, that also makes sense now!" Josh interrupted us with his exclamation, then he quickly clarified, "I remember putting Crowey or whatshisname into a scarf hold a few seconds after I threw him, and it actually worked! Then he sprouted wings and pushed me away, but… it still worked. For a while," he finished, a bit less enthusiastically than he began.

I gestured towards Judy and told her, firmly, "Dormouse, please make note of that. It should be one of our first priorities to do something about that."

"Grappling-practice?"

"Exactly my thoughts."

"Understood," she promptly responded without looking up.

At this point I took a huge breath and used my free hand (the other one was still around Elly's waist) to massage my temple for a few seconds, then once I felt ready, I stated, "I think I have a good grasp on everyone's defensive capabilities now. Let's move on to individual skills." I looked at each of my friends in turn, only pausing when I landed on Josh. "You are a bit of a joker card right now, so we're going to come back to you later. For the time being, let's start with…" I paused for a moment, then I swiftly pointed at Angie and finished with a simple, "You."

"Me?" The Celestial girl blinked in surprise while pointing at herself.

"Yes. I mean, we have to start with someone. Please explain your abilities to the rest of us."

Angie was a little startled at first but, after a few seconds of hesitation, she took a step forward and began with an unusually serious expression.

"Well, at this point everyone knows already, but I'm a Celestial, so I can do a lot of Celestial stuff. So… I can fly?"

"Why was that a question?" Judy inquired as she stopped tapping on her phone for a second.

"I mean, I can fly, I'm just not very experienced with it," Angie admitted, then exhaled hard and continued with, "More importantly, I can use harmonic magic to a degree. I was told I had a talent for healing hymns, so I practiced those a lot."

"I'm very thankful for that," I spoke absent-mindedly, earning me a happy grin from her in return.

"You're welcome! Where was I? Right, harmonics! So, I can also do utility stuff, like detection spells, but I'm not that great at those."

"Do you have any offensive spells?" came the question from, surprisingly enough, Ammy of all people.

"Nah, I really suck at those," Angie responded with a face like she just bit into a lemon. Maybe she was reminded of a bad memory? It didn't last long though, as she let out a pent up breath and continued, "For offense, I mainly use this," saying so, she waved her left hand back and forth a few times, at which point the bracelet on her forearm unfurled in real-time into a pretty, if flimsy-looking, short bow. "It's a family heirloom. I got it in the mail together with my orientation kit when I turned twelve."

"Wait just a moment," Josh suddenly raised his voice. "So back in middle school, you didn't get obsessed with archery because of that book series where a bunch of kids fight over food or something? It was because you got that as a birthday present?"

"A little bit of option A, a little bit of B," she replied with an impish smirk.

After saying that, Angie reached out with her right hand and her fingers gently plucked at the glowing line between the limbs of the bow. It made a low yet strangely melodious sound, kind of like a harp-string, then it was abruptly silenced as she pulled it back while aiming at the ground. As she did so, a softly glowing, ethereal arrow materialized into existence on it, already nocked and ready to be fired.

"Does that bow use ambient mana to form the arrow?"

The question once again came from the class rep. She had a really intrigued look on her face and she even took a step towards her and leaned forward to get a better look.

"Yes!" Angie confirmed with a proud grin, for some reason, before she slowly returned the string to its initial position without releasing the arrow, which incidentally also made it grow dimmer until it completely disappeared. "Because of this, I have infinite ammo. It's a little hard to aim it because the weight of the arrow depends on how long I keep the bow fully drawn, but I think I'm a pretty good shot with it," she stated with a grin that said she actually considered herself more than that, but I decided not to point out her fake modesty.

"You say it increases its 'weight'," Elly spoke up for a change while also eyeing the bow. "Does it mean it hits harder the longer you aim?"

"Kinda. If I hold it too long, the arrow can get too dense and shatter on impact."

"Shatter? As in, explode?" Elly asked again, seeming very cautious all of a sudden.

"Well… you could say that."

"How big of an explosion are we talking about?"

"How should I put this…?" Angie began, then she poked Joshua in the side to get his attention. "Hey, Josh? Do you remember that old oak tree in our backyard?"

"The one that got hit by lightning last summer and split in two?"

"Precisely," Angie answered with a smug grin.

"I don't get it," Josh muttered, but then a split second later the proverbial light bulb finally lit up over his head and he hastily declared, "No, wait! I got it! I totally got that!"

I stealthily rolled my eyes at him, then gently pinched Elly's waist to get her attention.

"Is there a problem with that bow?" I asked her after she looked up at me, and she seemed conflicted for a moment.

"It just reminds me of one of the knightly weapons Sebastian told me about in the past."

"It had explosive arrows?" I asked for clarification, and she gave it with a nod.

"It could also make arrows out of thin air," she added before her pretty brows descended into a frown. "It is too much of a coincidence."

You are reading story The Simulacrum at novel35.com

"It's not really a coincidence though," I told her absent-mindedly. "The original weapons of the knights with the unnecessarily long name were given to them by the Celestials, so it makes sense they'd be similar."

"Wait, what?" my draconic girlfriend's eyes opened wide in shock. "Is that true?"

"That's what my sources tell me," I answered a bit more carefully, realizing that this might not have been common knowledge.

In the meantime Ammy continued to scrutinize the bow while muttering, "I noticed it was an unusual weapon before, but it might actually be relic grade," then she looked its owner in the eye and requested, "Can I have a closer look at it later?"

"Um… Sure?" Angie responded in the positive, even though her expression was more than a little skeptical of the prospect.

"Okay, I think we're done with Angie," I spoke to get their attention again, then addressed the class rep. "It's your turn now."

"All right," she responded surprisingly vigorously. She faced me in particular, straightened her back, looked me in the eye, and finally she told us, "As a junior Magi of the Assembly, I'm well-versed in the theoretical aspects of most magical fields. As for the practical aspects, I am classified as a 'conjurer'. I've studied the subject since I could read." While talking, Ammy also extended her hand forwards, and a moment (plus a few flashes of magical light) later she held a familiar silver staff in her grasp. After a dramatic pause, she struck the end of the staff against the concrete floor and, following another flash of light, an equally familiar bulky figure arose from the ground. Strangely enough, even though it looked like it literally clawed its way out of the concrete, once Ammy's golem stood straight, the floor under it looked none the worse for wear.

"This is my primary familiar," the class rep stepped forward and introduced us to her golem. "It is a variant of the standard Mahozan-patterned semi-autonomous artificial humanoid. Its base material is andesite with an etched brass core. It uses my staff as its summoning catalyst, which allows me to summon it repeatedly, so long as I can withdraw the necessary amount of mana from an accessible ley line." She finished her explanation by tapping her staff against the ground again, but then she let out a small 'Ah', and hastily added, "Also, I call it Petra."

"Fitting," I told her with a smile. "So, aside from summoning this big guy, what else can you do?"

All of a sudden, the class rep fell completely silent.

"You have other spells, right?" I asked, feeling more than a little doubtful.

"Of course I do!" she glared at me while angrily fiddling with her glasses. "I can use dozens of utility spells. I can also create magical lights! Like this!"

Saying so, she waved her staff in the shape of the number eight while very quietly reciting something that sounded like mangled Latin, and once she finished, the tip of her staff got covered in soft, green light.

"Very impressive," I told her without even the tiniest smidgen of ill will in any possible shape and/or form, but she must've read something into it, as she immediately snapped at me.

"What? Do you have a problem with my light spell?"

"None at all," I answered her on the back-foot, but before I could add anything else in my defense, Ammy's shoulders suddenly drooped and she let out a sigh so depressed it was almost physically painful to hear it.

"Fine, I admit it! I'm not very talented as a Magi! So what!? That doesn't mean that all I'm good for is paperwork and helping with other people's research notes! Who needs fireballs!? I don't! Petra alone is good enough!"

"… If you say so," I told her diplomatically, concluding that it wasn't a good idea to poke this particular hornet's nest in the future.

"What about defensive spells?" my dear assistant inquired with an egregious lack of tact.

I could already see Ammy's already flushed face turn an even deeper shade of red, so I quickly came in between them and said, "Well, I think Petra is solid enough to take a few blows, so we can count it as a shield, right?"

"Yes! That is entirely correct!" Amelia declared with so much confidence I was actually tempted to believe her for a moment.

"Great. I'm glad we are in agreement," I told her before swiftly moving onto my next subject. "All right Snowy, since the class rep already showed us her trump card, it means you're next."

"Oh, o-okay," she responded a little uncertainly, no doubt due to Amelia's previous unexpected outburst. She took a deep breath, then she began with, "So… I can fly. Or rather, I can hover. I can use somatic magic, and I specialize in ice and frost. Aside from those… uuu… how should I say…" She paused here for a moment, obviously distressed. "I'm a Seducer from House Inanna, so… our family is famous for its Seducers. I… used to think I was also good at it."

"As far as I understand, being a Seducer is kind of a constitution thing, right?" I asked a question that had been on my mind since I first read it on the Celestial Hub. "So when you say you are one, it means you were born with the ability to, you know, seduce people, right?"

"Yes," Snowy responded with an attentive look.

"So, I was just curious, but how does the whole 'seduction' thing work?"

"Uuum…" my sister blinked at me, then she swiftly averted her eyes and explained, "W-Well, when it works, it's like… first I create a link with someone. For some people eye contact is enough, others need… um… physical contact. Then once I'm linked with them, I can use it to make them fascinated with me and then do what I tell them." She paused here as she glanced back at me with a really embarrassed look on her face, probably because she was recalling our first encounter, and then in a whisper she added, "It doesn't work on everyone."

"I know that," I told her with a grin. "Does that mean it requires conscious effort?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"So it's not like you can accidentally seduce, say, Judy?"

"What?" my assistant glanced up from her notes, and I flashed a grin at her.

"Just making sure you are paying attention," I told her unabashedly before facing Snowy again, who was actually deeply contemplating my question.

"No. I don't think I could do it if I try either," she shook her head at this point and added, "I mean, it is hard to create a link to someone who already holds a deep affection for someone else."

"… So it's not because you are both girls?" Instead of answering, Snowy averted her eyes again. I decided not to press the issue, so I re-railed the conversation into its original topic by asking, "So, seduction aside, what other powers do you have?"

"Well… I can create sigils."

"That's right," Ammy intruded into the conversation like her previous flustered outburst never happened. "You were the one who created the grand barrier inside the school grounds, right?"

"Y-Yes."

"It was really impressive. Can I have a look at them later?"

"Um… sure," Snowy responded, mirroring Angie's earlier reaction to the same kind of question.

"So, what can your sigils do?" I moved the conversation forward by the next obvious inquiry.

"Many things," my sister told me with an unusually proud look. "Sigils are based on the old Celestial runes. They are like a magical alphabet, and if you know the right combination of words, you can get a lot of different effects. You can seal off an area, you can use them to dispel enchantments, you can hide things with them…" After saying all that, her mood abruptly deflated, and then she added, "Unfortunately it takes a long time to make a single sigil, so they can't be used freely."

"Just a moment," I gestured for her to pause, then asked, "You mentioned hiding things. Does that also work on people?"

"Um… yes," Snowy nodded after a moment of thinking.

"Could it be that it is how this guy and his fellows can turn invisible?" I asked while pointing at my side with my thumb, visibly confusing everyone else. It wasn't unexpected, as I figured that they would be seeing nothing more than thin air.

That changed a moment later, when a mirthfully chuckling Brang casually decloaked, startling everyone in general, and my assistant in particular. In fact, she went as far as to wedge herself under my arm on the opposite side of Elly's.

"What the…!" Josh exclaimed while automatically pushing Angie behind him. "Since when was he standing there?"

"For about five minutes," I told my surprised friend with a smirk on my face, then I turned to the Faun in question. "[Your mischief is unexpected, yet amusing. I grant you my approval.]"

The ex-general responded to my comment with a silent smile. Unlike the last time we met him, he was now wearing his full armor, cape and all, and he had two spears strapped onto his back. One of them was his usual weapon with its rhombus-shaped head, while the other was a training spear with a blunt end that I ordered online. I had to admit, with all that gear, he looked quite imposing… then he immediately ruined the image by unbuckling his armor in order to show off his shoulder, and he pointed at the magical mark on his skin under his spaulders.

"[Aye. My liege graced us with this power. I have also been granted—]"

"[Halt, general. No need to disrobe, we shall trust your words all the same,]" I interrupted him just before he was about to completely take off his armor.

"What are you two growling about?" Judy whispered to me while sticking to my side like she was glued there.

"Brang just told me that he got his ability to turn invisible from Snowy. Also, he said he had something else."

The implied question made Snowy let out a barely audible 'Oh, right!' before she raised her voice and said, "Yes, I imprinted those on them! The others only have the one that hides their presence, but Uncle Brang has two more. You see, he let me use him to experiment with my sigils when I was learning, so they ended up very compatible with him. The second one lets him move quietly, and the third one lets him slow down his fall."

"That's pretty fitting for a scout-general," I mused, then I tempered my expectations and asked the most obvious question ever. "Do you think you can put those sigils onto us?"

For some strange reason Snowy looked like she didn't expect the question at all, and it took her several seconds to respond.

"I… don't know. I only ever used them of the Fauns and myself, so I don't know if they will be compatible with anyone else..." There was a moment of silence, during which she awkwardly glanced around, and after seeing the expectant looks we were giving her, she said, "I'll try."

"That's more than enough for me," I reassured her before glancing down at my draconic girlfriend. "What about you, Elly?"

"Huh?" she let out an undignified voice as she looked up, and after a moment of awkwardness, she cleared her throat and said, "I mean… I'm not that complicated, really. In my Draconic form, I can use my claws, my scales can deflect both blades and bullets, and now I can breathe true dragon flame, and that's about it."

"That's it?" I asked her to be sure, but she only nodded, and then subsequently she snuggled even closer to me. I let her, but not without a silent sigh. "If you say so. I suppose that leaves only me."

To my sincerest surprise, that actually got a huge reaction out of the rest of the gang.

"Really? Are you finally going to tell us about yourself?" Josh questioned me with a scarily intense look in his eyes.

"You already know about me as much as I do," I replied with a frown. "I'm only going to explain my abilities just like the others did."

"We're listening," Ammy declared, and I am not going to lie, the way she staring at me without blinking got me a little unnerved.

At the end of the day, I exhaled a mildly bemused sigh and began my explanation.

"So, this might not come as a surprise to you, but I can see magic. Furthermore, if I can see it, I can dispel it by cutting it with my fingers."

"Like that time when you blocked brother's attack," Snowy noted, and I confirmed it with a nod.

"That's all?" Elly suddenly asked with a curiously cocked head, apparently being completely oblivious to the fact she was mirroring me from before. After some hesitation, I decided I might as well reveal another card in my hand. Not completely, of course, but hey, at least I was making an effort.

Thinking so, I gestured for my girlfriends to let me go so that I could move around, after which I took a step forward and said, "Actually, there is one more trick up my sleeve."

I took a deep breath and leaned a little forward, like a sprinter who was waiting for the starting pistol. It was the first time I did this in reality, but I spent several hours practicing the motions with Brang using the multi-tasking support provided by doing Dominance, and so they felt completely natural. I sharply inhaled, then I lunged forward, but a split-second after I started to move, I teleported a couple of meters ahead, which put me just behind the group, where I came to an abrupt 'stop'.

I let out a deep breath and glanced over my shoulders, only to find the gang giving me completely amazed looks.

"What was that!?" Angie exclaimed while glancing between my starting position and where I was standing at the moment.

"Well," I began with a satisfied chuckle, following which I gave them the explanation I prepared with Judy, Snowy and Brang. "I call this trick 'Phasing'. It allows me to rapidly move in a straight line while ignoring any obstacles in the way."

"I knew it!" Ammy abruptly yelled out and rushed up to me. "This is what you used to escape from the gym storeroom when we got locked in last month!"

"Exactly," I agreed with my unwitting collaborator. "It's also what I used to outmaneuver the Chimera," I added another white lie onto the pile.

"How's the range?"

"A couple of meters."

"Can you really ignore anything in the way?"

"Most things."

"Does it have any restrictions?"

"I can only move in a straight line. I also can't use it repeatedly, because it strains my legs. Finally, if there is any obstruction at the endpoint, I can get hurt," I continued to deliver my pre-packaged deceptions with so much conviction even I was starting to believe them. "It's tricky to use, but it is a great skill from getting out of a pickle."

"Do you have any other hidden abilities?" Ammy asked with expectant eyes, but I immediately let her down.

"Maaaaaaybe? Or maybe not." I paused here for purely the sake of dramatics, then turned towards the last member of our group and declared in a loud voice, "But enough about boring old me! It's time for today's main attraction!"

"Oh boy," Josh muttered with an apparent mixture of dread and expectation.

"Relax, I've things planned out for you," I attempted to reassure him, but when I reached into my back pocket, he still flinched.

I didn't comment on his reaction, and instead I took out the cylindrical case I had on me since the beginning.

"What's that?" my friend asked nervously while visibly hesitating between coming closer and taking a step away from me. In the end curiosity must've won over, as he eventually walked up to me with a guarded expression.

"It's a blood lancet set," explained as I opened up the case and showed off its contents. "It's usually used by diabetics for blood glucose testing, but it'll do for us as well." I looked at each of our four supernatural girls in turn and asked, "Who wants to help with testing Josh's transformation?"

"I already did it once, so I pass," Elly mumbled while conspicuously looking away.

"I'm not good with needles," Angie pulled out of the race with a weak excuse as well, leaving only Snowy and Ammy.

"I… I will do it," Snowy declared with a flushed face.

"All right then. Please come here and give me your hand," I instructed her, and she followed suit. I took her tiny hand into my own and began my explanation. "First, I'm going to disinfect your finger, like this. Then we take this lancet here. You see, it has a tiny little spring in it, so when I press it against your fingertip, like this…" I did as I said, and the thin needle in the lancet pricked the surprised Abyssal so fast she didn't even have time to flinch. When I removed it, there was already a small bead of bright red blood growing on her white skin. "You see, it's already done."

I gave her a reassuring pat on the back, but Snowy just kept staring at her fingertip like she didn't understand what just happened. Then, after a few long seconds, she gave me one of those scared bunny looks and asked, "W-What now?"

"Now Josh is going sample your blood, obviously," I told her, earning me a thoroughly petrified look in return.

"How exactly am I supposed to do that?" Came the skeptical question from my friend, and I couldn't help but shake my head at his selective obliviousness.

"You suck on her finger, obviously," I told him while delicately taking hold of Snowy's hand once again and offering it to him.

"You can't be serious," he protested, but I didn't have any of it.

"Come on, man! Don't be a pansy and drink my sister's blood."

"You are just making this weirder than it already is!" he whined while shaking his head.

"Well, you either do this, or you kiss, and considering we already pricked her finger…"

The moment I mentioned kissing, Josh's face flushed crimson and he averted his eyes, then after a moment he weakly nodded and said, "Fine, I'll take her blood."

Leave it up to the harem protagonist to get cold feet the moment a kiss is involved, am I right? Jokes aside, since Josh finally made up his mind, I once again offered up my self-conscious sister's finger.

"There you go. Bon appétit."

"And now you are making it even weirder," Josh grumbled while grabbing hold of Snowy's hand, then after an audible gulp he whispered a limp, "Excuse me."

"It's okay," she replied with a bashful flutter of her eyelashes. Or maybe her eyelids were just cramping from the tension? Either way, Josh gulped again, closed his eyes, and then he finally placed her finger into his mouth.

It took less than a second for the first change to occur. Josh's chest gave out a strange creaking noise, following which his body slowly swelled up to the point where he was almost as tall as me. His gym clothes, unfortunately, didn't survive the ordeal, and while they didn't get as far as being 'vaporized', by the end of his quick transformation, Josh ended up only wearing the patented Hulk-pants.

Overall my friend's new appearance didn't look as drastically different as when he took Elly's blood, but it was still distinct enough to make it easy to realize he was an Abyssal now. Most glaring of all, his temples were adorned by a pair of horns the same color as his hair, and the way they curled around his head made his face look wider. In fact, his face might've actually been wider for real, as now he had a much more defined jawline. Below the neck though, the transformation was less pronounced. Sure, he got bigger and bulkier, but he didn't grow cloven feet or wings.

Anyhow, when he finally opened his mouth and took Snowy's finger out of it, his first words were, "Oh for the love of…! This was my only set of PE uniform!"

"I'm glad to see you still have your priorities in order," I told him with a wry smile. "How do you feel?"

"I don't feel very different," he mumbled while glancing around. "Did you get smaller?"

"It's the other way around," I replied while gesturing towards Judy. "Start the timer."

"Started," my assistant promptly responded.

"Good," I nodded in satisfaction before looking at Brang next. "[General, I request that you proceed as we agreed in advance.]"

The Faun let out a grunt in the affirmative, after which he stomped his feet against the ground, startling everyone for a moment. More importantly though, when he did that, a hazy bubble spread out like a wave with him as its epicenter, and after it washed over us, we found ourselves standing in the same bare hall, except dressed in various shades of purple.

"All right, kids!" I exclaimed, and then further startled everyone by clapping my hands, my lips automatically parting into a grin. "We don't know hold long this transformation will last, so…" I raised one of my hands to the side, and without need for any further prompting, Brang calmly handed me the replica spear from his back. I took it, set its butt against the floor with a resounding thud, and then finished by saying, "Let's start the physical examination, shall we?"

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