Crystal nodded in the video and saw them leave, for some reason, the woman in the video seemed smug. And the woman at her side also seemed smug. As if everything had went as planned and this wasn’t a total failure.

“[I did quite well there, had prepared a couple hundred lines for all the questions they could ask, so that one was a curveball, didn’t expect them to say that. But I managed to answer it quite well didn’t I?]” Crystal said.

That was well? That…Those two hated her…Or at least they seemed to hate her.

“I think you need to practice your human relationship skill…” Was all Rena could think to say.

Why was she even here?

“[But I’m not human, nor are Framework or Odyssey.]” Answered back Crystal.

They weren’t, well they were gods, but hadn’t they ascended from humans?

“[Oh that is right, but you see. Framework stopped being a human around 100 years ago? Give or take, and Odyssey was closer to a Demon or a Monster than a Human. Her soul at least wasn’t human.]” Crystal added before she opened her mouth. “[And yes, I did pick your question, testing different ways to speak, easier when done to a human than a god but I need practice.]”

Said the…woman, she didn’t like the idea of someone rummaging within her thoughts, so Rena said “They started as Humans right? They moved within human lands. So they acted as humans at least…right?” Before she thought anything else.

“[That is true…But even so, their behavior wasn’t what you could call [Human], see here.]” Crystal grabbed a control and punched a button, the television started once more showing a video as both girls fell into a comfortable sofa.

Rena found herself now with a bucket of popcorn and a soda at the side, Crystal was on the other end of the sofa, somehow she felt far away, and yet…She was close enough to grab popcorn from her bucket. “[This is human behavior right, sharing popcorn.]” Said the entity.

Rena was about to answer something when the video started in earnest, the same man as before, the one that should be [Framework] was on the screen, he was fighting a monster that seemed to be as tall as a skyscraper.

And yet he wasn’t losing if anything the monster seemed to want to run away, at the other side was [The Beast Master], one of the members of the [Nine Stars] waiting.

The image focused on the man, “Can I try it now Jack? I do want one specimen of this species before you kill them all.” Said the [Beast Master].

“While at work call me [American Crusader], and yes. You can release your skill, I tested enough and I am not getting more strength nor is any of my skills evolving.” The man said back, “I will stay around before returning to [The Twelve]’s base, in case you fail.”

[The Twelve]?

“[Oh right, the cognito hazard, might as well remove it.]” Crystal said and suddenly the hand of the purple-haired woman was on her forehead. Somehow she had turned herself to look at the purple-haired woman.

Somehow that woman had put her finger on her forehead… Somehow…Somehow…sOmEhOw….

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH” She felt herself scream, as a deluge of information flooded her [Soul], her father, her mother, her first love, her first friend, her best friend, her school, her first time… How she cried when she got cheated on…

How Edward had been there to reassure her, how the shy boy had given her the courage to break with her boyfriend, how that friendship was the reason she didn’t listen to her gut feeling and jump into the weird magic circle that engulfed them…

How…

“[Oh whoops, wrong memory, sorry. Your soul is a mess, here this is the right one.]” She heard and the memories seemed to want to escape, but she grabbed them tightly and shoved them back into her apartment.

And before being able to confirm if that worked she felt a new deluge of information flood into her mind, [The Twelve]. The twelve most powerful heroes and mages in this world. And at the helm [The American Crusader] and [The Stardust Explorer].

The man and woman she had seen, the two gods that ascended to protect Elizabeth…

“...Who are they? Why do they care about Elizabeth?” Rena asked as she turned to look at the purple-haired woman once more.

“[Oh that, she is their daughter, well some part of the Inheritor is, the other half is the remains of….something else.]” Crystal answered while eating popcorn and seeing Jack…Seeing [The American Crusader] German suplex a monster.

That was Elizabeth’s father?

“Jaaaaaaaaaaaack, hurry up, we will be late for Eli-Eli’s birthday!” Then suddenly a blonde woman teleported to the side of the monster and tied it with chains, “Are you done yet? Oh, hello Josh, didn’t see you there. Is this the new one you wanted? Can we call it Scaly?”

The woman….Catherine, seemed….odd. She couldn’t correlate the ball of anger and fury with the airheaded woman who was dressed in bright pastel colors. For one this seemed closer to her age than the previous one.

“Catherine, please don’t shorten my name. And no, this will be called something else, not like anyone will ever hear it, but we will not call it Scaly. The Cerberus is still angry at me for accepting your advice and calling him Corporal Snuggles.” The Beast Master said, only for the image to pause.

“[See, that is what I want. To be able to speak fluidly like that.]” Crystal said to her.

So she wanted to banter? But… hadn’t they been bantering? “Aren’t we doing that?” Rena asked.

“[No no, this is different, you are within my Soul, and this is closer to me speaking to a pet. And I’m only trying it because it seemed to work between the pooch and Elizabeth. She acted as if the thing was important, so since your soul is so broken and I need to fix it when Elizabeth decides to throw you away… Might as well start!]” Crystal said as if nothing.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“...Elizabeth will not throw me away,” Rena said while trying to not think about that.

“[She loves Rossaline, we both know that.]” Crystal pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean she will throw me away, that only means that she cares for her,” Rena answered back, and the image morphed from the one of the fights to another, on this she could see Elizabeth dressed in a white dress standing at an altar. On the other side was Rossaline with a pastel pink dress, she could see multiple people on the seats cheering on.

And at the very back…she saw herself, dressed in a suit, clapping with everyone else, her eyes blank and devoid of emotions, as if someone had ripped apart her heart and crushed it.

“That will not happen.” Rena said while holding her chest, her breath coming with difficulty, “She wouldn’t hurt me.”

“[But she loves Rossaline more, doesn’t she? Do you want to know what she thinks of you?]” Crystal asked, her voice sweet and enticing. “[Do you want to know what you are to her?]”

…Did she? “Yes…” She answered before trying to think, before checking on her [Instincts]... Actually, why hadn’t she felt anything from them?

“[Here it is.]” Crystal said as the screen swapped once more, to the day Elizabeth fought against Akira. The day she earned her freedom.

On it, she could see Elizabeth fighting, how the souls of those within her shadow city roused at her call, how they fought and clawed, even those that knew they could die, how she lost one of her oldest servants…And how she looked at her and the thoughts of Elizabeth were written above her head.

“She is more like a dog! A cute puppy!”

She saw her as…a pet. Not as a woman, not as a romantic interest, but as a pet…A dog…

“Hahahahahahahahaha”, she couldn’t help but laugh.

Akira saw her as a meat sleeve, something to pleasure him and nothing else, Rossaline saw her as a rival, someone she needed to put in her place.

Aura saw her as an interesting entity, someone who could become a coworker or a master.

Crystal saw her as… “[Someone to help me understand human emotions and communicate better?”] that, as a tool.

But Elizabeth?

“All I need for you to fix me is to cut my connection to Elizabeth?” She asked the woman.

“[Yes, you need to sever the connection to her Domain. Your soul may be unstable, but it should survive that long enough for me to grab it, nourish it, and send it into my circle of transmigration.]” Crystal answered, “[Now is a good time, the Inheritor is busy so she will not be able to answer in time.]”

Elizabeth was busy?

Oh right, she was flirting around in the Jacuzzi, enjoying the pleasure of the flesh.

“I see, how are you even able to speak to me? To pierce Elizabeth’s Soulscape?” Rena asked as she started searching for that connection Crystal spoke about.

“[No one can violate a Soulscape, not anymore after Odyssey’s divine Law. You need permission to enter, not even gods are exceptions. I didn’t pierce her Soulscape. What I pierced was her Domain. It’s different, also the connection is here.]” Crystal pointed, both at the place she needed to cut and the difference.

Rena didn’t understand what was the difference, but the point she needed to focus on was easy enough to find. It was…The sword. The Crimson sword that she gave Elizabeth to fight against Akira, the crimson sword that symbolized what she was…

The one that had landed outside in the park in front of the department building, it felt foreign.

“[Offer that to me and you will be bound to me, then I will be able to take you from the Inheritor and return into my circle of transmigration…]” Crystal said while opening the door back to her apartment, the one within Elizabeth’s ruined city.

“And this is for free?” Rena asked as she walked into the threshold.

“[I mean, I may…use part of your memories to build a better way to communicate, but you will not feel it! I am using a proven method, the same one that made Elizabeth who she is!]” Crystal said, that was one interesting way to promote it.

Rena wasn’t sure what she meant, this woman obviously was mad, or very bad at speaking, was she affected by the taint or something? It was almost as if she didn’t understand human emotions at all.

“[I am not human, why would I understand them? There is a reason I want part of a human to study.]” Crystal defended herself.

“So I only need to offer this?” Rena said as she walked to the sword, the purple-haired woman stared back at her from the door.

“[Yes, just say ‘I offer this to THE WORLD, the IDEA will make it work.]” Crystal answered her.

That was one easy way to settle this yes.

“Sure I guess…” So Rena grabbed the sword and felt the burden immediately. This was supposed to be part of her, and yet it was heavy…

“[Hang on there, it feels heavy because you aren’t whole, not after The Inheritor took part of your soul for herself. Just say the words!]” Crystal said.

So Elizabeth took part of her soul huh…Well, this made everything easier then.

“[How does that make it easier?]” Crystal asked.

But Rena didn’t say anything before speaking, “Under the name of the Sword Saint… I Watanabe Rena pledge my Sword…My Soul…” As she said the words she felt the reality tremble, the shadows within the ruined city answering to her call.

As if ready to pounce at an enemy that they couldn’t find, through the thread that joined her to Elizabeth she felt the other girl’s emotions…

Mostly pleasure since she was messing around with Rossaline, but as soon as she felt the disturbance and the place it was coming from…

Guilt…Pain…Sadness…And….Lust….Lust for her body, lust for her reverence. And guilt because she didn’t know how to act around her.

And that made her smile because she knew now as a fact what emotions Elizabeth held towards her.

“[Do it!]” Crystal cheered her.

“[I pledge all that is me to Elizabeth Starbright Domain. May my whole being be hers to wield, may my body serve her, may my soul nurture hers, may my mind be hers to love…or to be destroyed by her.]” And like that, the crimson sword on her hand burst into flames that melted into the ground.

The central spire on the ruined city shone with red light for a second only to return to normal afterward, the only difference she could see was that at the very top of the building, one of the antennas now had a red light blinking.

In her apartment within this ruined city, she felt how the door towards Crystal was closing, “Disappointed?” Rena asked.

“[Heh, not really. I had thought you would do that, I just wanted to confirm if this personality I built was the right one or not to speak with mortals.]” The purple-haired woman said. “[This one was made after what Ethan did, since he seemed to be good at manipulating people and while I don’t hate Elizabeth…She did take my dog, so I wanted to take hers.]”

Elizabeth took the dog of Crystal?

“So that image was a lie?” Rena asked as the doorway continued to shrink.

“[It was a possible future, in that one, someone else dealt with Akira and Elizabeth felt guilt at not doing the job, so she took you. But your body held no Soul anymore, so you were nothing more than a flesh bag, your body was being controlled by one of her Minions and she was researching ways to make new Souls. I don’t need more things to worry about so I wanted to nip that in the bud… But now that you did that…Well, not my problem anymore.]” Crystal said, how was this no longer her problem? “[You aren’t part of my circle of transmigation anymore, you aren’t even part of my WORLD.”]

“...Thank you for edging me to deal with this then.” Rena said, unsure about what to think.

“[Don’t mind it, I really wanted to use the memories of your past life as a template, the deal is no longer available though. And you will not remember me anyway.]” Crystal said and she felt herself fall back to her body.

The last thing she saw was the face of the purple-haired woman.

“RENA WAKE UP!” And then she was on her bed, sweating, sticky. With the worried face of Elizabeth in front of her.

And the annoyed face of Rossaline at the side as she cast high-tier healing magic on her.

[Parallel Thought] & [Thought Acceleration].

“What happened here?” She asked her other selves as they manifested in this frozen world.

“It seems we were meditating…” Her child self said as she tried to hug the worried face of Elizabeth.

“And yet I don’t remember anything, but it seems we did something to worry Elizabeth.” Her older self spoke as she looked up and down at Rossaline.

“Last thing I remember is…taking my clothes off to meditate,” Rena said as she took everything around her and started thinking.

“There is another different thing too, I’m here and I REMEMBER.” A Fourth Rena said, she was…different, for one she was dressed in a school uniform that felt nostalgic even if she couldn’t place it…

And for another… She wasn’t red-haired but had brown hair, and more importantly... she was…average. No, below average, it was unfair to evaluate her like that. Most Magical Girls or Heroes were above average in looks after one took into [Charisma].

“Who are you?” She asked the new girl who was walking around eyeing Elizabeth and Rossaline, both were dressed in bathrobes, and neither had tied their bathrobes so both had plenty of skin for all to see.

“I’m Emma Brown.” The girl said while ten turning to look at her, how was she even doing that? “Well, there are a few things of note here. One.”

The girl said while pointing at Rossaline and Elizabeth, “Either these two are whores or are very concerned friends…” She even kneeled at the side to check if either girl had underwear.

…Was she a pervert?

“And second… Did I wake up something weird after reincarnating again? Why are you naked?” The girl, Emma. Said while pointing at her.

Then as if nothing she grabbed her arm and Pulled, that was weird, especially since her perception of the world shifted and she saw her body on the bed with Elizabeth atop her.

She was on the bed, with Elizabeth atop her, and their breasts touching…She felt herself flush, her heart started beating faster, her world seemed to want to melt away, and she wanted to grab Elizabeth and KISS HER.

“Oh great… I became gay in my third life… Here, let me help you I guess… Might as well.” Emma said and she saw her MOVE, that shouldn’t be such a surprise since all her bodies could move within this frozen world.

No, the thing was that she saw Emma enter her body and then smile at her, she saw the world melt away as it started to return to normal speed.

“Oh, morning…Elizabeth? Yes, Elizabeth. No, that is too serious.” She saw her mouth move, the inflection was different.

“Rena?” And Elizabeth noticed it too. “What happened? Why are you naked? Why did you pull at the thread? Is something happening? Are you in danger?”

But she didn’t prod too much, something her other self took a chance, “Oh nothing much, by the way, you are now Liz, more cute that way…” Then she turned to look at Rossaline.

“STOP DON’T!” Rena tried to say, but felt nothing coming out of her mouth.

“Oh fine, I’m not staying long anyway, here Liz. I’m doing a freebie, so don’t hate Rena too much.” And without further ado Emma (Using her body) pulled Elizabeth towards her face, towards her mouth.

She kissed her.

AND THEN EMMA RETURNED HER BODY BACK!

AND ELIZABETH CONTINUED KISSING HER!

AND ELIZABETH’S TONGUE WENT IN!

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