Chapter 46
“Bianca, if I take any longer, Iris is going to yell at me. If it’s okay with you, could you please let me out now?”
Amidst the chaos, a polite request floated in.
Bianca, with a blank expression, stared at her belly and soon came to the same conclusion as before.
‘What a ridiculous dream.’
With that thought, she fainted.
*
‘Ah… where am I?’
Bianca found herself floating in a bizarre space. It felt like she was drifting in water or being tossed around by waves.
In this strange sensation, Bianca couldn’t actively look around or do anything.
She just floated there, as if that were her sole purpose in life.
Then something thick and damp licked her face.
“Kyaaak!”
Startled, she opened her eyes wide to see what had just licked her.
“Kehehik, kehek… Mistress.”
For some odd reason, her shadow was standing on two legs, blushing like mad with a terrifying grin and a black tongue hanging out like it was ready for a midnight snack.
With a voice that was a strange mix of croaky and cute ringing in her head, Bianca fainted again.
‘Huh? Wasn’t I in a dream?’
How on Earth could she faint in a dream?
With her mind racing, she opened her eyes again.
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
The sound of cute little birds greeted her, along with a clear blue sky.
“Where is this…”
A roadway stretched out, flanked by towering buildings. She was standing in the place where Lian had lived in his past life.
Chirp, chirp, AAAAAH!
A sparrow, making an adorable sound, suddenly opened its mouth wide and—oh no!—out pops a gun barrel from its throat. Flames erupted from it and then retreated back inside as if nothing happened!
“Babe, just hear me out once! I swear, it wasn’t on purpose!”
Behind the sparrow, another weirdly long-antennaed sparrow flitted by, flapping its little wings and talking in a lewd tone. This bizarre scene made Bianca jump up immediately.
“Wh-where am I?”
Confusion filled her eyes as she looked around. In that very moment, an electronics store’s TV blared a scream-inducing report.
[ Breaking news! What seems like a dragon, or perhaps a green monster, is actually a purple blob invading the city! ]
“What the heck?”
As she panicked at this suddenly serious situation…
BANG!
A massive, pink foot — the kind that could only be described as impossibly gigantic — landed right beside her.
“Kyaaaaak!”
Bianca’s body soared about three stories high before CRASH—she crashed to the ground.
“What in the world is happening!”
She screamed and bolted away, completely lost in the surrounding chaos.
…Little did she know, her pain was just beginning.
*
“Guh, erk… ehhh…”
Bianca, who had fainted, twisted and rolled on the floor. White foam bubbled at her mouth, and her eyes were rolled back like a horror movie.
After rolling around for a while and heaving, she let out an ugly barfing sound — wretch!
“Kuehk, kehek… kueeek…!”
The shadow linked to her twisted and writhed in discomfort before finally ejecting something with a loud, squelchy sound.
Splat.
“Phew… that was close.”
Lian, now dripping with slime, wiped his forehead and smiled like he just won the lottery.
“That was almost a one-way ticket to dissolve city in Bianca’s stomach juices!”
Having been cut in half upon swallowing, his body quickly healed since he hadn’t been in the belly for long—but escaping? Now, that was a whole different barrel of fish!
Luckily, his stabs against the stomach walls seemed to have done the trick, and the shadow finally spat him out.
“By the way… are you okay?”
Lian tilted his head as he saw Bianca drooling unconscious. He attempted to pick her up and place her on the sofa. But before he could get anywhere near, she woke up shrieking like a banshee.
“Kyaaak!”
She screamed again and tumbled off him. Thankfully, she landed on the couch instead of thumping to the floor.
Pat, pat, pat.
It looked like she was scratching the couch in a panic, as if trying to escape from a raging monster. She quickly scurried to the corner like a mouse.
THUD.
She fell to the floor with a loud crash, yet kept crawling around as if ignoring the pain.
Instinctively, she realized that all this madness was Lian’s fault, especially due to that terrifying power he had.
“Don’t you dare come near me! I-I can’t take it anymore!”
In a matter of seconds, her mind completely snapped, and she went screaming madly across the floor. I sniffed my own damp body while grimacing at the smell. Yep, it was the unfortunate scent of the shadow’s drool.
“Hey, Bianca, is it okay if I take a shower before heading out? Iris hugs me all the time—imagine the awkwardness with this smell and my ruined clothes.”
“Do whatever you want! Just… please go away!”
With her face pale as a ghost, Bianca yanked the curtain and hid herself away. I nodded at her trembling state, feeling bad for her.
“Thanks for granting me permission! I won’t be long!”
I assumed Bianca’s weird actions were from a stomach issue. Usually, I would have offered her some medicine, but after being swallowed by her pet, I wasn’t too keen on being kind.
‘If she’s a chomping critter, I should have muzzled her.’
Muttering to myself, I strolled into the lush bathroom. After peeling off my tattered clothes, I indulged in the sweet smell of shampoo and body wash.
‘Ahh, this is nice.’
I sighed happily as warm water streamed over my body. Time was short, so I reluctantly skipped a soak in the huge tub.
I quickly washed up, then dried myself off lightly, donning a robe.
“Bianca?”
She was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t just go downstairs in a robe, so I headed to the closet space she had shown me earlier.
‘I can just wash her clothes and return them later.’
I chuckled as I glanced through the clothes, some way too big or too small for me. She mentioned that these were the outfits her disciples wore—she kept them for sentimental value.
Turns out she was right; the closet was packed! I found something that fit my body perfectly; the design was just like the old slave clothes I used to wear, which felt oddly comforting. Changing my outfit might make Iris worry, though.
‘This should be discreet enough, right?’
I rubbed the soft fabric against my skin and exited the room.
‘I really should mention borrowing her clothes, but she’s not here—’
Thinking about leaving a note crossed my mind; too bad there was no pen or paper around. With Iris waiting, I quietly slipped out of Bianca’s house.
‘What if she’s crying?’
With a sadness-filled Iris occupying my thoughts, I hopped into the elevator and headed down. Back at Bianca’s house, from deep inside the master bedroom, a mumbling noise flowed endlessly.
“I’m scared, I’m scared! Please stop this, for the love of all that is good! I’m sorry, I’m really, really sorry!”
She had completely lost her sanity over whatever had transpired in her dream, looking like a broken robot.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m the one who messed up—please, please — aaahh!”
She was teetering on the brink of insanity. That was what you get for chomping down on something strange without a second thought!
*
Sniff, sniff, sniff.
“Ah, Iris?”
Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff.
When I returned to the room, Iris pounced on me, threw me onto the sofa, and began to sniff me like a dog confirming the scent of its owner coming home.
“Do I smell?”
“…You smell.”
“…!”
THUMP!
My jaw dropped in surprise as Iris laid flat on top of me, looking all kinds of grumpy.
“What are you doing?”
“You have a smell now!”
Iris proclaimed while rubbing her face against my chest. Her cute antics made me laugh.
“Does the smell bother you?”
“…Yeah.”
Iris pouted her lips and nodded vigorously.
‘Thought my scent was nice, but I guess Iris has her own opinions!’
I remembered the fancy shampoo and body wash, reaching down to ruffle Iris’s hair. After a few more scritches, she relaxed in the warmth and fell fast asleep.
“Ah… so sleepy…”
Feeling her high body temperature made my eyelids heavy. And just like that, I drifted off to sleep.
*
While Lian cradled Iris and snuggled into slumber, Totogen was on the edge of his seat, biting his nails nervously.
“This time, I’m definitely going to succeed, right?”
If dozens won’t cut it, maybe hundreds will.
Totogen had splurged big time, ordering a slew of powerful monsters to aid him.
In the next match, Lian would either end up in pieces or become corrupted under an overwhelming power. Instead of excitement, all Totogen felt was a crippling anxiety that made his legs shake.
The more you invest, the more hope and terror you feel simultaneously—that was exactly Totogen’s current state.
“If I fail again… no, no way! It’s going to work this time!”
Days ticked by, and Lian found himself entering the arena for yet another match.
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