"...This was your condition?"

"?! Condition? What are you talking about?"

Kuro ignored White entirely, and replied.

"Yes. In exchange for the source of the Chaos Serum like we've agreed on."

"...You drive a hard bargain... If you'd been recorded in the Memory Archive, I wouldn't have to do something this tedious and look through your memories instead... Aahhh, aahhh... A promise is a promise, I'll keep my end of the deal."

"Wh...what?"

White had no idea about the existence of this transaction between Ruler and Kuro.

Much less did Lestia. But she instantly recognized Ruler. Lestia's impression of the goddess was much more stronger, because she had attempted talking to the System before, who was thought to be Ruler herself. Or rather, Lestia wanted it to be that way, so she could continue a dialogue to cope with her fear of isolation in the cave.

"...! G...goddess... why are you..."

"Go ahead."

"Tch, you don't order me around. I know already..."

Scratching the back of her head, Ruler slowly made her way with light steps towards Lestia, still slumped on the ground.

"W-What are you..."

"Ah... uhhh... well... I must admit it, you taking the form of a slime due to some kind of status altering... it is my fault after all. I should have checked a little more carefully with your Status Window before sending you off... really... these Parasites... they're increasing in number lately..."

"Hu-h?"

"I would have never imagined... that you would want to discard your Immortality."

"Goddess, were you... the one... who gave me this ability...? Then... then... can you... can you kill me...?"

"...Because of your indecisiveness, I had already granted you Immortality because you said you wanted to enter the purgatory state... You probably don't know this, but I cannot tamper with the System's values except adding on to them?"

"What... does that mean... you can't... end this...?"

Words slowly became blurry as she started to register things worsely. Her insistence on dying was due to her loss of Inaho, her final supporting pillar.

And Kuro had taken that away from her, by bluntly telling her that she had been lying to herself the entire time. That everyone she knew and held sentimental value for, had died.

She no longer had a will or a purpose.

"Ah... ah..."

"...I can fix you though. A deal is a deal after all, I'm told to help."

"...Fix... what exactly? ...And return where? ...I..."

"Hey, what's with your deal? Y-"

White could no longer bear looking at Lestia like this anymore.

"-Miss Hikari..."

"..." Lestia responded weakly when she heard her name being called by White. She still had her head downcast, unable to bear the depressing feeling inside anymore.

After all, what more could White tell her to change that?

Instead, it was Kuro who stepped out of the shadows near the walls.

"...Kains."

"-?!"

Lestia jolted up immediately when she heard that name.

"Kains Amagiri."

"How do you... know..."

"...That reaction. I guess what I saw wasn't entirely unrelated."

Matou Takeo, Urayama Ichiyo, Arakawa Yanagi, Uchida Mai, Satonaka Sachi, Mizutani Inaho, Sakurai Shun-

-Kains Amagiri.

"You love that man, don't you?"

"?!" White held a look of shock and surprise on his face.

"... ...Don't... fuck with me."

"H-huh?"

"..."

"Like hell... I would. ...He... he is the real monster... he..."

"...Instigated everything right?"

"!!...Nngghhharggghhhh!!!!"

Following an agonizing shriek, Lestia began recollecting the memory right after Inaho died in her slime body.

The surroundings quickly changed.

It forwarded to the setting where a guy and an elf met outside of the cave.

"...They're all... dead right?"

"Yeah, I've killed the last one. Instigating her to fight for me proved to be pretty useful in the end... I almost got caught off guard after all... by this... useless... thing!"

Kains kicked off the arm of Shun with disgust. In his final moments, Shun had been disillusioned by the cruelty of his best friend, who had discarded him cleanly like this. He died with a horrible expression on his face.

When Kains had successfully removed the burden off of his body, the smile on his face crept upwards sinisterly.

"...After all, there can only be one hero."

"Don't you... feel anything after ditching your companions like this...?"

Tricia looked at Kains uncertainly.

"Hmmm...? ...You're... hesitating...? Why? You. You want power right...? I've chosen you exactly for this purpose, out of every other potential elf in this village. ...you want to be the first right? You want to be first in everything, right?"

"I'm just..."

"Afraid? At this stage? I gave you a solid alibi, didn't I? I even prepared the bait that stopped our carriage, they won't trace it back to you... We're almost there. Power and authority. Don't you want them?!

To stand over the rest to rule. Using their lives as a pedestal for your great self... it's an intoxicating feeling when you've tasted this much power. Are you telling me, my judgement was cloudy when I chose you for this...?

...Don't waste my month of preparation like this. Tricia."

A surge of killing intent radiated out from his body, startling the elf.

"I... got it. But is this really enough? Having some quality meat aside... is this really enough to warrant an achievement...?"

"...You're really asking for a lot. ...But here you go, I have something extra."

Kains threw an ore towards Tricia, which she caught in her hands instinctively.

She inspected it cautiously. The rainbow streaks on the ore glowing faintly, as if imbued with a magical property.

"This is...?"

"I don't know. I found it on a bed of flowers in there. Not sure what it is, but it looks durable enough to probably function as a weapon material. You can test this on your own, but I want my end of the deal."

"...It will be hard convincing the elders... but I guess I'll take it..."

"And my item?"

"...Here you go."

"...Heh. Looks like it was worth the trouble doing all this."

Kains received a pouch, which he could clearly identify its contents with Status Check.

This Memory was of the play-back type. It was like Augmented Reality, and Lestia could not interact with this scene, even though she desperately wanted to at this point.

White looked at her face.

A face, unbridled with rage, so much so that he was slightly startled from it. He had never seen her looking this fierce before. The 'recording' continued for a few moments, before ending shortly when the message had been sent.

"...So do you still want to die? Or do you want to live on, for revenge."

"... ...Where is that bastard."

"Kukuku. I'll take that as the answer then. Well then, looks like we don't need you anymore huh?"

"...Showing me all that. ...Lestia. Hikari Shinkawa Lestia, right? Just for this occasion, I'll do something special to make up for my blunder."

"..."

"You've lost the core in your slime body, but you've managed to survive through Immortality. That is a fact, but. As per the rules of balance for Cross Porters, you have become too powerful due to its implications on your classes. In fact, you have 4: War Maiden, Queen Slime, Necromancer, and Summoner.

...To balance it out, I will need to remove your Immortality."

"Oi, this wasn't the plan-"

"-But in exchange. I will consume the title: Miracle of a Goddess to invoke Infinite Longevity instead. A skill to prevent you from dying by age after reaching the lifespan of the average monster. You will now die from normal means. This means, you will not be exempt from death any longer. That should be everything I can do for you, within my powers as an Adminstrator at least..."

"..."

Ruler curtly returned to her sarcophagus. But she stopped right before entering it.

"...Your Monster Instinct, you hate it right?"

"?! You can..."

"-I cannot fix it. But... well, for a special service, I'll tell you something good."

"? Something to cure this curse?!"

"Monster Instinct cannot be removed, but lowered in severity. The fact that the core in your slime body had shattered, contributed to the quick growth of this foreign element... causing you to lose control of your own body as a Monster. So the solution is simple."

Ruler stepped into the sarcophagus and closed her eyes.

The lid began to close.

"?! What?! What is the solution?!"

"...Find another core to reduce the percentage of the Instinct taking over your body. ...Fuaahhh... so sleepy... well then. Till next time... actually, don't call me again. I need to work on those parasites for now... *yawn*

Goddess duties~ Closed~"

And then, the sarcophagus shut tightly. As sudden as her arrival, she vanished from space just like that.

"A... core..."

Lestia pondered over those words.

"-I got it."

"Got... what?"

She turned towards White and Kuro, and pointed at herself with a serious and determined look. Feelings of embarassment was probably completely obscured by the indifference from her Monster Instinct. Nevertheless, she slipped up when trying to say it.

She said so, while clutching the hems of the skirt under her armor Snowfall.

"...One of you. Have s-sex with me."

"What...?! ...Oi, you're joking right? ...White, cancel your Origin now."

"White?"

"...S-sex..."

"Are you insane?! She's a slime! You got that?! Return us immediately! White?!

Listen to me! OIIII!!!"