I felt my face with my hands.

"...W-we're back..."

I looked around. The elves around this wide space had disappeared. The watchtowers were not staffed anymore.

...But my eyes quickly turned towards the Abomination, which was still alive at the center.

It was thrashing around violently, breaking and tearing down the cave walls without a goal in mind. Although dragging its enormous frame seemed to take some time, the hideous creature was still slowly but surely making its way out of the cage now that my Origin had been lifted. It seemed even more aggravated than before however; the various arms and legs sticking out of its malformed body were convulsing rapidly, their veins protruding out like an alien lifeform. The upper half of the female elf's body, seemingly the core of this monster, had begun to melt into its chest. Just like Lestia did with her Slime body.

I watched on for a few seconds, as it slowly digested that elf inside. Another eyeball opened, from the one of many formed on its gooey skin. Around this destructive scene, there were a considerable number of corpses, lying motionlessly from the results of its malefic actions.

...All of the male elves... their lives were already forfeites the moment I had messed with its memories, didn't I. These innocent men. ...had perished from its rampage instigated by me...

...All of them... dead... was my fault. Because... I incited the rampage of the otherwise... passive creature...

...?!!

"Mngghghhhhhguuu!!!"

...As I smelt the faint stench of blood around my surroundings, and the putrid wastes that came from the Abomination, I resisted the urge to puke. The pangs of guilt I was feeling didn't help either.

Covering my mouth with both of my hands, I watched on in horror... as it started to absorb even the corpses into its already enormous form. A few more eyeballs and body parts sprouted as a result.

It is... consuming living things... to grow even stronger...!!! That... thing cannot be kept alive after all...!!!

...The stench of blood... is not as heavier as I had imagined it to be...?

I squinted my eyes, and saw someone engaged in combat with the giant abomination.

The clashing of steel. Swords.

And more swords appeared. And then when those were broken by the hardening skin of the Abomination, a few more appeared.

Under the moonlight shining down from the hole in the ceiling, there was a woman with fluttering, pinkish red hair, holding a large sword. As if the sword had no weight at all, the woman swung it around effortlessly, creating afterimages of her slices in the air. Her snugly-fit dark grey armor plating her entire body did not slow her down in the slightest, and instead made the scene even more surreal... just like dancing.

And as a few other swords mysteriously formed on the ground, she lifted them up and choreographed into a smooth sequence of attacks towards the Abomination. The way she handled her multitude of weapons, was just like using a barrage of heat-seeking missiles, constantly locked on to their target.

"...So...ma..."

I called out unconsciously towards the woman who was still currently engaged with the abomination.

I had seen her memories as well. ...And she had been fighting off everyone else, for my sake...

"?! A...wake... you're... awake..."

Soma turned around and noticed me, clearly relieved to see me conscious at last. But in that one moment of absent-mindedness, the Abomination took the chance to strike.

A few of its hands extended towards her, as they suddenly hardened up, just like Lestia's Harden Skin.

"!!! Behind you!"

I yelled out to warn Soma.

Why am I so stupid?! I shouldn't have distracted her!

But my fears were not realized, as the swords hovering around Soma spun around quickly like a fan and sliced off those arms, leaving behind slabs of red, gooey substances instead of blood. She had not even bothered to turn around to reflect that attack, as if she had a pair of eyes watching from the back of her head.

"Ah...ehh... Th-thank god..."

At this display of strength, I was thoroughly relieved.

Soma continued to walk towards me with quick steps, her eyes focused and locked towards mine. I couldn't maintain that kind of intense eye contact, so I quickly turned away.

But I could hear her footsteps getting closer.

Wh-what...? Sh-she's just...walking towards me without saying anything...? Ehh...?

...I think it would be best for you to switch with me now.

E-eh? What do you mean...?

Inside of my mental landscape, Kuro advised me.

His eyes were serious, which startled me. Otherwise, I would've never stuttered towards someone like him, who was essentially just another me.

You've seen her memories. That's great. But you don't know that you've met her before, do you?

Eh...? I... know her?

...Aaahhh... as I expected. Seems like you don't remember her as well after that whole incident... No matter. I'll just warn you about something.

What... ...why are you talking like that...

Listen White. You're clearly abnormal, on a whole new level. Why have you been attracting the wrong kind of women your whole life? You've... We've laid hands on another woman. That is enough for you as a warning. ...I suppose you haven't even felt the bloodthirst coming out from behind your back the entire time too? That other one is also almost just as possessive as her...

Wh-what... you mean Le-Lestia?

...I changed my mind, I'm taking over the body... I feel like it isn't right after all. I don't think you'll survive as you are right now, so I'll take over for this one.

Wait...! I still haven't-

-There is a time and place for everything, White. She's going to kill you if you mess up this time. I'll fix this for you. Take this as a lesson.

I'm not d-!

With that threatening statement, Kuro pushed me out of the driver seat.

...It seems to me that Kuro was beginning to possess even more control over the body than I'd originally thought, ever since we'd talked to each other. This was a very strange phenomenon, which was clearly unwelcomed by me.

I watched and struggled on helplessly, as Kuro resumed control himself.

The abomination had started to feed off the corpses once again, as it was finally left uninterrupted with Soma's lack of contest after she had left it. It seemed to feed on living matter indiscriminately, and wasn't going to be particularly dangerous unless threatened.

When I had finished observing the creature that was bugging me the most as I had returned into White's body, I quickly found myself in a deadlock with the two other psychotic women.

"..."

"..."

"..."

She had arrived right in front of me. Where I was sitting on the ground, with Lestia behind me, watching her silently.

Lestia was the first to break the silence. She left my back and circled around me, eventually standing to the front with a firm intent to guard me from Soma.

"...So, you are Soma."

She eyed Soma from head to toe, as if appraising a weapon's capabilities.

Soma's eyes were covered by her bangs since her body posture was bent, having her shoulders slouched while walking here. She was probably doing the same to Lestia.

But Soma did not respond, and only tightened her right hand's grip on her sword. Seeing this, Lestia frowned, and continued.

"Not very polite, are you? ...Just so you know. Master hates clingy women. Your actions right now are troubling Master."

Lestia suddenly said something that astonished me.

...Eh...? Who is this person? Is this really that Lestia? She's respecting my personal space all of a sudden...?! ...Did Lestia always speak like that...? Then the... bloodthirst earlier...? It's like it vanished all of a sudden...?

This was clearly out of the norm.

I need to confirm this...

Thus, I held down both of Lestia's shoulders from the back with my arms. This action startled Lestia, who was concentrating her Slime Sense onto Soma at the front.

"?! M-master?!"

"Stay still. Accept the request to view your Status Window."

"I got i-H-hyauuu! Not my ear!"

...Eh, what's that weird moan...? ...Ignore it, ignore it...

A vein popped up on Soma forehead. It seemed that Soma had finally intended to take action after seeing me being so 'proactive' with my relationship with Lestia. Even though all I was doing was trying to get her to stay still so I could appraise her Status Window.

I could also access the Status Windows of the mentally slaved individuals tied to my Passive Skill: Aspect of a Ruler besides gaining a certain amount of dominance and influence over them. Of course, I had to have the other party accept the action through a confirmation window still. Although, it was particularly strange that there was a time when that woman called Soma had bypassed that when using Mind Projection...

Soma's face was incredibly dark. Probably a sign that she was really looking to kill someone now.

"...I should... I should be the only... one... and yet... you're with... this woman again... again. Again. Again. Again."

"...Master, this woman is dangerous... stay behind. I'll protect you. I am pretty durable after all!"

...Don't say that with such a firm conviction... you were trying to kill me moments ago too...

I kept silent as I held these thoughts inside of my head, as I opened Lestia's Status Window to check her Monster Instinct's current influence on her.

If it was still 100%, then that means that she had reset her familiarity with me. I still did not know the inner workings of the nature of an actual human person stuck in a Monster's body, but that reply that she'd just given to Soma... definitely was something she wouldn't say even at 95%...

...Status Check.

I activated the skill in my head, and quickly looked over to the bottom of the Status Window.

I knew it. Something had changed. The percentage has clearly falle... Huh? ...This... Foreign Elements

Monster Aptitude [6%]

Monster Aptitude? Wasn't it called Monster Instinct before...? An Aptitude...Is this, an inferior version of an Instinct I wonder...?

...What had changed...?

I retreated to the cave wall behind me as I started to hear metal clashing ahead of me.

The two women were clearly fighting, but I was confident that it would end up in a stalemate with that woman's defensive capabilities as a Queen Slime... at least... buy enough time for me to understand that woman, Lestia's status.

While I was monitoring the slow decrease of her health and mana points in real time, I was navigating around the Status Window to understand this unusual change from Monster Instinct to Monster Aptitude.

Here... That's not right... then here... skill description...

Amidst my search, something peculiar happened. Suddenly, the System announcement could be heard inside of my head.

Character: Lestia. Race Instinct triggered; Monster Aptitude has been raised by 2%. [8%]

...?! Huh? It's... it's increasing all of a sudden?! Why?! As I became even more concentrated to look for the source inside of her Status Window, another announcement popped up again.

Character: Lestia. Race Instinct triggered; Monster Aptitude has been raised by 2%. [10%]

?! What is going on?! Is something happening to her at the moment?! Dropping the tedious search within her Status Window which was like a spiderweb of information, I quickly looked up and saw Lestia and Soma, the two women still engaged in combat. On Soma's side, she was recklessly burning through a number of Sword Skills in an attempt to break through, but it seemed that it barely damaged Lestia's defenses with her insanely high amount of resistance and Passive Skill effectiveness. She had also used Harden Skin, along with the active use of all of her applicable Passive Skills within her arsenal to fend off the assault. But it still seemed to take a strain on Lestia's concentration on her defenses, since she was currently defending with her bare hands against the insanely powerful Sword of Bloodwell, and could not flinch too much to give an opening for the use of a devastating knockback skill like Breakmoon. Her main priority was to protect me, which became an even harder task for her to accomplish while trying to stay even with Soma, an experienced Sword Mage. They were both having a hard time, that I could tell immediately. But there were no other external factors at play here. ...Unless... it was through... combat. "!!! Lestia! Return here immediately, that's an order!" Hearing my hasty command, Lestia immediately complied and backed off quickly while still facing Soma. Fortunately, it seemed that my Aspect of a Ruler still proved to be very effective towards the current Lestia. Even though the reason was unclear, I wasn't about to complain about it. Nevertheless, the fact that Lestia still remained this wary of Soma, reminded me of something important. Even without too much mana, Soma was still a Level 87 Sword Mage. And Lestia could not let down her guard for even a single moment during their brief conflict earlier while I was trying to look through the Status Window... Lestia had appraised Soma before during her first encounter. Even without game knowledge in her previous world, she could still instinctively determine that all of those numbers definitely posed a potential threat to her life, even causing her Immortality passive to activate. Now that it was taken away from her, she had to double her caution towards someone who had triggered that very passive previously. ...More than a hundred times before she finally ran out of gas.

"You won't run from me!!! I'll KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, AND THEN TIE MASTER UP IN A HOUSE WHERE WE WILL LIVE TOGETHER, FOREVER~!!!"

The savage look in Soma's face seemed as if she had lost her sense of reason again.

I considered swapping with White now for something... but words won't come through at this point.

...And now, Soma is seriously going after our lives. Or rather, mine.

...Even when the creature we're supposed to defeat is right in front of us...

...

...Huh?

...This is strange.

Why am I thinking about something this trivial?

Wasn't she contained before already? I had sated the influence from her fear of blood already, didn't I? What is this situation? Why is she trying to kill me now instead?

...

...

...Come to think of it, why am I even worried about these women. I have the Aspect, don't I. Why am I playing along. ...It seems, that White had really influenced me in a bad way...

He's beginning to have my personality assimilate into his own, so why didn't the possibility of the inverse cross my mind?! I'm a fool...!

I bit my lips, and felt a veil of wrath envelop me.

It seemed, as if my Origin: Spectral Cowling, had begun to work from my emotions alone this time. It was also probably from White's influence on my mind, that I could finally feel this way.

My former... apathetic and condescending personality had become even more sharper with feelings of anger.

"Woman. You're forgetting something, aren't you?"

"?!" "!!!"

A look of fear was suddenly inscribed onto Soma's face, and even onto Lestia whom I had not even intended to intimidate.

But Soma returned to a charge after a few seconds again, as the Cowling quickly faded away in her streak of madness. The effects of the fear-inducing Cowling was probably diluted with my anger now, thus making its effectiveness weaker against Soma, who was fueling off the effects of my rage.

But that wasn't my intention from the beginning.

I just didn't want to keep the status quo like this. How did I expect White to change, if I wasn't capable of changing this situation myself?!

As I held a stronger resolution in my mind now, I faced the frenzied Soma who could no longer think, and declared in a loud voice; the shout resounding in the large space of the cave as echoes bounced ceaselessly off its vacant walls.

"I am nobody's plaything. You, are under my possession. It seems I need to remind you of this fact."