The following morning, Lone had promptly asked for Soph to help him with something.

Of course, she was more than willing to offer him her aid. What he wanted her to do though left her feeling quite concerned.

‘He can be so weird sometimes,’ Soph thought as she wore an unwilling expression on her face.

"A-Are you sure that you want me to hit them as hard as I can?" she asked with a clear sense of uncertainty in her voice.

She and Lone were in the training yard of their little fort and in her hands were her twin short swords while Lone was only equipped with his bone gauntlets.

Oddly enough, the gauntlets weren't stiff at all and moved more like gloves than gauntlets despite their bulky appearance.

Soph also noticed that their mana, while still golden like the rest of Lone, was a bit murky and seemed very… weak.

"Yes." Lone nodded his head. "Smack them, slash them, cut them to ribbons. They get stronger when damaged, and I don't think just this will be good enough against the goblins. I think, going by the flow, I should unlock more armour parts as the skill ranks up."

"I-I know, but I'm not sure if I can hurt you..." Soph replied indecisively.

Lone lowered his stance and sighed a little. "It's fine. You know I don't mind, right? It's for the sake of training."

"C-Can't you just use the steel armour you already made instead? You can slowly build up the rest of your bone armour over time, right?" Soph asked, desperate for an out.

She already never wanted to hurt him, hence why she had restrained Sophie for so long.

Now though, now that she knew she had feelings for him, it would be near-impossible for her to injure him and she knew it.

Lone put on a difficult expression. "I could, but it's very rare to get hit in the hands when fighting, especially with the goblins who are too stupid to even think of stabbing my hands to make me drop my weapon. Since we can train in a controlled environment, I'd rather do that, honestly."

"R-Right..." Soph felt like crying.

Seeing her blatantly pained face, Lone suggested, "Why don't you get Sophie to do it? Is she awake yet? She's violent and wants to kill me, doesn't she? I should be fine so long as you shout at her to not go too far."

Soph shook her head. "She's still sleeping. Ah, b-by the way, I was thinking about it, but why does she have the real name when I get the nickname? I'm not u-upset or anything, I just thought it was a bit strange..."

Lone scratched his cheek with one of his gauntleted fingers and grinned. "Well, you said that she was a collection of the you from before you killed God. So she's Sophie. The one who's endured a life of suffering, while you, you're basically a blank slate. You've slept and slowly gotten lonelier and lonelier just talking to yourself for almost, what, 600 years, right?"

Soph bobbed her head up and down in response.

Seeing that, Lone continued, "So, yeah, you're Soph. A new you. I never was very good with names, to be honest. We could pick a new one for you if you'd like? Her too if she wants one."

Soph shook her head and tightened her grip on her swords. "It's fine. I like it... b-because you gave it t-to me..."

Soph was carefully choosing her next words mentally when her other self, Sophie, suddenly spoke to her. 'Let me fight him.'

Soph's eyes went wide. 'Eh, you're awake?'

A scoff was her immediate reply which was quickly followed by a few words. 'I was always awake. I was just ignoring you. I was... thinking. Just... give me control, okay? I promise I won't hurt him.'

"Soph?" Lone asked, a bit perplexed by her radically shifting expression.

"Em..." A bit timidly, she responded, "Sophie's awake apparently. She wants to take control and f-fight you. She says she won't hurt you."

Lone grinned. "Perfect. Feel free. I don't mind. I know this violent stuff was making you uncomfortable."

Soph looked relieved if not a little bit upset. She was feeling a bit sad that she couldn't be more useful personally. "Um, I'll still be inside, so, um, don't do anything weird with her, okay? I-I don’t want her to steal anything else…"

Lone's face reddened a bit and he coughed lightly. Before he could say something to defend himself though, her aura changed.

Something about her was just... more primal now. Lone’s expression turned serious and he said, "Sophie?"

She nodded. "The one and only."

She walked up to Lone - swords still in hand - and smirked as she got within inches of his body. "She's really cute, isn't she?"

"Yeah... as a button," Lone answered with creased brows.

‘Hmm? He is not very flustered… Ah, he cares not for this childish form. We see. What a shame. If it would not destroy her clothes, we would shift and make him blush chin to forehead,’ she thought with a grin.

"Hehe." Sophie giggled before she suddenly licked Lone's cheek. "Hurt her, and we'll cut it off. We don't care if you're nice to us as well, but if you ever break her heart, we will break you. She cares too much about you, the poor girl. And we, well, we care too much about her. It’s an exchange, you see? You keep her happy, we do not end your miserable and worthless life."

"Are you stupid?” Lone asked with a confused expression. “You can’t be that naive at your age, right?”

Sophie didn’t expect that response. She was kind of hoping he’d get frightened and nod his head like the foolish man he was deep down.

“What do you mean?” she asked, seeking clarity.

If he didn’t have a good reason for insulting her then she may let slip a few more than lethal attacks during the upcoming training.

“I mean, how the fuck can I promise to never hurt her? That’s just an unreasonable demand. What if I say something that I personally think is fine but that offends her and hurts her feelings? What if she gets possessed by something magical and the only way to get her back is to beat the shit out of her? Don’t be so stupid,” Lone said as he wore a frustrated look on his face.

“These kinds of promises always, and I mean fuckin’ always, get broken. They can’t be kept. Ask me something a bit more reasonable, would you?”

Sophie frowned. “… Well, we will admit, you are intelligent if nothing else. Very well. Do not ever cause her harm intentionally unless it is necessary for her, and by extension, our, survival. Is that sufficient, Mister Pedantic?”

Lone wore a smile. “Yeah, now that, that I can promise to do.”

"Good, though remember, all it would take is a few teleports straight up. Seconds later... " she kissed his cheek before peering into his eyes and smiling coyly, "…. splat."

Lone shrugged. “Bet I’d survive. But anyway, you don’t need to come on so hard and aggressive, y’know? You’re a part of her two. If I’ve got feelings for Soph, then, by extension, I have feelings for you.”

Sophie scowled though her lips trembled a bit and she felt her cheeks flush.

She put her left short sword in her right hand along with her other sword and used her now free fist to lightly punch Lone in the chest. "That is hardly fair. Acting like you care about us too. We know you only want Soph. We understand. We are not covetous of what she so deeply yearns for, just... you do not need to try to please us as well."

Lone laughed. "I'm not. I care for and want to protect all of Soph. Like I said, that includes you too, idiot."

"W-Well..." Sophie stepped back a few paces and assumed a stance with her swords. "Y-You shall hab to prove it!"

“Did you seriously just bite your tongue? Fuck me, that’s cute. Real gap-moe vibes,” he smirked.

Sophie’s face filled with rage. “We are not ‘cute’! We shall begin attacking you now, so prepare yourself!”

12 hours soon passed. It would have been 12 straight hours if not for bodily needs like the toilet and hunger. Of course, Lone had to recharge his mana points a few times as well.

Sophie was still in control of Soph's body, and she, like Lone, was covered in sweat. The two were sat on a bench simply leaning against each other.

The girl tilted her head onto his shoulder and stared up at the rising stars. "Why'd... we... stop?"

Flashing his perfect teeth, Lone replied, "'Cause we're done for now. Bone Armour ranked up."

Unique Subskill: Bone Armour

A subskill unique to the host, Lone Immortus.

Allows the host to use the unique skill [Basic Regeneration] to push the host's bones outside of their own body and use them as a weightless shield.

The strength of the bones will increase with mastery. The strength of the bones will also increase the more that they're broken and damaged.

The host can currently create a set of gauntlets and [New!] boots.

Cost: None to invoke (30-minute cooldown). Drains MP to recreate rapidly or to heal at varying speeds depending on the speed of the recreation or the severity of the damage being healed. Mastery: Intermediate Level 1

"I can make boots now as well, supposedly," Lone said, pretty happy with himself.

Unlike him, Sophie had very little stamina points in comparison, so she was still breathing heavily through almost every spoken word. "We're... happy. It... was... surprisingly… fun. Beyond your… incessant need… to attempt to rile… us up, we mean."

"Haha, don’t react like you do and I’ll stop. Wanna have a bath though? We haven't had one since two days ago," Lone suggested as he tugged on his tank top several times, creating an impromptu fan.

Sophie grinned. "We thought... you liked the... smell of our... perspiration. You even... avoided a bath this morning, so... we were sure..."

"No!" Lone almost screamed. "I'm not some pervert with a sweat fetish. I was just excited to test out if my skill worked how I thought it would. Sheesh."

"Hmm..." Sophie looked at him with scepticism in her dead grey eyes. "Sure. We'll swap-"

"I was kinda hoping to bathe with you, not Soph," Lone admitted, interrupting her mid-sentence.

Sophie's eyes instantly narrowed. "Why?"

"To get closer to you? She always tries to sneak in and bathe with me. I’ve never let her, of course, but now that we’re essentially a couple… I thought it'd be a nice bonding experience. Provided you changed form, of course," Lone said a bit sheepishly.

He wasn't expecting such a... sharp reaction from her, honestly. It’s not like he and Soph were new to skinship, this was just another step.

Hell, he was even going to suggest they wore their bathing suits too. In his mind, Sophie was just an extension of Soph and… honestly, he found her kind of charming.

Beneath the grit and bloodlust, there was a nice woman under there. He could sense it and it became easier and easier to see her in the past 12 hours.

"No. We'll swap." Sophie's attitude flip-flopped to being entirely devoid of any interest in him at all.

"She enjoys the idea of bathing with you, no? We would not want to take that away from her. Fighting for 12 hours is more than enough 'bonding' for us today." With that said, she returned control to Soph.

The girl almost slumped onto the floor before Lone caught her.

"Are you okay?" he asked with clear concern in his voice.

Soph smiled up at him. "Sophie is better at managing physical strain than me."

Her smile was filled with bitterness. "Carry me, please?"

'Ah, fuck. Good job, retard. One step forward, three steps back. Of course she’d want to be the first of the two to bathe with me. She got so upset over just a kiss last night…. Fuck. I can be so fuckin’ stupid at times.' Lone sighed internally before he scooped Soph up into a princess carry and slowly walked back into the fort.

"You know that I didn't mean any harm, right? I only want to get along with both of you. I had no idea how important this was to you," Lone said honestly as he ran his fingers through Soph's soapy hair.

She was leaning into his chest with her back as the two of them lay in the large bathtub. Lone made a mental note to thank Japan personally if he and Soph ever returned to Earth.

Their bathing technique of simply pouring buckets of warm water over yourself to cleanse all filth before getting in the tub was ingenious.

A decent working shower was beyond his capabilities so this easy and straightforward method was perfect for him.

Plus, he'd always enjoyed baths more than showers. The two of them were really filthy. It was like they had a second layer of skin that was solely made up of hardened sweat.

It disgusted him more than he expected it would considering he was a bit of a slob back on Earth anyway.

"I know... I'm not upset," Soph replied as she closed her eyes and focused with her hands on washing Lone's tails while he did her hair.

"Still, I wanna make up for it. I was insensitive. Is there anything you want?" Lone asked.

"Hmm... How about... a m-massage?" she stuttered. “You’ve never given me one so… I dunno, it might be… uh… nice?”

Lone beamed from ear to ear. "I can do that. I've got no experience, but it can't be that hard, right?"

Pulling his fingers away from her golden locks, Lone cracked his knuckles and began rubbing her shoulders as gently as he could.

[The host has developed the passive skill: Massage Mastery.] Passive Skill: Massage Mastery All massages given by the host shall be 5% more pleasurable. Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1

Three level ups of that new skill, an hour of massaging in the tub, and a very red-faced and oddly even more exhausted Soph later, and the two were now fast asleep in their bed after a long day of training and a nice warm bath.