There's a big pile of bodies blocking the stairs leading out of the underground. They look like soldiers, since their equipment is all uniform. So the commotion caused by my other half during the landing earlier has attracted these forces to stop us from coming out of the dungeon again, huh? But it was quite obvious that they wouldn't stand a chance, now that she has a dragon's template as well as a huge amount of mass to work with.

The circumstances around here seem to be quite complicated though. I get how she can be so passionate about the girl called Kamii, since I know how I can be like. But maybe she's getting a little too reckless with her actions. Her battle against Queen Aurelia earlier was quite hard to watch, since there were some things that could have been done quite a bit better. I hope she learns from it - I sure as hell did just from seeing it.

I hope she doesn't make some huge mistake and gets defeated. Then again, while I know that I can be a ditz sometimes, I'm resourceful and can find a way out of anything. Let's not mention that I was captured by magicians and put into a dungeon cell where I almost starved to death... Ah, speaking of food, let's enjoy this treat she's left behind for me while it's still fresh. Itadakimasu!

Phew, that hit the spot. I can take on my normal size with this and more. But it's not yet enough to try a dragon transformation, for that I'd need more than double the amount. I turn to Senka and Hestia, who had the decency to look away while I took one man after another inside me despite only having such a small body. Yes, it was really troublesome at first, you know? But it stretched out enough after a while, so it became easier to receive them.

"Let me see how it's going at the academy." Senka says and her pupils expand beyond the irises, before the blackness spreads out like ink in water, turning her sclera completely black, before even covering the skin around her eyes. She turns expressionless and her body locks into an upright pose, as she seems to lose consciousness for a moment. Then the darkness on her face retreats to her pupils and she turns around to Hestia with a frantic expression. "I can't reach her!"

"... what?" Hestia makes and I turn to her, alarmed.

"There are two explanations for this: She is either very far away - further than where you ended up in when you got transported away - or..." Her tone and the fact that she lowers her head at these words slightly implies that the other explanation is that she's dead.

"I doubt I'd have died so easily, so let's work under the assumption that she was teleported far away, just like Kamii was." I quickly say before the angel's thoughts get out of control. I've been able to see during my journey with her that she's a yandere, so if I leave her alone, she might do something rash and attack the academy on her own in retaliation. "You two stay here, I'll go take a look at the academy, to see what happened."

With this, I transform into a wounded soldier and walk upstairs while holding my bleeding shoulder - the blood of which I'm drawing from one of the corpses inside my body, since my own produces none of its own - acting as if I just barely survived. But when I come out, the plaza is completely empty. It just means that the fight was taken to the academy successfully and all forces were diverted there. Otherwise there would have been more signs of a battle here, and the dead on the stairs would have been cleared away.

Alright, no need to act, then. I walk into an alleyway and change out of my appearance, switching to a commoner girl's look to make my way through the city undetected. Making sure nobody saw me, I begin to quickly make my way towards the brightly lit citadel - the place this magic academy is supposedly located in.

The citadel itself is on full alert as the soldiers at the gate seem to be in a frenzy. I transform into the wounded soldier's appearance once again and approach them slowly, but out in the open for them to notice from afar. They see me and their expressions change into ones of surprise, before one of them rushes up to me to help.

"Hallbjorn, you're alive!" He says as he puts my arm over his shoulder. Thank you for telling me the name of this soldier I'm impersonating, I'll be able to react properly now, if I'm being called while in this appearance. Getting information here may be easier than I thought.

"Ugh... what happened to that monster?" I say and put my entire weight on him to show off how weak I am right now and lull them into a false sense of security.

"Thorketill, help me out here." The one I'm leaning on calls over the other guard at the gate. Why, thank you for giving me his name, too, although I doubt I'll ever need to use it. "The monster... I've never seen anything like it before. It flew through the air and broke the barrier, then attacked the principal's office. It was cornered by the mages on the field, but was able to break out."

"But the principal was able to put it back into the magic circle and threw it into the heavens." Thorketill says while taking my other side, careful not to aggravate the wound on my shoulder. I demonstratively let some blood flow out of the wound and grimace at the movement. "Ah, I'm sorry. Don't worry, we'll bring you to the infirmary."

"So... the monster is dead?" I ask, acting surprised. Well, I actually am quite shocked, but I need more information before I can know what really happened. If my other half was thrown into the sky, then there should be no problem for her to return.

"I'm sure it must be. I can't imagine it surviving that." The other soldier looks up into the night sky and it's beginning to dawn on me what really happened. Damn, she got launched into space? I only know that it's a cold place with no oxygen and no gravity. And returning from it is really difficult, because one can burn up in the atmosphere during reentry. But still, judging from my own biology, I think this body can survive the vacuum of space at least. After all I don't seem to need any oxygen and I'm impervious to large temperature changes.

If she really ended up in space, it would explain Senka being unable to reach her, because the distance might be too large. But the possibility that she died up there remains. I need to know for certain that she's in space now, rather than teleported to some faraway place that the people in this nation believe to be heaven. For that, I'll need an actual witness.

We walk across a field and towards a building that reminds me of photos I saw of old English universities. So this is the academy, huh? There are people going in and out from its main gate, but the soldiers guide me along its outer wall, towards a building annex at its far end. That must be the infirmary. But I have no intention of being examined by someone who might see through my disguise.

"Sorry, you were really helpful, but we're enemies after all..." I say almost apologetically, causing the two lending me their shoulders to stare at me questioningly. Then I pull them inside my body and quickly look around, to see if anyone witnessed it. It's pretty dark on this side of the building and I can't spot anything with my night vision, so I should be safe. Even if I was seen, I'm sure I can run and change my disguise while out of sight and go undercover once again.

Now, to find someone who witnessed the whole battle from start to finish. Since it's late at night, the students are most likely asleep. And if they were awoken by the noises of a battle, then they most likely didn't get to see everything. I don't want to risk grabbing a mage, since there may be communication spells with which they could warn the others. And trying to ask the principal directly while in a disguise is sure to be a surefire way to end up joining my other half on her trip to the stars.

"... Onee-sama?" A tiny, high-pitched voice makes from somewhere around my legs and I look down. What I spot in the grass is something I can only describe as the half-melted head of a blue-skinned girl. If I didn't have the body I do, I'd have screamed in shock. But under the circumstances and from the choice of its words, I'm led to believe that this is somebody involved with my upper half. Most likely a type of slime. I look around to make sure that we're alone, then I squat down while undoing my transformation and turning into the appearance I had in my previous life.

"Can you tell me what happened?" I ask her, trying to give her a reassuring expression to show that I'm somebody she can trust.

"Y-You are... not Onee-sama?" She inches away cautiously, but her movements are very slow.

"No, I'm a part of her. I don't know who you are, but I can tell that she's really important to you." I hope this is enough to convince her. Shape-shifting and this appearance should be telltale, but showing that I clearly know the other me and may be acting on her behalf will surely calm her down. "Can you tell me your name and what happened to her?"

"I am Vitalis... Onee-sama... she was caught in a space magic circle... and thrown into the sky..." The slime girl named Vitalis begins to explain but I notice that her face is displaying clear signs of exhaustion and her words are slurred.

"Is your body meant to be this small?" Normally slimes don't take on the shape of human heads. Then again, this is a real fantasy world, so anything goes. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask.

"No... I went to help Onee-sama... but Principal Eklundstrom nearly killed me... This is all... I could pull together... when I made my escape."

"How can I help?"

"... some... liquid..." Is she getting weaker? Don't tell me she's seeping into the ground or something!

"Here, this is all I have." I hold out my hand over Vitalis' head and she opens her mouth, even though I think she could just absorb it with her body directly. Then I pour all the blood I can squeeze out of the corpses inside me into her. Her expression changes to one of shock, but obviously, beggars can't be choosers, as she swallows everything I give to her.

"... thank you..." She seems to have regained quite a bit of her size, although it seems that the blood has changed her color from blue to red. Still, she's now in a very cute loli form, one that I could just... no, she's most likely one of my other half's girls, so I shouldn't touch her.

"So, you say she was thrown into the sky? Then there's nothing we can do until she returns on her own." I look around, paying especially close attention to the windows of the building, but there's no sign of anyone having discovered us.

"Umm... I am sorry for not asking earlier, but what is your name?" Vitalis inquires with a bashful expression. Wow, this is seriously cute, I have to hold myself back from hugging her!

"You can just call me Asoko." I say after a little contemplation. I'd prefer being called Chaos or Kuroe Makoto by other people, but considering that she knew my other half before meeting me, making her call me that would just confuse the matter. Alright, focus. "We should get out of here for now." Checking the path to the gate, I prepare to move, when the slime girl stops me.

"No, we cannot leave yet. We need to help Lenoly!"

"... who is that?" I feel like I'm pushing my luck with every passing moment while on the academy grounds. I have no leeway to help someone who may be guarded closely, especially since I don't have all the useful templates and spells my other half has. And the fact that she was defeated nonetheless just goes to show that I wouldn't stand a chance as I am now.

"I... It is my fault that she was involved in it. When I heard the battle and went to help Onee-sama, Lenoly followed me because she knows how hopeless I am on my own..." Vitalis looks depressed at these words. It's quite apparent that this girl is the clumsy type, and while it is a charm point, in a world where magic and war is very real, that can be quite dangerous. And it's a fact that she nearly died. Actually, she might have, if she hadn't met me and I hadn't given her some liquid to gain back her mass.

"Do you know where she's being held?" I sigh. For someone who sounds like such a good friend to one of my other half's harem members, I just have to try my best... I sigh again at how good-hearted I am.

"I saw her being moved towards the dorms." Vitalis answers and points in the direction of several two-story buildings across the field. I feel a little relieved at that revelation. From the way it sounds, she isn't being kept in the deepest dungeon of this citadel and I won't have to do an infiltration mission through various security checkpoints. I was never good at those types of games after all.

"Alright, then let's go." I say and without waiting for the slime girl's response, pull her inside my body. From my other half I've learned how to keep things alive, and I heard that corrupted beings or demons aren't affected as much by our own corruption - even though it's better to make things quick to not risk anything. With this, I change my appearance once again, covering myself in the robes of a mage, pulling the hood deeply into my face. Time to save this Lenoly girl.

I make my way across the field towards the dorm buildings while acting completely natural. I'm just another mage and it's completely natural for me to be walking around here~ Nothing special about little old me~

My path takes me past the magic circle Vitalis mentioned earlier, which is glowing and most likely still active. That's pretty scary, to think that stepping on it will cause me to be launched into space, but I can't act suspicious by circling around it in an obvious manner. There are many people scurrying around to deal with the aftermath of the destruction caused by my other half. I can see that the side of the academy building features two large holes, and there are deep marks in the ground, gouged out by the claws of her dragon form.

From the corner of my eyes I see a group of individuals that are unmistakably dangerous. One of them is an old man, the very image of a wizened wizard, who's talking to a woman whose entire presence seems to radiate light and purity. Sitting on a large piece of rubble is a woman with flaming red hair, listening to their conversation while resting. I can feel on an instinctual level that those three are bad news and that I don't want to face them at all.

But luckily, they don't notice me and I approach the dorms Vitalis pointed out to me. From the letters on the walls I can see which building is which, and I motion to enter the one marked with something best paraphrased as "girls". It's quite obvious from the fact that this is the girls' dorm, as there are several of them looking out the windows, watching the situation outside with curiosity. Some actually look quite cute, and I even spot a blonde with drill hair, who's a cut above the rest. So this is where my other half has been staying while I was locked in that dungeon in the Khurut Sultanate, huh? I'm kinda jealous...

"Who are you?"

I stop dead in my tracks at that voice. It belongs to a little girl, but her tone is incredible, reminding me of a certain teleporting girl who's a member of a law-enforcement agency. Spinning around, I look down to find a girl with cat ears, standing at the same height as Senka. Under different circumstances, I would have immediately jumped at her and rubbed my face against hers while playing with those ears. But the circumstances as they are - and the fact that she's casually shouldering a giant hammer larger than her own body - are keeping me from doing so.

This is bad, she's clearly someone on the academy's side.

"... who are you?" The cat girl's tone changes when she sees my face and becomes a little menacing, as her grip on the hammer changes ever so slightly. Apparently she's ready to bring it down on me the instant she has certainty that something's wrong. I scan the surroundings and in a split second decision, take off my hood and show her my face - a perfect copy of the other me. "Wha-?!" She's surprised, as expected, and nearly lets go of the hammer.

I use that opportunity to expand explosively, swallowing her and her weapon whole. Of course, once they're inside me I make sure to separate her from it, in case there's some hidden power in it. I can feel her struggling, most likely at full strength, but it doesn't even cause a single ripple on my surface. Considering the size of the hammer, she must be incredibly strong, but it seems that physical strength alone is practically nullified inside my convenient body.

I look around one more time to check whether anyone has seen it or not. Once I'm certain that nobody has, I enter the dorm building and come to a stop around the corner to let Vitalis out. I need her help to identify this Lenoly girl, after all. The moment I pull her out, I'm greeted by a half-liquefied mess. Huh, did I accidentally stick her in the digestion area?

Then I see her expression, which looks like one of literally brain-melting ecstasy. Apparently being inside me did that to her... Oh my...