Showing One's True Self

Hiro’s POV:

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“What do you have in mind?” Alice questioned curiously.

Elena leaned forward, crossing her fingers, with a mysterious smile. She seemed to be really sneaky… though I have no idea if she hides her emotions even more at other occasions. Forming a dagger in her hand, she pulled her finger on its edge, saying. “You seem to be so defenseless by showing your emotions.”

“But I always have a feeling as if it was still something… incredible? I honestly wouldn’t do it. Well, not because of a lack of self-confidence… I have other reasons. Anyway, I really look up to you for that.”

Putting down her dagger, she raised up her hands, saying, “I don’t want you to misunderstand me. I believe that you are by no means defenseless. Our little game before also showed this clearly. Haha~ I’d still advise you to ‘play’ differently while being here. The rules are different, unlike in your unruly cultivator world. This place is more like a mind game.”

“This brings us to the thing I could make you do. Naturally, this is only if you accept it. It could cause a lot of trouble for you… are you interested?” Asking with her brows raised, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She kept looking into our eyes, waiting for an answer.

Let’s see what will you say now. I could get rid of that stupid noble easily and save Nor’ Tu. Although things could turn a little ugly, I believe that I could save the asses of these two… she thought while I read her mind. Turning silent, I stopped reading her.

[Haha~ she is wrong if she thinks that we are stupid,] while making a thoughtful face, Alice remarked in my mind. With a smirk on my face, I leaned forward, questioning. “What if I say that I heard your thoughts? What if I say that we can be as straightforward as we are because we can? No matter where we are, with our strength and bond, we will be sure to stand on the top,” sticking out my tongue, I finished.

Alice grabbed my chin and stole my lips. Elena’s face didn’t change, mostly… but that slight twitch of her brows didn’t escape my eyes.

“It seems like Miss Elena isn’t unshakeable either~” Alice fueled the fire, with a smile on her face.

Elena’s brows started twitching and she kept on switching between a deadpan face and a smile. Not being able to hold it any longer, she started laughing, holding her stomach. The people nearby looked at us with strange eyes, making a surprised face upon spotting Elena.

“Haaah~ It’s been a long while that I laughed such a good one. You hear that, Audrey?” She said, still looking at us with a smile on her face. [Ugh… her looks are matching mine…] Alice thought, feeling a little annoyed.

[Don’t worry, dear. You are the only one for me.] I quickly replied, stating the obvious.

[I know, but seeing your clone with another personality is weird…] she remarked, turning silent.

“*Chuckle* I do,” Audrey talked from behind Elena, still lurking in her shadow.

With a bright smile on her face, Elena continued. “If you want to be scapegoats, come with me. I’m quite sure that you’ll be able to escape without any trouble.”

Just as she finished her words, our food arrived. The servant’s hands were trembling slightly as he put down the plate in front of Elena. His eyes were darting all over the place, looking for something.

“Calm down already. Dred won’t bite, unless you provoke me,” Elena said with a slightly annoyed face.

“Y-Yes, my lady!” The servant saluted, smashing the plate on his own head, accidentally. We stood up, knowing that we won’t eat anything today… how sad. I feel sorry for the meat! I thought, feeling slightly hungry.

[I’ll cook something for you~] Alice replied, sending not so pure thoughts into my mind… The naked apron was very much to my liking last time…

“I-I’m terribly sorry! I’ll go and-!” The servant started shouting, but Elena interrupted him, saying.

“Stay silent already. No one is going to kill you… *Sigh* I’ll leave now. Take this,” giving something to the guy, she stood up, ready to leave.

“Are you alright?” Alice played the angel, squatting down in front of the poor guy. Chuckling upon seeing her behavior, I grabbed her hand, saying. “Come, honey. We have work to do~” Standing up, she followed me. With my next step, I stomped weakly on the ground, sending my energy towards the servant, cleaning his clothes and body instantly.

“T-Thank you very much!” Clenching his fists, bowing down, he shouted. Now that I think about it, Elena had no aura surrounding her body. That was something we wanted as well. Not even that Audrey or Dred had it…

Elena teleported away, with us in tow. We appeared in front of a simple cabin in the middle of a forest. Elena spun on her heels, with her dagger in hand. Although barely, I was able to see its direction. Not even moving, we just waited for it to arrive. The tip of her dagger stopped right in front of our throats, with almost no space between them.

Pulling back her hand instantly, she spun the dagger, but it disappeared when her hand covered our view on the dagger. “You are good to go.” Seeing our unchanging facial expression, she said.

“I told you already that I don’t care about your games or the games your world have. We are like kids. Playing with our own rules,” I said with a shrug of my shoulders, making her laugh.

“I know, I believe you. I was just curious about your reaction since you were very protective of her when we met,” she said as she turned around, with an honest smile on her face.

“It’s strange… maybe this is because I can feel your open-mindedness or I don’t know… but I feel as if I could open up in front of you and just laze around, showing my true self. You just make me feel weird, haha,” again laughing honestly, she remarked. I wasn’t surprised by her words as we usually experienced this.

It happened a lot to me both in my past life and in this one. I mean, Rose, Ellery, all of them were straightforward when in our company. “Sorry for saying this. I just felt like it,” she explained herself.

Entering the house, the snake around her neck slithered down to the ground and turned into a panther. Rin appeared behind us and stopped in front of Dred. She sniffed his body in her curiosity, like a simple animal… “What is she doing?” Dred’s voice resounded in our minds.

“R-Rin…” facepalming, I called her, but she just kept sniffing. Licking his face, she turned around and sat down beside us. “Ahh… Rin…” sighing loudly, I felt a little ashamed. “You should behave next time,” I sent my thoughts to her.

“Ahahaha! You’ve got that, Dred!” Elena laughed loudly upon seeing the scene. Turning on his side, he didn’t say anything.

“Why can he talk?” I questioned curiously. Raising her finger in front of her lips, Elena told me that it was a secret. We didn’t learn anything…

“Alright, let’s get to the point,” having enough, I focused on the matter at hand. Nodding, she started talking.

“This whole levitating continent is called Ketarn. It’s bigger than what you could ever imagine. This universe is one of the oldest, so it isn’t surprising that there are ancient clans, kings, and nobles… This empire we are in is called Trigon Empire.”

“Now I have a very serious problem and I’m in a stalemate. My race… which you don’t have to know is very… hated. Really, this is only racism against me… The problem is that if people were to find out, I’d be hunted… again. I had the luck to experience it and I really don’t wish to do so again. But there is a noble, who probably knows something. If I want to live a relatively peaceful life, I will have to kill him as soon as possible. So I really need to kill that noble.”

Sending an exact image of him into our mind, she continued, “He is called Thuurame and he is a demon… I don’t have any problems with killing him. The problem is that I had a smaller feud with him and anyone who is against me could use that up to blame everything on me. So I need outside help.”

“If we could make him attack you publicly… then you could kill him. I’d naturally stand beside you, along with my a few of my friends, who are also nobles. With numerous nobles approving of Thuurame’s wrong doings, no one would dare to step up and question the truth. The best is that no one would have a reason to.”

Hearing her plan, we nodded, asking, “Is that all? But who is the ‘judge’?”

“Hmm? Oh, she is called Nemesis. She made an oath that she will hold up justice, blah-blah-blah… nobody cares about it, but she usually decides the right way. Unless you show it all on your faces, I’m sure that we will get out of this without any problem,” she said with a face, which was showing her confidence.

“This is all nice, but this is still a risky move. So… Firstly, what will happen in case she still finds us guilty? Secondly, is she from this world? Because I have an idea of her origins if she isn’t… though that would be ridiculous. Thirdly, what is in it for us? I did say that we were looking for something ‘fun’, but this could be life-threatening as well. I don’t wish to endanger the life of my wife and our future plans. That would be stupid,” I replied instantly, pointing out our standpoints.

“Ugh… you aren’t as nice as I thought… C-Can’t you just… do it?” scratching the back of her head, she said with a stiff face.

“No?” Alice asked, tilting her head to the side, making me laugh.

Sighing, Elena spoke. “Well… depending on social standing or the seriousness of your crime, you could be charged with death as well. Considering that no one would be able to prove your crime for sure, the most that would happen is you, being imprisoned. Probably not for too long… The best case would be a fine, which I’d pay in your stead.”

“To you second question. As I have heard it, she isn’t from this world, but I’m not sure about this. Third question… what do you need? I’m not good with rewards. Just say what you need and in case I have it, we can talk… Money? I have that!” She asked with a hopeful face.

“Hahaha~ Who needs money? Our world doesn’t even have it! We just use World Crystals,” I laughed upon hearing her offer. “Ewww…” she bit onto her lips, thinking, visibly not wishing to give anything too good…

“Such greed,” I remarked with a sigh.

“Huh? No… My problem isn’t greed. I just don’t have anything that isn’t too good or too bad… but now that I think about it, Thuurame had something quite good. I could get my hands on it easily, once he dies.” Making a thoughtful face, she said. And switching to a smile, she continued, “Audrey~ You’ll have some work to do!”

“Okay~” her reply resounded from nowhere. Rose left our world and called out Audrey.

“Don’t you want to talk?” she asked with clear curiosity on her face. Raising a brow, Audrey nodded. Both of them left the cabin. Standing up, Narihi and Poirlion stated that they will leave us alone.

With no one but us left in the room, Elena talked. “It helps you in training your body and-” Raising my palm, I interrupted her. Leaning forward with a smile on my face, I said, “I have something much better in mind. What I’m really interested in is… how do you hide your aura completely? Why don’t you teach that to us and we are paid?”

Hearing my request, she frowned, saying “That could be a little… too much. Because if I teach that to you, you will be able to do much more. You are way too powerful even now. I’m not sure that it is something I should teach you.”

“Now-now… you ask for risky things. What if someone is conspiring against you and we jump into this? We could lose our lives as well,” Alice said with a similar frown, adding. “Especially if people find out that we made a compromise with your hated race… what then?”

Sighing loudly, Elena hung her head and mumbled silently, “I have a way… but you will have to take an oath. I don’t intend to give you a weapon that you could ever use against me. Stupid Thuurame… I’ll send you to hell for making me show such a good card!”

Not caring about her mumbling, knowing that we caught her - “And what is that oath about?” - I questioned her. Telling us what she wanted to hear, we repeated her words.

“I swear upon our lives, that the technique you - Elena Syracia - will teach us will never be used against you, or anyone who is on your side. The latter is defined by you. We hereby declare that unless you allow us to do so, we can’t use this technique in your presence. Lastly, we swear that we will never pass on this technique unless you allow us.” As both of us finished our sentence, she clapped. Standing up, she pointed towards the bed.

“Sit down there. I’ll tell you a few things. The rest will depend on you. It will be painful… but at this level, I’m sure that pain is a friend of yours.”

Following her instructions, we did as told. Closing our eyes, we waited patiently.

“I’m sure that both of you know the feeling of Mana. Ah, wait… Qi for you, right? Anyway. Focus on those gray dots. When you are done, try to go beyond it. Everything is dark, isn’t it? But there is still something in that dark, which can’t be perceived normally. It’s just a form of energy. Just like everything else. What I’m talking about is black.”

“But you don’t have to look for it. Try to sense it. Sense because that’s the key…” as her whispering faded, she disappeared from the room. Her soothing voice made both of us fall into a trance. Sitting together, in a complete darkness, we saw nothing but darkness. Even the gray spots called ‘Qi’ disappeared.

Smiling, we didn’t try to see it. We had a lot of experience when it came to energy, so we knew it… we just had to feel a new form of energy. One, which was different than what we felt before. Not knowing how much time passed, we just noticed strange, black dots appearing in our black surroundings. It was interesting as seeing black in black should be impossible…

Knowing that the following was the easiest part, we pulled that energy towards our bodies. Upon contact, a terrible pain rushed through our bodies and all of our energies were devoured in but a moment. Our bodies became drenched in our sweat. Focusing on our inner self, we felt a new form of energy filling us up.

Opening my eyes, I controlled this huge amount of energy in my body. Just a thought was enough to crack space in front of me. I felt the world change around me as I realized that things were much simpler than they seemed. Logically speaking, no matter what you saw, it was only a form of energy, wasn’t it?

I looked at Alice and both of us gulped loudly in our excitement. This was much better than simply hiding our auras… Although our inner energy was still of a better quality than this outside source, it was still a wonderful thing as we could use it for literally anything! Knowing that it was best to learn from experience, we created a few clones of ourselves.

Using them, we started experimenting on our own bodies. We changed our facial structures, skeletons, the positions of our organs. Naturally, these caused lots of internal bleedings and broken bones at first… but with our high regeneration speed, we healed our wounds in a moment.

After a few minutes of continuous practice, we learned how to control our energies. I looked at Alice happily, only to see her standing there… looking like a catgirl. “Nya~” giving a kiss on my lips, she said playfully as we separated.

Clenching my fists, I hold up my fist, shouting, “YES! This skill has created a whole new line of possibilities for us! WHERE ARE YOU ELENA! We will do your bidding!”

Appearing in front of us, she stepped back in her surprise. “E-Eh? Aren’t you too fired up? I just can’t read or understand you! What’s with you people!? Sometimes you go all mysterious and keep looking at each other as if you were talking. At other times, you go all retarded, like some kind of kids!? Could you clarify your personality!?” She panted slightly upon finishing her shouting.

Raising a brow, I looked at her seriously. Sighing loudly, she covered her face and was about to say something when that laughter I was trying to hold back broke free. Was this really her problem?

Chuckling, Alice resolved the things. “Haha~ I’ll tell you something. You can’t read us because we are always opened to look at. Like we said it before, we don’t hide our feelings. Depending on our mood - which can change very easily - we might change how we behave in no more than a few seconds. You don’t have to look for our motives in the background.”

“We are who we are and we are always driven by our own self. And that is something we always show. This can be a flaw, we do know that. But those who still decide to stay beside us… know what to expect from us. I know that this world is very different… but don’t try to apply your common sense when it comes to us. It’s easy to expect what will we react or do, which might make us the best company from time to time.”

“But it all comes down to just a few things. Do you want to understand our way of life? Do you want to know us? And do you want to see our true selves.” Embracing my back, she finished her explanation with a smile.

Rubbing her forehead, Elena just sat down on the ground where she stood. Chuckling, she replied. “Alright. I get your points. So you are an idiot couple… who show everything they have in a clear way. You show your weaknesses, your strengths, everything. And this makes you someone who can be really hard to deal with. Alone or together. But you are still a very trustable bunch. Am I right?” Hearing her short explanation, we laughed at her, agreeing.

[One more common sense break. Where is our cookie?] I thought jokingly.

[Oh? I’ll make you some cookie as well. I’ll put nipples on top of it…] Being as perverted as she was, Alice remarked smiling.

“But you learned to use it really quickly… well, I couldn’t heal my body as quickly as now at that time… so I had to do everything very carefully,” making a slightly envious face, Elena commented on our learning speed. I kept changing my looks, my bone structure. Really… anything was possible. I even turned into a bear.

Finally realizing it, I asked. “Dred… is he using the same technique? So… does he have a human or humanoid form as well?”

“Of course, I have,” he replied, standing behind us.

“You almost freaked me out there… don’t sneak up on us,” I rebuked him jokingly.

“Sorry~” he said, walking towards Elena. His size was only about the size of a dog at the moment…

“You are a silent one, aren’t you?” I asked upon looking at him.

“I am,” he said. He wasn’t using his mouth to talk… obviously. He used the space around him, creating his own voice.

“S-Shall we go?” With a slightly unsure voice, Elena asked.

“We can, but before that, both of you will have to take an oath, stating that you will help us to the best of your abilities if we were to be suspected,” I added with a serious face. Without any thinking, both of them did as told.

“Alright. But the others will stay here. And you should hide as well… or something,” Alice replied, waving her hands.

“Hiding? Oh, just don’t look back. Hehe~” laughing at her request, Elena turned into a shadow on the ground and melded with ours. Nor sight, nor presence, nothing. We simply couldn’t sense her. [This woman is dangerous!] Alice remarked, stepping through space, appearing in the city.

She sent the exact location into our minds. Following the path, we soon found ourselves in front of a restaurant. “Just wait nearby. He will soon come out. This is a habit of his. He always comes here to have dinner and pick up on girls. Hiro… you should leave Alice alone, or it might not work,” Elena explained things and advised such a terrible thing.

Not wishing to go through this again, I left Alice alone on the bench we sat and took my place at another one, nearby. “You can’t be separated… can you?” She was still in Alice’s shadow, yet she questioned such things.

“No… I can’t,” I mumbled silently, adding. “Does the guy have any preferences?”

“He has. Long blonde hair with sexy body… Alice’s face definitely isn’t a problem either… that’s why I didn’t say anything. Alice is a full strike for him,” she replied, making me feel proud and slightly worried at the same time.

A few minutes later, we saw a demon leave the restaurant, with two girls in each of his arms. To spice up things, Alice released her pheromones, in a small number.

As Thuurame went past Alice, he stopped for a moment. His nose started twitching as he kept sniffing. Turning around, he looked at Alice more closely. His eyes opened widely, along with his mouth. “Good evening to you milady! Do you have some time?” Not even bothering with the other two girls, he leaned forward to ask out Alice.

“No, thanks,” she replied coldly, closing her eyes.

“Yours is so cold to me… but even the thickest of the ice can be broken if-” hearing his ranting and idiotic lines, Alice interrupted him. “Please, just shut up with your bullshit.”

“M-My bullshit!?” With a clearly annoyed face, he exclaimed. “You are talking with Thuurame Brin! A noble at that! Do you want to die?” seeing that the scene finally caught the attention of the crowd, Alice switched style.

“B-But milord! You wanted to force yourself on me!” she shouted with a desperate face. We should have a role play tonight…

“Force?! Yes! I want you! Now come with me!” At first, he was visibly offended. But never in our dreams did we think that we would make things so easy for us. He stretched out his hand, wishing to grab Alice’s arm.

Stepping back, she evaded his movement. “You dare to resist? I’ll teach you how to behave!” He shouted angrily, using force. Strange chains shot out of his palms, coiling around Alice’s body. From this point on… it was clearly just self-defense.

Alice broke free from the chains, using pure strength and her new infinite energy. Instead of killing him instantly, she made the fight seem like a hard-fought one. After a few exchanges, she finally took the killing blow with her fist. Punching him in the face, his head was torn off. Using our Soul Force, we crushed him with a simple thought.

This time we wished to leave everything behind, fearing that people would learn about our abilities. “Humph… dirty bastard. Trying to force yourself on a woman!” Clearing her hands, Alice said loudly one last time, for everyone to hear. After taking a few steps, she teleported away, with us in tow. Upon meeting up, the first thing I did was hug her.

Out of the city, we teleported back to that cabin in the forest. Rose and Audrey were sparring, surprisingly. Meanwhile, Narihi and Poirlion were nowhere to be seen. I guess they are in their own worlds… I thought as I used my sense, finding them just as I thought.

“What now?” I asked as I created a few benches in a circle.

“Now? We will just wait for tomorrow morning to see what happens,” Elena replied.

Growing a few dry branches, I set them on fire. My clone returned with a huge fish. Using our energies, we cleaned its body in a moment. Slowly grilling it on fire, we just sat there silently, enjoying the mood. Later on, everyone joined in this little party of ours.

Using a few spices to enhance its taste, we ate the whole fish heartily.

Seeing the sun slowly rising, Elena mumbled silently. “With the light of this new day, this night shall prevail… hehe.” Chuckling, she turned silent.

Let’s see what will become of this little game of ours!