"Soma? What are you thinking so hard about again?"

"Sister Rien? Haha, just something."

"From our previous life?"

"Mm."

"That's right, things have... changed huh..."

"That's right, we're still alive. Living the life with a warm family I never had. It's quite overwhelming to be honest."

"You've changed too, Soma."

"How so?"

"You've become more confident Soma, you've grown to become a friend I'm able to be very proud of. Oops, that's right... you're my little sister now heh~"

"Uuu..."

Spatial Flow Control has expired after 89 seconds.

Ignore Equipment Debuff LV1 has expired after 5 seconds.

Status modifiers adjusted.

Seems to me toggle skills like Psyche Swap and Telepathy are the only ones which can technically stay for a longer duration as long as it's not cancelled like this one. That's good to know, looks like combat skills expends the most resources from her Single Skill Manipulation, next to temporary status modifiers.

Har'Lus 's body fell face down, exposing its parasitic form on the back.

The Sword of Bloodwell repelled itself away from White's hand, as it emitted some dark red sparks again. The repulsion flung the two-handed sword towards the ground, where it was stabbed onto firmly. White rubbed his right wrist methodically, as he tried to ease the static that was still pulsing around his right arm.

"Give me a break... The security lock of this sword is really unforgiving huh..."

...Hmm? Looks like the 'mouth' had cushioned the impact from earlier... the girl... Rien seems uninjured.

White walked forward slowly, and saw the condition of Rien. She was unconscious, with green mucus sticking to her red hair, and the entirety of her body. Rien's body fell out of the plant-like body of Har'Lus.

She collapsed onto the ground without resistance.

Noticing this, Soma immediately turned extremely vulnerable. Her legs felt like jelly.

"R-RIEEENNNN! ...! Rien... Rien!"

"..."

Soma stumbled towards her sister, her best friend with shaky steps. Tears were spilling out from her eyes.

"Rien! Rien! Rien! Rien! Rien! Rien! I'm so glaaaddd, after all this time! After all... this-"

White stopped the approaching Soma in White's body with his left hand as a warning gesture.

"-Hey you, don't come closer to her at the moment."

"?! You! What's with you?! Don't tell me that attack was done deliberately towards Rien, was it?! Any closer and she would have been gravely decapitated!

Are you heartless?! Aren't you an ally? If you're not going to answer me, let me through!"

"Please contain yourself."

"Nnghh!!!"

Soma was desperately trying to resist control of the fear resting inside of her mind.

"...She's incurable, it'd be unwise for you to approach her carelessly and make my body suffer some needless contamination."

"You!!! How dare you, are you calling Rien's body filthy?! I'll kill-"

"I swear, you have the attention span of a goldfish."

"!!!"

"Rien, was it? I've taken a look at her status window. She has a nest of what that parasite called Mana Drugworms breeding inside her body. Do you know anything about that?"

"?! Y-you lie! After all, that is... ...ugh..."

Soma held the urge to vomit as she visualized the graphic image of the inner contents of Rien's body.

"You have one too in your body right, a worm like that? That parasite mentioned it as well, it seems to be some sort of controllable vermin that eats away at your body and had some implications as a living time bomb. Who knows if it can actually trigger some chain reaction with that girl's body and enter my body like that. Please spare me the melodrama. I don't have a fetish of wanting worms inside of my body."

"...nngh..."

"Haahh... why are you still resisting. She can no longer be rescued, give it up."

Soma looked at the comatose state of Rien. Her eyes were open, but lifeless without glow. It really seemed like she was still fine and alive after all this while, but she was suddenly given such a devastating piece of news.

Searching for two years, she could not accept this outcome. But she realized it deep inside that it was incurable.

She had scoured the lands for a cure for her own body as well, but the Drugworm doesn't exist in the medical vocabulary of this world. She could never find an antidote that killed it entirely since it regenerates with the host's mana.

Killing it would only resurrect it immediately and weaken her own body.

It was a curse.

"Wh... what... What of it... Are you... telling me... to give up?!"

Tears continued to fall down uncontrollably, as White got a glimpse of Soma's painful expression for the first time.

"..."

Although it was in his body, he felt very nostalgic about it. He clutched the pendant given by his father on his neck tightly. His mind was wavering in between both of his personalities. White was also shocked that Soma was resisting the effects of fear. His command had not taken full control of her body.

That's right, the Eyes of Fear was not as powerful as he thought it out to be. It only triggered the physical form of fear of an individual to the extreme, but it did nothing else.

He could have ignored this. But then, the conflicting thoughts of his other self inside of him was stopping him from doing so.

"Me?! After all this?! Why do you think I've endured and endured and endured and endured and endured and endur-?!"

"Tch, stop squealing like a pig. Unsightly."

White had no idea why he did what he did, but instinctively, he felt like he needed to take this step to calm Soma down.

He sealed Soma's lips with his own.

It didn't matter who was in whose body, the two were entwined momentarily with a kiss, catching Soma in surprise.

" ...!!! Mnngh..."

Soma did not resist greatly, and it only ended when White moved his lips away slowly and looked away.

"Puahh... ...!!! Wh-what was that...!"

Soma covered her face with her elbows, and stuttered out with a red face. Her index finger was shakily pointing at White.

"It's time to move on, miss. Do I need to remind you that we're in the middle of dangerous territory here."

"Ah-"

Indeed, the explosions earlier must've had caught Ru'Ah's attention most definitely. It would be suicidal not to prepare from a sneak attack from her Invisibility Cloak. In the distance, the grotesque figure of the female parasite slowly appeared from the shadows, showing no remnants of the slave Eluna's prior figure at this point.

Forced to suppress her inner emotions twirling inside of her body right now, Soma didn't know what to do as she spaced out and stared at the back of White who was in her body.

"This is the final opponent we have to face. I want to get out of this shitty situation too, so work with me here alright?"