Mihari took a deep breath and stretched in a few choice directions, exhaling through the pain. Her Vital Net decided whatever happened to her body was her fault, and she deserved to feel sore for it. She didn’t mind, it was kind of pleasant.

She gave herself another look over, ignoring disgruntled grumblings from her nephew. She thought she did a fine job. She was about a head shorter, distributed proportionally across her body, with her hips and chest now feminine in appearance.

Her face was also far more alike to her memory, with maybe one thing off or another. She also hadn’t figured out how to change her skin tone, though the Little Seishin wasn’t terribly lighter than her. Her hair was the same length, but she found a washroom to clean the product out and let it lay naturally.

The reshaping process was easier than expected, as the Reaping Stone had remarkable functionality for guiding the development of metafauna. While the system restricted her access—she couldn’t give herself fiery eye beams, for instance—it was nevertheless generous enough to allow effective sculpting.

Her nephew wasn’t so happy, but kept his protests to a minimum. He complained far more about shedding the armor, which she’d left in front of the mirror with a good portion of his gear. She was now wearing his undershirt, tied in a knot at the waist, and his shorts, thankfully stretchy enough to cling to her hips. She also kept the sword, of course, as well as the satchel and a few important pouches.

It was nice being so light on her feet. She looked down and wiggled her toes on the cool floor.

I’m glad you’re having fun. Surprisingly genuine. But I still think that was a bad idea. Predictably genuine.

“You’re such a square,” she said. “And besides, what’s done is done. It’s time to look to the future.”

Which somehow contains an even worse idea. As powerful as this weird contraption might be—he was referring to the Unity Crystal—there’s no way to win a war with it. You’ll only drag this whole place under red sand.

“Ah, Little Seishin, you aren’t seeing its potential.” She tapped the device in question. It was a plain thing, small enough to hold comfortably in two hands, and made from a single block of artewood. There were three spaces cut into it, two of which contained the Reaping and Oracle Stones.

The third space was for the Ex Stone, which was the core of its operation. She wasn’t able to leave that space filled for long, unfortunately. Her Vital Net loomed ever ready for a chance at treachery.

And you aren’t seeing the danger. The cities aren’t going to sit by while you’re wielding this kind of power, and this facility won’t go unnoticed for long with you terrorizing Seitoji from it.

“Oh, is the whole world gonna send all their armies after little old me?” She said playfully.

They’ll send enough, and before they do they’ll have every mercenary on Esper out for your head.

“Ah, yes, the mercenaries.” She gave a wicked grin. “Are you hoping your friends at Nova will come to rescue you?”

More like I’m worried they will, for both our sakes.

Mihari laughed. “Was that supposed to be scary? That’s cute. They’d have to send the whole school to even stand a chance.” She could feel strong disquiet from him. It kind of made her uneasy. She shook it off. “Don’t you worry about those mercenaries of yours. I’ve got a plan to keep everyone more than busy enough.”