Before the lurching sensation eased, Orion somehow caught a glimpse of what was left behind in the world despite not having eyes as he disappeared with the crimson-haired woman.
A vast, barren planet, without a single living creature in sight. High above, in space, two ginormous dragons were entangled with each other. One, a purple-scaled eastern dragon with no visible end in sight, wrapped around the now-barren planet, and a red western dragon that, while not as long, was significantly larger than the eastern dragon in width, unaffected despite being coiled up.
That glimpse disappeared just like it had appeared, and his vision turned black, leaving him with the same enhanced proprioception that he felt when his body was still liquid. Though a mental image emerged in his mind that stole his attention. The woman whom he'd just bonded with. With a near-perfect internal vision, he could picture everything about her body.
This feels a little criminal…
Despite the thought, he didn't stop examining the woman, mentally picturing her body from her slightly long yet well-manicured nails to the pink tips of her large yet unrealistically perky breasts. Even the faint burns on her left leg and the small cuts marring her otherwise smooth skin. He had a perfect image of her irresistible body.
"Who are you?" She finally spoke after recovering from presumably the same lurching sensation that he had felt. Orion's thoughts moved away from the woman's body, and he saw no traces of the previous ruined world. Instead, they were inside a bedroom, standing in front of a mirror. His thoughts froze for a moment, mesmerized by her crimson hair that went down to her thighs. Then came the realization that she wasn't actually naked and was instead wearing a far too racy miniskirt that barely covered her butt, revealing her legs down to half her calves before they were covered by the burnt-up socks, along with a shirt and a corset around her stomach that emphasized her chest. All black. Her colors were red for her hair, white for her unrealistically smooth and unblemished skin, and black for the rest of her clothing articles.
I can see through her eyes, but the sensation is whacky as hell…And is the black clothing because of me?
The sense of dissonance of seeing through someone else's eyes didn't sit right with him, and he quickly separated from her to turn into his base form, as per the system, at least. To him, it was just his body.
A black slimy mass escaped from the red-haired woman's body and coalesced into a humanoid shape, quickly turning into Orion, with a set of black trousers and a green shirt that had two buttons open and the sleeves folded up. He mentally noted that despite the separation, he still had a perfect mental picture of her naked body, including the cuts and bruises littering her body that were slowly healing naturally.
"Hi," he smiled politely, finally getting to look at her. "My name is Orion. I was in a bit of a pinch there. I hope you don't mind me tagging along."
"To survive the aftershocks of a battle between Great Red and Ophis. You must be strong," she said, a thoughtful look overtaking her. "What species are you?"
"That's a very good question," Orion said, mentally summoning his status with a slight desperation as he recalled the last words that he received from his system. "I'm a…symbiotic life-form."
Name: Orion
Species: Klyntar
Magic Capacity: 0/0 (Human)
Specialization: Tantric
Physique: 2.3 [Cohesion 1.5 | Resilience: 3.1 | Regeneration: 3.4]
Mind: 2.6 [Intelligence 2.2 | Wisdom 3.0]
Prime Host: Rias Gremory
Species: Devil
Sync: 0%
Magic Capacity: 356/653 [58,439] (High-Class Devil — Suppressed)
Innate Ability: Power of Destruction
Physical Stats (Expand)
I know her… that's why those two dragons also felt familiar.
"I'm not sure if you would know if my species," Orion said. "Klyntar. You must be Rias Gremory?"
"You know me?"
"I have had some dealings with Devils in the past," he said with a professional smile. "Anyone would recognize that crimson hair and the Power of Destruction flowing through you."
She nodded before frowning at him. "Symbiotic, not parasitic?"
"Symbiotic. I need a host to survive without going dormant. In return, I can make you stronger both passively and actively."
"How strong?"
"Depends. I'm not really strong right now. But I can heal your cuts and bruises," he said.
"Show me?" She said questioningly, settling into a slightly authoritative tone before starting to unbutton her corset and shirt, making Orion pause. "What? I'm pretty sure you've seen and felt everything there was to see and feel when you wrapped around me."
"You realized that, huh?" Orion said nervously.
She seems pretty open about nudity. Then again, she did cuddle with a dude she just met for a whole night, naked, in the name of healing him.
Reaching out to his connection to her, he tried to simply think about healing her. That was how he'd done everything up to now, and hoped that it would work. Unfortunately, as she neatly folded her clothes, revealing her body covered in light injuries, that seemed like a futile endeavor.
"Are you doing something?" She asked him.
"Give me a minute..." Orion said thoughtfully, trying to focus on a single bloody cut that was on her upper arm. Taking a more active approach, he controlled his body—it felt almost like an extension of himself when connected to Rias—and the blackened mass emerged from the skin around her wound, covering the cut tightly. The black material entered her cut and started by cleaning the wound and then mending it.
A few seconds later, the black material receded into her, leaving her perfectly healed arm.
"How does it feel?" He asked, noticing that Rias had completely undressed, neatly placing everything on the side. She unabashedly turned to look at him, uncaring about his eyes hovering along her body with a look of slight desire and arousal.
"Good as new," she said, moving her finger along the cut that had been there before. "How long to completely heal me?"
"Maybe ten minutes," he said. "Can you teach me magic?"
"Not right now, no. My magical energy is suppressed in this world for the time being. I will have to do something about that before I can get full access. Right now, even my magic circles are unstable," she said.
As if to prove her point, she raised her palm, and Orion immediately felt an ethereal energy being channeled through Rias' body, coalescing in her palm. The number beside her magic capacity dropped by three units, and a red magic circle appeared over her palm, only to start flickering moments later before completely fizzling out soon enough.
"See? You have a shapeless body, right? Can you form a weapon? A dagger, sword, or something?"
"Sure, let me try," he nodded, and Rias looked down, feeling a slightly slithery sensation over her wrist as a black material emerged from her skin and moved along her palm to form into a glove that made her curl up her fingers. A grip appeared in her hand before elongating into a simple longsword.
"Interesting," she said, looking at her gloved hand before waving the sword around with practiced movements. "Can you interface with my mind directly? Something like telepathy? That would make the next minute or two a little easier to deal with."
"I probably won't be able to get through your natural mental defense. You aren't an untrained human, after all," he said.
"Try. I won't resist."
Orion once again focused on his bond with her and tried to specifically focus on her brain in an attempt to interface with her mentally.
[Rias?]
She looked up at him with a raised brow. [I hear you. What about the other way?]
[I can hear you as well. Though I have to actively maintain this connection for you to be able to talk to me mentally.]
[It's fine. Please make sure to maintain this connection for the next few minutes. Make the sword disappear and get back inside my body. We're about to have company.]
What a demure and polite woman…
Rias sat down in front of the mirror and started brushing her hair, still naked, as she waited for the company to arrive. Since she didn't seem to mind even after seeing Orion's male form, he wasn't going to be polite and freely feasted on the devil woman's downright succubus-like body through her own eyes.
Soon, he heard the door click open, and Rias turned around, facing… herself.
The newcomer froze in her place, looking at a naked copy of herself sitting on her dresser.
"Who are you?" The newcomer asked, spreading her hands apart and summoning crimson flames on both her palms. The intense threat that Orion sensed from those flames told him that they were not to be messed with.
Rias may be a bit of a weakling in the grand scheme of things, but the Power of Destruction is undeniably one of, if not the strongest, abilities among countless others.
"I'm you," the nude Rias said, standing up. "And I need help."
"Stay there."
"I am an alternate version of you, Rias. My world, my reality. Everything was destroyed. Soon, the same thing will happen to yours."
"I don't get it."
"In time, you will. But know this, within days, this reality will be invaded by Ophis, the Oroborous Dragon. It will come and devour everything, kill Great Red, and collapse this reality into the Dimensional Gap. I need your help, Rias."
"T-this doesn't make any sense…"
"It will, in time," the nude Rias stepped closer, seeing her counterpart dropping her guard. Orion could sense the stirring. "I need you to do something for me in the meantime."
"What?"
[Sword, Orion.]
"Die," a black, gloved hand was thrust forward, the sword forming mid-way as it pierced through Rias' heart, leaving the redhead with wide eyes. "I'm sorry."
The nude Rias' eyes held nothing more than a faint sense of pity as she stepped forward and embraced her counterpart, dragging her into the room as the sword and black glove on her hand melted into her.
Did I miss something here? I'd thought that Rias was a bit of a weakling and a waste of the Power of Destruction. When did she suddenly become Rick? Even he generally chooses realities where his alternate self dies naturally… This one just upped and murdered her alternate self.
[I have...questions, Rias.]
"Yes, of course. Please, come out and sit. I will need some help from you to deal with my counterpart as well."