"Ah, are you leaving already?"
Dr. Mobius waved as if she were seeing off a child. "My lab is always open if you want to come play again, you adorable and mysterious little kitty."
Kiyono Inori: (⊙_⊙)
Dr. Mobius was smiling warmly, but a cat's instincts told Inori something was off.
This woman was definitely getting ideas about her.
Mm. Not the same kind of enthusiasm as Elysia's, but another kind entirely.
If Mobius had become a MANTIS, she would probably have already tried to force the issue with this little cat.
"Elysia, you may leave!"
"But this cat stays. For me!"
Sadly, the gap in power was far too wide.
Mobius, who had not become a MANTIS, was still just an ordinary scientist. There was no way she could actually keep Inori here. So she chose the rational path and went with a peaceful strategy.
"Meow meow!"
Inori Cat let out two short meows.
Purring softly, Elysia floated up, wrapped in pink bubbles that sandwiched the girl inside.
Under Dr. Mobius's lingering, unblinking stare, Inori Cat carried the pink piggy along, left the laboratory, and returned to the piggy's new dorm room.
"~!"
Inori Cat yawned.
Despite all the unexpected twists, the mess caused by abusing the Blessing of Destruction was basically cleaned up now.
She looked at the pink fairy lady placed on the soft, fluffy bed by magical bubbles.
Elysia was sleeping peacefully, her adorable sleeping face tugging at the heart. A faint smile curved her lips, as if she were having a wonderful dream.
Inori Cat's gaze locked onto the girl's face, and she found herself unable to look away.
This one is ridiculously cute, meow!
Thinking about it now.
Elysia losing control when using the Blessing of Destruction was probably because there was absolutely nothing about her that overlapped with the Path of Destruction.
So Destruction had no choice but to start a brand new save file on her.
Which eventually turned into: "Blessing of Destruction is thinking. Pink Piggy lacks authorization to activate self-awareness."
By contrast.
Inori herself had incredible compatibility with Destruction. After using the Blessing for so long, aside from the occasional weird thought bubbling up, she had not noticed any real side effects.
Like leaving a few cat paw prints on Elysia, or causing a bit of trouble in Mobius's lab.
Mm. Compared to the power she gained, that was basically no downside at all.
Kiyono Inori sank into thought.
The scapegoat plan had worked beautifully, far better than expected. Judging from everything that happened after arriving at the base, the higher-ups' attention was now fully focused on her, this one cat.
But… the leaders of the Previous Era were not to be trusted. It might be better to leave Elysia some insurance.
She did a bit of mental math.
If Pink Piggy could not use the Blessing of Destruction because she was completely incompatible with it, then all she needed was to create an energy relay station.
Plan A.
Disassemble the Blessing of Destruction.
Then use fairy magic circles as the medium.
Because the energy conversion efficiency would be low, Elysia would only be able to use about thirty percent of the Blessing's power.
And the cost would be…
Inori Cat sized it up. With her current level of fairy magic, she would have to cover Elysia's entire back in magic circles, and probably add a full sleeve tattoo or something.
Hmmmm.
Putting magic circles all over her back was one thing.
But the rest? Whether it was on her arms or her lower abdomen, it would feel kind of weird. She could already picture the pink piggy waking up, crying and throwing a fit.
Plan B.
Use something that could actually carry the Blessing of Destruction as an intermediary, and let Elysia, who was basically insulated from Destruction, drive the Blessing's power through that medium.
But it had to be the right medium.
If she could go to the world of Honkai Star Rail, dismantling a few dozen high-level Voidrangers would probably solve everything.
But this was the Previous Era of Honkai Impact 3rd. Where was she supposed to find materials that could carry the Blessing of Destruction?
Kalpas…
No, no, absolutely not. Dismantling Voidrangers was one thing, but dismantling Kalpas and turning him into a casting tool was a little too ahead of its time.
While thinking.
Inori Cat wandered around, looking here and there, leaving behind plenty of her own little traces in Elysia's new room.
In the end, she stopped in front of a mirror and saw herself.
A creation of the Transform-Into-Cat Magic Staff.
Overexposed flaxen fur, clear ice-blue eyes, a round little face, chubby cheeks. The whole cat looked fluffy and adorable.
Kiyono Inori: (⊙_⊙)
A material that could perfectly adapt to the Blessing of Destruction and act as a medium.
Wasn't her own body, transformed into a cat, exactly that?
…
Heh heh heh. Heh heh heh?!
On the surface, the pink fairy lady had fallen asleep because she "could not focus on studying."
In reality, the moment she drifted off, she could not help humming to herself in her heart.
Inori-chan probably thought she was an idiot who just fell asleep whenever she had to think hard, right?
But actually.
The fairy lady who had just woken up was not sleepy at all. While Inori was still on the first layer, she had already reached the second.
As long as her real self fell asleep, her consciousness would wake up in Inori-chan's world.
Elysia remembered it clearly.
If this rule still applied, and Inori Cat appeared in her world, that meant the real Inori was also asleep.
And if she fell asleep at that moment, she could see an undefended beautiful girl, meow?!
This plan was something Elysia came up with on the fly after Inori Cat became "not very huggable." She even treated Mobius's lectures as a side dish and did everything she could to knock herself out.
A true tactician.
This was the true strength of the pink fairy lady. As a human, she could cuddle Inori Cat. As Elysia Cat, she could cuddle Inori herself. Even the one-on-one, no-limits solo battles in dreams were won through sheer stamina.
Human form, cat form, dream world.
Three routes. One solution.
Total victory, absolute advantage. Could Mobius do that? Could Dr. MEI do that? Obviously, Elysia was the rare genius strategist of this world!
Pink Piggy: (≥﹏≤)
Elysia had already made a detailed plan.
For example.
Poking Inori-chan's ticklish spots with her cat paws, licking Inori-chan's palm with a cat tongue, lying on top of her and acting spoiled. Cats doing that was totally normal, right? In short, she was going to make up for everything she lost by not being able to cuddle Inori Cat.
But then…
Just as Elysia Cat hazily descended into Inori's world, she realized something was wrong.
She had expected to be in bed, or in the cat nest Inori built.
Instead, when she opened her eyes, it was dark and warm.
Pink Piggy: (⊙_⊙)
The girl was holding her tightly in her arms, giving off a pleasant scent. Elysia Cat's face could clearly feel the shape of the girl's chest pressing against it.
Pink Piggy: Why am I in your arms the moment I open my eyes, meow?! Do not stuff my head into weird places! It is so hot, and seriously, it is really hot, meow!
At first, Elysia Cat was shy beyond words. But then she noticed something slightly off.
Wasn't Kiyono Inori's body temperature a bit too high?
Everyone knew this. Cats were liquid.
Even though Inori had wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and was holding her just as tightly, Elysia Cat still slipped out with ease.
Inori's face was flushed red, beads of cold sweat on her forehead, her pretty brows tightly knit.
Elysia Cat touched her forehead with a paw. Burning hot.
This kid had really caught a cold and was running a fever!
Pink Piggy: (^－_－^)
Elysia Cat rarely put on such a serious expression. You really make a cat worry, you know.
She stretched out her paw, pale-purple flowers shimmering in her grasp.
Fairy magic.
She could not heal a person outright, but suppressing symptoms and speeding up recovery was well within her abilities, with basically no side effects.
After doing that.
Elysia Cat glanced around and realized Inori seemed to be in some kind of infirmary. Compared to the Moth facilities, it was pretty bare-bones.
Mm. It would be safer to find someone.
After checking Inori's body, Elysia Cat found that this kid was incredibly frail. It would be better to find someone nearby, get her to a proper hospital, and let a professional doctor take a look.
"Meow?!"
Elysia Cat darted out in a flash.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.