Bella gasped softly. "Food?"

Kaida was already moving, reaching for her storage ring. A loaf of bread materialized in her hand, crusty and hard but edible.

"Wait, I'll feed it—"

Before she could take a step forward, the purple slime launched itself through the air.

THWACK!

It body-slammed Kaida's hand, knocking the bread clean out of her grip. The loaf tumbled to the ground, landing in a patch of mud.

"Kyuu! Kyuuu kyuu kyuu!" The slime was practically screaming at her, bouncing up and down with frantic energy.

Kaida blinked, stunned. "Wait, what happened? What's it saying?"

Viktor's mouth twitched despite the situation. "He's calling you an idiot."

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

But Kaida's mouth could only twitch this time. No punch. No kick. Because even she could see it now—the purple slime was genuinely angry, not at her specifically, but at the bread. At the idea that normal food could save its wife.

Her hand lowered slowly.

Viktor moved past the commotion, kneeling beside Bella. He placed his hand gently on the pink slime.

The moment his skin made contact, the pink slime stirred.

Just barely. A faint ripple across its surface. But it was something.

"Hey there, little... um..." Viktor paused, glancing back at the purple slime. "What should I call her?"

The purple slime, which had been mid-rant at Kaida, froze. Its gelatinous body turned toward Viktor, eyes widening.

"Kyuu?"

"Wait... you don't have a name?"

The slime gave a slow, almost embarrassed nod.

Viktor stared. Then he looked at the pink slime in Bella's arms, barely clinging to life. Then back at the purple one.

"From now on, your name will be Rusty." He pointed at the purple slime. "And hers will be Rustina."

Bella's mouth twitched. Her tail stiffened behind her.

"Sir Viktor..." She clicked her tongue, ears flattening against her skull. "You don't know how to name things. That's useless."

"Come on! I already gave them names!" Viktor's voice pitched up defensively.

But then he felt it.

A surge of something—power, energy, connection—slamming into his skull like a battering ram. His vision blurred. His knees buckled.

"Viktor?!" Kaida's hand shot out, grabbing his shoulder before he could topple over completely. The chain jangled between them as she steadied him.

"Yeah... I'm..." He clenched his teeth, pressing a palm against his forehead. "What the hell was that?"

And then he saw it.

Rustina—the pink slime in Bella's arms—was moving.

Not just stirring. Moving.

Her body inflated like a balloon, color returning in waves. The wilted flower on her head perked up, petals unfurling into vibrant pink. Her form solidified, edges sharpening until she looked as healthy as—no, healthier than—Rusty.

Bella yelped as Rustina suddenly bounced out of her arms, landing on the ground with a cheerful boing.

"Kyuu! Kyuuuu!" Rustina's voice was high-pitched, almost musical.

Rusty let out a cry of pure joy and launched himself at her.

The two slimes collided mid-air, their gelatinous bodies merging for a moment before separating. They bounced around each other in circles, rubbing their bodies together like animals greeting each other after a long separation.

It was... adorable, actually.

"Kyuu kyuu kyuuuu!"

"Kyu kyu!"

They chirped at each other, voices overlapping in what could only be described as slime conversation. Then, as if choreographed, they both hopped onto Bella's shoulders—one on each side—and stood there like tiny, bouncing parrots.

"Kyuuu!"

Bella froze, unsure how to react. Her tail swished nervously, but she didn't shake them off.

Viktor watched the scene unfold, his headache already fading. A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth despite himself.

"Well, that worked out."

Kaida stared at him, then at the slimes, then back at him. "How the hell did naming them heal her?"

"Beats me."

"That's not an answer!"

"Then I don't have one!"

Viktor turned away from the bickering, his gaze shifting inward for a moment. He focused on the sensation still lingering in his mind—that connection he'd felt when he named the slimes.

"Is it because of my Beast Tamer ability?"

Rusty, still perched on Bella's shoulder, shook his body in a clear no.

Viktor frowned. "Then it's related to... the tail?"

Rusty nodded enthusiastically.

"The demon identity."

Another nod.

"Shit." Viktor exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair. "So it's not about my current abilities. It's about... whatever the hell I'm becoming."

Kaida's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'becoming'?"

"Nothing. Forget it."

"Viktor—"

"I said forget it!"

His voice came out harsher than intended, and Kaida's mouth snapped shut. She glared at him but didn't push further.

Viktor took a breath, forcing his expression to neutral. He was still missing pieces. The horns, the tail, the Race Integration counter ticking upward in his system interface—all of it pointed to something he couldn't fully grasp yet.

And the system refused to tell him.

[ Forbidden Information: The host's race does not qualify for further revelation. ]

Whatever he was turning into, it was powerful enough that even the system had to keep it locked away.

The thought should've scared him.

Instead, it just pissed him off.

"Viktor."

Kaida's voice pulled him back to reality. She was staring at something behind him, her expression tense.

"What?"

"The world's... breaking."

He turned.

And she was right.

The sky above them was glitching.

Not like a storm or some magical phenomenon. Glitching. Like reality itself was a poorly rendered video game. Chunks of blue flickered and vanished, revealing... nothing. Not darkness. Not another sky. Just an empty void where something should've been.

The trees around them started to crumble, bark peeling away in sheets that dissolved into pixels before hitting the ground.

"What the—"

The ground beneath their feet trembled.

And then the entire world shattered.

It wasn't gradual. One moment they were standing in a twisted forest clearing. The next, the forest wasn't there anymore.

Massive fragments of reality broke away like pieces of shattered glass, tumbling into nothingness. The doghouse structure the slimes had made crumbled to dust. The trees, the dirt, the very air around them—all of it disintegrating.

Viktor's stomach lurched as the sensation of falling consumed him.

But he wasn't falling.

He was standing exactly where he'd been before.

On the forest edge.

But this time the real forest.

The one they'd jumped into when they followed the hollow tree into the underground passage.

Kaida stumbled, her hand instinctively gripping Viktor's arm to steady herself. The chain between them swayed, clinking softly.

"Did we... return?" Her voice was shaky, disbelieving.

Viktor looked around. The trees here were normal. Green. Alive. The sky was clear, not glitching or breaking apart. The air smelled like pine and earth just like before but much real.

"Yeah." He exhaled slowly, tension bleeding from his shoulders. "We did."

Bella, still with both slimes perched on her shoulders, looked around with wide eyes. Her ears swiveled, tracking sounds Viktor couldn't hear.

And then she froze.

"Sir Viktor..."

Her voice was barely a whisper.

Viktor turned to her, his instincts screaming before she even finished speaking.

"We're not alone."

Three voices cut through the forest like knives.

"We finally found them!"

"Hey, how dare they just appear here out of nowhere?!"

"I don't know, but let's get rid of that noble brat!"

Viktor's gaze snapped south.

Three figures were sprinting toward them through the underbrush, weapons drawn. Bandits. Swords—no, blades—clutched in calloused hands. Their faces were twisted with malice and desperation.

The leader was massive, easily six-foot-three, with a barrel chest and a scar running from his temple to his jaw. Behind him, a rat-faced man with a high-pitched laugh, and a younger guy with an axe slung over his shoulder.

Kaida's entire body tensed. Her free hand moved instinctively to where her weapon should've been, clenching her dagger.

"Viktor—"

"Finally... some action after too much cringe comedy."

"...What?"

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