728 Everything is fine as long as youre alrigh (1/2)

”Yomi, what do you think?” Seiji privately inquired his bonded female spirit.

”This girl has probably been affected by her mystical connection. It's unknown whether this is good or bad. For now, it seems that she still has her sense of reason. Still, it'll be difficult to predict what happens in the future with her,” Yomi told him.

”Is it possible to stop this?”

”It's not. This is a change within herself… and even if you suppress her mystical connection and return her to being a normal person, it won't change the fact that she's been influenced to some extent already. Not to mention, it's impossible to suppress a mystical connection. At least, I don't know how to do it.”

Seiji fell silent.

Yukari finished absorbing the female demon's experience mist. The glow on her hands faded and the black spiderwebs disappeared.

The moment that she put her hands down, she collapsed right towards Seiji! Seiji caught her in his arms.

”I'm a little tired. Let me take a nap,” Yukari whispered to him as she closed her eyes.

The cherry blossoms gathered and started forming into even more humanoid spiritual monsters!

The battling continued.

The purple-haired girl slowly opened her eyes.

She discovered herself to be sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. She was also wearing brand-new pajamas that weren't hers.

'Who helped change my clothes?'

This was the first question Yukari thought of, but she then naturally recalled the gently smiling maid senpai.

She then recalled what happened before she fell asleep… Suddenly, Yukari entered a strange realm again, and came face to face with the same gigantic reddish-purple haired girl with the lower half of a spider!

Once again, Yukari felt a chill run down her spine because she was still scared of this existence. But, she wasn't as scared as last time, because she faintly realized who that spider woman really was.

Yukari directly exchanged glances with the spider woman, and spoke resolutely, ”I won't turn into you… I definitely won't lose to you!”

”Heeheehee~” The spider woman responded with the same chilly laugh as last time. It sounded as if she was amused and scoffing at Yukari.

”Heeheehee~” Yukari also smiled and made a similar yet different sound.

'I am myself, and you are also part of myself.

'I shall control you rather than being controlled by you!'

Fear, rejection, running away… All of these would be useless. She could only bravely face the spider woman head on.

Just like when she first underwent the trial to become Awakened.

Actually, this was another type of trial, a long-term trial.

The result of failing this trial would be losing her sense of self. She would become a monster. Only by surpassing this trial would she become truly strong!

She had made Seiji worry about her. She needed to explain things properly to him.

Yukari finished organizing her thoughts and was about to get out of bed when she heard a knock on the door.

”Yukari, are you awake?” Seiji spoke from outside the door.

The battle had concluded at dawn rather than continuing all the way until morning.

Mika, Kaede, and Mayuzumi were all rather tired from the all-nighter. However, they all had some energy remaining, and they all rejected returning home, preferring to wait for Yukari to wake up.

They were all concerned how the purple-haired girl would be after waking up, especially about her mental condition.

It was because they were companions, but also because they were all Awakened. Yukari's problem of possibly becoming Tainted might happen to them as well. They all wanted to understand the situation.

Seiji explained as much as he possibly could, and emphasized that he would do his very best to protect all his companions.

But, as long as there was still risk, it would be impossible to completely eliminate the girls' feeling of unease.

He sincerely hoped that Yukari would be alright when she woke up… Otherwise, he would have to load.

But even if he loaded to last night and didn't allow Yukari to participate in this battle, she would have to face a battle sooner or later. And if she was affected by her mystical connection the moment that she battled, then loading would have been meaningless.

As for having her quit his knight order, avoid fighting entirely, and obediently remain as an ordinary person… He didn't know what reason he could tell her for this, nor did he think that this method would be effective.