Chapter 550 (1/2)

Randidly caught the strange girl who leaped at him by the shoulders, steadying her. She was a slender, lovely thing, but she was only as tall as his shoulders. It was easier than even Randidly had expected to stop her dead. He recognized her too, from looking through Neveah’s memories through their connection.

This was the teen fiance, Tia Alexandra.

Abruptly, Randidly realized the reason she had thrown herself at him; the usage of the Soulbond to teleport him had completely dispelled the illusion that surrounded him. Whereas he previously had been Baloo Erickson, skinny-fat and brown-haired, he was no once more Randidly Ghosthound.

Honestly, it felt somewhat good to be back.

“No matter what, I’ll always love you!” Tia announced, tears in her eyes as she regarded him. Then she squirmed out of his grip, which he had left rather loose, and kissed him.

Now, Randidly could probably have dodged the kiss. But today he had been subject to a lot of unexpected things. And even at the last second, Randidly didn’t expect this strange tiny slip of a girl to kiss him.

Her lips were soft and warm, but Randidly felt no attraction to her, just bewilderment. With a much firmer grip, Randidly pushed her away and held her at arm’s length. To his surprise, she continued to try and squirm out of his grip to get back at him. While keeping her in check, Randidly turned and glared over his shoulder.

For a second, he saw nothing. But then he focused, and his high Perception he was able to pierce through the illusion that Neveah had thrown up. She wasn’t disguising herself currently but just made herself appear invisible.

It had been a bit of time since Randidly had seen Neveah in her true form. Even while attacking the Danger Zones, Neveah had maintained her fake illusion, reminiscent of Alana. But now, she was a two-meter tall being that seemed to be more an exoskeleton of bone than a biological being. On her back, two huge wings of bone were pulled tight against her back. Such was the size of the wings that even folded as they were, they were almost as big as the rest of her body. Her eyes were tiny beads of obsidian, and her mouth was a vast maw of teeth. Undoubtedly, if this Tia were to see the true form of her fiance, her enthusiasm would wane.

What are you doing? Randidly asked mentally.

I can feel you want to end these disguises. This has upset you. I think that’s a bad idea for a lot of reasons.

What reasons? Randidly demanded. But before Neveah could answer, TIa began to speak.

“You… oh wow… you are such a good kisser!”

Randidly turned back to Tia, nonplussed. The girl was looking at him with her mouth wide open. But it seemed she then realized something and peered around suspiciously. “Rand, who were you talking to? Where was the other woman?”

“Other woman…?” Randidly said slowly. Then he sighed. He couldn’t believe he was so distracted by his emotions that he hadn’t noticed Tia outside in the hall. With his Perception, it would have been child’s play to spot her, if he wasn’t so distracted. It also meant that Neveah was right about how this upset him. Did he really want to end the disguises…?

If he was being honest with himself, he did. Part of it was the frustrations of trying to keep his progress with the drones as something reasonable. When he was behaving as himself, he never had to think about something like that. He could just be. The other part of it was that he didn’t feel very comfortable with the fact that other people were using his name and face.

Even though it was Neveah, it was still rather uncomfortable.

“I heard her voice. Do you take me for an idiot?” Tia glared at him. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and pulled at her top, exposing a bit more cleavage. “Where is she? I want to see this woman who is bold enough to come harass my fiance!”

Trust me, Neveah said simply, seeming to ignore Tia’s demands. Walk around as my version of you. I think you will change your mind.

Sighing, Randidly addressed Tia. “...there’s no one here. Let’s go.”