Iris traced her membrane and imagined a subtle sensation emerging from her slime body. Her fingertip glided through her skin and tore a bit of slime, forming a small sticky ball, which contained a hint of her divided consciousness.
Holding the ball, she threw it towards the wall and commanded it to explode. It splashed outwards, forming a puddle on the ground before it crawled back to her, merging with the central consciousness. Her body of slime remained unchanging, as the conventional force couldn't harm her.
Ordinarily, the Monster Girls like her would have a core which commanded the body, but Iris didn't have it. Her core decentralised and merged into every part of her being, which absorbed her consciousness into countless small pieces, each contributing to her full sense of self.
The system of power branched into multiple categories, depending on which races one was. Every race had its unique stages, but the fundamental aspects of their systems remained the same. The first layer was to cleanse and refine the outermost self, the body.
For most Monster Girls, the first stage is Metamorphosis Phase. Typically, the Monster Girls needed to undergo Metamorphosis seven times before reaching their potential, which opened the path to the second layer, the refinement of the mind.
Lenmia, being the strongest Monster Girls of the family, had already peaked at the fifth Metamorphosis. Compared to Vilia, who was at the fourth Metamorphosis, their power differed a lot, let alone the rest of the sisters, most of whom didn't even undergo the second Metamorphosis yet.
Despite how carefree Iris and her sisters were, the world was a gigantic survival of the fittest world, where everyone ate the other and became stronger through victory and defeat. The fleeting paradise, the peaceful cave beside the Soul Tree, happened only because of Lenmia, who silently protected everyone until they got strong enough to fight. Only with power could one dictate the peace.
Iris closed her eyes. The previous battle unfolded before her. Though her quick wits managed to help her, when Vilia got slightly serious, her resistance crumbled like a sheet of wet paper. Fortunately, Vilia didn't mean any harm, but the next crisis wouldn't be like her.
The current strength wouldn't do. Iris turned around and walked along the cave. She had fully memorised the outer part of the cave, including the way towards Lenmia's room. Under Lenmia's guidance, she could become more powerful as fast as possible.
Her soul shivered under the challenge, of both anxiety and excitement. The stress moved her mind and flipped the switch hidden in her head. In her previous life, she was at the top of her class, strictest to herself, and had a prideful heart. Someone like her always had a little bit of insanity suppressing the common senses.
Approaching the veil of vines and flowers, which separated the hall from a room, Iris calmed her mind and hid her ecstatic smile. Deep down, she was eager to prove her talent and to improve herself. The stress only motivated her anticipation towards the joy of success.
"Sister Lenmia, I need your help," she said and pushed through the curtain.
Lenmia, holding Tardi in her arm, pressed her lips against her and filled the mouth with strange nectar-like liquid. Tardi trembled but forced herself to stand, clutching her fists with her eyes closed. A moan of discomfort and pleasure filled the room, which gradually rose in temperature.
The excitement Iris felt collapsed into a pile of ashes, which burnt and coloured her slime body pinkish. She turned around and walked out, but her lingering determination dragged her back into the room. She silently waited, blinking, watching the indecent act unfold, strangely mesmerized by it.
The heat of the room gradually affected her. She gathered her courage and called for Lenmia, who didn't hear anything. She was focusing on transferring the Soul Energy from a Soul Fruit she ate to Tardi, forcefully boosting her power.
In the end, Iris, red as if she had blood running under her skin, shouted for attention. Startled by the noise, Lenmia suddenly retreated, pulling Tardi, who lost her balance and fell. Her mud body sat on top of Lenmia, who apologised and traced her gaze towards Iris.
"Iris, why are you here?" Lenmia said, stood up, and stroked Tardi's head. "Have you finally gotten used to the way of our life?"
"Not yet, Sister, but I need to get stronger. I can fight too."
"Sorry, not possible. You're vulnerable to the other Monster Girls, let alone a group of warriors."
"Which is why I need your guidance. I may look weak, but I won't lose out under the right condition." Iris held out her hand and concentrated.
From her palm, a bubble of slime emerged and condensed into a ball of water. It quivered and moved forwards, trembling from the weight of gravity yet pulled upwards by Iris's will. Due to her training, she attained little success in her art of slime manipulation.
She flicked her hand and flung the ball against the ceiling, compressing it and pressing it against the rock. The impact slightly sank the surface and split a speck of rocks groundwards. Iris collected the splattered slime, smiling with proudness written on her face.
Lenmia shifted her gaze downwards, shocked by the sudden improvement Iris displayed. Though she didn't want any of her sisters to go into a battlefield, it was logical to take every help she could get.
"Even if the training is like what I did to Tardi a while ago, will you still do it?" she asked. "I promise you I won't play around, but it is necessary to transfer Soul Energy by bits like that."
Except for Vilia, who already had experienced fighting the Pure Races, no one else could digest the amount of Soul Energy gained from a Soul Fruit yet. It was the reason why Lenmia needed to digest it first then transfer it to her sisters.
Iris closed her eyes for a moment before she slapped herself and nodded. Her hand went through her liquid body, but the mental pain sealed away her embarrassment. At least, her family wasn't there to judge her.
"I won't complain. This happens partially because of me. I can't just sit aside and do nothing," Iris said.
"If it ever gets too much, you can stop at any time. Though you won't feel intense pain from the spar, your mind can still tire out," Lenmia said, walked away from Iris, and turned around, facing her with a gleam in her eyes. "That is how the Pure Races capture Liquid Body Monster Girls like us."
The warm atmosphere of the room sharply dropped. Lenmia's yellowish body glowed in bright light, which spewed from her feet and sent a glare in every direction. She pushed herself against the ground and rushed towards Iris.
Her arm reached forwards and formed a ray of light, which moulded into a spear-like silhouette. Its searing heat vibrated the air surrounding it, which turned slightly orange before expanding into white smoke. Her footplay sprang her forwards faster than Iris could move away.
The spear stabbed forwards. Iris panicked and leant backwards, using her liquid-like body to push her up from collapsing. She swung her arm towards Lenmia's neck. A small part of her membrane broke into a swarm of hardened droplets.
Lenmia tilted the spear downwards, grazing Iris's chest and vaporised a part of her slime. In the same motion, she also raised her arm to block the droplets, but they pierced through it and splattered on her pupils.
Iris collapsed into a puddle of blue slime, where her body emerged at a different position, reaching for Lenmia's legs. The waves of blue caught Lenmia and restrained her movement, pulling groundwards. She fell onto Iris, though she was smiling.
"Very good," she said and let go of the spear. The core in her body glittered in blinding light, which filled the darkness of the room with yellow blazes.
From her back, a pair of liquid wings surfaced and flapped. Lenmia narrowly avoided Iris's embrace. The vaporising spear abruptly exploded into a firework, which spread into countless bands of light. They slithered towards Iris, coiling around her wrists, abdomen, and legs. Their burning heat stopped her from melting into a pile of slime.
The glares from Lenmia's core subsided. She landed in front of Iris and held her chin, smiling. Her fingers traced the smooth cheeks and pulled the face closer, leaning forwards as she did so.
"You did well, Iris, better than I initially expected," she said. "If you have more time to grow, you might even surpass me."
"Sister Lenmia, look at this." Iris pointed her finger upwards. Her lips curved into a smile, not an innocent one, but a wicked one. The remaining slime on the ceiling condensed into a spike and fell towards Lenmia.
An ominous pressure gushed out from Iris. In the instant where emotions reigned, a dark silhouette of an unknown abyss emerged behind her. Its all-corrupting presence dimmed the brilliant light glowing from Lenmia, dwarfing her power into insignificance.
As the impression of death howled, Lenmia overdrove her Soul Energy. Spears of light and pairs of wings manifested from her back and obliterated the spike. The all-ending atmosphere abruptly vanished. The entire cave faintly trembled under the display of power.
"Wait, Sister," Iris whimpered. Her body shivered from the powerful aura. "I give up. Too much, I got no chance."
Seeing Iris’s dread, Lenmia forcefully halted her power. The chains which bound Iris dissipated into particles of light. She fell and landed into Lenmia's embrace. The warmth soothed her mind, but her body couldn't stop shaking from her instinctive fear.
"Sorry, Dear. It won't happen again," Lenmia said and stroked Iris's head gently, coaxing her to stop weeping. Was that real? "I promise."
"Sister, what did I do? That was way too scary."
"No, no, don't cry. It was an accident." Lenmia spent the next few minutes calming Iris, who threatened to cry until her entire body turned into tears.
While doing so, Lenmia secretly sent a wisp of her power into Iris body. Though it only lasted for a fleeting instant, a great foreign aura manifested. Its mere implication almost forced her into insanity, which was something she hadn't experienced before, counting both her pre-monsterisation life and Monster Girl life.
Nevertheless, no matter how she investigated, no trace of the power remained. If not for the suffocating sense of doom, which still lingered in her mind, she might have mistaken it for a daydream. To be safe, she had to observe Iris closely, for it might be a disaster in the making.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," she said. "No matter what."
From outside, Vilia pushed apart the messy curtain and walked in, interrupting the moment with a proud laugh. Her hand signalled for Dulcie, Tardi, and Reta to come out and join her.
"I thought an avatar of a Goddess descended. Scared me silly, Sis," Vilia said and turned to the rest of her sisters. "This is how a fight can go, and if the other side is of Pure Races, there is no second chance. Do you still want to fight?"
The three Monster Girls looked at each other and affirmed their choices by nodding. They collectively turned to Lenmia and pleaded in silence, their eyes glowing with determination. Though they had no experience fighting and were still feeble, they could fight given sufficient training.
Lenmia looked at them, then at Vilia, and finally at Iris. If she decided against them joining, they could do nothing, but she couldn't dismiss her family. They meant too much to her. She couldn’t act selfishly.
"If only you all accept the training rigorously and promise not to force yourselves," she said. "Understood?"
Iris nodded before she realized her posture. Her body retreated from Lenmia and struggled to clear the misunderstanding. Everyone saw her sobbing on Lenmia's chest, as though she confessed her love and got rejected.
"Sis, I can explain," she said. "It isn't what you think."
Vilia giggled and eyed Lenmia. "We know, but let's keep this love talk after the battle. We still have plenty of time to corrupt your innocent mind into accepting your desire."
Why was she always getting bullied? Iris wept again, forcing Lenmia to calm her while scolding Vilia.
epiku