Katsurandom

  "Her name was Chloe Ashcroft, and she gave her life so I could live." Elizabeth started with the most important achievement Chloe had that affected her.

  "So you had a sister?" Was the first question Rossie brought to her.

  What?

  ht, she was supposed to be Elizabeth Ashcroft acc to this world's records. "No, my name was always Elizabeth Starbright. My father's st name was Brighton and my mother's maiden name was Starlight." She said with some trepidation, it seemed that hadn't been parsed nor fixed.

  Weird.

  "And so you joiheir names? Cute." Rossie smiled at her.

  What? She didn't. "They choose to do that on their own, [Mother]'s idea most likely. Those were the st hey had as their sed identities, now I know [Father]'s inal st name was Ashcroft and [Mother]'s inal st name was Saintsworths. Not that it helps." Elizabeth crified. She wondered if the Saintsworths had been wiped out sihey shared their st h her [Mother] or if that had been because Alexanders had truly died...

  He had truly died, right?

  ...She would send her shadons to iigate eaook and y of her [Shadow Haven]...She would also ask for a better hat one was ioo edgy...

  "She was...I don't know why she had the same st name as [Father], but she owered that called herself [The Thunder Queen], her power allowed her to purify the [Taint] by destroying it." Elizabeth tinued her expnation, how should she breach their eionship?

  "So she was your friend? Cousin?" Rossie asked as she edged herself closer to her, did she want cuddles?

  She could give cuddles.

  "No, we didn't speak that much, she helped me on the arena. And since her powered disguise had a blonde wig everyohought her powered persona was me... And while my [Shadow Shift] had red eyes and bck hair like her normal form...Everyohought my [Shadow Empress] form was hers. So we kinda matched." That had been quite funny, she now uood why that had been like that.

  Since Chloe was the [Body] she was supposed to inhabit, her form was close to what her [Soul] reflected when she pulled into her shadow-attuned powers. And since Chloe's body felt a pull toward hers, she had built her powered disguise as hers to be closer to her.

  "So...She was yirlfriend? Did you cheat on me Eli-Eli?" Rossie said with puppy eyes at her.

  GAH! It was super effective!

  ..."I didn't!" Elizabeth quickly defended herself, "I mean I kinda felt a pulsion towards her body, and she felt a pulsion towards me. But we didn't even hold hands!"

  And that was the truth, former Elizabeth was somewhat dense in that aspect, as she wasn't sure what she was feeling at the moment she ig. And Chloe never acted on it fod knows what reason, she had listeo her expnation of course. But since she didn't had access to her memories or emotions...

  Yeah, good on you Chloe.

  "Did you feel butterflies in your stomach too? That is what we call a crush, did you cheat with her in your dreams?" Rossie said with tears in her eyes.

  AWAWA

  "NO!" Elizabeth quickly said while hugging Rossie, "I never ever looked or peeked at someohat wasn't you!"

  This brought a smile to the pink-haired girl, "I knew you liked to peek at me ?" Had she been had?

  Should she defend her honor?

  "Of course, I would like to peek at the girl I like, besides, if you didn't wao peek you wouldn't go around the house with barely anything on." Elizabeth proudly stated her stan that.

  "...You are not fun." Rossie said sheepishly while hiding her face while snuggling her arm.

  Hah! Victory!

  And she only had to use a chauvinist line bming the absence of clothing of Rossie! Good thing she was female, if not she would be celled for thinking like that...

  "So yeah, I don't really uand how it ended like that or what went into it, but it seems that I wasn't supposed to be born as the daughter of [Mother]. But since [Mother] was stubborn and got the help from a madman she mao finish her pregnancy." Elizabeth tinued her expnation. "This meant that my body while a marvel of geics...It wasn't well suited to my [Soul]."

  "But I like your [Body]...It's quite nice...And soft, and cute, and it smells very nice, and I bet it tastes very oo ?" Rossie said from her hiding spot on her side.

  Also, did that girl imply that she wao taste her? They barely held hands!

  Lood!

  I NEED AN ADULT THIS GIRL IS TOO LOOD!

  "Let me finish, we get some ground rules about that ter." Elizabeth admohe lood creature as she tried to not think about what shade of red her face was, nor if her voice had wavered while speaking.

  "Point is...I really liked my body too, but it was fwed, the reason why I had such a hard time getting power out of elemental spells outside of [Shadow] was mostly that. I had the skills to cast them, I had the mastery on the mana manipution to cast them. But they came weak, more weak than they should." Elizabeth said while materializing magic circles for all the elements in front of them.

  Each of them getting a small orb of one element: Fire, water, wih, metal, shadow, light... there was evehat radiated holy energy. Even if that one dissipated fast enough.

  "But now?" Elizabeth said as she closed her hand and all the magic circles dissipated harmless and their magic dissipated with them, "I cast almost anything I get a funal magic circle off. Granted most of the magic circles I have saved are hand me down from the previous [System] I had, the one you got with our previous [Link]."

  She could no longer feel that e, even if a new one had formed as Rossie's soulscape ed within her [Shadow Haven], within her [Soulscape].

  "The man that made that was very good at programming magiy spells are hyper-effit, and the power is no joke. I used the same spell pos against Michael in our match, and instead of barely a few [Earth Needles] like the first time, my spell shot almost four times as much." Elizabeth said while smiling as she opened and closed her free hand.

  "What ged then? What did that Chloe girl do?" Rossie asked finally showing her face, it had a smile on it and she could make up a worried glint in her eyes. "What did she ask for that gift? How did she ge you?"

  "She...This [Body] you see, it's hers. [Mother] took my [Soul] and shoved it into her [Body], then within my [Soul] as the rightful owook charge of the [Body]." Elizabeth said, w what rea the pink-haired girl would have.

  Repulsion? Horror? Disgust? Betrayal?

  Instead, the girl only bli that, "What does that imply?" And asked as such, she felt a pulse of mana radiate from the girl into her. She didn't fight it back. The mana traveled through her body harmless auro the girl's hand from where it radiated.

  "Your body is the same as I remembered it from before the a. If anything it's healthier than ever." Rossie said with a cute frown on her face. "And your mana is flowier too, no blockages anywhere."

  "Within the domain of the [Soul], the representation of my previous life. The soul of Chloe and my current [Soul] decided our course of a. But my [Soul] at the moment didn't have my memories. So it gave the choice to Chloe of what to do." Elizabeth reted, "Should we merge? Should we fight? Should we ditch the other parts?"

  Rossie stared in silence, but she could feel the question f in her before she decided, "And?" The grip on her arm rose in strength as the worry poured from the pink eyes of Rossie.

  "My previous life wao fight it out, Chloe's Soul was the weakest. So it would be a no-brainer who survived, he would let me survive as long as I would guarantee my help so he could get a new shot at life in this world." Elizabeth said as she said what Alexanders wanted.

  Rossie didn't ent on it, so she moved on, "I didn't want to decide as at the moment I didn't know anything about, so I allowed Chloe's option to be the chosen, it was her body on the lier all." And while it felt good to tease the pink-haired girl, Elizabeth decided to move to the st part of her ret.

  "Chloe decided for a partial merge," Elizabeth said, "I would get her talents, her skills, her know-how of all that she had learned." And to make a point of it she summoned lighting to her hand.

  With the same level of ease that she did her [Shadows] a lighting streak danced around her fingers. "And I meant her [Skills], everything she could do I ow do it too, I even got [Lighting Manipution] out of it, just as how my [Shadows] turned into [Shadoution]."

  "And?" Rossie prodded at her.

  "And that's about it, I got her body and skills. She said me that her life sucked, her mother never spoke to her. Her brother loved her but feared her mother more. That her life was meaningless and would rather live through me that had people waiting for my return..." Elizabeth still doubted that. Was Chloe depressed? Probably.

  Did she take advantage of someoally unstable? More than likely.

  "So your body?" Rossie asked while poking at her side.

  "This body got refigured into what I think is my body. Just like how [Shift] turns flesh into mana and then into mana flesh, whatever [Spell] [Mother] used to shove me here ged the body into something I could think as [Me]." Elizabeth said while summoning a mirror from her shadows.

  On it she could see herself sitting with Rossie cuddling at her side, her blonde hair mixing with the pink hair of Rossie as the couple hugged on the couch.

  Her blue eyes looked at the refle as the irl looked ily at her, "If you are asking for my [Former] body..." Elizabeth started saying as she let the mirror sink bato her shadows, "I have no idea where it is or what happeo it. [The Stygian Baook it from me and god knows what he did with it. He used...Something to take trol of it...I could feel it as he uppeteering my body...As his [Slimy Mana] coursed my veins...As his [Will] anded my movements...His thoughts flooded my brain... I wao follow his Will."

  "Shhh....it's okay Eli-Eli, it's okay..." She heard Rossie's voice as the girl suddenly brought her into her embrace, she found herself in Rossie's chest as someone was whimpering. "Everything it's okay now."

  Was Rossie f someone?

  "I was ed and thrown into a dark er..." She heard someone say, it sounded like her voice though... "And then he was covered in such hideous shadows as his body torted into a replie."

  "He isn't here anymore Eli-Eli...You are okay."

  "And then...he...He made me say [I accept being turned into a doppelganger.]"

  She felt somethi on Rossie's shirt, for some reason the world around her was trembling, did Rossie got a fever?

  "And the world turned bd my memories got severed at that point. I was no longer Elizabeth Starbright." Oh...was she the one speaking all this time?

  She was feeling...detached.

  No wait...Then the one g?

  "You are Elizabeth Starbright, you are my very precious and lovely Eli-Eli," Rossie said as her face was turned upwards, and saw the smiling face of the pink-haired girl.

  She could see in her eyes the refle of herself, her face was a mess, she was g, her eyes were puffy, and there may have been some snot on her.

  "It matters not if your body is different, it matters not if your skills are different. So long your [Soul] and [You] are the same you will always be my lovely and adorable Eli-Eli." Rossie decred while kissing her forehead.

  She wasn't sure if the irl had spread some of her mana, casted a spell or it was merely the reassurance, but she felt better. She would o deal with her inner demons and the memories associated with those.

  "Okay," But for now she would accept that reassurance, "Because my [Soul] may be a little bigger since I not only got the [Skill] from Chloe, but also some of the [Talent] from my previous life."

  "Why wouldn't you have your [Talent] from your former body? Shouldn't that e with the package of your [Soul]?" Rossie asked, and that made her realize something.

  She hadn't expihat part had she?

  "Oh not that, while I do speak of the first..." Elizabeth looked at her [Status] to check the age. "...My first sixteen...almost seventeen years of life as past Elizabeth or former Elizabeth, I meant the life before I was born as Elizabeth."

  "...Your previous, previous life? No wait, reination is a thing?" Rossie was obviously surprised by that revetion, "So I could find my previous life if I dig hard enough in my [Soulscape]?"

  ...She should prevent her from doing so, nothing good would e from her lovely Rossie finding out the memories of her previous life...Sihat one robably a life with [Akira] on it.

  "My case is special, my previous life was called Alexanders Sainstworth. He was a stist in another world that had a specially good talent at mana manipution...And he was the person my [Mother] went for help, he is responsible for making sure I could be born...And also stuck a part of his into my [Soul] to try and reinate himself." Elizabeth said, and looking ba it, that sounded really weird.

  "...So he made sure his life could be born, and somehow stuck himself into his soul to try and self-reinate himself by using his soul?" Rossie sure enough made it sound weirder too, "Was he dumb?"

  ...Rude...? I mean, she had the right of it. Said like that, it sounded quite dumb of Alexanders, didn't it?

  "I mean...For that, I o expin something else...After Alexanders died he got offered a reination where he could keep his memories and live again, he only o work as a [Hero] and fix a world in danger. He refused that offer and asked for his memories and everything that made him to be stripped of his [Soul]. Then I got asked the same question and also refused," That sounded weird too...Was she weird then? "My [Soul] then got sent into the transmigration circle while what remained of it, aka Alexanders. Got sent to his former world to die."

  Yep, that sounded weird all right. It also sounded suspiciously like a [Trope] or a [History] like those her mother used to warn her about other people, other so called [Heroes].

  ...Oh crap, she was a [Hero]...

  "So reination is real...And those that keep their memories are [Heroes]?" Rossie summarized her expnation, then her eyes sharpe ond unfocused as if reading something only she was able to see. "...Eli-Eli...Am I a [Hero]? But I don't remember anything from my past life."

  Yeah....How should she get over this...

  "My former [Identify] skill identified four [Heroes], Michael and Rena are, you of course are ooo...And the st one..." Elizabeth let the words trail unfinished, with obvious distaste ione.

  "Akira huh...So the pelling feeling towards him..." Rossie started saying.

  "It robably something to keep the [Hero Party] united, I don't know what metrics they use to assign the work of a [Hero]. Alexanders didn't seem the [Heroic] type, if anything he had that [Vilin] vibe." Elizabeth smirked at that, she could hink of that asshole as a [Hero]. "Rena gives the indifferent vibe, and Michael while not as much as before, my first impression of him was of a stuck-up."

  "Akira while he tries to act [Heroic] I wouldn't say he is a [Hero] either." Rossie said, it was good to know that she also didn't like him.

  "Yeah, and that leaves you the only one I would say is [Hero]-like, but since you felt the pulsion towards Akira, and Rena is obviously tied to him...That meant that he was the focus." Elizabeth mumbled while nontally snuggling in the chest of the pink-haired girl. "Whoever chooses them must be grabbing the bottom of the barrel if they put Akira as the focus."

  "...Leaving that aside, if we are [Heroes] should we worry then? We must have beeed to fix something right?" Rossie said, "Do I o work with them? 't I work with you to fix it?"

  "Oh that, no. Akira had the [The Hero that ran away] title, or something like that. Besides his skills seemed to be broken, he had a few [Unique Skills] grayed out even. I lost the [Identify] skill so I haven't been able to take a peek again, so I don't know how his skills are right now. But it seems he ran away from his problems to this world." Elizabeth said while opening her [Status].

  Yep, [Identify] wasn't there anymore.

  "But I still have the [Skill] and I wasn't able to see more information than before," Rossie said while fog on something, her eyes bore upon her.

  She felt shy as the gaze of the girl went all over her body, so she did the mature thing and hid her fa the pink-haired girl's arm, what? If Rossie could get away with doing that, why couldn't she?

  "Nope, I don't see extra information. My skill never allowed me to see more, if anything the information only got streamlined. I noticed my [Identify] seems to emit way less mana than other skills, like whatever version you are using right now..." Rossie said as the wave of mana diminished so she allowed herself to peek from within her safe refuge of the irl's arm.

  "It's called [Appraisal], and I don't have access to anything I had before, those [Skills] were made by Alexanders and then ied into the [System]. But sihat part of the [Soulscape] crumbled away after..." Elizabeth started saying and then shuddered, she calmed herself by doing some quiiffs of Rossie, "...That. I no longer have access to those skills."

  Rossie oher hand just patted her head while humming a calming to worked wonders, and she wasn't quite sure if it was the humming, the patting or her sniffing the pink-haired girl. She wouldn't pin about it either way.

  "So there you have it, will you love me after finding out I stole the body of a girl that was weaker than me and probably suffered from some mental health issues?" Elizabeth asked while sitting straight aing go (begrudgingly) of Rossie's arm.

  "Yes." Rossie answered without a sed of doubt, "Unless you tell me to go away, and even if you tell me to go away I will still love you Eli-Eli...Besides of the two I got it easier, since I 't meet your parents while you totally meet mine."

  Oh...right...She o meet Rossie's parents to ask for her hand...

  "You will let me py a couple of notches harder after you meet my parents, right?" The pink-haired girl asked as the mana iarted to get excited.

  'ht, Rossie's eyes would form heart pupils when her ma out of trol.' Was all Elizabeth could think as Rossie looked at her, an iron grip on her arm and one pink-haired girl staring daggers at her.

  Was this the reason why her [Mother] always told her pink-haired girls were dangerous?

  But...'She still looks cute tho.'

  Well, at least she could be sure her emotional baggage could match quite well with Rossie's emotional baggage. If her previous attack while reting her darker memories was something to go by, she would need some soul healing...

  What was the way to heal a soul?

  ht... Love.

  Her previous skill had said that one o feel, do, and practice Love to heal a [Soul].

  If only she had someoo help her with... "Well?" Rossie asked again.

  "Yes Rossie, we will burn that bright when we go a your parents...They may have some opinions about the orphaned girl that made you lose almost a year of csses, but at the very least I will meet them." Elizabeth said, they could try after this school year ended.

  How long was that anyway, three months? Four?

  If anything they might even celebrate her birthday at Rossie's house...If her parents didn't kick her out.

  But that was stuff to deal with ter, for now... "Pinkie promise ??"

  For now "Pinkie promise ★" She would deal with the rest of the stuff she o do at school before crossing that bridge... Or burning, really, it depended on how Rossie's parents reacted to a girl asking their daughter's hand.

  ...How hard could that be, she was...An orphaned no-name girl...She would o ace the test of this year, she at the very least should look impressive on paper...On the very little amount of paper, she could pster her name on three months.

  First time her wish of being absolutely below average and she o look impressive, et tu god?