New Mio (Part 2)

It was currently storming in the original world, but Mio and the others had already bought everything they needed in advance.

Now, everyone was eating freshly bought hamburgers in Mio’s old house when An’ya came up with an idea.

“Hey, Yue Mio, I just thought of something. Why don’t you alter the memories of everyone you used to know, including your relatives?”

“What kind of memories?”

“Add some fake memories — like the three of you being sisters, and your name is Yue Mio Wiscott.”

“Sounds like a plan, but Noker remembers me after the car accident. You once said, ‘By the way, I altered the memories of humans — there’s no memory of a car accident at all.'”

“Just consider it a slip-up. It won’t happen again. Also, Kamine, I’m planning to turn you into a special kind of demigod.”

“What’s the difference between that and the others?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be fun anymore. Oh, and after the rain stops, let’s all go to a girls’ combat arena. One of the girls there is a vampire from another world. You’ll be fighting her.”

Everyone: A vampire!?

Everyone except Lille was shocked.

“She looks just like a human and eats human food. Unless you provoke her, you’ll be fine.”

“Sounds boring.”

Shizuku snapped her fingers, and the torrential rain outside instantly turned into clear skies.

Lille was a bit surprised.

“Was that your technique?”

“It’s from Koren. Some other techniques were taught to me by Anko.”

“I see. Well, now that it’s sunny, shall we go register for the tournament?”

“I’m fine with that. But first, I want to spar with Noker using only my original human strength and defense.”

Noker laughed softly.

“Sure! But why the sudden interest in fighting me?”

“Before an official match, there’s no better training partner than someone who won’t hold back. Even if I get seriously hurt, Lille and the others can heal me.”

“Alright. Where should we fight?”

Shizuku turned to An’ya.

“An’ya, how about we fight in the underworld?”

“The under… underworld?! The world of the dead?”

“Yep. You have Aiya’s memories — you should know we’ve been there once before.”

But An’ya smiled.

“Perfect. There’s a spot I’ve got in mind. While we’re at it, I’ll introduce you to Dark Yue’s father! Any of you can challenge him to a fight if you want.”

Shizuku started to get excited.

(Now I can go all out. I haven’t fought seriously since coming to the Sword Dance World. I bet my sister feels the same.)

“Shall we head out now?”

“Yeah.”

Meanwhile, back in the Sword Dance World, Elu had finally finished translating the magic books from the Demon Realm.

She used magic to make a copy for everyone in the house.

In the living room, Elu explained a lot about advanced demon magic, including some powerful defensive spells.

“Ai Ai, pass me a cola.”

“Yes, Lady Elu!”

Ai Ai pointed her palm toward the kitchen, and a bottle of cola flew out of the kitchen and into Elu’s hand.

“Thanks.”

But Est looked at the cola and wanted some too. She pointed her hand at the kitchen, but nothing happened.

“Um, Elu, why can’t I do that?”

“Because you don’t have any magic power. If you want to generate magic power, read the book carefully. Every spell requires a different amount of magic.”

After saying that, Elu walked to the window and shot a white light into the sky with her hand.

Eve grew curious, sensing a powerful energy just now.

“What was that?”

“A special signal flare! I made a clone to go fish, and the flare will hover over an area with lots of good fish. It’s a little trick from our Demon Realm.”

“That’s really convenient.”

“It’s just a daily-use spell. There are tons more like it in the translated books.”

“Looks like Mio has some studying ahead. But before they get back, let’s talk about my plan.”

“What plan?”

“You’ll find out soon. It goes back to when Mio and I first searched for Yuni.”

Back in the underworld of the original world, Mio and the others had just arrived. The place was as cold as ever, and Noker’s whole body was uncomfortable.

(So cold… Even with the Holy King’s memories, it’s just like last time. But it’s even colder than I thought.)

Seeing Noker like that, Yue Mio reached out and held her hand.

“You okay?”

“Y-Yeah, just a little cold.”

“If it gets too much, let me know.”

“Okay.”

Noker started blushing, and Shizuku felt a bit jealous.

(Of course she gets my sister’s attention… But I don’t know if I can beat her using just human strength. Still… huh!?)

Suddenly, everyone felt a powerful energy, and An’ya smiled.

“Dark Vitel, come meet Little Dark Yue’s friends!”

“Sure thing!”

A black bolt of lightning struck down in front of everyone, revealing a tall figure. On closer look, it was a man with short black hair in a suit.

Although he looked like he was in his 20s, he had the same hair color and bright red eyes as An’ya.

Now, except for Lille and An’ya, everyone including Mio felt a bit scared. But Shizuku greeted him.

Because she had the power of darkness, she adapted to the underworld and all its negative elements better than the others.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kamikoshi Shizuku Wiscott, a friend of Dark Yue. Pleased to meet you.”

The man chuckled.

“My name is Dark Vitel. I’ve heard about you from An’ya. But what’s Noker doing here?”

“You two know each other?”

“Not really. But she used to fight in the park at night with others her age, and I was in the audience. She won nine matches in a row. I noticed she had a real talent for combat.”

Shizuku gave a wry smile.

“Impressive… Noker, why did you start fighting?”

“I only fight when someone messes with me. But are you seriously planning to fight me using just regular human strength?”

“Of course…”

“You two are fighting?”

Dark Vitel asked.

“Just a practice match. Is there a good spot in the underworld to fight?”

“If you’re okay with it, fight in the sky.”

“But Noker can’t fly.”

“Yeah, I’m still just a normal person.”

But Lille came over, placed her glowing hand on Noker’s head, then grabbed her hand and tossed her into the sky.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh… huh?”

Noker thought she was going to fall, but she stopped mid-air.

“How’s that?”

“Is this… flying?”

“Yeah. Just use your thoughts to move. Though it uses more stamina than running.”

Noker floated back down and thanked Lille.

“Thanks.”

“Alright, Noker, let’s begin. I’ve just adjusted my power and defense.”

“Okay.”

The two of them flew up to 1,000 meters altitude and stood 10 meters apart.

Both: “Begin!”

“Ahhhh!”

Shizuku rushed in to punch Noker in the face, but Noker grabbed her wrist.

Then, when Shizuku tried to punch with the other hand, Noker grabbed that one too.

“What… Ugh!”

Noker drove her knee hard into Shizuku’s stomach, then slammed both fists down on her head, sending her falling dozens of meters.

Shizuku realized Noker had strength beyond that of a typical adult.

“Owww! That hurt. I didn’t expect her reaction to be so fast.”

Noker clapped her hands and smiled.

“Shizuku! Grabbing both arms, then kneeing the gut and hammering the head is one way to fight. If you’d kicked first, it might’ve been different. I aim fast, accurate, and hard.”

“Then so will I!”

Shizuku charged forward, grabbed Noker’s head with both hands, and smashed their heads together.

But Noker endured the pain and kneed her stomach again before going in for a flurry of blows.

“Yaaaahhhh!!!”

But Shizuku didn’t back down, enduring several punches. She threw an uppercut to Noker’s stomach with her left, followed by a right hook to her nose.

“Ugh…”

Noker held her bleeding nose, stepped back a few times, then wiped it and smiled.

“Not bad… That was just a warm-up.”

Shizuku was shocked.

“Wait… that was just a warm-up?!”

“Yup. When I fought in the park, most people couldn’t even get past my warm-up phase. I usually train with ankle and wrist weights.”

“Looks like you’ve grown a lot since back then, but I don’t understand — why don’t you join official tournaments? I remember there are schools focused on martial arts.”

“That’s impossible. Even if I have the strength, I don’t have the qualifications.”

“What do you mean? Normally, having the strength means you qualify.”

“One reason is that I got expelled for fighting. As for the others — you don’t need to know. It’s personal. Now I’m going to fight you seriously! Flying has already worn me out a lot.”

“Alright! Then I’ll go all out too!”

The two of them charged forward and started wildly exchanging blows — fists clashing with fists, kicks meeting kicks. Meanwhile, the others watched using a crystal ball, but Lille, An’ya, and Dark Vitel already knew the outcome.

“Mio, I’d say your little sister is going to win.”

“Huh? But Lille, isn’t Noker ahead in terms of technique?”

Yue Mio suddenly understood.

“It’s stamina! Because flying drains a lot for ordinary people.”

“Stamina… Right! It’s because she’s the Elf King’s daughter.”

Dark Vitel smiled from the side.

“As expected, Noker’s quite a girl. But An’ya, where’s our little Dark Yue?”

“Probably playing around. By the way, can you help me buy some sweet and sour squirrel fish tomorrow? It’s been a while.”

“Okay! Same restaurant as always?”

“Of course. But for now, go grab two Netherfruits — Noker and Yue Mio haven’t tried them yet.”

“You’re being generous.”

With that, Dark Vitel vanished in a flash of lightning.

At that moment in the sky, Noker had reached her limit. Like Shizuku, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

“Huff… huff… Not bad, Shizuku!”

“You too.”

“I hate admitting defeat, but I’m out of stamina. I give up!”

“Sorry about that — stamina’s not something I can control. Let’s go back down.”

After the two landed, Lille snapped her fingers and instantly healed both of their injuries.

“You two did pretty well. Just need more practice. Especially you, Noker — work on your stamina.”

“I will. But An’ya, I have a favor to ask. I hope you’ll agree.”

“Go ahead.”

“I have an adoptive older sister. The doctors say she only has a few weeks left due to a serious illness. You’re a god — can you save her?”

“I can… but on one condition. Lille and I discussed a plan earlier…”

“As long as I can do it!”

“Then listen up, all of you. Lille and I plan to create an artificial human — kind of like Cell from Dragon Ball — using the cells of everyone here. That includes Mio, Shizuku, Rin, Eve, Dark Yue, Alexander, Elu, and everyone else you know from the Sword Dance world.”

“So… my condition is to take care of her?”

“Exactly. But don’t worry — she’ll look about the same age as Theresa from Honkai Impact. Also, your cells will be included too.”

“I’ll do anything for my sister. But what if relatives come to my house?”

“Just say she’s living in the house I gave you. You and Yue Mio will take care of her together. Mio, Yue Mio — are you okay with that?”

“Sure.”

“No problem. But what about her mental capacity?”

“She’ll have the learning and cognitive abilities of a 14-year-old human. I’ve made two siblings like that before.”

“And where are they now?”

“Overseas doing gourmet food missions. They tag good restaurants and send me the info.”

“Delicious food… ugh…”

Suddenly, Yue Mio clutched her head in pain.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing… Just a sudden headache, maybe… ugh!”

An’ya and Lille narrowed their eyes.

A powerful wave of magic erupted from Yue Mio. Her eyes turned bright red.

“Huff.”

An’ya spoke up.

“Who are you? You’re not Yue Mio, are you?”

But Yue Mio gave a sinister grin.

“I’m Mio — but the other personality inside her!”

“What’s going on?”

“My mother — Mio’s mom — created me to protect her! If she lost control of her power, I would take over. But after the car accident, Mio’s soul left her body. I remained. Eventually, part of me was swallowed by her original memories, which led to the birth of another personality before me.”

“My mom was a mage?”

Mio asked, surprised.

“She also learned from people from another world. You and Shizuku had your memories erased, so you don’t remember. I kept my memory so I could protect you. Also, I want to thank An’ya and Lille. Thanks to them, Yue Mio has a soul now, and I can use this body.”

“What about the other me now?”

“We share everything — hearing, touch, sight, smell, taste — all sensations. The only thing we can’t do is read each other’s minds.”

“You mentioned earlier that if Mio lost control of her power, you would take over. What did you mean?”

“Originally, our mother planned to give you and Shizuku power when you turned 20. But she passed away unexpectedly.”

“Then, Sis, do I have another personality too?”

Shizuku asked curiously.

“You used to. Not anymore. I remember Mom saying that something happened when you were three — your two personalities fused into one. That’s why you’re a bit wild and love violence. Also, when Noker bullied Mio back then, I really wanted to come out and fight — but I only awaken when Mio loses control. You fused, so you got to do the beating. Felt great, honestly.”

Noker looked a bit nervous.

“Y-You won’t take revenge, right?”

“Though I admire violence, just don’t provoke me. Also, everyone — just call me Yue Mio too. Now the two of us are sisters. Anyway, I’m logging off.”

Yue Mio’s eyes returned to their normal color. She covered her face.

“Sigh… now there’s another me. Mio, what do you think?”

“Another me is fine. It’ll help manage our original world’s old house. Shizuku and I will help too.”

“Alright… It’s just the shared sensations that are annoying… Wait — Lille, can you separate the two of us?”

“Sure. What about you, An’ya?”

“I’m in. But what will the name be?”

Suddenly, Yue Mio’s eyes turned red again. She threw her arm around Mio’s shoulder.

“On paper, I’m called Shin-Yue Hikari Wiscott. You can call her Yue Mio, and me… Shin-Yue Rin Wiscott! Just call me Rin!”

“Rin… not bad.”

“Lady An’ya!”

Gilly came running over at that moment.

“What is it?”

“Lord Dark Vitel asked me to bring the Netherfruits over.”

“Where is he?”

“He said he’s having drinks and roast duck with friends. He forgot he had plans.”

“Seriously… Gilly, thanks for the trouble.”

“No problem.”

Meanwhile, Kanon yawned, clearly bored.

“An’ya, since we’re free now, why not take us to see that vampire?”

“Sure. Noker, Rin — eat the Netherfruit first. Then we’ll go.”

“Alright.”

“Got it!”

But just then, a girl appeared in the house of Mio’s original world.

“I’m here! Little Mio! Little Shizuku!”