Chapter 341: The Bracelet is Broken
"Am I a step too late?"
Descending slowly to the ground, the Inari God frowned as she took in the chaotic, battle-scarred surroundings.
"You're actually able to manifest now?"
Since the Nine-Tailed Fox had already escaped, Hikigaya Hachiman began to suppress the turbulent spiritual energy within his body, aiming to return to his usual state as quickly as possible.
"Thanks to you returning my tail previously."
The Inari God gave a slight nod toward Hachiman, then immediately shifted her attention to the large hole torn into the sky by the Nine-Tailed Fox.
"Did it escape through here?"
The lingering aura at the rift confirmed the entity's identity. Realizing the Fox had already fled into the spatial turbulence—making pursuit impossible—the Inari God's face clouded with worry.
"It is my fault for arriving so late. If I could have arrived while you were still engaged, Hikigaya-kun, we could have taken it down together."
"Speaking of which, Inari, why did you arrive so late?"
Hachiman didn't ask this to blame her; he was simply curious. After all, foxes were everywhere in Chiba these days. Under such circumstances, the Inari God's reaction speed was uncharacteristically slow.
"My apologies. Reconnecting the tail and absorbing the power within it took a considerable amount of time."
A trace of helplessness appeared on the Inari God's face. After obtaining the lost tail from Hachiman, she had joyfully entered secluded cultivation. Who could have imagined that in such a short window of time, such a disaster would strike Chiba? In truth, the tail wasn't even fully reattached yet; she had forcibly halted her breakthrough and rushed out only because she heard the sister of her ally was in danger.
"It's not your fault. I didn't expect those guys to target Komachi either..."
As they spoke, Hachiman deactivated the Spirit-Locking Array, and the two returned to the main world.
"Speaking of which, Hikigaya-kun, you truly care for your sister very much."
Following Hachiman to Komachi's side, the Inari God saw through the massive amount of Hachiman's spiritual energy hidden within Komachi's body at a glance. Beyond marveling at Hachiman's willingness to part with so much power to protect his sister, she also admired his courage. After all, if he gave away that much strength, the amount he retained for himself...
"Well, for my cute little sister, this much spiritual energy is only natural, right?"
Scooping Komachi into his arms, Hachiman tenderly stroked her hair, feeling a wave of self-reproach for not having placed even more protections on her.
"T-this much?"
Hearing Hachiman's description of the spiritual energy inside Komachi, the Inari God was momentarily at a loss for words. Even a cursory glance told her that the total volume of energy in Komachi was at least at the Emperor-tier. This was precisely why Kazuhiro Mitogawa had been unable to do anything to her earlier.
Looking at the current Inari Shrine—though it was embarrassing to admit—the Inari God herself had never granted power exceeding the King-tier to any single fox. Her shrine was a massive household with many mouths to feed; if every fox had that much power, even with her strength nearly recovered to that of a Mid-level Deity, it wouldn't be nearly enough...
"Is there a problem?"
Hachiman felt somewhat confused by the Inari God's reaction. To a deity, shouldn't Emperor-tier spiritual energy be considered negligible?
"No problem... Actually, I just realized that your spiritual energy is quite... vast, Hikigaya-kun."
The Inari God's expression became peculiar as she watched Hachiman's innocent face. She then noticed a small detail she had previously overlooked: generally, after a fierce battle and heavy energy consumption, an Exorcist's presence should drop significantly. However, despite just fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox, Hachiman's complexion was rosy and his aura was majestic—he didn't look like someone who had just been in a fight at all!
"Just a little trick."
Hachiman gave her a small smile, then carried Komachi over to Totsuka Saika's side to check on his condition.
"Um, it might be best not to touch her right now..."
Seeing Hachiman reach toward Totsuka, the Inari God sensed something was off and tried to stop him, but Hachiman's hand had already made contact.
Bang!
With a faint explosive sound, the bracelet on Totsuka Saika's left wrist shattered into several pieces.
"..."
"That's why I said don't touch her for a moment," the Inari God said, placing a hand on her forehead.
"I didn't expect it to break, either."
Looking at the fragments scattered on the ground, Hachiman felt both amused and frustrated, though he wasn't entirely surprised. After all, it was just early-game equipment priced at 1,300 Spirit Coins, yet it had managed to stall a Ghost God for several minutes...
Rather than mourning the broken bracelet, Hachiman was more worried about the safety of Totsuka Saika, who had been chosen as the combat vessel. However, as Hachiman sent his spiritual energy into Totsuka to check his physical condition, his expression suddenly turned bizarre.
Missing...
Quite literally, something on Totsuka Saika's body was gone.
"System, what's going on?"
Feeling like a flock of crows was flying over his head, Hachiman hurriedly asked the System why Totsuka had turned out this way. Although he had indeed fantasized about Totsuka being a girl before, he never said he wanted to actually play God and "correct" the mistake!
Furthermore, when Totsuka wakes up, how is he—no, she—supposed to explain? Tell her that because he accidentally broke the bracelet, congratulations, she's a girl now? No normal person would ever accept that!
[Explanation: The bracelet suffered irreparable damage before the target could exit the transformation state. Therefore, the target's body has defaulted to remaining in the transformed state permanently.]
After a long silence, the System's explanation finally arrived. And for the first time, it added a "thoughtful" follow-up after explaining the cause:
[Note: Given the target is an ordinary human with limited physical endurance, the process cannot be reversed.]
"....."
Announcement!
Hello everyone, I'm VarieTL 😊
I'm happy to announce that I have posted 2 new Fanfiction!
You can find them in my second account VarieTL02(an account can only have a max of 20 fanfiction it seems)
Hikigaya and the Witches' Romantic Comedy
Hikigaya Hachiman, a high school student and staunch believer in celibacy, lives by the motto "Loneliness is freedom."
That's how it should be.
However, on his first day of high school, this motto is shattered.
A gyaru who transferred for him, an incredibly cute pink-haired girl sitting next to him who's always secretly watching him, a perfect superhero with long, straight black hair and an overflowing sense of justice, a childhood friend who always smiles and approaches him in a kimono, and that lone wolf with no boundaries…
Hikigaya Hachiman's daily life is completely disrupted.
Even more absurdly, all these girls are witches.
Crossover Oregairu/Manosoba (Magical Girl Witch Trials)
The Trash Returned from Warhammer
Shinji Ikari awakens in Neo Tokyo-2 with his memories and iron will as a Space Marine Librarian who served the Imperium for a century.
When a letter arrives from his estranged father, Gendo Ikari, summoning him to Neo Tokyo-3, Shinji ignores his past traumas. Instead, he interprets the summons as a holy mission from the God-Emperor. The former Astartes sets out to defend humanity once more, treating the events of Evangelion as his next theater of war.
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting