Minutes pass after the battle begins, Victoria and Elisa are thrown away, crashing into a rock.
'I have to try to control her, Slady wouldn't like me hurting her at all.'
Victoria thought, looking at Shaphira's demonic form, who had lost her control. Elisa gets up with some effort, but bravely faces Shaphira to keep her under control.
"Listen to me, sister!"
She extends Raizer's sword towards Shaphira
"We can't be defended by Slady for the rest of our lives, so I will have the courage to face her and not let the Renkai Energy take over you."
Victoria smiles a little when she sees Elisa, getting up and standing next to her.
"For a Hunter of Destruction like me, I'm impressed with you."
Then the two enter combat positions, Victoria using water manipulation and Elisa, her blood manipulation.
Shaphira also enters combat position, the huge demonic fox becomes more aggressive, with a furious look towards them.
Then the fight begins, with Victoria trying to take the Renkai Creature further away from Libretãnhya and the Library. Elisa tries to take advantage of Shaphira's distraction to attack her with her weapon imbued with blood.
Creating a supersonic jet of water, Victoria shoots it at Shaphira, tearing her skin and flesh. Elisa uses her sword to wound these affected areas to cause more pain to Shaphira in her demonic form.
But even so, Shaphira becomes more furious, roaring much louder, making both of them feel terrible pain in their eardrums.
Then Shaphira advances towards Victoria, who, despite her fragile hearing, creates a large wave that hits her. To dodge the attack, Elisa creates a blood barrier to avoid drowning.
Shaphira sprays the liquid, then spins her tail to launch those droplets of water, which were so fast that they hit the two women like ammunition from weapons.
Elisa stands in front of Victoria, creating a blood barrier to defend them both. But even so, some droplets cross the barrier and hit both of them.
Shaphira runs towards the two, with her tail hairs standing on end, like blades. Then she tries to hit both of them with her tail...
Suddenly...
Shaphira lets out a roar of pain, then when looking up, Victoria and Elisa notice the presence of Slady, mounted on her. He pulls the hair on her neck with great force with his bionic arm.
"Shaphira!"
Slady says in a commanding tone, then, suddenly, as if she finally listened to someone, Shaphira tries to control herself for the only person who can "tame" her.
She cringes, trembling, the other two women are shocked by the scene. They knew that Slady had some control over Shaphira regarding her Renkai Energy and her demonic instincts, but they didn't know it was so much.
When Shaphira lay down on the ground, causing a small tremor in the ground, Slady carefully got down on the ground and began to caress the large creature's snout.
"It's okay... just don't ever do that again."
Slady's voice was almost... affectionate, but firm and cold. Shaphira let out a few sighs through her nose, as if it was painful to try to control her instincts. Then her body began to return to normal little by little, returning to her "human" form.
"I'm... sorry, father."
She felt deeply guilty, not only for having to make Slady control her, but also for almost hurting Elisa and Victoria.
"It wasn't your fault, but don't ever do that again."
Slady caresses Shaphira's cheek carefully, which made her feel much calmer and more at ease, closing her eyes and falling asleep.
Even though they were still standing and managed to fight, Elisa and Victoria felt relieved to understand that Slady could take control of the situation. Even though, physically and in other ways, he was the weakest.
"I would scold her if we could restrain her, but you managed to do it more efficiently."
Victoria says, putting her arm around Elisa's chest, who watched the scene with some concern.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"Yes."
Slady says, caressing Shaphira's chest. Victoria walks over to him, crouching down next to him.
"Your girl is a girl with absurd potential, but she must be very well taken care of, considering she is a demon."
She places her hand on Slady's back in a friendly gesture.
"You're the person she seems to trust the most. I would recommend that you be present at their training so you can help them improve their power and control it."
Slady closes her eyes with a tired sigh, unintentionally leaning on Victoria's breasts.
"I know, I messed up on that part."
Victoria was surprised by that, but she knew it was an innocent gesture from Slady. Then she puts her hand on his hair, stroking it in a friendly way.
"Everyone makes mistakes, my friend. Now go take care of her."
***
After Slady returned to the library with Shaphira in his arms, Victoria looked at Elisa seriously, going to her.
"Due to all the tension from the fight, I noticed that you seem... different..."
Victoria took a deep breath.
"You seem to have witnessed a near-death situation to awaken your Mana Releaser. Did you ask your father for help to better understand the great power within you?"
"..."
Elisa seemed a little sensitive to this question.
"My father... he passed away a few days ago... Slady ended up adopting me."
Victoria was shocked by the answer, placing her hand on her breasts.
"I didn't know, I'm so sorry for all this."
Victoria hugged Elisa, who hugged back immediately, comforting herself in that moment.
"I miss him so much..."
She started to cry a little, Victoria stroked Elisa's hair.
"I know how it is, Faller and I... we've already lost our family..."
***
In the library, Slady had laid Shaphira on the bed, stroking her ears carefully.
"Hmmm~hmmm~hmm-hmmmm~"
"She seems calmer, doesn't she?"
Suddenly, Trurh appears on his lap, resting her elbow on his shoulder and her breasts on his chest.
"Yes, she seems to have lost control **again**."
"The first time you lost control, you almost killed her, didn't you?"
"Yes."
He says with a tired sigh. Truth places her hands on the sides of Slady's face, caressing the area.
"You're not to blame for this, but now, you can understand her better to make her stronger and ready to defend herself."
She leans in, resting her forehead on his.
"And I've noticed that you've become more emotional. According to the curse you have, it should be the opposite."
"I know that, but..."
He places his hand on his chest.
"Even if your existence inside my mind ends up making me less human every day, this girl and other people who are important to me end up making me more human."
"That's very interesting."
Truth separates from Slady, just floating in a cross-legged position.
"Even if you're not able to visually show your emotions, your feelings are always inside your heart."
She places her hand on Slady's chest, caressing the area.
"That made you not show those feelings with your words, but with your actions. Now I wonder: with my existence, will this also end?" Truth asks, worried about Slady.
Slady closes her eyes tensely, as if that doubt were cruel to him.
"Maybe there is an end. But even if I end up losing all my emotions, I will try to use my remaining time to show everyone who is important to me, how much I love them." Slady says.
"Slady..." Shaphira sits on Slady's lap again.
"I never wanted to put you through all this, I have no control, I'm bad for you, I-"
"You're not." Slady places her hand on Truth's face.
"You've been with me since we existed, even if I lose all my emotions, I'm sure I can count on you to advise me."
"..."
Truth is silent, then she hugs Slady tightly, making her entire body actually warm up.
"Thank you, this brings me enormous peace."
Then she separates from Slady, giving a small and loving smile, disappearing from Slady's spiritual vision.
Upon returning to reality, Slady sees that Shaphira remains asleep. Now noticing that some footsteps echo from the library.
As she goes down the stairs, Slady finds Elisa and Victoria sitting on the sofa. Elisa is lying on Victoria's lap, who is stroking her hair.
"You're good with her."
Slady sits next to her, watching the scene with an emotionless look.
"I'm a woman, Slady. We understand each other better."
Victoria looks at Slady, and she ends up noticing his somewhat... disappointed look, not with her or Elisa, but with himself.
"What's wrong, Slady?"
"It's nothing..."
He leans back against the couch, closing his eyes a little, but feels Victoria's strong but gentle hand on his shoulder.
"I'm your friend, Slady. I know it's not for that long, but you can trust me."
Slady looks Victoria straight in the eyes, practically reading her intentions through her eyes and body.
"I just... I feel like I'm no good for them."
Slady says in a neutral tone, almost becoming cold.
"I just make them train and take care of the library, as if they-"
Suddenly, he feels himself wrapped by Victoria's arm, who places his friend's face on her chest. Slady feels a little surprised to have his face in his friend's breasts, but he doesn't object or feel bad about it. He just closes his eyes.
"Slady, I've noticed since we met that you demand a lot from people, as if you didn't do enough for them."
"But haven't you noticed how much you do for those girls? You take care of them, protect them, and do everything and more for them."
She places her hands on Slady's cheek, looking at her friend's emotionless and almost cold face.
"And I know why you train them, Raizer had told me once a few days before he passed away."
She returns her friend's face to her chest, stroking his hair and untying the bun that used to be in it.
"You want to make Shaphira strong to protect herself, so that she doesn't get hurt by the bad people in this world, so that she can use her potential to defend those she loves, Slady."
Hearing those words of recognition that he never remembered the last time he was recognized for his actions, Slady's normal eye begins to fill with tears, as if he were releasing a little, just a little of all his pain.
And in his mind, it only echoed.
'Faller is a very lucky man.'