The aftermath of the battle at the salver's camp lingered longer than any smoke would in a burning forest. The broken cages left behind as rusted warnings to any one who dared try and follow in the steps of the Shogun, something far quieter—and far more dangerous—had begun to unfold.
Scarlet lay on a bedroll near the edge of the temporary encampment, the forest canopy above her filtering pale morning light that never quite seemed warm enough. Her breathing was steady, but wrong—too shallow, as though her body itself hesitated with every inhale. The wounds she had taken fighting Shin the Shogun should have been nothing. She had endured worse, healed faster, shrugged off injuries that would have killed ordinary humans.
But this time, her body wasn't listening.
While Yoji and the rest of the military partied with booze and songs at the base camp. Yang stood a short distance away, arms crossed, jaw tight as she watched Scarlet's chest rise and fall. The color in Scarlet's skin was… off. Not just pale from exhaustion, but drained, leeched of warmth, creeping toward that familiar ghostly white Yang had seen before—on Salem. Sure, Yang should be partying as well, for a successful job well done. But....
"Her body seems to be rejecting this world." Rimuru muttered as they were in their slime form. The blue jiggly slime slid across the floor. "Unlike yours and mine, our bodies aren't rejecting this world..."
Yang was silent for a moment, she could hear the loud cheering and the drunkards slurring their words. Then she spoke. "You would think her body is used to it....given how long this has been happening. But, you're probably right. You were reincarnated as a slime, I was sent to a fairy tale world with my team. But still, it was still connected to Remnant."
Scarlet's right arm was turning an obsidian black, jagged sharp white bone like spikes tearing from her flesh. Her fingernails had grown sharper and longer. Rimuru took notice, shifting back into their human form. Rimuru's tried using some magic to heal the Grimm girl, but their magic wasn't being accepted. Scarlet's body rejected Rimuru's magic.
Yang's arms still crossed, she couldn't help but look a tad bit worried. She shouldn't be feeling this, but she knew deep down. She didn't want Scarlet's daughter to lose a parent. She didn't want Marigold to be well...like Ruby. Yang knew she shouldn't be thinking like that, but still. Yang still had her mother...even if Raven was being a bad mother for keeping her distance. Only helping when she felt like Yang was in danger...minus the Fall of Beacon.
~~~
The sound of boots crunching against the dirt and the crackling for a campfire filled the air, Yoji was pacing back and forth. Trying to digest this info, while also running through several options in his head of how he and the rest of the brigade could lend a hand.
Lelei knelt opposite Rimuru, several arcane circles hovering faintly around her as she studied Scarlet with a scholar's focus sharpened by genuine worry. "Her condition resembles a creature of darkness...a creature no one in this world knows of." She said carefully. "But it's… slower. As though her human side is resisting the transformation."
"A Grimm." Yang spoke. "Creatures of darkness, that feed on negative energy and negative emotions." The blonde brawler put a hand on her hip. "Scarlet isn't fully human...she's a hybrid."
Yoji stopped in his tracks. "A hybrid? Is that even-" He was cut off before he could finish.
"Possible?" Yang asked. "Hell yeah, you see. There's this ancient evil witch named Salem. She is sorta like the Queen of the Grimm.." She reads the room for a moment before speaking again. "Grimm are covered in white bone like armor, they have red glowing eyes. Sometimes some are covered head to toe in black fur, some have black scales. Some are pure white. Some spit acid....but one that stood out the most, was a creature...no, an abomination, The Hound. It was created from a captive, Salem held prisoner. It looked like a Grimm outside, but inside...It was a person."
Tuka who had a wet rag in hand glanced at Yang. "And how does that make her different from this...this Hound?"
Yang glanced down at Scarlet before looking back at Tuka. "Scarlet is a clone of my sister Ruby. She was created by a mad doctor named Merlot. She has Grimm DNA flowing through her body, instead of being a full Grimm with a person trapped inside." She looked back at Scarlet, seeing her skin grow paler and paler, her one scarlet red hair darkening to a dark red.
"So...if we can cure her...maybe we can make her....fully human?" Yoji asked.
Rimuru shook their head. "Impossible, you can't alter someones DNA to make them what they aren't. I was human once, I died and I was reincarnated as a slime. I can't change what I've become to be fully human, I can appear as a human. But at the end of the day, I'm just a friendly slime who is a demon lord. Even if it's by magic that is cast by a powerful wizard. The magic would have a limit of how long it can keep said person, human."
"Like Pinocchio?" Yoji asked.
"Pino who?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Pinocchio, a wooden puppet boy who wanted to be a real boy. At the end of his story he becomes a full human." Yoji spoke.
Rimuru pinched the bridge of their nose and rubbed their eyes. "That's completely different from this though."
"Right...." Yoji muttered.
Scarlet shifted weakly, her jaw tightening as a low, strained breath escaped her. For a moment, her arm twitched—and the Grimm corruption surged, the skin of her arm completely obsidian black.
Yang glanced at her. "You don't get to check out, not now. You have a promise you need to keep, remember?"
For a split moment, Scarlet's eyes fluttered opened, her focus unstable. But her crimson red eyes glanced towards the yellow blur that was Yang. She scoffed weakly. "....Tch.....bossy...."
Yang smirked. "Damn right I am."
~~~
Rimuru withdrew their magic, expression troubled. "Direct healing seems to only aggravate things, and make it worse." They glanced at Scarlet, seeing her ghostly white pale skin. It seems my magic and the combined magic between me and Lelei, only made the process faster."
"So what?" Yoji asked, stopping his pacing. "We just let her rot?"
"No, not exactly.." Rory said firmly, stepping forward. Her usual carefree air was gone, replaced by something ancient and solemn. "We stabilize her. Not heal. Not purge. We slow the conflict."
"How the hell is that going to help?" Yang asked with an eyebrow raised.
Rory didn't answer, she knelt down resting her halberd aside and placing a hand over Scarlet's chest. A gentle, divine warmth spread—not restorative, but calming, like still water over fire. Scarlet's breathing eased marginally, the pale white skin and the black obsidian of her arm was receding just enough to stop their advance. "It won't cure her." Rory said quietly. "But it will buy time."
Still confused, Yang tilts her head to the side. "Time for what?"
Everyone fell silent.
"For Scarlet to choose." Rimuru said at last.
"Choose? Choose what? If she lives or dies!?" Yang asked, her fists clenching. "As much as I would love that idea, if we were back in Remnant. This isn't the time for jokes."
Rimuru shot her a glare. "You're jumping the gun. It's not a matter of life or death. It'll be her choice to choose, if she wants help or struggle in life, and be trapped in her mothers shadow."
Yang opened her mouth, she wanted to say something. But nothing came out, she closed her mouth and knew Rimuru was right. But still, how would this help her? Yang didn't understand it, she knew at the end of the day. Scarlet would still be evil, it turned her stomach just thinking of helping someone who picked evil over redemption. She sighed. "Alright, fine. But if this bites us back in our asses. I'm blaming you."
~~~
The hours passed slowly. Scarlet drifted in and out of consciousness, feverish and restless, her body locked in a war it could not win by strength alone. When she woke again, the world felt distant, muted—like looking through cracked glass.
"Sleeping beauty is finally awake." Yang muttered.
Scarlet tried to move—and hissed in pain as her arm burned, not like fire, but like something was swelling within her. "You're… all very loud…"
Rimuru who was back in their slime form, was sitting on Scarlet's stomach. "Easy, you're not in any shape to be moving."
Scarlet's gaze drifted towards the blue slime that was on her, and then at her corrupted arm. It was impossible not to miss what was happening. She cursed under her breath as she also took notice of her ghostly white pale skin as well. "Great, even here. I can't escape Salem's shadow."
"I'm afraid not." Rimuru spoke, the blue slime sliding off Scarlet as they took their human form. "Both halves of you are at war with one another, or in better terms."
"I'm expiring like untouched milk in the fridge." Scarlet spoke.
Yang would've joked about that comment but she nodded lightly. "Bingo."
Scarlet snorted a fake laugh. "Figures. And I don't have any back up clones on hand to take my place, If I croak."
"There might be a way, dangerous as it may sound. But there might be a ritual." Lelei spoke softly. "A ritual to revert the corruption."
"But the cost?" Rimuru asked.
Lelei went silent for a moment. "The cost, is. She'd lose all sense of who she is."
"So....I'm going to be Primal again? Just without awareness of who or what's around me?" Scarlet asked. "A brainless Grimm."
Rimuru ponders as they had an idea. "Wait, what if I can...." They muttered. "Raphael."
"Raphael?" Yang asked glancing around.
"It's like asking a guide or guardian in your party in a game to be the eyes and ears of the group, who has more than enough knowledge to help." Scarlet muttered. "We just can't see Raphael."
"So...a voice within Rimuru's head? Gotcha." Yang spoke.
[Yes?] The voice echoed calmly within Rimuru's consciousness, precise and unwavering as ever.
"I need projections." Rimuru said. "Two options. First, Lelei's ritual. Controlled stabilization. Second. Isolation within my internal storage, similar to Veldora's confinement."
There was a pause, fractional, but heavy. [Understood. Calculating outcomes.]
Rimuru's gaze flicked briefly toward Yang, who sat beside Scarlet with unblinking vigilance, and toward Yoji and the others preparing whatever aid they could. Then the world seemed to dull as Raphael's analysis took precedence.
Option One: Arcane Stabilization Ritual. [Probability of partial success: 43.6%.]
Rimuru's brow furrowed.
[Outcome projection: Ritual may temporarily balance Grimm and human elements through enforced equilibrium. However—]
Images flashed through Rimuru's mind: glowing runes, Scarlet screaming as magic tore through her nervous system, Grimm energy recoiling violently against human flesh.
[—the Grimm component is not external. It is integrated at a cellular and conceptual level. Forced balance may result in long-term degradation, emotional instability, or delayed total Grimm conversion.]
"…Delayed." Rimuru echoed softly.
[Yes. Ritual does not remove the contradiction. It only suppresses it. Estimated lifespan impact: severe. Psychological consequences: unpredictable.]
Rimuru exhaled slowly. "She'd still be dying."
[Correct. Slower—but aware.]
"And option two?" Rimuru asked.
Option two: Predation-based containment.
Raphael's tone shifted—still calm, but sharpened. [Probability of survival during containment: 97.8%.]
Rimuru stiffened.
[Outcome projection: Subject Scarlet stored within Your Storage Space. Grimm transformation halted due to isolation from external mana and negative emotional feedback.]
Rimuru's eyes widened slightly. "Halted?"
[Yes. Grimm growth requires resonance—fear, despair, hatred. Imaginary Space is neutral. Absolute.]
More images followed: Scarlet suspended in stillness, her corrupted arm frozen mid-transformation, neither healing nor worsening.
[However—]
There it was.
[—extended containment presents risks. Time perception distortion likely. Psychological strain possible. Subject may experience dissociation or identity fragmentation if containment exceeds acceptable duration.]
"How long is acceptable?" Rimuru asked quietly.
Another pause.
[Unknown. Subject differs from Veldora. For she is not a dragon. Human consciousness is more fragile.]
Rimuru swallowed. "But it gives us time?"
[Yes. Time to research integration, removal, or redefinition of the Grimm aspect without further damage.]
Rimuru's hands trembled faintly. "And if I release her later?"
[If release occurs without corrective measures, Grimm conversion will resume. However, with sufficient data, controlled adaptation is theoretically possible.]
The word lingered. It was possible, there was more of a chance and safer, and less of a safer chance with the ritual. Rimuru opened their eyes.
The base camp sounds rushed back in—the crackle of fire, Tuka's soft breathing nearby, Yang murmuring something under her breath as she watched Scarlet. Rimuru looked at Scarlet again, really looked at her. Not as a threat. Not as a variable.
As a person.
If they chose the ritual, Scarlet would stay awake. Suffer. Fight her own body every day until it finally betrayed her.
If they chose containment…
"She'd be alone." Rimuru whispered.
Raphael responded instantly. [Containment doesn't need to be in total sensory deprivation. Environmental simulation is possible.]
Rimuru froze. "You could…?"
[Yes. Subject may be placed in a constructed environment. Time may be slowed. Comfort parameters adjustable.]
Rimuru's chest tightened.
Yang looked up from Scarlet, and at Rimuru, taking noticing Rimuru's expression. "What is it?" she asked cautiously. "You look like you're about to make a call you don't want to make."
Rimuru stepped closer to Scarlet, kneeling beside her. They reached out—but stopped just short of touching the corrupted arm. "There's a way to stop this, not fix it....not yet. But to stop it from getting worse."
Scarlet glanced at Rimuru for a moment. "And the cost of what choice B is?"
Rimuru stood up. "You will be unconscious and in a deep sleep, until I know it is safe to wake you."
Scarlet knew what Rimuru was referring to, Rimuru was a slime after all. And what did slime monsters do? Absorb. Yang hadn't fully caught on just yet, nor has Yoji or the other two. The Grimm girl glanced towards Yang and the others.
"We need time don't we? Then....let Rimuru work their magic." Scarlet muttered.
Rimuru felt their chest tighten, their breath hitched in their throat. Scarlet was actually putting all her trust in them. But spoke. "Yeah, yeah give me some time to work my magic on her."
Yang hesitated for a moment, but didn't argue. With a shaky breath, she nodded. "Alright." She turned on her heels and walked off. "Come on you three, let the demon lord do their magic...with no prying eyes."