If the Explosion magic the two of them used to unleash together before had been in missile-tier destructive power, then now it had leapt straight to satellite-cannon tier.
Jhin and Megumin exchanged stunned looks. He pointed at the jet-black rift torn open in the distant sky. "Did the power just get amplified more than twofold?"
"Seems like it." Megumin was thrilled, though with her mana completely spent she had no way to fire off another round with him. "This is basically the perfect Explosion magic of my dreams!"
So what you actually want is to become the Archwizard who single-handedly hand-crafts satellite cannons. Jhin broke into a cold sweat at the thought — though considering the Crimson Demon Clan's leveling mechanics, she might genuinely pull it off someday.
Fortunately, the rift torn through space healed itself before long, or they'd have had to hunt down the Crimson Demon Clan's Archwizards to figure out how to seal it.
"Let's go back and check whether everyone else's Void weapons have changed too."
"Sure, whatever. I can't cast a second round of Explosion magic anyway right now."
Jhin shifted Megumin from his arms onto his back and carried her home at an unhurried pace.
At the edge of the blast zone struck by the Explosion magic, the Demon King's Army officer known as the Synthetic Beast, Sylvia — now reduced to only the upper half of her body — gritted her teeth and dragged herself, inch by inch, toward an Orc not far away.
"Cough, cough... damn it." Blood poured from her mouth, her face deathly pale. "I never thought I'd be found even after hiding this carefully. Damn Crimson Demon Clan — I've memorized those two auras!"
Staring at the Orc's corpse, her expression shifted over and over. If she didn't consume it to heal her wounds, she was dead for certain — but Orcs were a notoriously repulsive race, the kind of creature that even fusing with and devouring only made her feel sick.
But there was no choice. To survive, Sylvia swallowed her revulsion and fused the corpse before her into her own body. It took absorbing several dozen unconscious Orcs before her wounds finally healed — and thanks to the nature of a Synthetic Beast, the urge to 'drain' now burned inside her stronger than ever before.
Sylvia had originally planned to sneak into the Crimson Demon Village and steal an ancient relic called the Magic Killer, which would grant her total immunity to magic. Now, swept up by that urge, she decided to drain every man in the Crimson Demon Village until they couldn't fight back — that way she could stroll in and out freely while searching for the relic.
As for the female Crimson Demon Clan members, all it would take was flashing her Level 5 root — guaranteed to scare the wits out of them.
"Heh heh heh... hahahaha!" Sylvia cackled as she left the scene — first, she needed to head back to the Demon King's Army outpost to quench her thirst.
Kyaru stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe, glaring at Jhin with a sour look. "Why does the moment you get back you have to go and do... do something so shameless?"
"I'm innocent, Officer Kyaru! I just wanted to take a look at your Void weapon!"
"Are you sure you're not just using that as an excuse to act indecent in public?"
"No way. You know perfectly well the Void weapon can only be drawn out from the chest."
"I'll take your word for it, I guess..." Kyaru warned him under her breath. "But don't you dare do that again."
Jhin nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. "I promise!"
It was no wonder she'd reacted so strongly — the moment Jhin got back carrying Megumin on his back, he'd set her down and lunged straight at Kyaru with grabbing hands, saying things like "let me see it quick" that were bound to be misunderstood.
And Komekko had been standing right there the whole time — what if she picked up bad habits from it?
When he drew out her Void weapon, the two of them were startled to find the staff's design had changed dramatically — it was no longer just a single grimoire set into the staff head.
The staff head now showed a winged cat clutching the grimoire, with a floating diamond-cut amethyst suspended between its wings — it looked extraordinarily magnificent.
A holy light gradually enveloped Kyaru, and when it faded, she stood before Jhin in a white gown resembling a magical girl's outfit, a pristine white veil crowning her head.
Gripping a staff that matched his, she gasped in amazement. "My total mana... it feels like it's multiplied several times over from before..."
"That amazing, huh?"
Jhin circled around her a few times, then dropped down quickly to cover her exposed belly button. "Careful now, wouldn't want you catching a chill."
The corner of Kyaru's mouth twitched as she looked at her ridiculous boyfriend, and she rapped him lightly on the head with her staff. "Is this the 'change' you were talking about?"
"All I knew was that Megumin's Explosion magic got several times stronger — I had no idea it came with a free magical-girl transformation."
His eyes swept over her, back and forth, and Jhin nodded with satisfaction, delivering his verdict. "I love it."
"Then go try everyone else's Void weapon."
"No rush." His tall shadow slowly fell over her, and her tail — which had been swishing about with curiosity a moment ago — froze mid-motion. Jhin rose to his feet, pressed a hand down on her soft shoulder, and smiled. "Let me test this outfit's attack-speed bonus first."
"No, don't!!!"
After finishing his 'test' of Kyaru's new gear, he drew out Kokkoro's and Pecorine's Void weapons as well, only to find no changes at all in theirs, which left him a little puzzled.
Wasn't every Void weapon supposed to have evolved?
After thinking it over carefully, he seemed to spot what Megumin and Kyaru had in common: both of them had closed the distance with him to less than zero, so to speak.
So that's how the evolution works, huh...
After that little mental jab, Jhin dropped the matter entirely — he needed to go coax his sulking tsundere kitten back into a good mood. As it turned out, she'd promised Komekko they'd take Chomusuke out for a walk together, but got dragged into the room by him instead and ended up standing Komekko up.
As compensation, he took Kyaru out for a walk himself. As for Komekko, she was busy happily munching on the dried meat given as an apology gift, with no interest left in going out to play.
The moment they stepped out the door, Kyaru yanked her right hand free from his grip, pouted, huffed, and turned her head away, standing stubbornly in place.
Jhin chuckled, ruffled her fluffy cat ears, and planted a kiss on her flawless cheek. "Sorry about that — it's your fault for looking so good in that outfit, I couldn't hold back for a second."
"Kokkoro told me about the side effects of you absorbing dragon-kind origin essence." Kyaru wiped the drool off her cheek and rubbed her hand on his clothes to clean it off. "I just didn't expect that when you get worked up, you stop being human entirely — you're basically a beast!"
"Better a beast than not even that."
"What kind of twisted logic is that." Kyaru gave the soft flesh at his waist a pinch — not too hard — then swished her cute cat tail and walked on ahead. "So where are we headed?"
"Good question. As long as I'm with you, anywhere works."
"Ugh... why so sappy all of a sudden? Let's check out the sweets shop. Didn't you say the cake there was really good?"
"No problem. We can grab some cake for everyone else too, while we're at it."
Kyaru immediately puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. "Honestly, your head's always full of everyone else."
____
⚡ BONUS CHAPTER MILESTONES
✍️ 5 REVIEWS = +1 Bonus Chapter 💎 100 POWER STONES = +1 Bonus Chapter 🔥 P@TREON (Walnut-chan): Read +40 chapters ahead & unlock 60+ exclusive stories!
🔥 New history: DanMachi: Inheriting the Legacy of Alternate Versions — posted on The_Mikudayo