Jhin had never imagined he'd run into something like a school swimsuit here in Another World. Then again, thinking it over, the Astraea Continent still had plenty of things resembling modern society — considering how reincarnators wandered in from time to time, it wasn't really so strange.
After all, hadn't he himself invented cola and sanitary pads?
Without sparing a moment to grieve for Kyaru, who'd been fed until she was stuffed like a cream puff, the next one to arrive at the battlefield was Megumin!
Ever since her bedroom had developed a tendency to turn into a battlefield, whenever she noticed Kyaru and Jhin had both vanished, heading straight for the room to find them was never wrong. Having already braced herself after touring the shrine, she wasn't the least bit surprised that he'd pull out a school swimsuit — when it came to his kink profile, she understood her boyfriend better than Kyaru did.
Early the next morning, Jhin went alone to the Cat-Ear Shrine to pay his respects to the deity. After tossing an Eris coin into the offering box, he clapped his hands together to thank the Cat-Ear god for letting him witness the school swimsuit.
Hiding nearby, Sylvia saw that he'd come alone today and very nearly failed to suppress the urge to strike. But the thought of his bizarre Teleportation Magic cooled her head instantly, and she chose to keep holding back.
What she hadn't expected was that Jhin didn't leave once he'd finished his prayers. Instead he wandered around the shrine grounds, muttering complaints to himself: "Cat-Ear god, I ran into some strange freak the other day, covered head to toe in fake flesh — the life force patched together all over her body was honestly nauseating."
This guy had no magic power in his body at all, and yet he could sense life force? Could he be a half-elf?
Sylvia couldn't tell whether he was simply venting or actually suspected she was hiding right there in the shrine. All she could do was rely on her color-changing giant lizard's camouflage to shrink into a corner and endure being pointed at.
"It's a wonder she can walk around in public looking like some patchwork monster. Doesn't she feel any shame at all?"
I am the illustrious [Synthetic Beast]! What do you mean, 'patchwork monster'!
"Oh, right — I recall she also said my adorable little kitten has no manners. Talk about being a snob." As Jhin said this, he narrowed his eyes slightly, killing intent rippling outward in all directions, nearly making Sylvia jump out of her skin — she thought she'd been discovered.
"She probably doesn't know this, but I'm a very petty, small-minded man."
A red signal flare blazed to life above the shrine. Sylvia's pupils shrank violently, sweat pouring down her forehead like rain.
When had he used that magic tool?
Even if she wanted to flee now, it was already too late. Far more Teleportation Magic circles than before appeared around Jhin, and an invisible barrier settled over the entire shrine.
In plain terms, it was a case of "shutting the door to beat the dog."
Putting the Crimson Demon Clan summoning device away into his storage space, Jhin turned his gaze straight toward the fence at the shrine's edge. "Hey, [Synthetic Beast] Sylvia — just how much longer were you planning to lie low over there?"
"When did you figure out I was here?" Sylvia dropped her disguise and straightened up, her face darkening. "The color-changing giant lizard's camouflage is supposed to slip past nearly every detection spell."
"The Flying Thunder God's mark would never— ah, sorry, wrong show. My Spatial Displacement, besides its defensive use, can also leave a mark on a target. Clear enough for you now?"
"So you're saying you knew I was hiding here from the very start?"
"Mm... you can think of it that way." Jhin certainly wasn't about to tell her the detection range of his mark — truthfully, if he hadn't happened to wander into the shrine, he wouldn't have known where she was hiding at all.
Watching as one Crimson Demon Clan mage after another, magic power surging through them, gradually closed in around her, Sylvia began shifting her stance. She meant to use her strongest form and fight this group to the bitter end. The barrier that kept her from fleeing also restricted their Teleportation Magic in turn — and with that crucial means of movement taken from them, she was confident she could break through.
Jhin motioned for the others to fall back for now, and under her puzzled stare, said, "Don't get so worked up. I don't want to fight you right now. I just want to clear up a question that's been bothering me for a while."
Hearing this, Sylvia warily shifted back into human form. She could use the chance to stall and gather her strength. "Go ahead. Ask."
"From what I understand, as a Synthetic Beast, you strengthen yourself by continually devouring other creatures. Am I right?"
"Hmph. And so what if I do? Don't tell me you're naive enough to be fishing for my weaknesses."
Jhin waved both hands quickly. "I wouldn't waste time asking something that boring. I'm just curious — when you devour a creature, is it dead or alive?"
Sylvia stared at him mockingly, as if she'd just heard the biggest joke in the world. "Do you care whether the food you eat is dead or alive?"
"So you like Anpanman too, then. Good to know." Jhin raised a single finger. "Now here's the real question. After devouring so many creatures to evolve, is there any part of your body left that's truly your own? And what about your mind?"
"What a boring question. This body is the most perfect masterpiece there is — a fusion of countless creatures' strengths and abilities." Sylvia stroked her own cheek, looking utterly intoxicated with herself. "I am them, and they are all me."
"Then here's my last question. Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Sylvia, obviously!"
"No, no, no — that's just a name, a designation. You can be called Sylvia. Someone else could be called Sylvia. Anyone at all could be called Sylvia. Strip away that label, and who are you then?"
"I don't know, and there's no need to know." Feeling she'd gathered about enough strength, Sylvia shifted form again, ready to end this pointless conversation.
"This actually matters a great deal. If you can't even figure out who you are, how can you prove you're really you, and not some creature you once devoured — one that might simply be living on wearing memories that were never its own?"
"Memories can lie too, and that kind of lie is often the hardest to catch. Take a pebble lying by the road. If I don't tell you its name is Geodude, do you know who it is? You don't. But the instant I speak that name, in your memory, it becomes Geodude."
"When someone asks you the pebble's name, you'll say it's called Geodude. But how can you be sure that's really its name? That memory was given to you by me. If I was lying, then the memory is false — and you... you're just carrying around a false memory that was never truly yours."
"So... back to the question I started with." Jhin pointed straight at Sylvia's heart and said, enunciating every word: "Who. Are. You?"
In that instant, every cell, every organ in her body seemed to gain a will of its own — each one shrieking that it alone was the true Demon King's Army officer, the true [Synthetic Beast].
Sylvia's body, which had until now managed to hold a serpent-woman form, began to swell and distend. Her flesh rotted and mutated under the strain of the struggle raging within her consciousness — her two arms even sprouted human faces, cursing and brawling with each other.
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