Giana had woken up and clung on to me. She was still upset and hadn't spoken a word since she woke up.

  Night had set in and Gregory was sitting across me, staring at Giana. He didn't seem amused that she was sticking close to me. Noelle had made a hut for Raishin and herself, as she didn't want to be under the same roof as him.

  My tails warded Giana from Gregory's stare.

  You're obstructing my view.

  Then find a better angle.

  Gregory moved location and my tails adjusted.

  You are doing this on purpose.

  I have no idea what you are referring to.

  I want to see Giana.

  I expected this, so I had plugged Giana's ears when he started to talk. This line could greatly upset her. She looked at me confused, but just snuggled up against me.

  How about we get you someone else. Maybe a vixen from the Floating Lotus?

  Giana is objectively better than them, as she had won most of their vixen games and contests.

  What? ‘Objectively better’? All that matters is if a person is the best for you…

  The best person is the best for me. I deserve nothing short of the best.

  That's some entitlement there. How about you make a shadow clone and [Shadow Form] it into the best for you?

  Gregory got up.

  That's a brilliant idea! I knew I could count on you!

  Gregory ran outside.

  What? It was a joke to mock him…

  Does this mean that he will leave Giana alone?

  I spied on Gregory with my Elgards eyes. This is not ok. The clone he made looked almost identical to Giana. This one had black hair and a more edgy vibe. What have I done? I just keep digging my own hole… how do I explain this to anyone?

  I unplugged Giana’s ears and kissed her forehead.

  A stomp shook the area and it woke Yv.

  Yv please focus on me and not the outside. It's better if you hear this from me.

  I plugged Giana's ears again and explained to her what happened. I wasn't sure if plugging Yv's ears would work so I had to tell her.

  “Ugh, disgusting. Thank you for telling me.” Yv's ears perked. “It seems that Noelle couldn't sleep and encountered the dark Giana while trying to get some fresh air…”

  She is missing some context. I’m swapping her with that leaf.

  The leaf disappeared, and an angry crystal wolf took its place.

  “... this is unacceptable! Huh? What am I doing here? Yv have you been crying? This is such a mess…” Noelle tended to Yv while I explained to her what happened while she and Raishin were blasting monsters in the jungle.

  “Ewww, he fell for Giana? So that's why he made that Evil Giana. Its personality is nothing like hers.”

  I just don't know how to tell Deca. He is not going to dispel Evil Giana just because we asked.

  I sighed and unplugged her ears.

  Deca, I have bad news. I want you to trust me. I have my tails around you. Gregory…is interested in you. He created a clone that looks like your evil twin. I'm sorry, I couldn't stop it.

  “I…I have no interest in him whatsoever. I'm only interested in you. This…this is very disturbing. You're not going to give me up, right?”

  No, I did say that you're not an object but…you're mine. I'm sorry for wording it like that, as I don't have an alternative.

  “Silly Deca, you can be toxic and tell him that he can't have me. As long as you don't treat me as an object, I don't care if you refer to me as one. You were a fox of deeds, not words, right?”

  How is this woman so strong?

  Giana got up, fixed herself up with charm magic, transformed into…herself, probably a version of herself that can handle this, and sung a calming song.

  Another voice of hers spoke to me. “I can't keep causing trouble to you because of my emotional state. Watch me Deca. I will deal with this myself.”

  She stopped singing and went outside.

  Yv, Noelle and I looked through the window to observe.

  “Silly Raishin is sleeping through all this as usual…” Noelle said with a sigh.

  Giana walked up to Gregory and Evil Giana. The first thing she did was to dispel Evil Giana; she then gave off an intimidating aura. Something she must have copied from me, as she was suppressing Gregory with mana pressure. It wasn't as heavy as mine, but it worked.

  Gregory tried something and Giana turned him into an ice cube.

  Well, that went well.

  Giana returned and seemed happy. “I think he got the message.”

  I'm glad it didn't negatively affect you.

  “Oh it did. At first, I would have you leave my side for moments, but now I will stick to you whenever, wherever. I won't let an ignorant fool like him get between us.”

  So toxic.

  “I continue getting punished every time we separate.”

  This wasn’t because of that, though.

  “You might be right, but if we never had gotten separated from you in Hourai, this curse may have never progressed this far.”

  Now you’re taking blame for things that certainly were out of your control.

  Giana smiled. “And that’s why we’re suited for each other.”

  “She’s right you know, you do that too lil’ bro.”

  Ugh, whatever.

  Noelle returned to her hut, and we all tried to get some sleep in.

  A strange roar woke me up.

  Ugh, someone feed Raishin please, his stomach is making noises again.

  The roar was a bit different from Raishin’s empty stomach.

  Ugh I wish it was his stomach.

  I rubbed my eyes and Gregory was inside again.

  How about you stop being a creep and help me deal with that strange sound.

  Fine. I would need you to deal with this barrier anyways.

  Giana and Yv were gone and Greg and I were stuck in a barrier. Actually incorrect. This barrier only blocked Greg.

  Heh, nice barrier Deca.

  I got up and stretched.

  Just know that I'm not lifting this barrier if she casts it again, you will have to convince her yourself.

  Giana had been a sweetheart and made it easy to break for me.

  The first thing I noticed, when we stepped outside, that the basin was covered in an illusion. It seemed reinforced by Noelle. Maybe they’re having girl time. I will leave them to it.

  Raishin was still sleeping in the hut. A strange sound was coming from his stomach, but it was different from the one that came from within the jungle.

  Raishin, wake up!

  I kicked in the door and dragged him out of bed.

  How can you even sleep while being this hungry.

  So hungry….

  It would be wise to eat instead of sleeping then.

  Greg! You’re back to normal!

  I don’t know what you're talking about. I’ve always been normal it's you two who are abnormal.

  Raishin got up, changed, and we ate something fast.

  Should you two be eating in this situation?

  You can't expect me to deal with that noisy bullshit on an empty stomach.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Yeah!

  We finished and stepped out. Ready to investigate the noise. Jungle dragons seemed to be flocking to the source. We walked out and passed the basin when I got pulled into the illusion.

  “And where do you think you’re going without me, Deca?” Giana asked with her hair tied up, wearing a bikini.

  Just an investigation. You have your girl time, we will be back in a bit.

  “You go with him, Giana, I will have my ears perked in case something happens.”

  Giana nodded to Yv, transformed into a fully clothed version, and locked arms with me. “Let’s go.”

  Are you sure? And it's strange to see you wear something that hides your figure.

  “My way of fighting back against Gregory. I woke up to him staring at me.”

  I’m sorry about that…

  We walked out of the illusion and toward the noise. Gregory was attempting to strike a conversation with Giana, who ignored him.

  “Deca, do you mind joining us after we investigated this noise?”

  I thought you had some girl time. Were you talking about something important?

  “A bit we had a strategy meeting as we didn’t feel as if we had been useful since we joined.”

  Don’t worry Giana, I will give you use.

  Gregory, please shut up…

  Greg is acting weird…Different weird…

  Right, Raishin doesn’t know that Gregory is into Giana now.

  I cut jungle plants aside with Nilah as we approached the sound. The ground was quaking and the concentration of nature energy was high. What could be giving jungle dragons this much difficulty?

  We arrived at a clearing, an artificial one as something had trampled the jungle and knocked over the trees.

  No…it was just a joke…I didn’t mean this to happen.

  Is that a hydra? Its huge but… why do all of them have Inna’s face?

  Giana covered her mouth with her hands.

  It had a large body, akin to an adult 2-winged dragon. It had 8 long necks and at the end were identical elf heads, we recognized it as Inna.

  Surely this isn’t…

  I inspected the composition of this hydra. It wasn’t made out of matter as we know of it, but I could identify this creature. It was an elf…

  Why is this world so cruel… Raishin, this might be Inna…

  What is she doing here? And what…why…Giana can you heal her?

  “I…I don’t know. Let me try.”

  There is no need. Let me show you how things are done.

  Gregory fetched potions out of his shadow and started to mix some.

  Agnis, can you have all 8 heads ingest this?

  I nodded and took the 8 vials. My tail grabbed Giana and I went at the hydra.

  Gregory had an annoyed look on his face. He had probably planned to get near her while I deal with this problem.

  “Thank you Deca. Do you know what these potions are?”

  No, but he knew Inna too. I might not trust him with you, but that doesn’t mean he is completely untrustworthy. Inna, can you hear me? It’s me…Agnis… I’m sorry for what happened to you…

  2 heads looked at me while the others spat elemental attacks at the jungle dragons, mainly fire.

  “She is pretty. What a waste…what could have done this to her?”

  Probably the same that has created those strange animals, but till now it had only affected small creatures or animals. This is…

  It was hard to stomach what had become of Inna. All she wanted was to see the world. She didn’t deserve this. I was hoping she still had her reasoning, but the 2 heads started attacking us.

  I created 8 shadow clones who would draw the attention of a head each.

  I assume it has to happen simultaneously, right?

  My tail smacked a [Boulder Throw] away.

  “Deca, watch out!”

  I covered Giana with my tails as a dark purple goo hit me, which started to corrode my clothing.

  “Deca!” Giana started to panic, healing me. I washed it off with some water magic.

  Don’t worry Deca, it’s just some poison. I’m immune to this one.

  “Don’t scare me like that, please…I can’t heal you if you’re a pile of bones… how did you even get immune to a corrosive poison…”

  It was one high on my list to become immune to when I worked on getting immunity in the Silent Night. This one seems to be quite common and quite dangerous, but easy to get resistances to.

  “It seems I have to hurry up and process your bloodwork.”

  I evaded more poison blobs and lit them on fire. The hydra changed to another poison.

  Uhh lets see as far as I remember hydras use 3 types of poison there was standard Hydra poison, there was Hydrangea Mist and uhhh what was the last one?

  “Deca, please, it doesn’t matter. Please dodge!”

  Giana healed some mild corrosive burns. “Are you sure you are immune to this?”

  Yeah, as long as I don’t get submerged in it then I’ll be fine.

  “Isn’t that what almost happened…”

  It took 10 minutes before me and my clones could get a shot of having the heads drink the potions. We had flicked ice cubes in her hair. We would swap to it when hydra would go for a breath attack and pour the potions through her gullet.

  Our taunting worked out and we executed our plan. The heads thrashed as my clones and I were administering the potion.

  Strange steam was coming off it so I jumped off.

  How long until she turns back to normal Gregory?

  Normal? This world has no use of hideous creatures like that. It should disintegrate in several minutes.

  You…ugh…

  Giana calmed me down with a song. Maybe Gregory is right. Maybe it’s na?ve to think we can save her. I just wish that he would have at least tried.

  Raishin was holding off the jungle dragons because they had started attacking us too.

  All she wanted was to see the world…I’m sorry Inna.

  The hydra collapsed to the ground, writhing as strange steam came off its body.

  “Are you sure it’s the elf you’re thinking of?” Giana asked.

  Same face, identity as an elf…I hope it’s not her, but the odds aren’t looking so great.

  The hydra stopped thrashing and made a sad sound.

  “…I should…have stayed in…the village. The outside world…is cruel…” Was what one of the heads said.

  “The elders…were right…” was what another head said.

  “…I should have talked more…with my neighbor…or Raishin…”

  Raishin heard that and dropped to his knees.

  So, it really is Inna… Agnis…please tell me this is one of your pranks…

  I’m sorry Raishin I wish it was too at the moment.

  The steam increased, and the faces started to let out horrible screams. Some of a monster, others of a woman in pain and I plugged Giana’s ears.

  The steam overtook and hid the body and the screams stopped moments later.

  Not like this…is this going to happen more often?

  I don’t know…I hope not, but it seems it can affect people now…nobody or nothing is safe…

  Gregory walked over and scooped up a strange sludge with a glass beaker.

  I will be analyzing this. This is a threat. Nobody knows what causes this, and I will be the one to find out!

  He walked into the jungle while collecting certain materials.

  Should we just let him wander off?

  No idea but…I don’t have energy to deal with him now.

  Giana pulled my tails out of her ears and started a song.

  Thank you, Giana.

  Thank you, Deca.

  We listened to various songs of Giana before we could calm down.

  My tails got put on duty to speculate what happened to Inna and how to possibly reverse it in case it happens again.

  A shadow clone went to investigate.

  Shall we go back?

  “Sure, are you coming Deca?” Giana reached out her hand.

  Yeah.

  I grabbed her hand and she helped me up. We returned to the basin.

  Where is everyone?

  They’re in an illusion.

  “I think we can lift it now.” Giana lifted the illusion and Raishin’s eyes turned wide.

  Whoa! My first time seeing you in bikini’s!

  What an idiot… Gittrian has pools…

  Raishin jumped in as if all his worries had disappeared. I sat down on the side of the basin while looking at the rest of the team playing in the water.

  My tails were creating steam as they were overheating again. There were too many possibilities and not enough evidence. A madman testing new magic was as viable as some strange new disease or energy corrupting them.

  I hope Gregory finds something, but can I trust him? I bet he wants to impress Giana, but he hasn’t been doing great at earning or maintaining trust. What prevents him from tampering with the results to suit his narrative.

  What could I do if any of my friends get hit by that?

  I could only save Giana, I think. I could place her spirit in a spirit vessel and put her body under a time lock in my dimensional pocket. I’ve done something similar before to myself.

  Reversing time might be an option, but it could either be time-consuming or draining. Doing that on larger beings takes a lot of mana. I’ve done it with small beings. Maybe my [Time Ring] needs more tweaks.

  A tail went to mess around with [Time Ring].

  Raishin had the time of his life playing in the water with 3 hot busty women. Maybe I should join in too. I slipped into the water and pulled Raishin under.

  He made a funny face and almost took in water. My worries instantly disappeared due to his goofy reaction.