A Space Oddity

by J. J. Pavlov

  This woman matches the description of Dregana Tarragon, the dragonkin. Considering how difficult defeating Kiamedras was even when they were at full power, this professor is possibly the most dangerous person out of anybody in the academy for her to run into right now. The only saving grace in the current situation is that within this confined little cell, she won't be able to transform.

  "Orders are orders, milady." The guard doesn't react to Dregana's plea and holds onto his stance. If something happened on his watch, he would be the one to take responsibility.

  "Don't worry. I'll bring Madame Idunn right away." Turning back to the fallen angel, the dragonkin professor says in a reassuring voice. Makoto said that according to Hestia, Dregana accompanied the angel girl from the Fatas Triarchy to keep an eye on her. She supposedly acted under the orders of the latter's father, but that tone suggests that she genuinely cares about

  Hestia.

  The fallen angel only continues to defiantly glare at the woman while enduring the pain of her broken wing. Something must have happened between the two to justify this animosity.

  Lowering her head and hanging her shoulders slightly, Dregana's back appears sad. Then she turns around on her heel and leaves the cell, an expression of heartache on her face.

  Once the footsteps have receded, Asoko peels off the wall and steps over to the angel girl. Her mouth is plugged with a type of ball gag but made of hard metal. It's locked in place with a strap of the same, which has a simple lock on the back. The Crawling Chaos body can easily replicate that with its own matter.

  "Before you tell me anything, heal yourself first." Asoko puts a finger on Hestia's lips upon removing the gag and speaks in a whisper, her ears trained on outside the cell door.

  Nodding her head, the fallen angel uses her still bound hands to hold her wing in place, then begins to chant quietly with a pained expression. She could have asked Asoko to help with that, but she may not have thought about that possibility. The latter watches as light surrounds the damaged place and visibly mends the bone.

  "Now, tell me what happened out there." She turns around and looks out through the slit in the door while asking. It's better to keep a lookout like this during their conversation so that there will be no surprises.

  "I am not sure. My wing was broken when we were in front of the academy building, and I was left behind. The battle continued on the other side, out of my sight. Soon after the sounds of battle ended, guards and professors took me here without saying anything." Hanging her head, Hestia gives a quick report. She didn't witness the end of the battle and doesn't want to make any hasty judgment regarding its outcome.

  "What about the other two?" Without commenting on what she just learned, Asoko asks about the prisoners that were brought in with her. According to the description she heard from her other half, they are Daica, Kamii's little sister, and Lenoly, a demon student at the academy.

  "Daica was thrown off Chloe's back early on and did not witness anything, but Lenoly was on the other side." Hestia replies with a nod.

  "I'll go talk to her. Do you need help with that?" Asoko points at the cuffs around the angel girl's wrists, but the latter shakes her head.

  "Give me the gag so I can keep up appearances should anybody come to check."

  "Alright. I'll be right back, and then we're getting out of here." With these words, the Crawling Chaos hands Hestia the ballgag before shrinking and turning into an amorphous blob again. She then nimbly climbs through the slit in the door with her tendrils.

  The guard at the end of the corridor still isn't paying attention, so she moves along the cracks between the stones in the wall before squeezing through the opening to Lenoly's cell. Just like in the angel girl's case, she hasn't been given any medical attention. Furthermore, she has ripped off what remains of her singed clothes and is using them to press on her head wound. Sitting on the wooden bench in complete nakedness, a small flame from her horn illuminates the darkness. Bakari are capable of magic even without a catalyst, but can only use the fire magic inherent to their species.

  "Shhh." Asoko slides down from the slit in the door and grows into her human form while signaling the bakari girl to remain calm, just as she did with Hestia earlier.

  "Chloe?!" However, Lenoly doesn't take the hint as easily and jumps up despite her wounds.

  "Be quiet!" The commanding voice of the guard echoes down the hall in annoyance. Luckily, it doesn't seem as if he was ordered to keep a close eye on the prisoners. Lenoly definitely said a name just now, but he didn't deem it necessary to check in case something was happening in the cell.

  "I'm not Chloe." Once Lenoly has realized her situation, Asoko explains patiently. "I'm her twin sister, and we'll leave it at that."

  "But-" The bakari girl begins, but is interrupted by a raised hand.

  "Sano." Placing her palm on Lenoly's temple, Asoko heals the cut. She then pulls out a set of clothes from inside her body and hands it to the naked girl. They are her old outfit from when she was still in Sultana Malika's harem - the only memento she kept from that time. "Tell me what happened."

  "We heard loud noises and explosions, and then two dragons broke through the academy building." Keeping her voice low, the one-horned girl begins to get dressed while trying to not dirty or damage the silken cloth. "Things happened very quickly, but the golden dragon transformed into a giant woman and then turned small during the battle. A glowing magic circle locked her in place, which is when we realized it was Chloe. That's when we decided to go and help her."

  "We?" Asoko asks in surprise. When tears appear in Lenoly's eyes, she realizes that the absence of anybody else means they must have been killed.

  "Vitalis... She died before my eyes." The bakari girl mutters with a sob. That's a name her other half mentioned to her before; the airheaded but cute slime girl who thought it was a good idea to give herself flavor so she could turn into a living candy.

  "She's dead?" Even though Asoko never met her, the way her other half talked about her fondly indicates that they were good friends. To think that this battle to rescue Senka and her from the academy could turn out like this.

  It doesn't seem like Lenoly can continue talking, as tears roll down her face uncontrollably. Asoko steps forward and embraces the bakari, who presses her face into the former's chest to muffle her scream of anguish.

  After a while, she calms down again. They were lucky the guard either didn't hear or didn't care. Wiping her tears and lowering her head in silent grief, she breathes in and out a few times before she gathers enough determination to continue talking.

  "I was knocked unconscious, and when I woke up, I saw Chaos stabbing Professor Laiota." She admits that for a moment, she didn't witness what was happening. Asoko knows that Laiota refers to Basarab, the dark magic professor who may have unique magic or a curse that allows him to erase memories. It's what indirectly led to them meeting Asoko in the Khurut Sultanate, so at least something good came of it. "It looked like Chloe was winning the battle, but then, out of a warp in space, a person wearing a blue cloak and covered in bandages appeared. He touched the ground under Chloe's feet with his staff, and she flew up into the sky."

  "That's Mithra." This is the point where the puzzle pieces fall together. Her other half had told her that the reason she first risked going through the transportation circle to see their mother was to warn her of the court magician's potential betrayal. In the end, it turned out that he was acting under her orders to infiltrate the god envoys. But when she returned, the professors ambushed her with Kamii and Hestia held as hostages.

  That could be explained by Mithra telling them in advance. And since he can use transportation magic without using a circle, it wouldn't be far-fetched to think that he can manipulate people in transit. After all, it's not instantaneous teleportation. Mithra was the one who split Asoko up from Makoto when they went to the demon castle so that the latter would come to the academy to rescue her.

  "Court Magician Mithra? Why would he h
elp the humans?" Lenoly asks with an expression of disbelief. Then she seems to realize something and grows worried. "Does that mean Chloe won't come back?"

  "Why do you say that?" Asoko raises an eyebrow in surprise.

  "Mithra's grand ritual banished the Crawling Chaos into the sky thirty summers ago." The bakari girl explains.

  "Oh." The other Crawling Chaos currently in the room finally understands what flying into the sky means in this particular case. It would appear that her other half has gone to space. She doesn't particularly worry about her chances of survival in the vacuum of space, considering their species is also called Cosmic Horrors - according to Senka, at least. But regarding whether or not she can find a way to return from there is an entirely different matter.

  At Asoko's reaction, Lenoly's face shows despair. She lowers her head and begins to mutter to herself, wondering what Vitalis' death was for if Chloe never comes back anyway.

  "No, she will be back." Speaking in a tone filled with assurance, Asoko pets the bakari's hair.

  "How can you know?" She looks up with tears in her eyes, unwilling to accept a statement that seems solely meant to comfort her.

  "I just do." With a radiant smile, she embraces Lenoly once more and cradles her head in her arms. After a moment, they separate, and Asoko steps back. "I'm going to check on Daica. Then we can leave this place."

  "Huh? But how?"

  "You'll see." Giving her a confident grin, the Crawling Chaos loses her form and turns into a blob that squeezes through the slit in the door. The bakari girl stares at her, dumbfounded.

  On the other side, Asoko slides down without making a sound and slithers across the ground toward the third cell. From her other half, she knows that this is Kamii's little sister, even though she looks like a mature lady. This particular one is quite shy but pulls through when the situation requires it of her.

  "W-w-what?!" The moment the formless red mass pushes its way into the cell through the viewing slit, Daica jumps up from the wooden bench in shock and disgust.

  "I'm Asoko, Chloe's twin sister." Asoko materializes her human appearance, making sure to get the features right while maintaining her dark skin and black hair. "I've come to get you out of here."

  "Oh, y-you're Asoko." The big dark elf calms down but continues to stutter. It appears that this is simply a speaking tic rather than an expression of nervousness. "Y-you look just like Chloe."

  "I get that a lot." Shrugging while rolling her eyes, she goes with a lighthearted response to a statement that would have shaken her sense of self not too long ago.

  "W-what happened to her?" Daica asks with upturned eyes, concern in her voice. The fact that her twin sister came here rather than the person herself is reason enough to wonder.

  "I'll tell you when we get out of here." Postponing the answer to this question, Asoko gestures at the dark elf to stand up before turning her finger into a key and opening the steel mitts covering her hands.

  "H-how?" She quickly slips one hand out of the restraint and holds it in place so that it doesn't drop to the floor noisily. It was unexpectedly quick thinking on her part, and something Asoko neglected to consider. "F-fight?"

  "No, stealthily." Tapping her own stomach, the Crawling Chaos gives Daica a reassuring wink. She'll utilize her kind's physically impossible body and pull everybody into the unfathomable depths of her insides before escaping through the metal bars in Senka's cell. According to her other half, it should only be done as a last resort as it may put incredible mental and physical strain on those inside her. Still, the current situation does appear to require this drastic measure.

  She'll try to keep the time they spend inside her as short as possible, and only take them out through the bars once they're all in Senka's cell. That's why she has to take out the guard at the end of the corridor without making a sound.

  "Hurry up." Hestia's voice suddenly calls out to her in a hiss. "Dregana will come back."

  Asoko already forgot that the dragonkin promised to bring back somebody called Madame Idunn, most likely somebody who can heal the angel girl. If they do come and notice her wing was healed, they'll realize that something is up.

  "Wait here, I'll be right back." With these words, the Crawling Chaos gestures at Daica to remain prepared before she turns into a blob once again and leaves the cell.

  She then silently crawls across the ceiling and moves all the way down the hallway like a puddle made of darkness. The unsuspecting guard is sitting at his table while reading a book under the light of his lamp crystal. Despite being told to keep watch, he's more interested in the next twist in the story.

  Looking down, Asoko realizes that with the helmet in the way, she can't make a one-hit kill without making a sound.

  "Hey, psst." Instead, she calls out to him like a whisper on the wind. Looking around in surprise, the guard stands up to peer down the corridor to the prisoner cells.

  "Huh." Shrugging, he sits back down and picks up the book. Asoko would have rolled her eyes at this if she had any in her current form.

  "Hey, look up." She tries again. This time, instead of standing up, he throws his head back and peers up. She takes that opportunity to drop down right into his face.

  The man claws at her in terror, but she enters through his mouth and nose and shreds his insides while consuming them greedily. Within moments, his body is gone, and she uses his genetic template to fill out his clothes and armor - and regrets it right away.

  From sitting all day, the outfit is sweaty and smells disgusting, and there's a strange feeling between her legs-

  "I can't do this." She immediately slips out of the outfit in a single fluid motion by turning into an amorphous blob. However, that causes the armor pieces to drop to the floor, making unnecessarily loud noises that echo up the stairs to her right.

  "Idiot." Senka, who was close enough to see what happened, comments with an expression that says far more than the one-word insult she threw at the red Crawling Chaos.

  "Shush." Asoko hisses while picking up the keys from among the fallen empty armor. She then runs down the hallway to open the doll girl's cell first before turning back into her human appearance and going for the others next.

  "W-what was that?" When the big dark elf's cell is opened, she asks with a stutter.

  "No time. Go to Senka's cell." Pointing down the corridor without looking, Asoko gestures for Daica to get moving first while she frees the other two. Lenoly comes next, emerging from her cell while clutching her body. The clothes are too big for her and are sliding off. Especially the chest and hips area are too loose for her.

  "What's going on?" She asks, but only gets a silent wave to go after the big dark elf gingerly walking ahead while staring at the remains of the guard in the distance.

  Finally, Hestia's cell is opened, upon which she turns to Asoko. On the wall behind her, the words 'play catch' are carved into the stone. Raising an eyebrow in surprise, the Crawling Chaos looks at the angel girl questioningly.

  "A message for Dregana." Remarking tersely, she exits her cell and follows the other two girls going ahead. Glancing at it one last time, Asoko shrugs and does the same.

  "Get a move on." Senka turns her head and states in a grave tone when they're all gathered in her cell. The moment she speaks, Lenoly jumps in shock. "We don't have time to explain to you what I am. They doubtlessly heard the noise and will be coming."

  Nobody questions how the doll girl knows, as they all turn to Asoko, expecting her to tell them what to do next. She feels a swell of pride at being relied on like this but doesn't let it show.

  "Daica first. I hear your touch is deadly." Her other half considered the possibility that demons and other cursed beings are immune. However, considering she's a Crawling Chaos, a being not from this world, that theory doesn't hold up when it comes to demons. That's why Asoko wants to separate her from everybody else inside her body.

  "F-first what?" Blinking in incomprehension, the big dark elf glances at the three other gir
ls thinking they might know.

  "Prepare for a ride." Senka comments with a sigh.

  "Get in my belly!" Opening her front in a giant maw, Asoko pulls Daica inside with a multitude of tentacles that bind her limbs so that she can't struggle. Seeing that, Lenoly takes a step back in terror, but Hestia's wing stops her before pushing her forward.

  In the next moment, she also disappears into the depths face-first. Hestia steps in by herself, even though it should be a new experience for her. Aside from Senka, nobody else has ever been swallowed by Makoto after all. Finally, Senka lets herself get pulled in just as the big dark elf was earlier.

  "What happened here?!" A familiar voice shouts, and Asoko turns around. Ninlil comes around the corner with a giant hammer in her hands and stops in front of the cell. "Who are you?!"

  "Who, indeed." Bringing a finger to her chin in a thoughtful gesture, the Crawling Chaos turns around and reveals her face. It causes the cat girl's jaw to drop as she stares at the dark-skinned, black-haired version of the girl they just launched into space not too long ago.

  Before she can react, two tentacles have already slithered across the ground and grabbed her ankles. They pull on her so quickly that she hits the back of her head on the floor. It causes her to fall unconscious and let go of her weapon. Then she's dragged into the abyss without even having a chance to struggle.

  "There's always space for more." Asoko mutters to herself with a glance at the hammer. Should she take it with her? Maybe it's a magical weapon.

  The sound of approaching footsteps makes the decision for her. She hastily uses a tentacle to pull herself up to the small barred window before squeezing herself through them and disappearing into the grassy field in the form of a snake.

  Chapter 75 - Hot Pursuit

  "What should we do?" Lenoly asks while looking across the gathered. They were able to escape from the cells under the academy and returned to Daica's store in the early morning. Entering Asoko's stomach again was not an option after leaving it in a dark alleyway the first time, so they had to make various detours to remain undetected. Aside from Senka, everybody felt sick and thought that the next time could be their last.