12 CH 12 | Evolution and an unescapable past

~Rimuru~

I woke up, feeling confused and awfully tired. 'Aren't slimes supposed to be tireless?'

"It's because Master isn't a [Slime] But a [Lesser Slime]"

'Ooh!! That explains it!'

As I fully woke, I activated [Magic Sense] To see where I was, and what was the soft thing holding me. I found that that 'thing' was a pair of small, pale arms encompassing me.

The first thing I then did was obviously greet the beautiful silver-haired queen in front of me. (Sounded hella simpy, but Rimuru sound's like a simp when describing girls)

Rimuru: "Good morning Luminous..... Wait! Weren't we fighting with that mutant serpent?"

She then explained to me how I defeated it and passed out.

Rimuru" Ah, I'm sorry if I made you worried"

I apologized because I thought that I might've gone a bit overboard. But, I was only met with a pout from her.

'Why is she pouting? But I have to admit, she looks CUTE!'

"I completely agree Master!.... Though, it could be cuter... *Chuckle*"

Great Sage replied with odd enthusiasm, and the second part left me confused, especially the small chuckle. But I decided to ignore it.

Luminous then blamed herself, saying that it was her fault for being weak. 'Why does hearing that make me somewhat feel painful?'

Rimuru: "Where is the corpse? I need to consume it so it won't go to waste"

'The meat would definitely help the goblins at the start since gathering food is hard for them.'

Luminous: "You did absorb it. But it looks like you were unconscious, which means that Grate Sage probably did it"

'Ah. Great Sage, did you absorb that snake when I was unconscious?'

I felt a part of my soul move, almost excited and proud.

"Yes Master! I thought that its skill and magicules would be helpful"

'Right! I forgot that I can acquire skills that way. So, what did I get?'

"The skills that Master got are:

[Thunder Transformation]

↳ Transform the user into many strings of thunder.

[Lightning Breath]

↳ Allows the user to shoot a highly destructive breath of lightning (different from [Thunder Breath]

[Heat Sense]

↳ Allows the user to preserve the world by sensing the heat signatures around them"

'Wait, so now I can transform and move at high speed like that snake?'

"Yes"

'Great! And thank you, Great Sage'

Rimuru: "Yeah. She always helps me, even when I don't ask"

I couldn't help but get a bit emotional when I talk about Grate Sage, As no matter what I do, I couldn't repay her. But the odd thing was seeing Luminous' pouting face... Again.

She then started moving -Which was when I noticed that she was standing- Until we reached a very familiar lake.

Rimuru: "Ah! I remember this place! We are close to getting out!"

'We just need to pass this and meet Veldora!... But, how is Luminous going to pass through it? She always says that it's cold, so I don't think she could go through this lake..... Ah! I found it!'

Jumping off Luminous' arm and expanding like a pancake, I softly fall atop the water.

Rimuru: "You can't swim all this way so that I will act like a boat!"

She seemed somewhat reluctant, but she jumped on me.

"Master, you are soo kinky"

'???'

"I didn't expect you to act this way soo fast~"

'Great Sage, what are you talking about?!'

"You're soo dense Master. But I think that only make's you cuter!"

'Uhh... Thank you...?'

Rimuru: "You should get comfortable since it will take a while"

While I did ask her to come on top of me, I didn't expect it to feel somewhat comfortable. 'So this's how she feels every time she holds me up? I have to say, she's much lighter than I expected. And I feel a bit more... comfortable'

We reached the edge of the lake, and though the trip wasn't very long. But it was scenic, and I liked it.

Rimuru: "This lake was longer than I expected. But it was nice"

Luminous: "I agree. It's nice to have some quiet time"

'Maybe I should go with Luminous on a boat someday'

"Fufufuf"

Ignoring the check AI, I hopped on Luminous after she jumped off me. She walked a bit, looking to be hurt by the rough ground. We finally reached a room with a glowing barrier enclosing a certain tsundragon.

???: "Wellcom, little ones!"

'This arrogant, tsundere dragon. I did miss him-'

Luminous: "Little ones? I would never accept such words from a morbidly obese Lobotomiski gecko that can't even differentiate between a Komodo guana and a damned city!"

'Wow! That came out of nowhere!'

Veldora: "haaaaaaah?! And who might you be to talk like this against me, Veldora! One of the, and the strongest-"

Luminous: "Stop screaming like we can't hear your over-indulgent fantasy, scaly worm! And I know that you lost because of a hero, so all that nonsense about being the 'strongest' true dragon is as false as your intelligence! You are barely capable of taking on a true demon lord Mister True Failure!!"

Rimuru: "Do you... Feel better now?"

Luminous: "Yeah... I feel a tiny bit better now that I have dumbed it out of my chest"

'I guess her hatred for Veldora will burn even after the flames of hell turn into ice'

Veldora: "A-Ahem! How do you know about me dear friend, Lobtomiski?"

'What's going on here? And why has Veldora never told me about this?'

Rimuru: "Luminous! Could you please explain to me?"

Luminous: "*Sigh* Basically, back when Night Rose wasn't ash, two humans came from another world. One of them was Lobtomiski. He was so dumb and such an idiot, that his name turned into a swear amongst higher vampires, and it's rarely used because of how incredibly dumb a being must be to be called that.

"And since this bloated balloon called him his 'dear friend', it would make sense from where he lost all that much of his brain"

A.N/ And that's also why he's addicted to manga. All because of you, Lobotomiskii.

I was genuinely started by the subtle rage in her words, and also by how much of an idiot must he be to make them remember him that way.

'But I wonder, why does she sound angry?'

"It's probably because he was the core reason Veldora destroyed Night Rose. There's also a high chance that he was much more annoying than Veldora to her, as Veldora was only influenced by him, which would mean that he is way more annoying"

'Ah, that explains everything oddly perfectly'

Rimuru: "But who's the other guy?"

Luminous: "The other one was... Weird, to say the least. He's called M. When he appeared, he seemed to only care about gaining knowledge of this world's magic and lazying around.

(don't question the self-insert!)

"He did do quite a lot of tests until he one day disappeared by... Procrastinating on existing... I also don't understand what that exactly means"

Rimuru: "Huh. Then, what happened to Lobtomiski?"

Luminous: "One day after M disappeared, that fool entered M's private room, stepped on something, and instantly disappeared. That day, we collected all of M's things and destroyed them, as they were too dangerous"

'So they just came here and disappeared without leaving a mark? How?' (To not fuck up the continuity of the cannon mate)

Veldora: "eto... Can I talk now?"

Veldora said playing with his fingers, looking like a kid waiting for his parent's approval. He was met with a glare so cold the area surrounding Veldora froze, making him shake like a shaved cat under the rain.

Despite that, Luminous didn't say a thing, so I took the lead.

Rimuru: "Yes. You can talk"

Veldora: "Who exactly are the both of you? and what are you doing here?"

Rimuru: "It's a long story. But you can say am here to free you from your prison"

Veldora: "You think you, a lowly slime, can free-"

Luminous: "Should we really free this decorative moss?"

Rimuru: "Yes. his disappearance kick-started a domino which lead to the creation of Tempest"

Veldora seemed to be focused on our words, but he looked very confused as he lacked context.

Luminous: "*Sigh* I guess it's fine as long as I don't have to see him..."

Veldora: "S-so! How does a weak slime like you plan on freeing me?"

After finally recovering from the shock of being ignored again and again, he asked the ultimate question, but, he looked very uncomfortable. 'No matter how much of an idiot he is, he is still my sworn brother, and I can't just force him.'

As my choice was made, I decided that seeing him that way hurts me quite a lot 'What do you mean I betrayed him many times? It was all for his own good! And even if I did that, it doesn't mean that doing it didn't hurt me!'

"Master, you don't need to excuse yourself. I'm sure Veldora would be fine even if you left him with his sisters"

'That sounds a bit too cruel, but it doesn't matter right now.'

When my little conversation was done, I jumped off of Luminous' arms and headed straight to Veldora.

Rimuru: "I'm Sorry for Luminous over there. She just has....some problems with your past actions. But that aside, what do you think about becoming friends?"

He gulped in surprise as if his crush has confessed to him. Then he blushed and backed a little.

Veldora: "Hahaha! You think a [Slime] Can-"

Rimuru: "Alright! Then we are leaving! Have a good time!"

I rotated and moved to the corridor at the side.

Veldora: "Wait!!! We c-can be friends if you insist!"

Rimuru: "Yes! I insist!"

Throughout this whole exchange, I could hear Luminous mumbling to herself "That oblivious fool" and seemed to pout a bit. But I ignored it

Veldora: "You said you were going to free me, right? How do you plan on doing that?"

Moving closer to him, I could feel something within my soul swelling up.

Rimuru: "Simple. I will eat you!"

Veldora: "Pfff-HUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I like that idea! But, before that, what is your name? Your friend over there seems to have a name, but do you have a name?"

'Yes, it's Rimuru!' Or I was going to say before Great sage gave me a crucial piece of information.

"Master, you technically don't have a name as of this point, and neither does Luminous. I suggest asking Veldora to name you so you could get a chance to evolve"

'Ah right! We traveled back in time and somehow devolved, it would make sense if we lost our names'

Rimuru: "You see, we don't actually have names. we might call each other by our 'names' but we don't have actual names due to circumstances. So I suggest you name us with our names, and in return, I will give you a family name and free you. What do you think?"

Veldora: "HAHAHAHA! It's fine with me! And I'm very intrigued to know you lost your names as well! Then tell me what the family name is, and what's the name you want!"

'I can go with 'Tempest', but since Luminous would be in as well, I think I should combine our last names. Tempest and Valentine... Valempest... Temtine... Valtempest!' (Yes, I did something no one did before, once again.)

Rimuru: "Your- No. Our last name will be Valtempest! What do you think?"

In the corner of my vision was a confused Luminous, probably because I changed my last name, and made it from a combination of both of our last names.

Veldora: "MUHAHAHAHA! From this point on, I! The strong me dragon! Shall be known as Veldora Valtempest! Now! What should your name be?"

Rimuru: "Rimuru."

Veldora: "From this point onwards, you are Rimuru Valtempest!"

When his roaring voice stopped, it was replaced by a feeling of a tsunami of raw magicules crashing into me.

I absorbed that ridiculous amount of magicules easier than I thought. But the swelling inside my soul moved, bouncing excitedly within me as I absorbed the magicules.

[Notice: Evolution requirement fulfilled

Acquiring Crest of the Storm... Success.

Creating Crest... Crest of Chaos... Success.

Creating Crest... Crest of Blood... Success. (can a person have more than one personal crest?)

Evolving to: Blood Slime

Acquiring intrinsic Skills: Hyper Regeneration, Blood Haki, Absorption, Enhanced senses, Steel Strength... Success

Acquiring New Resistances: Heat Resistance, Cold Resistance, Physical Attack Resistance, Electric Resistance, Pain Resistance... Success.

Acquiring New Extra Skills: Lightning Mastery, Fire Control, Blood Manipulation, Ranged barrier... Success

Combining Skills: Ultra-Sonic Wave, Heat Sense, Vibration Sense, Enhanced Senses, Magic Sense... Success.

Extra skill Acquired: Multi-Sensory Hyper-Enhancement. (Long name, I know.)

Combining Skills: Heat Resistance And Cold Resistance... Success.

Extra skill Acquired: Thermal Fluctuation Resistance.

Physical Abilities upgrade... Success.

Evolving to-

Skill Evolution Requested... Request denied

Evolving To: Blood Slime... Complete]

My body stretches and expands, transforming into its new form. I felt the energy surge into my body, bloating it like a balloon.

Red rays swirled within me, before diluting themselves and mixing with my body, turning it crimson.

The feeling of evolution put me into a moment of trans, and yet, a deep part of my soul was somehow disappointed.

(tried to make it good but gave up at the start)

When the rampage from evolution died down, I could only see astonished looks from both Veldora and Luminous.

Rimuru: "Why are you staring at me like this?"

Luminous: "Why?! Because of how you just evolved! You just started glowing as if it was a light show!"

Veldora: "MUHAHAHAHA! As expected from my friend! I'm sure staying with you will be entertaining!"

He shifted his head towards the baffled, and slightly blushing Luminous.

Veldora: "Now, it's your turn to be named-"

Luminous: "I would kiss a cockroach's ass before being named by you."

Being suddenly burned by the icy gaze of Luminous once again, he quiets down and gives her his back while folding his arms, as if saying 'Hmph! It's not like I care about you or what you think!'.

'heh, such a tsundere behavior. Now I think I know what he will say.'

But I still somewhat felt bad for him, so I decided to try and make Luminous apologize to him, as what she said was too much.

Rimuru: "Luminous, I-"

Before I was able to say any more, I felt depleted as a multi-colored wave came out from me, and crashed straight into Luminous, before she started illuminating light while lightly floating.

Luminous/Rimuru: "Eeehhh?!"

When the light faded, leaving behind only a beauty, more grand and transcendent -taller- than before, touching the ground while opening her holy eyes with such elegance that even the dragon with questionable sexuality was struck, freezing like a stone statue, even if for a moment.

Luminous: "Rimuru, what the hell did you do?"

Rimuru: "I don't- *Flashback of accidentally naming Gabiru* Ahhh... I accidentally named you..."

Luminous: "WHAT!!! Aren't named beings servants to the ones that named them?!!"

Rimuru: "N-no! While that's true most of the time, what I did was equal naming! Just like how Veldora did with me! So you don't have to worry about such things..."

Luminous: "If you say so... But can you give me a last name? I don't like not having any last name as if I'm some random peasant"

Rimuru: "Thank you for understanding, Luminous Valtempest."

And yet another part of my magicules evaporates away from me, flying to Luminous like a flock of fireflies before being absorbed.

Luminous: "That's not what- Ugh, whatever. Can you now get rid of this rotten garbage? Looking at it only worsens my vision" She said before giving her back to Veldora, presumably too disgusted to even look at him.

'I think I'm getting secondhand emotional damage...'

Rimuru: "Ah... Yes. Veldora, are you ready?"

Veldora: "*Sobs* Yes..."

Getting the green light to finally end his pain, I felt the once disappointed part of my soul move and slide around, shaking my entire existence in excitement.

"Do you want to use Unique Skill [Predutor] YES/NO"

'YES!'

The violently excited part of my soul finally exploded, unleashing itself to the world. I expanded and consumed the entire dragon and his prison in a flash, taking less than a second.

Luminous: "That was faster than what I expected"

Sitting in the empty expanse left behind, That same part now felt nothing but pride.

I jumped, feeling exhausted, sloppily making my way to Luminous.

Rimuru: "I also didn't expect it to be... that fast as well. I think it's because I evolved... past being a... normal [Slime]... And became-"

I felt my momentum stop, crashing into the ground, yet unable to feel the impact as my consciousness, similar to my magicules and stamina, flew away with the wind. (And went to Luminous lol)

"Notice: Magicule level is critically low. Initiating sleep mood for recovery"

......

...

...

(me actually trying to make something good incoming!)

I woke up to the feeling of accending as the surface underneath me slowly rose, gently pressuring me against a smooth, soft cover encompassing me like a blanket, delicately covering me. Before going down, letting the damp, cold breeze wash over me. Succumbing to the delight, I try to expand my senses, to engross in the blissful sensation more.

As my senses connect to the flowing ocean of magicules, the world visually, and auditorily folded to my mind. Sounds so minute before now clear as an explosion, details so small and minuscule now as clear and obvious as a mountain.

Despite all of that, my view orbited the being holding into me, with her silver hair shining despite the lack of light. Her face was beyond what it was before, with shimmering beauty only elevated by magnitudes of details my new body could comprehend.

Her tranquil sleeping face could start wars, with eye glossy eyelashes, looking more like silk than hair. Her lips, radiant pink like a cherry blossom, pulling me towards it slowly-

(End of good part, now back to casual shitty writing)

'WAIT WAIT WAIT! Stop right there, Rimuru! I am a fine, respectable, gentleman (from his view) and I won't do such a thing to a sleeping woman! I need to control myself and stop. And I was -and will become- a king! So I must have some dignity!'

"That didn't seem to stop Luminous though"

'Huh? What do mean?!'

"Nothing. It's just your imagination"

'Nonononon! I'm sure-'

Luminous "*Ywans* So you woke up before me? Are you alright now? You suddenly falling down there got me concerned" She said with her eye and cheeks slightly red.

She rubbed her eyes while slightly frowning both her mouth and eyebrows. 'I don't like her frowning expression, but I'm happy that she got concerned for me"

"It's because Master ran out of magicules, so I had to shut him down. That happened because naming you took almost all of his magicules -As he was trying to make you equal to him- and whatever leftovers Master had was consumed when [Predutor] was used."

Rimuru: "So that's what happened... Again..."

Luminous: "Again? So this isn't the first time it happened to you?"

Rimuru: "Hahaha, yeah. It happened two times before when I named the goblins and another time when I named the orcs" (he did pass out when he was naming the 500 new goblins, right?)

Luminous: "*Sigh* Why am I not surprised? Anyway, I think it's about time we get out, right? and since you already got out of here before, that means you should know how we can get out of here quickly."

"Luminous san, while we -Me and Master- know the way out, that doesn't mean we can get out quickly because of how enormous this cave is. But staying here would actually be beneficial to us, as we can gain more skills and magicules.

"There's also the fact that Master took a month to get out of here before, and if we exit before that time, we might be unable to meet the goblins or something unexpected happens, stopping us from starting tempest"

Luminous: "Hmmm... That makes sense, so we have to wait for a month. Since there's nothing we can do here, I think we should get back to moving"

She stood up and headed out in a random direction, and that's when I noticed that this isn't Veldora's room, but a corridor with a cracked wall, and a dark red spot on it.

Rimuru: "Luminous, where are we? I remember we were in Veldora's chamber, right?"

Luminous: "Ah, after you feel unconscious, I stayed there for a bit, waiting for you to wake up. But after a while -less than five minutes- I decided that it will take you a while to gain consciousness, so I lifted you up and started moving."

I didn't entirely believe that, but seeing her face, I chose to not delve any deeper.

Rimuru: "Ah. Sorry for inconveniencing you. Also, for how long was I asleep?"

Luminous: "You don't need to apologize again, and you were out for around a day. It actually surprise me that it only took you a day to regain all of your magicules after making me evolve, which reminds me, what did you evolve into? It didn't look like a normal [Slime] with all the red aura that was surrounding you"

Rimuru: "I usually pass out for three days. Great Sage, why did I recover so quickly? And also, what are the skills I got?"

"It's because after Master named Luminous-san, the soul corridor expanded, allowing me to take magicules from Luminous-san. And what Master got from his evolution:

Master evolved into a [Blood Slime] Which seems to be higher ranked than a normal [Slime] a is the fusion between a [Slime] and [Vampire], having the characteristics of both.

The notable Skills are:

[Multi-Sensory Hyper-Enhancement] which is a combination of all of Master's sensory skills, and is a step lower than [Universal Sense] with the added abilities to sense heat and vibrations.

[Lightning Master] and [Fire Control] are nice since it would've been hard to get them any other way

[Blood Manipulatin] does exactly what it says, and oddly enough, it isn't an intrinsic skill.

Master Also acquired [Crest of Storms] and [Crest of Blood ] and the creation of Master's own unique crest, [Crest of Chaos], meaning that any being master names would be affected by those three crests, changing their affinities and evolution."

Rimuru: "Wait, so now am stronger than before?"

"Yes"

Luminous: "Heh, you were already ridiculously strong, and now you are stronger? Are sure you aren't planning to destroy the world? Or are you planning to enslave everyone? I still remember the way you stared at me and Hinata~"

Rimuru: "*blushing so hard he became a red balloon* Wait! I can explain! It-"

Luminous: "Hahahaha! Don't worry about it. But I wonder, why did you evolve into a [Blood Slime], and while I can understand [Crest of Storms] and [Crest of Chaos], what I don't get is why and how you got [Crest of Blood]"

Rimuru: "Yeah I was also wondering about that. Do you know why it happened, Great sage?"

"Master evolved into a [Blood Slime]for the same reason Shion evolved into a [Fair Oni]. Master was Exposed to Luminous's Magicule, making it have some vampiric attributes. And the reason for [Crest of Blood] is most likely the same."

Rimuru: "That makes sense. But I kind of expected my color to change to red."

"Yes, that was going to happen. But I stopped it because Master looks cuter the way he is."

Oddly enough, when Great sage said that, Luminous slightly nodded her head.

Rimuru: "Okay... Oh right! Luminous, didn't you also evolve? What did evolve into, and what did you get?"

When I said that, she stopped moving, seemingly thinking for a bit.

~Luminous, but back a bit~

While I was letting off some of my infinite steam on Veldora -Which only increased when I discovered that he was a friend to that idiot, Lobtomiski- Rimuru mentioned something about freeing him, and I was intrigued to know how is he going to do that. 'I will finally know how he freed this fat magicule dumpster.'

I was kind of against it at the start, wishing to not see that ugly punching bag, and letting him be imprisoned there for longer as a punishment for destroying my beautiful Night Rose.

But Rimuru convinced me saying that he must be freed for Tempest to even begin. 'So that ignorant trash is the reason that economic powerhouse was made?'

Then Rimuru asked Veldora to be friends with him, and I did feel kind of jealous of that. 'Why didn't Rimuru ask me to be his friend, or ask me to be his..."

I stopped that train of thought and blushed a little when Rimuru asked Veldora to name him.

Rimuru: "Your- No, our last name is Valtempest! What do you think?"

'Valtempest? Wasn't his last name Tempest? Wait, Val? As in Valentine? Then does that mean...' My heart raced at the thought, and my attempts to calm down shattered when Rimuru was named.

Veldora: "From this point onwards, your name will be Rimuru Valtempest!"

When Veldora said that, Rimuru started to glow like a star, siphoning all the magicules around him as well as all of my attention.

When his evolution was complete, I couldn't stop the blood in my body from accelerating up and overflowing into my head as I looked at Rimuru's new form, which despite looking almost the exact same, he was unexplainable cuter than before.

'NO! Calm yourself down, Luminous! He surely doesn't want to be with a failure like me, I don't have a chance. Even before, he was always staring at Hinata, let alone Chloe and all the other girls surrounding him who are running after him as well.'

After calming down a bit, (the best way to calm down is to destroy your hopes and dreams UwU) Rimuru asked me why I was staring at him, and I told him that the spectacle was a bit too much, Veldora tried to give me a name.

Luminous: "I would kiss a cockroach's ass before being named by you"

Rimuru: "Luminous, I-"

His words were cut by an avalanche of magicules leaving his body before falling into me.

[Notice: Evolution requirement fulfilled.

Acquiring Crest of Blood... Success.

Acquiring Crest of Chaos... Success.

Acquiring Crest of Storms... Success

Evolving To: Blood Vampire.

Acquiring Intrinsic Skills: Steel Strength, Charm, Paralyze, Hyper Regeneration, Shadow Motion, Coercion, Transform, Enhanced Sense, Blood Haki... Success.

Acquiring Resistances: Thermal Fluctuation Resistance, Pain Resistance, Electric Resistance, Physical Resistance... Success.

Acquiring Skills: Blood Manipulation, Lightning Manipulation, Fire control, Though Acceleration, Blood Aura... Success.

Evolution to: Blood Vampire... Success.]

After I evolved, I thought I was now bound to Rimuru like his servants, but thankfully, it was equal naming. I asked him to give me a last name. What I mean was, 'Give me my old last name, Valentine' but...

Rimuru: "Thank you for understanding, Luminous Valtempest"

'That's not what I meant, you idiot!!! Now it sounds like we are related, or..."

At that moment, I reached the apex of embarrassment. I rotated and gave both him and Veldora my back, trying to hide my burning red face.

Luminous: "That's not what- Ugh, whatever. Can you now get rid of this rotten garbage? Looking at it only worsens my vision" Through what can only be explained as a miracle, I was able to say it without stuttering once.

'How can you be so dense!? Why didn't you understand what it means!!? Why are you giving me hope??!! Are you-'

Before I could start blaming Rimuru, the radiant light behind me dims, and I rotated to look at what was exactly happening. I was barely able to see a glimpse of Rimuru covering Veldora and his prison before it disappeared with him.

Luminous: "That was faster than I expected it"

While Rimuru was trying to jump from the hole he was in, I notice how tired he was, but before I could even say anything, he collapsed.

Luminous: "Rimuru!"

I panicked and ran towards him at full speed, catching him before he touched the ground. It was only then that I calmed down, as I noticed that he was still alive, just unconscious.

Luminous: "Haaa... You scared the hell out of me. I don't know what I would do if you suddenly died... I don't know what to do without you now."

I hugged him tightly, before standing up and moving towards the exit to this room.

On my way, I found a few monsters and decided to try out my new skills on them.

I chose to try [Blood Aura] on a [Tempest Serpent], But When I pulled out my rapier, I noticed it was a bit different. 'Maybe it changed because of my evolution?'

Deciding to ask Great sage later, I used [Blood Aure], and instead of the aura covering my rapier, the red aura coursed through the rose engravings at the sides of the blade.

The roses turned into a radiant crimson red. The surrounding parts of the roses and the edge of my rapier turned black.

I wave at the snake, cutting it in half despite not touching my rapier. And then the serpent's Blood flew into my rapier.

'That's stronger than I expected. It's still an A-rank monster after all.'

Sheathing my rapier, I move my -now free- arm to hold and hug Rimuru, which was on my left arm the entire time.

Moving again, I found a [Black Spider]. This time I chose to finally test out what my unique skill, [Protector] can do. I activated one of its sub-skills, [Ultra Acceleration] to launch myself at it while covering myself with another sub-skill [Multi-layer Barrier], ripping the spider apart into two.

And it didn't take much moving to find my last test subject, an [Armorasurs]. Since the moment I evolved, there has been a skill that has caught my interest, it's [Blood Manipulation].

I try using it on the [Armorasurus]. At first, nothing happened other than stopping its movement, but after a moment, the [Armorasurus] was erratically twitching, before violently exploding from the inside out, showering me with its blood and insides.

I covered myself with a simple barrier and decided that it was enough, especially after seeing that grotesque scene.

Activating [Blood Haki] to ward off the random pest and dash off from that disgusting area with [Ultra Acceleration]. When I finally got far enough, I stopped and sat down, laying my back on the wall.

I looked at Rimuru, and it didn't take a moment for me to start rubbing him with my hands, which turned into cuddling him, rubbing him against my face and head. But all the while I was doing this, I had the urge that I'd been holding down.

I wanted to ramp my face through him, to bite a part of him, no matter how small it was, I still hadn't forgotten his taste, let alone indulging in my desires, like how I did last time. Unable to contain all of that, I bring him closer to my face, my breath slowed, and my focus sharpened-

Luminous: "No! I must hold myself! I am a goddamn queen! I won't just fall to my desires!"

I stared at Rimuru for a moment, and lifted my head, staring at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and started cuddling him with my hands again. I clenched my teeth, trying to resist my wreathing body's desire.

"///"(the '///' means blushing, the more of them the more intense the blushing is)

A.N/ This next will hit hard for most of you, and you will feel personally attacked, especially if you have trauma -or anything similar- to being left alone by someone you love, or about your relations in general. So if you're somewhat sensitive to that, then skip this part.

'Oh come on! Don't hold yourself! He's a king, you're a queen. You two perfectly fit each other!'

(Just so you know, this isn't Great sage, but she's hearing all of that)

"No! I Can't do such things!"

'Why can't you? He's laying in your arms, waiting to wake up by the kiss of his queen~ And isn't that what you have always desired?'

"NO!!! That's not what I want! And he doesn't want that as well!'

'Oh, really now? Then what was that scream about? The one where you shock the whole cave declaring that you've fallen for him?'

"That... That was just me misinterpreting my feelings under the pressure! I only felt thankful for him!!"

'Then why did you feel jealous when he asked Veldora to be his friend? And aren't skills supposed to be born from intense emotions? Then why did you get [Protector]?'

"It was just that seeing Veldora annoyed me. And me getting [Protector] was from my anger at my weakness and my will to repay him! And I'm lesbian! How could I fall for a man!?"

I didn't notice it, but tears were forming in the corners of my eyes.

'HAHAHA! What does it matter?! You are just traumatized, scarred by the acts of your father! You don't hate men, nor are you incapable of loving them. You're just too scared to face that trauma! You're too scared to try and change that, even after killing your own father!'

"NO!!! I AM THE QUEEN OF LUST! Am not so weak as to be stopped by that, not so weak to be scared of the man I killed over two millenniums ago! I don't love men, I love other women, I love them because they can understand me!"

At this point, I was completely drenched by my tears.

"..."

'Yes. You are the queen of lust, and yes, you love women because they understand you, because they got the chance to understand you. You're running away, hiding in the solace of lust, not giving anyone to understand you.

'Yet when a person that can understand you, someone who you can use to continue running away came. When Chloe Ol'bert came, You went to her embrace like a child to its mother. You stayed there, you hid there. You didn't even try to correct a thing, but looked away saying that it's just who you are!

'You always run, you never do anything but run. You don't try to give people the chance, not because there weren't any, but because you never gave anyone a chance because you are still scared! And you flee by lusting over women, inducing over your dominance and controlling them by fear!'

"NO!!! THAT'S NOT TRUE!!! You yourself said that I found the person that cared-"

I clenched my hands and stood up before screaming in denial of that, only for Rimuru to slip from my grasp.

'Yes. But what happened? She left. And from that day, you were trying to find something, someone, to replace her, to make you have that feeling again, to fill your emptiness! You want to be loved, you want to be cared about, and you want to be understood.

'And yet, you force everyone that wants to try out, you force everyone that cares about you out, not believing they are even worthy enough to try. And you keep everyone else, everyone you want by force, by fear. Making them hate, despise you. All of that so they stay close. Take Hinata for example, She's always by your side, always close, and always says good things about you. And yet you feel empty. You feel empty because she doesn't love you, nor does she care about you, she only pretends to.'

"SHE IS THERE BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HATE ME! I'm not scared of my father, nor anyone! I don't harm them or make them fear me, everyone who is by my side stays by my side because they want to!"

I couldn't accept any of what she was saying, I knew that everything she said wasn't true, but I kept getting angry, and started to punch the wall to release that anger.

'But do they love you or care about you? The vampires follow you because you're their queen and are mostly driven by instinct to follow you, but they don't care about who you are, but they care about what you are. they don't follow you because they like you, they follow you because you're the Vampire Queen.

'It's the same for Hinata. She doesn't follow you because she loves you, cares about you, like you, admires you, or even fears you. She follows you because you are the God of Lubilous and the person who runs that city.

'She follows you- No, she follows your city because it gives her a sense of meaning and purpose. She would've done the same if it was anyone else, in fact, she was doing the same before meeting you.'

"SO WHAT?! SO WHAT IF NO ONE CAN UNDERSTAND ME?!! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TRYING TO SAY?!!!"

I started using my skills, destroying the wall, and breaking my hand.

'You are scared. Not of your father or anyone, he just scarred you, destroying your trust in men, making it worse. What are You scared of? Loneliness. You are scared of being alone, left behind, and abandoned.

'You push everyone that tries to care about you, that wants to love you, and that you also love, all because you're scared of being left alone and abandoned again. You've built walls around yourself, literally and figuratively, just to feel safe, even if it hurts you.

'And now, there's someone whom you love and loves you back, and yet, you push him back, because you're scared of being left alone again. And just to make yourself feel better, to lessen the pain from your walls falling on you, you say that he hates you, that he doesn't like you, and that you don't have a chance.

'But if he really did hate you, if he didn't care about you, and if he had someone he already loves, would have gone through all the trouble he went through? Would he have cared for you this entire time, would he have made clothes for you, looked for food and water, make you a weapon, train you, and tell you his most important secrets, let alone sacrificing himself to you, would he have done any of that, if he actually hated you?

A.N/Sir, I feel attacked. Why must you hurt me this way?

'No, he wouldn't. He loves you, and you're keeping him far away, just because you're scared. Open up to him, accept him, and tell him what you really feel. Tell him that you love him.'

My eyes are swollen and red, covered by my hands and flowing past them a stream of tears, I said what's inside of me at that moment.

"I-I-I *Sniff* D-Don't know *Sniff* W-w-hat t-to do... *Sniff* I-I-I'm S-scared.. *Sniff* W-what i-if he r-re-rejects me? *sniff*"

I held up Rimuru, hugging him and laying on the wall again.

"I-I d-don't d-de-deserve him *Sinff*"

I slid down until I hit the ground, and hugged Rimuru with both my hands, looking for whatever comfort and solace I can find.

"I can't watch this anymore."

Before I can fall deeper in grief, I fell unconscious.

......

...

...

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A.N/ 6100+ words.

So this was a hot mess of a chapter. I would usually split it into two, and I was actually going to continue until, but I figured that people would want it now.

Does the romance feel rushed now? I lost control of the romance in chapter 10 and I have no clue what's going on myself.

Am I being too harsh on Luminous? Maybe. I was actually just going to make it wholesome and dumb, but then changed it into existential suffering because my brain said so.

And just so you know, Rimuru is going to get his turn at pain. honestly, I should've been sprinkling his pain around, but I didn't cuz I only thought of it now and I don't care much.

And you might've noticed, but the description text (the text describing how the characters look) decreased quite a lot in this chapter, and that was because I knew people wanted the chapter as fast as possible and wanted the most progress to happen, so I did decrease from the filler stuff. (though I don't see them as filler, and I think they improve the quality of the story)

You've also seen the second and third glimpses of my full potential in this chapter (the first was in chapter 9) and remember, they're only glimpses, so nowhere near the maximum of what I can do.

Some things that might be confusing to you, like what's the redundant point of [Blood Vampire] and the heck is the difference between [Blood Haki] and [Blood Aura] or why was Luminous intrigued and surprised by [Blood Manipulation] and why the heck is there so much Blood shit. all of it will be explained in the next chapter, so in the next 1-2 weeks.

Also, why are there so damn many crests? for my own convenience! they will combine into one soon enough.

Anyway, I wish that you enjoyed this roller coaster of a chapter, and may you have a good life and me some passion!