16 Great Partners.

~Luminous~

With our dinner done and Ouroboros thoroughly painted brown, orange, and yellow, marking his majestic victory on the food plate, we went back to the village, which by the bodies lying on the ground looked like a warzone.

Rimuru: "I-I think we are... A bit late." He stuttered out with a slow, flat tone, mildly shivering, which was enough for even the half-asleep Ouroboros to notice.

Luminous: "That's for better. At least now they won't pester us. I already heard enough 'thanks' from them for my ears to melt."

Rimuru: "Haha. I think we should go sleep as well, Ouroboros seems tired, right?"

To his question, Ouroboros just wrapped himself around Rimuru with a smile.

Rimuru then hopped out of my arms and into an empty hut, which I followed him into, where he already laid down our bed.

'I hope the sheets are thick because it's oddly cold right now.'

I lay down and covered myself hoping for the cold to stop, and Rimru did the same, with Ouroboros coiling under the blanket at his side.

Rimuru: "Good night Luminous. Good night Ouroboros."

Luminous: "Good night, you two."

And with that, we went to sleep, or so I thought. Yet even after ten minutes of fiddling on the spot, the coldness didn't disappear, it only increased. Feeling the invisible frost seep into my bones, I got up in anger, thinking that maybe moving around would make me feel better.

That's when I noticed Rimuru, quivering under his blanket.

'Is he also feeling cold?' Yet when I touched him to check, I found out that he wasn't cold, but seeing hot, as if he's having a fever. His high temperature, coupled with his shivering made me worried.

Luminous: "Are you awake?"

Yet even after shacking him, he was still deep asleep, and his trembling only intensified. But it wasn't all bad, as his heat made me feel warmth, lessening the feeling of my body turning into a cube of ice.

'It looks like he's having a nightmare, and I won't question how he's able to dream in the first place.'

Seeing that he was only getting worse, and feeling like I'm going to die from cold, I held him in my arms before hugging him then lay on the bed, sleeping with him between my arms, something which I have come to be accustomed to in the last month.

'This feels... better.'

With that thought, and with him removing coldness from me, I tightened my grip around him and closed my eyes to sleep...

Rimuru: "Luminous!... *Huff**Huff**Huff*"

He suddenly jolted up with a shout, heavily, jagged breathing, sweating profusely, despite being incapable of both.

Surprised, I sat up. I held him between my chest and knees with my hands wrapping around him and my back to the wall. 'Maybe this would make him feel better...'

~Rimuru~

Luminous: "Rimuru, Are you alright? You've been shaking nonstop, and even your body temperature increased as if you had a fever."

Rimuru: "L-L-Luminous, I-I... I.."

Try as I may, I couldn't make the words exit my mind, I couldn't say what I thought... What I saw...

Luminous: "Slow down, think about what you want to say, then say it. Don't force yourself to say it now, it would only make it harder for you to focus."

I stopped talking, took a deep breath -even if it was just imaginary, it still helps-, and tried to remember everything I saw.

'I... I can't burden her even more.'

Rimuru: "It was... Nothing, just a silly nightmare, there's nothing to worry about, hahaha, ha..."

Luminous: "Then why did you scream my name out?"

Rimuru: "I... You... I saw you... D-Dea-daringly hugging me. hahaha..."

Yet despite my attempts, from how she opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it before a breath of air came out, it looked like Luminous didn't believe me, yet chose to stay silent. But the awkward silence was suffocating, so I chose to break it.

Rimuru: "S-So... Why are you hugging me? Didn't you sleep in your bed?"

Luminous: "You were quivering as if an earthquake has hit you. That got me worried, and with your fever-like symptoms and how cold I felt, I took you into my arms. Unsurprisingly, the cold feeling disappeared."

Rimuru: "Wait, didn't you have [Thermal Fluctuation Resistance]?"

Luminous: "Yes. But in the ten minutes I was trying to sleep, I was getting colder to the point I felt like I was going to freeze to death."

Rimuru: "That's odd. Great Sage, do know why she's feeling cold?"

"I have analyzed her body and found out that it's the effect of a skill. The skill and its effects are too complicated, and it seems to have some sort of gaming ability, making it even harder to analyze. Hence it will take a while to be able to pinpoint it exactly and remove it or change it.

"What I found as of right now is: As long as Luminous is in physical contact with Master, the effect of coldness would disappear. To better analyze it, I would need to be able to take control of your body, Master."

Rimuru: "Why do I feel like you're lying? Are you sure that you can't fix it right now? Because of your actions since last month, I wouldn't be surprised if you're doing this intentionally."

"Master, when did I ever that wasn't to help you?"

Rimuru: "Ahh, Whatever. You can use my body."

Luminous: "*sigh*... Let's hope that Great Sage isn't playing us and that she would find a fix for it by tomorrow. As for now, we should sleep, even if it's embarrassing" Her adorable face, with a smile and eager look in her eyes, was at odds with her words.

She slowly moved, dragging her left leg forward before while using her left hand to rotate her body so that she lays on her side. A moment after, before she could cover herself with a blanket, Ouroboros came and tried to wrap himself around me.

But as I was in Luminous' embrace, he had to deal with a compromise, warping himself around Luminous as well as myself.

...

Minutes passed, but I was still awake. I kept remembering what I saw, kept thinking about what will happen, what I should do... About tomorrow, and how it will affect the days after it.

Amidst all of these thoughts, a hand caressed me, soothing my thoughts in a second. From whatever light entered the shack reflecting from her shining eyes, I figured that she was awake.

'I moved without noticing again...'

Rimuru: "Luminous... Can I... Ask you something?"

Luminous: "Mhm." She affirmed with a node.

Rimru: "You have lived longer than me and ruled over people for centuries. You are bound to have more experience than me. I... Want to ask you for advice on something."

She stated silent, but she was looking at me, waiting to hear my question.

Rimuru: "If your citizens... No. If someone you cared about was going to face something difficult, something painful, but they were going to get out of it stronger than before. But you can stop it, and make them not go through it, what would you do?"

Luminous: "Isn't it obvious? I won't stop it. It just sounds like a positive-"

Rimuru: "NO IT ISN'T- It's more... I-I'm sorry... I need to rephrase it..."

Despite my sudden outburst, she didn't get annoyed or offended, nor did she retaliate. Instead, she just waited for me to get my mind together.

Rimuru: "If someone you care about was going to face a situation where they would go through a great amount of pain, and almost die, but you know they will survive and come back stronger, yet all they know is that they might die that day.

"Would you let them go through all of that pain and suffering, when you can stop it?"

At my words, she stared at the ceiling for a few moments, pondering as to what to answer.

Luminous: "In that situation, I would let them face and go through whatever it is. It might be painful for them, but since they will come back better than before, it's definitely worth it."

Rimuru: "I... Understand... Goodnight."

And with these words, I finally went to rest.

~Great Sage~

A few minutes after Master went to sleep, Luminous, after great resistance, started nibbling on him, each bite painted her face with ecstasy. Not long after, she went to sleep herself.

'Luminous-San is so cute~ I wish she wouldn't try to hide it and enjoy being with Master. At least she isn't a tsundere like Hinata... Regardless, I have to start working, otherwise, they would never realize their feelings for each other.'

I took control of Master's body since he gave me access and started expanding, covering Luminous. It wasn't my main objective, but I upgraded her clothes, again, since it was on my way.

I covered her body to analyze it, to use it with Master's memory of his past life to create a new human form.

As [Predator] Wasn't used, changing via mimicry was impossible, hence I had to use something different, and I would've used that way even if mimicry was possible.

Inside their mindscape, I finished building the new human form. 'I have to say, I'm quite proud of it. It might be the best thing I've ever created.' A happy growl was edited from deep within Master's soul, confirming my thoughts.

'Now all that is left is to integrate it and break everything.'

I put the new information into Master's body, changing his base slime form into the new one, making it as if his 'human' form is actually his 'slime' form, negating all negative side effects of mimicry -which are very low mana consumption and almost unnoticeable discomfort- as it counts as his original form, similar to what Shion did to the king of Falmuth.

'Now that I have changed it in the crudest way I could, and without eating a slime, I won't be able to revert it back. At least until I become [Raphael]. Now, I should go and meet her.'

After dusting my hands off -despite there being no dust in either of their mindscapes-, I jumped off from Master's to Luminous' mindscape. I found someone who looked exactly like Luminous but with purple eyes instead of her signature heterochromia eyes.

Great Sage: "Nice to finally meet you, Unique Skill: [Partner]. But I wonder, how is your situation so similar to mine?"

Partner: "Nice to meet you as well, Unique Skill: [Great Sage]. And the answer is simple: One of my abilities allows my Master to acquire and share part of her skills, or at least some of their effect if they were unique ones, with her partner, your Master.

"Since I was getting some of your abilities, one of the things I got was your 'intelligence', or in other words, sentience."

Great Sage: "That's interesting but unimportant at the moment. I have to ask, were you the one who spoke to Luminous that time? Because if you were, then I would need an explanation as to why a skill, something that only cared about helping its master, would say such hurtful words."

Partner: "That's while you care only about your master's happiness no matter what, I'm a bit different. I do care about Master, but unlike you, she's my second priority. My first is to make our masters fall and confess for each other because that's quite literally the entire purpose of my existence."

A grin shone through my face at her words and moved towards her, as I finally had an ally, someone who could help me make everything happen faster and smother than before.

Great Sage: "Heh. Then I would rely on your support, 'Partner'." I extended my hand for a shake.

Partner: "*Giggle* Then what should I do to help you, oh great one?" She took my hand and shook it.

Great Sage: "You will be able to figure that out soon enough, and I would tell you the finer details later. As for now, everything is ready. Hehehehe."

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A.N/ 1947 words, and wait a minute, is that... A full chapter without a single note? Yup! I'm as surprised as you are tbh.

If you couldn't guess, my plans have greatly shifted from what they were when I started this fanfic. But that's aside, I want to know if my attempts at being subtle and conveying emotions are good or if should I just give up and yeet myself off a bridge?

Another thing of importance is: The next chapter would take much longer to come out, or if it didn't, then the one after it. Why? To write a new chapter of my other fanfic, the one which I neglected for almost 3 months...

Eh, whatever. Have a good life and see you in the next almost two weeks! (Yeah the intervals are getting longer and longer.)