"Yo. Welcome."
Ophis glanced around in silence.
She stood atop the temple, just as she had before she died.
The difference was that Uruk around her was perfectly intact—crowds flowing through the streets, loud and lively.
Tilting her head in confusion, Ophis turned to the one who seemed to know it all.
A young girl stood behind her, smiling softly.
She had a doll-like face. Waist-length golden hair fell loose down her back, and a bright, silvery gleam danced in her eyes. The sly curl at the corner of her mouth lent her an oddly worldly air.
But what caught Ophis's attention most was the outer robe identical to Enkidu's—and the golden tablet in the girl's arms, a slab shaped like a book.
"You are… Inori."
"That wasn't even a question. Boring. Couldn't you at least pretend you didn't know?"
"I think that would be even more boring…"
The girl shrugged, then skipped forward into the empty air in front of Ophis and stood there as if the sky itself were solid.
"Whatever. Let's get to the point—though it's kinda weird for me to be the one saying this… welcome to your own mental world~"
"Mental world…"
Hearing an answer that confirmed her suspicion, Ophis looked at the bustling city around them and fell silent.
"Mmm… A few months ago, this place was pitch-black, you know? It was sooo boring back then… though I slept through most of it, so it didn't really matter. Oh, and by the way—this outfit? Your subconscious likes it best. Before this, I was literally walking around naked every day…"
Inori tugged at the robe, grinning.
"…"
Ophis realized that even face-to-face, she was still unbelievably chatty.
And besides, with a body no fuller than her own, being naked all day probably wasn't much of a problem…
"That look you just gave me is kinda loaded, but I don't really care about little stuff like body shape. Anyway—no, scratch that. Aren't you curious why you died and ended up here?"
Ophis tilted her head.
"Don't I come here every time I die?"
"No, no, no. Once you're dead, your consciousness doesn't just fall fully asleep or anything, but staying perfectly lucid is hard enough—let alone coming here to chat with me."
Inori waved a hand, dismissing it.
"I pulled you in. Because the time limit's about up."
"…Time limit?"
Ophis repeated the phrase, hesitant. A bad feeling rose in her chest.
"You still haven't noticed? That's normal. It means my skills haven't rusted."
"What did you do?"
Ophis frowned, but Inori answered with a sunshine-bright smile.
"What did I do…? That's the question you should be asking yourself. What did you do?"
Inori raised a finger and wagged it in front of Ophis's face.
"Ever wondered—'I'm inside you, but your body doesn't react at all'?"
Ophis froze, then her eyes widened.
"It's simple—Ouroboros is a perfectly independent individual. In other words, an absolute, flawless 'one.'"
Inori clearly enjoyed watching Ophis waver, explaining with visible delight.
"But a body that holds two consciousnesses—yours and mine… can that really still be called 'one'? A mind with impurities—can that really be called 'perfect'?"
Ophis stayed silent, but she could already guess where Inori was going.
"Ouroboros is perfect. That obsession gets stamped onto the race the moment it's created. Even if you don't realize it, your body and mind will automatically keep you in a perfect state."
"So it automatically erases one of us?"
"Nope."
Inori waved her hand again.
"How could something as crude as 'just tossing out the foreign matter' count as 'perfect'? Maximizing benefits is basic stuff."
"…Absorb and merge."
"Correct! And there's after-sales service, too—refine it down to the best parts~"
"…"
Ophis stared straight at Inori.
"Nope. That look won't work on me. That's your ability. I don't control it."
"Inori. Was that your goal from the beginning?"
"Kinda. Originally I planned to give you some guidance—get you to stop being so passive… but then that Enkidu popped out of nowhere and just stole the job."
Ophis was quiet for a moment, then shook her head.
"I don't understand. What does Inori want? Why would you willingly let me absorb you?"
If this were two equal consciousnesses—both Ouroboros—then whoever was stronger would naturally take control during the fusion. But Inori was an attachment clinging to Ophis—the core consciousness. No matter how strong Inori herself was, Ouroboros's instincts wouldn't recognize her. In the end, she could only be worn down and merged in the process, swallowed by Ophis.
Ophis couldn't see the point.
With Inori's ability, she could have stripped Ophis's consciousness away before absorption even began. And while Ophis hadn't noticed the instinctive fusion, she knew perfectly well that Ouroboros's power would never allow a non-Ouroboros being to exploit it in reverse. There was no scenario where, after fusion, the guest became the host.
Because Ouroboros was perfect.
Perfect might not mean the strongest.
But it meant no flaws.
"Omniscience and omnipotence."
At Inori's sudden words, Ophis looked at her, puzzled.
"The funniest lie in all the heavens. The biggest paradox. A realm that doesn't exist."
Inori was still smiling, but a rare seriousness flashed through her eyes.
"I want to see what the view there looks like… even if I don't reach it myself."
With that, Inori shrugged, her tone slipping back into its usual casualness.
"Besides, I did get to the point where I was one step away once… like, I felt invincible, but I wasn't sure if I really was. Later I confirmed that wasn't true omniscience and omnipotence after all… because in the end, your hardheaded ancestor basically scrubbed me clean by force, leaving only this tiny leftover sliver of a mind that can't do anything. Honestly, the fact I didn't take it out on you means I'm pretty generous."
"…The birth of dragon-kind is a phenomenon. There is no 'ancestor.'"
Ophis didn't know what else to say, so she offered that airy rebuttal.
"Whatever, whatever. All pureblood dragon-kind are basically that guy's dispersed power taking form. Calling him your ancestor isn't exactly wrong… but that's not the point. Haven't you ever wondered—when you came to this world, was the one your fate replaced really the King of Heroes?"
"…"
If it wasn't the King of Heroes, then had she been throwing herself in front of Tiamat for her country's sake just for fun?
"Ah—sorry, I didn't explain it clearly. I mean… was it really just the King of Heroes, and nothing more?"
Ophis's head started to ache. This person's topic-hopping—when was it going to end…?
---
T/N: oh is inori disappearing
T/N2: heres ur updates :3 meeting the 4 chaps a week quota :3 posting earlier so bonus chaps will be a longer waitttt >:)
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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