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Volume 1 Chapter 21-1: End This

…..this isn’t real. Hotaru-san is? There’s no way such a ridiculous thing…could…be…

『Hotaru-nee! ….we can’t forgive that thing! Sakura will kill anyone who hurts Sou-sama and Hotaru-nee!』

I felt Sakura-chan’s anger explode.

『Sou-sama! Give Sakura….give Sakura the magic stone! Please! Sakura can’t just watch anymore! Sakura wants to fight with Sou-sama and Hotaru-nee!』
「………….」

I couldn’t reply to Sakura’s desperate sounding plea. It wasn’t as if I was greedy for the money we could get by selling this magic stone…if Sakura needed it then I could give her all the magic stones and raise her refinement. But…

「….If I refined you with this magic stone there’s no guarantee you will Rank Up and even worse there’s no guarantee you will learn 『Personification』…are you sure even with that?」
『Un! This time Sakura will protect Sou-sama! …..I don’t want Sou-sama to get hurt and I don’t want to bathe in your blood again!!』

It seems Sakura was still deeply regretting having taken my life in the past world. Despite not being her own will, she must have felt something about having gotten stronger by bathing in my blood.

It was probably what was driving her to try and use her own power now to protect us. I felt her strong will and threw away my hesitation. The reason I hesitated wasn’t because of Sakura’s request, it was because if I utilized 『Refining』 and used all of my mana then I may lose consciousness. In that case, even if Sakura learned personification then there was no way all of us could escape.

「But staying like this will just end up the same.」

I laid Sakura on the floor and moved my right hand into the pouch to grab the fire magic stone. If I was going to do it, then I had to use the most effective one. If a nil attribute H Rank raised it by 2 then thinking size and quality-wise this Fire attribute B Rank stone could possibly raise it by 50.

If my refinement magic was calculated based on number of stones used rather than quality, then there was a chance I wouldn’t use up my mana.

『Additional Refining』

I felt the mana in my body decreasing rapidly, but it wasn’t completely dried up. I continued to let it pour out until the magic stone in my hand lit up. Once the fire stone was shining fully I slowly layered it on top of Sakura. Though it was normally hard, the magic stone was absorbed inside Sakura without resistance.

As soon as it completely entered, Sakura lit up completely…before fading.

I had lost most of my mana, but it wasn’t enough to knock me unconscious.

『Arms Appraisal』

『Sakura Rank: B Refinement Lvl: 31 Essence: 1
Skills: Empathy Communication Personification Sense Presence Invisibility Agility Boost + Accuracy Boost Mana Boost Fire Magic』

「YES! We…did it Sakura. We did it!!」
『Sou-sama!? Then!』
「Un, but it’s a bit much to suddenly count on you in a situation like this….」
『It’s fine Sou-sama. Sakura loves Sou-sama after all. Sakura will work hard for you.』
「Thank you…Sakura」
『Okay let’s get started Sou-sama…『Personification』!』

I felt the warmth from Sakura’s feelings and watched over her as her blade flashed with a bright light…then she stood before me. Naked of course.

Charming long black hair in a ponytail, quite short at around 150cm tall or less…but even so, all the womanly parts that should stick out, stuck out, and her waist was thin and pretty. A perfectly womanly form. Based on her manner of speaking I had been less worried about what she would turn into, but thank goodness she’s a girl.

Maybe because she was seeing the light for the first time, Sakura was only now slowly opening her eyes. Her eyes slowly focused before staring directly at my face as she showed me a gorgeous smile. Ahhh so cute….

「Sou-sama!」
「Ah!」
「Finally…finally we meet. We can finally touch.」

PICTURE

Sakura was overcome with emotion and leapt on me. Sakura was naked and I was shirtless so I could feel her velvety soft skin, but my arm and body hurt too much to enjoy the situation.

Even worse was how terrified I was seeing that Hotaru-san wasn’t moving after losing her leg. I would never accept that she died. There’s no way.

「Sakura…I’m happy, but hold it in for now.」
「Un, yeah. We’ll be able to hug lots from now on. Right now….」

Sakura said while having a face full of regret at letting go. Suddenly she released a wave of brutal killing intent.

「Right now I need to deal with the thing that hurt Sou-sama and Hotaru-nee….」
「Yeah…I’m starting to get sick of looking at this bastard.」

I took Sakura’s sheath off my waist and handed to her.

She quietly accepted it and in an instant it changed into a set of clothing. Her appearance was now that of a lady ninja, but I didn’t have time to stare.