Then a nasty thought, nastier than rotten fish left in summer sun, slid right into his mind.
"What if… me and her… here… right now…"
His brain didn't stop. His brain saw it clear, too clear like a clean mirror. Him in this stupid girl body, her standing right in front of him.
Both of them leaning closer, closer, their chests brushing, squeezing against each other, soft curves pressing to eachother.
He could almost feel her breath on his lips, warm and hot, their faces closing in. His own lips, small and soft in this girl form, shining wet. Her lips too, red and soft, like strawberries waiting to be bitten.
They leaned closer. Closer. Just one more inch and their lips would meet.
And then his whole body screamed inside—
"Oh no… oh no no no no! Why the fuck am I even imagining this?! Who writes this shit—wait, it's me!"
[Warning: Host brain has entered forbidden territory.]
[Congratulations. You just wrote your own yuri doujin in your head.]
Liu Yang's eyes went wide, his jaw shaking. "What the fuck, System! Don't say it out loud!"
[Relax, Host. Nobody's watching… oh wait.]
[Correction: She's staring right at you.]
His stomach twisted. His lips opened but nothing came out.
[If you're too shy, Host, I can always fade the whole screen into black bars or mosaic pixels.]
[That way, the deities from other universes won't see your little forbidden scene.]
Liu Yang's face cracked. "Are you mocking me?!"
[Mocking? No, no, of course not.]
[Think of it as… parental control mode.]
"SHUT UP!!"
Liu Yang's hand was still up in the air, shaking like he was fighting with nothing, yelling at the System in his head. Then the words came.
[Warning: Time's Up.]
[More than 5 minutes have passed. Mana completely drained.]
His whole body froze. His mouth half open. "...wait, wait, no—"
Then—
Then it started. His butt, the soft curve that made him almost cry earlier, it shrank fast, pulling back until it was flat again.
His chest shrank in, the two melons gone, pressing back into nothing. His lips lost their plump shine, turning thin again, his cheekbones sharper, his jawline coming out hard and clear.
His legs slimmed down, no more soft shape, just lean muscle, tight and straight.
His long hair shrank quick, fading back into short, white strands. Two small horns poked out again, black and sharp.
His eyes, that soft shine gone, burned red, glowing faint in the dark.
The skirt was gone too, all the girly body gone. What stood there now was him. Liu Yang. Slim, masculine, sharp face, red eyes, demon again.
[De-Transformation Complete.]
[Charm Morph: Female DLC Expired. Thank you for playing.]
He stood there stiff, breathing hard, his hand still up in the air like an idiot. His lips shook, slowly words falling out.
"You… bastard… tell me you already knew this would happen…"
[Denied.]
[System had no prior knowledge.]
[System is a serious, professional, very reliable program.]
The words blinked calm on the screen. But System voice in his head somehow they felt like a smirk to him.
Liu Yang's mouth hung open. His neck veins stood out.
"You're… you're messing with me, aren't you?!"
[Denied.]
[System does not "mess."]
[But if it did… this would be a perfect time.]
His eyes twitched. His jaw shook. He bent forward like he was about to vomit blood.
"YOU—!"
But then his head started to spin, round and round, faster and faster, like he got shoved into a whirlpool. His stomach twisted too, tight and hard, like water swirling in a sink hole.
In an instant his body gave up. His head dropped first, smacking the dirt with a dull thud, his ass was still up in the air, pointing at the sky, like some dog praying for food before it slowly slid down. He ended up flat on the ground, arms sprawled like a broken doll.
His lips moved, weak, broken in between gaps of air.
"Wait… what… the… hell… happened… to… me…"
A System screen blinked in front of his eyes.
[Alert: Host OOM.]
[Translation: You're out. Done. Dead battery, idiot.]
She saw him hit the ground, body shrinking back, chest gone, curves gone, butt shrinking flat, all of him turning back to his demon form. White hair, sharp jaw, horns small but clear.
She rushed to him right away, but her face wasn't panic. Not even a little. She knew this. She knew exactly what it was.
Out of Mana. OOM.
Her lips pressed, her eyes calm, almost annoyed. "Of course… Master used it all up."
She had done it before too. She knew the feel of Charm Morph, knew the burn of draining mana till the last drop. The body always snapped back. The body always crashed down, stiff and weak, lying flat like a rag if you used all your mana.
As she raised her arms to pick him up.
But his body twitched. His fingers curled tight in the dirt. His eyes burned with a fire that didn't match his weak body.
He pulled air into his chest, slow and broken, but his voice came out loud, tearing through the air. "NOOOOOO!"
It was long, cracked, full of denial. His whole body shook with the shout.
"I'm not going back to that damn cave!"
His veins stood out, his teeth gritted hard, like a drunk man swearing he won't go home. But all he was doing was refusing to take one more step toward that hole in the ground.
He thought of it—the darkness, the wet walls, the dripping water, the endless walk back through shadows, and then the same path again through the forest. His stomach twisted. His head spun. The very idea burned him alive inside.
"I'd rather die here… in this forest… than walk back in there and out again like some idiot!"
She froze, her lips parting like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. His passive skill still wrapped her tongue, locking her words inside.