I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?



<On a vast grassy plain>

Shaman walked in with Tyso, a mostly silent demonic monkey who wore a very loosely done kimono. To his side was strapped a katana on which rested his hand, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

His body did not resemble a regular human, resembling a monkey as much as one could aside from the blue horns which protruded from his head. His eyes were also constantly shut, making Shaman wonder if he was actually blind.

"Fight, eyes closed." Finally, Tyso spoke a few words that Shaman found unreasonable. She had heard it before in stories about how one could sense the enemy before they attack, but she could never find that feeling even with her eyes open.

"Now." However, Tsyo was not going to wait around and began to unsheathe his sword. Black and red smoke oozed out of his sheath, covering the grassy plain in a thin layer of putrid stench. Once it reached Shaman, she felt as if death loomed over her. Her ears were assailed by terrifying screams as the smoke morphed into hundreds of faces that cried at her in a desperate plea.

"HeLLlpP UuSsS."

She then shut her eyes as Tyso had asked, and the feeling of death as well as the screams vanished. It didn't make sense why they had stopped, but it was a good incentive for her to keep her eyes shut. Left without a choice but to fight blind, She conjured up a galaxy-ice sword, as right now Kotetsu was with Jane.

"Good, now focus on my mana. Feel where I come from." Receiving her instructions helped Shaman refocus on the task at hand.

'Easier said than done.' Trying to feel the mana in the area, she was instantly assaulted by the aura around her. Everywhere felt the same, with no indication of Tyso moving, let alone where he even is. She started doubting that it was even possible to sense any kind of movement.

For her, it was hard to grasp the solid feeling of mana and the kind of form it took. Everything was fuzzy, and only when there was an immense amount of mana being used could she tell it was there.

A few seconds went by with nothing happening and just a sea of fuzz, which was clearly the sword's aura.

"Hmmm, I see the issue." Seemingly out of nowhere, Tyso's voice reached Shaman from right besides her, giving her a jump scare. It also prompted her to swing, but Tsyo stopped it with just the tip of his fingers.

"Good reaction, but your sense of mana is awful. You may open your eyes." Flicking Shaman's sword away as well as holstering his, the aura sucked itself back into the sheath.

Slowly opening her eyes, she was relieved to see the aura was gone, but arguably the judgemental gaze from Tyso was worse. He maintained the same neutral expression, and being stared at by such a face felt like her soul was being pierced.

"Something clouds your senses; I attacked you about 20 times without any reaction... although it feels like I am seeing two people in the same spot."

Shaman's breath hitched at Tyso's words, as he wouldn't be wrong about two people inhabiting this body. Although the other Shaman has been inactive for quite some time, so she never really had a reason to worry about it.

"..." Shaman didn't know what to say—should she admit that she was in such a predicament, or would that lead to Tyso mistrusting her and possibly killing her?

"Speak; you seem to know why." However, Shaman's silence would only incriminate her, and Tyso wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"W-well, you are not wrong; there is another person, but they are dormant." Shaman didn't want to get into the whole transported to another world talk, so she tried to avoid telling the full story.

"I see; I can sense that you are the same person, but one is much stronger than the other." Tyso rubbed his chin, trying to think of a solution to this, but Shaman didn't understand why.

"Is it a bad thing? Why is it dulling my senses? Come to think of it, over time it has felt like I've been slowly becoming one with this other me." It also occurred to Shaman that the memories she had been supposed to investigate had just merged with hers. Either the system was involved or, as she evolved, those memories started to become a part of her.

'That is so weird. It's like I have two childhood memories.' When she thought back to when she was a child, two memories from different timelines came up. It almost gave her a headache as it set off a chain reaction of more memories from both pasts, some of which she hasn't seen yet.

"No, but from what it sounds like, your souls are assimilating. The incomplete nature of it is causing your sixth sense for mana to not operate properly. From what I have researched from the souls I've collected, mana is something physical and spiritual."

"As you know, we have mana veins, but they facilitate the mana in a physical way. Where our mana comes from is our soul and core, which indirectly grant us the ability to sense it. However, because your soul is currently trying to merge, it has caused a disturbance." Tyso pinpointed what exactly was going on, which made some sense.

'I am also not from this world, so it might just be that I haven't fully received all the benefits until our souls merge.' It was a possibility, but something she would keep to herself, as she did not want to become Tyso's next test subject for his study of souls.

"Wait, so is there a way to fix this?" However, Shaman still began to worry, as the last thing she wants is for there to be no way to fix it.

"Don't worry, it is rare. However, I deal with souls from time to time... The aura you felt earlier was all the people I have killed. Whenever someone falls to this blade, their souls are bound to it." It was terrifying to know such a sword exists, but besides that, it seems like he is a perfect fit to help.

'Sheesh, I wonder if it has any effects on his mental health having to carry around such a burden.' It was certainly an unpleasant thought to know that all those faces and screams were those of all the people that Tyso had killed. But she didn't know if they were innocent or not, so she only hoped that the sword was used with good intentions.

"I-I see, so how am I meant to assimilate with another soul? I've never really heard of such a concept before." Now Shaman wanted to know how it was even possible; it was the first time she had heard of anyone being able to manipulate souls in this world.

"It's rather simple, but it may take a long time depending on many factors. However, in your case, given that the other soul is almost identical, it should only take a few days, if not a day, but that is up to your capabilities." Given a rough time frame, it didn't seem too bad, but there was more.

"But to actually assimilate with this soul, you'll need to enter a dream state, so when I say three days, you will be spending three consecutive days within your mind. Do not worry too much, as when you are in this state, your mana will sustain all of your body processes. You will still feel the after-effects of not eating for three days, but you won't die." As Tyso kept elaborating further on what Shaman has to do, it felt more and more like a daunting task.

She had no idea what it entailed or where she would even start in her mind.

"You may have many questions about what you need to do, but everything will become obvious once you begin. I will be facilitating your mind by creating a space in which you can meet the other soul within you. It will be up to you what happens in there, but all I can say is that it's your decision whether to try and become one or find a way to separate. Once that is decided we will continue the conversation, so for now, let's get prepared." Tyso then reached into a dimensional ring, pulling out a silver cube.

"Alright, I understand." Shaman felt the nerves creep up on her as she would be meeting her other self, which she didn't expect to ever happen. Everything was happening so fast, as it had only been no more than 10 minutes since they started. Still, she supposed the earlier the better.

"Good, now sit down in a comfortable position." Tyso looked at the cube, doing something to it, but Shaman couldn't sense anything from his body, which made her think that either he was using a system, or once again her inability to sense mana was hindering her.

"You seem a lot more talkative now." Not wanting to jump down that rabbit hole of possibly explaining about her system, Shaman brought attention to the fact that Tyso had become much, much more vocal.

"I generally do not like to speak, but I get ahead of myself when training and dealing with souls, so don't expect me to act like this outside of training." It made sense, but Shaman also found it a bit sad.

"To each their own, I guess." There wasn't much she could comment on, so she sat down cross-legged, waiting for further instructions from Tyso.

"Close your eyes again and place your hand on this cube." Placing the cube in front of Shaman, he took a few steps back for his own safety.

"Here goes nothing." Said Shaman as she placed her hand on top of the cube while closing her eyes. As soon as she made contact with the cube, her mana burst into the sky in a surge of light, then charged back down into the cube. Her consciousness began to fade to black. It was only once she was fully knocked out that her mana calmed itself down, streaming into the cube smoothly.