After the storm

Hello everyone...

<"Are you listening to me?!">

"Y-yes!!"

Maybe you're wondering what's happening right now, right?

Well... To make a long story short... And don't you dare laugh, but... I'm getting scolded...

I told you not to laugh!!

Haaa... but I bet you want to know what happened after I... ahem... you know... got a little carried away, right?

Well, you see, after that final clash against that dragon, where I threw everything I had without thinking about the resulting consequences, I'll ask you: what do you think happened?

If you answered that everything exploded, then you answered correctly!

And what happened next?

Well, the result can be summarized like this:

Anomaly number 1!

Formation of Space-Time Rifts: The energy fluctuation resulting from the central event has generated multiple fissures in the space-time continuum, observable through the celestial dome. These rifts exhibit an unstable nature and dimensional distortion properties.

Anomaly number 2!

Transmutation of the Region: An area with an approximate radius of 150 kilometers from the epicenter has undergone complete crystallization. All organic and inorganic matter within this extent has been transmuted into a high-density crystal geological formation, creating a vast and arid crystalline desert.

Anomaly number 3, and the most important one!

"Gruawr?"

Biological Anomaly: The transformation of the Draconic Subject: Its current form has acquired characteristics resembling those of a terrestrial canine, including a considerable decrease in size and an appearance visually classified as "adorable." A significant suppression of its original destructive power has been detected!

... By the way, as an extra, it's now playing with the straw dolls right next to me... Yep... I don't know how it turned into this either?!

Or rather!! Why the hell is it weaker than before?!

Is it some damn rule that when the enemy becomes an ally, they get weaker?!

Damn it, this isn't fair!

And to make things worse, right after all that, a furious Echidna started bombarding me with a bunch of questions!

What kind of questions?

Well, things like: <"I only slept for a few days! How did you get into a fight with a calamity?!"> or <"Stop staring into space to escape reality!">

...Now that I think about it carefully, those questions were actually very justified, although about the dragon or the fight, I have no idea!

In fact, I don't even know how we got into all this when I was just fighting vampires (which I also don't know how that happened)!

Haaa... To top it all off, right now neither Silver nor Goldie have the strength to move... What are they doing now?

Of course, they're sleeping peacefully by my side!!

After all, it seems I pushed them both to their limits in that fight, so it was obvious they wouldn't have any strength left for the moment.

(SLAP!!)

"ARGH!!"

<"Did you hear everything I told you?!">

"Ma'am! Yes, ma'am!!"

<"...Looking away indicates you're lying.">

"Gulp..."

<"Haaa... You're still terrible at lying, but... You have a really good expression right now.">

"Huh... Really?"

<"Yes, you really do look much better.">

"Though I don't really feel any different?"

<"Though to me it's obvious your aura changed">

Well, even if I don't notice anything, if Echidna says so, it must be true.

<"...However, despite that, I have to give you 2 pieces of news: one bad and one good. Which one do you want to hear first?">

.... I have a very bad feeling about this, so it's obvious which choice I should make.

"I choose the good news first!!"

<"In that case, the good news is that all the powers inside you managed to stabilize during that battle, so you should be fine now.">

"Wait... So I'm no longer a ticking time bomb?!"

<"Indeed.">

"And that means I got my powers back?!"

<"That's right.">

"Then I'm free!!"

<"Obviously not.">

"Huh...?"

<"It's obvious that you'll receive a punishment when you return.">

".... Of course~"

<"Now let's talk about the bad news">

.... I wonder why my bad feeling just keeps growing... Haaa... But I have no choice but to ask!

"What's the bad news...?"

<"Excellent question!">

"Hey, that's one of my lines!"

<"If you answered by saying you went beyond your limits, then you guessed correctly.">

"You ignored me?! And on top of that, you keep stealing my lines!"

<"Ahem, I'm sorry about that, but it seems that last attack synchronized us a bit more, so my thoughts seem to have gotten closer to yours.">

Okay, I didn't expect that either.

"Um... I'm sorry about that."

<"Don't worry, I already expected something like this to happen at some point, so let's continue with the bad news.">

"Ugh... Please, continue."

<"You see, as you know, both Silver and Goldie exceeded their limits in that confrontation, right?">

"That's right."

<"But the reality is that you also exceeded, by far, your limits, being in a much worse condition.">

"...I'm getting a lot of shivers right now, but please continue!"

<"So, unfortunately, the time has come for you to receive the full impact of the backlash">.

"Important question!"

<"Go ahead, ask it.">

"How much is it going to hurt?!!"

<"Don't worry... The pain will be such that you'll instantly lose consciousness and your sense of pain will be paralyzed from exceeding its limit.">

"Is there nothing I can do?!!"

<"Absolutely nothing, so I'll start counting down from 3...">

"Wait a minute!"

<"At 2...">

"You're not doing this on purpose, are you?!"

<".... 1. Time's up.">

".... Aaaaahh."

And with those words, I lost consciousness...

"I guess I'll have to take you home... Haaa... By your expression... It seems you really had fun, didn't you? Brat."