“Yeah,” I confirmed, sending her the mental image of the gray mechs with the angular boxes. “I saw them through Seraphina’s eyes last night. They’re guarding the main gates of the outpost she’s at.”

  “They look different and smaller than the one in your nightmare,” Samsara pointed out.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Thankfully, it’s just a dream, and it isn’t real.”

  “But the defense upgrade is real,” Samsara said, her tone serious. She analyzed the memory I shared. “Those angular boxes… who knows what's inside of them. It could be dangerous. Plus, what about the jets and the tanks?”

  “They’re small,” I replied. “I doubt they will be an issue.”

  “Why would they have so many of them, though?” Samsara asked. “They clearly think they are effective.”

  I became deep in thought. “Maybe they are effective against monster girls, but not Kaiju. You do bring up a good point about why they would need so many. Would the tanks even be effective against monster girls? And why does this outpost have them and not the other one? Was it because OU-U-1 was too far out?”

  “I think that’s it,” Samsara said, her mental voice lighting up. “As we move closer towards the Empire’s center, the defenses will get stronger.”

  I folded my arms. “Originally, I thought that there was only one place where they’re making the meat blobs. But since this outpost also has juggernauts, it would make sense that this outpost can make meat blobs, too. We’ll have to wipe out every outpost to be safe. We need to get stronger.”

  As we spoke, the sensation of worship washed over us again. Eivor and Halinka had done their jobs well. The entire village of Lateo was kneeling, chanting our names, and offering their devotion. I could hear the monster girls nearby Irene and the chimera girl worship us, as well as the ones nearby Halinka and Eivor.

  “I worship Ramona and Samsara.”

  “I worship Ramona and Samsara.”

  Irene, Halinka, and Eivor worshiped us, but the chimera girl did not. Still, the worship kept me in a good mood so that I wouldn't be upset with them.

  Power flooded our Cores. I [Tracked] our worshipers. The number ticked up rapidly. 98… 99… 100. Suddenly, I felt a shift in our bodies.

  “I worship Ramona and Samsara.”

  “I worship Ramona and Samsara.”

  We were hearing the villagers in every house in Lateo, even though I didn’t have a soul link with anyone in some of those homes.

  A red light flashed, blinding us for a moment. Devotio floated before our eyes, superimposed over the valley below.

  [Congratulations,] Devotio said, its monotone voice echoing in both our minds. [You have reached 100 worshipers. You have advanced to Influence Level 2.]

  “I can definitely hear better,” I said.

  [Indeed,] Devotio agreed. [At Influence Level 2, your Demiurge hearing is enhanced. You will be able to hear much farther now. Additionally, you have unlocked a new Demiurge skill.]

  “What is it?”

  Devotio’s singular red eye flashed red, and the information emerged in our minds.

  [Project]: Create a smaller clone of yourself that you can control. This is called a projection. It will spawn near whichever worshiper you are currently thinking of. Each of your minds can only create one projection at a time. This costs 5,000 mana each time to project. Each projection will last for 1 hour.

  “Five thousand mana?” Samsara mentally gasped. “That’s a quarter of our total mana capacity! For one hour?”

  “It sounds like a lot,” I admitted, looking at our mana reserves. We had 20,000 mana now, thanks to our second evolution. Five thousand was indeed a significant chunk. “But think about how fast we regenerate mana, especially when we’re eating. We could project, run around for an hour, and probably have all that mana back by the time the skill wears off.”

  “Doesn’t that mean we won’t get as much excess mana though?” Samsara asked. She folded her arms.

  “Yes, which is why we should only use it before our worshipers worship us,” I said. Thankfully, we still had Aisling here. “We can still try it out. Although maybe not on Aisling since she is right next to us.”

  Speaking of Aisling, she began to wake up groggily. She gave a cute yawn. Well, Samsara thought it was adorable. Then, Aisling looked at us before sniffing the air. I had to restrain her through our soul link before she went out to eat our other worshipers.

  “Now, about the projection. Should I test it on Irene? Or maybe Nilo? They’re linked to us, so they might not freak out as much.”

  “No,” Samsara said firmly. “Wait until they’re awake and outside. We can ask them in person. It’s the polite thing to do.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “You and your politeness,” I teased, though I didn’t push it. “Fine. We wait.”

  We didn't have to wait long. As the sun climbed higher, casting long shadows across the valley floor, a small figure emerged from one of the houses. Nara.

  The lizard girl stretched, rubbing her eyes, and then looked up at us. She beamed, her tail swishing behind her, and ran over to where we were sitting. I had Aisling sit cross-legged on the valley floor.

  “Good morning!” Nara chirped, stopping right in front of Aisling’s massive leg. She reached out and hugged the thick limb. Actually, it was more accurate to say she splayed herself against it. “And good morning to you, Aisling.”

  Aisling didn’t respond.

  “Aww, you’re supposed to say good morning,” Nara pouted, looking up at Aisling. Nara looked at us. I could tell that she wanted us to make Aisling say ‘Good Morning’ to her.

  “Should I make her say good morning?” I asked Samsara. I would have Aisling say something, but Samsara got really upset about me controlling others.

  “Well, I guess if Nara really wants it, then we should make her happy,” Samsara said. “And we’ve been upfront with her, so she knows the truth. I guess we can make an exception for this since Aisling is feral.”

  “Good morning, Nara,” I made Aisling say, keeping her voice soft. Nara turned back towards Aisling.

  Nara giggled, squeezing the leg tighter before stepping back to look up at us. “How did you guys sleep? Or… did you not sleep?”

  “We took shifts,” Samsara said, smiling down at her. Then, Samsara’s expression brightened. “Actually, Nara, you’re just the person we wanted to see. We unlocked a new ability, and we’re wondering if we could test it out. It’s… well, it might solve the issue of us being too big to hug properly.”

  Nara’s eyes widened. “Really? What is it?”

  “It’s called [Project],” I explained. “It lets us make a smaller clone of ourselves called a projection. We wanted to see if it worked, but Samsara didn’t want to scare anyone by popping up unannounced.”

  “Oh! That sounds amazing!” Nara clapped her hands. “Do it! I want to see!”

  “Well, you heard her,” I told Samsara. “Let’s try it out!”

  I focused on the skill. It didn’t require an [Incantation], just a mental command and a target. I thought of Nara. [Project].

  My Core lurched. A massive amount of mana was ripped out of me in an instant. It felt like getting the wind knocked out of me, a sudden hollowness in my lower back, and Samsara’s tail.

  Whoosh.

  In a swirl of mana that looked like black ink and pink light, a figure materialized directly in front of Nara.

  It was strange. Suddenly, my vision split.

  I was looking down at Nara from my 150-meter height, but I was also looking at Nara eye-to-eye. Well, not exactly eye-to-eye. I was slightly shorter than Nara. A bit of jealousy rose inside of me. Only a bit, though. I was pretty short as a regular monster girl.

  The projection was a perfect replica of our fused form, just scaled down. The projection stood on two legs, with Samsara’s tail fused to my lower back. Just like our Kaiju form, the projection didn’t have any clothes.

  “Whoa,” Nara breathed, stepping back slightly before leaning in. “You look… exactly like you. But tiny!”

  Hey, I’m short, not tiny! It seemed that the [Project] skill made us the same size we were before becoming a Kaiju chimera.

  “It worked,” Samsara’s projection voice said. It sounded lighter than our Kaiju voice. She twisted her torso around to look at Nara. “Hi, Nara.”

  Nara’s face lit up with pure delight. “Hi!”

  Without hesitation, Nara launched herself at the projection.

  I braced the projection’s legs. Nara slammed into us, wrapping her arms around my waist. Since Samsara was on the back, Nara was technically hugging me, but Samsara reached around with the projection’s arms to return the embrace. I begrudgingly returned Nara’s hug to make it seem that I cared about her.

  While I was slightly annoyed at Nara for her unprompted hug, I was fascinated that she was no longer scared of us at all. Even though we were way smaller, it was a fantastic turnaround from when we first met.

  “This is so cool!” Nara said to me.

  “It costs a lot of mana,” I said, looking up at the lizard girl. The tip of my head was only as tall as her chin. And that was with my hair tentacles.

  Nara pulled back, ending her unsolicited hug. Her eyes darted from the projection up to the massive, unmoving form of Aisling, and then back to us. A hopeful, desperate look crossed her face.

  “Can…” She swallowed. “Can you do this for Aisling? Can you make a projection of her? So I can… so I can hug her properly?”

  Samsara’s grief spiked in our shared mind. I felt her heart sink. We couldn’t satisfy that request since Aisling wasn’t a Demiurge. She didn’t have the skill.

  “We can’t,” Samsara said softly through the projection, her voice thick with regret. “This is a Demiurge skill. Only Ramona and I can do it. Aisling… she doesn’t have the ability.”

  Nara’s smile faltered. Her shoulders slumped, and her tail stopped swishing. She looked down at her feet, then back up at the towering, feral turtle girl.

  “Oh,” Nara whispered, though I could hear it clearly as if she were speaking normally. “Right. That makes sense.”

  She took a deep breath, forcing a smile back onto her face, though it didn’t reach her eyes. She stepped forward again and wrapped her arms around the projection one more time.

  “It’s okay,” Nara said, squeezing us tight. I resisted the temptation to push her away. “Thank you for trying. And… thank you for saving her, anyway. Even if I can’t hug her like this, having her here is enough.”

  Samsara’s projection hugged her back, resting her chin on Nara’s chest. “We’re going to fix her, Nara. I promise. We’ll find a way.”

  Nara nodded against our chest. She pulled away, wiping her eyes. “I know you will. I’ll… I’ll go see if Irene needs help with breakfast.”

  “That was heartbreaking,” Samsara thought, her mental voice quiet.

  “At least the skill works,” I said.

  “Can we go along with you?” My projection asked. “We haven’t been inside any of the homes since we’re Kaijus.”

  “Sure! Follow me.” She held in a sniffle. Our projection began to follow Nara back to the mountains, while our main bodies remained seated.

  A familiar red light flashed, and Devotio appeared, floating in the air at eye level. More specifically, eye level with our main bodies, not our projections.

  [Greetings,] Devotio said. [I observed your test of the Projection skill. It appears functional.]

  “Yeah, it works great aside from the mana cost,” I said. “What are you doing here? We didn’t magically increase our Influence Level, right?”

  [No,] Devotio agreed. [But you had mentioned previously that you wanted me to be more forthcoming with any relevant information.]

  My eyes lit up. “Ah, okay, what information do you have?”

  [More [Incantations]. Are you ready?]

  https://discord.gg/yJMtfvTDuB