That Time I Got Isekai’d Again and Befriended a Slime

The door slammed open.

Anson Sue jumped in his seat, narrowly avoiding spilling his coffee. He placed his mug on the table, quickly looking over.

"Mary?" Anson burst to his feet, rushing over. "What the- what's going on?"

He blinked, his expression twisting with confusion.

"What is all this?" Anson made to place his hands on Mary's shoulders. She stepped back, avoiding it without a word of response. He let his hands fall to his sides.

"Mary, your clothes, your hair… is that a sword?!"

"Father." Mary clenched her fists, the door settling into its frame behind her, "I'm sorry."

"Mary, what are you-"

"I'm sorry, but this isn't real. You aren't real."

"I'm not real?" His face twisted, hurt clouding his features. "Mary, tell me what's going on. Please. This is almost too much for me. You need to explain, right now."

"I need to explain?" She repeated incredulously. "Oh sure, I need to explain. Why don't you explain why- no. Forget it."

Mary looked away, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"You aren't real. There's no point asking you anything." She said quietly, "None of this is real. This is just a dream."

Anson's expression saddened, unseen to her.

"You're dead. You died years ago, on the battlefield. You went on an unofficial mission, and during that mission, you blew yourself up to try and kill the Devil of the Rhine, White Silver Tanya von Degurechaff."

"Mary, I-"

"You!" Mary shut her eyes tight, head bowed and shoulders trembling, "The second you could, you went back to the battlefield. You went back! When you could've-"

She choked back a sob.

"You left us! You left me! Why?!" Her breath caught in the back of her throat, tears flowing freely down her face now, "You could have gotten away! You could have come lived with us! The war was over for you! So even if you aren't real, tell me! Why?! Why did you-!?!"

Anson cut her off, swallowing her in a hug.

"I'm sorry Mary." He rested his chin on her head, his good eye closed. "I'm so, so sorry."

The dam burst. Mary wailed, gripping the front of his shirt in a vice grip.

"Why?" Her voice cracked. "Was it-"

"I'm not real. We both know that. I'm afraid I can't give you any answers." He rubbed her back soothingly, even as her painful cries continued to echo through the room. "None that will fix my mistakes, at least."

Mary sobbed, clinging to him even tighter than before.

"I was a bad father, wasn't I, Mary?"

They stood there for several moments, tears trailing down both their faces.

"You were the best father." She murmured quietly, shaking her head, "Because you were mine."

Anson sighed.

"Is that really all it takes? I should have been your father first, but… I put my country ahead of my family. Then, I put revenge ahead of both. I made far too many mistakes. Mistakes that fell on your shoulders. I'm sorry."

His voice hitched, tears of his own beginning to trail down his cheek.

"Dear daughter of mine," He took a shuddering breath, "I can never be sorry enough."

Mary pressed her head against his chest, sniffling slightly.

"No matter what, you're my father." She said after a beat, "And I will always, always love you."

Anson smiled sadly.

"I love you too, Mary." He pressed a kiss against the top of her head, tightening his hug.

Outside, the wind rushed noisily past. Steam from Anson's coffee drifted up to the ceiling. Neither said anything for a while.

"…It doesn't have to end, you know." Anson loosened his hug just the slightest bit, bringing his hands up to rest on her shoulders, "This dream. It's yours. You can stay here with me, with your mother. We can be happy together, like we always should have been. This can be our happily ever after."

We can be happy together…

What was it Tanya had said all those months ago?

"…have you decided to stay in dreamland, where angels and devils do battle in black and white storybooks?"

Mary pulled away with a sad smile, wiping at her cheeks.

After a moment, she shook her head.

Anson looked back at her, tears still trailing from his good eye.

"That's my girl."

A proud smile adorned his face, even as he slowly faded away. Mary's tears began anew. This time, however, she couldn't help but smile right back.

"I love you, Mary." Anson hugged her one last time. "Never forget that."

"I won't."

Mary rested his forehead against his chest, her arms wrapped tight around him. And then, he was gone. As if he'd never been there in the first place.

Mary let her arms drop.

She looked towards the floor, wet spots appearing on the hardwood below.

Her eyes glowed.

I know.

-=-=-=-

The scene shifted.

Mary blinked, zigzagging neon green tracing her cheeks.

This was yesterday, just after Tanya got back from talking with Scylla. A memory?

"…I've done what I can, and to be honest, I have no genuinely solid leads. My study of runes was with a slightly more than casual interest, and my knowledge of alchemy symbols is limited to the most common ones. At best, I can make an educated guess based on my observations of our enemy plus the meanings behind of some of these arrays."

"That's better than nothing."

"Better is not really the word I'd use. It implies improvement." Tanya frowned. "Well, whatever. Somehow, using this circle, I think Scylla is trying to influence everyone in Xerxes. Or at least, the majority. The structure seems to have some sort of mental component, but," She sighed, "to be honest, I barely have an idea past that."

"Well even just that is... bad. Doesn't Xerxes have nearly a million people?" Mary asked, her expression shifting.

"Just over a million, actually."

Mary crossed her arms, a troubled look on her face masking the horrified look she'd briefly let through at the other's words.

"That's horrible. Whatever it is, we defintely have to stop them."

"I'm not sure how though…" Tanya murmured.

"I know how. Let's go kick the shit out of them.

"Gas? Some sort of magicule-based compulsion? Maybe."

"Oh, wait. You weren't responding to me there. Okay."

Tanya did not respond to her then either, confirming it.

"It seems like the magic involved is just going to alter the mental state of the person. Restructure thier mind itself? Their consciousness? But that just wouldn't work by itself. Even just subconsciously, it makes sense to assume that a person's mind would resist unwilling alteration. And doubly so if the person were conscious of the fact, or even just conscious in general; it's not like making such a change would be a painless or unnoticeable process."

"Do you think-"

Mary's vision blurred. The scene changed yet again.

Another memory?!

It was weird. She was in her own body but couldn't control it. It's like she was spectating the events of the memory from behind her own eyes.

Weird. This is the same evening.

"…I'm going to get arrested tomorrow."

"WHAT!"

"Quiet down." Tanya frowned. "I said, I'm going to get arrested tomorrow. Scylla controls at least half of the military in Xerxes. They don't want me interfering, and I know they'll have a guard up to that end. So, I'm going to get arrested. That way I'll be inside when everything goes sideways. I did a little exploring earlier today. The main holding cells are located on the lower levels of HQ. And whatever they're planning, it sounds like the centermost section of Xerxes won't be affected."

"And what about me? Am I supposed to just sit here and hope everything goes according to plan?"

"Mary."

Mary froze.

"That's not it at all. Even if I hadn't sent Souei's Body Double and Souka back to Tempest, you'd still be the key part of our counteroffensive. Don't you get it? Scylla is so focused on me. I'm the one who nearly killed Nin. I found their base and made an agreement with their strongest member."

Tanya's gaze pierced her to the core.

"They won't know you're coming."

Why am I remembering this now? I need to wake up. I need to-

-=-=-=-

…I think that I've been acting a little… childish, up until now. Unintentionally or not, it's time to move forward. I… haven't been doing so well. Not as much as I'd like to pretend.

It's difficult. It's so, so goddamn difficult. I've been content with this odd in-between. Accepting what was happening, bottling up any grief or sadness and refusing to think about that past.

I can't do that anymore.

I have to go forward.

I want to be happy again. Truly, genuinely happy.

Still…

I don't know… if I believe in happy. Or in happily ever after.

Sometimes, oftentimes, I wish… someone had been around… to make me happy, back then. Happier. To take away the heartbreak, and the pain. But… that's not how the world works. It's cold, and harsh, and people die. People I care about. People I don't know. It sucks.

But, sometimes, it's also…

"Good!" Hakurou said. "You've improved again, I see."

"Hey! We did it." Trya smiled at her. "Nice work!"

"Right?" Rimuru nodded, "Maybe we'll send the Goblin Riders on a fishing expedition some time. We could have genuine sushi!"

"Oh, one more thing." Tanya placed a hand on her head. "You've improved. Nice work back there."

Tanya waved a hand. "To be honest, Sue, you're a lot stronger now. You don't need me looking over your shoulder anymore."

Tanya shot her that usual half-smile of hers. "I'll count on you to back me up, then. Okay, Sue?"

Fun. Warm. Worth living for.

The best moments are the ones they've given me.

Tempest gives me hope. It gives me joy. Everyone there, they've helped so much. I feel like a person again. Ever since coming here, I…

For the first time since I learned of my father's death, I feel like I'm my own person again.

Rimuru. Hakurou. Trya. Everyone else.

And…

Tanya.

Thank you.

I think I'll tell you that in person, when I can. I think… I should look for happiness now. For real, this time. No more faking it. That's my choice. I'm, what, 20 years old now? It's high time I made some decisions on my own. If that's alright?

Oh, what am I saying? I shouldn't be asking.

That's kind of the point.

-=-=-=-

Monday

The Maj Inn

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

"Gah!"

Mary shot up with a shout, bedsheets tumbling down around her waist. Vibrant cracks of green energy trickled down to her jawline, slowly crumbling and fading away as she looked around.

She was in her room.

To be specific, she was in her and Tanya's shared room at the Maj Inn.

Mary gasped for air, the ragged spurts of breath only worsening the dryness in her mouth. Her vision blurred, righting itself after a moment as she desperately worked to regain herself.

Is this real?

With a hand, Mary reached up and pinched the side of her neck.

"Ow."

The whisper was hoarse, practically nonexistent. But the short, sharp pain from the pinch was all too real. Her other hand reached to her left, to where her bright green katana sat, comfortably sheathed and propped against her bedside.

Maybe real. Probably awake for real this time.

She was still in her day clothes, Mary realized with a start. Even her boots were still on, with one leg haphazardly off the bed's side and the other dirtying the lower half of her bedspread.

I fell asleep on top of the covers. And in the same clothes from…

What day was it?

Mary glanced out the window, an odd emptiness in her chest making itself known. Sunlight poured lazily through the room's window, tinted in a green shade.

It's noon?! She nearly fell from the bed in shock. It was just evening! How long have I been asleep?

Through the evening, night, and morning, that was for certain. At the very least, it was the next day.

She hoped it hadn't been longer than that.

What the hell happened?

"Even just subconsciously, it makes sense to assume that a person's mind would resist unwilling alteration. And doubly so if the person were conscious of the fact, or even just conscious in general; it's not like making such a change would be a painless or unnoticeable process."

Conscious…

Something clicked.

She had fallen asleep sometime in the early evening, when every previous night in Xerxes she'd gone to bed much later on.

And that day, – yesterday, Mary assumed and hoped – the day in which Tanya had gone and done whatever it is she'd planned to do in order to get arrested. The day after she'd done parley with Scylla. And she hadn't returned, leading Mary to believe she had been successful.

That meant Tanya with Scylla. Scylla's plan could go into effect at any moment, and she had to be prepared. These thoughts filled Mary with enough nerves and tension that even the thought of sleeping was way beyond her considerations. Fat chance of that, when she needed to respond to the start of Scylla's scheme and come to back Tanya up.

Yet, suddenly, as she sat on her bed to rest her feet, the world seemed almost to quiet down just a little bit. Then, her eyes had started growing heavier, and heavier…

It's already started.

Mary moved.

She swung both feet onto the hardwood flooring, pushing to her feet and rushing for the door. Her sheathed blade was slipped through her belt on the left, her hands moving up to adjust her white half cloak and comb through her hair immediately after it was secure.

I need to hurry. Hurry, hurry… wait.

She paused at the door, quickly spinning around and rushing to Tanya's bedside. She knelt down, rifling through the other woman's travel bag while making a mental note to apologize later.

It should be-

"Ahah!" Mary pulled free a metal hip flask. She unscrewed the cap, glancing inside to confirm its contents. A familiar sky-blue liquid met her gaze, and she let a brief half-grin show as she redid the cap and shoved the flask in a pouch along her belt.

She dove back into the travel bag, grabbing one of Tanya's spare combat knives, sheathe and all – How many of these does she have? – and strapping it around her thigh.

"They won't know you're coming." Tanya had said.

Mary intended to use that to her advantage.

-=-

Everyone's asleep.

Was Mary's thought as she rushed through the Maj Inn's foyer.

The entire area was silent. There wasn't even snoring, despite the fact that several of the large men slumped over unconscious at some of the tables looked exactly like the type to snore.

I must be right.

That odd emptiness from before panged yet again.

Mary frowned, stepping outside. An odd light tinted the city, though she paid little notice to this right now. Without pausing, she turned, leaping up onto the roof of the three-story Maj Inn with ease. Then, she jumped again, landing atop the twice as tall building across the road.

Not high enough. Where should I…?

Mary looked around from her higher position, quickly locating an even taller building to scale several blocks away.

Less than a minute later, Mary was leaning to the side, one hand gripping the spire atop a surprisingly large basilica-like structure's dome and one foot pressed against the spire's base.

From here, Mary could see a good amount of the area around her. The Southeastern Sector sprawled out before her, though the well designed grid wasn't really her main concern right about now.

Instead, she focused on the centermost section of Xerxes, which she could just barely make out at this distance.

Her brow furrowed at what she saw, and she glanced behind her to confirn she wasn't seeing tings incorrectly.

She wasn't. The walls of Xerxes came into view. And along those walls…

Something else Tanya had mentioned just before leaving stuck out then.

"An indicator? I think it will be obvious. You friend Eve mentioned it. She referred to it as Quetz. A nickname, I assume. You'll know when to act when you see the giant winged snake."

Well, there was the giant winged snake, Mary noted with annoyance and rapidly building anger. Though, merely calling it "giant" was doing it a disservice.

The beast was beyond massive, the lengthy, multicolored serpent laying easily along Xerxes' walls. Its head rested just past its own tail, reminding Mary of the world serpent, Jörmungandr, of Legadonian myth.

This serpent obviously wasn't wrapped around the world. This one instead was content to outline Xerxes, with its many wing-like appendages fluttering slightly on an unseen breeze. Around these wings, great circles of viridian magical energy spun and crackled.

And that explained that emptiness she was feeling. A dome of the same green energy was sprouting from the serpent, covering Xerxes entirely. Hence the muted, oddly colored sunlight she'd noticed earlier through the window.

"Damn it." Mary tsk'd, the sound eerily similar to Tanya's own favorite expression of minor disapproval. "That barrier, it's like Charybdis, huh? Magic disruption, coming from the serpent, Quetz, was it…?"

Looking back to the central area, the large dome of red energy surrounding Xerxes Military HQ made a lot more sense.

"And I bet the one around Military HQ has an opposite effect. That would make the most sense. That's what you'd say, right?"

Movement caught her eye down below.

"Hm?"

One of the main streets, running from Xerxes' eastern gate into the central section, was lined with familiar large, shadowy beasts. Crimson lined the cobblestone beneath them, the Shades prowling along the length of the road, gaping maws and gushing openings spewing copious amounts of a bubbling, viscous red fluid.

Shades. And is that blood? Are they…?

"They're connecting the central area to the walls with blood?" Her brow furrowed, "Connection. Blood can conduct magic. The circle?"

Everything had gone to shit, it seemed like. That was the impression she gathered.

The problem was, what was she supposed to do? What needed her attention first?

Tanya was inside the central area. The tentative plan was for her to attack from the inside, while Mary attacked from the outside. She was counting on Mary to come and assist the assault. Together, they would take on Scylla.

Of course, this plan had been made assuming Mary could respond immediately, aka as soon as Scylla's plan began. But they'd passed that point now, hadn't they? She was late to the party, though it wasn't her fault in the slightest.

There was no use agonizing over it. She had to act.

...What should she do, though?

Would it be better to stop the Shades? If the circle was never complete, then wouldn't that stop Scylla's scheme as well? Or perhaps taking out Quetz should be her priority. That should get rid of the magic suppressing barrier. And it might allow everyone in Xerxes to wake up, assuming that the serpent was responsible for the Xerxes-wide impromptu snooze fest.

Wait, no.

Having everyone wake up now would be a bad thing, what with all the Shades roaming the streets. There was practically an army of them. That meant that Shades were the priority, before waking everyone up.

That could work. She could take out most, if not all of them. They were weak, and she still had access to her Unique Skill and her enhanced physical abilities.

The only issue was time. Did she have enough time to stop them? When would the next phase of Scylla's operation go into effect? Presumably once the circle was complete, but who's to say if that was part 2 or even part 3, 4, or 5 of their operation? Who's to say they weren't already in the final stages?

And what about Tanya? How long would she be able to hold out on her own? She was one of the strongest people around, but that didn't mean she couldn't be beaten.

What do I do? What should I-

BAROOOM!

Just then, a massive explosion rocked Xerxes Military HQ. One of the eastern inner walls crumbled and collapsed inward, a huge cloud of fire and smoke visible even through the red energy barrier.

"Shit." Mary blinked, "Shit!"

She leapt from the basilica's dome, landing and rolling on the roof of a nearby building. She popped up from her roll, retaining her momentum and sprinting until she reached the roof's edge.

You don't have time to be frozen with indecision! Make a choice and stick with it!

Mary pushed off, practically flying across a side street, and hitting the slanted tiled roof of a shop she couldn't make out the name of. Terracotta cracked under booted foot as she pressed against it, bolting across rooftops at top speed.

Tanya, I'm sticking with the original plan, okay? I'm trusting your judgment here! Just hold on until I get there!

-=-=-=-

Around the Same Time

Strategic Military HQ, Lower Levels

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

The area shook.

Even this far down, a few stories underground, the rumbling could be felt. Dust and small bits of rock slipping and falling to the cold stone floor, as the cell walls shook with shocks and aftershocks. The cell's bars rattled, the scraping of rune-inscribed steel against stone grating and painful to the ear.

"I suppose Garmstrong got my message then? How kind of her to provide the party with fireworks."

Tanya huffed amusedly.

The show must be starting. And, well, I suppose it'd be rude to leave everyone by themselves. And to be honest, my back's gotten pretty stiff. They really chained me up tight, huh?

Magisteel shackles, runes carved along the surface and chains, ensnared her wrists and ankles. Dried blood not her own stained the outer edges of the metal, them being the only blemish on the pristine condition of her restraints.

Unlike Souei and Souka, Tanya was pressed against the wall instead of sat in the middle of the room. The excess chain because of this fact had been made useful, wrapping tight around her body and keeping her arms pressed against her torso.

I was asking for it, so I can't really complain when I got exactly what I wanted. Still, this is a bit annoying. How many of Xerxes' soldiers are on Scylla's side, I wonder? Enough to take me from Charger's choice of cell and shove me in here, at least. I'm sure they thought they were getting one over on me.

Tanya narrowed her eyes and inhaled, filling her lungs to the brim. She held it for several seconds, slowly letting it trickle out. She did this again and again, her eyes growing brighter and brighter with each breath.

As this was happening, the runes along her shackles began to glow, brighter and brighter and in the same shade of teal-blue as her eyes, until they were nearly blinding to look at.

They wouldn't be the first. Really though, magic suppression? Give me a break.

Crash!

-=-=-=-=-=-

Known Skills List

Tanya:

Common Skill: Thought Communication

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra Skill: Voice of the World Communication

Unique Skill: Formulaic Casting

Unique Skill: Tetrabattery Limit Enhancement

Mary:

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra/Intrinsic Skill: Physical Enhancement

Unique Skill: [Two More Chapters]