I stared at the blue screen, my fingers hovering over the option.
Ogre.
The word didn't feel right to me, but I knew I had to go with it. It was just the better choice overall because of the average strength. I didn't know what B-rank meant in this world, but I knew that I didn't want any tusks. I didn't want to look in the mirror and see something that wouldn't be able to walk outside in the day.
Ogres had horns, fangs maybe, but they were still humanoid. There was something I could always hide.
My finger pressed the screen.
[Evolution: Ogre selected.]
[Beginning transformation.]
[Warning: This process may be...]
The screen shattered into fragments of light before I could finish reading.
Grggg.
The pain hit me like a freight train. It was hot and absolute. My back arched off the bed, every muscle locking at once. My throat wouldn't work either. Like something was stopping my voice.
Ai stirred beside me. I felt her shift, her hand reaching out in her sleep. No, no, please don't wake up.
The pain was everywhere—in my teeth, my skull, my spine. It felt like my bones were being broken apart and then reformed. Like my skin was too small for what was underneath.
I bit down on my lip. Copper flooded my mouth.
[Calcium restructuring: 12%... 34%...]
The numbers scrolled past in my peripheral vision. I could feel it happening. My jaw was shifting, the bones grinding against each other. A sharp feeling pressed against the inside of my upper lip.
Fangs.
[Skull morphology: 67%... 89%...]
My forehead burned. Two points of pressure, like someone was driving hot nails into my skull from the inside. Small protrusions formed at the top of my head. Horns. They were growing. I could feel them pushing through bone, through tissue, through skin.
Blood trickled down my temple.
Please... please... don't wake up.
I focused on Ai's breathing—the slow rhythm of her sleep—and the warmth of her body against my own.
[Morphology complete.]
[Integrating new traits...]
[Ogre Physiology acquired.]
[Passive skills added:]
-[Demonic Resistance: Medium]
-[Physical Enhancement: Large]
-[Regeneration: Advanced]
[Active skills added:]
-[Ogre Strength: Burst]
-[Fear Aura: Minor]
The pain still hadn't stopped. It felt different, but it was still there. Instead of breaking, it felt like I was inside a pool, filling the inside of my skull like water filling a cup. It was filling in the empty spaces.
My fingers curled in the sheets. The fabric tore.
I forced myself to breathe in, out, in and out again and again—until my panic was gone.
My transformation was slowing. I could feel it winding down, the last sparks of pain burning out. My veins, my muscles unclenched. My jaw unlocked as I sagged against the mattress.
[Evolution complete.]
[Ogre — First Awakening]
[You have gained access to new evolution paths.]
[You have gained: Ogre Strength (Active)]
[You have gained: Fear Aura (Passive)]
[Sun Breathing and Affinity of Fire have been integrated.]
[Severed Universe has been integrated.]
[Shrine has been upgraded.]
I lay there for a long moment, just breathing. I stared at the ceiling above me. My body felt different—almost like I was heavier and denser than before.
Slowly and carefully, I raised my hand. It was still my own hand, but the fingers were longer, the knuckles broader. Pale skin stretched over a frame that was unmistakably not human.
I flexed them, watching the new tendons move under the surface.
Then I touched my face. My fingers traced over my mouth, inside and out. I found them—fangs. Two sharp points where my canines had been. They pressed against my lower lip when I closed my mouth. I ran my tongue over them. They were real.
But I found something else. My fingers traced upward, above my forehead, and on top of my head, there were two large horns, curving back from my temples into my hair. They were smooth, warm to the touch. The surface was like polished bone, dark as old wood, with faint ridges that caught the morning light.
The blue screen I had always seen was quiet now. It had disappeared, leaving only the grey light of early morning outside.
I wanted to test a skill I hadn't used before: Sun Breathing. A warmth spread through my chest, into my lungs, and into my blood. But I could also sense something else—two presences where Ai was sleeping.
This feeling... was it kinship? It was something I had never felt before.
Ai stirred again, her grip on my arm tightening.
"Mm... you're warm..."
Her voice was thick with sleep, barely conscious. She pressed closer, her cheek rubbing against my chest.
I didn't move.
"Mm... stay... don't go."
Though I wanted to move, I didn't. I stayed there in Ai's grasp as she came closer, snuggling right up like I was a teddy bear. She wrapped her arms around me and embraced me.
"Mhmmm."
She made a satisfied sound as she relaxed again. Within seconds, her breathing evened out.
My girlfriend. The word was strange and unfamiliar, but it settled in my chest with a warmth that had nothing to do with Sun Breathing.
My hand moved without permission, brushing the hair from her face. She didn't flinch. She leaned into the touch like it was what she had wanted.
"Achh."
My horns ached faintly. I knew what I had become—a being closer to divinity and closer to hell. An ogre. Descendant of the fight-hungry monsters of myth, the oni.
She's going to notice.
The thought sent a shiver down my spine. Fear went through me. How could she not notice? Two horns jutting out of my skull, pointing upward, and the fact that I had put on even more muscle than before.
I would have to tell her about it. About the supernatural.
The world she would now belong to.
The blue screen materialized in front of me, cutting through the grey morning light like a blade.
[Ding]
[The body of Hoshino Ai does not meet the requirements to birth Orcs. Missing strength, missing the nutrients needed. Needed nutrients: mana. If not met, it could result in stillbirth]
[Current Erotica Points: 100]
["Would u like to use 50 Erotica Points to give Hoshino Ai Mana?"]
[Note: doing this will give Hoshino Ai Mana of a random anime universe.]
[Note 2: Any universe that Hoshino Ai randomly gets has a high chance of manifesting later on in your world.]
[Would you like to spend 50 Erotica points to meet this requirement?]
The word random sat heavily in my chest. I wouldn't know what I was giving her. It could be anything—a world of gentle magic and healing, or something dark.
I looked at her face. And decided.
[Yes.]
[50 Erotica Points Spent.]
[Remaining Points: 50]
[Randomizing Mana Origin...]
The screen flickered, words scrolling past too fast to even read. I watched as they blurred, waiting to see what type of world I was about to give her.
[Origin Selected.]
[Mana Integration: Hoshino Ai.]
I didn't recognize the names. Some anime I had never seen before. Some worlds I didn't even know. The screen didn't offer details—just a name that meant nothing to me, hovering in the air like it was a promise.
Then the light came.
It started in her chest: a soft, golden glow that pulsed outward once, twice, then spread through her veins. I could see it moving underneath her skin, branching across her ribs, up toward her throat, and down to her arms. The light was warm and gentle—nothing like mine.
She didn't stir.
[Mana Integration: 12%...]
The light reached her fingertips as they glowed faintly, soft and warm, like a candle. Then her palms, then her wrists. The mana was settling into her, finding places to rest, and filling spaces she didn't know she had.
Her breathing changed. A soft sigh escaped her lips. There was no pain—it was like she was dreaming of something.
[Mana Integration: 34%...]
I watched the light travel through her. It moved like water finding its level, flowing into the empty places, filling her up from the inside. Her skin took on a faint glow, pale gold against the morning grey.
Her hands twitched, then she settled. Her brow smoothed, and her breathing evened out.
[Mana Integration: 67%...]
The mana reached her throat. I could see it pulsing there, bright and steady—it was like a second heartbeat.
It spread upward toward her face, and for a moment, I was afraid, afraid of what it could do to her.
Then the light settled behind her eyes. They didn't open, but beneath her lids I could see them moving, rapid, fluttering movements, like leaves falling from a tree.
[Mana Integration: 89%...]
Then the light in her chest flared. I felt it—it was warm. That warmth spread throughout her body until it stopped, fully settling into a cave-like integration.
Like computer circuits.
The image came to me: pathways of light branching beneath her skin, connecting and splitting, forming a network that was unseen beneath the surface. It started to pulse each time her heart beat.
It was as if a computer was trying to learn the language of the code, and her body was trying to process that code.
[Mana Integration: 100%]
[Complete.]
[Hoshino Ai has acquired: Mana Circuits — 42 Circuits]
[Quality: A-Rank]
[Origin: Light and Lie]
[Warning: Mana origin detected. High probability of manifestation events.]
[The Throne of Heroes has taken notice.]
Ai stirred. It started with a twitch in her fingers, a furrow between her brows, and her breathing, which had been slow and even, became hitched.
Her hand curled against my chest, her nails pressing into the fabric of my shirt.
Then her eyes opened.
They were wide, too wide. The stars in her pupils caught the morning light.
Then she looked at me. And screamed.
She scrambled backward so fast she nearly fell off the bed. Her back hit the headboard with a thud, her hands flying up in front of her face like she was warding off an attack.
"Y-Your face—w-what's on your head?"
I sat up slowly, my hands raised, my palms out.
"Ai, it's me."
"You have horns! You have things on your head!"
She flinched so hard that she hit her head again. Her hands dropped from her face to clutch at the sheets.
The sheets beneath her hands began to glow a vibrant gold. The glow spread, thin lines of gold weaving across the fabric.
"I—I didn't mean to do that. What's happening?"
"Ai, calm down."
She looked up as her eyes met mine, at the horns that I had, the appearance that screamed you aren't human.
Her panic spiked.
"Look at me, you need to breathe."
"I—I can't. What—what happened to you? To me?"
Her voice broke at the last word. A sob caught in her throat. The light in her hands flared—it was bright, like the sun was in front of me.
I moved off the bed slowly and knelt on the floor in front of her, putting myself below her eyeline. My hands stayed where she could see them.
"I'm sorry for forcing this on you, but it was the only way."
"Only way for what? I fell asleep, and now I can feel things moving inside of me like wires under my skin. What did you do?"
She looked down at her hands. The gold light shot out, blinding me for a second.
"I can't make it stop..."
"You don't have to make it stop. Just breathe."
She took a breath in, slow and deep, held it, then released it.
Then another breath. In and out.
Until the light had finally faded. The light on her palms had finally faded, dimming like a candle being blown out.
"You said you forced something on me. What was that?"
I looked at her stomach. Her hands followed my gaze, spreading across the flat plane of her belly.
"The children. Your body wasn't able to meet them, as you didn't have the strength and the nutrients they needed, so I gave it to you."
"The needed strength and nutrients?"
"Yeah. Since they aren't human, they need what humans call mana, or magic."
Her hands froze on her stomach as she processed my words.
"Are they not human?"
"No. They are either Orc or Ogre, maybe something in between, but they should be healthy."
"Healthy?" She laughed. It was small, but her voice cracked.
"You said that they needed mana to live, so did you give me mana?"
"Yes. What you have inside you is mana. Also, I think I should explain this to you now. The world you live in isn't normal. It's dictated by people that hide in the shadows, such as devils, Yokai, angels, even gods. There are many of these types of beings in our world."
"Devils... angels, and gods exist?"
Her voice was full of surprise. It was eye-opening to talk about it like they actually existed to her. A mere moment ago, she had known nothing of this—the world unseen to her.
"Yes. They exist and are very real."
"I need to learn how to hide this."
"I believe you will be able to."
"How do you know that?"
"Because you have been hiding your whole life. This is just something new."
She stared at me, then slowly, she smiled. It was small, but it was still there.
"You are not supposed to say things like that."
Her voice was somewhat angry, but also playful, as she began to scold me.
"Huh? Why not?"
"Because I'm not supposed to be angry at you."
I wanted to question back at her words.
"Are you?"
She looked at her hands and at the golden light that had faded, but then back at her stomach. She knew that what he had done was in her best interest.
"I... don't know. Maybe."
She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The morning light caught her face and her indigo-purple hair. Her face was slightly red.
"You should have asked. And you should have woken me up."
It was as if she were pouting; her cheeks were puffed out.
"I know..."
My voice was low and soft.
"Come up here. You look stupid on the floor."
I moved upward toward the teasing woman in front of me. I sat right in front of her.
She looked at my face again, scanning all the new things that were on it. She stared at the horns. She even opened my mouth and used her finger, scouring and looking at my fangs.
"I didn't know you were a perver—"
Before I could even finish my words, she stopped me mid-sentence.
"Here, take this."
She handed me a hat. For some reason, she was mad about the comment I had made. Was she sulking? She looked cute when she was doing it.
"You need this. Maybe a hood too. You can't go to school with that."
She was pointing at my horns. It was obvious what she meant.
"Are you worried about me going to school?"
"Someone has to be."
She said it as she traced the curve of the horn. She liked grabbing it.
I caught her wrist gently.
"Are you planning to hide me?"
She met my eyes as her chin lifted.
"You're my boyfriend, and the father of my children. You have horns and fangs, and you forced magic into my body while I was sleeping. I'm not going to let you get caught just because you couldn't keep your head down."
She stared at me, and I stared back.
"Will you drive me there?"
"Y...You are shameless."