Chapter 249: Exfoliated Masculinity
Some time ago before Kiana rose to become the Herrscher of Void, at Schicksal's main headquarters.
Shadow was seen sitting on a bench with a vending machine beside it while drinking cold canned instant coffee.
'How long do I have to... I disguise myself as a woman?'
He stared at the beautiful blue sky with a blank expression without being able to find an answer to the question that was stuck in his heart.
He glanced to the side where a glass mirror reflected his beautiful appearance, his long silky white hair, large dark purple eyes, his pointed nose, thin pink lips, his fair and smooth skin.
After all this time disguised as 'Kurokami Nakuru' he had almost sunk into the character to the point of almost forgetting that he was originally a man.
If it wasn't for the fact that he remembered that his male genitals didn't disappear, perhaps by now 'Shadow' had long disappeared and had been replaced by 'Nakuru'.
'Don't tell me Griseo-sama not only changed my body shape but also my will? ' Shadow thought with a pensive expression.
It should be known that Griseo's power is very strong, she is able to materialize whatever she paints, with her current skills, Griseo is able to make illusion into reality and reality into illusion, her potential is limitless.
She can incorporate a city into her paintings including the inhabitants without them realizing it or do the opposite, she can create a world of paintings containing her creatures on a canvas or even materialize them into the real world.
It can be said that Griseo is the strongest now even surpassing Kevin when he was young.
Well... This is not surprising considering they have lived over 50,000+ years and have always honed their skills and powers.
Back on topic, Shadow is currently aware that his personality is gradually becoming more and more feminine to the point of resembling a real girl.
Hence in order to preserve his remaining masculinity, every time he woke up he always made sure to look at his genitals so as to convince himself that he was still a man.
But when he stood before the mirror, the thought always quickly faded away as he was too mesmerized by his female appearance.
He didn't know that Griseo had secretly slightly altered Shadow's will to be feminine while turning him into a half-woman.
'It's okay, Shadow! You'll be able to bear it! It's for a greater cause!'
Although he thought that way, the embarrassing memories of acting like a girl always flashed through his mind making a speck of real male tears involuntarily drip from between Shadow's eyes.
'After this mission is over, I will definitely do everything to appear more masculine later!'
"Ah? Nakuru-chan!"
Someone's voice interrupted Nakuru's thoughts, he quickly wiped away his tears before turning his head to the side and finding Susannah and Lin walking toward him.
Judging from their sweaty clothes and bodies, it looked like they had just finished practicing.
Nakuru greeted them and shifted slightly to allow the two of them to sit down.
He had a good rapport with them, Susannah had a cheerful and somewhat innocent personality, while Lin had a gentle and calm personality filled with an optimistic aura.
As 'Kurokami Nakuru' she had a slightly tomboyish and calm personality with a confident aura.
Susannah, who was panting slightly, was seen taking out a water bottle from her bag and drinking a few sips before sighing in satisfaction.
"Ah~ It feels great!"
"Do you want some, Lin-san? " Susannah offered her drink.
Lin shook her head politely and took out a blue-colored water bottle from her bag, "No need, I have my own. "
She took a sip before letting out a sigh of relief and wiping off her sweat using the white towel wrapped around her neck.
"You guys seem to be training really hard? What's going on?" Nakuru asked with some curiosity.
He remembered that ever since Kouro had left Schicksal and had yet to return due to staying at St. Freya's academy, the two of them had suddenly been training very hard.
Susannah smiled wryly, she stared at the water bottle in her hand that was almost empty and slightly reflected the appearance of her calloused palms before letting out a long sigh and saying in a disappointed tone.
"Ha... Looks like I really can't train to be as strong as them... "
Hearing her words made Nakuru understand what was causing Susannah to train so hard since almost every Valkyrie here was training with the same goal.
"It's okay, Susannah-chan! You're trying hard!" Lin said gently trying to comfort her.
"But... Even so I don't have a talent as brilliant as them even you... I'm just an ordinary person. " Susannah said gloomily.
She had been practicing hard with a very tight training schedule for several weeks even making Durandal, the person she admired and her friends worry about her.
Susannah knew she was mediocre compared to her friends like Kiana, Mei, Ayame, Lin, Nakuru, and Ana... Especially with Kouro who shone the brightest.
The many great achievements Kouro had made as an Einherjar, his prestige was equal to or even greater than that of legendary Rank-S Valkyries like Durandal and Rita.
This is not surprising because Kouro is a handsome young man who has a great background, his nature is also kind and friendly... Including the big 'it' too.
Rumor had it that Dr. Nagamitsu had an uncensored photo of Kouro's 'it'... Susannah was honestly curious if the rumors were true, but she didn't dare to act.
After all, Kouro now had a girlfriend, Mei, so keeping a picture of someone else's boyfriend, let alone her friend's boyfriend, would be unbecoming.
For information, not only Susannah knew that Kouro was dating Mei, almost all of her friends including Rita and Ragna knew, because Kouro and Mei's social media posted their togetherness.
Even Mei herself had confirmed this in a group chat specifically made for friends except Kouro.
It was basically a special group for grants.
'No, wait! Why do I have to think about this?'
Susannah shook her head with a slight blush.
'How stupid of you Susannah! Letting your mind become unfocused like that! ' She thought as she patted her cheeks hard.
Seeing her actions made Nakuru and Lin worried.
"Don't compare yourself with others, just compare yourself with who you were yesterday. " Nakuru said.
Even though it was just a simple piece of advice, Susannah's movements halted, flashbacks of her memories when she was training hard flashed through her mind.
"Susannah-chan, remember my words, there is no need to feel inferior when comparing yourself to those who shine brightly like stars in the sky, this world is not surplus of stars, as long as there is courage and perseverance in your heart, you can become one of them, I am sure of that. " Nakuru said with a serious expression.
A moment later, he realized that Susannah and Lin were staring at her in stupefaction.
Nakuru then cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment.
"Ahem! Yeah, you guys don't have to take my words too seriously. "
For your information, Shadow's communication skills were actually not very good as there were very few peers that he could talk to.
"I didn't know that Nakuru-chan could say such a wise thing. But... Thank you. "
Susannah said with a relieved smile, as if the burden in her heart had slightly disappeared.
Lin also nodded her head, Nakuru's words motivated her and her mood also became better, the reason she was training hard was also similar to Susannah, she had to be able to become stronger to be able to support the Captain (Kouro).
Susannah then looked down at her calloused hands before closing her eyes for a moment and finally opening them again, this time filled with a light of determination
.
"...I will join The Immortal Blades. "
"Hee? The team led by Durandal-sama herself? Then I will support you. " Lin said with an admiring smile.
The Immortal Blades was a team led by Durandal with Rita as vice chairman, this team was Schicksal's elite team so it was called the strongest team.
Of course if that excluded Kouro's team.
"Hehehe~" Susannah was embarrassed while scratching her head.
Nakuru also nodded his head, but his expression suddenly changed as the alarm suddenly went off loudly, even their work-specific cell phones all went off immediately.
"What's going on? "
"Why did Schicksal go on emergency alert?"
The three of them looked around in confusion as they saw almost all the nearby veteran Valkyries instantly in full uniform and then lined up neatly.
"There is only one reason... A great disaster has arisen!"
The three of them looked at each other before then shouting simultaneously.
"Herrscher!"
They then saw Ragna followed by Ana in full armed.
"Lin? There you are, let's get on the march! The Honkai Eruption has occurred!" Ragna said with a serious expression.
"Honkai eruption? Don't tell me, Leader Ragna... Has Herrscher been born?" guessed Lin with a worried expression.
Ragna nodded her head, she seemed to be holding her chest with a grim expression, a flashback reflected in her pupils.
With the barren land filled with smoldering flames burning the trees, a rain of ash then flew down revealing a 'little girl' with white hair and blue and orange eyes staring at her and her severely injured comrades with a blank stare.
Then a man in a red suit saved Ragna and her comrades from the girl, only his white mask and purple eyes Ragna remembered.
"Leader Ragna?"
Ragna blinked at Lin's call, she slightly shook her head and said.
"I'm fine, just remembering the past. "
After that she then said seriously,
"As you can guess, the Honkai Eruption this time has given birth to a Herrscher!"
Ragna then told them all to line up, she also told the other Valkyries important things.
Nakuru listened to Ragna's words about the mission they had been given before his focus was distracted by a familiar beam of energy that seemed very clear to him.
'This energy?! The power of shadows?!'
His gaze turned to stare in the opposite direction of the Sapphire city where the Honkai Eruption occurred.
The energy fluctuations were too strong for him to clearly know the exact position of the source of the fluctuations even thousands of miles away.
'... Only one person I know of has shadow energy fluctuations this strong.... Ashborn!'
His hands instantly clenched tightly and his expression turned cold.
He glanced at Ragna who was explaining how dangerous a Herrscher was and told of her experience fighting a Pseudo-Herrscher who had almost eliminated her and her comrades.
Ashborn or Herrscher... It was clear who Shadow favored more.
Nakuru then quietly retreated without drawing anyone's attention.
'I must go to the source of those energy fluctuations immediately! ' Nakuru thought with brightly shining eyes.
...
In a quiet place without any surveillance cameras, Nakuru then used the power of shadow to transform into a crow before speeding away.
That's right, as you know, Shadow's authority allows its user to change, add, and twist concepts.
Shadow is proficient in transformation abilities, not even just transformation, he can even use all the abilities of animals or Honkai Beasts that he understands, he can even combine various animal characteristics into one.
An example is how Shadow now transforms into a crow, actually this 'crow' has the flying speed and endurance of an emperor-type Honkai Beast, it also has the ability to disguise itself like a chameleon and has a very thin air of existence and silent wing beats like an owl.
In essence, Shadow had mastered all three basic skills in using shadow authority to form his unique ability of 'Transformation'.
He has perfectly mastered that unique ability so that he can freely enter partial transformation or full transformation.
Shadow flapped his wings at a speed exceeding tens of times the speed of lightning so that in less than a few minutes, he reached his destination.
'That... Kouro and Ashborn, why are they here?'
Shadow landed in a hidden place and kept thousands of meters away, with his eagle-sharp eyes, he read the movement of the two's lips to know what they were talking about.
He could see that Ashborn's appearance had become a little different from usual, even stronger in fact?
But his eyes immediately widened as he read Kouro's lips.
"Dad? Kouro called Ashborn, Dad?!'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
The_Hanged_Man1
The_Hanged_Man1 Yo, I'm back.
I'm sorry if I disappeared without any news for almost 3 months.
I just lost my enthusiasm to keep writing, especially with the latest chapters of the Honkai Impact story making me confused about how to incorporate it into my story because I've been experiencing writers block.
But don't worry, I have promised to write this novel to the end.
Therefore, I will still continue, although I don't expect the story to be as exciting as you might expect.
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