I tried to get up, but my body wasn't cooperating.

  Raishin and Yv seemed happy to see me. What happened? All I remember is a wonderful dream with Giana in it.

  Nilah was passed out on the ground a bit further. I tried to get to her, but nothing moved.

  Yvonne, what's wrong with him?

  “I don't know…”

  Yv and Raishin helped me up and dragged me to Nilah. I managed to store her in my dimensional pocket, but my muscles didn't want to cooperate.

  Bring me to Giana.

  Are you sure? You can't even move by yourself. How can you help Giana like this?

  I will find a way

  Any attempts to organize my memories ended in a failure. I felt sleepy, groggy and lethargic. My head felt fuzzy as if it was stuffed with cotton.

  I got dragged to an apocalyptic site and Greg and Noelle were flinging earth magic at each other.

  Where is Giana? And did Greg finally manage to impersonate you, Raishin? How did he and Noelle get so pissed off at each other?

  Well, the answer to those questions is there… Greg sealed Giana in that [Edgebox].

  Raishin said as he pointed at a strange black box. The fuzziness in my head disappeared, and an inexplicable feeling took over. I used [Blood and Thunder] to keep whatever emotions in check. I took deep breaths and exhaled.

  I can see why Noelle is pissed, can you sit me down and place that [Edgeseal] in my hands?

  You can unseal Giana without moving?

  I just need mana control for that, no muscles needed, can you two deal with those 2 hotheads?

  “We will do our best!” Yv fetched the edgeseal for me and placed it in my hands, “I'm entrusting her to you. Come Raishin, let's give them a dazzling performance!”

  Huh? Oh ok.

  What was Greg thinking, sealing her away?

  Scenes of a bewitching Giana in an enormous jellyfish popped by. It wasn't a dream, that's for sure.

  I focused on the seal. Greg surely went all out sealing her. This is bad, no matter how forgiving Giana is, this would affect her interactions she will have with Greg.

  Greg wasn't necessarily wrong, but he missed that it depends on the relationship.

  Me calling Raishin ‘a moron’ is different from a stranger calling him that, this is because we're friends. This could be seen similarly; I could seal Giana away, and it wouldn't be an issue in the same way but Greg and Giana are more strangers than friends…

  I wonder who's at fault here, me for not facilitating their relationship or Greg for not realizing.

  I cracked some simple seals. Their function was to strengthen the main seal and charm magic started to leak out.

  Greg seemed to have made this to seal gods, I can tell, but it's severely lacking as charm magic is pouring out and some simple seals had been broken by brute force from the inside. Probably a mythical passive effect, just like how my body opened dimensional pockets when I had pulled the ‘Walter Junkshooter’ stunt.

  All the simple seals had been broken and only the complicated ones were left. These were made out of exotic runes but… It surely seems something dangerous is sealed away now.

  I shattered illusions to get rid of the charm and got my tails out. They could move, luckily. The family was staring speechless at 4 mythical beasts fighting. Noelle seemed to slowly cool down, but Greg stubbornly stuck to his point.

  I recognised a cluster but it was relatively useless as it was consistent in shadow magic suggesting that it might code for ‘shadow magic’

  More illusion layers shattered to counter the charm magic. Reminding me that each of us is a mythical beast and akin to a natural disaster, not because we can act like humans and behave, means it's less true. Memories from before my wonderful dream started to pop up, confirming that Giana went ‘Natural disaster mode’.

  Raishin, Greg, Yvonne and Noelle are currently in it too. Greg had gone 3t mode, which forced the others to go into their tailed mode too.

  But flowers shooting nature energy lasers and air pockets and flowers as trampolines, eh? Interesting 4t mode. There are also a lot of petals flying around.

  My tail zapped me as I was getting distracted.

  I hope that no stray attack flies at me as I won’t be able to evade…

  My eyes met with Noelle’s and polygons formed a sturdy hut around me. That’s one problem solved, just 999 left…

  Another cluster got identified as I knew all the runes from it. This isn’t how you should contain divine energy… what were Greg’s tails thinking? Ugh… I knocked out the cluster and made a simple makeshift cluster that could deal with the charm magic until I break the primary seal.

  Although… Giana said that charm magic has way more capabilities than creating horny men and love-struck zombies. My goal is to break her free, wouldn’t this become more efficient if I let it run its effect? It’s a gamble.

  I wrote a robust seal that would isolate my 9 th tail from the effects of [Charm]. It wasn’t all powerful, but my 9 th tail would break me out in case this didn’t work.

  It’s time to trust Giana.

  All the seals hindering the charm magic got broken and a massive amount of pink energy entered me.

  I had expected it to cloud my mind, but I could clearly see it, the path toward Giana. The charm she had poured into me and the [Charmed Protection] kicked in.

  The exotic runes got digested at a blinding rate. The base seal was so unstable that it could barely contain Giana. Shadows assaulted as it attempted to defeat whoever tried to unseal this [Edgebox]. It’s a basic feature of seals, but I didn’t care. I ignited in foxfires and the luminosity eradicated the shadows.

  The last cluster got deciphered and I cracked open this [Edgebox]. A lot of colorless water poured out of it and a colorless Giana appeared on my lap and color slowly returned to her.

  “Hey there, Deca. I’m so glad to see you!”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Are you alright?

  “Of course, not… I got sealed away, but I’m happy you got me out. It was so dark… I thought I would never see you again…” Giana made herself small and snuggled up to me. She was shaking and hiding her face, but I could tell that she was crying.

  I wrapped her in my tails minutes later as she had cried herself asleep. The battle sounds had stopped. My eyes felt heavy and were about to close when Noelle came in.

  “Whoa, you’re pink! Giana?”

  I lifted some tails to reveal the sleeping Giana.

  “How is your body?”

  Uncooperative, tired and seemingly pink. I think I will take a nap. I don’t know for how long, carry me if I’m still asleep this time tomorrow.

  “Ok, sleep well.” Noelle sat me straight, hugged me and left.

  I wonder what happened to the battle and the outside, but I’m too tired to care.

  Something feels off. My sleep should be more comfortable than this. I awoke in a human bed. No tails, no Giana. I felt restored and energetic. The only discomfort was this shitty human bed. A quick scan revealed that I was in an AA room in Gittrian. Did we fail?

  6 days had passed since I fell asleep. It would’ve taken 10 days to reach the destination in total so there should be 2 days left, so they didn’t complete it, I think.

  It was nearing midnight and I was disoriented. My mind was filled with ‘Raishin thoughts’, also the scene of Giana crying was seared into my memory. What do I do in response to this situation? I’m not fit to be a leader. This would have never happened if I was a good leader. I sighed and Giana entered.

  “H…how are you feeling?” She said as she turned on every light.

  Physically quite good, mentally… quite shit, but more importantly how are you?

  “I…I’m fine. I’m sorry… I did it again…”

  Come here.

  I patted to the spot next to me and Giana approached. She smelled nice as it seems that she had just returned from a shower. Her hair was wet, and it added to her sex appeal.

  Look, as far as I can tell, no vixen can control their charm magic. I’m not familiar of all the ins and outs of charm magic, but it seems that if you use a lot of it you become like that too. I think me as a male 9t am supposed to play a role in this, but I have no clue what to do so this is my fault.

  She leaned into me. “But I need to learn how to control it until you figure it out…”

  I think that the problem is that I fight against it. I noticed that the charm magic and [Charmed Protection] kicked in when I unsealed you. I think I should just let it flood me but… can you lower the threshold it activates?

  “Agnis… it’s already set quite low… but I will do my best.” She used [Empathic Bond] and did something,

  It didn’t feel low to me. I had to resist for a long time before it was about to get me, then I just let it happen.

  “It is set that it would activate with the charm magic needed to have a horny teenager jump me…”

  That low?!

  “I think your self-control is working miracles here, as anyone else would have probably acted upon the urges a long time ago. Even when I delay the activation of [Charmed Protection], all you do when fully charmed is embrace me. I think it’s a good trait to have, but not when our race is going extinct!”

  I see, so I’m shit?

  “That’s what you got out of all of that!?” Giana pushed me over. “It’s done. And… thank you for unsealing me.”

  Why are you thanking me? That was the only answer.

  Giana let herself fall backward and was lying next to me. “I…I will do my best to get more acquainted with Gregory but…”

  It’s fine, you can blame me as the leader.

  “Why does everything have to be your fault?”

  Then whose fault is it then?

  “Mine?”

  Yes, it’s your fault for getting sealed away… you don’t believe that, do you?

  “Ugh… I still don’t see how it’s your fault”

  I didn’t facilitate the relationship between you and Greg better, I didn’t know how to handle the situation or I should have put us in the position to get in that situation in the first place.

  “And how were you supposed to know or do all this?!”

  Dunno, that’s why I’m a shitty leader, as a good leader would have probably known.

  “I think you’re too hard on yourself…”

  I stretched out my hand to the ceiling and made various shapes with frost magic.

  Making excuses won’t keep us alive when shit hits the fan. I better learn from the non-lethal experiences like these. If a god pops up, and I make the same mistake and someone dies it would have been my responsibility as a leader. I can’t allow any of you to die.

  Giana seemed to have difficulties finding words to respond, but that was fine.

  Get your tails out, they need some brushing.

  I got ready as Giana’s tails looked relatively messy. She told me about what happened after I fell asleep. Raishin had teleported Giana and me back to Gittrian after Giana had woken up. The 4 of them would finish the mission.

  Her 3 rd tail had been brushed when she finished that part. I then tried to find out what the effects were of her being sealed away. She seemed to have developed a fear for the dark and being alone, which were all understandable.

  She then told me that she had tried to get rid of her trauma but was unsuccessful and how she might have difficulty getting along with Greg.

  “How would you have handled that situation?”

  Me as Agnis? Easy but as Greg hmm… I would launch you away or myself and the others. Sealing you away isn’t an option, so the other option is running. You’re quite slow after all…

  “I can’t help it! I’m faster as a mermaid though!”

  Hey about your mermaid… You guys said you were broke in the past, right? Why not sell those sapphire scales?

  “Would you sell your fur to get gold?”

  Point taken. Speaking of sapphires…

  The crystal box holding the sapphire necklace came out of the dimensional pocket and I put the necklace on her as she still had her back faced toward me.

  Giana gasped and played with the sapphire. “Oh… it’s gorgeous. Thank you!” She wanted to turn around but I stopped her.

  You don’t need to thank me and your charm might get out of control again if you turn around.

  Giana stayed put, and I made it to the end of the day without getting hit by charm magic.

  ?

  follow if the story is interesting enough.

  Ayaru Mistflower