"...."

A moment of silence existed between Master—correction, former Master—and the renegade Familiar.

The tension in the air was palpable, and even though Emil leaped to Rey's head, she was bounced back by a resistance she would not leap through—sending her crashing back to the ground that she now bounced on.

The expressions on the faces of Rey and Emil were like night and day.

While Emil had an optimistic vibe around her—a sincere expression of love and devotion—Rey's face darkened almost instantly. He gave her a cold glare and didn't even move from his position.

"Maste—!"

"What are you doing here?" Was the first thing that proceeded from Rey's lips the moment he couldn't handle the silence anymore.

There were several things he wanted to tell her—many of which were a lot harsher than the question—but his calm mind allowed him to still be reasonable.

"W-why is Master being so mean to me? I just—"

"Stop calling me that! Don't you have a new Master already? Why don't you go and meet Adrien?"

"...." For a moment, Emil had a blank expression on her face.

It seemed like she was confused by Rey's attitude towards her, which further confused Rey. He had already resolved within himself to kill Emil when next he saw her, since she was too dangerous to be allowed to live, but her current behavior was throwing him off.

He felt too conflicted to even properly respond to her strange behavior.

He also couldn't rely on the audience to judge the matter for him, since none of them knew about what happened between him and Emil. They appeared just as lost as he was, so the entire area was just a stadium of silence.

This did not last for long, though.

"U-uuu… W-why is Master being so mean to me? I've always been on your side, Master!" Rey found that very doubtful, considering how she sucked all of his Mana and nearly killed him and Esme. Now that he thought about it, Emil must have known that he would survive, so maybe she was targeting Esme from the start.

Either way, she betrayed him in the worst possible way and went to Adrien's side.

'Why am I even still talking to her? She could still be working for Adrien at this point, and all of this could be some kind of trap.'

Rey would have granted more credence to this suspicion of his if Emil wasn't behaving so stupidly. None of her actions had any logical ground, and Adrien definitely didn't operate in such a way.

Besides, her Status Window showed that she wasn't bonded with anyone.

'Of course, all of this could still be some ploy by Adrien—using her immature mind to throw me off and lower my guard. To what end, though?'

"You're so mean, Master!" Emil cried out, breaking Rey from his inner thoughts. "Why are you still suspecting me, even after everything? I never betrayed you!"

"Then what do you call what you did with Adrien?"

"I-It's… a secret…"

Rey raised his eyebrows at this point, growing slightly more impatient with Emil. "A secret?"

"Y-yes! I heard you like surprises, so… tadah!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Emul?" Rey felt he was nearing his limits, but the System quickly corrected his emotions, so he returned to his calm self.

Emil, on the other hand, was fidgeting rather nervously.

"I'm not sure I'm supposed to tell you, but… I think it should be fine, right? After all… this is all for the benefit of Master… Hmmm…"

"Just speak!"

"O-okay! All of it was just an act, Master! Honestly! I had to act like that so Adrien would believe I was on his side, just as I had to feign interest in him this whole time. It was all so that I could get close enough to him."

"To what end?" Rey asked with a deeper frown.

"This!"

~GLOP!~

Right before Rey's eyes, Emil transformed into a perfect version of Adrien. "The conditions for using [Perfect Mimicry] makes it so that I have to be in physical contact with the target for an extended period of time. I had to find a way to do that, so that meant temporarily bonding with him until the conditions were satisfied and I could use the Skill on him."

Rey was already shell-shocked from seeing Emil transformed into Adrien, but after hearing her explanation, he became even more amazed—no, impressed.

He already knew what [Perfect Mimicry] did, and it wasn't just restricted to replicating the outward appearance of the target.

"Y-you have access to all his Skills?" Rey muttered, his eyes widening as he stared at Emil.

"Yup!"

'N-no way! She's actually telling the truth!' Rey could see Emil's Status Window, and everything was perfectly the same as Adrien's Status Window.

Except, of course, [Skill Creation], but Rey already knew that wouldn't be carried over.

Still…

'Every single ability he has is at Emil's disposal, and if I copy all of them, then… I will also have the same abilities!'

This was a massive harvest for him—far more than he expected.

"See, Master? I worked so hard to get these Skills for you, and you treated me so coldly…" Emil whined, returning to her Slime form in an instant.

"You were going to leave without me too! Do you even care about me, Master?"

"O-of course I care about you." Rey had to mutter as he stared at Emil with newfound affection. All the negative thoughts he had about her vanished into thin air the instant he saw the list of Skills he could have for himself.

"R-really?!"

"Yes, really! I was just so hurt that you left me. I thought you didn't love me anymore…"

"N-no way! I didn't mean to hurt you, Master! I'm sorry, Master!" Emil bounced forward, crying out of her created eyes, and Rey opened his arms wide open.

He also had his own thoughts as he drew closer to her, beads of tears forming in his eyes.

'Emil… you are a genius!'

The two of them hugged, happy to be reunited once again.