Chapter 133: Kurumu’s invitation. Testing Resurrection.

Your left hand slides down Kurumu's hip, fingers wrapping around the warm softness of her outer thigh. She shifts slightly on your lap, wings rustling against the chair back, but doesn't pull away. Your right hand traces upward - ribs, the swell of her breast through purple lace, collarbone, the delicate line of her throat.

Your thumb settles gently against her lips. She stills immediately, violet eyes widening slightly.

"Kurumu," you begin, keeping your voice steady. "I don't know how much has been told to you since you've gotten here, or how much you've discovered. So I'll start with a few questions: have you been told that your original world became a popular story in this world?"

Her lips move against your thumb. You ease the pressure slightly.

"Ya!" Kurumu's voice carries genuine anger beneath the charm-induced enthusiasm. "The dumb-asses who wanted to rape us wouldn't shut up about how we're just characters from a story and don't have legal rights. They kept saying we weren't real people."

Your jaw tightens. "Have you had a chance to learn that story yet?"

"No. They said they couldn't find it without the internet." Her expression shifts toward frustration. "I wanted to know what they were talking about."

"There should be a copy of your story on my hard drives - they're with Bulma right now. I advise asking her to find Rosario + Vampire so you can start reading them in the morning." You pause, letting that sink in. "Beyond that, I can tell you that from what you said about your school, you're from a variant universe. Not the original story that I have and that's popular in this world. That creates the same problem most of the women here face - it's harder to return you to your world without knowing which multiverse we need to aim for."

Kurumu's tail tightens around your thigh. "Variant?"

"Different timeline, different events. Similar but not identical." Your hand shifts from her lips to massage her neck and collar gently. "As a fan of Kurumu and her story myself, I want you to be mine. If you'd dropped in front of me a month ago, I'd probably be just as bad as those dumb-asses. But informed choice has become a pretty big thing here - that's the reason I'm preventing you from kissing me while your charm is active."

Her breath hitches. "Brad-sama..."

"Please take your time learning the group and consider what you want. I'm working on trying to get dimensional gates working to return those who want to go back." You continue the gentle massage, feeling tension beneath her skin. "As for human civilization on this world - it might recover next year, or it'll take a second hit when magic-evolution reaches the mold and insects in a few months."

Kurumu processes this silently for several seconds. When she speaks again, her voice carries less charm-haze and more genuine confusion. "You're... telling me to decide? Even though I'm charmed to obey you?"

"Especially because you're charmed," you confirm. "When it wears off, you'll remember this conversation. You'll know I didn't take advantage... Beyond your own charm and punishment anyways."

Rin speaks from your right, voice dry. "He's annoyingly consistent about consent."

Asia adds softly from the kitchen, "It's one of his better qualities."

"Would you all have accepted me if I was pushier?" you ask, voice carrying across the galley.

Rin's answer comes immediately. "No. You'd be another inconsiderate jerk just wanting your dick sucked."

Asia's wooden spoon pauses mid-stir. "I would have been too frightened to stay."

Kurumu shifts on your lap, tail tightening around your thigh. "Brad-sama is different because he asks."

You keep your hands steady on her collar and thigh. "Do you have any questions about what I've explained?"

Kurumu tilts her head, blue hair sliding across bare shoulders. "When the charm wears off... will you still want me?"

"Want you? I'm resisting claiming you permanently right now, using your own racial powers to brainwash you into My. Obedient. Naughty. Kurumu." you reply. "Whether you want to stay, whether you want me - that's your choice to make when you're thinking clearly."

She processes this silently for several seconds, then nods slowly.

You lift her gently off your lap, standing as her wings unfold for balance. "Right now however, resume your embarrassing punishment, I'd like a Mountain Dew from the soda fountain. No ice."

"Yes, Brad-sama!" She bounces toward the fountain with renewed enthusiasm.

You catch Rin's eye, gesturing toward the door. Kurumi rises smoothly from her seat. The three of you stand, preparing to move into the corridor as Kurumu begins carefully filling your cup.

Maria, Rika - please meet me in the command center, you send through the Telepathy Web.

On my way, Maria responds.

Five minutes, Rika adds. Finishing magazine drills with Nami.

Kurumu arrives breathlessly seconds later, Mountain Dew extended in both hands as her breasts rise and fall slightly with her breathing. "Brad-sama, your drink!"

You accept the cup, sipping once. Perfect. "Thank you. Return to helping Asia with dinner prep."

She beams, hurrying back.

You pull your eyes off her to turn into the corridor, Rin and Kurumi smirking behind you.

The command center doors slide open. Albedo occupies the captain's chair, golden eyes tracking your entrance. C.C. leans against the communications console, pizza slice in hand. Robin turns from her radio station, blue eyes curious.

Maria enters through the starboard entrance, violet eyes assessing the gathered group. Rika follows thirty seconds behind, tactical vest still strapped across her chest.

"Everyone's here," you announce, moving to the central display. The screen activates under your touch, pulling up regional maps. "Dimensional gates aren't working. We need to test something else."

You zoom between Sacramento and Los Angeles. "I was thinking a college." The map shifts east. "Or maybe farther inland. Dallas, Texas. Enchant another Costco while we're there."

Rin's expression sharpens. "What are we testing?"

You meet her eyes directly. "Resurrection magic."

The room stills.

"We had the announcement-conversation after Kira and Lyra's funeral," you continue. "But it's time to test if it actually works. So we pick a location we can control, resurrect somebody there should be plenty of corpses lying around, maybe a small group and leave them without introducing ourselves. Your opinions?"

Maria speaks first, leaning forward against the console. "A college provides the right demographic. Young enough to adapt, old enough to survive the psychological shock."

Rika crosses her arms, expression hardening. "Who decides who deserves revival? What about consent? The psychological trauma of waking up dead could shatter someone completely."

"Reviving skilled operatives would help the survivors," Robin adds from her station. "Countering casualties directly addresses the survival crisis."

You meet Rika's eyes. "We obviously can't ask the dead if they want to be alive again. We need to test. If you want, you can offer to kill them if resurrection succeeds - there's their consent."

Kurumi's laugh rings clear and sharp. C.C. smirks around her pizza slice.

You continue. "As for deserving - we'll aim for young women. That's the effort I'll put in for that argument."

Maria nods immediately. "Surviving populations need community rebuilding."

Albedo's golden eyes gleam. "Practical. Young women provide fertility and social cohesion."

"For psychological trauma," you say, "we leave them at the enchanted Costco. Time and eventual human contact. Or we teleport them like we did the slavery victims."

You turn toward Robin. "The problem with reviving skilled operatives is identification. Who do we choose and why? The apocalypse completely changed the economic situation. What would we even have them do?"

Rin speaks from beside you. "Exactly. Pre-outbreak skills don't translate automatically. A surgeon with no hospital is just another survivor."

"If we find a dimensional traveler's body, I'll absolutely try," you continue. "But I doubt we'll get that lucky. As for general casualty count - reviving entire populations isn't happening. Not with the current problem list."

You gesture at the map display. "So which will it be? College in California, or Costco in Dallas?"

Maria studies the map thoughtfully. "California colleges are closer to what's already set up. State or University. Both should have student housing, identifiable demographics."

Rika's tactical mind engages despite her reservations. "Dallas puts another Network Node inland. Strategic depth. But it's farther, more chaos for whatever happens, less chance of our actions being recorded."

Albedo traces the Dallas route with one clawed finger. "Establishing presence in Texas accelerates territorial reclamation. The Costco provides immediate infrastructure."

C.C. sets down her pizza. "California maintains concentration of force. Yet we can return from either quickly if complications arise."

Robin looks between the two locations. "Dallas creates another anchor point for Mexican operations. Carlos already broadcasting in Baja California."

Kurumi tilts her head, heterochromatic eyes thoughtful. "College campuses have dormitories. Easier to locate intact bodies. Costco parking lots expose corpses to elements."

The command center falls silent as they wait for your decision.

"I'm hearing Dallas Costco for location, and college girls." you announce, pulling up the building's street-view on the map. "I'll enchant it fast while you check for bodies. Then we hit the colleges."

Your magic sight flickers across the Dallas facility - empty parking lot, shattered windows, darkness inside. Nothing moving.

"Looks clear, Gate." you say, opening the Gate.

The portal tears reality between the command center and the Costco loading dock. Afternoon Texas heat rolls through immediately, carrying the stench of decay and sun-baked asphalt.

Albedo steps through first, golden eyes scanning. Kurumi follows, heterochromatic gaze tracking shadows. You cross third, boots hitting cracked concrete.

"Offices upstairs," you point. "Albedo, Kurumi - with me. Everyone else spreads out for corpse identification." Closing the gate behind us.

Robin's arms blossom across the building as C.C. and Maria move toward the warehouse floor. Rin draws her pistol, covering angles.

The office door creaks under Albedo's casual push. You place both hands against the manager's desktop, channeling mana through the Enchantment Framework - Interface, Energy Conversion, Network Node, the full package.

Light floods the building as energy returns. Fluorescent panels flicker across endless aisles.

"Four zombies," Robin calls through the Telepathy Web. "Eliminated. Searching for intact bodies now."

You descend to find her standing among produce aisles, sprouted eyes examining refrigerated sections. "Three women in the back freezer. Early twenties. Hypothermia, minimal decay."

"Convenient. Let's get the generators running and set up a small barrier, we don't want them attacking us when they wake up."

The generators vibrate silently to life with the steady supply of gasoline and Silent Field.

You cast Telekinesis to move the bodies out of the freezer and into the open area of the store, lifting a shelf unit sideways, creating a visual screen. You cover two of the bodies with crates to keep them out of sight before floating the first corpse behind the shelf barrier - blonde, maybe twenty-three, wearing yoga pants and a tank top. The three must have hid from the zombies during the initial chaos and frozen to death afraid to open the doors.

"Everyone back, Spectral Hand" you say, kneeling.

Your Spectral Hand moves forward, translucent fingers settling against her rot-covered forehead. It's time to bring back the dead - True Resurrection, ninth tier, the same tier as Gate, but moving things is different than this...

"True Resurrection."

Mana drains - twelve hundred units flooding through the Network connection. The air screams as her flesh restores in seconds.

Her chest heaves. Eyes snap open - brown, wild, terrified. She gasps, coughs, screams.

Seeing us, the woman scrambles backward against the opposite shelf, hyperventilating. "Where - what - I was freezing, I couldn't breathe, I -" Her gaze locks on the industrial freezer. "Oh god. Oh god I died."

"You did," you confirm carefully, answering her directly. "I brought you back."

"Why?!" Tears stream down her face. "I don't - I can't - send me back! SEND ME BACK!"

She collapses, sobbing violently.

Kurumi speaks softly behind you. "Brad-sama... I see this across several timelines. Resurrection trauma manifests in roughly fifteen percent of subjects."

Maria kneels slowly beside the woman, violet eyes calculating. "Let me handle initial psychological stabilization."

The woman doesn't acknowledge her, rocking and crying.

Rin crosses her arms. "Two more bodies waiting. Do we continue?"

You gesture toward woman, keeping your voice level. "I agreed with soldier-girl here" - you point at Rika "before resurrecting you. If you want a bullet to the head to stay dead, that's your choice. Otherwise, congratulations: you have a second chance at surviving the magic-zombie apocalypse."

Her sobs hitch. She stares at you, red-eyed and shaking.

"Now, I don't intend to be insensitive, but could you maybe move out of the makeshift barrier so I can resurrect the other two that were in the freezer with you?"

She doesn't respond. Just rocks back and forth, hugging her knees.

You address the group. "They're probably going to react similarly. Slow death caused willingly would obviously cause more psychological complication than a quick death while prepared. Hysterical yoga-girl here seems physically successful despite her initial panic."

Maria kneels closer, speaking softly to Jennifer. "You're safe now. We'll help you."

She shakes her head violently. "No no no I don't want this I don't-"

You wait ninety seconds. She doesn't move.

"Telekinesis," you announce softly, lifting her gently off the ground. She shrieks as she floats sideways, legs kicking uselessly, until you set her down ten feet away. Maria moves quickly to intercept before Jennifer can scramble back.

You retrieve the second body from behind the crate - dark-haired woman, early twenties, engineering sweatshirt, massive head trauma visible through matted hair. Blunt force. You float her behind the barrier. Spectral Hand touching the center of her chest.

"True Resurrection."

Twelve hundred mana drains through the Network. The corpse convulses, skull reconstructing with wet cracks. Flesh fills in. Hair cleans itself.

Her eyes snap open - brown, wild, gasping. She jerks upright, hands flying to her head. "I - there was a shelf - it fell-" She touches her scalp frantically. "Oh god. Oh god I died."

"You did," you confirm. "You're alive now."

"Why?!" She scrambles backward against the opposite shelf. "I don't - send me back! SEND ME BACK!"

Kurumi tilts her head. "Trauma manifestation consistent."

Rin crosses her arms. "One more. Let's finish this."

"That's an odd reaction, head trauma and freezing should have resulted in a rather quick death. She shouldn't be so shocked about coming back to life and they used the same words?" You observe before using telekinesis to move her out of the barrier.

You pull the third body forward - blonde, twenty-one, barista apron, bite wound on her forearm. Mercy killing. You position her carefully in the center. Spectral Hand on her chest.

"True Resurrection."

Another twelve hundred mana floods out. The bite wound seals. Color returns.

She gasps awake, clutching her arm. "Where am I? What happened?!" She looks around wildly. "Mark shot me. He - he said I was turning and he-"

"You died," you say evenly. "I brought you back."

Her face crumples. "No. No no no that's not - I can't-"

She collapses sobbing.

Three resurrected women. Three psychological breakdowns.

"That reaction doesn't make sense. and so much for fifteen percent..." you complain idly.

Albedo speaks quietly behind you. "Strategic asset evaluation: resurrection creates traumatized survivors requiring extensive support. Humanitarian value unclear."

C.C. finishes her pizza slice. "Immortality perspective: forced return from death is philosophically violent."

Rika looks at you. "Your call. Continue the college search, or cut losses here?"