Inside the room, the lighting was dim. Raize preferred this quiet, subdued atmosphere when gaming—it helped him focus.
Outside, it was already nearing noon. Kirby Star Allies had a relatively long progression. During that time, Raize had even gone to the Raiden Company once. The game he needed was now close to being fully released.
Raize sat there, eyes fixed on the screen, fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard.
"Ha-oh~"
The game's background music and its refined cartoon characters unfolded before Raize as he played.
On the screen was a cute little pink ball with red feet and stubby arms, only twenty centimeters tall, looking extremely adorable.
That was Kirby—the pink hero (pink demon). He was the protagonist Raize controlled in this game.
By setting, Kirby had a naturally carefree personality, loved eating and singing.
Kirby's signature ability was inhaling enemies and copying their powers, a trait that perfectly showcased his strength.
Kirby was an action game series developed in Raize's previous life by HAL Laboratory and Nintendo.
The story took place on a planet called Popstar.
On it was a kingdom named Dream Land, a fairy-tale-like world, peaceful and beautiful, almost like a utopia.
Yet even the most peaceful worlds could not escape various disturbances. Each installment of the Kirby series depicted "abnormal events on a peaceful planet."
Kirby, the planet's hero, naturally had to resolve these anomalies.
In his previous life, Raize had played this classic game and cleared it three times.
"Haah!!!"
The game had reached its final stage—End: Void Termina. On the screen, the Kirby controlled by Raize confronted the boss in its final form: a spherical, purple eyeball, looking like a fairy-tale evil god.
After all, the Kirby universe was whimsical and bright in tone.
Two beams of energy shot out on the screen, fired simultaneously by Kirby and the boss, both aiming for the final blow.
Da-da-da-da-da!!!
The two energy cannons collided. Raize's fingers hammered the prompt keys, steadily pushing the beam toward the boss.
At last, the final boss was completely defeated. After a violent explosion on screen, the game reached its conclusion. Kirby and his companions rode a golden star back to their home, Popstar.
[ Game cleared ]
[ Ding. Congratulations, player. Game clear complete ]
The long-awaited clear notification appeared in his mind, and text confirming his success appeared before his eyes.
[ This game clear reward includes: Kirby Template, abilities Freeze, Beam, Spark, and 4,000 Popstar Crystal Shards ]
The rewards made Raize inwardly delighted. He could ignore the others, but the inheritance of Kirby's power was something he absolutely could not pass up.
As mentioned before, Kirby's signature abilities were inhalation and copying—powers that fully demonstrated his overwhelming strength.
Kirby's copy ability was truly broken. Abilities, combat experience, techniques, secret arts—everything could be copied.
Wasn't that remarkably similar to a certain Majin from Dragon Ball?
The 4,000 Popstar Crystal Shards had already been stored in his inventory space.
And as for the inheritance of power—
In an instant, a pink energy sphere about twenty centimeters in size appeared in front of Raize. After circling around him once, it directly merged into his body.
After that, spheres representing the powers of freezing, beams, and ion particles also merged into Raize's body one after another.
He could feel the light, lightning, and freezing energy within him all becoming stronger.
More than that, he felt as though his body itself was about to undergo some kind of change.
"Uh…"
After letting out a muffled sound, Raize's expression suddenly changed. Pink, starlike energy spread across his entire body, completely enveloping him.
Immediately afterward, Raize's humanoid height kept shrinking, until he finally turned into a spherical creature slightly larger than a basketball.
"Uh… what am I now?"
As his line of sight lowered, Raize blinked his cute, wide eyes and looked around his room, then down at the chair beneath him.
Raize, who had landed on the computer chair, had completely changed in appearance. His body had become a small, adorable pink sphere, blinking a pair of cute blue eyes, with two tiny pink arms constantly flapping about.
"I turned into Kirby!?"
Although Raize's tiny pink arms were very short, they were extremely elastic, like rubber. He stretched out his fingerless pink hands, looking at his cartoon-like palms, and fell into deep self-doubt.
You already gave me abilities—why did you have to change my appearance too? What about my tough guy image and my handsome, reader-level looks? How could those be abandoned so easily?
Punyuu~ Punyuu~
Raize jumped straight off the computer chair. When he landed on the floor, he made a sound that filled him with black lines across his forehead. He silently lowered his head and looked at his big red feet.
Making such a cute walking sound really made Raize, as a man, feel a bit awkward—though he didn't actually dislike it.
"System, what am I supposed to do now that I look like this!?" Raize stared blankly at his reflection in the mirror. His pink spherical appearance made people want to hug him tightly, and his dazed, cute expression naturally made anyone feel charmed.
His physical strength was still there, and he even felt that his body had become tougher and lighter. Although this appearance didn't look suitable for movement, it actually posed no real issues when he moved around.
Deep down, Raize also felt that he looked pretty cute like this—but how was he supposed to go out and meet people like this!?
[ Guh-hehe~ Raize, don't you think this look of yours is pretty adorable? Let me take a few more photos. I'll come out later and give you a big hug~ ]
"…Get lost! I don't have a sleazy trash system like you. Hurry up and tell me how to fix this situation!" After freezing for a moment, Raize's pink, cute cheeks formed an angry, icy expression. But no matter how you looked at it, even his anger was adorable.
It just made people want to pull him into their arms and ruthlessly knead him.
[ Come on, don't be mad~ The way you look when you're angry just makes me want to hug you even more. As for Kirby's power, as long as you can… hm!! That woman's here!! ]
Don't stop halfway through!!!
Raize had been listening very carefully—this was about whether he could turn back! And yet it just cut off.
It was like pulling back halfway through a dump—what kind of nonsense was that?
But before Raize could complain, a certain miniaturized Biblical loli God passed straight through the door of his room like a ghost and floated inside.
"Raize, I sensed a sudden appearance of special energy in your room, you—"
Sei spoke with concern as she floated directly into the room. After all, Raize was her contractor, and on a deeper level, he was also her—
But the moment the Biblical loli God floated in, her words abruptly stopped. Her lowered gaze locked directly onto the pink spherical creature standing in front of the mirror. She fell silent, staring at him.
As if afraid the atmosphere might suddenly become awkward, Sei immediately knew through their contract and soul fluctuations that this cute, adorable pink sphere was the Raize she cared about.
"So cute!!!"
Sei's golden eyes burst forth with terrifying starlight. She instantly teleported in front of Raize and scooped him up into her arms, hugging him tightly while rubbing her soft, fair cheeks against him.
Kirby-ized Raize had an extremely soft body. Holding him felt even more comfortable than hugging a plush toy. The soft, pleasant sensation made Sei completely unable to let go.
"Stop touching me! Let go of me lil girl!!!"
Feeling the small hands stroking his body, the smooth touch of Sei's fair cheeks, her warm breath, and her intoxicating scent—
Raize's pink face slowly turned red. His big red feet flailed nonstop, and his tiny pink arms struggled wildly. He could have used force to break free, but deep down, he didn't want to use violence against Sei.
"Nope, nope~ Let me hug you a bit more. This feel is absolutely top-tier!"
"Damn it! You Biblical loli God, can you act a little more like a god, please??!!"
"Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the exalted one. I am the God of Bible! Not some Biblical loli God!!"
"All of you are cult leaders!!!"
Raize struggled weakly and roared.