Uncertain, Discontinuous

Amid a series of cracking bones and rising black smoke, twelve symmetrical black limbs spread and grew once more. Jet-black bony armor gradually covered her body, and blade-sharp bone spurs glinted with a bloody chill—Shirley had returned to her Abyssal Demon form.

She was adapting to controlling her two forms at an astonishing pace, growing increasingly adept at wielding this body. Rather than learning from scratch, it felt more like this knowledge had long been steeped deep within her mind and limbs, and she was merely gradually remembering it.

After flexing the limbs behind her that aided her walking and rotating her hands and feet, Shirley nodded in satisfaction. "In a damned place like this, I feel a little safer like this."

A'gou raised its head and glanced at Shirley, who was now much taller than it was. Then its body was suddenly enveloped in swirling smoke. As if melting, it shrank and merged into the shadows at Shirley's side.

Duncan silently watched from nearby. Only after Shirley's form had stabilized did he step forward and say, "I thought you would resist your demon body—after all, such a drastic transformation would be rather... worldview-shattering for an ordinary person."

"Who cares whether it looks good when we're already in the Abyssal Deep Sea?" Shirley said indifferently, poking at a stone on the ground with the limbs behind her. "I'm a... what was that word again? Oh, I'm a 'pragmatist.' First, make sure I can stay alive safely, then worry about whether I'm living well. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing bad about this demon body. It can fight and take a beating, so it's extremely useful in the Abyssal Deep Sea. If I have to name a drawback, it's that it uncontrollably absorbs the remains of dead demons. Ugh... just