Underlying Tensions

Sensing Sarina's return, Vahn poked the cheek of the sleeping, Wu, stating, "It's about time for you to stop lounging about..."

After pretending to be asleep for several seconds, Wu responded to Vahn's words by biting the tip of his index finger. Then, as her emerald-green eyes opened to stare at him, she began to trace her tongue over and around it before suckling it in an overtly sexual manner.

"..."

(*Looks like you acquired yourself another nympho...*)

Ignoring Sis's words, Vahn wiggled his hand a few times, but, as could be expected, Wu refused to release her hold on the tip of his finger. Now that she had formally professed her love, Wu wanted to stay with Vahn until the very end. She understood he had other things going on, but, with such a large number of people watching, she wasn't going to let him give her the boot so easily.

Seeing Wu's expression gradually morph into an increasingly adorable pout, Vahn eventually gave up on trying to dislodge her from his fingertip. It was a little awkward but he decided to just let her do as she pleased. In this particular instance, that meant curling up in his lap and continued to suck on the tips of his fingers as he adjusted the flow of time to allow Sarina to enter the throne room...

Pushing open the massive doors separating the antechamber and control/throne room, Sarina was about to greet Vahn when her settled on the inordinately petite monkey girl curled up in his lap. A look of confusion briefly and slight envy briefly marred her expression, but, after shaking her head, she was able to regain her composure as she reported, "I managed to infiltrate the palace of Meng Zhang but was forced to retreat due to the appearance of a mysterious woman resembling an owl. I observed her for several hours but was unable to discover even a hint of any weaknesses she might possess."

Rather than Vahn, the person that responded to Sarina was Wu, asking, "A woman resembling an owl? Was she wearing a cloak or did she actually have the features of an owl...?"

Though she was slightly taken aback by Wu's interjection, Sarina eventually answered, "She was wearing a cloak..." after seeing Vahn supply a curt nod.

With an expression of genuine surprise, Wu perked up quite a bit as she remarked, "Wow, you're really lucky. If I'm not mistaken, the woman you encountered was Nav, the Queen of Owls. She is one of the top three powerhouses within the Akuma Community. A few years back, she ended up wiping out more than a thousand different Communities in the 6-7-Digit Gates. Several lower-digit Communities tried to step in and deal with her but everyone that dared venture into her 'Forest of Owls' ended up losing their life or disappearing completely."

Though she had never encountered Nav directly, Wu had heard about the woman's exploits from Lady Xiwangmu. The latter loved to gossip, so, whenever Wu stopped by to pilfer peaches, the two would chat about various persons of interest within the Little Garden.

Hearing Wu's explanation, a chill ran through Sarina's body. Nav's rampage had ended long before she was born, but, back when she was still at the orphanage, Sarina remembered hearing an urban legend related to an owl-like woman who had converted a large section of the Little Garden into a haunted forest. She had forgotten the woman's name due to the time she spent in the Actualized World of Dragon Ball, but, now that she was hearing it from Wu, memories of the stories she heard during her childhood came flooding back to her.

Recalling that the Queen of Owls was supposed to be an old Crone with an arched back, twisted face, bone-like fingers, and deathly white hair, Sarina couldn't help asking, "Are you certain that was the Queen of Owls? She didn't seem particularly old..."

While adjusting her position so that her butt was pressed snugly against Vahn's lap, Wu adopted an expression that seemed to say, 'this woman is an idiot' as she asked, "How am I supposed to know for certain if I haven't actually seen her? All I know is that Nav eventually went on to become one of the Big Three of the Akuma Community. I seriously doubt another powerhouse associated with owls would just appear out of thin air. Besides, what does age have to do with anything? You're like fifty-plus yet you don't look a day over nineteen."

Though she wasn't particularly sensitive about her age, Sarina's expression morphed into a resent-filled deadpan as she stared daggers at Wu. She got the impression that Wu was trying to make a fool of her in front of Vahn. Fortunately, just as she was about to say something, Vahn grabbed the tips of Wu's rounded, monkey-like ears as he said, "Don't go out of your way to antagonize others."

Leaning her head back, Wu's eyes squinted in a threatening manner. If he dared to pull on her ears, she would pull on his until they either drooped like an elephant or became detached from his head. Her ears were easily one of the most sensitive parts of her entire body. She also didn't-

Before Wu could even think to issue a threat of her own, Vahn began to gently massage the interior of her ears using his Hands of Nirvana. Sudden and intense pleasure permeated through the nerves in Wu's ears before spreading through her head and running down her spine to the base of her tail. Immediately after that, it was almost like fireworks had been set off in her mind, a dazzling display of light and sound that assaulted the senses and left Wu both mesmerized and disoriented.

Just as Wu felt the imminent surge of a powerful climax, Vahn suddenly released her ears from his grasp. A dazed and confused expression subsequently developed across Wu's face before quickly forming into a pout as she realized the meaning behind his actions.

"You're...playing with fire..."

Instead of a vocal response to Wu's threatening words, Vahn planted a kiss on the top of her head before directing his attention to Sarina and asking, "What do you want to do...?"

Hearing Vahn's words, the glimmer of envy in Sarina's eyes disappeared as she answered, "I want to continue my mission but I can't do it alone. Can you call someone to aid me?"

Nodding his head, Vahn was about to call Kefla when Wu interjected, saying, "We're technically on the same side. As an apology for my previous behavior, I'll go ahead and lend you a hand. No hard feelings, 'kay?"

Though Wu's words sounded remarkably insincere, the fact she had apologized at all left many in the Little Garden at a total loss for words. Wu wasn't the type of person to give ground and admit her mistakes. There were even instances of her beating the people she had offended and wronged until they apologized to her. Thus, while it wasn't nearly as impactful as her confession, hearing her offer even an insincere apology was shocking.

Feeling itchy due to the number of people that were focusing on and thinking about her, Wu began to fidget atop Vahn's lap. In response, he wrapped his arms around her body, gently embracing her tiny frame as a steady stream of calming energy flowed from his body into hers.

Though she would rather Vahn finish what he started previously, a contented sigh escaped Wu's lips before she wriggled out of his embrace for the first time in nearly a full day. She felt a strange sense of emptiness when she was on her own two feet, but, having become accustomed to loneliness, she managed to appear as her usual, confident self as she gazed at Sarina and said, "Lead the way."

Furrowing her brows, Sarina attempted to channel the dignity she believed the Vice-Leader of the Sage Dragon's Hearth needed, stating, "I do not take orders from you. Besides, the whole reason I returned was to 'recharge' and spend a bit of time with Vahn. I wouldn't have come all this way just to tell him something he was already well aware of."

As she spoke, Sarina did her best to maintain a relaxed yet confident posture as she made her way past Wu and over to Vahn. To her surprise, Wu didn't even try to stop her. Instead, she just raised her brows, an ostensibly surprised expression on her face as she followed Sarina's passage with her blazing, emerald-green eyes.

Seeing Sarina sit sideways atop Vahn's lap, Wu would be lying if she said it didn't bother her. The only reason she didn't bonk Sarina over the head with her Ruyi Jingu Bang is because she knew it would make Vahn upset. This, in turn, would make her even more upset, so, for a brief moment, Wu was at a complete loss for what to do.

To Wu's surprise, it was Sarina that broke the silence, asking, "Are you just going to keep standing there, or are you going to join us? I'll have you know I have no intention of leaving within the next four to six hours. If you're not going to join us, you should go take a bath or something."

Thinking Sarina was insulting her, Wu's confusion quickly turned to anger as she asked, "What the hell did you just say?"

Like a prey animal that had just stepped into the line of sight of a predator, Sarina's body became tense enough to rival a statue. Fortunately, Vahn was there to assist, warmth flowing from the hand he had placed on her hip as he clarified, "She was insinuating that you go and relax for a few hours, not that you smell bad.

In response to Vahn's explanation, Sarina nodded her head like a chicken. Wu was still glaring at her, but, moments later, her expression relaxed into an amused smile as she teased, "You're pretty skittish, aren't you? Is this big sister really that scary~?"

To Wu's surprise, Sarina promptly decided that she simply wasn't going to respond. She was still feeling a little unnerved after her encounter with the Queen of Owls, so, now that she was seated atop Vahn's lap, Sarina took advantage of the situation to lean against his body and rest her head against his chest...

...

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While continuing to capture and crush countless insect-like golems, Chronoa also took the time to analyze the one she had placed into stasis.

Despite resembling a cockroach formed of earthen materials, the interior structure of the golem was a lot more advanced than Chronoa had expected. Whoever created was clearly a skilled Mage, but, as one of the most gifted Mages in her entire verse, its secrets were not beyond Chronoa's abilities to probe.

"The secret appears to lay in these crystals. Their interior structure is remarkably similar to a highly advanced computer. I bet I could reprogram them..."

Though the insectoid golems were nothing compared to the nanite-sized microgolems produced by Da Vinci, Chronoa wasn't particularly well acquainted with Vahn's most intelligent lover. The two had been introduced to one another, but, the moment Chronoa set eyes on Da Vinci, she knew they would never get along.

Chronoa didn't know if others were aware of it or simply chose to ignore it, but, as someone that had spent more than a hundred million years observing others, she could tell that the only things Da Vinci truly cared about were Vahn and whatever invention she happened to be working on. She was capable of appearing perfectly genial when speaking to others, but, deep within the woman's mesmerizing eyes, Chronoa could sense an emotion similar to disdain. With the exception of Vahn, Da Vinci didn't really seem to care about anyone in the Sage Dragon's Hearth.

Believing that Vahn was well aware of Da Vinci's quirks, Chronoa had never broached the subject. She had a lot of introspective thoughts regarding the other women in Vahn's harem, but, fearing she would create unnecessary drama, she simply bottled them up. A hundred million years of living alone had left her with a number of her own quirks, so, as long as people like Seraphina or Da Vinci didn't go out of their way to cause trouble, Chronoa would do her best to tolerate their existence.

As far as Chronoa could tell, this was how most of the women in Vahn's harem dealt with the girls they didn't like...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Wu is a mischievous monkey...','Spooky...','Chronoa gives off the impression of a gossipy yet introverted housewife xD...')

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