Chapter 32

Ais held the practice sword out between herself and Drake. He stood there calmly, his breathing shallow. He was tall - nearly a foot taller than her. He had a very impressive Skill - he could simply move through her blows as if they weren't there. The movements he made seemed to defy even her perceptions.

She lashed out at him, sweeping forward with two feet, her sword slicing towards his gut - and once more, it utterly failed to connect. It was as if he was made of water, her blade simply moving through the space where he had been. Christ. She liked that word. Christ. Kuh-ryst. "You are fast," she said. He was definitely strong. Was that enough to love him? She stared at him for a moment. He is fast. Even though he is a Level Two, he is faster than you. He has broken through your own record. He will be stronger than Ottar in a few years. "I love you," she said.

His reaction was subdued. "Ah, sorry?" He asked. She felt a burning in her cheeks. He winced, raising one hand to try to comfort her. He left himself open for an attack, and she swept in, feeling strangely angry at him because of how he had responded. Her practice sword aimed for his stomach hard enough to leave a bruise on a Level Two, but not so great as to actually be disabling.

Once more, he was like the water, smoothly rolling around her strike, and he began to glow in a beautiful, sapphire tone. There was something calming about it, like the caress of Riveria's fingers through her hair. Still, she was pouting as their eyes met again, and she wanted to smack him with her sword again and again until it actually connected. She didn't actually do that, though.

"Sorry," he said, raising his hands. "I, ah... you're very nice, Ais, but I can tell you didn't really mean that," he said. "Why did you say it?"

She didn't really mean it? "Mn. Rei said... I'd get strong if I said it." Why hadn't she really meant it? She wanted to really mean it, since that meant she would get strong.

"Only if you really mean it," he said, letting out a sigh. She nodded quietly at that, staring at him, wanting more. "Falling in love isn't that easy. Or... sometimes it is, I guess. Lena didn't have much trouble." Ais perked up at that. "But Haruhime and Loki still aren't in love with me."

"I see..." She didn't really see. "Why did it work for Lena?"

"I beat her up, and she's an Amazon. I don't think that would work for you."

Would it work for her? She imagined Drake beating her up. No. She definitely wouldn't fall in love from that. She'd been beaten up before, and she hadn't fallen in love then. Or maybe she had? What did falling in love feel like?

Drake threw a ball at her head, and she effortlessly parried it without breaking her train of thought. She didn't know what it felt like to be in love with someone. "What's it like... being in love with someone?"

"I can only speak for myself," he told her, and she nodded, "but it's like... you love every part of the person. Even the things about them that are 'bad.' I like the fact that Cass is quiet, that Noriko is autistic, that Julia is a spaz, that Erza is oblivious, that Rei is insecure."

"I am not insecure!" Came a shout from Rei, who poked her head out of a second story window only a second later. Ais's gaze went over to the window in question. "Also, you sound so gay right now." There was a pause. "Though Bitch likes what you said and says she likes your flaws too."

Drake also was staring up at Rei, Ais realized. He cleared his throat, shaking his head. "Ah. That's also something about love, I don't know how to put it, but there's these - these little things you do, without even thinking about them? And they show how you care about the other person on such a deep level. It's like how you walk without thinking about it, I gue-"

"Goshujinsama, you didn't ask what flaws you had that I like!" The dark-skinned girl - The Prettiest Princess, or Bitch, or Julia, Ais wasn't really sure which name she was supposed to use - stuck her head out of another window, though her chin was glistening. "The flaw I like about you is how feckless you are! It's so adorable how you want to do the right thing but also you're still so scared of dying!"

"Thank you, Bitch, I didn't ask because I didn't want you shouting it to everybody," Drake said.

"I know! I also like how I know you won't do anything really bad, even though you're obviously super angry, goshujinsama!"

As the two continued to speak, the dark-skinned girl continuing to list out Drake's flaws, Ais couldn't help but feel a smile forming on her lips. It was... sweet. Was this what women liked in a man? That he was sweet? Rei had said to imagine that he was sweet to her... she closed her eyes and tried to imagine it. Drake would be saying that he liked her, even though... even though she got lost in thought... no, especially because she got lost in thought? Her cheeks did heat up a bit at the imaginary Drake telling her such nice things, and her eyes opened again. "I love you," she repeated.

"Ehhh?" The dark-skinned girl cried out, looking just about ready to jump out of the window to hug her. "Goshujinsama is so skilled at seducing girls-!"

"She doesn't really mean it," Drake interrupted. "Sorry, Ais," he added, as he saw her pouting.

She tried to smack him in the head. It didn't hit, but the pout on her lips was still there.

* * *

"Get back here, Bitch," Rei said, yanking on Julia's hair. She tumbled backwards, letting out a hot breath of pleasure as she got manhandled. Fuck, this chick was so masochistic, she almost wished she still had a cock so she could stuff this girl so full she broke. "You're supposed to be eating my pussy, you know?"

"Sorry, joousama," Julia responded, bowing her head even as she closed the window with her foot. Fuck, this bitch was hot. "This dumb bitch is so easily distracted by goshujinsama's kind words."

Was she fishing for a compliment? "You're hot, Bitch," she said, idly reaching out for Julia's ass cheeks and giving them both a firm squeeze. Julia let out a brief noise of pleasure in response. "Actually... there's something I want to practice. Show me your tits, Bitch."

"Yes, joousama," Julia agreed quickly, hurriedly removing her top. Fuck, them were some nice, big, round, perky breasts. They weren't obscenely big, but they were definitely very nice, round and full and her hands were on them already, fingers digging into the supple flesh. She started to yank, trying to let the argent engine inside her - the "Essence," to borrow the term that Drake used - start to play with Julia's tits just the same way that she'd enhanced her own boobs. "Ah, joousama, if you want to play with my breasts, you don't have to talk about 'practice'-"

Rei backhanded Julia, enjoying the way she panted. She was hot as fire but Christ she needed to learn to shut her mouth sometimes. You'd think she was a masochist who enjoyed pissing everybody off or something. "I'm gonna do to your tits what Corruptrix did to Miss Elastic," she told Julia, whose eyelashes fluttered with a suitable degree of pleasure to the offer. "Your tits are too small anyway," she added. Julia let out a little pant. Fuck, it was so hot, just being able to verbally and physically abuse a chick while she just responded like you were playing with her clit.

Suddenly, Julia's hands grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from her tits. "Ah... joousama, is this going to be permanent?"

"Huh?"

"Joousama, I can't let you do that sort of thing to me if it's going to be permanent, even if it would be really sexy. I have things I have to do, people I have to save."

"I'll save whoever, don't worry about it, I know Danmachi too," Rei responded, struggling against Julia's grip. Fuck! She was thin but she was strong thanks to her Level! Possibly also thanks to carrying around that bigass rifle. "Look, I can fix it whenever, it's the same kinda thing that gave me these megatits, and yeah, I can turn that off and on. You should totally just become my big-titted cumdump, though," she added. "Come on, I know those parts were the ones you like the best. Miss Elastic being turned into nothing but a sex doll is hotter to you than what happened to Incredible Girl, Vulpine, or Ice Queen." Getting turned into a housewife, a maid, and a sugar mama, respectively.

"Joousama, that's a smutty book," Julia said, looking at her like she was dumb. She knew that! "I'll let you try, but you have to promise to turn my boobs back if you manage to do it, okay?"

"Fine, fine."

"Say you promise, joousama," Julia said. It almost sounded like she didn't trust Rei.

"I promise!" Ugh! At least the buzzkilling was ended by getting to grope a pair of delicious big black boobs, though. She leaned in to lick at one, just to give a bit more appreciation. Julia wore this bright smile at her touch, her pearly whites looking down at her as her fingers gently ran through Rei's head.

* * *

Ais was a seriously tough person to fight. Even with Duck Fate, and her intentionally pacing herself to give me enough time to actually keep my Essence at a decent level, my physical body was getting pretty exhausted from all the practice. I had an added appreciation for Noriko stumbling into bed and just flopping down to get spoiled now that I was the one who wanted to stumble into bed and flop down.

"Hey, so I was thinking," Rei said, as I laid there on the bed. I hadn't even noticed that one of her was in the bedroom - I'd honestly just been hoping to fall asleep and let the aches and exhaustion leave me that way, screwing up my sleep cycle be damned. I turned my head her way anyway. "What's up with Lena?"

"With Lena?" I groaned.

"Yeah. You think she's bi?" I shrugged on the bed. Probably not, but who knew? "Ah. One other thing though," she added. "Is she safe?"

If you've ever been in a situation like that, you know the sort of jolt that just slaps you awake. You can't sleep, there's an important reason. It only took me a second to process what Rei had said, my eyes widening. "Fuck," I said straightening up. I had a general ache in my legs from having been on my feet, dodging around Ais all day. I ran a hand through my hair, and Rei gave me an appreciative look. "Right. Okay. Let me run it past you. Go down there, disguise as a member of the Ishtar familia, meet up with Lena, tell her to hide out somewhere."

"Exit route? Ishtar might have her under house arrest," Rei pointed out.

"I could carry her out with Unnatural Many-Stepped Stride," I suggested.

Rei made a noise like an airplane falling out of the sky, her hand miming the action as well for demonstration. "Rock. Head. You. Dead."

"Right," I said, letting out a loud sigh. "You got any ideas?"

"Mmm," she hummed as she thought about it. "I could turn into a Goliath and create a distraction, but that'll be really obvious in hindsight. Maybe even regular sight, honestly. Rei #7 turned into one during her fight with Phryne." There was a certain bitterness to her words as she mentioned Rei #7 again. I wasn't sure if this was the Rei who originally got superpissed, or if this had spread through all the Reis. "A big distraction of some kind could do it. The alternative is the plain, boring lie. You walk in, say Lena has to come with you, Ishtar said, blah blah, just run on raw inertia. You could try the legalistic attack too, you are married to Lena, after all, you've got the right to conjugal visits or whatever."

Different people have different... strategic mindsets, I guess is the word. Rei always fell back on lying, since it was what she was good at (well, that and being a constant voyeur). Julia was patient, stealthy, and precisely targeted everything she did. Erza tended to rely on overwhelming force and raw ability. Noriko just relied on other, stronger people - even now that she was training, it was having Ais do that with her. Cass was a fighter.

For me, it was how to bring together different abilities. If you have a hundred different possible powers, what combinations exist that are particularly valuable? Particularly the ones that are more unintuitive or interesting, since I tended to prefer systems with more exotic abilities than just making yourself immune to dying and immune to everything that's not dying. "I have an idea," I told Rei.

* * *

The nameless girl sat perched on a strand of fate. On her shoulders was the invisible form of Rei, her literal soulmate, a cute big-titted little brat who was somehow just her type, despite being a girl. Off somewhere else, there were a couple Reis in the forms of birds, watching the Ishtar familia's house.

They'd confirmed that Lena was, in fact, under house arrest. The cute genki Amazon had just been kicking around in her bedroom in boredom, looking like a child that had been grounded. Bouncing on the bed. Throwing a ball. Groaning about how bored she was. Doing some exercises. Jogging in place. Whining about how bored she was. Asking if she could be let out, be told she had to stay there. Rinse and repeat every five minutes. It was adorable! Like the little sister she'd never had!

"Finally," Rei said, and the nameless girl perked up. "Yeah. There's nobody in the warehouse right now," she said.

"One last check, joousama, I don't like shooting without being able to see it myself."

"I already did one last check, Bitch," she said, kicking the nameless girl in the chest. "Now do it."

"Nope!" The nameless girl popped the 'p', and Rei groaned before falling silent, apparently obeying her very reasonable request.

Oh, the nameless girl could see the warehouse from this distance, sure, but she couldn't actually see its insides, so she couldn't be absolutely sure there wasn't anybody in there. After another minute, Rei spoke up. "It's double-checked, hit it, Bitch," she said.

The nameless girl pressed the button. It wasn't immediately visible or audible - it wasn't an explosion! That would be incredibly dangerous! They'd picked this warehouse because it was near Belit Babili without actually directly adjoining any buildings, so the fire would be contained. It took nearly half a minute for the firecracker-accelerant-incendiary combination she'd put in a corner (well away from the exits, just in case Rei screwed up somehow) to actually bear visible fruit, but the flames became visible. Less than a minute later, the whole warehouse was engulfed in them. Fire was so fast! It really was incredible! She hoped nobody got hurt, though.

Not even Ishtar.

Ishtar deserved worse than death.

* * *

I was disguised as a member of the Ishtar familia. "I want to talk to Lena," I told her guard - one of the very same Level Threes who had gotten in a fight with me back in the Dungeon. I didn't know her name.

"Go ahead. She just can't leave her room," the woman noted. "She's really annoying right now."

"Is she ever not?" I asked, making the woman snort, a smile on her lips. I stepped into Lena's bedroom.

"Hyaaa!" Lena cried out, making a flying kick directly at my chest. She was fucking insanely fast, and it was only thanks to a quick application of Exalted puissance that I managed to avoid the hit, leaving her to clonk right into the wall and flop down on her back. "I wanna fiiiiight. Or have sex, but apparently Drake won't come over, and Ishtar says I shouldn't have sex with other people besides my husband! Isn't that lame?!" Lena asked these questions from her position on her back, legs leaned up against the wall.

"It sounds pretty lame," I agreed. I leaned down next to her, whispering in her ear, quiet enough even a Level Three shouldn't have been able to hear me. "It's me, Drake."

"Huhhh?" Lena asked, squinting. "No it's not! Obviously!" She hopped to her feet. "You don't look anything like Drake!"

Fuck. A Resplendent Destiny can only be pierced if you act out of character - but it still requires a bit of awareness on the part of the person you're speaking to. Lena was dense as a brick. "Forget it," I told her, and she frowned. "Want to spar?" I suggested.

"Heck yes!" She said, and I managed to grab her foot as it kicked out at me - then I promptly swung her around and towards her window, clonking against the wall. "Oof! Good one!"

"Take my hand," I said. She was confused, but she was also guileless, so she went along with it - then I hefted her up and out the window with me, as I stepped out onto empty air, strands of fate directing me up and away from Belit Babili.

I spared a few glances back, worried that Lena's stupid outburst had meant our guard would notice that I was leaving, but she didn't seem to have. The burning warehouse occupied most of the rest of the Amazons' attention, as they desperately tried to put it out. I felt bad about the property damage, but... canonically, Ishtar mindbroke Aisha for disobeying her. She'd already tried to have my wives killed in the Dungeon. I wasn't going to risk Lena's life, especially when she was under house arrest.

"Wow! We're really high up! Isn't this dangerous, sister?" Lena asked, looking up at me. I let my Resplendent Destiny end, and she gasped, her free hand going to her mouth. "Wow! It really is you, Drake! That was a super good disguise!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Clamber up on my back, Lena. It's not safe for you at Belit Babili, we need to find a place to keep you safe," I told her, and she just nodded, glomming onto me from behind.

"This is so cool! Wow! It's like one of those stories, you know, where the princess gets rescued from a tower, and I'm the princess!" I let out another small laugh at that. "What's funny?"

"You. You're very cute, Lena," I said.

"You're cute too, Drake!" She declared it without a hint of guile. "So, where are we going?"

* * *

Alex was happy that Rei visited so regularly, of course. She did love her goddaughter. Even if her relationship had been going on for a while, since she'd gotten married to Drake her behavior had... gotten worse. It was an awkward reality, that her teenage daughter was clearly sexually attracted to her and Ellie both, but something that was best handled by ignoring it until it went away. She'd find somebody age appropriate, and the entire thing would be an embarrassing youthful crush that she would try to forget about.

Except, unfortunately, Rei had done the opposite of forget about it. Rei came over and discussed her husband, and how great he was, which was all perfectly good, except it always, always segued into her suggesting that maybe it'd be cool to do a little spouse swap. Ellie could fuck Drake and Rei could fuck Alex. If Rei hadn't been... Rei, she might have thought that she was doing it at Drake's suggestion. But it was Rei, and that wasn't her only angle, anyway.

"I mean, I have like ten bodies now, so Drake has a really hard time satisfying them all on his own, and I know you like satisfying girls..." "Alex, I love you, I want you so bad, I've wanted you from literally the first moment my brain started to notice girls, you're insanely hot, you've only gotten hotter lately too." "Can I just scratch your ears? How about you put your head in my lap and you let me scratch your ears..." "Drake is fine with it! I bet Ellie would be fine with it too, if you're the one to ask her!" "Come on. You've never thought about doing it with a woman besides Ellie? I think about doing it with a guy besides Drake all the time."

She was honestly relieved that the girl hadn't acted like a sex pest this time, just coming by, informing Alex about something serious having happened, explaining that they'd have to put up one of her co-wives. Part of her worried that it was all just a trick and any moment another Rei would pop in to declare that she was stuck hiding out in their house, and while she was here, you know, she couldn't handle her sexual needs...

But no. It was a completely different young lady. An Amazon, by the looks of her. "Yeah, she's pretty hot, huh?" Rei said, interrupting Alex's thoughts. "It's cool if she sleeps with another woman, whether that's you or me," Rei added, elbowing Alex, who just sighed.

"Welcome to our home..." Alex trailed off.

"Oh! I'm Lena! Lena Holt! Drake's wife!" She proclaimed. "I'm probably pregnant with his baby by now!" She patted her belly happily. "Nice to meet you, um...?"

"Alexandra Maxwell. Rei's mother. Please, come in," Alex said. Rei didn't appear to be leaving, but her behavior was a lot better than normal. Perhaps she was finally getting over the hope of sleeping with Alex.

More likely, she was just distracted by another pretty girl.

* * *

Having given Lena over to Rei - not actually knowing where she was taken, just in case I was asked - I had finally gotten to go to sleep, and I'd slept a long while - five hours, rather than my normal three in the main sleep.

Now that I had recovered, it was the middle of the night, and I was practicing with Julia in the yard. I was teaching her the March of Spiders martial art. Julia made the same knife hand strike that I demonstrated on the training dummy, but I could tell she wasn't doing it quite right, even now. It'd just be a normal unarmed strike. "I don't think I get it, goshujinsama... it feels like I'm missing something. Am I just stupid, goshujinsama? It's okay if I am! I'm a stupid bitch onahole, after all, I don't need to be smart!"

I knew what she was missing. I was somewhat worried about what she would do with it, but... "There's something else about this technique," I told her, stepping in close - and closer, until my lips were at her ear. Her breasts pushed into my chest and I could feel as her breath quicken in anticipation of being told a violent secret. "Once someone is in the coma, you can eat their soul. It makes their body collapse like an empty husk and thousands of spiders flee from it."

"Ah! Goshujinsama! Yes, I think I get it now!" She knife hand struck the mannequin again, and this time, I could tell she actually had it.

"Don't practice it on me," I said, "but I think you have it."

"Ah, goshujinsama, I wouldn't practice it on you! If anything you should practice it on me, turning me into a completely unresisting sex toy, unable to do anything but submit to you..."

"You're already a completely unresisting sex toy that's unable to do anything but submit to me," I told her, with a smile, and she smiled right back.

* * *

The warehouse with spare beddings had burned down, and Lena had disappeared from her room. Rajya said that she'd heard Lena declare that somebody 'didn't look like Drake,' but had just thought the girl was acting like her ordinary overexcitable self. Now it was obvious what had actually happened. Ishtar was becoming increasingly incensed, as this damned Level Two seemed to work hard to unravel all her work and preemptively stop her from doing anything to hurt him.

No. He had made two mistakes. Firstly, once she met his gaze in the prelude to the War Game, she'd turn him to her side with a flick of her hips - and once he was in her familia, she'd break his mind down into an obedient slave, to thoroughly punish him for all the inconveniences he'd put her through. Secondly, she would be able to take a pound of flesh out of the Loki familia for kidnapping a member of her own. Perhaps even bring his current wives over that way?

Chapter 33 is available on my Subscribestar at this link, Chapter 34 at this link, and Chapter 35 at this link. It involves the War Game with the Ishtar familia, the primary resolution to the Ishtar arc, and the denouement thereof. All three are available for just $3/month. This will be updated irregularly, but hopefully at least once per week.