Succumb

"Don't get distracted...!" exclaimed Vahn, breaking Xenovia from her awe, prompting her to raise her Excalibur defensively as he dropped down and slammed his fists against it.

Not expecting Vahn's attack to be as heavy as it was, sending a luminous pulse through the area, Xenovia's thighs bulged as she was briefly forced to one knee. In the same motion, however, she shifted her weight forward into a rolling tackle, causing Vahn to stumble over her before instinctively flapping his wings to rise into the air and flip over onto his feet.

Rebounding from her tackle, Xenovia's eyes glistened with intrigue as she remarked, "Well, you're just full of surprises..." before lunging forward with her Excalibur angled behind her, propelling herself forward with its power.

Extending his hands, fingers spread, Vahn surprised Xenovia for the umpteenth time by condensing the air within his domain and dropping it on her like a hammer. This didn't do any real damage, but it was enough to knock her off balance, forcing her to tuck and roll to avoid faceplanting into the ground. She attempted to transition this into an overhead attack with her Excalibur, but Vahn was waiting for her with a pair of meter-wide spheres formed from light, held out to his sides.

Intercepting Xenovia's attack by bringing the spheres of light together, Vahn produced a blinding explosion of purifying heat and pressure that sent them both reeling. He expected his [Aura of Karmic Protection] to protect him, but perhaps as a result of being his own attack, his face and chest felt warm, and his hair was lightly singed as he bounced across the ground a few times before recovering.

Reaching a similar conclusion, Xenovia, the ends of her hair slightly curly and her bodysuit torn in several places, remarked, "It appears you're not impervious to your own attacks..." with a narrow-eyed smile.

"We both learned something new..." joked Vahn, adopting a smile of his own and raising his fists with his left held out and his right drawn in near his shoulder.

"Speaking of...the power you wield is unmistakably that of an Angel..." remarked Xenovia, raising her sword as she noted, "And the only Angel I've heard of possessing golden wings is Lord Michael..."

Shaking his head, Vahn conceded, "It might resemble the power of an Angel, but this is my own. I won't go into details, but you're mistaken if you believe I received this power from your God or have any relation to any existing Angels..."

"Hmm...I will take your word for it..." responded Xenovia, holding her sword out to her right side and releasing it, allowing it to pierce into the ground before cupping the back of her neck with her left hand and rolling her head.

Realizing that Xenovia was preparing to face him with her fists, Vahn unequipped his gauntlets and retracted his wings, steeling himself for her assault. Moments later, Xenovia was right in front of him, hands raised in a relaxed boxing pose as she performed a series of lightning-swift jabs with her left fist.

Though he was quite a bit slower than Xenovia, Vahn was able to react to her attacks thanks to his domain, batting away the first jab and blocking the remainder with his forearm. He felt a sense of crisis when she shifted her weight, weaved her head like a pendulum, and attempted to drive her right fist into his diaphragm, but since punching wasn't all he knew how to do, he shifted his weight back onto his right foot and swiftly raised his left knee, intercepting the strike before countering with a jab of his own.

"Not bad...!" exclaimed Xenovia, twisting her body three-hundred-and-sixty degrees into crouching pose and lunging forward, driving her right shoulder into Vahn's abdomen as she hooked her hands around his lower calves and pulled them toward her, forcing him onto his back. In the same series of motions, she expertly mounted him, her incredibly toned bottom resting on his stomach before she began slamming her fists into his guard with enough force to send tremors through the ground.

As it wasn't his first time being mounted, though the person who usually took him to the ground was much smaller than Xenovia, Vahn waited for her to be mid-punch before bucking his hips, lowering his guard to grab her waist and pushing up with full force the moment she was knocked off balance.

Taking advantage of Vahn's throw, Xenovia used her hands as a spring and twisted her body to land on her feet. At the same time, Vahn flipped over onto all fours as if he were preparing to pounce, providing Xenovia some insight into the origin of his Angelic wings as a pair of dark brown cat ears emerged from his head along with a tail from his lower back. His eyes also turned golden and became distinctly cat-like as a hazy, steam-like aura erupted from his body.

'So he can emulate other races...' concluded Xenovia, the tension in her body increasing as she recognized the aura around Vahn's body as Touki, multiplying his power and increasing his speed.

Putting his increased speed and even greater perception to work, Vahn lunged at Xenovia in slow motion. She was able to react and get her guard up, but since Touki had the exceedingly useful property of piercing an opponent's defenses, each strike caused the muscles in Xenovia's jaw to clench as bruises rapidly formed beneath the fabric covering her arms up to her biceps.

Understanding that she would lose if she remained on the defensive, Xenovia matched Vahn's rhythm and thrust her hands at his face the moment he put his full weight behind a punch. Instead of striking him, however, she grabbed his flared collar and jerked downward with all her might as she slid her left foot back, causing Vahn's eyes to widen as he found himself faceplanting into her very ample bosom.

"Consider this a solid hit..." said Xenovia, smiling as she punctuated her words by driving her left knee into Vahn's diaphragm, the force raising his feet from the ground and causing him to invert due to her unrelenting hold on his collar. At least, it was unrelenting, as she released him the moment he was upside down to leap into him, wrapping her arms and legs around his body to arrest his momentum before driving his head into the ground, using his Touki to penetrate the soil and plant him into it...

Releasing her hold on Vahn and rolling backward away from him, Xenovia bounded to her feet, brushed her hands together, and remarked, "Let's do this again sometime."

After falling onto his hands and knees and plucking his head from the ground, Vahn sat back, smacking the side of his head to dislodge some dirt from his Nekoshou ears as he asked, "You already landed a solid hit on my stomach...was there any need to plant me into the ground?"

Shrugging, Xenovia crossed her arms and conceded, "It just felt like the right thing to do. No hard feelings?"

"I try not to hold grudges..." responded Vahn, shifting his gaze to the approaching Rias, Akeno, Asia, Issei, Irina, and Grayfia.

"Alright, I think that's enough testing each other. Akeno, please fix our new associate's clothing. As for you, Vahn, it was a good effort, but let's get you cleaned up and into bed," said Rias, smiling as she extended her left hand to help him stand. He could easily rise on his own but accepted her help, retracting his cat ears and tail as he responded, "Thanks...and sorry for being selfish..." with a slightly guilty smile.

"I'm just glad you're not injured..." muttered Rias, brushing the dirt off Vahn's hair and shoulders before lowering her blue eyes to his exposed chest and abs. He had slight, sunburn-like burns, but they disappeared the moment she focused on them.

"I'm fine..." Vahn reaffirmed, his expression softening as he instinctively wrapped his arms around Rias's body.

"Ara ara, how envious~" hummed Akeno, cupping her cheek and adopting a narrow, almost closed-eyed smile. At the same time, Asia puffed out her cheeks, and Koneko stared at him intently, causing Vahn to exhale in faux exasperation before making a come hither gesture as he said, "No need to hold yourselves back..."

Seeing Vahn enjoying a group hug with Rias, Akeno, Asia, and Koneko, Issei exhaled from his nose, shook his head, and looked to Irina as he asked, "Do you think I could get a group hug if I allowed my head to be planted in the ground?"

"Aww, is someone feeling left out~?" asked Irina, causing Issei's eyes to become as round as saucers as she abruptly grabbed him and pulled his face into her ample bosom, patting the back of his head as she remarked, "There, there~" like a mother consoling a child.

'Thank you, God...!' exclaimed Issei internally, causing his head to feel like someone had taken an axe to his crown. However, it would take a lot more than that to prevent him from enjoying Irina's magnificent mammaries...

'What an unusual group...' thought Xenovia, maintaining her cross-armed posture as she shifted her weight onto her right foot. She didn't approve of Irina's apparent closeness to Issei, but since their superiors had also advised them not to make an enemy out of the Red Dragon Emperor, she decided to wait until their nightly confessional to chastise her...

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Touching down near Vahn, her pitch-black wings and Maid outfit covered in patches of luminous frost, Grayfia acquiesced, "It appears that, even with my Demonic Power, I cannot resist the effects of this Fimbulwinter's Encroachment."

"Thanks for helping to confirm things," said Vahn, handing Grayfia a mug of hot cocoa as he and Asia had learned from their previous exploration that warm food and drink drastically decreased the time it took to remove stacks of Fimbulwinter's Encroachment.

"It is my privilege to serve Goshujin-sama," responded Grayfia, accepting the mug with a smile. She would have preferred tea or coffee, but as the hot liquid filled her mouth and trickled down her throat, it filled her frigid body with a pleasant warmth that made her frigid wings, fingers, and toes tingle.

Pretending not to notice Grayfia's nipples hardening through her blouse, Vahn turned his gaze to the distant mountain fortress he had asked her to scout, asking, "Did you notice anything?"

Nodding, Grayfia revealed, "The fortress appears unoccupied, but several snow-covered corpses littered the parapets, and the skeletal remains of a sizable creature resembling a western dragon could be seen in the bailey. I was able to use Detection Magic to confirm the existence of a complex underneath the fortress, but from what I could ascertain, it appears to be a mine rather than the entrance to the next Floor."

"A mine...?" repeated Vahn, recalling that conflicts over mines and other resource deposits were common, even in the Underworld. As a result, he promptly nodded and affirmed, "Sounds like something we would benefit from looking into further."

"If Goshujin-sama is willing, I will happily accompany him," stated Grayfia, her silver eyes glistening. She was also curious about the mine, and since it was just the two of them present, she would prefer to check it there and then, just in case the minerals found within were too precious to disclose to others. Vahn might not care about such things, but if the Corridor were to one day become accessible from the Overworld, they would eventually need to restrict access to certain locations and resources.

"Hmmm..."

Though he originally planned to wait until the situation with Kokabiel was resolved before exploring the Frozen Abyss earnestly, Vahn's intrigue was undoubtedly his greatest weakness. Thus, after a moment of deliberation, he nodded affirmingly and decided, "We'll go check out. But if the skeletal remains awaken, I want to try fighting them myself."

"Of course," responded Grayfia, offering a steep bow that would provide anyone standing behind her an unobstructed view of her voluminous ass and black side-tie thong. The cold didn't particularly bother her, so while Vahn had offered her a change of clothes, she elected to wear the short-skirted version of her Maid attire, the hem of which appeared to get even shorter whenever they were alone...

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