Lakshmi rolled around on the floor, trying to shake the inebriated Ai off her.
"UnHAND my kirtle, you inconsequential little grimalkin!"
"No!" Ai cried in retaliation. "And you're gonna stop using all those big, fancy words I don't understand, while I'm gonna hold you right here, until Big Sis can get her claws on you!"
Indeed, the Squell was latched on tight: with those wide, sharp molars PAINFULLY biting into the flesh of her captor's neck, and claws piercing through the flowing silk garment she wore.
Lakshmi knew, that with Ai now awake and struggling, the situation had gotten way out of hand. With the rumbling of the rising pillar nearly upon her, she knew she wouldn't stand a chance in a direct confrontation with Akira—and to make matters worse, she'd no longer have the option to force a cooperation, by wielding her precious Ai against her.
"Fighting is sorely out of the question, considering my particular specialization as a Mage."
'Lest I jeopardize all that I have endeavored to build, I am left with no alternatives...'
At that time, Ai refrained from her struggles, as a faint aura of light emanated from Lakshmi.
Ai backed off of her and scooted away, out of fear, and it was by this mysterious, new source of light, that she was able to catch a clear glimpse at her captor for the first time:
Lakshmi sneered at Ai from where she lay, catching her breath. She had short-cropped silver hair with neatly combed, straight bangs, fallen across her steely gaze. The long garment she wore had the appearance of a fine silk night robe, parted in the front with the sash to be tied around the waist undone—revealing a tight-fitted, lime green, one piece dress with a ruffled short skirt, stretched across her cushiony thighs. Said robe draped across the entire length of her slender body, down to her set of robust, rounded hips, and shapely legs, fitted into shale grey stockings with spotless white enamel shoes.
"I will be...taking my leave, now." Lakshmi said—internally cursing herself, for being nearly out of breath, after only her brief exercise with Ai.
"Please, inform your MASTER...that my dealings with him are not yet complete."
Ai snarled, letting the primal "squirrel" half of her show in a reared, four-legged stance.
"Why did you do all this?" She demanded, through her gritted teeth. "What were you trying to achieve by kidnapping me, and forcing Akira to fight?!"
Lakshmi smiled, and shook her head—she supposed there was no harm in talking now.
"In truth...it was merely supposed to be a test."
"How incommodious...I never suspected that Maximilian would be able to triumph."
As she spoke, the blinding light enshrouding her had grown in intensity—up until it fully enveloped the dimensions of the room.
'Akira Maximilian, if anyone can...I truly believe YOU will be the one...'
'The one...who'll aid in rescuing me, and restoring Mithil..."
"Akira Maximilian, you will be my...CHAMPION!'
Seconds later, Akira glimpsed a fervent flash of light up above, accompanied by a short-lived sound of a pair of voices crying out.
"I'm coming, Ai!" She shouted, just as the platform at last connected into Lakshmi's lair.
However, inside it was dark. TOO dark to see anything—such that a Milk Maiden had to feel around for a while until, eventually, she found a torch jutting from one of the remaining statues on the platform, and promptly lit it.
By the glow of the torch...Akira's heart sunk, as there was no sign of Lakshmi.
"Akira!" Ai exclaimed as she jumped up, in a fit of joyful tears, to meet her with a hug. "There was a bright flash, and then she just...DISAPPEARED!"
Looking around, Akira was met with an empty scene of what resembled an old shrine centered around a grand statue of a female deity, sat upon a circular throne. However, the additional presence of a desk with a chair, a number of filing cabinets and a crowded bookcase, suggested that the space had been converted for use in an entirely different capacity.
"This...is an office." Akira realized, as she was walking around inspecting its four corners, but finding no sign of Lakshmi, even though she was certain she'd heard their voice earlier.
At this time, one of the Milk Maidens explained that the Amrita used to be a temple.
Another added that it was a temple that had long lain abandoned, for decades, until Madame Lakshmi bought it up and had it converted into a club.
"Madame Lakshmi must've used this as her office, but if that's the case I seriously had no idea!"
"I don't think any of us have even seen her face before..."
"She gives us our paychecks through the owls she controls, but that's all."
Listening, with a barely contained anger welling up within her, Akira balled her hands into a fist as she turned her back on the Maidens.
"This...BOSS of yours...was it that she offered you all a paycheck, to kidnap Ai?"
At once, the Maidens' discussion stopped. They looked to each other sheepishly—too ashamed to offer any defense for the role they had played in their former boss's scheme.
That is, until one stepped forward, swallowing nervously before opening her mouth to speak:
"I...think I speak for all of us, when I say we acted out of blind loyalty to someone...we had come to deeply revere and respect."
"Madame Lakshmi...has done a great service to us, by making this place into what it is now."
"That's because for a lot of us Nandi women, the racial trait that causes our breasts to swell with milk every few days...is like an inescapable CURSE..."
"But, by granting our milk a real PURPOSE at the Amrita, it empowered us to—"
Akira nodded along, pretending to listen, even as her gaze fell to the talking Maiden's bosom.
Hers, as well as the others', was a delightfully jostling, milk-swollen, flopping pair of breasts barely held together in a top that left little to the imagination.
Said breasts...even glistened, subtly, with an accumulation of sweat.
How remarkable! Thought Akira. That these mere orbs of flesh could arouse him so.
How might it feel, he wondered, to wrap his lips around those delicately concealed nipples, and TASTE of the sweet nectar contained within, straight from the source.
She could feel the warm blood rushing to her head, just thinking about it.
Whatever the one Milk Maiden was saying during all this time, it must have made for quite the rousing speech since it had empowered her fellow Maidens into an eruption of cheers, by the time Akira was returned to her senses.
"So, what I'm gathering...is that none of you have ANY idea where she could have gone?"
Silence ensued. None were shameless enough to talk again.
Akira scowled and turned away from them, to focus on what was important.
"Ai..." She murmured into her beloved's ear, brushing her hair��letting the weight of the moment finally sink in. "You're safe, now."
Ai sniffed. "I was so afraid you were gonna get yourself hurt..."
"I made a promise to always protect you, and I don't make such promises lightly."
Whoever this Madame Lakshmi was, and wherever she might have gone, she couldn't be allowed to get away with this.
Akira wasn't going to dawdle—she needed to look around for clues.
Glancing down, she noticed something glinting on the floor.
One of the Maidens noticed it too and stooped to pick it up, to bring it closer to the light.
It was a pair...of wire frame glasses.