It was time to go pick up Sylph in the Forest of Spirits. I was reluctant, but Alice was adamant, arguing that as much as the spirits enhanced my abilities, getting them back was vital to winning the war. She had a point. My combat performance had been mediocre, if I'm being generous. I was enough of a combat veteran by this point to dispatch routine opponents with relative ease, but I had been relying on Alice's aid a lot to get through battles with angels or particularly tough chimeras. Sylph would drastically enhance my speed, making me nearly untouchable. The caveat was the seal on the spirits. It didn't just separate them from me, it also weakened them. Still, even if all I got from Sylph was a wind shield or a small increase in speed, it would help.
Landing near the forest, I was relieved to see that as of yet there seemed to be no attempt to attack its denizens. Given Ilias' genocidal intent, such an attack was inevitable. For now, at least, the forest appeared peaceful and undisturbed, as if there was no war going on. An elf that greeted us as we landed corrected that misapprehension. There was an angel in the forest.
"Makes sense," Alice observed. "They wouldn't go to all that trouble to seal the spirits and then just let them hang out in their home areas waiting to be picked up again."
"Yeah," I agreed. "But I kinda hoped they'd need all the angels they could get controlling heaven's armies."
The good news was that the angel wasn't attacking anyone. It had a single mission: stopping me from getting Sylph back. Remember what I said just a few pages back about how a pleasure attack on Alice would involve stuffing sweet things in her mouth? I called it pretty close. Alice got tempted by a delicious looking fruit of a type I hadn't seen before, hanging from a tree. Thank goodness for my quick reflexes, because as she jumped up to try to reach it, it opened its mouth and tried to eat her! I grabbed her and pulled her away, much to the disappointment of…. The fruit angel? I guess that's what it was. Fortunately, its trickery was its main tactic. A Death Sword Chaos Star put an end to that foolishness, leaving us free to retrieve Sylph.
"That was a nasty trap," I said to Alice, as gentle a way as I could think of to criticize her. I was never one to be as blunt as she was.
"I was an idiot," Alice replied. "They knew just how to lure me in."
"I'm surprised they were targeting you instead of me."
"Ilias is good," she said. "she's adjusting to what we do, as well as managing her resources wisely. That wasn't a strong angel, but it was strong enough to kill me if it caught me like that. Where do those crazy reflexes come from, anyway?"
"Not sure, just always had them, I guess. It seems that it's one of the reasons I was chosen."
As we moved deeper into the forest searching for Sylph, the wind started picking up. As in, picking up a lot, to the point where it was putting stress on the trees. What was Sylph doing? It was unlike her to risk hurting the forest with her power. We soon got our answer. It wasn't Sylph at all. Instead of Sylph, we found Gnome, trapped by the wind, which formed a small eye giving Gnome a little space, almost like a prison cell made of wind.
"I see," Alice said. "That's how they are keeping the spirits contained without killing them. If they were sent back to their own habitats, they'd regain their power. So they sent them to the original habitats, but the ones that are the opposite of their element."
"Okay, Gnome," I said. "get back inside me so you can rest."
The wind was too strong for Gnome, an earth spirit vulnerable to the wind, but for me, although it was tough, I could reach her. Alice didn't even seem to be struggling, just pushing through it as if it was a breeze. The only sign that the wind was causing her any stress was her hair whipping around and constantly getting into her face.
Gnome just stared at me, even though I was now in the eye of the gale with her. I didn't have to prove myself again, did I? No, in her weakened state, she'd have no chance. So what was with her inaction?
"She's under a seal," Alice explained. "You can't just contract with her the way you did before. She'd just end up right back here soon after entering your body."
"Is there anything we can do?" I asked.
"Remember what you told me about how you got here?" Alice said. "How hard it was to cross between the worlds unless you were bound to Ilias?"
"I'm confused," I said, thinking that I knew where Alice might be going with this but not really liking it.
"I can't say I understand dimensional travel, but I imagine it's much like a seal. Seals are powerful magic. It takes powerful magic to counter a seal. Even more powerful magic to break one. You've probably noticed that a lot of magic in this world revolves around sex. Ilias had to use sex to get you across the seal, or whatever its equivalent is. You need to have sex with Gnome for similar reasons. That will create a bond that is stronger than the seal and enable Gnome to stay with you."
"Gnome, is that really what you need?" I asked.
Gnome's response was to rip my shirt off. I decided to take that as confirmation.
"Am I going to have to do this with all four spirits?" I asked Alice.
"Yes," she said through gritted teeth.
"I don't know what to do. I'm sorry, Alice, I promised you I wouldn't voluntarily do this."
"I appreciate that, Luka, but first, I released you from that promise, second, it expired, and third… Hello? World at war, on the brink of destruction? Apocalypse? Any of that ring a bell? You have to do this. So even if it bothers you, you need to do it! Just don't consider it voluntary if it makes you feel better. You truly do not have a choice. So finish up quickly. I'll be over there clearing some of the deadwood away."
I turned back to Gnome, who was still staring at me. How do I go about this? I thought. She doesn't seem the type to-
Just as I was thinking that she wasn't the aggressive type, she pushed me down, ripped my pants off, and got on top of me, guiding my penis into her. It felt really weird. Almost like there was mud in there. As the spirit of the earth, it made sense. I gasped as she moved whatever was in her around in waves, trying to coax an ejaculation out of me quickly. I guess she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible herself. It took a little longer than I would have expected, in part because she kept on staring at me expressionlessly. It was weirding me out. The unique sensations were impossible to resist for long, however, and soon enough, although not soon enough for Alice, the contract was complete. I once again felt Gnome inside my head.
"Are you done, idiot?" Alice said when I found her a few minutes later.
"Yes. Are you mad? You look mad."
"I'm livid!" she said. "but that's just this childish body. I'm sure you've noticed that I'm naturally a jealous type. My brain understands that, but I have a lot of trouble controlling my emotions in this form. Just feed me goodies and I'll feel better. In the meantime, if I snap at you, don't take it personally."
"Um… Okay, I guess we should go then. Hey, stop coliing around me!"
Sabasa was our next stop. I was optimistic that Sabasa would not yet have met the same fate as San Ilia. Sabasa had the strongest army in the world. That place falling in just two days was unthinkable. A quick flyover proved my guess correct, but what I saw was still concerning. Heaven's forces had not underestimated Sabasa. The force committed to the city was the largest I'd seen yet. Sabasa was holding out, however. I picked out an area of the line that appeared hardest pressed and guided Galda to it. Making my usual dramatic entrance, I leaped off of Galda's back and into the battle. The reason why this part of the line had been in trouble was obvious. A rather large chimera beast that looked almost like a pac-man was feasting on any soldiers it could get its mouth around. I mentally asked Gnome if she could give me enough power to enhance an Earth Rumbling Decapitation. I'd learned that while I could not converse with Gnome yet, I could at least get silent yes or no answers from her. In this case, she was able to help me out, giving me the power to seal the beast with one blow.
That firmed up the line. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the more typical chimera beasts were falling to the well trained soldiers. Seeing no further problems, I ran to see if there was anywhere else I was needed. An officer who recognized me stopped me and directed me to the east, where some strange scorpion like chimeras were making progress against the defending human forces. Alice was already there. I hadn't actually seen her fight in this form before. It was an incredible sight, seeing such a little person wrecking chimeras with one or two punches. Even at one tenth power, she was still the Monster Lord. I joined her at the line for the next two hours, beating back attack after attack by the scorpion chimeras. Even after their defeat, the offensive did not slacken. The common beasts simply renewed their attack, stepping on their fallen comrades as they crashed into the line. Alice and I pulled back for a short rest.
"I don't see any angels and haven't heard about any in the city," I said, breathing hard.
"As I said, they are wising up," Alice replied. "The attack on this city is too important to waste time terrorizing civilians, and they had to know you'd be coming here today. I don't expect them to show their faces."
"So what should we do? I don't think the city is going to fall today. Should we go get Sylph? See if any villages need our help?"
"No," Alice replied after giving it some thought. "This is the most important battleground. If we beat them back here it will make a huge difference in blunting this offensive. We might even get a chance to take back the initiative. I think we should fight here at least for today, maybe tomorrow as well. The best thing we can do for surrounding villages is force the heavens to commit more resources to this battle. Force them to attack where we're strongest."
A messenger approached us. "The king would like to see the two of you. Follow me."
We followed the messenger to a command tent, where we found the king gazing at a mockup of the battleground. It looked very professional, with generals moving pieces around on the map as if they were playing a war game. Not knowing what a proper military organization looked like, I was easily impressed.
When the king saw me, he came over to greet me warmly. "Hero Luka, it is wonderful to see you! We've been hard pressed here, but are holding for now. Is it true what I've heard? Are all the cities of the world being attacked?"
"It looks like most of them are," I said.
"That is troubling," the king said gravely. "We will need reinforcements to hold out. I believe we can hold days, maybe weeks, but no longer."
"If you can make it weeks, I promise we can turn this around," said Alice.
"If weeks is what you need, then we will give you weeks," the king pledged. "How long will you be here?"
"Today for sure, perhaps tomorrow as well," Alice stated. "Your forces are holding, but as many resources as they are expending trying to break you, I want to make sure they are beaten back before we move on. I'm also hoping that we can draw the leaders of this force out. We'd been defeating them yesterday by eliminating their leaders. These beasts can't think on their own. They are controlled by angels. But the enemy seems to have figured out to keep the leaders safe behind the lines."
"How do you intend to draw them out?" the king asked.
"By doing what we've been doing," Alice replied. "They have to know we're here. Between the prowess of your forces and the two of us aiding you wherever your line is buckling, they'll realize they can't succeed unless they either eliminate us, or retreat for a time and wait for us to move on. Either way gives Sabasa a chance to get a break."
"How is Sara?" I asked.
"My daughter is being held back by her guards from rushing to the front line to fight," the king replied. "As much as I respect her abilities, she cannot be risked on the battlefield. If something happened to her, it would destroy the morale of the citizenry."
"She also has a knack for getting captured," Alice observed sourly.
"Your majesty, I know your daughter well enough to understand that she hates feeling useless above all else. How about if she joins Alice and me? We can keep her safe, at least as safe as one can be on a battlefield."
Alice shot me a dirty look. The king's wasn't much better. "Ah, you know her as if you were already her husband! I admire your concern for her feelings. As a father, I share your concerns. She was in a depression until this attack came. Now she has a purpose that I won't let her fulfill. As much as I trust you, Luka, it's still too much risk for too little reward."
"It would also give us something else to worry about while fighting," Alice observed. "It's a bad idea, Luka. I haven't seen her fight, so I'll take your word that she's capable. She is part monster, after all. But she's not in our class. She'll be more of a hindrance than a help."
Another argument lost. They were right, of course. Sara was good, but not so good that her contributions on the battlefield would justify the risk to her person. I was just letting my concern for her influence me. I felt guilty that Granberia was more interested in me than Sara.
The rest of the day was spent in intense combat. Alice and I stayed together, ready to split up in case we were needed in more than one place, but the Sabasan forces were very good. I was even getting a bit impatient because we really didn't seem to be needed here. The places in the line we rushed to help out were struggling, but sometimes we'd arrive just as they'd rallied and driven the enemy back again. It really did seem like they would hold out. They were dug in and used time honored tactics to stop the charges of the chimera beasts cold. At no point did we see any angels. The one good thing is that I finally felt like I was a true combat veteran. I'd been in a lot of one on one battles on this journey, as well as quite recently spending a few minutes at a time in small skirmishes as part of a wider battle, before rushing off to go handle angels. Spending hours in the trenches with the soldiers felt different, like I was really in a war. By the end of the day I was covered in grime, sweat, and blood. None of the blood was mine. Alice looked exhausted as well but was somehow clean.
Soon after night fell, the attacks slackened and then stopped. Alice had mentioned that this was likely earlier.
"They must not have enough angels to control this army in shifts," Alice explained. "Not to mention, night attacks are rough on the attackers unless they have the element of surprise."
"Does that mean we should expect more attacks tonight?" I asked.
"Unlikely," she replied. "The best way to pressure defenders at night is to force them to keep as much of their force as possible awake. If they see enough soldiers awake, they'll refrain from attacking, saving their forces but adding to the fatigue of the defenders. If they see that most of the soldiers are asleep, they'll take advantage of that. So either way, it can work to the advantage of the attacking force."
"Any chance the king will order an attack himself? Surprise them?"
"Possible," she answered. "But probably not this soon. The most important objective for Sabasa is to hold out. An attack holds a slim possibility of a decisive victory but a catastrophe is more likely and far more costly. Now isn't the time for gambles. But he seems like the bold type. If he does want to attack while we're here, I'll back his play. Maybe with us helping it can succeed."
The king was not about to try anything like that this night. Instead, he put us up in the castle to rest until dawn, and then retired to his own quarters. The day had been pretty much a bust. No angels showed their faces. I was restless about the waste of time. I could have gotten Sylph today! And what of Noah, and Grangold? Alice tried to allay my worries by pointing out that although those cities may not have had as professional a military as Sabasa, they were not without resources. Noah had the gladiators as well as multitudes of monsters to help in the city's defense. Grangold had an ant army as well as a decent human army, albeit a human army that had grown soft due to outsourcing all the work to the ants. Tamamo would personally see to the defense of Yamatai should it be attacked. Since Yamatai was remote and Alice had heard nothing, she felt it was safe to assume that Yamatai was safe for the time being. So the plan would be to try again for a few hours tomorrow to get the angels to deal with us personally. Failing that, we'd move on. Alice insisted that even if we didn't succeed, this had still been worth doing because of the morale boost to the Sabasan forces.
I slept like a baby, at least for a few hours, until IT happened. It turns out that we were not being ignored by the enemy, they just had other ideas for getting to us. Those ideas appeared in our rooms while we slept peacefully.
I woke with a start as the fangs sank into my neck. I could immediately feel the energy drain. As Alice had explained once before, although the fangs drew blood, blood was not the objective. Just like their cousins the succubi, vampires could drain energy even without making a person orgasm. In the periphery of my vision I could see Alice's tail thrashing. She must be getting attacked too! Seeing Alice in trouble caused adrenaline to surge through my body. I pushed the vampire's head away from my neck and tumbled out of bed with her. We wrestled around on the floor for a bit, before I picked her up and went crashing into a wall with her. The "wall" in the darkness, was actually the door, which sent us out into the hallway. Freeing myself from the vampire's grasp, I rose and surveyed my surroundings. The guards at our door were unconscious, perhaps dead. The vampire who stood before me was surprisingly beautiful. I guess I had expected slicked back hair and bloodshot eyes, but instead, she had pretty blonde hair, normal-toned skin rather than pale, and pretty eyes. Not to mention a mean right hook, which she belted me with, causing me to briefly see stars. I didn't have my sword, so I responded in kind. It caused her head to snap back, but she didn't seem at all fazed. She pushed me against a wall and went for my neck again. Summoning Gnome, I pushed her away and prepared to go on the offensive. Before I could do that, however, slashes appeared all over the vampire's body. Her face went rigid and her body spasmed as she fell. As her paralyzed body hit the ground, Granberia's intimidating form was revealed.
"Alice is being attacked as well!" I yelled. Granberia and I rushed back into the room. Alice was fine, of course, beating the tar out of the vampire, who already appeared to be unconscious. A small trickle of blood was dripping from Alice's neck.
"Alipheese!" Granberia yelled, calling to Alice. Alice looked up in surprise, then a broad smile appeared on her face.
"It is so great to see you when I actually want you!" Alice yelled joyfully.
Granberia cut the greetings short. "There is commotion elsewhere. I believe there are more vampire assassins here."
"Sara!" I exclaimed, running out of the room and racing to Sara's room. Which… it turns out I had no idea where I was going. I did, however, pass the king's quarters, which also had two guards downed. I kicked open the door and rushed in, realizing that I was still unarmed.
The king was also fine. He turned to me, standing there in his underwear, holding a massive sword in one hand and a vampire's head in the other. "Where's Sara's room!?" I asked breathlessly.
An expression of alarm gripped his face, as he rushed out with me and led me to Sara's room. Granberia and Alice quickly found us and followed. The king kicked the door open and we rushed into the room, fearing the worst. Indeed, Sara had been bitten as well. Her neck was quite bloody. But she was putting up a good fight of her own. She was on top of the vampire wrestling with her, beating her head into the ground repeatedly. When the vampire turned things around on Sara, Granberia pushed past the king, grabbed the vampire by her hair, and dragged her off of Sara. The vampire, face to face with a Heavenly Knight, blanched in fear and started gibbering. Granberia lifted her off the ground by her hair and held her sword to the vampire's neck.
"How many vampires are in this castle?" Granberia asked, in a tone that promised extreme violence if she didn't get an answer.
"Four!" the vampire babbled. "Me, Carmilla, Elizabeth, and the Queen!"
"The Queen!? Where is the queen now!?"
"Hehe…" the vampire chuckled. "Draining the king as we speak."
The king cleared his throat. The vampire looked our way, seeing us all for the first time. The king, still holding the head in his hand, raised it so that the vampire could see. "Is this your queen?" he asked, tossing the head at Granberia's feet.
"You do know the price of treason, do you not?" Granberia said dangerously.
"I was just following my queen's orders!" the vampire protested. "She's dead now, so I'll follow the orders of whoever the new queen is!"
"You will follow the orders of the Monster Lord," Alice interjected. "Since the queen and her second in command are traitors, the vampire race has no queen. Which means I am directly in charge now until I appoint a new one. Not that following your queen is an excuse! Your loyalty is always first to the Monster Lord!"
"Yes! Of course! I pledge my loyalty!"
Granberia released the vampire's hair. She dropped to the ground with a thud and cowered in a corner. Sara rushed to Granberia and embraced her. "You saved me again!" she cried joyfully.
Granberia just stood there, not returning the embrace and looking quite uncomfortable with the situation. Sara released her, embarrassed, but still giddy that Granberia was in her room.
"So…" I said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "We all got bitten. We're not going to change into vampires, are we?"
"What kind of idiotic question is that?" Granberia said. "How would that even work?"
"He knows better," Alice said. "He just likes to say idiotic things. Because he's an idiot. It's what idiots do. More importantly, their plan almost worked. They outsmarted us."
"I don't know, it looks to me like they went zero for four here," I countered. "Seems like they would have had better luck using knives than their teeth."
"You and Alipheese weren't the primary targets," Granberia observed. "the human king was. Had he been eliminated Sabasa would almost certainly fall. They did not count on him defeating a queen class vampire. That should have been impossible for a human."
"The royal family is descended from a very powerful monster," Alice explained. "The blood is strong. So what brings you here, Granberia? You must have something to report if you came looking for me."
"I did," Granberia replied. "I apologize for being out of the fight for a full day. The injuries I suffered yesterday were grave. It took me time to recuperate."
One day?! She'd had the stuffing beaten out of her by that Next Doll and had taken a Quadruple Giga from me just before that! She looked as if she hadn't been in a fight at all!
"Better for you to take a day resting than for you to die uselessly," Alice said. "We need you badly, Granberia. Don't spend your life cheaply."
"I understand," Granberia replied. "Now, my report: Port Natalia was attacked yesterday by mermaids."
"Mermaids?!" I interjected. "But mermaids live there! Did they turn on the humans?!"
"No," Granberia replied. "the mermaids that attacked the town came from the sea. They were led by the queen mermaid."
"The queen mermaid?!" Alice asked, surprised. "She hasn't been heard from in decades! She showed her face just to commit treason?!"
"She did indeed," Granberia replied. "Just as these vampires did, she was following Black Alice. She was assigned to take the port towns of Iliasport and Port Natalia. She went for Port Natalia first. The mermaid residents provided most of the resistance to the queen. They fought well."
"Where is the queen now?" Alice asked.
"I… deposed her. The new queen is her daughter El. El has pledged allegiance to you, Monster Lord. The threat to Port Natalia and Iliasport has been neutralized."
"I see you've been busy," Alice said. "Good work, Granberia. I take it you've been prioritizing Black Alice's forces as your part of this war effort?"
"Unless you have a different role in mind for me, yes. Those two queens aren't the only ones to throw in with Black Alice. I was unable to learn who else is involved in this plot. The different groups of monsters don't know who else is with her. Wherever our own kind commit treason, there I'll be. Or wherever else you command me to go, Alipheese."
"I trust your judgment completely, Granberia. Serve me however you think best. If I have a specific job for you, I'll contact you."
"Very well," Granberia said, and vanished.
"You might as well be moving on," the king said. "This seems to have been their way of getting to you. I doubt they will risk any of their commanding angels. For better or worse, we will have to defeat them on the battlefield."
"What about the vampires?" I asked. "We didn't kill any of them except the queen."
"For now, we'll throw them in the dungeon," the king replied.
"No, that won't work," Alice interjected. "They can turn into bats, at least Elizabeth can. Carmilla and this other one I'm not sure. Best not to take chances. Luka, go get your sword and seal them."
"Doesn't that just change them into bats anyway?" I asked.
"Of course it does, idiot! But they won't be able to change back into vampires for some time! Without the queen, they have no way of changing back quickly. They'll be harmless for months."
"So I just… stab them when they aren't resisting? That seems wrong."
"Do you realize you're fighting a war?!" Alice yelled. "But fine, I don't want you to change anymore than you do. You don't have to stab them. If they don't resist, Angel Halo can seal just by touching them. If they do resist, cut them. If not, you may seal them the kinder and gentler way."
I did as Alice instructed. The vampires chose non-resistance, although I was a bit insulted to find out that I was apparently their third priority. The king had been the primary target, with the queen herself seeing to it personally. Elizabeth, the queen's aide, was assigned to Alice. I had drawn Carmilla, who at least had the virtue of being the prettiest of the three. Given that Elizabeth was barely conscious after Alice's beating, and Carmilla was paralyzed, it's not as if they'd have been able to put up much resistance anyway.
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