The scene at Yamatai was worse than I feared. Rather than an invasion from without, it looked like most of the rampaging monsters were ones I had already seen living in the village. Hopping off of Galda, I went for the first monsters I could find. Three of them were licking a boy mercilessly. They turned around to face me. They appeared human for the most part, but all three of them had tongues even longer than Alice's!
"Don't get distracted, Luka, they're weak!" Alice yelled.
I did get distracted and the licking began. It didn't last long, however, as Alice pulled one of them off me and punted her over the nearest house with her tail. I pushed the other two off of me without even needing to use Gnome. I backed them off with my sword. Alice wrapped one of them up in her tail.
"What's going on here!" she screamed at the girl. "Why are you attacking the humans!"
"I don't know! All the other monsters were doing it so we just joined in! We weren't going to kill anyone, honest! We just like licking boys!"
"Ugh," Alice said. "We're not going to get anything out of these idiots! Whoever is doing this is probably in one of the shrines."
"Which one?" I asked.
"Probably not the kitsune shrine, since Tamamo is there," she replied. "So the snake shrine is the most obvious place."
Arriving at the snake shrine, we found the door locked. I threw myself against the door and bounced right off. "You are so useless sometimes!" Alice yelled, and converted the door into splinters with one punch.
We rushed into the shrine and found naked villagers unconscious all over the place. I breathed a sigh of relief that they all seemed to be alive. Whatever or whoever had gotten the monsters here to turn on the villagers, apparently the monsters' gentle natures were stopping them short of outright murder.
"She didn't kill them, but she brought them as close to death as she could," Alice said. "This is definitely a lamia's doing. She knew exactly how far she could go. Be careful Luka, this is going to be one very skilled lamia."
"Why thank you ever so much for that compliment," a voice said. Emerging from the shadows was a very lovely lamia. "I am Miko."
"Miko, what's going on here?" I asked. "Why turn on the villagers who worshipped you?"
"Black Alice made me see the light," she responded. "These humans are right to worship and serve us. But they should be semen slaves to us as well. I have simply claimed my fair share. My favorites among all the men of the village. You smell even more delicious than they do. I think I'll add you to my collection."
"The hell you will!" Alice yelled, charging Miko and driving her through a wall. Wow. Alice was in a mood. I had to admit, I liked that she was helping me, although lately she'd been bordering on doing my fighting for me. I guess it couldn't be helped. I needed the spirits to be able to handle the tough opponents I was running into. My existing skills were enough for many of the chimera beasts and less competent angels unused to being vulnerable, but many opponents lately had been too much for me. Maybe her extreme jealousy had its uses.
"Luka! Alice will be fine! Follow me!" It was Tamamo! I'd been wondering when she'd show up.
Tamamo gestured for me to follow her to the courtyard. There we found two more lamias, both sitting on mats . One was an albino. The other had extremely long hair, so much that I couldn't see most of her face.
"Shirohebi," Tamamo addressed one of them. "I only just got through dealing with an impudent fool who was bothering my hometown. She at least had an excuse. She'd been sealed for one hundred years and didn't know this village was under the protection of a Heavenly Knight. You did know that, but decided to make trouble anyway. Are you really that foolish?"
The albino one, obviously Shirohebi, didn't even bother rising. "Foolish? Me? Kejourou, am I foolish?"
The long haired one must have been Kejourou, because she responded. "No, Shirohebi-sama, you are not foolish at all."
"See?" Shirohebi said. "I'm not foolish. In fact, I've ensured that you will do nothing. This village is now mine."
"Oh, I'm going to love to hear this," Tamamo said. "What are you going to do, seal me? I can assure you, that's impossible."
"Seal you?" Shirohebi replied, laughing. "I wouldn't dream of it. The kitsune worshippers here would be so disappointed! No, you're going to just keep doing what you've been doing. You can come and go as you please, and hold court in your precious shrine as you desire. But you will not interfere with my control of this village."
"I know you've been given fake spirits by Black Alice and Promestein, snake lady. Don't think that your rudimentary understanding of those artificial constructs enables you to match my earthpower. Your hubris will be your demise. But before I punish you, I have to know: why did you turn on this village? I would never have thought you capable of such an act."
"Oh?" Shirohebi replied, now very amused. "Either your memory is short or you're near sighted. Take a closer look."
"What are you on abo-" Tamamo gasped. "You! What have you done with your sister!?"
"Oh, she's fine! And she will remain so, as long as you don't interfere with my control of this village."
"As much as I love your sister, I will not be stopped from disciplining you just for her sake."
"Then how about for the sake of the humans?" Shirohebi said. "You'll notice no one has been killed. Yet. Black Alice and Promestein have a keen interest in Yamatai Village. It is to be an exception to the cleansing they have begun all over the rest of the world. The blood of the humans in this village is strong, as strong as the blood of your hero friend. By studying these villagers, a new race of humans and monsters can be created. We monsters who are descended from those original villagers are stronger as well."
"Ah, I think I get it now," Tamamo said. "You were promised this village as long as you gave up a few innocent humans and monsters for cruel experiments every so often. You get to enjoy the best food and semen in the world without restriction."
"Don't forget the amazing breeding stock," Kejourou added. "And don't pretend, kitsune, that you haven't been using these villagers to get all the deliciousness they could provide to you."
"Well, you see," Tamamo retorted. "I never needed to force anyone to feed me. The men here love fluffy tails. With that freakish, stringy hair of yours, I'm not surprised that you were going hungry. Men of good taste prefer kitsunes to snakes. No offense, Luka."
"Um…" I said. "None taken? I think?"
"What I don't get is why Miko threw in with you two," Tamamo said. "She's one of the loveliest and sweetest lamias in the world."
"Because deep down, she's a sick freak," Alice interjected, dragging Miko's unconscious, battered form into the courtyard. "I'd been hoping she was under mind control, but it turns out that under that sweet, gentle exterior, she harbored fantasies of brutally raping men in extremely perverted ways."
"Yes, Black Alice did enjoy exposing who she really was," Shirohebi chuckled. "I was impressed. I've never raped thirty men in one day. Have you, Kejourou?"
"Never, Shirohebi-sama," Kejourou responded. "One is more than enough for one day. Not that I don't appreciate a little variety."
"You two still haven't persuaded me to refrain from punishing you," Tamamo said, getting us back to the point. "The two of you and your one fake spirit face the Monster Lord, a Heavenly Knight, and the greatest hero since Heinrich. You get one last chance to explain to me why you shouldn't be beaten into a pulp and then sealed."
"As I mentioned, we haven't killed anyone… yet," Shirohebi answered. "but you seem to be under the impression that all that's going on here is that many of the monsters have turned on the humans. What you don't know is that while Promestein and Black Alice want to keep this village intact, Ilias has only agreed to that so long as I can control this village. If you're wondering how I got the monsters here to attack the humans, that's how. The alternative is that we all die here. Of course, some of them, like Miko, didn't need much persuading."
"You're bluffing!" Alice yelled. "I flew over this area. There aren't any enemy armies within 200 miles of this place! You've been hung out to dry!"
"Welllll…." Shirohebi said, smiling. "I can't prove it to you, but Promestein's science and magic really are extraordinary. This village is in fact surrounded. Surrounded by portals which can bring in chimera beasts and angels by the battalions within hours, if not minutes. I assure you, leaving the village under my control is the best way to ensure the welfare of the humans you love so much. As powerful as you three are, you can't stop an army on your own. The humans here are strong, but quite disabled at the moment, as you've seen. I suppose the monsters could put up a fight. Briefly. They are all a bit occupied feasting at the moment."
"How about a duel to decide control of the village, then?" I offered. Hey, it had worked before.
"This is not Grand Noah, boy," Shirohebi said derisively. "I have no intention of trying to fight you."
"It's also useless," Alice said. "Ilias would not honor whatever deal you made here. For now, Shirohebi holds all the cards."
"Yes," Tamamo agreed. "For now. Fine. The village is yours. As long as you continue to refrain from taking lives, your punishment is postponed. But you've chosen poorly. Heaven's forces will be defeated, and you will face justice when this is over."
"I've chosen poorly?" Shirohebi scoffed. "I've sided with a goddess. What do you have? A sealed Monster Lord and a fake hero? Human armies that won't last a week in this conflict? Please. I would be a fool to throw in with you even if I had been so inclined. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm meditating."
Seeing no other choice, we left the courtyard, and the temple. Finding a quiet part of the village to talk, Tamamo spoke.
"I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Monster Lord," Tamamo said, barely controlling her rage. "Luka, you go get the other two spirits. We kitsunes will continue to process the data in Promestein's lab. And Alice, find a way to get this boy to access his power! At some point he has to be able to defeat Ilias! Even the spirits aren't enough to accomplish that! He needs his power! Drop everything else you've been teaching him and teach this boy magic!"
Who exactly was the boss here? "You're right," Alice replied. "Now that he can find it, at least sometimes, magic lessons might yield some results. Unfortunately, we don't have time. We've been running from battle to battle."
"With all four Heavenly Knights back in action, you can afford to take him off the board for a short time. The only thing we need him for is to deal with angels. How has that been going?"
"It went well at first," Alice answered. "But the forces of heaven have wised up. They won't send their battlefield commanders across their lines anymore."
"Hmmm…" Tamamo said. "We can take advantage of that. I think it might be fun to engage in a little bit of psychological warfare. We'll see if we can find some way to spread disinformation about where Luka is and where he's going. The chimera beasts have been less formidable than we feared. With support from us four, the human cities that haven't fallen might be able to hold out long enough for us to retake the initiative. But having Luka on the battlefield is not ideal. I recognize the necessity, but he's too important to tie up that way. This war ends with an assault on the heavens. Such an assault is futile without Luka at his full potential."
"We're going to assault the heavens?" I asked, dumbfounded. "Is that even possible?"
"Of course it's possible!" Tamamo said cheerily.
"How do you know that?" Alice asked.
"Because if it's not, we're screwed!"
Undine's spring, where we presumed we'd find Salamander, was about an hour away, so Alice decided to get right to it.
"Just relax," she urged. "meditate. You know what the power feels like now. Find it."
I was trying, but such thought exercises were not easy for me. I could relax if I was relaxed. I could be angry if I was angry. I could be dead inside if I was dead inside. But forcing myself to relax wasn't something I could do well. I tried an alternative approach. I thought about San Ilia, of how awful it was. I tried to recapture that feeling. I thought of Ilias Village and the taunting angel that had murdered people I knew. My anger rose. With it, my ability to sense my power. But it felt dormant. I could see it, but not touch it. I remembered how when I was angry, I couldn't just touch it and use it. It felt like it had to be let out, that if it didn't get released, I would literally explode with rage. It was almost an orgasm of power and fury. See, now this world's got me thinking like that, I thought. After about fifteen minutes of trying, I relayed my thoughts to Alice.
"I can't even begin to figure out what the rules are governing your power," she said. "If you're relaxed, you can use it. If you're emotionally drained, you can use it. If you're incredibly pissed, you can use it. It's just not consistent. We need to get Undine. Didn't she finally figure out how to grab at least a little bit of it?"
"Yes, not even as much as I release when I get flashed by someone, but a little bit."
"We'll keep trying until then, but she might be the key to getting you to utilize it. Even if it's just a small strand, if you can control it and form it to your needs, as I do with my power, then that might unlock your ability to access it all at once. Without turning you into a raging lunatic."
"Or requiring me to be half asleep," I pointed out.
Undine's spring came into view. I mentally prepared myself as best I could. Angels had been guarding the previous two spirits, so I had to assume there would be another down there. In a cave, where it would be easy to ambush me. This time, Alice came with me as we dove into the water. Again, we were teleported into the cave. The sight that greeted us there was not at all what I had expected. There were people! Lots of people! Had the slimes taken in refugees?
Turns out, that's exactly what had happened. A nearby village which we had not visited had been attacked by chimera beasts fresh from their victory at Grand Noah. Erubetie had led as many humans as possible to safety while holding off the chimera beasts as best she could. She tried to play it off as necessity, not love for humans.
"Do not misunderstand," Erubetie told me. "If the humans fall, we are doomed. After all, we are highly dependent on them."
I didn't believe that for a second. She'd saved a strategically meaningless village's people. I had high hopes that with all the slimes and people here, perhaps there would be no angel ambushes. I asked Erubetie where Salamander was. She pointed her out to me easily enough, wrapped in a blanket, freezing from the unfriendly environment. Salamander was used to a volcano, not this cool, damp place.
Still, I was thrilled at how easy this was turning out to be. Too easy. Just as everyone was about to give Salamander and me some privacy to er…. Recontract, a nasty smell permeated the air.
"Master… Erubetie," a slime girl staggered our way.
"What's wrong?" Erubetie asked her. "Stay strong!"
"It hurts," the slime girl gasped. "Help me…"
"What is happening here?!" Erubetie cried, as the slime girl collapsed into a puddle.
Alice figured it out first. "The spring has been poisoned!"
The humans were starting to show symptoms as well. Alice ordered an immediate evacuation.
"Our last sanctuary!" Erubetie cried. "Who would poison it?!"
A slime I had noticed before but hadn't spoken to revealed herself. "That would be me," she said. "I threw some mercury into the spring a little while ago."
"Bess.." Erubetie responded, clearly having trouble believing it. "You didn't?! Why would you do this to the sacred land of the slimes!?"
"If I poison the spring then I'll be slime queen! That's what Black Alice promised me."
I wasn't sure how slimes fought each other, but Erubetie was clearly ready to kill her. Alice put the kibosh on that for the time being. "Save it for later, Erubetie! We have to prioritize saving lives! Only you have the power to filter the poison out of the spring! Evacuate everyone and clean that spring! Luka will deal with Bess!"
"Oh, so the hero is my opponent?" Bess said happily. "Sounds good to me. He looks delicious!"
"Why would you do this?!" I yelled. "Kill your people for power?! Erubetie trusted you!"
"Trust isn't delicious," she replied. "If I follow Black Alice, I can eat all the humans I want. I'll start by digesting you."
I wondered why she would be so confident given that she obviously seemed to be an ordinary slime. I found out when she summoned a water spirit. One of those artificial spirits that Promestein had created for many of the monsters that had joined Black Alice's cause. It made things a little bit more difficult, but not much. Those fake spirits made their wielders feel more powerful, perhaps made them somewhat more powerful in fact, but they could not compete with the real thing. Alice had been right to leave this traitor to me while she and Erubetie dealt with the evacuation. It didn't hurt that I'd been feeling less than useful lately.
With the battle ended, I assisted with the evacuation as best I could. It was rather insane for me to be exerting myself fighting Bess in a poisoned atmosphere. That left me in bad shape by the time I made it out of the cave and back to the surface, with Salamander in my arms. As I emerged out of the poisoned spring, Erubetie, without even asking for permission, wrapped herself around me as if to absorb me. I began to weakly struggle.
"Be still, fool!" she said. "I am absorbing the poison from your system!"
Part of her entered my nose and mouth, moving all the way through me. It was… not the most pleasant sensation at first, but when the initial shock passed it felt extraordinary. Was there even an erotic quality to this? Everywhere her slime moved through me felt incredible. When she was done, I felt quite a bit better. Still a little woozy, but nothing serious. She detached herself from me.
"I'm afraid I cannot blame this on humans," she said regretfully. "It seems we have evil and stupidity among us just as humans do."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blade flash. I tackled Erubetie, hoping that tackling a slime was even possible. The blade flashed over her head.
"You didn't need to do that!" Erubetie admonished. "That blade couldn't have harmed me."
"On the contrary," a voice said. "That hero just saved your life."
A Next Doll. Probably the one that was designed specifically to kill Erubetie. I wasn't sure how she'd concealed herself from us, but her appearance had been sudden and lethal. Had Erubetie been the object of this ambush the entire time? Ilias was keeping us guessing.
Erubetie didn't wait for a second attack. She changed part of her body into a spear and threw it at the Next Doll. The Next Doll dodged to the side and sliced the spear in two with her blade.
"Your reflexes are fast," Erubetie observed. "But with just a little bit of my power…"
Erubetie concentrated. Nothing happened. The part of her that had formed the spear was just a puddle on the ground.
"You destroyed my cells?!" Erubetie shouted.
"Hehe…" the Next Doll laughed. "Are you surprised? The vibration of this blade is able to destroy even your cells. I was created just to destroy you, after all. This body is perfectly designed to oppose the Queen Slime!"
The Next Doll lunged at Erubetie, slashing again and again with twin blades on her arms. Erubetie dodged the first few strikes, something I had not thought her capable of given that she hadn't attempted to dodge my blows during our duel. She must have learned from that. She transformed part of herself into a puddle that seeped under the Next Doll's legs to restrain her.
"Now you're just committing suicide!" the Next Doll yelled triumphantly. She became a blur as she vibrated, causing the slime under her feet to explode. Pieces dripped to the ground harmlessly. "Vibration armor. A special armor designed for slimes like you. I can completely destroy anything of you that touches me."
Alice and I had seen enough. I leaped to the attack, Alice right behind me. The Next Doll retreated. "I wasn't designed to fight either of you, as much as I would enjoy doing so. I just wanted to show the slime what awaited her since I didn't get a chance to in the castle. Be seeing you soon, Queen Slime."
With that, the Next Doll vanished. "They sure do run away quickly, don't they?" I observed.
"There are only five of them," Alice said. "Each with a specific mission. Promestein isn't about to spend them unwisely."
Erubetie was looking at me in a weird way. It was making me rather uncomfortable. "Erubetie, is everything okay?"
"Thank you…." She said. "I…. disgraced myself. One of my own children turned on me and I further demonstrated my uselessness against that thing."
"She was designed to fight you, Erubetie," Alice said. "Don't feel bad, I got trapped in this stupid little body. We all got handed temporary defeats. But as long as we're all still alive, we can resist. Our enemies studied us thoroughly. But we know their weakness now as well. Their resources are thin."
"C… cold…." Salamander continued to shiver under her blanket.
"Luka, please hurry up and take care of… the thing," Alice ordered.
"If you do not wish to do it out here, the cave should be safe enough now," Erubetie suggested. "I have filtered out most of the mercury from the spring. Long term exposure would still be bad, but you should be fine for a few minutes."
"I'm sure it won't even be that long," Alice teased.
Given how much this whole thing bothered Alice I decided to let her have that one. I picked Salamander up and dove into the spring with her. We arrived at the now abandoned cave seconds later.
"Hold me," Salamander pleaded. "Never been so cold before…"
I held her tight inside the blanket. After a few minutes, her shivering died down. She was regaining some warmth.
"Thank you for that," Salamander said. "Now that I'm warm enough, I can take it from here. Time to absorb some of your special energy!"
She got on top of me, grabbing my penis and putting it into her. Her insides were hot, and yet it didn't burn me. Nor did her flames, which were beginning to flicker from her body once again.
"Hehe, do you like how I feel?" she said, looking down at me. "I want you to get a good taste of it."
She moved up and down on me, alternately squeezing and raising and lowering her heat. Yet another unique experience in a world that seemed to have no end of them. As I exploded within her, her flames flared up. I felt the heat but they didn't burn me. It seemed that we were making love in the middle of an inferno.
"That was a lot of energy! I think I want a little more of it before we complete this contract!"
Salamander had been greedy. Once again Alice had to come looking for me. Fortunately, Salamander had finished with me a few minutes before and was now inside my head with Gnome and Sylph. I was flat on my back, Alice standing over me with her arms folded once again. This seemed to be happening to me a lot.
"Done?" she asked.
"Yep," I said tiredly. "She was… a little rough."
"I don't need the details," Alice said irritably. "Just get up and let's go back outside. Erubetie and I were talking. We have an idea."
I pulled myself up wearily and stepped through the portal that led to the spring waters. As we emerged back onto the shore, Erubetie was waiting for us.
"Luka," Alice said. "You're going to let Erubetie take you partially into her body."
"What for?" I asked, still a little wary of the taciturn slime.
"Our priority now is to get you using that power, remember? Undine was able to see it clearly. Erubetie, being similar to her, might be able to as well. Maybe she can even feel it as well as see it."
I didn't really understand how that would work, but I trusted Alice, so agreed to it. Erubetie pulled me into her so that only my head and arms remained free. Even my arms were being held and controlled, almost as if I was a puppet.
"Yes," Erubetie said. "Now that I'm in close contact with him, I do recognize it. I might be able to pull a small amount of it…."
My hands began to glow a little. In addition, I was now feeling it! I still couldn't just grab it and use it, but I at least had access to this much, and could at least feel the larger portion of it inside me.
"Okay, Luka, I want you to do something with it," Alice instructed. "Anything you can think of. I want to see if it's just raw force or whether it can be molded. It's possible it responds to your will."
I wasn't really sure what to try doing. I closed my eyes and imagined something random.
"I am not amused," Erubetie said.
I opened my eyes. Erubetie's normally blue color had changed to red. With seemingly no effort, she changed herself back to her accustomed blue.
"So it is versatile!" Alice said, delighted. "Your power could be limited only by your imagination. Erubetie, release him now."
The queen slime pulled away from me. I decided not to discuss the fact that being inside her like that had been a bit much for me. If I hadn't already been abused by Salamander I probably would have had an embarrassing emission inside her. It was a good thing she wasn't the playful type!
"Now try something without her holding your hand," Alice instructed.
I concentrated. The small strand of my power was still visible to me. I tried grasping it. It slipped out of my mental hands a few times, but for a brief moment I was able to grab it long enough to try something else. I heard Erubetie guffaw behind me, a small amount of slime hitting the back of my neck.
"What's so funny?" Alice asked suspiciously. "Luka, what did you do?"
"Your hair," Erubetie replied for me.
Alice reached for her hair and brought it into her field of vision. "Oh," she said. "It's not bad, actually."
I had turned her hair from silver to brown. I'm not sure why Erubetie thought it was funny, as she normally seemed to have no sense of humor. I guess you just had to be there. Still holding onto the strand, I concentrated and changed Alice's hair back to its normal color.
"I'm a genius!" Alice exulted. "From here, the sky's the limit! You're going to blow that goddess into smithereens!"
"If my part in this foolishness is finished," Erubetie said. "I am going to take my children and the human survivors to Plansect forest."
"How is Plansect forest, anyway?" Alice asked. "I hope they didn't start fighting again."
"There have been desultory attacks by chimeric beasts, seemingly at random," Erubetie replied. "Probably beasts that moved out of the range of control. It is probably best that we combine our forces there, to prepare for a more organized assault. The monster population in Plansect is very high. I cannot imagine Ilias would leave them untouched for long."
"That's a good idea," Alice said. "Luka and I will go and get Undine. Once all that nonsense is complete, we'll go back to my castle. I want a more complete picture of what's going on in the world and some ideas. Hopefully Tamamo will have more on those seals as well."
"Call for me when you are ready," Erubetie said.
Alice and I boarded Galda. "Shouldn't we check out Grangold?" I asked.
"We're not jumping into anymore battles," Alice replied. "Tamamo was right. You're wasted and put unnecessarily at risk when we do that. The other Knights are helping organize the defenses of the human cities still standing. If the angels show their faces at those battles, they'll let me know and we can fly there as quickly as possible. But as long as they face only chimeras and traitorous Black Alice followers, they can handle things. Barring any distractions, we're getting Undine and going back to my castle."