The following week was blessedly uneventful. Ilias didn't come for me. The Knights seemed pretty sated and so began acting normally around me again. Tamamo seemed to have gotten over things. Even Alice and I began to feel more at ease around each other, although she still stayed in human form whenever she was with me. The good news was that this enabled me to return to our bed without having nightmares and then waking up next to the subject of those nightmares.
That meant that I was able to get back to my long lost routine. I went to work, I sparred with Granberia, I played video games with Alma Elma, I checked in on Promestein twice a week, I played with my kids, and I enjoyed dinner with Alice and often some Netflix before bed.
It's not that I hadn't enjoyed the outings with various people. I just hadn't had much time to catch my breath. I felt like I needed a good twenty years of just doing the same thing every day. When I expressed this sentiment to Alice, she said she understood, but stressed that the work of fostering coexistence was never done.
I woke up in Alice's arms one morning, refreshed after a relaxing night of sleep. I felt something a little different, yet familiar: her tail. During the night she had transformed back into her true form.
"Good morning, darling," Alice said gently. "No nightmares?"
"None," I said happily. "I'm glad you feel comfortable being in your true form around me again."
"I don't yet, not really, but I wanted to see your reaction when you awakened. I felt you stirring a few minutes ago and changed back. I needed to know."
"We're gonna be okay, Alice. I promise."
"If you're that determined, how can we fail?" Alice asked affectionately, caressing my face.
I took my seat in front of my computer terminal in the office. Nanabi, as usual, was already there. There hadn't been much to do in the last week, which was fine by me. I wasn't technically paid for the work, so I didn't feel bad about doing nothing when there was nothing to do. Alice felt the same way about her own job.
"Tomorrow heaven will be ready to have us begin work," Nanabi announced.
"Wow," I said. "Thank you for letting me know a day in advance. Seems like everything I've been doing the past couple of weeks has just been sprung on me."
"We monsters can be pretty spontaneous and impulsive," Nanabi laughed. "When Tamamo takes me to your world I usually get no notice. 'Come on, Nanabi, we're going shopping!' I try to be a little more organized."
"How long will the project take?"
"I discussed the details with Ariel-"
"Wait, Ariel?! She's in charge of this?!"
"I know, right!?" Nanabi laughed. "Eden had her reasons for choosing her, I guess. Anyway, what they wanted was for just you to go. But I told Ariel that you'd be up there for days, maybe weeks, if you had to do it yourself. So Ariel says, 'Okay, no problem. Eden will be pleased.' And I said, 'Excuse me, Luka has better things to do with his time then work in heaven for days on end.'"
"Do they just not want monsters up there?"
"So Ariel agreed to let kitsunes accompany you, as long as we brought enough to finish the job in one day! Can you believe that?! They didn't want monsters up there at all, but if they have to have monsters in heaven, they want them out as soon as possible!"
"I guess there's still a lot of work to be done," I mused. "Tolerance is not the same as acceptance. So who will be coming with me?"
"Tamamo, myself, Hirumi, Rumiko, Fumi, and Jen."
I knew Rumiko and Fumi. Hirumi and Jen were new to me. I was grateful for the help, however. While I liked the idea of visiting Eden, I didn't relish the idea of days of hard labor by myself, while angels ogled me, some with lust in their hearts, others with hate and thoughts of revenge. Ariel in particular didn't like me at all, although she was so unquestioningly obedient that I doubted she would cause me trouble. But there were others….
"Hiya!" a bright, familiar voice said. "Talking about the heaven project?"
"Tamamo!" I exclaimed, surprised. "You're up early. Usually you don't drop in until an hour or two before noon."
"Eh, I haven't been sleeping well lately. It'll pass! I'm kinda excited about the idea of going to heaven. I've only been there once, and you know how that went. My tails were ruined! It took me days to heal them!"
For those who don't remember, Tamamo had tried to protect me by wrapping Ilias up in her tails. At best, she had delayed the goddess, who ripped poor Tamamo's tails apart, fur, skin, and bone. I had been pleasantly surprised to see that her tails were completely healed when I next saw her, about a month later. Going to heaven and actually being sorta welcome would be a nice change of pace.
"So how do you feel about Eden, Tamamo?"
"I actually like Eden," she replied. "I always have. I respected my enemies during the Great Monster Wars, and those three Seraphs were formidable and honorable opponents. It was their creator that I hated. You can't imagine how much satisfaction it gives me to know that all three now realize just who Ilias really is."
"Excellent," I said, sighing with relief. "I just wanted to know if there would be any tension up there."
"Only with Ilias. Unless some lesser angels decide to mess with us, but that would be very foolish. You don't have to worry about us kitsunes. We never start anything and we're willing to get along with anybody, even angels. As long as they behave, we'll behave. Now, onto the important stuff. Luka, have you fed Nanabi yet?"
"Wait, what?!"
"It's been a week since you've last been drained," Tamamo laughed. "Hasn't your lust built up? I can smell it on you!"
"Yep," Nanabi agreed. "I can smell it on you too."
"She works so hard and so loyally, and you just force her to sit next to you! A delicious slab of meat that she can't savor!"
I had to admit that I was getting pretty horny. But I also knew that Alice must be getting hungry.
"I'm sorry, Nanabi, but Alice hasn't fed off of me in over a week," I said apologetically. "I'm sure she'll want to tonight."
"Don't mind Tamamo, Luka," Nanabi laughed. "I have no trouble getting fed. All I ask is that you make time for me now and then, just so I know you still think I'm pretty."
"I think Luka's due for a sixteen moons, don't you?" Tamamo asked.
"You know, a sixteen moons would be a really great idea," Nanabi agreed. "How about when we get back from the project? As a celebration?"
"Done," I said eagerly.
After work, I decided to check in on Promestein since it had been a few days. I found her, as always, in the lab. She was sitting in front of her computer, sucking a popsicle. Those things are sure getting popular around here, I thought. Fortunately, she was eating her popsicle like a normal person.
"Oh, hey, Luka!" she greeted me. "I'm glad you're here. I wanted to update you on the special project you gave me."
"The ring?" I asked.
"Come here, pull up a seat," Promestein said.
I grabbed a chair and sat next to her, looking at the screen. I couldn't understand anything that I saw.
"What am I looking at here?" I asked.
"I'm trying to determine what kind of alloy we need to hold your power," she explained. "Everything I've tested is inadequate. I'm not discouraged. I only just got started on this project. But I just want to set expectations. We may have to do it as a series of rings like the Five Rings of Brocia. Make it so that your power only unlocks if a compatible person wears all of them."
She put her popsicle back in her mouth. Some juice dripped onto her arm. She licked it off. Why was I looking at that?
"That would make it rather hard to acquire, wouldn't it?" I asked, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. Promestein wasn't trying to be seductive, but thanks to the Knights I apparently would never look at popsicles the same way again.
"I admit it's not perfect. I'll find the best solution I can. It's a simple engineering problem. It can definitely be done, I just have to figure out the best way to do it. You wanted a ring, so that's what I'm trying to do. But it may take a few rings, or we could try another medium. A wand, a staff, a necklace with multiple jewels on it, each holding a small amount of your power… Jewels alone are an imperfect solution. Rings are great because then you can store magic in both the metal and the gemstone. I haven't even gotten to the point of selecting the right gemstone yet. Diamond is the best if you want to hold power someplace unbreakable, but it would also have the effect of locking the power inside, so that when someone put it on, it wouldn't flow into their body. We don't just want someone to use the ring, we want the ring to be a means of permanently transferring your power to the right person. Sapphire could be a solution, it has a good combination of hardness but also accessibility…."
While Promestein had been giving this dissertation, she had been pausing every few seconds to suck on her popsicle. I was looking at her, which gave the impression I'd heard everything she said, but women just seem to know when you're there but not there. I'd missed about half of that because I'd been distracted by her working on that popsicle. Always the experimenter, as soon as she noticed that I was looking at her but not hearing her, she switched from sucking the popsicle normally to taking long licks. My eyes went wide.
"Okay, you're being weird now," she said. "Did those monsters do something to you involving one of these?"
"Um…. Maybe?"
"Ugh… Monsters."
She threw the remainder of the popsicle into the trash, then without warning, grabbed my hand and shoved a couple of my fingers into her cold mouth.
"Promestein!"
"Don't tell me," she said, removing my fingers. "They started treating the popsicles like frozen penises, then decided to go for the real thing?"
"Yes," I said ruefully. "Twice in two days."
"I should have known not to buy monsters something phallic," she said in disgust. "Anyway, I guess you don't need the full details yet. Just know that I'm working on it and I'll get it done. Just be sure to give me special sauce whenever I ask for it."
"No problem. And I'm sorry, Promestein."
"You don't have to apologize to me!" she yelled. "You didn't do anything wrong! You probably didn't even notice that this wasn't the first time you've come here to talk to me and I was eating a popsicle. I love those things! As a matter of fact… if you want me to do what they did to you, all you have to do is ask."
That caused me to become rock hard, but I had to resist. I may have a hall pass, but Alice was overdue. It needed to be her tonight. I knew that the Knights would start getting hungry in a couple of days as well. And I already had an appointment for tail love with Tamamo and Nanabi tomorrow.
"I may take you up on that, but not today," I replied. "Do you really want to be doing stuff like that with me, though? I mean, until that birthday, we'd always kept things professional. I thought we had a good working relationship."
"I don't know, I'd argue that playing around with you enhances our professional relationship," she teased. "By the way, good luck tomorrow. You'll need it."
All in all, i had been a good day. As Alice and I crawled into bed, she in her true form, I wondered if she'd try to make a move on me. Normally, I could count on it if it had been three days or more. But she was scared to be too aggressive, so this wasn't a normal situation. I was pretty horny. I wanted her badly.
"Good night, Luka," she said, wrapping me in her arms and tail.
"Alice?"
"Yes, darling?"
"Aren't you hungry?"
"Starving. Do you want me to drain you? You smell like your lust has really built up. I was wondering when you'd ask."
"Yes, I'd very much like that," I said. "I made sure no one else touched me so that I could save myself for you."
"Well if you want me, you should take me. I don't think we're ready for me to do it the way I usually do it. Just do whatever you want with my body. I'm so hungry I don't care."
She released me from her tail and laid on her back. Looking at her this way, I began to understand how she looked at me when she was hungry. Hunger and horniness aren't the same, but they aren't all that different either. She looked like nothing more than a buffet, just laying there looking beautiful and willing. I couldn't decide where to start.
I decided to start with her breasts, placing my already erect member in between them. She decided to help out by squeezing them together as I thrust in between them.
"I thought you might want these breasts," she said seductively. "You always did like them. I miss how you used to sneak looks at them early in our travels."
"Oh, believe me, I still stare at them," I panted, already close to a climax because it had been so long.
"Yes, but now you're supposed to like them. It was much more exciting when you weren't supposed to be looking. I thought of exposing them to you to tease you. I wanted to make it seem accidental. But then I decided to just pleasure you with them at some point. I thought it would be more exciting if the first time you saw them was with your penis between them."
I blasted her face with semen. She eagerly licked it off, then licked her breasts clean.
"You've got a lot on your penis. Give it to me," she ordered.
I gently put it in her mouth. She sucked off the semen gently, looking into my eyes as she did it. My lust hadn't diminished at all. Seeing that I was enjoying the sucking, she kept doing it for a minute, then stopped.
"If you want more, you have to take more. Take it as roughly as you want. I'm a lamia, you can't hurt me."
I had never done anything like that with her, but I knew her anatomy well enough that I could use her mouth as a pussy with no problem. I shoved it back in and began thrusting in and out quickly. She didn't move her head, letting me just use her, but she did help out with skillful use of her tongue, which sent me over the edge two more times within five minutes. The first time I buried my dick in her throat, enjoying the contractions as she swallowed. The second time I simply stopped and let her tongue frantically pleasure me as I came.
Now my lust was starting to subside, but I knew that she was still hungry. I first thought to give her two or three more loads by taking her pussy, but then I had an inspiration. Perhaps a very bad idea, but maybe….
"Alice, is there any way for you to use your second mouth just to pleasure me?"
"Luka!" she exclaimed in surprise. "I…. think I can do that. The mouth itself is a little big for that, but maybe I can just use a couple of the tentacles. But that sounds like a really bad idea."
"I need to get over my fear," I argued. "That mouth is a part of you. I love all of you, even that terrifying mouth. Maybe the best way for me to get over what happened is to have better memories of it."
"If you're sure…. Okay, point your penis at my navel. If you get an urge to run, don't fight it. I don't want you to have a freakout."
I almost did when the horrifying mouth opened slightly to release several tentacles, two of which wrapped around my dick. The sensation just from their touch was unbelievable. So unbelievable that I worried.
"They aren't going to digest it, are they?" I asked with trepidation.
"I have absolute control over what kinds of juices I secrete," she assured me. "What you're feeling is a very mild solution of my saliva and digestive juices. Just enough digestive juices to give you a fraction of the feeling you felt before, but not enough to actually harm you. You might be a little numb afterwards, but worry, it will pass."
The tentacles writhed around my penis, pulling, stroking, squeezing, and rotating. It almost seemed as if they were fighting over my dick.
"You are so amazing with those," I gasped. The lingering fear actually seemed to make it even hotter.
"Don't give me too much credit," Alice chuckled. "I have no control over how they move. They act involuntarily, seeking food and trying to pull it in. I'm not doing anything. You're getting turned on just by their random movements."
I was quickly approaching another climax. The tentacles seemed to know instinctively what was going on, or Alice did and the tentacles responded. I screamed in surprise as more tentacles shot out, wrapping around my lower body and pulling me towards her mouth. As I came, the mouth was pressed against my body from my knees to my navel, my penis inside it, in an obscene kiss. When I finished coming, the tentacles released me. I must have been pulling against them, because once they let me go I tumbled off of the bed.
"Luka, are you okay? I'm so sorry! I had no idea they would do that!"
It had been pretty scary, but if anything, I had to laugh. Alice seemed confused, asking me what was so funny.
"I don't know," I said, still laughing. "It was super scary for a second and then it just seemed so absurd!"
"So you're not afraid of it anymore?"
"Oh, I'm still terrified!" I laughed, crawling back into bed. "It will be a long time before I ask you to do that again! But I think it may have helped."
"Yeah, we really shouldn't do that," she said. "that mouth exists only for one purpose."
"I think I'm ready to go to sleep now. Are you full?"
"Not even close," Alice giggled. "But I got what I needed, even if I didn't get all I wanted. Sleep well, my darling. And good luck in heaven tomorrow."
"I'm in heaven right now," I said, kissing her. I turned over and she wrapped her tail around me once again. I quickly drifted off to sleep.
I reported to the office a little early, since we wanted to get the work done all in the same day. The kitsunes, always prompt, were already there. I was curious about how we were going to get there.
"All ready to go?" Tamamo asked.
"Sure," I replied. "How do you want to do this?"
"You're going to bring us all in!" she answered cheerfully. "It's the easiest way!"
"But is it the safest way?" I asked. I had only teleported twice in my life.
"Definitely not!" Tamamo replied, still cheerful. "But you'll never get good at it if you don't try! Do you think we learned how to teleport by never taking a risk?"
"We believe in you, Luka!" piped up one of the one tailed kitsunes.
"Thank you. What's your name?" I asked.
"I'm Jen!"
"So how does a kitsune get a name like Jen?" I asked.
"My father gave me that name. It was his grandmother's. Luka, I've seen you around but never had a chance to speak with you before. It's such an honor to be able to work with you today. My parents always believed in coexistence and raised me to love humans. Thank you so much for making that dream a reality."
"Well, it wasn't just me," I said, embarrassed.
"Let's get going, Luka!" Tamamo ordered. "Don't let Jen down by having us materialize on Mars or something!"
"Okay, the last time I did this we all held hands, so if everyone would join hands…."
"You realize your power doesn't work that way," Nanabi pointed out. "You can do this however you want."
"Yeah, but the way you teleport requires physical contact, so it's best if I just do it in a way that's familiar to me. Reduces the chances of a mishap."
Tamamo took me by the hand, Nanabi grabbed my other. The other three kitsunes joined hands as well. I closed my eyes and concentrated on where I wanted to be. In heaven, near the throne room. I opened my eyes, and just like that, we were all there. I breathed a sigh of relief. Wow, I'm getting good at this! I thought.
Our arrival had been anticipated. Ariel was waiting for us. To my surprise, she approached me and embraced me warmly. I received a solid dose of whatever it was that Eden had, feeling serene and loved. I shook it off quickly. Eden hadn't tried to rape me three seconds after meeting me.
"Welcome to heaven, Luka!" Ariel declared. "I know you have been here twice before, but this is the first time you have been here as a welcomed guest. This is a great day for humanity and heaven!"
"And monsters," Tamamo added.
"Yes, of course," Ariel agreed, although she could barely hide her disgust. "And monsters. It is good that you chose to arrive just outside the throne room. You can start there. Eden and Ilias are eager to see you, Luka. Your companions may begin their work…. Elsewhere."
This was starting to make me uncomfortable. I wasn't sure how to handle such a slight against my friends. Tamamo, fortunately, rescued me.
"Go ahead, Luka, we have the plans for the project all documented. We'll start work at the other locations. Girls, remember, don't go anywhere alone. Always stay with Nanabi or me. Just in case. We don't want any trouble we can't handle."
"Here are the jobs that need to be done in the throne room," Nanabi said, handing me a sheet of paper. Apparently they had anticipated me having no idea what to do, so the instructions had been completely dumbed down for my benefit. I still couldn't get used to the fact that I had taught them everything I knew and now they knew far more than I did. In just ten years I went from this world's tech genius to barely qualified to answer phones.
Ariel began to escort me to the throne room. Like Eden, she had chosen to fully clothe herself, as opposed to her completely naked form the last two times I had seen her. Perhaps being naked was how they readied themselves for combat? If that was true, then they were just like succubi in that respect, a comparison which I was sure would offend Ariel greatly. Given how she'd given my friends the brush off, I was tempted to have that conversation. Instead, I chose to be more diplomatic.
"So why were you chosen for this job?" I asked.
"Eden desires that we should all get along," the archangel replied. "I have never had anything against you. I was sent to rape you in order to take your power. It was not personal. I dislike touching humans. But Eden felt that you might have lingering dislike of me. She felt that if we worked together, that perhaps we might get along better. She told me that it was in your nature to forgive."
"It would be easier to forgive if you treated my friends with more respect."
"I dislike monsters even more than I dislike humans. I cannot change overnight. The world is changing and I must change with it, but I cannot simply make a decision to change my feelings. Still, allow me to apologize. My behavior was most undiplomatic. That is why Eden chose me. I must spend time with humans and monsters peacefully in order to learn how to coexist with them. When I have finished with you, I shall go to your companions and apologize."
"Thank you, Ariel, I really appreciate that."
"I must thank you as well," Ariel added as we entered the throne room. "I spent the war sealed in your sword. I know that it wasn't entirely your idea, but I was released shortly after the war ended. I would never have expected mercy from my enemies. You and your wife will always have my gratitude."
"You're welcome," I replied, now a lot happier with the encounter with an old enemy. "I do hope that we can begin to like each other. When I was here last month you were leading the welcoming party then as well. It was pretty tense."
"Did the Monster Lord and the Heavenly Knights welcome you with flowers and candy? I do not know how things work on your world, but in this world, invading someone's home is considered an unfriendly act."
"I get it," I said. "I'm just glad we're not fighting now. I hope we never fight again."
"I couldn't agree more," Eden said from the throne.
I looked up to gaze at the Seraph. I hadn't even noticed that we'd passed through the cloud walls of the throne room. Eden was as resplendent as ever. She may not have had the power of a goddess, but she certainly looked and acted the part, far better than Ilias ever had. Ilias occupied a throne off to the side, the same one that Alipheese had sat in the last time I'd been here just one month ago. I still found the relationship between Ilias and Eden to be fascinating. Although Eden had been loyal and submissive to Ilias, they had also tended to act like high school BFFs. The fact that Ilias clearly loved Eden was probably the main reason that she tolerated Eden sitting in her throne.
"I really don't see you enough, Eden," I said.
"All you ever have to do is call me," Eden said, smiling at me as she descended from her throne.
"She can hear your prayers again," Ilias added. "I can as well. You can call me anytime. I can't guarantee I'll respond, but I'll hear."
"So where is the equipment?" I asked, looking around and seeing nothing to work with.
"It's in a storage room," Ariel replied. "Cupid and Valkyrie have been inventorying and readying the equipment. I will teleport you there."
"Cupid and Valkyrie?" I asked. "Eden…."
"Good luck, Luka!" Ilias said cheerfully. "I'm sure you three will get along great! Go on, Ariel, take him to the storage room!"
Great. Well, at least I knew what to expect. Eden would have been unaware because she had stopped them from molesting me further in a timeline that no longer existed. Ilias, however, knew what had happened and was probably enjoying the idea of me getting an arrow in my bum a second time. Well, I was determined to prevent that. And I had the power to prevent it.
Ariel put her arms around me and in a flash I was standing in front of the familiar storage room that Cupid and Valkyrie had led me into for the purpose of playing a mean prank on me. Like Ariel, they had been sealed in the very first moments of the war, Cupid and Valkyrie directly at my hand, Ariel at Alice's after she attacked me. I wondered if Ilias had more to do with Ariel's appointment to this task than Eden. I wasn't worried about Cupid and Valkyrie. Ariel, however, could be a problem if she decided to take revenge on me. I wasn't sure I could deal with her without using more force than I would have liked.
Ariel opened the door to the storage room and beckoned for me to enter. I may not be the brightest guy in the world, but not everything flies over my head. I walked in cautiously, Ariel following behind me, cutting off any easy retreat. Cupid and Valkyrie were inside, surrounded by boxes of equipment. They smiled when they saw me. There was a lot of stuff. How was I supposed to get it all back to the throne room? Why wasn't it already there? I would have to discuss with Eden how easily she was duped. She was a bad as I was.
"Good to see you again, Luka!" Cupid said brightly. "We made sure to organize this stuff for you!"
"Where did you get all this?" I asked. "Who brought it here?"
"Amazon, of course!" Cupid replied. "They deliver anywhere!"
Cute. Also a lie.
"Promestein ordered it all and had it delivered to your apartment," Ariel explained. "She brought it to her lab, whereupon I cast a spell to transport it all here. What you see here is only a quarter of it. There are four more storage rooms. The kitsunes are retrieving the equipment from those other storage rooms for use elsewhere in heaven. What you see here is for the throne room, Eden and Ilias' personal quarters, and this room itself."
"Okay," I said evenly. "Can you transport it all that way to the throne room, except for what we're installing here?"
"Of course," Ariel replied, waving her arms. All but two boxes disappeared. "Eden and Ilias did not want boxes stacked inside the throne room. So we waited until you were ready to work."
Yes, I'm sure, I thought, as I inspected the two boxes that remained. It looked simple enough. Just a PC and monitor. I began opening the box containing the PC. I lifted it out of the box and asked where it should go. Valkyrie gestured with her sword, which was out for some reason I couldn't imagine, to a desk in a corner. Made sense. I brought the PC to the desk and set it down. I grabbed the power cables from the box and crawled under the desk, looking for an outlet. I knew that if Cupid was going to try anything, it would be now.
As I looked around while under the desk, vainly trying to find a power outlet and hoping that they hadn't asked us to install all of this equipment without power somehow, I noticed Cupid behind me. Here we go, I thought. I grabbed a small amount of my power, ready to turn around and give her a gentle love tap. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed her bending down. I turned around. She put her hands behind her back, whistling.
"I don't see a power outlet," I said. "Were you going to help me find one?"
"Um...." Cupid seemed confused.
"Heaven itself is the power," Ariel answered. "All of the electronics you install will work simply by being here."
I tested the veracity of her statement by pressing the power button. Sure enough, it flashed on. Wow, that's pretty cool, I thought.
"Do you also get internet that way?" I asked, just before being shoved down over the desk, my pants ripped off, by Valkyrie.
I reacted instantly, releasing power all around me, but as little as possible so that I wouldn't damage the equipment. It backed Valkyrie and Cupid off, but didn't hurt them. Ariel, to my surprise, didn't seem to understand what was happening.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Ariel demanded to know. "He is the guest of the goddess! How dare you attack him?!"
"We have some unfinished business with the disgraced hero!" Valkyrie answered, brandishing her sword at me. "Don't worry, we won't hurt him too badly."
"The war is over!" Ariel countered. "He is no longer our enemy."
"You were sealed the same as us, Ariel!" Cupid retorted. "Don't you want revenge?"
"I… Yes. I desire revenge. What did you have in mind?"
"I was gonna stick this arrow straight up his butt!" Cupid said proudly, holding up an arrow.
"You will do no such thing!" Ariel said. "Such an act would create an incident that would inflame tensions between heaven and the surface. It is not just monsters that would be enraged by such a violation, but also the humans, who regard Luka as their greatest hero! You want to get even. I understand that. I wish to get even as well. Think of another method."
Cupid, disappointed, put away her arrow. Valkyrie thought for a moment, still brandishing her sword at me.
"We angels have meted out justice to sinners for thousands of years," Valkyrie finally said to me when she had finished thinking. "Perhaps Cupid's punishment did not fit the crime. I believe a proper sentence would be…..three orgasms! One for each of us!"
"That's your… revenge?" I asked skeptically. "That would satisfy you? We wouldn't be enemies anymore?"
"We are angels," Valkyrie answered. "We do not hold grudges once judgment has been delivered."
"Okay," I replied, with my pants around my legs. "Three orgasms. Fine. I'm not sure I'll be able to do the work you need done once you've given me three, but if it's what it takes to resolve this, I accept your judgment."
"I am powerful enough to restore you from your critical ecstasy," Ariel said. "I have heard that you are capable of doing so yourself, but if you have still not mastered that ability, I can do it for you. I do not wish to touch you anyway. Watching will be sufficient vengeance for me."
"Awesome!" Cupid said. "More for us!"
Valkyrie sheathed her sword and grabbed my penis in her hand, jerking it roughly. Okay, maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. Still, her hand was silky soft, so it wasn't all bad. I'd probably just be a little sore later. She looked into my eyes with malice as she stroked me.
"Face your judgment sinner!" Cupid said cheerfully, standing behind Valkyrie. "Ooh! Let me bite him!"
Valkyrie released my penis and Cupid dove at it, biting it hard. Ouch! Still, like monsters, angels had magic that made almost everything feel good. Clearly the two angels were experienced at inflicting pain along with pleasure. Cupid's head bobbed faster than humanly possible. The pleasure of her lips and tongue mixed with the pain of her teeth scraping me.
When she was satisfied that she had inflicted enough "punishment", she backed off, allowing Valkyrie to roughly push me down to the ground. She stepped on my penis hard, crushing it between my belly and her foot. Once again, pain mixed with pleasure in interesting ways. I had never been into pain before. Hadn't monsters given me enough fetishes? Now I was getting new ones from angels!
Sensing that I was getting close, she stepped down even harder and began rubbing faster. Cupid helped out by spitting on me to provide lubrication.
"Ha!" Cupid crowed. "How does it feel to be spit on? You must be so humiliated right now! As humiliated as we were to be beaten by a mere human!"
My response was to come all over myself and Valkyrie's foot. Cupid licked it all up, then climbed on top of me, shoving me into her small opening. I gasped at the tightness. Cupid stood only four feet tall and couldn't have weighed more than sixty pounds. She bounced on me as fast as she could, taunting me the entire time and randomly spitting on me. Valkyrie put her hand around my neck and brought her face close to mine, explaining in detail all I had done to incur the wrath of the heavens, some crimes real, others imagined.
I exploded so hard inside Cupid that I was surprised she wasn't blown clear off of me. She moved down to place her head near my crotch. Was she going to bite and suck me again? It turned out that she was, but that wasn't all that was about to happen. Valkyrie's pussy was shoved in my face so that I could barely breathe. I felt the larger angel lay across me and inhale my dick into her mouth, sucking hard, being sure to add teeth just as Cupid had. After about a minute of that, Valkyrie came up for air.
"Eat my holy vagina!" Valkyrie ordered. "Please me enough, and I may be merciful! Fail to please me and your last orgasm shall be the worst yet!"
I complied, licking her surprisingly delicious pussy as best I could and still draw breath. She didn't make it easy, pressing down hard with her waist and rubbing her crotch in my face. She resumed her own sucking, this time without teeth. For a few minutes we attacked each other's genitals with our mouths.
"You're not pleasing me enough!" Valkyrie yelled. "Cupid, punish him!"
I stifled a scream as Cupid bit down hard on my balls. There was no pleasure there! At the same time Valkyrie deep throated me again. To my surprise, I immediately orgasmed despite the pain. Satisfied, Valkyrie and Cupid stood up. Ariel joined them, surrounding me as I lay there on the floor, in critical ecstasy and pain.
"I'm impressed, disgraced hero!" Valkyrie said. "You took your punishment like a man!"
"I still want to bite him more!" Cupid whined.
"It is done," Ariel announced abruptly. "I have disobeyed Eden by letting you do even this much. From now on, we will not just tolerate Luka, but we shall be friends."
"Friends!?" Cupid asked in disbelief.
"Yes, friends!" Ariel reiterated. "I didn't have to allow you to take your revenge. He didn't have to allow it. He is far beyond you. Now shake his hand. I believe that is the human tradition."
"Um…." I cut in. "Could you make it so that I could get up again, first?"
"Of course," Ariel replied, removing her clothing and laying her naked body onto mine. Everywhere her body touched, I felt better. She placed her hand on my balls to heal the damage done by Cupid. When she was finished healing me, she offered a hand to help me up.
Valkyrie came forward to offer me her hand. I took it graciously. She bowed her head in response. Cupid came forward more reluctantly. I shook her hand as well. She looked like she wanted to bite it. Eh, good enough, I thought. People don't change overnight, whether angel, human, or monster. Still watching my back, just in case, I quickly set up the computer for the storage room and tested it. Cupid's demeanor changed abruptly from one of sullen petulance to excitement.
"Oooohhhh, it's so cool! Teach me how to use it!" she demanded.
"He doesn't have time to show you how to use the computer today," Ariel admonished. "But if you will be his friend, for real rather than just to satisfy me, perhaps he can teach you another day. He may even be persuaded to place one of these devices in your personal quarters."
"Would you really?!" Cupid asked excitedly. "If you do that, we'll be friends forever! I'll never bite you again!"
"She's lying," Valkyrie informed me. "She bites everyone."
"Not hard," Cupid whimpered.
"If you really want to be friends, I'll come back and teach you how to use it," I replied. "In the meantime, just play with it. You can do a surprising number of things with it just by messing around."
To my surprise, it seemed to already be connected to the internet somehow. "I get the power, but how is it online?" I asked Ariel.
"Holy magic increases awareness," Ariel explained. "You experienced this when you were briefly infused with all the free holy magic in this universe. The internet is merely information. As long as it exists in this world, it can be accessed. So please insure that the connection between our world and the world of your birth is reliable."
"Um… sure," I responded. There sure were a lot of bossy people in this world.
"Since we are finished here, I will take you back to the throne room," Ariel declared, grabbing me. And just like that, we were back, standing next to all the equipment Promestein had procured for this project. Presumably with my money. Sigh.
I pulled the sheet of paper with my instructions on it from my pocket and went to work. Ilias continued to sit on her throne, occasionally smirking at me. She seemed quite pleased with herself. Eden looked oblivious, occasionally conversing with me but betraying no knowledge of what had been done to me. Ilias, despite her reduced power, obviously still had some way of being aware of things she wasn't present for. I decided not to snitch on Ariel, Valkyrie, and Cupid, knowing how protective Eden was of me. If accounts had truly been settled with the three angels, I saw no need to involve Eden.
It took about an hour to fully set up the throne room. They'd really splurged. A massive, almost jumbotron screen was to be placed on the opposite wall. Given that the wall in question was only a cloud, I wasn't sure how it would work, but I figured it out quickly. All I had to do was place the screen against the wall and it adhered to it securely. I still wondered what in the world they would do with it. A few terminals were also set up in a corner of the large throne room, probably to enable close aides to Ilias and Eden to work, I wondered if heaven had as much paperwork as the monster and human worlds.
When I was finished, Eden teleported me to her personal quarters. They were surprisingly small and simple, but also extremely unusual. The walls and floor were made of plants. Even the furniture was made of plants! I set a system up for her on a desk as she sat on her bed and watched me. When I was finished, Eden smiled serenely at me.
"I never really wanted one of those infernal machines," Eden said. "but many of the angels who have spent time on the surface prevailed upon me to 'get with the modern age', as they said."
"I think you'll find that this makes your work a lot easier," I replied. "Besides, now you can email me. Send me selfies."
"Selfies?" she asked quizzically.
"Pictures of yourself. You can take them with the webcam."
"Webcam?"
"Ah, I see that you'll need to learn how to use it. With your intellect, I doubt you'll need much help."
"I'm confident I can figure that thing out," she chuckled. "so, do you like my room?"
"It's nice," I replied. "Reminds me of when I first met you."
"Ah, yes, my specialty is the creation and control of plant life. I am the ultimate master of nature. I adore plant life. The smells, the feel of the leaves and vines…. I was born among clouds, but only around plants do I feel truly comfortable. My true form is mostly plant."
"Your true form?" I asked.
"Yes, goddesses and Seraphs do not appear human unless we wish to. It is similar to how your wife can take a human form. In the case of Ilias and I, we spend almost all of our time in human form. Our true forms are difficult for mortals to comprehend. Difficult even for lesser angels."
"What's the giant screen for in the throne room?"
"I do not have Ilias' omniscience," she explained. "She is also not what she once was. We will use that screen as a scrying device. Using supplemental magic, Ilias will use it to monitor anything she wishes as she did when she was at her peak."
I wasn't sure how much I liked that, but decided not to make an issue of it just yet. Ilias seemed to be very good at knowing what I was doing without a surveillance device.
"While we have some private time, is there anything else you would like to ask me?" Eden asked.
"I've always wondered about powerful angels' ability to make men surrender by making them feel loved and safe. Is that something that is just a part of you, or do you do it intentionally?"
Eden rose from the bed and put her arms around me, kissing me softly. "No human has ever entered my private room before. Would you like to lie on that bed and experience all that I have to offer you?"
"Yes, Eden," I whispered. I wanted nothing more in the world. She was the essence of true love. Her body would make me whole. My fears, my angst, my old traumas, would all disappear in her embrace.
"As you can see," she said, letting me go and returning to her bed. "It's both. I cause such feelings naturally, without consciously trying to, but I can also make the feelings more intense if I wish. That is the first time I've ever intentionally used that power on you. When we first met, I didn't have to. You have grown used to me, however. So in order to properly seduce you, I needed to try a little harder."
I snapped out of it. Alice had given me a hall pass, but I still felt bad about anything that made me forget about her. I should be stronger than that!
"Now that you are not under any compulsion, if you still want me, I am yours," the beautiful Seraph offered.
"I still have work to do," I stammered. "Another time, maybe?"
"Oh, pooh, Luka, I haven't been able to make love to you since the volcano," she pouted.
"You made love to me on my birthday, just before…." Realization hit me. Did she have no idea? "Eden, Ilias never told you about why I suddenly have an immortality ring?"
"You removed it from Saja's finger, did you not?" she asked. "I gave you another of the five rings myself."
"Oh wow," I breathed. "That's not how it went the first time around."
"First time around?"
"You sent me back in time when I was getting old because you didn't want me to die."
"I can't manipulate time," she objected. "you must be remembering a dream of some kind. Perhaps you dreamed that you grew old."
"Ilias taught you the spell. She wanted it done for her own reasons."
"But if I cast such a spell, I should remember. Why do I not remember?"
"Ilias gave you the instructions for casting it in a way that only allowed her to remember," I explained.
"Why would she do that?" Eden asked, not quite understanding. "Why keep that from me? She had to know that eventually the subject would come up between you and I."
Eden's look of confusion abruply changed to one of wrath. I had never seen that expression on her face before. "That little blonde twat!" she exclaimed, then calmed down. "Forgive me, Luka, I never wanted you to see my bad side. Ilias had her own reasons for keeping this from me, and I intend to have a stern discussion with her about those reasons. The next time you see me, I shall remember everything. For now, however, let's keep this between us. I will discuss this with her at a time of my choosing. You should not have to be in the middle of it."
Actually, I wanted to pull up a chair and a bag of popcorn, but I decided that was something I should keep to myself. Eden tenderly wrapped her arms around me and planted another soft kiss on my lips. We teleported back into the throne room, her lips still locked with mine.
"Is that really necessary, Eden?" I heard Ilias say with exasperation. "You only need to take his hand to teleport him. You don't need to make out with him!"
"I assure you, that was absolutely necessary," Eden said smugly. "You teleport him your way, I'll teleport him my way."
"Oh, I will," Ilias said snidely, descending from her throne to take my hand. She too put her arms around me and crushed her lips against mine, forcing her tongue into my mouth as we exited the throne room.
We appeared in a palatial room that was bigger than a lot of houses I'd seen in very wealthy communities. A beautiful canopy bed occupied one corner, at least twice as large as the bed Alice and me shared. Paintings of Ilias adorned all the walls. The room was pink and white, with the softest carpet I had ever felt under my toes.
"So what do you think of my room?" Ilias asked smugly.
"It's…. a bit much," I answered truthfully.
"Rethink that answer," the former goddess snarled.
"It's beautiful," I hastily corrected.
"Thank you," she said sweetly. "I decorated it myself."
Yes, mainly WITH herself. Her ego was limitless. I had an inspiration.
"Ilias, I notice all of these portraits are paintings. Why don't I take a photo of you to add to these?"
"A photo?! Take a hundred!" she squealed eagerly.
I pulled out my Iphone and began snapping pictures of her as she posed. It occurred to me that she would probably be the greatest Instagram star on my world if she was so motivated. Her beauty was unmatched and she'd probably enjoy having millions of people basically worship her. When I had a few dozen, I showed her how to scroll through and pick the ones she wanted. She chose her four favorites and dragged them out of my phone with her finger and onto her wall! Just like that, four photos joined all the portraits on the wall. Now there was even more Ilias all over Ilias' room.
"Wait!" she said, snatching my phone and posing next to me. She snapped a quick selfie with me and added that to her wall. I guess I should have been touched. No one else occupied that wall except her. And now me. Ilias seemed to echo my thoughts.
"You should be honored," she said with satisfaction. "You're the first human to ever enter my room and the first human to end up on my wall."
I chuckled and got to work setting up her computer. I was happy with how easy it all was, not needing power or network cables. I still needed to attach cables for peripherals, I guessed because otherwise a mouse on one computer would start moving the pointer on another. Tamamo and Nanabi probably knew more about this stuff than I did. I was accustomed to Earth rules for how things worked.
"So who is going to support this technology?" I asked.
"Oh, that's going to be Ariel's job," Ilias said. "She'll only need you if something needs to be ordered. You've worked hard today. Why don't you lay on my bed? I guarantee that it's the most comfortable place you've ever been."
"I think I'll p-"
Ilias put her arms around me tenderly, pressing her body against mine. "That wasn't a request, brave Luka. Relax. Let me reward you for all you've done today."
"Yes," I replied. "I think that would be great."
Ilias let go of me and laughed, pointing at me. "Gotcha!" she crowed. "Oh, you should have seen your face! I haven't used that power in forever!"
"Wait, did you just Eden me?"
"I totally did! But seriously, lay down for a few minutes. I promise I won't do anything inappropriate. You've had enough of that already today."
I decided to obey, lying down on her bed. She hadn't been lying. The bed was incredible. I feared that I might drift off to sleep. Ilias sat down on the edge of the bed, placing her hand on my arm.
"Sorry not sorry about the petty little acts of vengeance," she said with a sweet smile. "But just as those petty little acts set things right between you and my subordinates, they help set things right with me. I'm sure you figured out that I arranged the whole thing."
"I'm not so dense that I couldn't spot that one coming," I said grumpily.
"Oh, get over it!" she exclaimed. "you got three orgasms and Ariel healed any damage that was done to you. More importantly, I like you better today than I did yesterday."
"Does that mean you like me?"
"Hell no!" she laughed. "But maybe I don't want to make you suffer anymore. Letting you lay in my bed really is a great privilege. Consider it a small olive branch. I've got more for you today. For now, take some time to rest. The monsters still have a few hours of work to do."
She gently rubbed my arm, which quickly lulled me to sleep despite my efforts to stay awake. She woke me up about an hour later by biting that same arm.
"Get up! I want to show you something," the goddess ordered.
I reluctantly climbed out of the soft bed. I hadn't intended to go to sleep, but once I had, I wanted nothing more than to stay there for about sixteen hours. Ilias decided to teleport me the no drama way, simply taking my hand and whisking us out of her room. We materialized in what appeared to be a forest. Were we on the surface? It didn't look familiar to me and the sky didn't look quite right.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"This is Eden's forest," Ilias answered. "You've probably noticed that the entrance to heaven still has my imprint on it. Statues of me everywhere, clouds, the whole shebang. But ever since Eden became the goddess, she wanted to have her own version of heaven, without taking my stuff down."
"It's beautiful," I breathed. It was a lovely forest, full of species of trees I'd never seen before. Seemingly every one bore delicious looking fruit.
"It's big, too. This place is the size of the Sentora continent. She keeps her personal quarters modest, but this vastly exceeds anything I ever did to my side of heaven. She personally created every plant you see here. Millions of them, each one unique."
"It's an incredible accomplishment," I said. "Any botanist would feel like they were in heaven, cataloguing all these species."
"That's because it is heaven, moron!" she chuckled. "I get what you're saying though. Maybe I should reward a faithful botanist by ascending his soul to this forest when he dies."
"I always wondered about that. Where are all the souls of your worshippers?"
Ilias looked uncomfortable. She seemed to struggle with what to say next.
"This…. Isn't exactly heaven. Not the kind of heaven you know, anyway. It's actually a bit of a fraud."
"So there are no souls here?" I asked.
"No," she said, wincing. "I do have the ability to take the souls of the recently deceased, as long as they haven't passed on to what I assume is the real heaven. I took Heinrich's and I fully intended to take yours."
"So why did you create this place?"
"I needed a home," she shrugged. "If the humans were going to worship me I had to have a home befitting the role. I call myself a goddess, but I know that I'm not really a goddess. I talked myself into the role because people expected it of me. I'm actually happy to let Eden play that role now. She's better at it. But I'm glad you brought that up. Because I didn't bring you here just to see the scenery. We have to talk, Luka."
"I'm listening."
"Luka, I'm scared," Ilias said. "I crave power, but not just because I like being powerful. I can't…. see all that I used to be able to see."
"Welcome to the club," I said, shrugging. "You still see more than anyone on this world."
"But not as much as I used to be able to see! It frightens me to not know things!"
"You'll get used to it," I assured her.
"It's not just about me," she said, shaking her head. "I understand why you made me weak. I did very bad things. I realize that. But there are worse things out there than me or Alipheese. That's what scares me. I can no longer keep an eye out for those dangers. I couldn't fight them even if I could see them."
"What kind of dangers?"
"Oh, nothing you'll probably have to worry about," she answered. "About fifty thousand years ago, I found out that there was a heaven, a real one. But that's not all I found out. There was also a hell."
My blood ran cold. A hell?
"I'm not going to get into the story right now," she continued. "But the threat that emerged from that hell is coming back someday. I know it. But I'm as blind to it now as you are. When she returns I might not be the first to know."
"Who is she?" I asked, now quite terrified.
"It doesn't matter," Ilias said with finality, sounding very much like Alice when she didn't want to tell me things. "If she's coming back, it won't be for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Your life has been uprooted enough, mostly by me. Enjoy it. If she comes back, you and I will fight her together. If you're gone…. Well, if you're gone, make sure Promestein gets that ring created. It will be needed."
"I'm surprised you aren't asking me for your power back."
She laughed bitterly. "You destroyed the rings. You can't give it back to me. You could give me your power, but I know you won't do that unless the threat is imminent and maybe not even then. Just… make sure the world has a way to fight her if she returns. Don't leave this world defenseless. As much of a hero as you've been, as much as you've changed things for the better, you know that your actions here have had consequences."
"Yes," I agreed sadly. "I solve one problem and create another. That's why I've never been able to just settle down and be happy for the rest of my life."
"You may get your wish now," Ilias said. "When I had your power I had my full omniscience. There are no threats on the horizon, not for hundreds of years. At the very least, you and your Monster Lord can be happy. I'm going to make you a promise, Luka. I'll never make trouble for you again. I can't say that I like you, but my days of scheming against you are over. I doubt my promises mean much to you. I'm sure you'll never trust me. But taking so much of my power away will have consequences. Believe it or not, I do care about the world. I can't protect it as I am now. So you have to do it, and when you're not around anymore, someone else, using your power, has to do it. I wish you'd trust me enough for that person to be me, but I understand why you can't take that step now. Maybe in a few hundred years."
"Maybe," I said, wondering if this was just another scheme.
"I'm not going to make you take me out anymore," she said sadly. "But please don't be a stranger. I said I wouldn't always come when you called, but I didn't mean that. Anytime you want to hang out, or talk, just pray to me. I may not like you, and you probably don't like me, but we have a connection. I'll probably come visit you in your dreams once in awhile. You know, when I call you 'brave Luka', that's sincere. I chose you well. You didn't do what I wanted, but maybe you did what was needed. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you."
My instinct, as always, was to forgive her and tell her that it was all right, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I still wasn't even sure that anything she had told me was sincere.
"I've got another olive branch for you," she said. "You probably won't know about it for a few days. I said I wouldn't make trouble for you, but Alipheese, I still wasn't sure about her. I took steps to make sure that she wouldn't cause trouble either. This world is going to need you someday, Luka. More than it's ever needed you. Neither of us can be your enemy anymore."
I didn't know what to say. Everything she was saying was going right over my head. Sensing that, she looked at me with unusual affection and caressed my face.
"Oh, my idiot hero," she laughed softly. "You're not as dumb as you look. All will become clear to you in time, my brave Luka. Come, walk with me. Let's enjoy this lovely forest for awhile."
Taking me by the hand, we slowly walked through heaven's forest, enjoying the peace that it brought. For seemingly hours, we said nothing. But eventually, it had to end. Ilias turned to me.
"Well," she said. "I guess it's time to take you back. I hope you'll come visit. There's a ton more to explore. Not just this forest, but all of heaven. I'd love to show you around."
"You know what I'd like to see?" I asked. "Would you be willing to show me yourself?"
"Luka!" Ilias exclaimed, her mouth opening in a cute "O" shape. "You pervert! Right here in this forest?"
"No!" I hastily corrected myself. "I don't mean see you naked! I mean... your true self."
"My true form?" Ilias asked in wonder. "Are you sure? It's a lot to take in. Your brain might not be able to process it."
"I'd like to see you as you really are," I insisted. "You want me to trust you. One way to establish trust is to take off your disguise."
"You really are wiser than any of us give you credit for, Luka," Ilias said softly. "All right then, if you think you can handle it..."
Ilias' five foot tall frame began to grow and then disperse into more colors than I imagined existed. As beautiful as she was in her chosen form, this was beyond anything I had ever seen before. Ilias had been right. My senses couldn't possibly take it all in. Any time I tried to focus on a part of her true body, my eyes lost that focus, making her appear to be a huge, beautiful blur of endless colors. How could a creature of such loveliness be so petty and vengeful?
As difficult as it was to comprehend what i was seeing, Ilias didn't settle for me just looking at her true form. She came closer to me, which made my perceptions overload even more. I feared that I would be struck blind, if not driven insane. But as her true form embraced me, I felt more at peace and safe than I had in Eden's arms when she had used the full force of her charm magic on me.
"I had not planned on doing this," I heard her voice say, sounding completely different from the whiny, scratchy voice I was used to hearing when she wasn't playing a role. "But since you were brave enough to ask to see me as I really am, I am going to do you one more favor. Be one with me, and be at peace."
All of my issues, my traumas, my insecurities, vanished as she took me into herself. Wrapped in that complete bliss that only someone of her nature could provide, I lost consciousness.