It was as uncomfortable as I'd feared, but I made it okay. Lucifina's magic had been protection against almost everything: acceleration, the vacuum, and the cold, but breathing was just never something she would have predicted necessary. Why would anyone bring a human into space, after all?
That raised the question of why the base itself had breathable atmosphere. Lucifinia explained that while angels don't need to breathe, they do need to talk to each other, and talking is difficult without air.
"I haven't been here in two hundred years," Promestein said, looking around. "It doesn't look like they've improved the place. At all."
"Ilias doesn't encourage intelligence or independent thought in her servants," Lucifina said bitterly. "She just assumes that if she wants something and allows her angels to think about it enough, that it will happen."
"But that's not how intellectual curiosity works!" Promestein protested. "You can't just order up a technology. Any question worth asking will have dozens of other questions that have to be answered first. Often those questions lead to even more intriguing questions. If you narrow the universe of questions that are allowed to be asked, you get…. This."
It sure looked impressive to me, but then I wasn't in Promestein's intellectual class. Then again, I had no idea how much of this she was responsible for and how much others had accomplished. Since Angel World Promestein had never had access to Earth, she had been required to basically discover computing and design her own, whereas my Promestein had used her access to Earth to simply buy the tech and alter it to her purposes. So I was in no position to judge the technology Angel World Promestein had developed. It looked too alien to me. Yet still familiar in some ways, since Promestein had a style all her own.
"Should we be expecting opposition?" I asked.
"If you're asking about guards, no," Lucifina replied. "Typical angels are of no use here. This is the moon. Only the most powerful beings can get here, which means only the most powerful beings would be present to guard it."
"So archangels. Great."
"I already have something whipped up for them," Promestein said.
"That's why I always liked you, Promestein," Lucifina said. "Always prepared. I'll take your brains over an archangel's raw power every time."
The facility wasn't vast like the Demiurge, despite having much more space to work with. The Demiurge had been built out of a small asteroid that they must have captured from near their world's orbit. It was about three miles in diameter and every inch of it had been used for something. The moon, obviously, was over one hundred times larger and yet they used very little of the available real estate.
"My plans were much bigger," Promestein explained when I asked her about it. "But then 'it' happened."
"What were your plans?" I asked.
"Ilias wanted another biological weapon like the one that helped her win the Great Monster Wars. Except better. So unimaginative! I worked on it for her, but I saw more promise in researching the fusion of holy and dark energy. The potential destructive applications are practically limitless! Of course, we could do productive things with it as well. Chaos magic has few limits."
"Yes, but the one major limit is a biggie," Lucifina noted.
"Yes," Promestein admitted. "The most important limitation is that you can't control it reliably. You might design a spell that creates the world's biggest cannon, and then end up with the world's biggest omelette. I planned to get around that by using science to control the magic. A computer could conceivably react to the magic doing things the user doesn't intend and adjust on the fly."
"So the ultimate plan was chaos magic killer robots?" I asked.
"I wouldn't call them something so crude, but…. Yes, that's pretty much what I was was going for. Pretty cool, huh?"
"But alas, you never even got to the point where you could create chaos magic in a lab," Lucifina noted.
"Nor have I researched it much since joining up with Luka. There have been so many other areas to explore. His power is a lot better than chaos magic. It promises all the power of chaos magic, but without the unpredictability."
"The problem is me," I said ruefully. "It might as well be chaos magic, given how poorly I can control it."
"Your control isn't that bad, actually," Promestein said. "It's your imagination. Your understanding. Your will. All are weak."
"That makes me feel so much better. You're always a comfort, Promestein."
"Those 'weaknesses' are probably why he was entrused with such great power," Luicfina said, coming to my defense. "Can you imagine what would happen if you had that power?"
"Fufufufu….." Promestein replied.
"Or if I had it?"
Promestein shuddered.
Our explorations eventually led us to a massive room filled with life support tanks. Another Promestein signature. Promestein didn't look impressed.
"These are the same tanks I invented and installed two hundred years ago," Promestein said. "And THIs illustrates the whole problem with Ilias' idea of how science is supposed to work."
Funny, I thought it illustrated Ilias' twisted nature. Even the versions of Ilias I called friends were twisted, but this was definitely not the "ha ha, you're so quirky and perverted" Ilias-type thinking. This was Ilias meddling with basic questions of what constituted life. Every tank had a clone of me in it. I shuddered. So creepy.
"Why?" was all I could ask.
Promestein pulled out a hand scanner of some sort that I hadn't seen before. Knowing her, she'd probably built it from random things around the castle the night before. The scientist quickly scanned one of the tanks, then moved on to others and repeated the scans.
"The 'why' isn't hard to guess," Promestein answered. "The 'what the hell were they thinking imagining that this would work' is a little harder to understand."
"Were they hoping to clone Luka in the hopes of growing someone with his power?" Luicfina wondered. "Someone they could control?"
"I think that's exactly it," Promestein replied.
"Why an entire army of Lukas, though?" I asked.
"They didn't want an army. Just one. But none of these Lukas has your power. It's probably not in your DNA, or at least if it is, not something they understand how to reproduce. My hypothesis is that since you haven't been willing to join them, that they decided to try to grow their own Child of Judgment. What I don't understand is how they got enough DNA to make all these clones."
"Luka made a few donations to Sariela," Lucifina said.
"Oh, that makes sense," Promestein noted without judgment. "He was on Angel World for a couple of weeks. Someone was bound to rape him. Who else did you donate to besides Sariela?"
"No one!" I yelled defensively.
"In that way, we angels are superior to the monsters," Promestein said. "If you spent two weeks on Monster World you'd probably get raped by over a dozen monsters."
I tried to count up how many monsters had had sex with me in the week I'd spent on Monster World. I found that I couldn't give an accurate answer due to the San Ilia Feast, most of which I wasn't conscious for. Promestein had a point. Only one angel had used her body as a weapon against me, and it had been the one that dabbled in black magic, of course.
"This is so…. Impressively imbecilic," Promestein sighed. "Hmmm… maybe not."
Promestein had scanned another tank, which contained a Luka that looked somewhat different from me. He had purplish hair and looking around at his back… oh, no.
"This one has wings!" I exclaimed.
"Wing stubs, anyway," Promestein said. "They must have figured out that Lucifina is your mother in some worlds."
"Did they get my DNA?!" Lucifina yelled.
"Unlikely," Promestein said. "You and Micaela are unique. Your DNA is unextractable, and uncopyable even if one could extract it. Believe me, I've tried. More likely they simply used DNA from high ranking angels, hoping to create versions of Luka similar to others that have heroic destinies. I doubt that the prophecy requires our specific Luka to fulfill. A human male with angelic powers is a force in his own right. I think I'm getting it now. They started out trying to clone you from the samples Sariela collected."
"I'd ask why she saved my semen when she didn't even know who I was, but I'm sure I don't want to know the answer," I said.
"Black magic rituals," Lucifina answered. "Semen is a power source that synergizes nicely with dark and black magics. It represents lust and all the evil that men do. She probably wasn't just saving yours. I bet she keeps samples in her desk. Since she's not a monster and therefore has no desire to eat it, why not save it? It has other uses."
I guess that made sense. During my first adventure, succubi had been using semen to revive Lilith and Lilim. I wondered what kind of evil spells Sariela had been whipping up with her victims' man juice.
"So to continue," Promestein said. "When they failed to create a clone with your power, they went for something more achievable. Create in vitro children of Luka. Still, these are going to be vastly inferior to any genuine Luka. Still, if they create enough of them, and dominate them through sex, they can build an army capable of overwhelming the monsters fairly quickly. Maybe in one, two years."
"An army of clones," I breathed. "The monsters made a death star, the angels are working on a clone army. Did they both watch Star Wars?"
"Well, it's my army now," Lucifina chuckled. "I'll have to thank them for going to the trouble of building it for me. Once they get a taste of Seraph pussy they'll do anything for me."
"Mom!" I objected. Or the other Luka must have. Even though we weren't fully merged, sometimes his thoughts were my thoughts and I was sure it was vice versa.
"Oh, you'll give them your pussy," a couple of voices said in unison. "But you'll be birthing Ilias' army, not your own, you traitor!"
Two blonde, child like little angels had warped into the room. I really wished angels and monsters would stop choosing those forms. It was ultra creepy.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you two are here," Lucifina said, drawing her sword. "With Hellgondo firmly controlled by the Dark Goddess, guarding this facility would be Ilias' best use for you. I'm afraid you two stand no chance against me. Your only strength is your Atomic Heaven ability, and you can't use it here."
"Oh, can't they?" Promestein asked. "Fufufufu…."
As Lucifina and the two angels stared, Promestein pulled out a small metal ball and tossed it at the two angels' feet. With a tiny zap, the two angels bodies seemed to briefly be disrupted, wavering in and out of reality. Then, as if they were magnets, they were slammed together, their bodies partially merging.
"Promestein!" Lucifina yelled. "That wasn't our deal!"
"Circumstances changed," Promestein shrugged. "I'd suggest you get us out of here. We have about…. Well, about n-"
In a flash, we were outside the facility. I hadn't even had a chance to grab a breath. Lucifina launched herself off the moon's surface, speeding back towards the newly unified world. Behind us, a massive explosion occurred on the surface of the moon. I would have wondered what the hell had just happened if I hadn't lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen.
I inhaled sharply. Lucifina was giving me mouth to mouth rescusitation. My two personalities nearly got into a fistifight over whether it was erotic or motherly. We agreed that it was both. It really couldn't be helped. Angels had sexual magic just like monsters. There was no way a Seraph could put her lips on a man and it not have that effect on him. So don't judge me!
There was no motherly smile on Lucifina's face. She simply acknowledged that I was awake, and glared at Promestein.
"I'll remember this!" Lucifina warned, and took off.
"You know you love me!" Promestein shouted after her.
"What was that all about?" I asked, getting to my feet. Lucifina must have really poured on the speed to protect me from brain damage. I felt barely any discomfort from my ordeal.
"We made a deal that she could have the facility once you and her defeated anyone who was guarding it," Promestein replied. "My role was to explain what was there for her. Until I saw that army of angel/Luka hybrids, I was fine with her possessing the facility. But that Seraph can't be trusted with an army."
"Is Lucifina evil?" I asked.
"I don't like that term. Good, evil, who's to say? Let Ilias think she can judge such things. All I know is that whatever part of you thinks Lucifina is, that wasn't her. Perhaps being a mother changed Lucifina. The Lucifina I know, while I consider her one of my few friends, she's a wild card. A very dangerous wild card. She's a killer, and she enjoys it. She feels I betrayed her, but I had no choice. My loyalty to you outweighs any promise I made to her based on the incomplete information that I had. If she'd gotten control of that Luka army, she would have killed a lot of people. I know you don't like that."
"What is her goal, exactly?"
"The overthrow of Ilias and her coronation as Goddess," Promestein said, shrugging. "I can't say I fully understand her motivations. She's not power hungry. She just hates Ilias. She hates the Dark God as well. I suspect that if she had her way, she'd get you to kill them both."
So somewhat like Tamamo, I thought. Adversity really does build character, I thought. Tamamo's sealing and the resulting relative weakness had done a lot for her attitude, and it appeared that motherhood and giving up her divinity had softened Lucifina's rough edges. And speaking of rough edges, I had just realized something.
"Promestein! You killed all those clones!" I exclaimed.
"They had to be killed," she replied, shrugging. "They were dangerous."
"They had the right to live and determine their own destiny!"
"Luka," Promestein said. "Listen to me very carefully. My counterpart respected your intelligence, and I do as well, so I know you can understand if you just listen. Clones don't have souls. The lights are on, but there's nobody home. They would have no free will. They'd exist only to do the bidding of whoever controlled them, either with pleasure or with fear."
"Ilias and the Dark God don't have souls," I countered.
"Those are different cases. The spirits don't have souls either. They are concepts. But concepts can become sentient in a world of magic. Luka, I know you don't like killing. I wouldn't have done that if it meant ending the lives of sentient beings. An artificially manufactured clone is neither sentient or ensouled. Believe me, we angels can't create souls, but we can see them. Those bodies were empty. Further, they never even woke up. They never existed in the first place except as hunks of flesh."
I wasn't entirely convinced, but Promestein seemed to sincerely believe it and the act had already been done. And I had to acknowledge that there probably hadn't been any other options. I decided to drop it. Then I had another realization.
"Wait, we didn't have to fly me through space again!" I exclaimed. "I could have just teleported us back!"
"Then why didn't you?" Promestein asked, qute reasonably.
"I… I guess I didn't react quickly enough. But you could have told me!"
"I knew Lucifina would react when I told her to get us out of there. I judged that there was a seventy percent chance that you would respond with, 'Huh?' And by then it would be too late. Lucifina knows what Sandalphon and Metatron are capable of. You do not."
"Sandalphon and Metatron?" I asked. "Those were the two angels?"
"Archangels. Their primary power is to combine to create a nuclear explosion. I simply helped them along by forcing them to fuse. Don't worry, they'll be fine. They are immune to the effects of nuclear explosions. Actually, they are immune to pretty much everything less than a nuke in power. They don't have much offensive power aside from that as far as archangels go, but they are close to indestructible. Luficina would have had to use her Daystar power to destroy them. Of course, that would also have destroyed the facility."
"Daystar?"
"Her special ability. It's as powerful as a nuclear weapon. And she has no hesitation about using it, even with innocents around. So now do you understand why she couldn't be allowed to have an army? I consider her one of my only friends among the angels, but I won't follow her. You, I'll follow."
I sighed in frustration. Archangels that used sex to cause pain, could combine to form a nuclear weapon, and a homicidal Seraph who hated Ilias but didn't really seem to care about monsters or humans either. It was getting to the point where I just wanted this whole thing to be over. There were just too many powerful players at each other's throats, and even with my power, even if I knew how to use it well, what could I do?
Returning to the castle with Promestein, I decided to make dinner. Alice had yet to return, which wasn't surprising, since I'd spent all of an hour on the moon. Going into the kitchen, I saw an extraordinary sight. Eva had apparently gotten a makeover. Her hair was longer, her clothes stylish, and somehow she looked healthier. She carried herself with a lot more self confidence as well. A pair of sunglasses on her forehead completed the new look.
"Eva?!" I exclaimed. "You look amazing! What happened to you!"
"Oh, I just quit smoking and got some new clothes," she said. "Hair extensions, better makeup…"
"You used to wear no makeup. And I saw you smoking just yesterday. Quitting helped you that much in such a short time?"
"I'm a monster, I heal fast!" she said flippantly.
"And your body got fitter, basically overnight?" I asked, observing how tight her physique had become. Eva had been by no means fat, but she was definitely soft and a little flabby. A day later, and she could have been a fitness model.
"I've been working out," she said. "You just didn't notice until I changed my clothes to show my body off better. You men never notice when women make changes until it's obvious."
"Okay…." I said, not sure how to respond to that. I found myself staring at her amazing body. I'd always thought Eva to be rather unattractive for a succubus. She had low self esteem as well. She knew that she could give men insane pleasure simply because she was a succubus, but feeding had always been tough for her in Succubus Village due to her relative unattractiveness compared to the other succubi in the village. That didn't mean she was ugly. By no means! But if she was human, she would have been merely average. For a succubus, merely average was like being born with severe deformities. But this new Eva… my goodness, did she clean up nicely!
"So shall we get started?" Eva asked. "I thought we should do meat loaf today. Granberia requested it personally."
"Well, if Granberia wants meat loaf, then we should give it to her," I said. "I actually haven't made meat loaf since I've been here. I have a great recipe that I'm sure everyone will love. What's the vegetarian dish for the monsters who don't eat meat?"
"Um…. I think a shepherds pie would be a good idea," Eva suggested.
"Ugh, I don't know how to make that. Do you? I could just do the meat loaf tonight while you do the shepherd's pie."
"Sounds good," Eva replied happily. "Let's go into the pantry and get ingredients."
I walked into the large pantry with Eva. She grabbed a kitchen knife. Sometimes things had to be cut up in advance. But Eva usually didn't think ahead that far. I was beginning to like this new, confident, proactive Eva.
Since I covered this pantry many, many chapters ago, I'll remind the readers that it's a magic pantry. It's not cold. It's room temperature. But through the magic of… well, magic, everything stays fresh no matter how long it stays in there. Eva began cutting from a large slab of beef on a shelf to put into a meat grinder. I decided to go find veggies, bread, spices, and a sauce to use for the meat loaf.
As I was inspecting the spice rack, I felt a knife slide across my throat. I turned to see Eva standing there, holding the bloody kitchen knife.
"Eva! Y-you…!"
"Slit your throat? Hmmm, if you can still talk I must not have done a very good job of it. Forgive me, it's not our usual way of taking out men."
Raising the knife above her head, she stabbed downward. I caught her hand and kicked her in the knee. She screamed and fell, dropping the knife. I quickly checked my neck. I was bleeding, but the cut hadn't been too deep. The knife wasn't all that sharp and she hadn't applied nearly enough pressure.
Eva grabbed my legs, taking me down. My pants were off in an instant and I was inside her. From the time she'd grabbed my legs to me being balls deep into her pussy had taken less than a second.
"Guess I have to do this the succubus way!" Eva yelled, bouncing up and down furiously, tightening her vaginal muscles to force me to come quickly.
She had me checkmated. I could easily force her off of me with my power, but I'd probably lose my dick in the process. She was holding on too tightly and succubus vaginal muscles are insanely powerful. I was locked in. I went to my old anti-succubus tactic, mimicking her power so that she'd get as much pleasure out of it as I was. Maybe she wouldn't be able to handle it.
Alas, she could. She was surprised at first, but then became very happy, for obvious reasons and began pumping me harder. I came explosively inside her, her vaginal muscles loosening only enough to allow my semen to release so that she could consume it. Knowing that she would do that, I shifted to my side, causing my penis to fall out, still spasming and shooting come everywhere. She quickly pinned me back down and put the knife back to my throat.
"You're going to die today, Luka!" Eva screamed angrily. "You can die of pleasure or die of blood loss! Your choice!"
"Eva, why?" I asked.
"Why? Because Minagi ordered me too! You should have joined us, Luka!"
Us? When had Eva gone over to the Dark God's side? Did I have other monsters in the castle, ready to betray me? The thought was soul crushing. I'd established relationships with nearly all of them. I trusted them. I thought they'd loved me. Granted, I'd always found Eva to be a little shifty, but I'd never imagined her to be capable of this kind of betrayal.
As I came again, I had a rare good idea. I teleported us. Directly into the gymnasium. I was in luck. Granberia and Spider Princess were sparring and we materialized right between them during a pause in the action. Both stared dumbly for a moment, apparently not sure whether I was being harmlessly fed upon or assaulted. Spider Princess acted first when she saw the blood. Her katana arced towards Eva's neck. My penis nearly came off as she used her wind power to separate herself from me while still holding my penis tightly. When had Eva learned to use wind power?
Granberia went down instantly as Eva's fingers entered Granberia's slit. Oh damn, I thought. She is really weak to pleasure! No wonder she never beats Alma Elma! As Granberia convulsed on the ground, Eva rushed towards Spider Princess. Eva's own speed was her doom. Spider Princess sliced the traitorous succubus clean in half at the waist.
It wasn't a clean kill. Eva's upper half writhed on the ground, blood and intestines everywhere. I thought for sure Spider Princess would finish the job. Instead, time seemed to stop. No, it actually stopped.
"Luka, are you all right?" Spider Princess asked, concerned as I'd ever seen her. "Please tell me you're only suffering from critical ecstasy! Is the cut bad? Oh my, your neck! What did she do to you, my poor baby boy!"
"I-I think I'll be fine," I gasped. "My penis actually hurts more than my neck at this point."
"What do you wish to do with Eva?" Spider Princess asked. "I've slowed time to a crawl so that you can decide. Eva will be dead in less than a minute if you do nothing. If you choose to do nothing, I'll take you out of here so you don't have to see her suffer. Because I promise you, my beloved Luka, I will watch, and be happy as she suffers for what she did to you. I will not hasten her death. Unless you ask me too, my love."
"No!" I panted. "I need to know why. I'm going to try to heal her."
I expected Spider Princess to be angry. She wouldn't be the first to be fed up with my merciful tendencies. Instead, her face broke into a broad smile.
"I knew that you would say that," Spider Princess said. "Come, let me help you up. You will need assistance. I would like to know the reason why as well. Then may I behead her?"
"I… no," I said. "let her join her new friends."
"I knew you would say that as well. I don't agree with you, but what my sweet boy wants, he gets."
Spider Princess helped me to Eva's side, where I knelt down beside her. Her face was twisted in agony. Blood was everywhere. Spider Princess may not have intended to strike such a mortal blow. But Eva had come at her so fast she wouldn't have been able to control the force with which her katana struck. At least, that was my theory. With Spider Princess one couldn't be sure.
As I knelt beside Eva, I noticed that time hadn't truly stopped. Blood continued to slowly spill out of her torso. As Spider Princess had said, it had slowed a great deal. That must have been how she'd managed to hit Eva even though the succubus had been moving so fast. Time magic was a powerful weapon!
Spider Princess carefully picked up Eva's lower half and squished it wetly against her upper half. All I had to do, or at least I hoped, was place my hands on Eva and imagine her whole again. Gabriela had often told me that I had to understand what I was doing in order to do it. But I knew nothing of how to reknit severed blood vessels and nerves. Yet I'd healed before, just by wishing it. I had to hope it would work even on such a horrible wound. I wasn't even sure one could call being cut in half a "wound"!
I closed my eyes as I placed my hands on Eva's calves, thankful that I didn't have to see that expression of unbearable agony on her face. I imagined Eva whole again, remembering the good times I'd spent with her in that kitchen. I laughed to myself, remembering how lazy she could be, how she constantly griped about everything, even though she wasn't being forced to work in the kitchen. She wasn't even taking advantage of our proximity to feed on me regularly. She'd done it three or four times, but mostly she preferred to let me keep my energy and get her sustenance elsewhere. Having sex once a month with a succubus is practically a platonic relationship!
I opened my eyes. Eva was whole again. The blood still stained the floor, but since I'd imagined her as she was before being sliced in half, there was no longer any blood on her body. Time returned to normal at Spider Princess's command. Eva let out one last bloodcurdling scream, then stopped. She looked down at her body. She felt her waist, then her legs, not quite believing that they were real.
"Was… was that an illusion?" Eva asked.
"It is I who will ask the questions!" Granberia roared, picking Eva up and slamming her against the wall so hard I thought I heard bones break.
Granberia placed the tip of her sword an inch from Eva's eye. "Do you know what this is?" Granberia asked threateningly.
"A… A sword?" Eva replied nervously.
"Not just any sword," Granberia replied, an evil grin on her face "This is Ares. It was made just for me. It can cut through anything. But it doesn't kill unless I wish it too. Did you enjoy being cut in half? I can cut you in half. Then into quarters. Then into eighths. I'm sure if I cut you into small enough pieces you'll eventually die, magic or no magic. Shall we find out? I've always wondered."
"Please, no!" Eva pleaded. "I… I was just following orders! I have nothing against Luka! The Dark God just determined that he was too dangerous to continue to live!"
"That is a very poor answer," Granberia growled, her blade erupting into flame. Eva winced at the proximity of the heat.
"I don't deserve this!" Eva cried. "I was going to kill him quickly! I'm a succubus! We don't believe in causing excessive suffering!"
"You may have noticed that you are with a dragonkin and a spider. We hold no such beliefs. So if you want mercy, you'll be more informative. Why did the Dark God choose you? You come from this world! You aren't her subject! You are a free monster! Why would you enslave yourself to an ancient god from another realm?!"
"Because I'm not from this world!" Eva sobbed. "I'm from Makai!"
"Makai?" I asked. "But.. that's not possible. We found you in a slum, right here on this world. When did you infiltrate this world?"
"I didn't! I'm a different Eva! I'm the Queen Succubus! Your Eva is just a loser! I simply posed as her to get close to you!"
I sagged in relief. Eva hadn't betrayed me. I didn't have to worry about the monsters turning on me. She was a variant of Eva. But that raised a very important question.
"What did you do with Eva?!" I demanded to know, getting in to her face.
"She's fine!" Queen Eva answered. "I stuffed her into a bottomless jar!"
"We have one of those?" I asked.
"No, I brought it for that purpose! Boy, you are as slow as they said! I didn't even have to dress like her to fool your dumb ass!"
"If you want to live, you will tell us the location of this bottomless jar and how to get Eva out of it!" Granberia exclaimed.
"It's on a table in the dining room," Queen Eva said. "it's simple enough to find. It's really big. Just reach your hand in there and you'll be able to pull her out."
"Granberia, unless you have further questions, let her go," I ordered.
"Are you insane?!" Granberia sked. "We have a dungeon here! It can hold a queen class monster!"
"Don't fight it, Granberia," Spider Princess urged. "Luka can only be what he is. She deserves punishment but Luka doesn't believe in punishment for its own sake. Let her go. Perhaps she will tell of Luka's mercy, of how he healed her, and change her compatriots' minds. Luka is the furthest thing from dangerous. It's time those paranoid monsters learn what I learned when I was just like them. Let her go."
Granberia grumbled, but complied. She dropped Queen Eva, who immediately teleported out.
"I'm sorry, Luka," Granberia said. "I failed you."
"Don't beat yourself up," I replied. "Succubi are everyone's weakness. And this version of Eva was queen class. Perhaps even at Alma Elma's level."
"Spider Princess, if not for you…" Granberia began.
"We all have our strengths and weaknesses, honorable Knight," Spider Princess replied. "I am no match for you, a succubus is no match for me, and you are no match for a succubus."
"Rock, paper, scissors," I added.
"Speak like a normal person!" Granberia and Spider Princess said in unison.
The first priority was rescuing Eva from the jar, not just for her sake, but for mine. I needed to see her, to truly accept that I hadn't been betrayed, that the Eva I knew and loved despite her irritating various personality disorders, was still part of my life. When I reached into the large jar, shoving my arm all the way in as if I was a three year old trying to reach the last cookie, a hand grasped mine and I yanked Eva out. Thankfully, Eva was fine. It was fascinating how counterparts seemed reluctant to kill one another. Having to live with that personality inside you, and probably very peeved at what you'd done to her, was a pretty powerful incentive to not casually murder your other selves.
Sonya accepted the duty of healing my slit neck and my injured penis, which I had to admit weren't very bad injuries given what Queen Eva had wanted to do to me.
Alice, on the other hand, was beside herself.
"You are not to go anywhere in the castle without at least two others present!" she ordered. "Not even me! Especially with that Allison running around! They'll probably send her to finish what she started!"
The old Luka would have meekly obeyed. I am not the old Luka.
"Alice, that's not gonna happen," I retorted. "First off, I can tell the difference between you and Allison. I should have been able to tell the difference between Eva and Queen Eva, but I was stupid. I just assumed she'd gotten a makeover. I won't make that same mistake twice."
"Just to be safe, I'm going to order the residents here to not make any major changes in their appearance while you're still under threat, okay, darling?"
That seemed wise, and I was grateful that Alice didn't choose to get into it with me. She'd long had a bad habit of trying to dominate me, but she'd mellowed in her later years, once the pressures of being Monster Lord had abated.
"Secondly," I continued. "While I may be vulnerable when caught unawares, I'm still in theory the most powerful being in this castle. Appearances matter, Alice. Even though I know most of the people here would lay down their lives to protect me, it can't look as if I NEED them to on a daily basis. I can't look as if I'm afraid and paranoid. Life is going to continue as normal here."
"Wow," Alice breathed. "You have sure grown in the centuries since my death. I think I like this new you. I just hope I'll get to have a second lifetime to get to know you."
"I haven't changed much, so I'm afraid you'll be terribly bored," I said, wrapping my arms around her.
"As long as you still taste good, I can never be bored. And speaking of your taste…."
Alice's hand drifted down to my crotch. That was one way in which she would never change, nor would any variant personalities ever get in the way. Getting as much semen as possible from me was one thing every version of Alice agreed on.
The Ariana personality seemed to be becoming more prominent as well, judging by how she wrapped me in her tail and carried me to my room. My Alice had only wrapped me up when she wanted to prey on me right then and there. Ariana, while not as sexually talented as Alice, had tried to make up for it by providing full service, carrying me and laying me down comfortably before gently pleasuring me. Once I was laid into the bed, however, my wife's personality took over.
"I must warn you, darling, I'm going to test your freshly healed dick's limits," Alice said, a sadistic smile on her face. "I'm going to do everything to you. My hand, with and without the gloves, my mouth, my breasts, my pussy, my tail… even my hair and my flower. I just won a great victory for our side in Sabasa, and you know how I love my victory feasts."
"I was meaning to ask you about that," I said. "So things went well in Sabasa?"
"They went absolutely perfectly," Alice said with pride. "I planned everything out, and then executed that plan flawlessly. Queen Sara is in control of the Safina region."
"Score one for the good guys," I laughed.
"I'm going to make you come ten times. So prepare yourself, darling. That's ten whole minutes of the most divine pleasures I can give to my man."
Her gloved hand reached for my penis, caressing it with her fingers.
"Alipheese!" the door swung open and Granberia burst in. "There is an urgent situation in Grand Noah! We must mobilize our forces!"
I wasn't sure whether to be grateful or incredibly disappointed that we were interrupted. If she'd gotten started, I might not have been in any condition for what happened that night. But I sure wanted to experience those ten minutes in heaven with Alice. Whoever had denied me that was going to pay.