Emma was shocked to find herself inside a volcano. How?
"You know, you don't need to hide anymore," Alice said with one of her trademark smirks. "I've been able to see you for days."
Emma sighed and dropped her spell.
"I figured that out when you kept on looking directly at me and making faces at me!" Emma whined. "I wasn't doing it to fool you anymore, I was trying to keep the bad guys from seeing me!"
"They left," Alice said.
"They left?"
"They left. To go where, I'm not sure. Although I was able to figure out how to detect both them and you, since you were all stalking me for three weeks, I couldn't hear conversations. But I have a very bad feeling about it. And I'm not happy at all that one of those 'bad guys' as you call them seems to be a very powerful kitsune. Would you happen to know anything about that?"
"Y…. yes?" Emma said hesitantly. "But I can't say."
"I see," Alice said noncommitaly. "Then tell me who you're working for. Who has taken such an interest in protecting us?"
"I can't say that either," Emma said apologetically. "Not because I don't want to, or because she'd get mad at me, but because it would require a lot of explanations which you wouldn't believe."
"Hmph. I don't like it, but I understand," Alice said. "No one knows about keeping information close to the vest for another person's own good than me. I just don't appreciate being the one kept in the dark. Tamamo does that to me all the time."
"And you do it to me!" Luka observed.
"Whatever," Alice huffed. "It's clear that you're not our enemy….."
"Emma," Emma said in answer to the unspoken question. "I'm Emma."
"Emma? Such a strange name for a dragonkin," Alice said. "And such strange clothing and weapons. I've never known a dragonkin to carry a shotgun before."
"I come from a different time. Well, that's not it exactly, but… look, I'm not good at keeping secrets and I'm sure I'm already telling you too much here. Please stop asking me questions?"
"Good luck with that," Luka said. "She loves making people uncomfortable."
"That describes me accurately," Alice agreed. "But for now, I'll stop interrogating you. You've proven to me that you can be trusted as far as wanting us to be safe. Which is why I brought you along to Salamander's lair."
"And why did you bring me here, rather than just ditching me?" Emma asked.
"For protection, of course. There's an annoying Heavenly Knight stalking my companion, and if she was going to make another move, this is where she would do it. Luka can't beat her, and I'd rather not fight her. So it falls to you."
Granberia, Emma thought. She means Granberia. Okay, she's Easy Mode Granberia, I can do this.
"Could you excuse me for a moment?" Emma asked. "I need to make a call."
"A call?" Alice asked.
"It's a… thing. Never mind," Emma replied.
Emma turned away from Alice and Luka and dialed Ben on her flip phone.
"Ben here."
"Any luck finding our wayward…. Man?" Emma asked.
"I'm stumped," Ben said. "I've flown over a good part of the Northern Sea between Gold Port and Hellgondo and I haven't seen any sign of him. He couldn't have made it that fast, could he?"
"Well, he certainly didn't drown! If he had….." Emma glanced furtively back at Alice and Luka and began whispering. "If he had…. Our boss would be back."
"Good point," Ben acknowledged. "I'm getting tired anyway. I'm gonna stop back at Gold Port for some grub then head to Hellgondo."
"Must be nice," Emma muttered, her stomach growling. Her second stomach was only barely sated by the tiny drops of Luka's semen that she'd eaten.
Emma hung up and turned back to Luka and Alice, who were staring at her. She smiled back.
"Sorry, just a call to my partner," Emma said sheepishly.
"Your boss is gone?" Alice asked. "You know I can hear really well."
"Alice, you said you'd stop interrogating her!" Luka pointed out.
"I'm a boss myself," Alice continued, ignoring Luka. "In case you didn't know, and I'm sure you did, I'm the Monster Lord. And my subordinates are pretty strong. Yet you defeated my best pure warrior. So who is your boss that she'd have even stronger subordinates than mine? And why are you her subordinate and not mine?"
"Alice!"
"Calm down, idiot, I'm not expecting her to actually answer," Alice said. "I just like making her uncomfortable. I obviously know more than I'm letting on, but I'm making her squirm. She doesn't know what I know and what I don't know."
:"Look, I just… work here," Emma said, laughing nervously. "This boss, she isn't even my actual boss. My actual boss is back…. Back where I came from. I'm just being…. Loaned out. Do you have anything to eat?"
Luka smiled and pulled out some beef jerky. Emma accepted it gratefully. She grimaced as Alice made a snarky comment about Luka's semen not being enough.
Elias collapsed just outside the tunnel exit. He was completely exhausted, utterly spent. Not only had he been forced to swim many miles, then had to traverse a miles long tunnel, but he'd lost his provisions when the manta had attacked him many hours ago. Not only that, but he'd had to battle over a dozen strong monsters with nothing but his meat missile, since his sword was too dull. Somehow he hadn't lost that.
He wasn't sure what he was going to do for food and water. The land, as far as he could see, was barren. But he knew there had to be food and water sources here. After all, there had been predators, and where there were predators, there was prey, and water. But he was too tired. He had to rest. He knew that if he fell asleep he might not wake up. He was hungry and dehydrated. But he couldn't walk another step.
Bad dreams came for him as he slept. He dreamed of a great city destroyed, all while he cackled maniacally. He dreamed of heroes falling, while he did nothing to save them. He dreamed of angels executing people, some for betraying him, others for failing him.
It wasn't the first night the dreams had come, but due to his dehydration they were far more vivid than before. Why were angels doing his bidding? Why was he ordering people to be murdered? This couldn't be the life he'd forgotten. He was just a man! A hell of a man, to be sure, but still flesh and blood. Perhaps the dreams were metaphorical?
Elias awoke to find a face staring into his. It was the most beautiful face he'd ever seen, except for of course his own reflection in the mirror. She was blue skinned, with silver hair, and incredible breasts….
"You look pretty bad, mister," the blue skinned angel said. "Do you think maybe we can make a trade?"
"A trade?" he asked blearily.
"Yeah, a trade," she said. "I have food and water, and judging by the fact that you're laying on the ground with no pack and no canteen, you have none."
"And what could I possibly give you in return?"
"Gee, that's a tough one," she said. "What could you possibly have that I don't, but need?"
"Oh yeah. Sorry, I'm exhausted. You want semen."
"You get fed first," she said, "Here, have some water. Drink slowly, but drink as much as you want. It's a magic canteen. One of the benefits of traveling with really powerful friends."
"You're traveling with powerful friends?" Elias asked as he sipped from the canteen. He marveled at how clean and refreshing the water was.
"I was," she answered. "But right now I'm on a solo mission. Gotta find a guy. You're not the guy. That surprised me. I didn't expect to find any other males here. No humans live on this continent, or so I've been told. What are you doing here?"
"I'm on a quest to see the Monster Lord."
"You look like you're on a quest to die," she chuckled. "Maybe I should travel with you. The guy I'm looking for is going to her castle as well. I can keep you fed, and you can keep me fed."
"That sounds like a deal," he said gratefully. 'So what's your name?"
"My name's Allison," she replied. "And yours?"
"Elias, the great he…. Ah, you've probably never heard of me."
"I'm not from around here, so I probably wouldn't even if you were super famous. You seem nice, though. And you smell delicious. I think this is going to be a mutually beneficial partnership. Stop drinking for a bit, you'll get really sick. Eat something. Your choices are power bars, crackers, or moon pies. Wait, no moon pies. Those are mine."
"Power bars sound pretty heroic," Elias said. "Let me try one of those."
"Good call," Allison said. "They don't taste great, but they're good for energy."
She handed him a couple of power bars, which had been given to her by Marcellus. She had no idea what world he'd gotten them from. They contained not a single ingredient she could identify by smell or taste, unless cardboard was a nutrient. Elias bit into one and grimaced, but kept eating.
"Here, now you can drink more," Allison laughed. "You'll need to drink to get it all down."
"It's so dry," Elias croaked.
"Yeah, but they'll give you the strength to make it to the castle," Allison replied. "So, about that trade."
"Oh, of course," Elias said, and began removing his clothing.
Allison wrapped him up the second his pants were removed and forced him into her. He gasped as her powerful vagina rippled and pulsed along most of his length.
"Wow, you're big!" she said, not even having bothered to look at his penis before shoving it into her. "And you feel amazing, too!"
"And you're…. so beautiful."
"I'll bet you say that to all the girls who wrap you up in their tails."
"No, really…. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
"I get that a lot when men are inside me," she said. "Ohhhh…. No fair making me feel that good. I'm supposed to be pleasuring you!"
"I'm not even doing anything!" he protested.
But that wasn't quite true. He may not have been actively trying to pleasure Allison, but his dick was twitching inside her, and he was so big and thick that he was rubbing her in all the right places.
"Okay, this is not supposed to be happening!" she said angrily. "I won't lose to a man who's not even trying to fight back!"
She forced him in deeper, so that his full length was engulfed by her pussy. She winced in pain at the deep penetration. She'd never had a man this big before. But the pain helped to pull her back from the brink of orgasm. And she was a lot narrower that far in, which increased the stimulation to the head of Elias' penis. He cried out as he began to come inside her.
"Heh," she said in satisfaction. "I knew I'd beat you. Now give me your semen!"
Elias did, and then some. He'd been so aroused by her beauty and being fully inside her that his penis erupted like a volcano.
"Mmmm…. You have amazing semen! So much energy!" she sighed.
She kept on pumping with her vaginal muscles and he kept coming. And coming. And coming.
"Hey, that's too much!" Allison protested. "I'm filling up!"
Quickly, she uncoiled and let him fall to the ground, where his penis continued to expel implausible amounts of semen. She grasped his penis and stroked it, letting the precious seed shoot into her mouth. It was like trying to drink from a hose. The semen got all over her face and chest. She couldn't swallow it all fast enough.It began spilling out of her mouth.
"Okay, you're just going to need to quit now," she said. "I've got no more places to put it all."
Fifteen seconds after she stopped stroking him, the ejaculations ended.
"How in the world can any man come so much?" she wondered.
"Sorry," Elias said weakly. "You're just so beautiful, and…. I had to battle a lot of monsters with my penis on the way over here and I didn't come. I guess it just built up."
"You defeated monsters with your-? Is that even possible?!"
He couldn't answer, as he'd already fallen back asleep. But she knew that it was quite possible in his case. He'd nearly brought her to orgasm without even trying. Had it been a fight, it would have been her lying on the ground unconscious. Was this normal on this world?
Hey guys, I'm back. As I said, this isn't really my story, and I was out of it for a good portion of it. But this part I remember clearly.
I won't bore you with the same details of how I got Salamander to contract with me. It happened exactly the same way as it did the first time. What also happened, although not exactly the same way, was Granberia crashing through the ceiling and challenging me.
"I thought my orders were clear, Granberia," Alice said. "You are not to harm the boy."
"You gave me no such orders!" Granberia protested.
"I told Alma Elma, and I know she told you," Alice said mildly. "But in case you didn't believe her, I'm ordering you now. Stop harassing the boy. You'll have ample opportunity to face him when we get to my castle."
"You…. You're bringing him to the castle?! Why!?"
"That's none of your business. All you need to know is that if you're worried about that fact, you'll have the opportunity to deal with the problem in the near future."
"But…. Alma Elma and Tamamo were right," Granberia said angrily. "The boy is affecting your judgment!"
"You're such an idiot. As if a human could have that kind of power over me. Go away, you annoyance."
"No!" Granberia insisted. "I will not! You will have to force me!"
"I won't," Alice said. "She will."
"She?"
Emma appeared out of thin air, sword drawn. Granberia's mouth opened in shock. Then she grinned.
"I've been wanting a second chance at you," Granberia said.
"If she beats you, she's my new Heavenly Knight of Fire," Alice said.
"What? Really?" Emma asked excitedly.
"You wouldn't!" Granberia protested.
"Actually," I said, having no idea why I was saying it. "I want to face Granberia. I have a loss to avenge as well."
"Ah, a true warrior!" Granberia said approvingly. "I will defeat you, then I will defeat the dragonkin with the human name."
"Hey, it's a different world and a different time!" Emma whined. "We all get human sounding names there!"
"Luka, are you sure about this?" Alice asked. "If you lose…. You're hers. I can't protect you from that."
"I'm not going to lose," I said with determination.
"The choice is yours," Alice said reluctantly. "Idiot."
The battle that ensued doesn't require a long play by play. Over the course of several Luka's Stories, you've read about our epic battles, and this one was not unique. Until the end.
Despite my determination, Granberia was even more motivated. She really believed that I was a threat to her liege. She was determined to defeat me and take me as hers. Why she believed she was immune to whatever manipulation I was using to supposedly dominate Alice, I don't know. Granberia's no dummy, but she doesn't always think things through. In any case, she had me nearly beaten. That's when Emma shouted some helpful advice.
:"Luka, use your power!"
Power? What power? Then I remembered. I'd done something strange to Alice when she'd been demonstrating her lower mouth on me. I tried to recall what I had done. It hadn't been a spell, it hadn't even been conscious. With Granberia's sword hacking at me relentlessly, I tried to concentrate, to bring up this latent power of mine. I recalled my intimacy with Alice. How was this supposed to help again?
And then Granberia stopped. She began to quiver. She dropped her sword.
"What… what you doing to me?!" she gasped. "This isn't…. fair! You're not even touching me!"
Granberia collapsed, trembling and curled up in a fetal position.
"Wow," Alice said. "I knew combat was a turn on for her, but this is ridiculous!"
"You made me come!" Granberia panted. "It was supposed to be a sword battle! Warrior versus warrior! I could have touched you if I wanted to beat you that way, like other monsters do!"
"You never stated the rules beforehand," Alice said, that smirk returning to her face. "But if you want such a battle, state the terms when you face Luka in the castle. We're leaving now. Unless you want to do something with Granberia, Luka?"
"Do something?" I asked.
"Eat her, violate her, kill her, enslave her," Alice said. "I guess we can't sell her, as soon as she recovered she'd just stab her buyer in the face. But the other four are still on the table."
"I think…. I don't want to do any of those things!" I answered. "besides, it wasn't a fair fight. I cheated."
"Monsters don't fight fair," Alice pointed out. "You beat her, and that's all that matters. I hope you'll choose to eat her. I hear dragon soup is amazing and I bet you could make it as well as any top chef."
"I'm not turning Granberia into soup!"
"Take the Monster Lord's advice, boy!" Granberia wheezed. "As grateful as I would be should you choose to spare me, I cannot do the same for you when I defeat you in the castle. You are too dangerous!"
"You just want him as your lover!" Alice said accusingly. "Well, you'll have your opportunity, since this man who is such a grave threat can't even bring himself to take advantage of a defeated opponent. You should think about that. What does your best friend like to say? Oh yeah… Toodles!"
With that, we were gone, teleported away by Alice. She was apparently in a hurry, because we found ourselves on Hellgondo.
Allison and Elias made camp for the night. With any luck, they'd get to the castle in two more days. Between the power bars for Elias and the semen for her, they had a good amount of energy to burn and probably could have continued through the night. But Allison craved her beauty sleep and Elias still had some sleep debt himself from his arduous journey across the sea.
"So you're a hero?" she asked, biting into another moon pie.
"Yes, although apparently not as renowned as I thought," Elias answered. "No one seems to have heard of me."
"Where I come from, heroes were evil. They went around killing monsters. Even worse, they would get baptized so that their semen would taste bad."
"Oh, I'm not that kind of hero," Elias said. "I'm the kind that loves everyone. I want to help everyone."
"I guess I can believe that. I've never met the bad kind of hero. I've only met good ones. I was just traveling with two of them before I got sent on this solo mission. Nice guys. Unbaptized too. So how does one do heroic things and nobody knows about it?"
"I don't know," Elias admitted. "I don't even know what I did. I guess I did something really heroic that'll get me a reputation in Grangold, but I don't remember anything before that."
"You have amnesia or something?"
"Yeah," Elias confirmed. "The last thing I remember is being in an alley in Grand Noah. There was an angel and a fox. I fed the fox, because I like feeding monsters, and then I just started making my way to Grangold for some reason. It was as if I knew there was trouble brewing there, but didn't know why I knew."
"So you feed monsters? That's your idea of heroism?" Allison laughed.
"I like to help people," Elias said defensively. "For monsters, that often means feeding them."
"Well, you do a great job of that," she laughed. "I've never been fed so much at once. You're a great guy, you know that?"
"Am I?"
"Of course! Great guys help people, right?"
"I guess…. I just wish I could remember who I really am."
"You know who you are," Allison pointed out. "You're the hero Elias."
"Yes, I know my name, and I know that I'm a hero, but…. It's as if I just suddenly came into existence two weeks ago! Who was I before then?"
"Probably what you are now. You're a hero, you probably got your head bashed in while fighting someone n Grand Noah."
"Maybe, but…. I wonder. I have these dreams…. Dreams that I'm not a great person. And I have these urges…"
"What kinds of urges?" Allison asked.
"I want to be eaten," he answered. "Why would I want that?"
"Because it feels good?"
"Yeah, I'm sure it does, and I know that's part of it," he admitted. "The very idea causes me to get aroused, and I fantasize about it constantly. But if I was eaten, I'd die! Why do I want to die? I mean, I think very highly of myself. I'm great looking, I seem to be a great guy, I have an enormous…."
"Yeah, I noticed. I'm still sore. So why do you think you want to die?"
"It's the dreams. I think I may have done bad things."
"So you think that your amnesia and suicidal tendencies might be your way of dealing with guilt?" she asked.
"I don't know. I really don't know."
"Do you want me to eat you?" Allison asked.
"What?! No! Besides, I can't let you eat me," Elias answered. "The angel I met in Grand Noah said that Ilias had a plan for me and that I can't feed myself to any monsters. Semen only."
"I'm actually glad you said that, because I'm trying to quit myself."
:"Quit? Quit what?"
"Eating people," Allison answered. "I eat people."
"Oh…. Wow. I didn't expect that."
"I am a lamia, why would it surprise you that I eat people?"
"I guess it shouldn't, but you seem so nice yourself."
"I am nice, but…." Allison trailed off. "I thought that eating people was okay, because it felt so good for them, but now I know better. Just because it feels good, doesn't mean it's right to end a life. So I don't eat people anymore."
"How do you deal with the guilt?"
"I don't feel guilty, to be honest," she admitted. "I'm a predator. Predators don't cry over their prey. But now that I know it's wrong, I really don't want to eat anyone anymore. Besides, it's not necessary. I need semen, but I don't need human flesh."
"Well, as long as you're trying to be a better person," Elias said. "I guess that's why the angel commanded me to stay alive. Maybe I'm supposed to atone for whatever bad things I did that I can't remember."
"Maybe," Allison replied. "Or maybe your self analysis is all bullshit. You can't remember anything. Dreams aren't replays of your life. Sometimes they have meaning, most of the time they don't. You need to consider yourself innocent until proven guilty. If you'd truly done bad things, people would remember you. You wouldn't be Elias, the great hero, you'd be Elias, the infamous killer. The fact that you seem to be unknown means that you probably didn't do anything particularly heroic or terrible. Maybe you just ran around the world feeding monsters and doing small good deeds for people."
"I sure hope that's it," he said glumly. "Maybe if I bring about coexistence between monsters and humans, I'll get recognition."
"Oh, believe me, you will."
As Elias lay down to sleep, Allison was lost in thought. Why would an angel send this man to bring about coexistence when Ilias created this world specifically so that Luka could bring about coexistence? I hope nothing's happened to Luka, she thought as she drifted off to a dreamland of her own, one in which she was licking a man like a lollipop before swallowing him whole. She smiled in her sleep.
.
So when I said we found ourselves on Hellgondo, I had no idea she was taking us almost directly to her castle. I could see its spires in the distance. We were still about ten kilometers away, just outside the lush area surrounding the Monster Lord's castle, in contrast to the mostly barren remainder of the continent.
"Alice, isn't this rushing things a little?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure I'm not ready for this."
"You're absolutely not ready for this," Alice agreed. "But with a competing hero on his way, it's essential that you face the Heavenly Knights first."
"And why does it matter whether I defeat them or he does?"
"Don't you want your vengeance? Oh wait, I forgot who I was talking to. Look, I don't want it to be him. It's important to me, okay?"
"If you say so," I said reluctantly.
"You can do this, Luka," Emma said encouragingly.
"I'll teach you everything I can today," Alice said. "It'll be tough, because I can't work you too hard, otherwise you'll be stiff and sore when you face them. So the lessons will have to mostly be mental. Tecniques, strategies, that sort of thing. Let's begin. Emma, you spar with him."
Emma was more than happy to do so. In that respect, she was very much a dragonkin, and she seemed to take a special joy in sparring with me. She was constantly giggling and saying over and over how awesome it was to be sparring with me. Alice had me practice the cursed sword techniques I was already familiar with, plus she taught me a few that worked well with the elements. Emma piled even more new techniques on, showing me what she called Elite techniques.
"These are techniques they won't have seen before, so they won't know how to counter them," Emma explained as she demonstrated and then had me try them. "The key to beating the Heavenly Knights is to surprise them."
"Emma speaks wisely," Alice agreed. "The Heavenly Knights are powerful, but what makes them especially dangerous is their ability to strategize and adjust. New techniques will only work on them once. Once they've seen it, they'll know how to counter it. So use them at key moments when they'll do the most good."
For hours I practiced with Emma, taking frequent breaks to pace myself. It was a longer, more steady workout, in contrast to the intense two hour workouts that Alice had given me previously when we'd camped together. As night began to fall, I still didn't feel very confident.
"These techniques are amazing," I said. "Thank you both for showing them to me. But I have to really think and concentrate on the correct footwork and such. They aren't second nature to me like the older techniques you taught me."
"Luka, don't worry," Emma said. "You've got this. I can't tell you why, but you can definitely beat those dorks. Just try to strike the right balance between being aggressive, and yet avoiding carelessness. If you don't fight to not lose, and you don't fight recklessly, you'll get the better of them."
"My Knights are a lot tougher than that, idiot," Alice said.
Emma smiled knowingly. Obviously, she had knowledge Alice and I didn't to justify her confidence in my likelihood of success.
"The Knights are pretty damn tough," Emma agreed. "But Luka, you have great power. Before you rest, I'm going to show you enough for you to use it against them if you get in trouble."
"You mean that power I have to make girls orgasm?" I asked.
"What? No! I mean…. Yeah, It can do that," Emma said hesitantly. "And I guess you can do that in a pinch, but the only one that would probably be super vulnerable to that would be Granberia, and she'll be expecting you to pull that trick. I'm talking about power power. Like really powerful power."
"You sure say 'power' a lot," Alice grumbled. "I can tell he has it, but it's not like any magic I've ever seen before. It's not holy, it's not dark, it's not elemental…."
"It's none of those things," Emma said. "To be honest, I don't understand it all that well myself. But I can tell you that it's badass."
Demonstrating, Emma directed her hand at a nearby boulder. An energy bolt exploded from her hand and turned the boulder into dust. There weren't even any dangerous shards. The boulder was simply there one moment, and in the next, it was a cloud of dirt. Alice, uninterested in inhaling a dirt cloud, or getting dirt under her scales, summoned a wind to blow it in the opposite direction.
"I can do that?" I asked.
"Yeah, just do what I did," Emma answered. "There's another boulder a little further away. Just aim your hand at it and decide you want It gone."
I did, remembering how my power felt when I'd used it against Granberia. I felt my power, but nothing happened.
"Congratulations, idiot!" Alice said with a smirk. "If that rock was alive, it would be having the best orgasm of its life right now."
"Luka, you're doing it all wrong," Emma said to me. "Here, put your hand on my chest. Not my breast, in between them. There you go."
My hand was just above her breasts, in the center of her chest. The feeling was extraordinary. No, not titillating, as it had been when I'd groped her breast, misunderstanding her instructions, but extraordinary in the sense that I felt power. It was as if Emma and I had become one, our power coursing through each other's bodies, as if they were pieces of my soul that were being reunited. I didn't know it, but that wasn't far from the truth.
"How do you two have the exact same weird power?" Alice gasped. "Are you… related?"
"Not by blood, no," Emma said, as we both glowed. "This is another thing I'm not allowed to explain. But I can promise you, Luka, once you do this, once you finish what you have to do in the castle, everything will be revealed to you. It will all make sense. For now, just feel it. It's yours. It's your birthright. I only have it because you let me."
"I… gave you this?" I asked.
"There I go, saying too much again," she chuckled. "But I guess you can figure out this is yours. It wants to be a part of you. It only stays with me because on some subconscious level you want it to. But as long as we touch, you can feel it the way you were meant to. I don't know why it was hidden from you before. My boss said it was because you originally came from a world where you couldn't feel it, so you had to learn how."
"I knew he was from another world," Alice said. "And you're from his world, aren't you? You share that gift."
Alice seemed lost in thought, and more than a little sad. But Emma held my attention. I concentrated on the magic. It felt as if our souls were entwined. It was the most intimate experience I'd ever had. When it was over, Emma smiled at me reassuringly and had me try again.
The rock was vaporized with but a thought.
"And that's your ultimate secret weapon!" Emma cheered. "Bust that out if you ever start losing. Just one thing, don't use it if you're really pissed. The magic intensifes with your emotions. You don't want to do to them what you did to that rock."
"Alice, isn't this amazing?" I asked.
Alice had already gone to the nearest tree to wrap herself around it. She was either asleep, or pretended to be. Emma looked troubled as well. But there was no time to find out what was bugging Alice. I had to rest. Tomorrow would be my final battle. I would settle accounts with Granberia and Alma Elma, and anyone else who stood in my way.
Tamamo sat in her shrine in Yamatai, smiling amicably at the worshippers. It had been a good day. All of the days in Yamatai were good, that's why she'd made it her home. As an Ancestor, she enjoyed the worship. She was not one to be modest about her greatness. She had mellowed in many ways over the centuries, but not that way.
"Oh mighty fox!" a young man she knew as Kenji exclaimed, approaching her with an offering.
"Thin fried tofu!" Tamamo shrieked. "My favorite!"
Tamamo ate some right away.
"Incredible as always, Kenji!" she praised. "Your family has always made the best tofu in the village."
"Thank you, mighty fox," Kenji said, bowing. "May I ask a boon from you?"
"Always, Kenji, even if you hadn't brought me tofu," she replied, shoveling more into her mouth. "Special tail again?"
Kenji blushed. As a young man, he had desires, and Tamamo had cravings. It wasn't only his tofu that was delicious.
"No, not today, great Tamamo," he stammered.
Tamamo sighed. Humans were so uptight about anything that gave them sexual pleasure. Even in a village with monster shrines where feeding was a regular part of honoring the monsters, it was just not talked about among the humans.
"You sound serious," Tamamo said, putting down the tofu. "What can I do for a family that's shown me so much respect over several generations?"
"It is grandfather," Kenji said.
"Hiroshi," Tamamo said. "I know his health has been declining. I wish I could help him, but dying is the way of things for mortals, and humans are short lived by nature."
"I do not ask you to save his life," Kenji said. "I ask you be there for his end. He would consider it a great honor, and a comfortable way to go."
Tamamo shuddered. This was not an uncommon request. The lamia shrine worshippers were accustomed to making these requests, and having them fulfilled. Tamamo knew that death with dignity was a myth. Death is almost always ugly and unpleasant, and being drained to death by a monster was the ideal way to go in Yamatai. But it had never been the kitsune way.
"Kenji…. You know we don't kill," Tamamo said gently. "If you ask Miko at the lamia shrine, I'm sure…"
"No, no, you misunderstand!" Kenji said. "I do not ask you to pleasure him to death. He simply wants comfort. To be wrapped in your embrace when the time comes."
Tamamo sighed in relief. It was still a great favor to ask, but Hiroshi had more than earned it. "I can do that," Tamamo replied. "Do you know how long he has?"
"A few days more," Kenji said. "But he is a fighter, as you know. Once you embrace him, he will give up the ghost peacefully. Perhaps tomorrow, or the next day, you could come to him?"
"Of course. Tomorrow, at dusk, then."
"Our family has worshipped you for generations, great fox god," Kenji said, bowing. "You have always provided everything we have ever needed."
That kind of talk made Tamamo uncomfortable. She'd done many favors for her worshippers, but because they thought of her as a god, they gave her credit for many things she had nothing to do with. Explaining the finer points of her magical abilities didn't interest them. They thought her modest.
Kenji left, bowing several times on his way out. He had been the last worshipper of the day. Kitsunes were long sleepers, generally sleeping from dusk until late in the morning. The worshippers always respected their desire for quiet during those hours. Tamamo knew that she would be undisturbed. She had her own house in the village, but often chose to sleep in the temple, especially when she had a lot to think about. Lately, she'd had a lot on her mind. The impending death of one of her favorite worshippers only occupied her mind further.
Which was why the last thing she needed was a telepathic message. It intruded upon her already cluttered thoughts rudely, in a way that only Alice could intrude. The message was short and terse. The Heavenly Knights and the Monster Lord didn't communicate in words. Their telepathy didn't work that way. Instead, they broadcast images. The image that invaded her mind was an image of Luka only a short distance from the castle, training for combat. Tamamo sighed. She didn't want to fight the boy. But Alice had her reasons for wanting to test Luka against her Knights. Tamamo hated it, and fully intended to defeat him. She would treat him well when she did, of course. He was a good boy, after all. He deserved a good life, and she could provide that for him. She would not fail. If she failed…. Well, that was unthinkable. She would not allow a second Monster Lord to die on her watch.
At least Alice wasn't interfering with her plans for Hiroshi. Luka would reach the castle by morning, giving her plenty of time to deal with him and return to Yamatai to send Hiroshi off to the afterlife properly. She trudged towards her bedroom in the shrine. She'd have to get up early, with only ten hours of sleep.
The hairs on Tamamo's back stood up, alerted by an incredibly powerful presence in the shrine. The presence was all too familiar.
"I should have known," Tamamo said, turning towards the shadowy nine-tailed form. "The Heavenly Knights are too smart to be fooled by an imposter. The only explanation would be that it wasn't an imposter at all."
"You are the imposter," evil Tamamo growled. "I hate every version of me that's like this."
"An alternate universe, eh?" Tamamo asked. "I guess that makes sense. We've theorized about alternate universes for years. Why would you want to come here and make trouble?"
"I have an old debt to repay. And I'm afraid I can't let you get in my way."
"Would you really kill yourself?" Tamamo asked. "I understand you a lot better than you understand me. I WAS you. I don't think you're capable of it."
"Oh, but I am," she laughed. "I will spare you only because I've learned some things about how the multiverse works, and what can happen when another version of yourself dies. In death, you could interfere with my plans even more effectively than you can in life. So being the intelligent, sophisticated fox that I am, I decided on a much simpler solution."
"And that would be?"
Evil Tamamo cast a simple spell. A spell that only the sealed versions of Tamamo were vulnerable to. Despite the fact that Tamamo was ancient, her child form contained a child's brain. She could still be susceptible to childish thinking from time to time, even under the best circumstances. It simply came with the biology. Therefore, it was a simple matter to make her fully revert to a childish state.
"Hee hee," Tamamo giggled. "Fluffy fluffy!"
"Now, now, little one, you know it's bed time," evil Tamamo said, gently scooping her tiny counterpart up, carrying her into her bedroom, and placing her in the bed. She had already fallen asleep almost instantly upon contact with evil Tamamo's warm bosom.
Evil Tamamo grinned as she looked down at her peacefully sleeping counterpart. The little tyke contentedly sucked her thumb as she slept. By the time little Tamamo awakened twelve hours from now, it would be too late for her to interfere.