Chapter 30: Chapter 29

Ishtar looked over the document that Loki had handed her. The goddess in question had leaned back in her seat, legs sprawled around haphazardly. She held in her hand some of the last of the Soma wine that still existed in Orario, belching loudly and lazily, before scratching her bare stomach.

It really was disgusting, that someone so unrefined was allowed to lead one of the top two familias in Orario. Ishtar couldn't wait to change that.

"Gist is, yeah, lovesick little Drake wants your gal Lena to come on over to my familia, and he's pestering and pestering about it. Just say 'no' and let me be done with it."

"So you will pay me back for the wine you've drunk?" Ishtar's gaze didn't even leave the document as she asked the question.

"Ehhh? Wha? This is guest wine, Ishtar, you can't charge a guest for drinking what you offer her!" Loki suddenly seemed far more alert, but when she saw that Ishtar had been simply tweaking her, she went back to lounging and drinking. "I don't see why you gotta read and read. Yeah, I made the proposal with him, but you get the idea. Drake and his wives, versus a team of nine of yours less three. We pick the three. It'll be Phryne, Tammuz, and Aisha, probably, then blah blah blah..."

More importantly than all that, was the agreement: the team leader of the winning side would get to take one member from the other familia. For Ishtar, it would be limited to Drake and his wives, but... there had to be a trick here. Even a dullard like Loki wouldn't sell her own child up the river so effortlessly. Drake was just a Level Two, as were his entire harem (including the new one, Rei Maxwell, she'd heard - fitting, for a child of the Zeus and Hera familias).

Hrm. As she finished off the documents, she saw two tricks. The first was the timing. One month. For any ordinary adventurer, they might manage to scrape together two hundred points in that amount of time, if they truly pushed themselves and the Divines were smiling. For Drake? Could he Level in that amount of time? If he Leveled like Lena... but he might not, he might Level faster. If there was some element of proximity to the enhanced Leveling, then obviously Lena wouldn't experience it. That was the sort of trick she'd expect of Loki.

The other part was that it was undefined who would actually leave the Ishtar familia. By extension, she could safely guess it wasn't Lena Tally. It was stated that the choice was Drake's, subject to veto by Loki - so he would suggest Lena, and then she would veto that, forcing him to pick someone else. If they were after Phryne... no, she couldn't part with Phryne, even if the toad could be inconvenient. She was the most powerful adventurer in her familia, even if she was a deluded, counterproductive rapist... but she doubted that Loki would want Phryne, regardless.

Then it had to be Haruhime. It was not a new story. A man visits a prostitute and falls for her - in her business, she heard it plenty, and had made millions of valis off each lovesick man in turn. Alternately, Haruhime herself might have stupidly told him about Ishtar's plans. Or perhaps Loki had inferred it, and planned to push him towards it? But that was impossible. She had been slow and cautious with seeking out the killing stone, these past four years. She could be patient for the sake of taking power in Orario.

So. Loki believed that, given a month, Drake and his wives could beat an equal number of her Level Threes. She wanted to cut Ishtar at the knees by taking away Haruhime - perhaps the woman had suspected something since that entire Guild affair. Crushing her rivals had cemented her power in the Pleasure Quarter, but perhaps there were downsides. She laid the paper down. "I won't accept this deal." One of Loki's eyes quirked open as she laid back in her chair, seeming to challenge Ishtar to explain herself.

She didn't. She let silence fill the air instead. She wanted to see whether Loki would reveal anything useful. "Why not?"

"Guess."

"I hate guessing games," Loki replied.

"I seem to recall you loving Bluff."

"That's 'cause I like lying." Loki lazed in place, letting out a sigh. "It's negotiable. What's your problem?"

There were two options, as Ishtar saw it:

The first was to undercut the offer by saying that it had to be Lena Tally. It was possible Loki and Drake would follow through even then, but it was also possible they would withdraw, and her chance to get a second Adventurer as valuable as Haruhime - more valuable, even - would slip through her fingers.

The second was to pretend she didn't notice the real trap. She could just ask for the time to be cut down - from a month to a week, or even a few days. There was a risk that even then, Drake might have something up his sleeve... but the prize was incredibly valuable. With Drake as part of her familia, she wouldn't need to recruit outside help to overthrow Orario. Once the Amazons had Leveled a few extra times, she would have the strongest familia. She wouldn't even have to knock Freya or Loki down, to raise herself up all the way to the very top.

Four years. She'd had Haruhime in her service for four years, and she still hadn't secured a killing stone. It hadn't been something she'd searched for immediately, but she had been getting trustworthy, controlled men to do what she said and seek it out, for years now. A goddess of beauty had her charms, but there was no guarantee that she would get the killing stone any time soon. If she was halfway there - as good a guess as any - it would be four more years. Phryne would probably be Level Six by then. Ottar might have hit Level Eight - he had become a Level Seven six years ago, a Level Six fourteen years ago. Ten years was a reasonable time to make the leap from Seven to Eight, based on how long the highest Level members of the Zeus and Hera familias had taken. Telskyura only had Level Sixes. Even with Haruhime and Kali combined, her forces would be too weak by then to dethrone Freya.

The chance with Haruhime was slipping through her fingertips. She could push - get Hermes to find the killing stone for her, but she had no doubt that he would betray her and fuck everything up somehow.

Her options were thin. With Haruhime, she had found an incredible opportunity, but it had been dangling in front of her for years, and the window was going to close soon enough.

Had Loki calculated this too? She looked at the drunken moron one last time, then sighed. No. The bitch thought she had outsmarted her by dangling an opportunity in front of her face, hoped she was too dumb to notice the obvious trap. "Make it a week. And I don't like this veto element," she added, making Loki quirk an eyebrow. "It makes it too difficult to prepare. No one Level Four or above, instead."

Loki smiled at that. "Deal," she said.

Ishtar hesitated only slightly, before shaking Loki's hand. "I hope that this will bring our familias closer together, rather than driving them apart," she added.

"Fingers crossed," Loki said, with a lazy raising of her fingers in demonstration.

Of course, Ishtar wasn't going to leave it at that.

* * *

Rei #7 sighed as she watched Ali hungrily gulp down the Mammoth Fool's core. Even though she no longer had a dick, there was still something about watching a throat just swell to accommodate something big that did it for her. They had spent forever searching around the 20th floor, making a show of being a group of monsters that talked and hung out together. She'd used her superhuman senses to listen for any sign of adventurers getting close so as to avoid them, or other intelligent monsters so as to seek them out, and there was, by this point, only one conclusion: the Xenos weren't here. Either they hadn't formed their little society yet, or they were on another floor.

Were they up a floor or down a floor? Some of the canon Xenos were monsters that lived on higher floors, some on lower. They wouldn't be in Rivira, but they'd have to cross it at some point either way.

Were there other ways up or down? Knossos, but they wouldn't have access to it. So... where would they tend to keep their base? Above? Below? Near? Far? Why weren't they just on the 20th Floor? Was Fels involved yet? She couldn't remember that shit.

Guh. So many stupid questions. Whatever. If they were on a nearby floor they'd definitely have noticed her by now, so they were probably up, on the other side of Rivira. Either that or way deeper, which didn't make sense. Their canon tendency would obviously be to go deeper and deeper in reaction to threats. "Ali," she said, making the big-boobed Lamia turn her way. She had also figured out that Rei liked it when she leaned forward, her dark hair casting the faintest shadow over full breasts, their size exaggerated by gravity.

Goddamn she wanted to fuck this stupid monstergirl so bad. Why hadn't she yet? Because Ali still couldn't talk. Because Drake and Julia wouldn't want her to rape people, and she liked Drake and Julia. (...loved? That sounded so gay. She didn't know them that well.) And if Ali couldn't talk, and she couldn't rape anybody, then...

Well... actually... it wasn't like you needed to talk to be able to consent. Mute people had sex all the time! (Presumably. Not really her thing.) Maybe she could just ask Ali? She'd have to reciprocate, probably, but she hadn't minded eating out Loki, so...

Priorities, though. "I don't think there are any Xenos down here. I think they're up on the higher floors, and will migrate down here eventually." Ali hissed in acknowledgement, bobbing her head up and down. The movement was exaggerated as Ali brought her tail into play, moving her upper body up and down too, and in turn her tits just bounced around wildly from doing that, and in turn Rei wanted to fuck her brains out. "I want to take you up to the Seventeenth Floor." There weren't too many adventurers up there. You had to be a Level Two to safely get through them, and most adventurers never made it to Level Two. "Just listen to me, alright?" She looked over at Rei #8, who was already transforming back into her normal self, and made eye contact, both of them starting to ride the other's senses. "I'll show you the way up."

With invisibility, multiple bodies, shared senses, and nothing but time, she managed to get Ali up to the Seventeenth Floor in less than an hour. She spent another hour or so in multiple monster bodies alongside Erza and Ali, feeding the sexy monstergirl lots of cores as they made their way in a long, looping pattern through the 17th Floor while avoiding other adventuring parties, killing whatever monsters she found, hoping to catch some hint of an intelligent monster. She wondered if the Xenos were avoiding her because of Erza? It was just frustrating.

Then she heard it. Footsteps as heavy as a minotaur, but lacking the hooven notes. They were soft like leather boots. Well, not soft, whoever it was probably weighed a ton. "Adventurer," she said quietly to Erza and Ali, and they started to move in the opposite direction, Rei's ears remaining carefully perked up the whole time. The footsteps didn't grow quieter. They kept following after her as she made weird circuits and unusual patterns. Thick, heavy footfalls, approaching slowly, methodically. Quickening when she quickened. They were being followed.

The Xenos? Maybe one of them was wearing shoes? Rei #7 decided to pause, transforming into a Wyvern, making eye contact with Rei #8 again to refresh their shared senses, then she pressed herself against a wall, camouflaging into invisibility. The other Reis kept going, keeping together with Erza. She held herself very still as the footsteps approached.

It was the ugliest fucking woman she had ever seen in her life. Back on Earth, sure, she'd browsed r/fatpeoplehate back when it wasn't banned yet, so she had seen quite a few big fat ugly women. But this woman took corpulence to another level. It wasn't even like she looked like she was actually less healthy - indeed, her fat jiggle was kinda... like there was some real muscle under it? But it just made her look worse. Stout and corpulent, instead of just sort of a blob of flesh. And her face... it was like it was smushed vertically, so the sides went wide. Her nose was upturned, but not in a cute button way - in an ugly pig way. She had the worst haircut that Rei had ever seen, and Rei was not exactly a haircut aficionado who recognized good and bad haircuts at a glance. She was, in short, butt ugly.

She was also Phryne Jamil. Behind her were another couple Amazons, but also, Haruhime (recognizable by being a busty blonde Japanese foxgirl, the best kind of each of those words), which made this really fucking bad. Could she beat Phryne? Sure, probably, she was amazing and better than any other member of the harem in a fight. Could she beat Phryne juiced up by Haruhime? Fuuuuck no. Why was this bitch here?

The woman in question paused beneath her, making some disgusting noises with her throat, like she was a frog that was about to puke up its own lungs. Her heart stilled in her chest as the woman in question paused there, stretching momentarily, her axe in one hand. It was a fakeout. She knew that Rei #7 was there.

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If Rei #7 hadn't realized that, she wouldn't have had time to snap-leap to one side before Phryne hurled her axe at her. The axe impacted the wyvern's tail, making her scream in agony, crying out as she started to tumble down to the ground - part of how the wyvern balanced was its tail, and it may just have been cut off, she couldn't spare the chance to look and check, she desperately flapped her wings while the bitch in question moved to reclaim her axe. No, there was no way to win this fight, she had to -

She turned into a Goliath, just slamming into existence from the perception of the other Amazons, who cowered back. She didn't have time to hesitate, she reached out for Phryne, hand clawing - but the woman was fast, and she was aware. She'd gotten the drop on Goro, back then, and it was just the opposite now. She was pretty sure she was bleeding from the back even now, even though Goliaths didn't have tails, and it wasn't fucking fair, but she had to leap backwards to avoid losing a finger, she couldn't win this fight, she had to -

She really fucking didn't want to. She'd never done that before. She'd been so sure that she could do it if she had to, but now, fight or flight instincts kicking in, her desire to survive roaring into her ears, she found herself unwilling to sacrifice just a few hours of thoughts. Instead, she transformed into an Almiraj to duck under a leaping Phryne, who promptly hit the ground and turned on her. "It's one of them, gegegeh," she laughed. "That's quite some Magic! Or maybe it's a Skill?" She toyed with her axe, hefting it in her free. "It doesn't matter, gegegeh. We kill her, and we'll be able to-"

Rei #7 never found out what they would be able to do. She never got to find out anything ever again, because she overcame the part of herself that wanted to keep on living, and let the part of herself that wanted Drake and Julia and Erza and Ali and Cass and Noriko and, fuck, even the other Reis, to be safe, make the decision instead. For just a moment, she thought that she'd never actually learn to do this reliably, because by definition she'd never remember doing it - and a moment later, she unraveled from existence, and nobody ever finished any of her thoughts.

* * *

Rei #8 - or was she #7 now? There was a vague sick feeling that came with knowing that Rei #7 wouldn't ever contribute her memories back to the collective - kept running. Ran faster. "We need to go," she said, looking at Ali, desperately trying to think of what the fuck to do to protect her. Phryne wouldn't just kill them out in Orario, but Ali couldn't go to Orario. "Knossos!" She yelled out, mentally reorienting herself on a new path.

"What is it, Rei?" Erza asked.

"Phryne killed Rei #7." Not technically true, but close enough. The bleeding near the small of her back had stopped, presumably from Rei #1 pouring some healing potion on her ass, but fuck that was close. Level Fives were insane. Complete bullshit! She'd killed a Level Five once already! When his back was turned, sure, but she should have been fucking invisible! She wasn't even attacking, she was just waiting! Fuck that rapist Phryne bitch, she couldn't wait for Ottar to cave in her skull! Having really good senses was her gimmick!

"Who is Phryne?" Erza asked, though she did run right alongside Rei - in fact, she was even carrying Ali in some bizarre parody of bridal style.

"Ugly rapist bitch," Rei #8 replied. "Ishtar familia." Rei knew about Drake's plan, but what the fuck was this cunt doing here? She disobeyed her goddess in canon sometimes, but Haruhime and some other Amazons were with her. "Who has the eye?" It was #5, right?

"Me," #5 called out, surging forward in the pack. She was wearing a Bugbear's form - all of them were, at this point. Hopefully it would be enough. She couldn't hold the Goliath form for long enough to actually make the journey. Her mental map of the 17th Floor descended down, down, further, this way, left, then right, then - she burst forth into the light of Rivira, and immediately made a hard right turn. She thanked her lucky stars that nobody was actually near the entrance, as they rushed across the edges, making their way towards the entrance to Knossos she knew about.

They hit it. Thank fuck. The door opened, they entered, and then they swung it closed behind them, letting out a sigh of relief. Phryne couldn't follow them here...

But she could follow them to the entrance. And she would, in fact. Ali had started to shiver, squirming, wrapping her long tail taut around Erza's waist, producing a bizarre appearance as she cuddled up on the warrior. Her tail was thick, about as wide as a human torso, so it made Erza look... vaguely fat, kinda? The tail curled around and around on itself, making her look bloated. "I'm sorry, Ali," she said. "We'll find a way out as fast as we can." There were cameras, weren't there? This sucked. This really sucked. Even if she turned invisible, Ali and Erza wouldn't, and presumably the Ikelos familia would notice their presence. They had to find an exit, except, oh yeah, Ali couldn't go to the surface.

This was really bad. Fuck. Ishtar was too damn smart for her own good. She and Julia should do that thing where they mindbroke her into Drake's rapetoy soon. I mean, they'd have to figure out how to do that, obviously, but bitch deserved it for killing Rei #7.

First, though, they had to get the fuck out of here, and get Ali to safety.

* * *

Aisha's heart was cold as she held her blade in one hand. This could save Haruhime from her fate. She would have to stay her blade from Drake, of course, but if he lost his loved ones in the Dungeon... he would be easily crushed in the coming War Game. She had to do this. If they acquired Drake, acquired whatever Skill of his let him enhance the abilities of those who loved or laid with him, or however it quite worked... then maybe Ishtar could be convinced to let Haruhime live.

That was the hope that Aisha held. She was the strongest Level Three in the familia, so it fell to her to lead this force. This was what Drake deserved for playing with Haruhime's heart, in any case. As to the Black Agony... she was Haruhime's friend, Aisha knew that much. She supposed she could merely grievously injure her. Cut off her arms, or her legs. She wouldn't be able to fight, then, would live a half-life, but she could at least live.

The legs, she decided.

They found the small group soon enough. Black Agony, Drake, the Dark Knight, a supporter. The supporter was meaningless. Black Agony, Drake, the Dark Knight. She watched for just a few seconds, at a distance, getting an impression of their fighting style. Of their ability. It was possible that these were the stronger group, in which case, they would have to retreat. But no, they were fighting against some Hellhounds, the roar of some strange weapon from Black Agony killing monster after monster, Dark Knight hurling one beast into another, grappling, breaking, Drake hiding above them and hurling knives, the supporter attached to his back like a child. They were strong Level Twos - but just Level Twos, in the end.

She took in one final, deep breath, looked at her comrades, and nodded.

They rushed forward, into the midst of the ongoing battle. Black Agony's brilliant blue eyes widened for a moment, and she made eye contact, then she just pulled. It was like it was thin air, but she spoke two words so close together they sounded like one word. "Flashbang." She watched in slow motion as both Drake and Dark Knight closed their eyes, rushed forward hopefully -

And then the world exploded in light and sound. Ringing filled her ears, but she held her ground, swinging her blade against the infinite white she could see, trying to spot the sounds of footsteps between the noise. Trying to guess where her enemies would be. She was like a dervish, whirling in place, careful to move from where her comrades had been to avoid cutting them by accident, even as she approached.

She managed well enough. She felt her sword slice into someone, cutting deep, and it was from the direction of the Black Agony. She felt something twist in her gut, as her vision cleared and she saw the girl in question, a brilliant white smile on her lips, her sword buried halfway into her gut. The instinct was to pull the weapon loose, but that would worsen it. Hold it there, get her potion, then-

Electricity shot up her body, her finger tightening its grip on the sword as she simply spasmed in place. She lost control of every muscle as Black Agony held a weapon up against her wrist, something black and blunt. There was pain, but not much - but her body wouldn't obey her commands. Her legs soon lost their balance, and she felt a sinking feeling as her body started to fall, threatening to drag the sword out of Black Agony with the movement - and indeed, that's exactly what happened, spilling open the girl's stomach and letting intestines fall free even as Aisha hit the ground. The girl had a will of iron, because she kept the electricity going, kept Aisha spasming.

She watched from her inert position on the ground, electricity still running through her, as a member of her familia stepped up to one of the Amazons she had brought with her - someone adventuring by coincidence? She was positioned behind the girl, perhaps here to act as back up - then she whipped a hand out, and the girl gasped, whirled, weapon at the ready, but it found no purchase as Drake danced away from her, danced up.

"Ah... I want that Skill so bad, Aisha," Black Agony said, even as she kept that electric lance sending energy through her body. The pain still existed, but she knew the moment it ran out of magic, she would be able to keep fighting. The moment contact broke, as Black Agony's iron will finally gave way to her mortal wound. "Goshujinsama can put girls into deep comas, isn't that sexy? Oh, you can't answer, sorry!" She said, playfully, smiling, as she kept Aisha down there.

There were five Amazons here. Five Level Threes. Even if they had taken down Aliyah and Aisha, there was still Samira, Rajya, and Jalila to keep on fighting, and the moment Black Agony let go...

No, wait, even as Aliyah staggered, whatever Drake had done being some sort of poison, Samira, Rajya, Jalila - none of them realized that he was an enemy. Her jaw was locked shut, refusing to cooperate, but she overpowered it, an Adventurer's strength of will. "En-em-y," she got out, and the warning was received in time, Samira spinning before Drake could strike her, too. With that same, overpowering will, she lashed out with a hand, snapping for Black Agony's own weapon, or hand, or anything...

And she succeeded, the weapon knocked from the girl's hand, who wore a look that mixed surprise and danger. "Flashbang," she repeated, and Aisha slammed her eyes shut before the Spell could blind her again. The ringing in her ears left her deaf, as Black Agony danced away, organs and blood spilling out freely from where she had been wounded. How could she possibly still fight like that? Aisha wondered, as she rose unsteadily to her own feet. Aisha had lost her grip on the sword at some point, her fingers relaxing when Black Agony had peeled back, so the blade was now sticking out of the girl's gut, a grizzly scene. "You're so strong!" The words were loud, but caught beneath the ringing. "I'm sure goshujinsama would love having his cock sucked by you!" She was practically shouting them out.

"I'm sure he would," Aisha agreed. Part of her knew that if she won this mission, she might just wind up having to do that. That once Drake joined their familia... she'd have to make love to him, to acquire some sampling of that power of his.

"Ah! That's so sexy, that little, unf, I don't even care thing! I can't do that well at all, since goshujinsama knows I love him and listen to him." Aisha stared at Black Agony. Waiting for Haruhime's friend to die. Waiting for the girl who had come, again and again, to the Ishtar familia, to simply keel over. In the periphery of her vision, she watched as Aliyah collapsed down, facefirst, onto the cold Dungeon floor. Drake's Skill.

Then it unfurled. Him. Something - in the periphery of her vision, she saw it. It entranced her immediately. A man. Strong. Powerful. But more importantly, firm. A man with deep character, bone-deep, abiding and powerful. A true hero. She didn't recognize him, but she took one step back, then two steps forward, awed and bewildered by his sudden appearance. She wanted that man. She wanted him so badly. Someone strong, sure, but also firmly moral. Her breath shuddered out of her throat, goosebumps running across her bare skin.

"Leave, with Aliyah," the man said. She hesitated, as did Samira and Rajya - Jalila didn't, the Amazon quickly grabbing Aliyah's unconscious body and hefting it easily over her shoulders.

Aisha simply stared at the man. Wanted him. Wanted to taste him, to feel him. To see what a man like this was like - to feel him inside her. More, more, more, a hunger deep inside her, a ravenous beast that she had kept under lock and key threatening to go wild. He fixed her with his gaze, and she felt herself grow wet as she looked into his beautiful eyes. "Leave, Aisha," he said.

She grabbed her sword, yanking it out of Black Agony. For a moment, she planned to leave, even going so far as to turn to go...

But she noticed one man was missing. Black Agony, Dark Knight, the supporter - where was Drake? She spun around, and she knew that she could see him. A beautiful, transcendent illusion of the ideal hero, of the ideal man. It took her a moment to fix her will, but she lunged forward with her weapon a moment later. He dodged it, a sapphire light beginning to dance across the walls of the Dungeon, and he struck her near the gut, a knife hand strike that didn't seem to do much, as she jumped back out of melee range. She should have dodged it anyway. It had to be a trap. "His, he has, poison, can pretend to be," she managed to get out, enough for her comrades to understand. Three against three - they could still win.

He was so beautiful. Her head was growing foggy suddenly, her balance being lost. Damnation. "You..." she got out, but it was growing hard to think about what 'You' was. Drake Holt. Happy Ending. She let out a small laugh at that stupid Alias, then collapsed down to the floor like a puppet with the strings cut.

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