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Hermes let out a long exhalation, simply craning his head back in his seat, dipping his hat forward in an affectation of sleep.

Things in the Dungeon were not going according to the normal way of things.

There were other things not going the normal way of things - apparently, Telskyura had fallen, and now it had been renamed Stefyurga, ruled by the Darlinja Drake Holt (yes, that Drake Holt) - but the Dungeon was much more of a problem, given that his familia was an exploration familia.

At least on paper.

Other stories swirled around, too. Irene Belserion, exiled Queen of Dragnof, had been seen in Orario. Filvis Challia had returned from exile. There were talking monsters in the Dungeon, a simmering conflict between the Loki and Freya familias, and a thousand other stories that were rather less plausible. Others were dead certain: the previous Record Breaker, Rei Maxwell, had been outdone by a young girl and member of the Hestia familia; Alise Lovell had returned from death. He had to wonder whether there was some common thread behind them all he couldn't quite see.

For all its horrors, Orario was a place that was ordinarily quite a bit quieter than it was at present. All this noise, and much of it revolving around Drake Holt and his women.

He let out another exhalation at that. He would be the greatest hero of the age, in all likelihood. If not him, then one of his many wives and lovers... but it was not nearly so inspiring to the next generation to have a hero who got to fuck dozens of girls. Even less, to be one of those dozens of girls, simmering in quiet jealousy over your beloved's inability to keep it in his pants.

He was interrupted from his reverie by a hand pulling off his hat. He jerked around to find the Black Agony standing there, idly trying on his feathered cap. "Do you think it makes me look good, Hermes-chan?"

"Hermes...chan?" Even though this woman had threatened him with death not that long ago - the wedding of Drake and Haruhime and Setsuko, no? - those were the first words that left his mouth.

"Well, I can't call you Hermes-kun, you're not my boyfriend or young! And I'm definitely not calling you Hermes-sama!"

Asfi practically dashed into the room at that point. "L-Lord Hermes?" She asked, confused at the Black Agony's presence.

In fairness, he was confused too. Still, he steeled himself and presented an amiable smile to the young lady. "Might I ask the reason for your visit?"

"Ah... well..." She pulled the hat off, spinning it around on her fingertip, rolling it around and around - and then she lost her rhythm and it went smacking off a wall and fell in the waste bin. Or, rather, she did that on purpose and pretended it was an accident, because she was a Level Four and she would not have made such a rudimentary error of coordination. "Oopsie!"

"Yes, oopsie indeed," Hermes said.

"Oy, jagoff!" The door swung open again, and there was Loki standing there. "...why did you come here before me, Drake's bimbo doll?"

"Ehhhh," the Black Agony replied, scratching her cheek. "I just think me and Hermes-chan have great chemistry, and I was going to ask him for a threeway!" Lie.

"...great," Loki said, shaking her head, then refocusing on Hermes. "You know why I'm here?"

"I honestly don't," Hermes said, finding the frank confession easy. "Or why she is here, for that matter."

"The monster in the Dungeon," Loki said. "It's serious business."

"It is, but my familia is hardly capable of-"

"Shh, shh," the Black Agony said. She planted one finger in front of her mouth, even as Asfi stared her down. "Shh. Lying is no good, Hermes-chan. It's not cute at all!"

"Cu-? No, the point is, Hermes, I know two things about your little familia." Loki planted a finger on his desk. "One. You're lying to the Guild about your Levels. Two. You've got a grimoire that my familia could make a lot better use of."

"Ah! That's right! Goshujinsama will even pay you for it, as soon as he gets the money together, which could be a while."

"I was under the impression that Drake was now a monarch." Asfi twitched at that. She'd been the one to relay the information to him in the first place, and her response, however mild, made him curious. But now was not the time for such curiosity, now was the time to feign ignorance as though his life depended on it.

"How much money do you think the Stefyurgans have?" The Black Agony asked. He shrugged. "Not much! Plus, all his wives need to be lavished with love and affection now that they're his horny, breedable wives!"

"Yeah, yeah," Loki said, waving her hand. "Grimoire, now, or I tell the Guild you're lying about your Levels. I need that, specific, grimoire."

Hermes sighed. "I suppose I have little choice," he said. "It cost our familia six hundred thousand valis," he said, stepping back from his desk, opening a trapdoor, and finding the grimoire inside. "I do wish to know how you knew of its presence?" He held it in his hand even as Loki's hand snapped out for it, creating a momentary tug of war.

"I'm ve~ery sneaky," the Black Agony said. He did notice it was not actually an answer to his question...

"Gimme!" Loki demanded, huffily, yanking on the grimoire with both hands. He let it go, and Loki lost her balance, tumbling backwards - the Black Agony practically snapped behind her, catching her before she hit the ground. "Ha... a beautiful girl, carrying me in her arms... I'm in love! Marry me, bitch!"

"Loki-sama, I'm straight," was the Black Agony's succinct reply, earning a loud huff from Loki.

As she left, he was quite sure he heard Loki muttering under her breath about, "This straight stuff has to be made up, right? Yeah. It's made up. Fictional. It doesn't make any sense. Why would a girl not love boobs?"

"Lord Hermes," Asfi said, and Hermes glanced her way. She looked about to say something, and to then change her mind before saying something entirely different. "That grimoire did not cost six hundred thousand valis."

Hermes chuckled. "Obviously not. But if they're going to just come in here and take the book from me, they owe me a bit extra on top." He plopped back into his chair, reaching up to dip his hat downward again, then remembering that the Black Agony had taken it off. He sighed. "Asfi, could you get me my hat?"

"Lord Hermes, you can get it yourself." She slammed the door shut for emphasis on that point. She had seemed on edge the last little while. Around the time she brought news of Stefyurga.

Probably just that time of the month. Or, more likely, the letter telling her about Stefyurga also had bad news in it.

With a heavy heart, Hermes got up from his chair to go brush his hat off, and promptly got back to pretending to sleep.

* * *

"Six hundred thousand valis," I muttered as I looked at the grimoire, holding it with all the care an item of that value had. "Is it the right one?"

"I can't know for certain, goshujinsama," Julia said, "but it's hard to imagine that Hermes got a completely different grimoire!"

"Yeah, I think I know who sold it to them, they've got the right kindsa spells," Rei said. "Also I'm pretty sure it wasn't six hundred k."

"Six hundred is a reasonable number," I said, recalling that Noriko's had only been as cheap as it was because Briar hadn't sold any grimoires beforehand. "We are coercing him into selling it, anyway."

"Hey! We're saving adventurers from death, Drake! Stealing's okay when it's for a good cause, and also I benefit!" Loki said. "Now where's the cutest little foxgirl in the whole wide world?" Loki's hands wiggled in the air excitedly, and I'd probably have dope-slapped her if Haruhime didn't like Loki in return.

"I'm bringing her here," I told Loki. "Let her read the grimoire before you grope her."

"Ehh, but then she'll be unconscious, it's no fun if they don't react!"

Haruhime followed after my other body, arriving in the room with her bright green eyes confused, more than anything else. "Ah, my love, did you want me for a... group sexual event?"

"How does her woobie act make those words less hot rather than more hot?" Loki asked me.

"Empathy, probably," I teased her back. "No, Haruhime, I didn't ask you here for that." Her cheeks glowed in embarrassment at her jumping to that conclusion, and I handed her the grimoire, which she held, her eyes widening and her tail sticking out straight as she realized what she was holding. "We want you to read this grimoire. We have good reason to believe it will greatly increase the power and usefulness of your magic."

She gulped at that. "I... this must have been very expensive."

"It is," I agreed, squatting down a bit so that I was looking up at her rather than the other way around. "I know that you often feel like a burden to me, but you aren't, ever. This in particular - even if I had no interest in you as a woman or even a friend, I would want you to read this grimoire. I do love you, and want you, and want you happy, but I bought this grimoire because it will make you stronger."

"Also 'cause I told him to," Rei added.

"Ah. Thank you, then, Rei-sama," Haruhime said, with a small bow of her head. She clutched the book against her for a moment. "What do I do?"

"Ya just read it," Loki said. "Oh, and sit down first, you'll pass out when you're done."

Haruhime nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed, sucking in a deep breath, and starting to read. Her eyes glided over the pages, and her expression shifted similarly to how Noriko's had, back when she'd read. Eyes reading with increasing interest, leaning in towards the book, her lips parting, her pupils dilating, and finally her eyes rolling up and her simply passing out into the book.

Loki showed a startling level of sweetness as she laid Haruhime down on the couch.

"Ah, Loki-sama, was Drake lying about those things he said about Haruhime?"

"Obviously not, duh," Loki said, with a roll of her eyes.

Julia's look as she turned back my way was a beatific smile. "Goshujinsama, you're soooo sweet," she said, just stepping over to me and hugging me tight. "Why don't you ever say things like that to me?"

"Because you're an insane masosub," I told her, patting her head. "I'm the one who needs the aftercare after our sex," I added, and Rei snorted. "Plus, you know I love you already. Otherwise we never would have even met."

"Ah! True! Rei and I literally only exist because goshujinsama wanted to fuck us in all three holes!"

"That's not-"

"Oh, so you don't want to fuck us in all three holes, goshujinsama?" Julia asked, pretending to be confused.

"Just go along with her," Rei said, idly smacking Julia's ass. "Oh, dude, we should fuck on top of sleeping Haruhime! Or, I guess, maybe you and Loki since Haruhime has yet to realize how great I am."

"Joousama, I'm not sure that's really something Haruhime would like."

"Come on, babe. Imagine passing out and waking up to seeing Drake's mega bitchbreaker plowing my cunt. Hot, right?"

"Yes, joousama, but you and I are in the top one percent most horny perverted sluts on the planet!"

"And yet you won't eat my pussy," Loki said.

I just sat down on the bed, gingerly raising Haruhime's head, and she nuzzled into my lap, her tail beating a bit in her sleep, one leg idly kicking. I scratched at her ears as Loki, Rei, and Julia all had a long and involved argument about how perverted they really were. Rei claimed she was totally normal and it's just socialization that makes women act all chaste. Loki claimed they weren't sluts at all since real sluts would eat her pussy whenever she asked. And Julia was the outnumbered voice of reason.

Eventually, Haruhime woke up, soft little breaths escaping her throat. For a moment, she snuggled quietly into my leg, just happy to lie there with me. I couldn't help but admire her, enjoying her warmth against my skin, the pleasant intimacy, the light and happy smile on her lips as she just closed her eyes.

As I suspected, though, she was actually like that because she forgot about why she'd passed out, because she jerked up after a few seconds of that. "Ah, my love, I forgot why I passed out."

"Oh, mornin', cutie," Loki said, stopping the argument to make Haruhime blush. "Let's check to see what spell you got!"

Haruhime nodded, swallowing softly and glancing my way, one finger teasing at the nape of her top, to question if it was alright for her to disrobe.

It was alright in my book for her to disrobe - but I understood that she found the idea of doing anything sexual with someone who wasn't me distasteful. "Julia, Rei, either turn around or leave," I told them. Rei made a whiny noise, while Julia readily obeyed. Julia even laid her hands over her eyes to extra-clearly emphasize she wasn't looking. I glared at Rei, who eventually turned around with a belabored sigh. "Okay, Haruhime."

Once Haruhime's top was lowered, revealing her back and breasts as the clothing practically wrapped around her wrists, Loki pricked her fingertip and dropped ichor on Haruhime's back. She waited a second, then clapped. "Yep! Kokonoe, just as planned!" Loki gave Haruhime's shoulder a companionable squeeze. "How abouts we send those couple of half-baked sluts outta here and have a real nice time to celebrate? You need to recover Mind Down anyway, so how about the three of us have some fun together?"

Haruhime's blush was very bright as she pulled her top back up, hiding her breasts again, creamy flesh obscured from sight. But then she looked my way for confirmation it was okay - and when I didn't object, she nodded quickly.

"Oy, Rei, Julia, get outta here," Loki ordered. She quickly rubbed her hands together excitedly, pulling off Haruhime's top with vigor, revealing her breasts to the open air, her hands just sinking into the large, soft things, letting out what sounded more like a howl of pleasure and excitement than anything else. "Ooo, I love these big titties, Haruhime," she said, leaning in and just nibbling the blushing Haruhime's ears. "How are we gonna fuck her, Drake?"

"You don't have any ideas?"

"You have like seven zillion wives at this point, you're the world's leading expert on MFF threesomes!" I blinked as I realized her words might very well be true. Well, not the seven zillion wives part, but the idea that I had more MFF threesomes than any other man, past or present...

"MFF...?" Haruhime muttered in confusion.

"Male-female-female," Loki explained, leaning down to give Haruhime a kiss on the cheek. "That's the kinda threesome we're about to have, cutie."

"I actually have two bodies here," I pointed out. "So how about you two sixty-nine, with Haruhime on the bottom, and then I fuck you both?"

"Sounds great to me!" Loki agreed, and Haruhime nodded too, flushing as she wiggled her way out of her clothes, revealing her slick sex and blonde bush in hardly any time at all, while Loki only finally peeled her hands away once Haruhime was completely naked. "Only problem with a sixty-nine is it's hard to grope those gorgeous titties of yours, sweetheart," Loki said, as she pulled off her own top.

"I'll carry you," I told her. "That way, your hands can go wherever you want."


"Ooo, what a keeper, right, Haruhime? What a sweetheart sex genius we got in Drake, eh?" Loki took the opportunity to peel her way out of her short-shorts, her modest bust bouncing and jiggling pleasantly from the movements. Rei may not have made her tits as big as Loki wanted, but she certainly made them look good.

Even Haruhime was briefly distracted by the show, her brain restarting once Loki had kicked off her shorts. "A-ah! Yes. We- I am very lucky to be his wife, and you, ahm, well, you are wonderful too, so I do not know if it is right to say you are lucky..."

"So sweet!" Loki leaned in to kiss Haruhime on the nose. Haruhime's cheeks glowed at that point, her smile seeming even more bashful somehow. "Now get on your back cutie patootie, I want to grope those big tits while suckin' on clit and getting railed from behind!" Haruhime obeyed Loki's suggestion, lying on her back, spreading her legs nervously, exposing her slick sex to me. I got in between her legs, pointing my cock there, and my other body got up behind Loki, similarly lining up there. My hands gripped Loki's hips firmly, and the goddess tested lifting her arms up - and of course, didn't lose her balance even the slightest bit. "It's go time!"

Loki leaned forward at that point, and I helped her along, letting her reach Haruhime's slick sex, licking it, her clit, and the tip of my dick, with an energy that was infectious. I lowered her hips further south so that Haruhime could reach her sex, and then I started to push inside Loki, enjoying the tight feeling of her pussy. "Sorry that I don't have the megadick right now," I told Loki.

"Hey, no apologizing!" Loki pulled back from Haruhime's sex for a moment, twisting her head up at me. "If I want the megadick, I know I gotta apply in advance! If you apologize for something like that, you're gonna reinforce Haruhime's over-apologizing! She's on the mend! You're going into an Apologizers Anonymous meeting and cracking open a case!"

"You're right," I told her, and took the moment to stick my dick into Loki's mouth instead of Haruhime's pussy, enjoying the quiet little glee of shutting up my sexy goddess with my dick. She certainly didn't complain, just noisily slurping and licking on my dick for a moment. Haruhime glanced up at the show, and at that point, I popped out of Loki's mouth. "Ready, Haruhime?"

"Yes," Haruhime said, nodding rapidly, and at that point I lined my spit-slick cock up with Haruhime's sex, gingerly sliding into her. Loki leaned down again, starting to lick and suck on Haruhime's clit, going absolutely crazy with her tongue, occasionally brushing against my cock in the process. I just let out a soft groan as I started to pump my hips inside Loki. Haruhime leaned up, licking at Loki and me both, her tongue far less experienced than Loki's, but having that same soft, sincere movements it always did.

Loki's hands drifted down to grope and caress Haruhime's breasts, and it fell to me to keep her balanced as a consequence - which was trivial, given I was a Level Seven by that point. "Fuck me harder, Drake!" I upped my pace into Loki in response, making her bounce a bit from the force of my repeated thrusts. She moaned happily at the feeling, leaning back down to lick at Haruhime and me both, tongue dancing back and forth excitedly - and soon enough, she came, moaning happily as her inner walls gripped my dick, her mouth halfway attached to Haruhime's pubic mound as she just drooled and jerked in wild pleasure.

The body that was fucking Haruhime compensated for Loki's distraction by sliding one hand up her thigh, finding my way to her clit, brushing against it softly and prompting Haruhime to let out a gentle moan. Loki wriggled forward a little, halfway sucking and licking on my tongue, in the process brushing up against Haruhime's clit in a way that Haruhime clearly liked. The cute little squeaks that escaped Haruhime's throat soon enough transformed into a full-throated moan, her tail beating loudly back and forth on the bed beneath her as she came on my cock, her pussy spasming around my dick.

I just enjoyed them both like that, pumping into Loki nice and hard, but going more methodical and gentle with Haruhime. When Haruhime finished coming, I spoke up. "Either of you want Celestial Bliss Trick?"

"I do!" Loki practically shouted. "Give it to me!" I reached in between her breasts, plucking that strand of Fate, wrapping it around my thumb, and then getting back to pounding her pussy. I could feel her tighten on my cock in anticipation, hot breaths spilling out of her mouth, and she went back to licking at Haruhime's clit. She was even more enthusiastic at that point, probably because she knew soon enough she wouldn't be able to do it once the magic kicked in.

Haruhime squirmed on my cock, pausing her licking. "Ahm... I do enjoy it... but then I can't participate..." Haruhime said uncertainly, voicing her thoughts even as I kept fucking her.

"Who cares about participating! Drake's nice as fuck, he'd pluck that string and let you ride it out for the rest of your life if you asked!" I felt Haruhime tighten at that, her pleasant inner walls caressing my cock and largely arresting my movement for the moment.

"Then, if it's okay with you..." Haruhime breathed out, and I reached up in between her breasts, snaking around Loki's still-groping hands to pluck it. Once again, Haruhime's pussy tightened as she felt her body start to get more sensitive, her little squeaks becoming more regular, and louder, as I kept fucking her.

Neither of the pair orgasmed before Celestial Bliss Trick kicked in, but once it did, Loki just moaned and flopped forward, letting me rail her cunt to high heaven without complaint. Haruhime had a few seconds of quietly suckling her goddess's clit, before the pleasure hit her too, and she turned into a thrashing, rolling mess, tail beating around frantically. Loki's hands even lost their grip on Haruhime's tits in the throes of pleasure, and as such, I pulled her backwards, letting her and Haruhime get face-to-face - and giving me a better position to enjoy the view of Haruhime's naked body.

Loki, even as she moaned and drooled and spasmed on my cock, turned out to have enough sense to lean down and forward, pressing her lips into Haruhime's sharing an upside-down kiss with the renard. Their makeout was noisy and sloppy, and Loki's hands eventually found their way back to groping Haruhime's boobs, while I just fucked both of them at the same time, their pussies going absolutely wild around my cock as I pounded Loki and softly, lovingly fucked Haruhime.

In that moment, for whatever reason, it struck me just how lucky I was. I had the gorgeous, vivacious Loki on the one hand, who cutely loved me in a way she hated to admit as being anything other than pure carnality, currently speared on my cock, happy to get fucked absolutely senseless by yours truly. I had the equally beautiful Haruhime, a sweet and earnest young woman who saw me as her personal savior and loved me with all her heart, who would accept pretty much anything I did to her (an acceptance I would never take advantage of, to be clear), happily squirming under a makeout and grope session form Loki as I fucked her.

And I had both of them for the rest of my life - which would probably be approximately forever.

It was to that particular thought that I lost control, going balls deep in both women and coming hard.

When I finished coming, I got right back to fucking both of them absolutely senseless, knowing that at least at sex, I was the best.

* * *

The entire reason we'd bought that grimoire is that the monster was clearly strong. It had killed multiple parties without leaving anyone alive to speak of it, and the only reason anyone had gotten away was running at the first sign of danger, and hurling magic stones off to one side. It wasn't part of the books, at least not as far as Rei or Julia recalled.

Most likely, then, it was something from later in the books... which meant it was probably crazy powerful, since it would have to go up against the Level Sixes and Sevens that the books had.

Thus, the Loki familia's contribution was heavily focused around me. I was the strongest member of the familia by that point, and also the one least negatively impacted by getting killed. It wasn't that I was the only one in the Dungeon, but that I was generally the vanguard and scout, with others moving slower or in large numbers to clear out alternate paths. We split the work with the Freya familia, pretty much slicing the chunk of Dungeon that the monster could be in straight down the middle.

So, when I finally found it, it was by my lonesome. A caravan replete with Level Sixes was about two minutes behind me, and Haruhime was nowhere nearby, though my body nearest her told her what was happening, and I used the maps to try to triangulate positions so they could get closer.

The creature itself lacked much in the way of a clear form. I let my anima glow to light up the dim of the Dungeon better, sapphire blue light bathing the walls, but the monster's form still seemed to resist easy identification, slithering and bubbling against it. "Ohhh?" Came a feminine voice from the creature, twisting and rolling uneasily around. I didn't have any particularly great ideas for how to kill something that big, and I was mostly buying time for others to catch up, so I let it quietly twist and pop and bubble and eventually produce what looked to be the upper body of a young girl from one part of it. "Oh! It's an adventurer, and it's all alone!"

"I'm not alone."

"Yes you are! Don't lie to me." The creature puffed up, swelling its flesh appropriately. "You're alone, and you glow, which is interesting! I wonder if glowing things taste better?" At that point, it surged, a massive maw seeming to form in what had previously been an uneasy surface, Venus fly trap teeth snapping out towards me. I took a leap backwards, narrowly outpacing the movements, and hurled a knife out towards the apparent head. It just sank in, seemingly harmlessly, the creature not even seeming to notice. "Hey! You jumped away, huh? That's not nice!" I yanked on the knife, tearing out a chunk of the face, but again, it might as well have been nothing. "Stop moving so I can eat you!"

"No," I said, continuing to dart backwards as it chased after me. I threw out invisible threads of Fate to yank myself along, each chomping movement of the creature's teeth missing me by only a foot at most. It would surge forward, try to bite, and I'd narrowly yank myself beyond its maw.

I opened a scent bag, the horrid smell hitting me and making my eyes water, then I hurled it into the creature's mouth as it moved after me. It just swallowed and gulped it down. "Oo, that tastes interesting!" Was the creature's response, seemingly unnoticing. "It tastes kind of like that gas that sometimes escapes after I eat an adventurer! What is it, huh? You have to tell me!"

As it demanded answers, of course, it didn't stop chasing me down. Its mouth snapped at my heels, and again and again I narrowly escaped it. With the aid of a map held in another body's hand (one safely off in Stefyurga) and some careful timing on my part, I drew the creature right past a T bend - and on the hook, Riveria finished her chant. "...flense them, wings of Hraesvelgr! My name is Alf!"

The entire group on the caravan were over a hundred feet away, but were pushed back, vehicles knocked over. The body nearest the T-bend was hurled bodily forward, losing its balance altogether and rolling repeatedly across the ground before I managed to throw out a strand of Fate and heft myself up off the ground. The monster itself had a huge chunk ripped out the middle of it, flesh just sagging awkwardly around the injury. It moved almost like it had been impaled against the wall, its body plastered against it on both sides, but I could see the gaping wound as it shuddered and jerked in place.

"Ehn? Ehhh? You can't- you're not allowed, to, to do something like that! It hurt!" The body slowly peeled itself off the wall, and the group with the caravan decided to abandon the carts to just run away.

All save me and Riveria. "Chant again," I told her, and she nodded, beginning the very-long chant of the Vas Windheim spell.

The body guarding Riveria hurled a knife at the face that was talking, but despite landing crosswise and pretty neatly cutting the head in two, the thing didn't seem to even notice. "Hurting me isn't allowed! I don't like it! I'm going to- that's it! I'm going to eat you! Oooo! You made me mad now!"

"You were already going to eat us," I pointed out.

"I'm not getting tricked into talking to my food!" It had finally gotten itself unstuck from the wall, and just hurtled towards me and Riveria. I leapt towards it, just bodily throwing myself into its mouth, two knives out as I approached. The mouth snapped shut around me - or, it would have, if I hadn't Ducked Fate. The creature paused in a mix of momentary confusion and the attempt to digest me, as I landed on what might be called its back, stabbing knives into it sharply, over and over. A tentacle reached around backwards towards me, cutting into my back, and I cut at it frantically. My other body - the one scraped up by the force of Vas Windheim - attacked from the opposite side, carving into its back, and the creature wriggled as it tried to get out of place.

"...flense them, wings of Hræsvelgr!" Riveria finished, not even seeming bothered as she spoke. "My name is Alf!"

I had to Duck Fate twice over, as the massive gust of wind ripped through the flesh of the monster, peeling apart and away the mouth, leaving it twitching and jerking as it was once more compressed and flattened against the far wall, flesh now splayed out. The movements were belabored and sluggish as it twitched in place. "Huh, huh?" It sputtered in confusion. "This isn't... um... you have to stop now, time out."

Riveria showed no sign of mercy to the creature. She didn't even say a single word beyond the next chant, this one for Rea Laevateinn: "The flame will soon be released. Creeping war, unavoidable destruction..."

"Hey! Hey, no more spells, they hurt! They hurt they hurt they hurt!" The creature hurled itself bodily towards Riveria, and I only barely managed to arrest its movement by hurling a strand of Fate both it, and the far wall - even that wasn't really enough, with the wall ripping free and the creature starting to move again. "Stop i~it!"

"Burn them through, Sword of Surtr - my name is Alf!" Riveria finished, and a gigantic gust of flame hit the creature, with Riveria herself letting out a sagging noise, collapsing to one knee, fingers clenched tight to her staff.

"Not fair not fair," it sputtered out, flickers of flame now illuminating its body. Unlike Vas Windheim, Rea Laevateinn was completely discriminate, so I was unharmed (beyond the extent to which the creature had already injured me). "Magic is not! Fair! I don't use magic, huh, so you can't," it declared, continuing to writhe and wriggle towards Riveria, who just looked up at it with an exhausted expression that told me clear enough that she had no chance to get away.

At that point, Haruhime both arrived around a corner - carried on my back - and finished her incantation. In a scant moment, all three of my bodies on the scene were endowed with power, and I just tossed the exhausted Haruhime away behind me, trusting one of the people following us to catch her.

Then, with three bodies currently as strong as a Level Eight, I went to town on the monster, carving into its flesh deep, peeling away layers, seeking out its magic stone. It gave up on Riveria, instead trying to cut into my flesh, but I made quick, defensive slices that protected my body and cost it tentacle after tentacle. It made various whiny wails of complaint about how none of this was fair until I managed to find something hard beneath the flesh, cutting towards it. "Wait, stop! Stop stop stop! That really, no! No no no! Stop that, you can't-!" It shrieked in panic, twisting in on itself as I burrowed my way towards what I figured had to be the magic core. "No no no no stop stop you have to stop I don't- no! No no no!" It squawked in increasing panic, cutting at me, crushing the body that was getting towards the core - but I managed to dig in anyway, despite the crushing pressure and slices and acid that seemed to rain down atop me in response. I grabbed the core at that point and smashed my knife into it, making the creature creak and squeal and crush me all the tighter.

Two more smashes of my knife and the thing broke on the core - but now there was a fingers-thick crack in the material, which I could stuff both hands into and just rip. The entire time, the pressure of the creature pushed down against me, my two other present bodies using strands of Fate to pull back at the flesh trying to relieve the pressure.

All its panicking got more energetic, more noisy - and then, at last, I cracked its core in two, and it instantly fell silent and inert, simply collapsing against the ground in a bubbling, frothy mess of flesh, steaming as it evaporated into the air.

At that point, the nearby groups could regroup on my position. Cass cradled Haruhime in her hands, my renard bride unconscious from casting that spell, and she gave me a quiet look of disapproval as I emerged from the creature's corpse. "Sorry," I told her. "I didn't want to endanger Haruhime."

Cass stared at me, then nodded quietly. "She could... have gotten hurt..."

"Less than if that thing got its hands on her. And you caught her, right?" Cass nodded. "I figured it would probably be you - I threw her underhanded to make sure somebody could catch her."

"Still... be extra nice... when she wakes up..."

"Of course," I reassured Cass.

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