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The fomoire grumbled under its breath as it stalked away from its herd. The big male had taken its female, and it had failed to get it back. It was angry, and getting hungry, too. It took in a deep breath, its gaze running across the environment, then spotted a deer in the distance. It lunged towards it, closing the distance in a few seconds, grabbing the deer and simply ripping it open in both hands, blood and viscera spilling out as it hungrily gobbled it up. Bone and meat alike were fed into its powerful maw, as it chewed its way through the creature's corpse until nothing was left but a splatter on the ground.

It wasn't hungry, now. Fomoire didn't need to eat a lot, and that one deer would keep it physically sated for weeks. It was still angry, though. Killing the deer hadn't quenched that.

Monsters outside the Dungeon, ordinarily, didn't get too terribly angry or aggressive. But the fomoire had been denied its mate, and even now, it had a few aches from the fight with the male. It wanted something to quiet the still-seething rage. Like all creatures of the Dungeon, the thing that most calmed a fomoire was killing people, but it hadn't seen people, other than the very powerful adventurer who had been pushing them in this direction. It decided to just wander vaguely away from its herd until it found a person to kill, or another animal to kill and eat, or stopped being angry just because of time.

* * *

There was a big stone cliff face in front of the fomoire now. It looked strangely blocky. The fomoire touched the cliff face, considering it for a few seconds with curiosity. It had come here because it had heard the sounds of people, and some instinctive part of it knew that people would sate the anger inside of it. It didn't try to break through the wall, though - a primordial instinct, inherited from a Dungeon that this fomoire had never known, instead directed it to follow the outline of the wall until it found its way to the people on the other side.

Unfortunately, it reached a dead end after many minutes of walking, finding simply water and the wall continuing around that direction. It decided to turn around to repeat the process, growling to itself in irritation as it made a long, sweeping route around what it didn't know were city walls. As it approached the gate, though - a heavy, stone thing, which only adventurers or huge teams could force open the mechanisms of - it noticed several people. A small caravan of three; two parents and their child, an ox and a baggage train containing wheat.

It didn't care about the ox or the wheat at all, though. It didn't need food. This wasn't about hunger. This was about a need to kill to be satisfied. It began to lope towards them, legs and arms swinging in a half-human, half-animal gait that accelerated it forward. Shrieks and cries it didn't understand rang out, both from the three people in front of it, and the people on the other side of the walls. It just focused, however, on satiating that desire to kill, burned deep into its spirit by the Dungeon that had made it, and-

It was forced to suddenly stop, a snap movement, as an elf with a long wooden blade interposed herself between it and the people. The elf yelled something at the people, but the fomoire didn't care. It could recognize the elf as a high Level adventurer, and it roared its frustration out at her. It had already been humiliated in its herd, and now this elf was stopping it from gaining the satisfaction it so desperately required? Its brutally large hand clawed at the dirt, throwing globs of it at the elf, who simply dodged from side to side, a wavering movement that briefly confused the fomoire. It brought up its club, swinging it vaguely at the elf, just to keep her from approaching. She spoke again, senseless words falling on oblivious ears-

And a blade slammed directly into its side, making it scream in pain. It instantly hurled its club directly at the source of the blade, an armored redheaded human, just hurtling it as hard as it could. The elf approached a moment later, and it kicked up dirt in the elf's face, forcing her back for a moment.

It was angry, in pain, and it decided to push forward, just slamming its body full force into the elf. She brought up her wooden sword, but it caught it in one hand, ignoring the pain to twist it out of the way and let its full weight fall upon her. She went skidding in a semicircle, as she desperately held onto the blade that was still biting into its hand. Another sword struck near the fomoire, but it managed to dodge this one, since it knew it was coming in advance. It hefted the hand holding the sword up, and up, until the elf was forced to choose between dangling off it without any hope of defense, and letting go - after a moment, she let go, stumbling back rapidly out of melee range.

It turned its attention to where the people it had originally been planning to kill were - and they were gone? It could see the furrows that the wheels of their cart had dug into the earth, but they just led up to the wall in front of it. It howled in frustration, narrowly dodging another hurled sword from the redheaded woman, and grabbed a rock, throwing it at her as hard as it could.

The elf rushed forward, and as she tried to grab her sword back from the fomoire, its own hand snapped out, grasping her by the wrist. It let out a howl of triumph as it managed to lock its own meaty hand tightly around her slender wrist, especially as she began to panic, trying to get unstuck. It twisted her around to face the redhead who kept throwing swords at it, thinking she might work as a shield, but for some reason, the redhead throwing swords stopped. It didn't understand why. It also didn't care. It used its grip on the elf's wrist to begin dragging her up, and up, enjoying the way she squirmed and tried to escape, legs kicking but not quite reaching.

And it saw something beyond the elf, instantly capturing its attention. It was its mate! What's more, its mate had two humans in her hands, holding them by their broken legs! It let out a howl of delight, hooting wildly. Its mate made a movement with her hands, telling it that she was going to throw the weak humans its way. But to do that, it would have to throw away the elf, and the sword... the fomoire gladly did exactly that, throwing them in opposite directions and opening its arms wide to accept the thrown humans.

But its mate didn't throw the humans? It was confused by that. It squinted at its mate, who had clearly come back, deciding that it was much better and more attractive than the stupid big alpha male that had beaten it up and stolen her from it.

Then a sword slammed directly into its throat, and it sputtered in surprise, looking up again to see the redhead was standing right next to its mate! Kill her, mate! Kill the redhead! It would have hooted and howled its rage, but there was a sword in its neck, so instead it simply collapsed backwards, and died.

* * *

Ryu stood up, but her attention was drawn away from the now-dead fomoire. On the edge of Rezianal's walls stood Alize, and Gojouno, and Lyra, and Neze, and Iska, and Maryuu, and Noin, and Asta, and Ryana, and Celty. Her eyes watered just seeing them, even if her mind knew that there was no way that they were possibly all alive again and back. And, indeed, a few seconds later, they vanished, leaving only Drake standing there. It was a Skill of his. She had seen it, during the battle with the Ishtar familia, but the power had been greatly lessened through the magic screens, only a sapphire blue beautiful silhouette visible.

She shook her head, trying to put her old friends out of her mind. They had gone on to wherever the gods had taken their souls. They were gone. They were never coming back. She bit back the tears and went to go grab her sword, walking past the dead fomoire. She spared it a glance - she wondered what it had seen in its final moments that had made it listen to Drake's commands? Would she have been entranced and bewitched just the same if Drake had been ordering her around?

She collected her sword, letting out a sigh. She was glad the family had managed to get inside the town walls while the creature had been distracted. She glanced in the direction the fomoire had come from, wondering as to whether the rest of its herd had perished, before simply leaping up the wall to join Drake and Erza. "Thank you for your assistance, Erza, Drake," she said.

"We are friends," Erza said, making a smile tug at the edges of Ryu's lips.

* * *

Loki had already been in a bad mood, when Rei had refused to make her boobs any bigger, just because she hadn't managed to stop Cass from getting beaten up by those guys, and it had instead fallen to Drake and his harem. Total bullshit! She would have done it! It's not her fault that Cass was a total maniac and prevented her from sending help! Why did she have to be stuck with a C-cup? C-cup, more like CAN YOU MAKE MY BOOBS BIGGER PLEASE-cup!

Her mood got even worse when Drake came by. Not because he was refusing to have sex with her (though he was), but because he talked about how things had gone with the two guys trying to beat up Cass, and Loki was by this point dead certain that this was, in fact, Freya being her normal yandere self towards Cass, except that Cass was Loki's! Cass was part of Loki's familia! She was one of Loki's children! Sniping was no good!

She decided there was nothing else to be done. She had to go talk to Freya about this. The crazy yandere bit was funny and all, classic Freya, but it also wasn't funny at all because that was Cass, who despite her modest boobs that Loki wasn't allowed to grope, was a cute sweetie pie with muscles like hnng. She could appreciate a muscular chest, that was half the reason Bete and Drake were even in her familia! Now if Cass had had boobies like Rei, then she would have been the ultimate woman, but alas, that wasn't the case.

"Yo, Finn," she said, sticking her head into the office where he was working.

"Yes, Lady Loki?" He said, perfectly polite as ever. He didn't even look at her new boobs. It wasn't that he'd gotten used to them, either. The moment her tits had gone up a few sizes, he'd briefly glanced at them, looking surprised, then cast the information to the side and proceeded to talk to her normally. It was like he knew Tione would go crazy if he dared look at another woman's boobs! Probably because he did know that.

"Right, so, Freya's mucking around with Cass, because she's being Freya and is giving Cass the Freya treatment." You didn't need much more explanation than that. "She sent two dang hired hitters after her, ordering them to break all her legs. There's pretty much a zero percent chance that's not what's going on here, so, we gotta go talk to her about it and make her chill out."

"It seems unlikely that Freya will stop simply because we speak to her," Finn said, even as he put his quill down. "She is more than aware Cassandra is part of your familia."

"Yeah, well, it's like, y'know. Pointing out we're onto her will make her dial it back a bit. She'll probably still do it, but at least do it less, and less blatantly, which means an easier time for Cass."

Finn tilted his head to one side as he considered it. "There is the possibility that she'll choose something more dangerous, making things riskier for Cassandra," Finn pointed out.

"I'm the ancient goddess who knows her from back up in Heaven! It'll be fine! Now come on," she said, waving her hand at him. He sighed and followed her.

* * *

Freya smiled placidly at Loki as she sat across from her, sipping her wine. "Look, I get it, you're you, I'm me, blah blah blah," Loki said. "But I can't have to worry about you sending any more hitmen after my girl Cass." Freya restrained the urge to twitch or to show her displeasure for that turn of phrase. Her girl Cass? The very thought that her Cassandra was part of this dullard's familia annoyed her in a way that no other lost would-be child ever had. It was a milder version of the same feeling regarding Drake having her as part of his ridiculously large harem. Eight. Wives.

But Freya wasn't a child, so she didn't let her feelings appear on her face, as she smiled pleasantly at Loki. "I understand your concerns, Loki. However, I didn't send any hitmen after Cassandra."

"Oh, sorry, I meant hired thugs who beat the crap out of her and broke her damn arms and legs!" Loki's palm slammed against the table. It was a rather important difference. Her Ottar had selected fighters who were just at her Cassandra's level, given their ability to achieve victory (and she was just a little disappointed in her Cassandra, failing to triumph over them without help), but he had also ensured they wouldn't kill or permanently injure her Cassandra.

"I didn't send those after Cassandra either."

Loki just rolled her eyes. "Oooh yeah, totally, I believe you," Loki agreed. "You've bamboozled me successfully, yadda yadda, guess I'll just go home and take a nap, satisfied that these two guys decided to beat up Cass for no reason whatsoever. NOT!" Loki spoke like she was attempting to make a joke, but Freya wasn't amused in the least. "Now, seriously, Freya, I get it. I understand. You like a girl with a beautiful soul, I like a girl with a beautiful set of boobs, everybody has their tastes, that's fine," Loki explained. "But none of this crap. It's crossing a line. Cass is part of my familia."

"I understand."

"That's not an agreement not to repeat yourself, Freya," Loki pointed out, with just the hint of a scowl on her face.

"I don't remember saying that I had done it in the first place."

"Just say to me, Loki, I promise, I'll leave Cass alone. That's all I'm asking."

Freya sipped her wine. Was Loki such a dullard that she honestly thought Freya would follow through with such a promise, even if she made it? She really was so deludedly in love with these mortal ideas of honesty and honor, created by mortals to serve their mortal purposes. As a goddess, she had no need of any of that. "Loki, I promise, I'll leave Cass alone," Freya said. "Satisfied?"

"Good as," Loki said, rising up and stretching for a moment, clearly trying her best to show off that new pair of tits she had. Freya may have been idly curious about where they had come from, but she certainly wasn't going to feed Loki's ego by actually asking the question. "See ya later, Freya," she said, with a dismissive wave of the hand as she turned to go.

Once she and Finn were gone, her Ottar spoke. "My goddess..." he began.

"Don't concern yourself with it," Freya said with a dismissive wave. "I can handle Loki. She isn't nearly as smart as she likes to think of herself. Playing a fool doesn't require much intellect, after all. Even fools do it." She couldn't help but smile at that little bit. "I want a moment's privacy." Ottar nodded in response, leaving her be. She took a long drink of her wine, and sighed. "Cassandra... did you send Loki after me?" She asked the thin air, as if it could answer her. "Or perhaps it was mere coincidence... I suspect you have reached Level Four by now, as you so richly deserve. Surely, this kindness deserves appreciation, my darling Cassandra?"

* * *

Cass's lips pressed against Drake's own, their bodies both being pretty much naked by that point. She was only wearing her panties, and she could feel Drake's thing against her stomach as he reached down to take those too. Their tongues danced against one another, hers more capable, but his having gotten very good over the course of their marriage. His saliva had a distinctive taste, one special just to him, and she let out a gentle moan as he started to rub his tip against her slit.

Her hands ran along his head, and she eventually slid down to grope his butt. He had a very muscular, appealing body, and as he broke off the kiss for just a moment, to ascertain his precise angle - she grabbed his butt tight and pulled him into her. The movement was fluid and intense. Her inner walls gripped and squeezed his cock inside her, making him groan into her mouth as their respective paces intensified, hip thumping against hip. He had more range of motion than her, so she simply focused on meeting his movements with her own, rubbing his cock just so inside of her sex, manipulating and groping his length.

It felt good for her, but she was doing her best to make it feel great for him. She panted heavily as their eyes met, before - without needing to exchange a word - they began to kiss one another once more, mouth mushed against mouth, tongue slashing against tongue in a fencing match that was just good for both parties. She let out soft noises of pleasure into his mouth, as her legs wrapped around his hips, gently directing him to find just the right angle to make him feel as good as possible.

She really wanted to make him feel good. She always loved making him feel good, seeing the goofy face he made when he came, feeling his cock inside her. Her hands came up to grasp the back of his head, tightening for a moment as her pussy just gripped and squeezed his erect cock. She wanted him to know that she loved him, and that he always had her, and that he could relax and enjoy himself now. She knew he had been through a lot recently. Some of that was because of her, charging out into Daedalus Street, but she also put a lot of the blame on Freya. She knew Drake put all of the blame on Freya.

* * *

Once Freya's mind turned to her Cassandra, her imagination began to spiral utterly out of control. She imagined the beautiful heroine atop her - perhaps in her guise as Syr - gently playing with and teasing her body with those same rough, strong hands. She squirmed at the thought, something so utterly delicious about receiving her Cassandra's touch, that simply wasn't the same as others. Even if she brought Ottar in here, she couldn't achieve the simple high of just imagining Cassandra touching her, of their two bodies being entwined together. She put down the wine, sliding one hand down in between her thighs, closing her eyes and imagining her Cassandra was present.

* * *

Drake ran a finger along her stomach, teasing right between her sternum and it. She felt her breath hitch, knowing what Drake was thinking about. He was thinking about doing that new trick he had figured out, that made the sex feel really, really good. Her cheeks lit up at the consideration. She hadn't actually done that with him yet... but he did want to do it, and it did seem like it would make them both happy. "Go ahead..." she said, her voice soft - and she felt something inside her begin to shift, his finger twirling around some invisible thread which she knew was real.

For another minute or two, there was just a gradual, modest increase of her own pleasure, as their two bodies pressed and pushed against one another, hot breaths filling the air as he thrust inside her again and again, sometimes leaning over her to kiss her lips, other times sucking on her breast, or teasing her neck. She reciprocated in kind, kissing and licking and sucking on his bare flesh, wanting him to know that she appreciated his body as much as he appreciated hers.

Then it hit her. The pleasure bloomed from her core, but it quickly spread to every point of contact, becoming unbelievably intense. Drake was licking at her neck at that point, and his tongue made her whole body tingle. The feeling of him inside her was pure bliss. His hot breath against her skin, the way his hands explored her body gently, running along her flank - even the most teasing of touches sent gentle waves of pleasure up and down her whole body, making her pant wildly, her legs snapping around his waist, dragging him deep inside her to arrest his movement.

Of course, the arrested movement also meant that his cock was firmly lodged in her pussy, and by extension, rubbing across every single inch of her sex, making her gasp in sheer, overwhelming pleasure, spasming beneath him as an overwhelming orgasm ran through her whole body. She grasped him tighter, held him against her, and he groaned in pleasure all his own, as her sex went wild around his cock, gripping and squeezing, milking him for all she was worth. She loved it. Loved him. Loved the feeling of him inside her, of how good he made her feel.

* * *

Freya imagined touching Cassandra, of putting her skilled fingers and tongue to good use, bringing her to such heights of pleasure she hardly would have known what was happening to her. Of making her squirm and gasp beneath her. Of making her forget, utterly, about whatever meek pleasures Drake might once have given her, instead entirely focusing on Freya, the far more experienced, skilled lover. Perhaps she would even make her Cassandra say it aloud, that Freya was a better lover than Drake.

Yes. In her fantasies, her Cassandra admitted once and for all that she had never been satisfied with Drake. That Freya was so much better than him. More beautiful. Smarter. Kinder. More considerate. And, of course, far far better as a lover. How could Drake possibly compete with her, a goddess? It was utterly impossible.

* * *

"Cuh, come, in me," Cass panted out, as Drake gently pumped his hips inside her. He had already made her come three times, that was how good he felt in her, atop her, above her. His barest touches seemed so intense now, and she could hardly take it, gasping for air and relief. every gentle touch, everything he did, just made her feel better and better, made her jerk and twist, her hips undulating gently beneath him as she sucked in deep breaths. "Come in me, Drake, I love you, I love yo~ooou!" She squealed out the last word as another powerful orgasm overtook her, and she just arched her back and basked in it - basked in the sense of being filled by the man she loved, the man who loved her.

Drake, finally, let go inside her at that point, groaning as he began to simply ejaculate within her. She shuddered at the feeling, each little squirt of his cum seeming to rub deliciously against her insides, as she panted heavily beneath him. "I love you," he whispered in her ear, even the gentle brush of his breath against her skin seeming so intense in the moment. She nodded, panting softly beneath him, as he found himself spent utterly inside her.

She lay out beneath him. There was no one, ever, who would make her feel as good as Drake did. Who was as sweet as Drake was. Who was as nice as Drake was. Who she loved as much as she loved Drake. Her arms reached up for that sleek, sexy body of his, gently pulling him down into a hug against her, her nipples scraping against his bare chest. "I love you too," she got out, through the haze. He just snuggled back into her, holding her tight against him, hugging her as his length remained firmly lodged inside her and the pleasure that he had inflicted on her faded into a warm glow.

* * *

Freya lay back, naked, a splay of limbs, her body slick with sweat. She gently hugged herself, imagining it was her Cassandra's arms around her. She would make that a reality. She would take her Cassandra for herself... in time. She would make her Cassandra understand that Drake could never satisfy her the way that Freya could. Would.

* * *

Hephaistos was carefully considering the spellbook that the Freya familia was about to put on the market. It was quite highly priced, but the mage in question had a relatively eclectic portfolio of spells, and he was only Level Four, so it would be relatively cheap... then a knock came at the door. "Hey, Hephy," Tsubaki said. "There's a goddess here who says she's a friend of yours. Hestia?"

Hephaistos smiled at that name. Hestia had finally descended, huh? The immature goddess held a special place in Hephaistos's heart, for the simple fact that she had seen what lay behind Hephaistos's eyepatch and not balked at it or mocked her. She was the only person in Hephaistos's life who had done that. "I know her. I'd like to see her again."

Hestia was soon bouncing into her office. "It's good to see you, Hephaistos!"

"It's good to see you too, Hestia." Hephaistos smiled. She put her papers to the side, but she knew why Hestia was here, now, instead of making an appointment. "I can put you up while you get to work starting your own familia."

"Great!" Hestia nodded rapidly a few times. Then she turned her gaze around, looking at the stuff. "So... this is your office, huh? How long until I have an office like this?"

"I don't know. It would depend on how hard you work," Hephaistos said. So, never, knowing Hestia. "What are things like up in Heaven, since I descended?"

"Same as ever, just boring work aaaall day, it's so awful!" She flopped about in exaggerated woe. "I'm just glad to finally be down here!" Hestia hopped up towards Hephaistos. "So, what are you doing right now?" She glanced at the papers, looking just about ready to pluck one up.

Hephaistos planted a hand on the pile of papers to prevent that. "Reviewing something a-" she had almost said 'familia member'. She used to speak of Noriko in those terms, since she'd always assumed that she would join her father and mother when she got old enough. "Reviewing something the child of a familia member of mine asked to buy," she explained.

"What'd they want to buy?"

"A grimoire. I think I probably will put in a bid on her behalf, though I'll ask her first.."

"Wow. Those are super expensive, aren't they?"

"They are indeed," Hephaistos agreed. "She's an earnest girl, but I do worry... it's quite the investment, and she's only a Level One. Her husband is a Level Two, and a record breaker..." It was quite the expense. Was it really worth it? Would her late father's wealth be better spent on something else?

"That sounds like a really long story," Hestia said. Her stomach grumbled audibly. "We could talk about it over dinner," she suggested.

"I'm afraid I really do need to do some of this now, Hestia," Hephaistos said. "Or I would be happy to eat with you."

"Oh..." Hestia seemed to wilt for a moment, and her stomach grumbled loudly again. "Um... I don't have any money for food... can you give me some?" She almost winced as she said it.

Hephaistos was understanding. Hestia didn't have any familia members. "Don't worry about paying me back," she said, as she took out her coin pouch, handing over a few hundred valis. "Just make sure you get started making your own familia soon. It's important."

"I will!" Hestia promised.

Hephaistos hoped she would keep that promise... but she did know Hestia, so she worried.

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