Ch 185: Retaliation.

"It's time." said Sakura, slightly pulling on the hem of the hood hiding her purple hair. Saika and Medusa both nodded and dematerialized.

Sakura walked out of the back alley where they had waited and crossed the plaza at a leisurely pace. Her target was the great cathedral, who at this time was packed, the Cardinal himself delivering the sermon.

Sakura wanted to have an audience, for the news to spread beyond the Church's ability to censure things that were inconvenient to them.

She had already crossed over three quarters of the distance to the cathedral, staring at the six armored paladins standing guard by the huge golden gate.

For a moment, she had wondered if she would manage to reach the gate without them noticing at all. They were pretty relaxed and careless, just chatting among themselves and  with two even having their backs turned toward the plaza, considering they knew Chisato, Rin and Sakura were at large somewhere.

They likely expected the so-called Heretics to be holed up in some dark hole, trembling in fear of being found by the righteous Inquisition. Sakura snorted at the thought. It was true that they had spent some time in hiding, but this was mostly due to Chisato and Darkness wishing to minimize the killing. They pitied even the Inquisition members who tried to kill them.

But Sakura didn't.

One of the six armored paladins standing guard by the gate finally noticed her coming.

"You! Hiding your face is against the law! Take your hood down."

Without stopping her walk, Sakura lifted her hands to the hood as if to obey the order. That was when one of the more observant Paladins noticed.

The sun was high in the air, to his right, projecting shadows to the opposite direction. But the shadow of the woman coming toward them, was projected in their direction. And the shadow was…darker than it should have been.

"Her shadow is wrong!" shouted the paladin, but it was already too late.

As Sakura lowered her hood, revealing her face, six ribbons made of pure darkness shot out of her shadow, their sharpened edge going through the paladins' chests with little resistance from the armor.

The six paladins were already dying, their tracheas, spines and multiple other organs severed, and they collapsed as Sakura retracted the ribbons into her shadow. She used Hard Light Arsenal to form two giant golden swords, and was already slicing apart the massive double-gate when the screams started.

…

Cardinal Fernet interrupted his sermon, annoyed by whoever was making noises at the gate. He would give the guards a good punishment later.

His annoyance turned into shock as he saw the source of the noise. Sharp-looking yellow things were going through the heavy doors, slicing them into pieces!

The congregation turned to look and gasped when the doors were completely destroyed, and a beautiful young woman with semi-long purple hair walked over the debris. And they heard people screaming in the plaza behind her.

…

"Long time no see, Cardinal Fernet. How are you doing?" asked Sakura with a smile that would freeze Hell twice over. She used a small Magecraft spell to be clearly heard by everyone without having to raise her voice.

"You! You dare to profane those sanctified grounds, you accursed heretic! Guards!" yelled the Cardinal, his face going red with rage.

The civilians who had come to attend mass wisely decided to stay out of it, and recoiled from Sakura, keeping her path to the Cardinal wide open.

"Sanctified grounds? Is that how you call a place where the basement is full of women and children you keep as slaves? A place where even your Oracles are passed around from one priest to another like prostitutes?"

Sakura's words caused many of the civilians to gasp in horror. Her charisma was working overdrive to make her words more credible.

"Blasphemy! Do not listen to the heretic's vile lies, everyone!"

Sakura wasn't just walking toward the Cardinal. She was creating footholds with Hard Light Arsenal to walk into the air.

"You call us heretics because we discovered how rotten the Church really is. You have tried to kill us, over and over, failing to recognize our patience and mistaking it for weakness. But that is enough. I will be merciful and grant you a chance to confess all of your sins before you die."

Guards were coming out of the aisles and from the back of the cathedral, but Sakura simply used more Light swords to kill them as soon as they appeared. The congregation trembled and screamed in fear, but Sakura ignored them.

The Cardinal, seeing the guards be slaughtered, suddenly made a mad dash toward the rear, only to stop when Sakura instantly appeared in his path.

"It seems you aren't willing to confess... Not that I really care."

The Cardinal was stepping back hurriedly while screaming obscenities when he suddenly fell backward.

He thought he has stumbled upon something when he looked at the ground between himself and Sakura. His feet were there. Feet that were his, and yet were not connected to his body.

Cardinal Fernet screamed in absolute fear and pain as he stared at his severed legs. This time, he saw the golden sword as it flashed by, severing his left arm at the elbow. His right arm met the same fate.

He screamed his head off. Quite literally, as what interrupted his scream was another golden sword separating his head from his body.

Sakura turned to the terrified crowd and smiled gently.

"I am going to collapse this cathedral. You all should leave now. No need to rush, I'll give you time."

The crowd didn't need to be told twice and ran to the exit.

With humans being humans, a few people were trampled by the crowd. Sakura sighed at the ugly sight as she healed them, and they ran away as soon as their bones were fixed. Although a few looked back and muttered thanks.

Sakura next entered the basement, destroying doors, gathering the kids and women held captive and breaking their collars and shackles. When she was sure everyone was freed, she had them follow her to the church's back entrance, where Medusa was waiting, killing any soldier or priest in sight.

They quickly healed the captives, restoring the demon kin's horns and severed wings among other things, and gave them cloaks to cover themselves and some money.

"Everyone, I can't escort you out of here, but I will draw the soldier's attention on myself. Avoid the soldiers and try to return home if you can. I wish you luck." sighed Sakura.

The women quickly thanked her and left using side streets, carrying the few kids with them. Wondering what would happen to them, Sakura returned inside while Medusa dematerialized.

With the cathedral still empty, Sakura used her dark ribbons to attack the building's structural pillars. They were thick and numerous, but it didn't take long for her to hear ominous cracks coming from the ceiling.

Sakura kept attacking, and the damage became too much for the enormous building.

As it started to collapse on itself, Sakura used Shunpo to return to the entrance, where Saika was waiting.

And so were several hundred soldiers wearing the colors of the Inquisition, hurriedly gathering in the plaza. More were coming every second.

A few dozen corpses near Saika and the SMGs in her hands made clear how she was keeping them from entering the cathedral.

Still, it seemed the enraged inquisitors were about to order the soldiers to charge as one. It was time for the final act.

Sakura looked up, and nodded.

A few soldiers followed her gaze. The saw a woman with long, light purple hair, standing in the air several hundred meters above the cathedral's ruins.

As the soldiers pointed out and stared in shock, a blood red magic formation appeared in front of the woman. The formation moved, revealing a winged horse made of white light.

The soldiers heard her voice, coming down from the heavens.

"Please allow me to kindly crush you. Bellerophon!"

The last thing most of the soldiers saw was a white comet, coming straight at them with unbelievable speed before the world exploded.

…

When Medusa used her noble phantasm, she aimed for the middle of the enemy troops and descended at several times the speed of sound.

…

The dust settled, revealing a huge crater with heavily injured soldiers strewn all around the periphery, groaning in pain or unconscious.

A large globe of pure darkness stood between the blast area and the cathedral's ruins, unscathed. The globe unfolded, reverting to black ribbons who retracted in Sakura's shadow. She had just used her shadow barrier to protect herself and Saika from the blast, although it wasn't really necessary, as Medusa had been careful not to hit too hard and cause heavy injuries to the civilians bordering the plaza.

Shocked screams came for further away in the streets. More soldiers approached, but when they saw the devastated plaza, most of them turned back, and the few remaining started trying to treat the wounded.

Sakura didn't attack them.

Their business was done, and it was time for them to leave. She hid her hair and face with her hood, circulated mana in her legs, and ran faster than a horse. Saika and Medusa followed in their dematerialized state.

Killing the Cardinal and destroying the cathedral, in the very heart of the Church's seat of power, was only the first step of their retaliation.

Next were the Inquisition's headquarters on the other side of the capital, then crossing the border to return to Tourin and hit the biggest training facility of the Inquisition in that country, and three supply depots or garrisons between here and Stormgarde.

…

"Sugu, someone is here to see you." called out Kirito through the door of her room.

"Someone I know?" frowned Suguha as she turned the television off. There was something in her brother's tone that made her wary.

She and her brother were alone for the week-end, their parents once again in a short business trip.

Maybe this was the reason, thought Suguha as she stood and walked to the door. Maybe she became jittery when they were alone in the house, half expecting Noah to return and take her.

"Yes and no." replied her brother.

"What do you mean, yes and no?" asked Suguha as she opened the door.

As soon as she saw who was outside, she froze.

"Hello again, Suguha." grinned Rika Shinozaki, dressed in black leather once again. Strapless top, short bolero jacket, tight pants and collar. She held a duffel bag in her hand.

The other girl beside her was dressed in a black latex bodysuit and latex corset. A beautiful girl with brown eyes and long chestnut hair.

Kirito nodded to her sister and returned to his room.

"Hello, Suguha. I am Asuna Yuuki. It's a pleasure to meet you." said the latex-clad girl with a gentle expression.

"W-What are you doing here? Did you come for Kirito?" blurted out Suguha, taking a step back by reflex.

"No, we came for you." smiled Lizbeth, entering and setting the duffel bag on the ground. She opened it and started rummaging inside.

"Suguha, I came here to bring you to Master, so you can dedicate yourself to him." said Asuna.

"I-I don't…want to." weakly replied Suguha as she shook her head.

"Master warned us that you may still lie to yourself. You are too stubborn for your own good, Suguha." sighed Asuna.

Rika took from the bag a black latex straitjacket and showed it to Suguha with a grin.

Suguha didn't need to be told to know that she was going to end up wearing this thing if she didn't resist. She tried to ignore the fact that just seeing it gave her a strong urge to touch it. To wear it.

She shook her head again, and Asuna placed a hand over her shoulder.

"Suguha, Master told us this. Your safe word is 'orange'. If you say it even just once, we will stop, and Master will come and take off the chastity panties. And then, it will be over."

"But do you want it to be over? You have experienced the pleasure Master can give you. The pleasure of being bound, in leather and latex. Of becoming a plaything. The pleasure of…"

"Stop saying it out loud! It makes me…"

"It makes you… aroused?"

Suguha clenched her teeth, trying to ignore the fire awakening in her womb.

But she didn't resist when Asuna started unbuttoning her top.

She let Asuna remove her clothes with her delicate fingers, and gently guide her arms into the sleeves of the straitjacket.

Just one word.

She could stop this from happening just by uttering one word.

But, she couldn't bring herself to say it. The lure of the bondage, and the pleasure that would follow, was too strong.

Suguha shuddered as the straitjacket enveloped her torso, the latex stretching over her skin. It wasn't a dream this time. When the zip running along her back was zipped up, the straps fastened and tightened. When Asuna guided her arms under her heaving breasts to hug herself and joined the ends of the sleeves together in the small of her back, then more straps around her biceps to further immobilize her arms.

Rika took another item from the bag. A posture collar, made of black leather.

Again, she didn't say the word as Asuna fastened it around her neck.

Didn't say the word as they slipped thigh-high leather boots over her legs and laced them tightly.

"There, almost ready now." smiled Asuna, connecting a chain to the collar.

"I'm actually envious." added Rika with a grin. "You're in for one hell of a night."

"Is that really necessary?" asked Suguha, furiously blushing, as she eyed the right hand of Asuna, holding the chain.

"No, but dressing you up and bringing you to Master on a leash is part of the play! And you secretly like it." said Asuna with a wink.

Suguha was about to shake her head, as much as the collar would allow, but finally gave up on denying. What was the point? She knew by now that she wouldn't say the word.

Seeing that Suguha wasn't about to object, Rika took the last item from the bag. A large, red rubber ball affixed to a web of thin black leather straps.

Suguha recognized the gag harness. She had worn it a few times in her dreams.

"The dreams…" said Suguha as she suddenly thought about them. "…They weren't really dreams, right? How could the mark on my back..."

Asuna gently shook her head as Rika gently pressed the ball against Suguha's lips, and she opened her mouth wide to accept it.

"Master is able to enter the souls of other people. And you should have experienced how times flows faster in that place. He often visits us in our dreams, not only to have some fun, but also sometimes to simply relax together for a few 'days'."

Rika finished tightening the harness around Suguha's head, and Asuna grinned, then hugged Suguha and kissed the ball gag.

Suguha moaned softly, and Asuna licked Suguha's lips around the gag.

"From what he told us, Master didn't train you at all for lesbian sex, but all his slaves are trained to be bi-sexual, so we can comfort each other when he is busy. I volunteered myself to assist in your training, and Master agreed!" grinned Asuna.

"Well then, see you later, Suguha." smiled Rika. "I'll stay here for a while to discipline Kirito."

Suguha only grunted in her gag. She still disliked Rika for the way she had bound her to the door and tormented her, although after the months of being trained in her dreams, the experience didn't seem so bad now. But she was willing to forgive and forget if Rika ever apologized.

"Let's go, Master is waiting." said Asuna, and Suguha's surrounding changed. She was in a long, dimly lit hallway, with heavy wooden doors placed at regular intervals.

"I could have brought you to him directly, but where's the fun in that? Now come along, my captive slave girl." grinned Asuna as she tugged on the chain, and Suguha slowly followed, her heart beating fast, and her lower body craving something hot and hard to fill it.

…

Hitomi Chigusa, nicknamed the Shadow Mistress, walked briskly toward the palace's main training room. When she opened the door, she was welcomed by the sound of wooden swords clashing against each other.

Kojiro was sparring against four male soldiers. Eunuchs. After what had happened to Umeka, the heroes had demanded that every male coming near them was emasculated. Those who refused were purged. And the women were spayed, as they didn't want Kojiro to risk making NPC characters pregnant. They didn't need the complication of a baby NPC programed to call Kojiro 'Papa' or some other crap on top of anything else.

On a normal day, she would have simply stood beside Umeka and Maki and watched the man she loved show his skill with the sword, and admired his naked torso.

But this wasn't a normal time.

"Urgent news!" called out Hitomi as she came closer. The spar stopped.

"Thank you, everyone." said Kojiro, and the soldiers saluted and retreated.

Umeka walked to Kojiro and handed him a towel and a cup of water, which he accepted with a grateful smile. Umeka returned his smile, then sent a slightly gloating glance at Hitomi and Maki, as if she had scored against them. And in case they missed it, she also ran a hand over her pregnant belly.

"What is it, Hito-chan?" asked Maki.

Of all of her three companions, Maki was the one Hitomi disliked most. There was something in her eyes that sometimes unsettled her and gave her an uncanny feeling, as if Maki was missing a subtle something that all human beings should possess.

"It's about the three Tourinese Heroes that the Church calls the Heretics. I got fresh news about them, and they aren't good."

"Are they still traveling with the Beast?" frowned Kojiro.

"That's… The previous reports mentioned the three Heretics over there as being three blonde girls. We assumed that the one with purple hair, Sakura Tohsaka, had taken the name Nero as her new identity and dyed her hair to be less conspicuous. But it seems we were wrong. It wasn't Sakura at all, but someone else. Sakura was spotted five days ago, right in front of the Saint Sanriel Great Cathedral. She was accompanied by a girl with long silver hair, and another with long light purple hair. And they massacred the Church!"

"Massacred!?" exclaimed Umeka, suddenly alarmed.

"Sakura Tohsaka entered the Cathedral in the middle of mass, killed the Cardinal and the guards in front of everyone, then forced the audience to leave before facing more soldiers from the Church. Hundreds of soldiers are dead, there's a fifty meters wide crater in the plaza, and they collapsed the Great Cathedral itself!"

Kojiro paled slightly as he considered. Attacking the very heart of the Church wasn't just bold. It was reckless. Even the four of them together would hesitate if they had to engage hundreds of soldiers by themselves.

"You said there was a giant crater in the plaza. Did the Inquisition use a Metia's Judgment?" asked Maki, referring to the strongest spell the Church could use. It was the only thing she could think of that might cause that kind of devastation. She herself specialized in offensive magic, but even her greatest fire spell wouldn't make a crater that size.

"No. The shades asked many witnesses, and they all saw the woman with long light purple hair floating in the sky, high above the cathedral, then she suddenly rode a white Pegasus and fell down to the ground so fast it created the crater and killed all those soldiers. And when the dust cleared? The woman was just fine and simply walked out of the impact zone."

"She's got to be a NPC. Maybe some kind of boss. No Heroes would manage to do that and walk away." shrugged Maki.

"There's an even more important piece of news, for us at least, about the silver-headed girl. one Shade and several civilians they interrogated confirmed that she killed dozens of soldiers, holding strange metallic weapons than sprouted flashes of light and made great sharp noises as they fired. She broke the first charge of the Inquisition's troops by herself." said Hitomi.

"Firearms? They already have some? We'll need to speed up our schedule." frowned Kojiro.

"Koji-kun, you are missing something important." pointed out Hitomi. "You do not kill dozens of soldiers with weapons you need to reload after each bullet. What the shades described didn't sound like a pair of muskets, but rather full auto rifles or sub-machineguns firing in short bursts."

"…Okay? Then it means that this girl was summoned with modern weapons. Once she runs out of ammo, that will be it. It's good news." smiled Kojiro.

Maki rubbed her temples with a sigh at the reminder that the man she loved was indeed not the sharpest stylus in the box.

"You know how we got summoned." said Hitomi. "We weren't exactly given time to prepare. And what kind of young woman carries around two firearms in her everyday life? So she's either some kind of soldier or mercenary, or more likely…"

"She's a Hero like us, and the gift she received from the Goddess Metia is related to those firearms. Meaning she may very well have unlimited bullets to go with them." sighed Maki.

When they were summoned, they were allowed to choose one Gift, in addition to large mana pools and the ability to strengthen their bodies by circulating mana in their organs. Umaka had chosen Healing. Kojiro had opted for swordsmanship, Hitomi for control over shadows, and she had taken elemental magic. Their group was well balanced as a result. But a firearm user would be tricky to fight.

Still, while that Hero was a potential obstacle, she was also a potential opportunity.

"She might know the correct formula for smokeless gunpowder. We need to get information out of her. And if we can get our hands on those firearms and study them, it will be a huge help." said Maki, and Kojiro finally understood the full implications.

"Yeah. That's why I'll be going." sighed Hitomi. "I don't know where that group is. They disappeared after leaving the cathedral, and the Shades haven't found any clue. But we know where Chisato Nishikigi, Darkness and that person called Nero are, and they will probably reunite at some point. At the very least, they should know more."

Umeka nodded, happy to see one of her rivals go away for a time instead of flying around Kojiro-kun like an annoying gnat. And maybe, she might arrange for her to never return.

"That may be a good idea. We really need to know more, and your skills are geared toward infiltration, unlike us." nodded Maki with a smile. She was already seeing an opportunity to arrange an 'accident' for Hitomi, or maybe something more blatant if she could pin the blame on the Beast or the Heretics.

"We'll miss you, Hito-chan." nodded Kojiro. "Be careful out there, okay? Do not hesitate to return if things go wrong."

"Yes, sure. I'll be leaving on the first merchant ship to Raelera, since it seems to be where they are going. I think I'll infiltrate the staff of wherever they'll be staying. No one pays much attention to maids, but they hear everything."

That was something they already had done several times against the Aquecian nobles, and they all nodded in approval.

…

"Ah, that naughty girl! I'm going to spank her when I see her!" shouted suddenly Chisato.

"A-A spanking?" exclaimed Darkness, suddenly sitting straight and looking at Chisato with hopeful eyes.

Edelys, who was sharing their carriage, barely raised an eyebrow. They were traveling along the road to Raelera, the city next to Stormgarde academy, as a convoy of two carriages and six guards to escort them. The first carriage was occupied with John Barton and his women, while Edelys and the three "Heretics" sat in the second.

"No, I wasn't referring to you. Kurumi-chan is the naughty one! But if you keep being good, you'll get one as well, Darkness. Just behave until tonight."

"Alright." smiled Darkness.

"Kurumi-chan?" asked Edelys. She had been chatting with Chisato, learning a lot about her world.

"One of my friends who stayed in another world." explained Chisato. "I complained to her yesterday that the food in the world… well, wasn't great, no offense, and what does she send me using Noah's phone? This!"

As she spoke, the showed up the lit surface of the device to Edelys, and she saw a slice of cake on a plate. And it looked like the best cake she had ever seen. Under it was one single word. "Jealous?"

"But the joke's on her!" grinned Chisato. "Sakura may be away, but we still have Darkness with us, and she can create food as well! Darkness, tonight, make three or four of the best cakes Akeno ever let us taste! I'll send her a picture of us having a feast tonight!"

"Yes." smiled Darkness.

"We'll share with you, Edel, of course, and with everyone else."

"I would be grateful. The cake in that… is photo the right word? It does look delicious." smiled Edelys.

She only knew Chisato since a few weeks, but she was already starting to consider her a close friend. It was impossible to be indifferent to the rambunctious and charismatic girl.

They were now about ten days from reaching their destination. Their travel had been mostly unimpaired thanks to an overall favorable weather.

If the road had turned into mud, their advance would have been almost stopped.

The travel hadn't been without a few adventures, however. They had met a few undead, and by tracking back the source of the mana animating them, they had found an old crone, trying to launch curses at them.

John had nailed her to the wall, killed the last undead, and for some reason Chisato didn't quite understand at the time, John used his healing powers on the old woman.

When he was done, the woman wasn't a crone anymore, but a very healthy dark elf named Ushalen.

Ushalen had once been raped by demons. In that world, demonic seeds carried a corruptive influence, similar to a curse. Any future children the infected women would bear would also be demons, instantly turning the victims into pariahs, and their life force would slowly be drained away.

Ushalen was a necromancer, and John just happened to have an affinity for it. She was now part of John's harem and had started teaching him.

The second incident happened after they entered the Colrac dungeon. John wanted to train inside, and experimented on his new necromancer abilities.

His own mana reservoir was so huge that, instead of rising and commanding corpses, he could somehow rip the souls out of the still living bodies and bind them to his own. The resulting beings, not living, but not quite undead either, that John referred to as living shadows, were a bit similar to heroic spirits in that they could switch from corporeal to incorporeal at will.

And John could heal their wounds simply by feeding them more of his mana.

After the second day, when they reached some of the deepest parts of the dungeon, John had quite a collection of shadow goblins and giant shadow rats doing most of the work.

And then the Inquisitors came. Ambushing them from all directions.

Chisato, Nero, John and the others had been surprised, as they already had dealt with the traitor, and they had thought it would be enough to stop this ambush from happening.

Compared to the version of event Noah had told her about, however, Chisato, Nero and Darkness being present made a huge difference.

Before their leader could even open his mouth to boast, Chisato had already lined up her gun to his head and fired. She didn't want to risk him activating a Metia's Judgment.

Nero reached the enemy ranks in an instant, waving her jagged red sword around so fast the air whistled constantly around her. With each swing, the enemy soldiers lost limbs or lives.

Darkness used magic to protect everyone from enemy spells and arrows.

By the time the dust settled, twenty of the enemies, including two Oracles, Ferra and Margo, had become living shadows.

Now feeling absolute loyalty toward John, they willingly spoke about the ambush. There were no traitors this time, and the Church had only used informants to learn about the group entering, and they had seen an opportunity. The city of Colrac had a small Church garrison, and the head inquisitor had stripped it of personnel to descend into the dungeon.

After this incident, they left Colrac, and were ambushed on the road again. This time, by a trio of holy ninjas. They were quite strong, and used weapons and grenades infused with that glowing sun powder Noah had warned them about. Living shadows that were hit by that powder suffered injuries that John couldn't heal.

John lost two shadow soldiers, but all three holy ninjas were turned into living shadows and became part of John's elite troops.

They were actually a family of assassins. Yodo was the father, Mitsu the mother, and Juri their daughter.

Chisato and Juri had already become friends, with her parents being happy for their daughter.

Inside the carriage, Chisato started telling Edelys all about chocolate desserts, wanting to keep the conversation light.

Once they reached Raelera, there would be a bunch of rapists to execute. And the very worst of them was someone Edelys considered her surrogate mother. Chisato had yet to tell her about this.