Ch 201: …We’re going to need a bigger island.

Jinah panted hard as she finally completed the 10 kilometers run.

"Here." smiled Akeno as she gave him a bottle of water and a hand towel.

"Thanks… I'm so jealous… You guys aren't even sweating!" protested Jinah as she stared at Akeno, Alter and Jeanne.

"Don't worry about that." chuckled Akeno. "Since you accepted our offer, you will be like us in the very near future."

"I'm jealous, too." panted Meilin Fisher, wearing a white and red running outfit.

The five girls had decided to do their daily quest together from now on for mutual encouragement. Not that anyone really needed any additional motivation, after Jeanne had explained in the group chat what the penalty really was.

"But what do you mean by 'you will be like us'?" asked Meilin, confused.

Akeno considered Meilin for a few seconds, thinking about logistics and schedules.

"What this? Cat got your tongue?" pressed Meilin.

"No." smiled Akeno. "I am able to share some of the abilities I used during the fight with the Lord. Are you perhaps interested?"

Jinah squinted her eyes at Akeno, understanding what she was after, and looked at Meilin, but she didn't say anything. She got along well with Meilin, and wouldn't mind her also becoming a maid and living in the same giant palace, as long as Akeno properly explained things to Meilin.

"Yes, you got me ver-hiss interested!" grinned Meilin.

"We'll talk about this in a few days, after Jinah receives those powers." nodded Akeno.

"I'll be waiting."

"Yes. Remember to choose stat points as your reward, Meilin. Items from random boxes are things you will grow out of using, but stats will always be useful." said Akeno.

"You wrote that in the group cat three times already." sighed Meilin. "Hey, Akeno. Can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

"Yes." nodded Akeno as she walked with Meilin some distance away.

"Akeno, is Jinah… really okay?" whispered Meilin. "I know people deal with grief differently, but…"

"Meilin, you know that I can heal people no one else can heal, right?"

"Yes."

"My lover can do better. He can actually revive people, and he agreed to bring Jinwoo back some time in the future. He needs to fulfill a few prerequisites first. That's why Jinah and her mother aren't too sad anymore."

"You've cat to be kitten me!" exclaimed Meilin.

"No. And I won't ask how long you've been waiting for an opportunity to use this pun. Keep this a secret, okay? We don't want to be harassed by millions of people willing to do anything to get him to revive their loved ones. He can only do one every few weeks at most, and he already has a waiting list. If you leak this, I will punish you severely."

"…Okay." whispered Meilin, calming down a little as she understood just what kind of harassment leaking this could create for Akeno and her mysterious boyfriend. Even extreme things like taking relatives as hostages, or killing them as retaliation for refusal, might happen.

Akeno nodded, and they returned to the others. With the daily quest out of the way, Akeno intended to bring Jinah into her Sanctuary and start her training. Jeanne would leave at some point to meet Jinah's mother and inform her that she would spend the night with them to gain Noah's abilities.

With the use of special collars and a lot of effort from Akeno's part to reach the Thrall Crest's last evolution, Akeno estimated that she might turn Jinah into a willing submissive in less than two days in the real world.

…

"And you say that time flows much faster in this place?" wondered Jinah.

"Yes." grinned Akeno as she invited her inside the house. "Extremely useful to get a good night's sleep and still have a lot of time to train or study."

"I can imagine. And this home is pretty nice as well… So, what do I have to do to gain Noah's powers? Can you really make me gain them while Noah is far away?"

"Yes. You agreed to become his maid, but to share his powers, you need to sign a Soul Contract, as well as consider him as your Master, capital M, from the bottom of your heart. When those two conditions are fulfilled, you will lose consciousness for about twenty minutes. And when you wake up, you will know how to use those abilities as if you had them for years. It will be like muscle memory to you."

"Okay? I agree to serve Noah. I am grateful to him, and I respect him, but I'm not sure it's to the point that I can see him as my Master, capital M, as you said." said Jinah with a dubious face.

"That's only to be expected at this point. But we are going to do something about it. Let's go down to the basement."

"The basement?"

Akeno didn't reply as she opened a door and gestured for Jinah to take the stairs down. There was a heavy wooden door at the foot of the stairs, and Jinah waited for Akeno to open it and turn the lights on.

When Jinah took a good look at the content of huge room, she froze in shock for a few seconds. Then she looked at Akeno in fear.

"Hey, Akeno. I'm not into kink shaming, and this room in impressive alright, but please tell me you have not brought me here to use some of those things on me."

"Why are you even asking, Jinah?" asked Akeno as she opened a cabinet, taking from it a black latex bodysuit and eyeing Jinah with a smile. "This one will suit you well, pun intended."

"That's not funny!"

"Start removing your clothes already, Jinah. You agreed to become Noah's maid, knowing that it involved having sex with him. Since Noah is a control freak, he loves to put his girls into bondage. This is just training for your new life."

"That's not the kind of training I had in mind!" retorted Jinah. "Can't I have normal maid training or something?"

"Jinah." sighed Akeno. "Noah is into bondage and latex. To be more accurate, he likes to bind pretty girls and have them wear skintight and shiny clothes. He's not into wearing it himself. But he also wants his girls to be happy when he indulges himself. Which is why every maid first receives training to grow a liking for it. And that's the reason I brought you here. You may not see it like that right now, but we are doing this for your own long-term happiness."

"…It's not like I don't understand the logic in what you're saying, but how does that help with me seeing him as my Mast… oh."

"It seems you're getting it." smiled Akeno. "Remove your clothes, please. I'll help you get into that suit, and we will start your training. Don't worry, I'll be gentle, and I have done this with many girls before. I know what I'm doing."

Jinah sighed, understanding that she wasn't going to escape it, and started removing her clothes.

"How is that even going to work? I don't think having me wear this and tying me up will be enough to make me suddenly feel more loyal to him."

"Jinah, you are straight, right? Have you ever experimented with a girl?"

"No. Because of our family's circumstances, I only focused on my studies, until I awakened as an E-rank a few weeks before we met. I wasn't in the mood for romance, with my mother in the hospital and my brother risking his skin in the dungeons."

Jinah stood naked in front of Akeno, hiding her crotch and breasts with her hands.

"This model is a neck entry. The neck opening will stretch enough for your whole body to pass through. You can sit down on that bench while I help you get into it."

Jinah nodded and sat on the leather-padded bench, trying to ignore the ominous straps fixed on it. She inserted her right leg into the catsuit's neck opening, her Akeno got to work.

"You asked me how that will work. We are going to use the principle of memory association. I will have you wear a lot of latex outfits over the next few weeks in the Sanctuary, and you will spend most of your time restrained in various ways. And while this happen, I will make certain you feel a lot of pleasant sensations. Over time, your subconscious will start equating the tight feeling and sight and smell of latex, as well as the restrictive feeling of your bonds, with the pleasure. This way, you will grow a liking for it."

"Isn't that the Pavlov thing?" frowned Jinah, standing. She had both feet into the suit now, and Akeno was stretching it over her knees. She had never worn latex before, but so far, the tightness didn't feel unpleasant.

"The principle is the same, yes. I don't like this comparison, though, as it makes it sound crude. Doing this will only cause you to develop a liking for bondage and latex, without twisting your mind or changing who you are. And as you follow my instructions, and are rewarded for it, you will develop a submissive mindset when placed into an erotic setting."

"When we reach that point, having Noah as your Master, and to a lesser extent me as your Mistress, will feel just right to you, and you will gain his abilities. Noah will fulfill his part of your deal, you will come live with us, and you will be happy."

Jinah bit down a gasp as Akeno pushed the bodysuit past her hips and accidentally, or maybe not so accidentally, brushed a hand over her crotch.

Akeno stretched the catsuit over her waist almost to her breasts, took her right arm, and guided it inside and into the suit's right sleeve. She took the time to feed her hand into the integrated glove and rub away any pocket of trapped air before repeating the process with her left arm.

"Almost done." smiled Akeno, stretching the suit further until it reached her shoulders, then over them, letting the neck opening settle against her throat.

"Move your arms around a bit, Jinah." instructed Akeno, pressing against her solar plexus to evacuate some of the trapped air.

"Take a look in the mirror in the corner."

Jinah nodded as she walked to the tall mirror, and her eyes widened at her appearance.

"Wow. It really looks like it's painted on my body."

"Do you like it?" smiled Akeno.

"If you're talking about how it feels, that's… not unpleasant." admitted Jinah, her face reddening a little. The latex tended to shift around as she moved, caressing her body in ways that were definitely more than just 'not unpleasant'.

"And the looks are… I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this in public like that, but if most of it was covered by more modest clothes… maybe a normal dress reaching down the knees and a top hiding my arms… I could see myself going clubbing with it… or maybe not, the gloves may just be too much."

"I can use Rune magic to make things invisible." grinned Akeno. "Maybe I'll have you wear it under your Hunter's clothes, and you and I will be the only ones knowing as we dive into a dungeon."

"No, bad idea. I must not be distracted in a dungeon." retorted Jinah firmly.

"…You aren't wrong. Anyway, you need a few accessories to help you get into a more submissive mindset. Leather cuffs for your ankles and wrists, and a collar."

Jinah reluctantly let Akeno fasten the aforementioned accessories on her, and followed Akeno to a tall wooden frame with attachment points all over it.

"This is called a whipping post." said Akeno, using short chains to bind Jinah's hands to the upper corners of the frame. "But we're not going to do any whipping. Spread your legs a little, please."

Akeno used more chains to bind her legs to the frame.

"What now?" nervously asked Jinah, as Akeno hugged her from behind.

"Now, I will start giving you pleasure." whispered Akeno into her ear.

Akeno's hands moved, and Jinah started feeling an abnormal pleasure from Akeno's hands. They felt so good, giving Jinah a pleasure far superior to masturbation. Before long, she started panting and squirming, unconsciously pushing her body against Akeno.

Akeno changed position to hug her from the front, her fingers expertly dancing on Jinah's body.

"I am going to kiss you now, Jinah. Nod if you agree."

Jinah tensed for a second. It would be her first kiss! But the pleasure she felt was already too much, and she nodded.

She closed her eyes, and felt Akeno's soft lips against her. Then her tongue, gently parting them to go deeper not her mouth.

Jinah gasped as the strange but pleasant sensations, and opened her eyes as Akeno pulled back, watching her intently.

"What about, Jeanne and Alter? Are you not together?" asked Jinah.

"Friends with benefits or adopted sisters would be more accurate. They, too, are undergoing the same kind of training to gain Noah's abilities. They are much further along, but their training isn't complete yet. But enough about them. The present moment is all about you, and me." smiled Akeno, before kissing Jinah again.

…

Takina, Chisato, Hitomi and Tamamo appeared on top of a hill.

A huge, modern city was in view, illuminated by the rising sun. One thing that immediately caught their eyes was the multitude of wind turbines on the city's periphery, and a thin tower so tall they couldn't see how high it reached, despite the cloudless sky.

"A modern world, with a focus on using renewable energy. It should be a decent one, right?" hoped Hitomi.

"Frankly, I don't think any world can be worse than the one where we met. At least we shouldn't find too many rapist nobles here." quipped Chisato.

"What what's that tower? Could it be…" gasped Hitomi.

"A space elevator." breathed Takina, impressed. "There's no other reason for building something so high and thin."

"That's some impressive engineering… wait, I've got a notification from my system. I received a few quests." said Chisato.

"What do they say?" asked Hitomi.

"First quest, put a stop to the 'Level 6 Shift' project, whatever that is. The reward is weird. 'The surviving sisters will be teleported to Hagun island'. Who are those sisters? That's not mentioned."

"I don't have a clue. What are the other quests?" shrugged Takina.

"Second quest, befriend Shokuhou Misaki and help her destroy Exterior. Kill Kihara Gensei. Reward: +5 points to each of our attributes. Since Tamamo and Hitomi don't have a system, that reward will be applied when they sign a Soul Contract with Noah and receive the passive enhancement from his attributes."

"I can't tell if it's a good reward or a bad one." said Hitomi.

"It's a good one." nodded Takina. "I have Noah's passive enhancement, and the difference in capability is enormous. With this quest, it will be improved further by somewhere around ten percent."

"Yes. It will be significant. I don't have a clue about what this Exterior refers to, or who this guy is." said Chisato.

"Surely an evildoer, if we are asked to kill him." supposed Tamamo. She had just used a glamor to hide her fox tail and ears and turned her hair color from pink to chestnut brown.

"Third quest, repel the Catholic Church's attack on Academy City. Reward: 'The location of the Demonic Pillar will be revealed early'."

"Religious nuts again." complained Hitomi.

"Yes. There's something else as well." said Chisato as she took four sheets from her inventory and four identity cards with their pictures.

"We've just received this. ID cards, and these are summons to have our Esper capabilities tested."

"Esper? Like, those charlatans who supposedly fold spoons with their thoughts?" asked Hitomi.

"I'll call Aria. Maybe she can tell us more." said Chisato, taking out her smartphone.

"Your Champion, right? How could she possibly know about this timeline?" asked Hitomi.

"Champions a special relationship with the Gods. As a result, they know a few things about a bunch of timelines, and with luck, this one is one of them." said Takina.

"I'm not sure I really understand."

"I don't, either, but when I asked Chisato, she sternly told me to drop it. That I would regret knowing. It's the first time Chisato reacted that way with me, so she must have a good reason."

Chisato nodded vehemently, looking at Hitomi with serious eyes.

"Takina is right." said Tamamo. "There are some things that are better left alone, and this is definitely one of them."

"…Okay. I won't ask."

"Hi hi, Aria! I'm putting you on speaker." suddenly grinned Chisato.

"Hi, Chisato." replied Aria, smiling warmly in the screen of her smartphone.

"Can we talk a few minutes?"

"Let me go to my room first... Okay, we can talk now."

"I just entered the next timeline, and look who's with me." grinned Chisato, orienting the phone toward Takina."

"Hi, Aria. I miss you." smiled Takina.

"Takina! I miss you too, but how are you with Chisato? I thought you were stuck with Noah."

"Akeno used a special reward she received earlier to send me to Chaldea. Chisato and I will tag along until we can reunite with you as well."

"I'm so jealous. But also so happy for you two." grinned Aria.

"We can talk about us later…" said Chisato. "But for now, we'd like to know if you have information about that timeline. Look at that city, does it remind you of something?"

Chisato oriented her smartphone to show the city.

"…If my suspicion is correct, from the number of wind turbines and the space elevator, this should be Academy City." slowly said Aria.

"Bingo! We have received papers to perform an Esper exam, whatever that is, and the quests speak about a project called Level 6 Shift and Sisters, an attack from the Catholic Church we must stop, and someone called Misaki Shokuhou and Exterior. Can you tell us anything about this timeline?"

"A few things. This world is one where Science and Magic are in a covert cold war, and Academy City is sort of the frontline of the Science side. And a giant testing ground. On the bright side, Academy city is an ultra-modern city devoted to education and developing new technologies, and a poster child for an ideal futuristic city."

"But on the dark side, many secret projects are conducted in secret, most of them aiming at the creation of a godlike Esper, and the students are a pool of Guinea Pigs they can draw from. And Level 6 Shift may be the worst of those projects."

"How bad is it?" softly asked Chisato.

"In Academy City, the strongest students are level 5 Espers, and there are seven of them. Misaki is one of those, able to temporarily mind control others, but this project is centered around the very strongest, Accelerator, who can manipulate vectors. The Level 6 Shift project, whose concept came from a supercomputer, consists of upgrading Accelerator to level 6 by making him participate in death battles against one hundred twenty-eight of Mikoto Misaka, the Electro Master, nicknamed Railgun, also a level 5 Esper."

" One hundred twenty-eight of one girl?" frowned Takina.

"Those bastards duped Mikoto into giving them some DNA samples under the pretext of finding a cure for a degenerative nerve disease, then used it to make clones of her. The Sisters." flatly said Aria.

"Oh. Those sickos." muttered Chisato.

"You don't even know the worst of it. The Sisters aren't nearly as strong as the original, barely qualifying as level 3, which is nothing special when it comes to combat applications. Their project was a failure before it even truly started. So, what did those scumbags do? They redid their calculations, and decided that they would still manage to create their level 6 Esper, if they only increased the number of clones meant to die fighting Accelerator to, and I kid you not, twenty fucking thousands!"

"Twenty thousand!" shouted Hitomi in shock. Chisato's phone dropped from her numb hand, and she was already shaking in anger when she picked it up.

"Yeah. And if this project is ongoing, many of them may be dead already." sighed Aria.

"We'll put a stop to this as soon as we can." promised Chisato, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Do you know something about Exterior?"

"Yeah. Some mad scientist stole part of Misaki's cerebrum, did something with it, and turned it into a giant car-sized brain, greatly amplifying her power, while also gaining some measure of control over it. If they have time to complete that project, it will allow them to use mind-control on a scale large enough to affect the entire city, whether Misaki wants it or not. Her very thoughts might not be her own anymore. She might essentially be reduced to a terminal for an organic computer."

"Is that scientist named Kihara Gensei?" asked Hitomi, feeling nauseous. Suddenly, the clean and bright city in front of her seemed to be a lie.

"Yeah. He's also the one leading the Level 6 Shift project, and likely more… Make sure to become friend with Mikoto. She's a great person, and she would be a valuable ally."

"Yeah. We'll try to convince her to join us."

"There's another thing you must know. The very air of Academy City contains billions upon billions of nanites. They won't harm you if they enter your lungs, but you must assume that the one who controls this city, Aleister Crowley, will know everything you say or do within the city's limits if your actions or even simply your presence go through his filters. Which I expect will quickly happen."

"I think we'll pop on his radar the instant we get tested as Espers." winced Takina.

"That's likely, yes. He tends not to take action even when some of those dark projects end up forcibly shut down, but that's a possibility you should keep in mind. He's a powerful magician and scientist, and is protected by some kind of Angel, a dangerous magic being."

"I suggest not trying to make the dark side of Academy City public knowledge. It may force him to do something drastic. If you meet him, mention your goal of protecting the city against the Church, and he should leave you alone. You may even talk about the world fragment, if that's what it takes."

“Yeah.” Sighed Chisato. “I guess we should be on our way soon, if we want to save as many of those Sisters as possible. Can you tell us about the strongest Espers and their powers?”

“The strongest, Accelerator can control vectors, as I mentioned. He can do things like sending bullets back at the shooters, mess with your blood flow if he touches you, fly by blowing air under his feet, or move objects as if he had telekinesis. His fights with the sisters mostly happen during nighttime.”

“The number two is a guy named Kakine Teitoku, nicknamed Dark Matter. He can create exotic materials and dictate their properties.”

“Number three is Misaka Mikoto, the Railgun. She generates magnetic fields and lightning arcs, sometimes creates a whip made of iron sand, and sticks to metallic vertical surfaces like a magnet. She’s a great hacker, too.”

“Number four, Mugino Shizuri, the Meltdowner. She has an arrogant and foul character, and attacks with lasers or particle beams. Quite dangerous to deal with, but her fighting style is also rather straightforward.”

“Five is Shokuhou Misaki, Mental Out. She basically can plunge people into temporary unconsciousness and control their movements, read your memories by touching you and likely other things related to brainwashing.”

“As for the number six and seven of the level 5 list, I do not know.”

“For the other notable Espers, there is a bisexual girl named Kuroko who keeps perving on Misaka Mikoto and who is a teleporter, and a guy, Kamijou Touma, whose right hand acts similar to Noah’s Stop runes. He could easily beat Accelerator, if he managed survive long enough to grab him.”

“Thank you for the information, Aria.” smiled Takina.

"That's about all I know about the timeline. Feel free to call me later, but you will be under surveillance, so some matters will be off limits."

"Yeah. If we need to talk about sensitive subjects, we'll use the Sanctuary. We can call from inside, as long as we don't use the time dilation. Thank you, Aria. I'll call you tonight." said Chisato.

"Yes. Good luck, everyone." smiled Aria.

"Yeah. Love you, Aria." grinned Chisato, ending the call.

"Let's be on our way, then." suggested Takina, and they walked toward the city.

…

Sakura, Medea and Darkness appeared right in the middle of a huge suspension bridge. Thankfully for them, they entered this world during nighttime, and there was no traffic.

"It looks like we're in a modern city." said Sakura, first seeing many high-rise buildings on one side of the bridge.

"That's a strange structure." mused Medea, staring at the opposite side. Sakura turned and could only agree. The bridge led to a gigantic structure, far taller than the highest building in the city. It looked vaguely like the hollow frame of a pyramid or tent, surrounding a central axis. But in that case, the frame was made of sections thick enough to count as buildings on their own, even if slanted approximately 45°. And the central axis, illuminated by a purple light, was surrounded by a double helix reminding Sakura of a DNA strand.

"What do you think this could be, Sakura?" asked Darkness.

"…The structure looks too fragile to be military, and too expensive for civilian housing. I guess it could be some kind of research center, headquarters from a huge IT company, or a vanity project from someone with more money than sense."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of gunfire coming from the structure's direction and raised their vigilance. The sound was particularly deep and loud, and Sakura estimated the source to be a heavy minigun or autocannon, a few hundred meters away.

"Darkness, let's cast Augment, just in case." said Sakura, and Darkness nodded. The two girls prepared themselves for battle.

For a minute, nothing happened, and Sakura was about to suggest getting out of the bridge and entering the city for information, when there was movement not far from them.

"Someone is coming." warned Medea.

Her warning was redundant as Sakura also saw them, climbing from under the bridge near one of its supporting pillars. The first was a small white drone the size of a rice cooker, moving on four legs, each ending with a small wheel, from the way it seemed to glide over the bridge's surface. The second was a beautiful girl with pink hairs, wearing a revealing red dress. She was injured, and blood trickled down her right arm.

The girl paused for a second, visibly surprised to find Sakura, Medea and Darkness standing on the bridge and gawking at her, then glanced back toward the giant structure, returned her attention to the three young women, and ran with the drone toward the city, intending to give the three strange girls a wide berth as she passed them by.

Sakura wondered if she should call out to her to ask for information or offer to heal her wounds, but the pink-haired girl was clearly in a hurry. In her left hand, Sakura saw a small metallic cylinder.

And the reason for her hurry became obvious, as two huge, blue-colored machines approached the bridge at high speed, one behind the other. They looked like some strange hybrid of mecha and tank, and were armed with large tri-barrels rotary cannons.

As soon as the machines spotted the four girls on the bridge, the lead one opened six small triangular hatches, and missiles left their vertical launch cells, using vectoring thrusters as well as their fins to propel themselves in their direction.

Sakura snorted as she created double layered light shields on the missiles' paths, causing them to detonate well before they reached them. She lifted her right hand and fired a half-dozen Gandr in quick succession at the lead machine, investing significant amounts of mana into the spell to supercharge them. The bolts of red-tinted black energy pierced the machine's armor with little difficulty and hit something critical, as it burst into flames.

The one behind it hit the brakes and stopped just before colliding with the flaming wreck, and its form changed. Its back half was raised off the bridge's surface, and it took a humanoid shape, the tri-barrel fixed on its left arm and vertical missile launchers on both shoulders.

Before it could open fire, Medea fired a barrage of a dozen purple magic beams, each of them melting their way through the mecha's armor, and the thing exploded as well.

Sakura turned to the pink-haired girl, who had stopped, watching them with her mouth agape. Sakura slowly walked toward her, causing her to flinch before backing away, and the air behind and above the girl shimmered, revealing a white mecha of a very different model compared to the previous two.

The mecha lowered its right hand for the girl to climb in, the small drone jumped in as well, and the mecha used the wheels under its feet to quickly retreat.

"Medea, could you dematerialize and follow them to learn more about them, please? We'll wait for you on the rooftop of the city's tallest building." asked Sakura.

Medea nodded before disappearing.

"I will call Noah and Marcus while we wait for Medea. They may know something as well." sighed Darkness.

"I thought you didn't want to hear about Marcus anymore, after the way he treated you."

"That is the case." nodded Darkness. "And it hurts a little that I probably won't ever meet my former companions again as a result. But I am willing to make an exception when it comes to gathering information about timelines. There is too much at stake for my feelings to matter."

Sakura nodded with a warm smile and squeezed Darkness's shoulder.

"Let's try Noah first. Hopefully, he will know, and calling Marcus will be unnecessary. Either way, when we find a safe place and after Medea returns, you and I will go into the Sanctuary. You deserve a good reward. I think… Rubberdoll today. Total latex enclosure, strict bondage, and intense denial play. Some impact play as well, to keep it eager to please. And I won't allow it to cum even once."

"Eheh. I, I mean 'it', can't wait!" suddenly grinned Darkness as she got excited.

"Let's be on our way before more of those mechas come." said Sakura.

They both used Shunpo to disappear from the area.