Ch 226: Mistletoe.

"Eh, Noah, can you come with me right now? I want to monopolize you for a few hours, and Grayfia told me now was a good time." asked Aria with a mischievous grin.

"Oh? Are you taking me on a date?" teased Noah.

"Very funny." snorted Aria, extending her right hand, and Noah took it.

A second later, they were in a long, dimly lit hallway with heavy wooden doors, a place Noah was very familiar with.

"The second basement?"

"Yep. I have a game in mind, one I know you will like." replied Aria, opening the closest door, and inviting Noah inside.

He entered, and tilted his head slightly as he stared at the two people already present.

"Master." grinned Asuna, dressed in a black leather dominatrix outfit and standing beside the whipping post.

Tied to the furniture was a girl with fair skin, dressed only in black latex gloves and stockings, and a black latex hood hiding her features. Her crotch was shaved, and her hair wasn't visible.

Noah walked to Asuna and gave her a kiss that she eagerly returned.

"The rules of the game are as follows, Noah." smiled Aria, walking to the bound girl and hugging her from behind. The girl moaned and struggled against the leather cuff keeping her spread-eagled but couldn't do anything more.

"The first step is that you must guess who the Mystery Girl is. You are not allowed to remove the hood or her gag, not allowed to ask her questions related to her identity, and not allowed to enter her soul space.

"Some kind of trial to see if I can recognize one of my girls without seeing her face?" chuckled Noah. "And from her apparent reluctance, she is like Rias and want to experience training all over again?"

"Who knows?" grinned Aria.

"You do, but you won't tell me. Do I have a time limit?"

"Yes. You must find out who she is before midnight. If you guess correctly, we remove her helmet before we start the second part of the game. We will tell you the rules then. If you can't figure out her identity, however, she stays hooded and gagged for the second part, until Asuna and I decide to reveal her face."

"Interesting." grinned Noah.

He slowly approached the bound girl and examined her intently.

"I do not recognize the few moles on her skin. She's a bit too tall to be one of the Sisters."

Noah ran his hands over her body, stopping on her breasts, and kneaded gently.

He frowned as the girl whimpered. And the sounds she made in her gag… Noah had heard a lot of gagged girls over the last few years, and he could to some extend recognize who the girl was just by listening to their moans and groans. It wasn't as accurate as hearing their voices, but…

His lie detection ability also confirmed from her body language that the girl was genuinely scared, and he frowned.

"She's not a member of the harem." declared Noah.

Aria tried hard to keep a straight face, but that by itself was telling.

"You surprise me, Aria." smiled Noah. "I didn't think you had it in you."

"Well…" shrugged Aria. "Put yourself into my shoes for a moment. You've forbidden me from getting intimate with any of the many, many gorgeous girls here. Since Chisato and Takina were sent to that world, I have not been getting any for a year now. Do you realize how hard it is for me? This girl isn't part of your harem yet, so I am allowed to have some fun with her, at least until she signs a contract with you."

"You're missing sex so much that you would ignore your morals?" asked Noah with a raised eyebrow.

"It would be different if you were a bad person. But just like with Tabane and the other two girls you revived to work on new mechas, this is actually doing her a service. Once you're done training her, she might have a bit of a grudge against us for not telling her from the start, but she won't regret having joined the family."

"I see." nodded Noah, promising himself to make Aria's training a priority, since she appeared so frustrated.

His attention returned to the girl in front of him. Not a member of his harem, then, but the fact that Aria had hooded her, as well as the game's rules, suggested that she wasn't a random girl taken off the streets, either. She was someone he would be able to identify if he got a look at her face.

"…Sona Sitri?"

"No. Try again." grinned Aria.

"Sona's queen is taller. Momo Hanakai? No, her breasts are bigger. Maybe another member of Sona's peerage… Reya?"

"Bzzzzt, wrong answer!" replied Aria with her arms making a cross.

"Tomoe Meguri?"

"Nope."

Noah enumerated every member of Sona's peerage, then the few female members of Seekvaira's peerage.

"…Shikimi?" asked Noah, thinking about his Little One, but not really believing it could be her.

"Who is that?" asked Aria.

"One of Argo's friends, and a closest submissive. We have a remote Master-Slave relationship, and she wears a chastity belt that I control with my phone. I make sure to take some time every day to tease her a little, so that she knows I'm not forgetting about her."

"Is she cute?" asked Aria with a grin.

"Very."

"Bring her to the island, then."

"I plan to, as soon as she finishes her school year. Anyway, it's not her, apparently…"

As he tried to guess her identity, Noah's hands weren't idle, and the mysterious girl was now more horny than scared. Noah could her the shame and humiliation in her moans.

Noah tried several other names or heroines he hadn't obtained yet, until he thought about a certain sniper girl.

"Shino Asada?"

"Ding ding ding! You can now remove her hood!" smiled Aria as she clapped.

"…Really." smiled Noah, shaking his head. "Did you just teleport to her?"

"That wouldn't have been a waste of an opportunity to do some roleplay. We borrowed Yui's help to know when she would be connected to a full-dive game." smiled Asuna. "We trespassed into her home, and by the time she noticed something and disconnected from her game, she was already restrained. We stuffed her into a suitcase and left. we wheeled her around for a while, to get her nicely simmering and hide our identity, before we teleported back home. She still shouldn't be aware of just who kidnapped her."

"Sounds like you have quite a fun experience. Her, maybe not so much."

Noah unlaced the discipline helmet and took it off, revealing the latex one under it, and slowly peeled it from the girl's head.

Shino blinked heavily, her eyes not yet used to the room's lighting, and winced as she worked her tired jaw open and shut to get the kinks out. Noah brushed away her bangs and used a wipe to clean her a little.

She gasped in shock when she recognized Noah.

"Hi, Shino. It is very nice to meet you, even if the circumstances are unusual. I see that I do not think I need to introduce myself, but I will anyway. I am Noah Enfield. I am your Master." said Noah with a gentle smile.

He knew that Shino normally wore glasses, and used Greater Healing to cure her nearsightedness.

"M-My… master? Please release me, I won't tell anyone!"

"Don't bother asking. You are going to become my sex slave, that much is already set in stone. Furthermore, since Asuna already owns a pet girl, you will also be Aria's pet on top of being mine."

"Great! Thank you very much, Noah!"  cheered Aria, giving Noah a quick hug.

"I am not anyone's pet! If you bring your thing anywhere near, I'll bite it off." spat Shino.

"It would be scarier if my body wasn't superhuman. You will find it harder to injure me than you think. Even if you actually could bite it off, I would just regenerate, and then punish you severely." smirked Noah before turning to Aria.

"I'm not making her your pet only because you need some action, Aria. I also want you to gain some experience being a dom. Unless you wish to only be a Sub to Takina and me?

"…I don't get to choose where you are concerned, but with Takina and Chisato… I think I'd like to experience both sides for a while and see how that goes."

"Sure. So, what are the rules for the second part of your game?"

"Oh, they are simple." grinned Aria. "Asuna, you and I will take turns dominating that girl, with Asuna and I alternating during the day, and you doing it at night. We determine the order with a dice roll, and when Shino gives in and swears eternal servitude to you, we have our winner. Before you say it, no, I don't expect to win against Asuna or you, but it will be fun regardless."

Shino was speechless, horrified that those three monsters were talking about doing terrible things to her like it was just a game to her. And she couldn't do anything to stop them.

"We'll make her wear a special collar, though." said Noah. "It would be cruel to prolong the unpleasant part of her training more than necessary."

"Sure." nodded Aria, and Asuna created a dice.

"One or two is me, three or four is Aria, five or six is Master?" suggested Asuna, and they both nodded.

Asuna rolled the dice on the floor.

"Two. Looks like I get the first turn, then Aria tomorrow."

"I'll go grind in Hueco Mundo." nodded Noah. "See you in two days, Shino. Asuna, Aria, have fun, and keep the safety rules in mind."

Shino watched with trepidation as Noah, then the redhead disappeared, leaving her alone with Asuna.

"W-What are you going to do?" nervously asked Shino.

"I'm still thinking about it… There are many different kinds of slaves, and… I just decided. Something very suitable, since you are going to have both a Master and a Mistress. I will optimize your training for oral service. I will make you an expert at worshiping both Master's cock and your fellow slaves' pussies. Next time, I will come with Chiyo, my own pet, so you can see how it's done."

Asuna smiled to herself as she moved to a cabinet and took from it a black latex bodysuit. The way she eyed Shino made it clear to the bound girl that the suit was intended for her, and she shook her head in denial, despite already knowing that it was futile.

"Of course, Aria and Master might both train you with different roles in mind. You can look forward to it."

…

Akeno frowned as another thirty-meter-tall giant collapsed under her blows, and Jinah revived it as one of her Shadow Soldiers.

After reaching level 100, Jinah hadn't received any new skill. However, the limits of her Shadow Extraction and Shadow Preservation skills had been removed, and she could now have thousands of Shadow Soldiers. She didn't know if there was an actual limit.

But at the rate she added freshly dead monsters to her roster, she seemed determined to find out.

"…It's not efficient." finally sighed Akeno.

"I thought we were progressing fast. We killed dozens already." said Akari.

"I understand what Akeno-sama means." said Kanae. "Simply put, these guys are too big for our weapons. That's why we end up using oversized light weapons."

"Exactly." nodded Akeno. "Light weapons are fine to kill them, but they also drain our mana more than swinging our physical weapons. That will be a severe issue during the war, when stamina will matter. And there's a bigger problem. Emphasis on 'bigger'. Antares."

"He can turn into a dragon, right?" asked Mari, combing her short orange hair with her left hand. "How big? Kamish's scales were about thirty centimeters thick, from what I read about him."

"Much bigger. Big enough that even if I were to aim at a vital spot and sink my swords into him to the hilt, assuming I could overcome the scales' resistance, I probably wouldn't reach any vital organ."

“…How about poisoned blades, then?” frowned Mari.

“I don’t think any poison would be very effective against an enemy whose biology is beyond our knowledge, but we could give it a try, yes.” said Akeno.

She could already see a few issues with the suggestion. First was the issue with dosage. A lot of poison would be needed to affect an organism weighting hundreds or maybe thousands of tons, and the poison coating would for the most part be scrapped clean off the blade by the dragon's scales and though skin during the delivery, unless she opted for a hollow blade, but that would only make it harder for the weapon to pierce through the thick scales without breaking. She could create items, but she wasn't a Master Crafter like Noah was, and her creations weren't near indestructible.

In fact, the best she could craft was…

Akeno gasped as an idea came to her mind, and she created the biggest weapon she had yet made. It looked like a nearly three-meter-long steel sword without a guard, with only a fifty centimeters hilt. The blade had a very sharp tip, was straight, and fifteen centimeters wide and four centimeters thick. Stop runes were engraved along its tip, meant to penetrate barriers or magic defenses.

"What is this weapon, Akeno-sama?" asked Mari.

"Watch this." smiled Akeno, targeting the closest giant corpse and striking it with the sword, plunging the blade half-way in and releasing it.

The girls' eyes opened wide as the still visible part of the blade, who at first seemed to be a single chunk of metal, moved back a little, dividing itself into a dozen sections like those sword-whips in some fictions. The sections twisted their edges to form propellers, and started rotating, even and uneven sections turning in opposite directions. Due to the forward propellers embedded in the corpse's flesh, the blade quickly sunk deeper and disappeared inside, turning the flesh around the puncture wound into minced meat as it went.

Seconds later, the weapon emerged from the opposite end of the corpse and clattered on the ground. The rotating sections slowed down before stopping, and the blood-drenched blade returned to its original form.

"Wow. That's a nasty weapon. A golem?" asked Akari.

"Yes. I'll name it type Mistletoe, after the poison-tipped dart that killed Baldr in the Norse mythology." grinned Akeno. "The first fifty centimeters are solid for added toughness and penetration, but the rest, well, you saw what it does."

"… And the next ones I make will have the self-cleaning enhancement." finished Akeno with a wince at the blood-drenched 'sword'.

"Akeno-sama, you could also make the golem stay deep inside the wound instead of piercing all the way through, to keep wounding enemies who can regenerate." suggested Kanae.

"Yes, that's a good point. I'll create many of those, so that each of us have a few, just in case. Let's resume our progression."

…

It didn't take much longer for the group to reach the boss, the Monarch of Giants, Legia.

The hundred-meter-tall giant was kneeling on the floor, bound by very heavy chains that pierced his limbs.

When they came close, Legia started talking, promising valuable information and even an alliance if they could just free him.

But they already knew what he wanted to talk to them about, the origins of the conflict between the Monarchs and the Rulers, and their Lie Detection ability had triggered when Legia spoke about allying. He would stick a knife on their backs the instant he figured he would get away with it.

Akeno simply glanced at Jinah while Legia was blabbering, and with a nod, Jinah moved, using Shunpo to appear on Legia's right shoulder and slashing with her swordstaff, severing his spine and half his neck. A second strike finished what she had started.

…

"Ah… I'm getting close… more…" gasped Takina, and Mikoto increased her efforts, pushing her tongue as deep as she could into Takina's folds. The musky scent of Takina's juices filled her nose. She had disliked it at first, but she was starting to get used to it.

She observed the changes of expression on Takina's face as she brought her closer and closer to the edge, then over it, and Mikoto tasted her slightly sour fluids as Takina tensed, her legs quivering for a few seconds, then relaxed with a hot sigh.

"Thank you, Mikoto. You did well." smiled Takina, grabbing Mikoto under her shoulders and dragging her closer so she could hug her.

She brushed some of her bangs away from her eyes, and kissed Mikoto, tasting her own fluids. Mikoto returned the kiss without hesitation.

"…I will return the favor soon, but before that, it's time for some pillow talk. Do you feel more submissive now?"

"…Maybe." admitted Mikoto, blushing once again. "I'm getting used to… these things. And to being tied up as well."

She rolled her shoulders to illustrate her point, testing the black leather cuffs keeping her hands behind her back.

"But It is still embarrassing as hell. And thinking about how far the rabbit hole goes makes me nervous. I know you're going easy with me, with only using cuffs and that collar."

"Of course. The goal is to introduce you to it gradually, not scare you away."

"And that's the problem, Takina. It's… okay, for now, even if wearing that collar still feels so very humiliating. But I don't know what the end result will look like, what I will become if I let you or Noah go as far as you might want, so I tend to imagine rather extreme situations."

"It really depends on the person." nodded Takina. "Personally, I like vanilla fun just as much as the kind that involves restraints and power play. Noah tends to prefer it kinky, although not all the time. But what he does exactly really depends on his partner's tastes. Some like it hardcore, some don't."

"As long as I manage to nurture in you enough love for bondage and latex that being tied up and wearing tight and shiny clothes turns you on, that you become willing to swear eternal loyalty to Noah, that's good enough. I'm not going to turn you into a gimp."

"…A gimp? What is it?" blinked Mikoto.

"You don't know? Your innocence is so cute, Mikoto." chuckled Takina before giving her a quick kiss. "A gimp is typically a slave whose whole body is covered in rubber, and whose face is hidden by a hood. The whole point of a gimp is to be anonymized and objectified and kept in constant bondage."

"Eww. I don't want that." exclaimed Mikoto with a bit of fear in her eyes.

"There are a few girls in the harem who wouldn't mind being treated as a gimp for a few hours. None would want it permanently, though. That's way too extreme. And since Noah loves seeing his girls' faces and playing with their hair, he wouldn't allow it anyway."

"The bottom line is that neither Noah nor I will go farther than what we think you can be comfortable with. If you think something is too much, you only need to say it, and we'll talk about it."

"…Okay." sighed Mikoto.

Takina kissed her again, then shifted her position.

"I wonder what Kuroko would be willing to give, to be in my place right now." chuckled Takina, placing her hands on Mikoto's inner thighs and gently spreading her legs open.

"I believe I have a favor to return to my little submissive."

Mikoto nodded and let Takina do as she wished. She had been reluctant at first, as she wasn't into girls, or so she assumed.

But when Takina had started kissing her, and being affectionate with her, it felt… good. It led her to question her sexuality. Maybe she had been bisexual all along?

She didn't have any romantic feeling for Takina, and she felt confident that Takina only saw her as a friend as well. And yet, they were doing these kinds of things.

And internal deliberation stopped there, as Takina's fingers and lips and tongue were too distracting.

…

Mikoto felt tired but, in a good way, when Takina decided to was time to take a break.

She led Mikoto to the bathroom, and they entered the shower stall.

"If would be easier if you untied me, you know?" said Mikoto, pointing out the obvious.

"I won't." grinned Takina. "Just let yourself be pampered for once. You're often the one running around and putting yourself at risk helping others. "

"…How is Chisato taking it? She is romantically involved with you, right? Does she not feel jealous?"

"How about you ask her directly? It's about time for breakfast anyway…"

Mikoto nodded, not sure she would dare ask Chisato directly.

She remained silent as Takina finished cleaning them both and groomed her. Still not removing the leather cuffs around Mikoto's wrists or the collar, she helped her into a black leather minidress and black leather boots with high heels.

Takina smiled as she slipped a finger in the D-ring in front of Mikoto's collar and gently guided her out of the bedroom and into the living room.

Chisato and Misuzu were already there.

"Hi, Takina, Mikoto." cheered Chisato, dressed in her Tokiwadai uniform.

"Good morning, Mikoto. Takina." said Misuzu, blushing in embarrassment at being seen in her current predicament. She wore a special collar like her daughter, a blue latex swimsuit, and a black leather harness over it. She had high-heeled leather pumps on her feet, and her arms were confined inside a black leather armbinder.

Chisato and Misuzu were both sitting close to each other at the table.

"Hi, Mom, Chisato." replied Mikoto, equally blushing.

"Takina, can you make pancakes with maple syrup today, pretty please?"

"Is that fine with you both, Misuzu, Mikoto?"

"Yes, please." nodded Mikoto, followed by her mother.

Takina smiled and started creating the requested food, as well as some alternatives. As she did, she spoke.

"Chisato, Mikoto asked me earlier if you were really fine with me being affectionate with current or future members of Master's harem."

"I'm fine with it." grinned Chisato. "As long as Takina doesn't neglect me and Aria, she can even fall in love with another of our sisters. And I know why what we are doing is necessary. Six dozen worlds are at stake, and the more companions we have, the better the odds."

"I do not mind Chisato doing it with your mother either, Mikoto." smiling Takina. "We are all a big family."

Takina served them, then cut a bit of the pancake in front of Mikoto.

"Say 'Ahhh'." grinned Takina.

"I can feed myself." grumbled Mikoto, blushing further as she glanced at her mother.

"You could, but us feeding you will help put you and your Mom into a submissive mindset. So just go along with it."

Mikoto sighed in defeat and opened her mouth.

The maple syrup coated pancake was delicious.

"Hey, Takina. Should we switch for a while?" suddenly asked Chisato. Mikoto and Misuzu both tensed.

"I do not see any reason to say no, but why are you asking, Chisato?" asked Takina.

"I want Misuzu to get a taste of your Hands of Nirvana. And I want to be affectionate with Mikoto as well."

"That's a good point. I have only gotten Mikoto used to light bondage so far, so take it slow with her, and define a safe word before you both start playing."

"Of course." grinned Chisato.

"Mikoto, Misuzu, you do not mind, right?" asked Takina.

"That's… okay?" hesitated Mikoto.

It would feel more embarrassing to have another of her friends witness her during those times, but she supposed it was something she would just have to get used to. Her mother seemed to be thinking something similar, judging from her face.

…

"I just received information from a trusted source. The God's Right Seat plans to secretly travel to Japan for the Holy Week." said Laura Stuart, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church.

"They will likely attack during Good Friday, then." mused Stiyl, and Kaori and Laura both nodded.

It made sense, as the magic of the Romane Catholic Church was influenced by various factors, faith being one of them. It was particularly potent during specific dates of the Christian Calendar, and the Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion of Jesus and his death, particularly amplified all magics and rituals cast with the intent of punishing those the magicians saw as enemies of the Catholic faith.

Moreover, Holy Week started in barely four days.

"Are you going to go to Academy City?" asked Laura, and Kaori and Stiyl both nodded.

"Yes." said Stiyl. "We all know what will happen if those four succeed, or even cause too much damage before they are stopped."

He didn't need to elaborate with Laura and Kaori.

Vento of the Front, just by herself, could cause anyone bearing her any hostility to fall into a coma, one that would last until she decided to release them. Even a vague negative feeling from hearing about an intruder on the news would be enough to trigger the spell, who had enough range to affect a whole city. She deliberately cultivated an abrasive personality to cause people to fall into that state, and if her past and current behavior was any indication, she would have no problem leaving people from Academy City in a coma indefinitely.

"And it we help repel God's Right Seat, if we show that not all of the Magic side is chomping at the bit to attack the Science side, we may avoid an all-out war." added Stiyl.

"Which is why you have my blessing to go. But please, try to hide your involvement if possible." asked Laura, and they both nodded again.

She really hoped things wouldn't turn into a war between the Anglican and the Roman Church. Especially now, as the Anglican side might just lose its biggest combat power. Speaking of which…

"Kaori, have you made your decision?" asked Laura.

"…Yes." said Kaori. "I will go. I think that I can do a lot more, if it is with them. I have spoken to the rest of Necessarius. I can't just leave without telling them why. Itsuwa and Angelene have decided to go as well."

Laura nodded thoughtfully. Itsuwa was a magician and spear user from the Amakusa-style remix of Church, a formerly fugitive organization that had amalgamed together bits of religion from Catholicism, Shintoism and Buddhism, and was only recently affiliated to Necessarius. They practiced magic in a stealthy way, using mundane objects as vessels for their spells or rituals.

Kaori also belonged to the Amakusa-style remix of Church.

Itsuwa was, if Laura's memories served her well, a modest and neat young woman, and a decent spear user and magician, but wasn't exceptional in anything.

Angelene was from another group affiliated with Necessarius, and usually wore a nun's attire, but wasn't an exceptional magician either.

The Anglican Church wouldn't suffer a great loss if Itsuwa and Angelene decided to follow those "troubleshooters", as they called themselves. Not anywhere as great a loss as Kaori herself. But it looked like Kaori had already made up her mind, and Laura sighed, accepting it.

"I will arrange for you to get a flight tomorrow. You should go to Academy City before Holy Week, just in case they learn of our intentions and decide to surprise us, or our assumptions turn out to be false. Make sure you say goodbye to everyone before you leave, Kaori."

"Yes. Thank you." softly said Kaori. But she didn't intend to leave immediately. She knew that this might be the last time she would ever speak with Laura.

…

Akeno, Jinah, Heejin, Gina and Lee Bora walked in front of a huge gate that had appeared in Seoul. They were about to enter, and someone came out of it. And another. And another.

"What's happening?" cried a nearby hunter.

"The gate just appeared! We were supposed to have seven days!" shouted another as panic spread among their ranks.

"All of you stop! They aren't enemies!" shouted Jinah as she deployed some of her own Shadow Soldiers.

She was right. Akeno had also noticed almost immediately. The figures emerging from the gate were also Shadow Soldiers.

Soon, the plaza in front of the gate was filled with thousands of new Shadow Soldiers. Most were lean humanoids with white wings sprouting from their backs, but there was also a fair bit of monsters, as well as five giants and three dragons. They were led by a four-meter-tall male in black armor and wings seemingly made of purple light.

The man slowly walked toward Jinah, stopped for a second as they stared at each other, and knelt.

All the Shadow Soldiers behind him did the same.

"Grand-Marshall Bellion." said the Shadow Soldier in a deep voice. "We respectfully greet our liege."

Bellion was the Shadow Monarch's strongest soldier, and the forces behind him had waited for his return.

"Welcome back, Grand-Marshall, and everyone else." smiled Jinah.