Ch 98: Vengeance isn’t best served hot or cold. It is best served with a sharp blade.

Kyouka felt something click in her head, and she fell unconscious.

When she woke up, she was in her Master's arms, and he smiled gently.

"You did it, Kyouka."

"Yes, Master. I can feel it." answered Kyouka in wonder.

She felt them. The abilities Noah had granted her. Shunpo, Augment, Hands of Nirvana, Item Creation, and more! She felt power in her body, waiting to be unleashed at her command. But the most amazing thing, in her opinion, was that she not only understood how to use her new abilities, but also felt familiar with them, as if she already had used them many times.

And now that she had those, she could go after the Horned One at last.

As if reading her thoughts, Noah released her and left the bed.

"We both need a shower. After that, I'll accompany you. I won't act unless I feel it necessary."

"Yes, my Master." smiled Kyouka as she rose.

It only took a few minutes for them to wash up and put on their uniforms.

"Ready?" gently asked Noah, drawing his Zanpakuto and extending his free hand to Kyouka.

"Let's get this done." nodded Kyouka, taking his hand as she drew her own weapon. She cast Augment on herself, focused on her memories of the Horned One, and teleported.

…

Noah quickly looked around as Kyouka instantly kicked the large shape in front of them, sending it flying. It landed a good twenty meters away.

"Who dares!" raged the Hollow, getting to his feet to face them.

No, not just a Hollow. An Arrancar, if Noah judged by the left side of his face that wasn't covered by a mask, the body that, while three meters tall, was too human for a normal Hollow, and the fact that he was wearing clothes and was armed.

Noah's face twitched as he realized just how careless he and Kyouka had been. They had not considered the possibility that their target might have become an Arrancar. For all he knew, they might have teleported in the middle of Aizen's fortress in Hueco Mundo, Las Noches. That would have been… troublesome.

They were in the middle of some kind of giant forest, surrounded by tall trunks easily thirty meters in diameter. The forest's canopy hundreds of meters above their head blocked the sky.

Their target, the Hollow Kyouka had nicknamed as the Horned One, wore a purely white outfit that reminded Noah of a Greek toga without sleeves, and the number 11 was engraved in his right shoulder. A katana with a white pommel hanged from his waist, and the Hollow drew it quickly as he faced them.

"Kyouka, be careful. If he's an Arrancar, he can use Sonido, their own Shunpo equivalent." warned Noah.

"Understood." nodded Kyouka.

"Why do two people from the anti-demon corps know about the Arrancar, and are able to use Shunpo?"

"You do not need to know." spat Kyouka. "You destroyed my village and killed my parents. I am going to kill you, bastard!"

"Ah!" laughed the Hollow. "So that's what this is about? I destroyed dozens of villages back then, before I became and Arrancar. But knowing that some gnats like you survived, and that you were obsessed with me for a long time, it makes me happy! It makes me want…"

His eyes lit up with a cruel light.

"Yes! Instead of killing you like I will with your friend, I will cut off your limbs and bring you with me to my room, so I can torture you and listen to your powerless curses every day! My name is Kidoumaru! I will engrave that name into your soul and in your flesh!"

As he finished, Kidoumaru shifted his gaze to Noah, and used Sonido. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from his previous position and reappeared behind Noah, already bringing his sword down.

The sword cut deep into Noah's torso, or so it seemed, as Noah's body evaporated, and Kidoumaru's thoughts were interrupted by something impacting the side of his head.

As the Hollow was making his obligatory villain's monologue, Noah had used Senjutsu to create an illusion of himself just standing there, as his real body was walking a few steps on the side. When Kidoumaru used Sonido and struck the illusion, Noah was already jumping in his direction while rotating his body, and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to his enemy's head, sending him rolling on the ground.

"You opponent is her." said Noah, already making another illusion to hide his true location.

"Arghh!" roared Kidoumaru, furious at the idea of being toyed with by a pair of puny humans. He was an Arrancar! One of the strongest Hollows, and just one rank removed from the Espada! He was going to capture them both and make them pay!

His thoughts were interrupted again when Kyouka used Shunpo to appear in front of him and slashed at him, causing a shallow gash on his chest, damaging his clothes, and partially revealing the hole where a human heart would have been.

Kyouka made a small 'tsk' as she saw the blade of her sword suffering some damage. That Hollow was even harder than Rairen. She tried to slash again at his throat, where the skin would likely be thinner, but Kidoumaru managed to parry her strike. Thanks to the passive body strengthening she had gained as well as Augment, she was just a little stronger than the massive Hollow, but the difference wasn't quite enough to just bat his sword away.

But if she was just a little bit stronger, she was a lot faster and more accurate, and Kyouka aimed at the joints of her enemy, where she would be able to cause significant injuries. In just a few seconds of intense fighting, she inflicted four gashes on Kidoumaru inner thighs or elbow joints, and his bleeding was becoming significant.

"Argh! Enough!" Roared Kidoumaru, suddenly emitting a shockwave from his body. Kyouka was pushed back but landed on her feet, ready to use Shunpo in an instant. With eyes glowing with an ominous red light. And he did something that confused Kyouka, lifting his sword to his head so that it's pommel touched his forehead.

"Trample, Rinocerante!" yelled Kidoumaru, and his body suddenly emitted an intense black light. A few seconds later, the light dimmed, and Kidoumaru features became visible again. He had transformed.

Noah knew this was the Arrancar's Resureccion, their equivalent to a Shinigami's Bankai. It was, to a large extent, a partial return to their original form. Kidoumaru had grow to five meters tall and was still humanoid, but his body was now almost entirely covered by a black exoskeleton, reminding Noah of a mix between a Samourai and a beetle. His main feature was the huge almost two meters long, slightly curved black horn protruding from his head.

And the wounds Kyouka had inflicted on him had healed.

Noah felt the aura coming from Kidoumaru's body, and estimated that his power had just about doubled.

"You gnats! I will crush every single bone of your bodies!" roared Kidoumaru as he lowered his stance, obviously preparing to rush forward.

His charge was fast, but not so fast that Kyouka and Noah couldn't use Shunpo to get out of the way, and Kyouka slashed at him as he passed her by. Kidoumaru collided against of the trees, and the massive trunk burst into countless splinters. He turned to them as the tree collapsed, lowered his head, and the horn suddenly extended at het speed of a bullet.

Kyouka frowned as she avoided the horn, slashing at it, in an attempt to sever it, but the horn wasn't even grazed, and Kyouka's sword shattered.

Even in the hand of an expert swordswoman like Kyouka, steel had its limits, and that was it.

Kyouka quickly retreated toward Noah, and he already had taken his Polaris Fang from his inventory.

"Noah, please use Eternal Chains on me." asked Kyouka as she accepted the weapon.

Noah put his hand on her shoulder and did as she asked. Polaris Fang's blade became longer, and Kyouka's uniform changed into a black plate armor, like it did during their first meeting.

"Here I go!" she nodded, and teleported to Kidoumaru's left side.

The Hollow's Resureccion might have made Kidoumaru stronger and tougher, but it also had made him slower, while Kyouka's speed increased further under the effect of Eternal Chains. She aimed at the vulnerable joints of the Hollow, between the exoskeleton plates, and her sword cut deep. Each time Kidoumaru tried to swat her away, Kyouka evaded and punished him with another blow in his vulnerable spots.

He screamed in pain as he tried to impale her with his horn again, and Kyouka used the horn as a foothold, jumping toward his head.

"This is for my parents!" she yelled.

She drove her odachi into his left eye, pushing until the blade broke the back of the exoskeleton and emerged from the other side of his head, and Kidoumaru convulsed as he fell on his back. Kyouka retracted her blade, thrust it again, aiming for the right eyes, and Kidoumaru's body responded by another huge convulsion, before becoming limp.

Kyouka, not wanting to take any chance, hacked away at Kidoumaru's face and neck until the head was separated from its body.

She then stepped back, staring at the corpse of the enemy she had devoted her life to kill.

"You did well, Kyouka." softly said Noah as he hugged her from behind.

She sighed and nodded slowly, not taking her eyes away from the body.

"I'll burn the corpse, so that no crazy scientist gets a chance to resurrect him or something stupid like that. Then we get out of here, before more Arrancars come. Okay?"

"…Okay. Thank you, Noah."

"You're welcome." smiled Noah as he extended his hand toward the body and the head. He wordlessly activated Fizard, the intermediate-ranked flame demonic magic, and a red magic array appeared in font of his palm. A stream of intense flames poured out of it, and the body burned.

Noah kept pouring the flames, and in less than twenty seconds, the massage Hollow body was reduced to a pile of gray ashes.

"Let's go." he said, still hugging Kyouka, and they returned home.

They had a "compensation" to deal with.

…

Noah was nodding along as he hummed one of his favorite songs, 'This is it', as he washed the dishes after dinner. Suzu and Kaede were helping, drying the plates and utensils with kitchen towels, as the rest of the girls were doing whatever the wanted for the evening. He had to convert two more rooms into media playrooms, with game consoles and computers, to keep up with the increasing demand, and some of the girls would likely gather by pairs, or more, to do something naughty in their own rooms.

"You seem in a good mood, Master. Did something happen?" smiled Kaede.

"I'm almost always in a good mood." grinned Noah.

"Well, that's true, but it's rarely to the point where you start humming a song."

"That's right. Something good happened today, and something good is about to happen. Kyouka is completely mine now, her training completed, and she avenged her parents. And I'm about to have some fun with Layla. She likes the latex underwear I discreetly gave her, and she's asked me to make her more. I'll go over and give her plenty."

"Oh my." laughed Kaede, as Suzu nodded at him with a thumbs up. "Is this one of those 'be careful what you wish for' cases? I'm not sure she's aware of how things will end up for her."

"What are you girls doing tonight?"

"I'll bring the three fallen angels into my room, dress them up as rubber dolls, and reward them for their good behavior." said Suzu.

"And I'll help her… Master, don't forget Asia." said Kaede.

"I'm not. But I have to prioritize Reina-chan, starting tomorrow, and then Ren and the others."

The girls nodded. They didn't need to ask Noah if he wanted their help or not.

"…And speaking of Asia… Suzu, Kaede, I may have a task for you both in the near future. Maybe Irina and Xenovia as well."

"What is it, Master?" perked up Kaede.

"She mentioned earlier during dinner that there was a time where she was almost excommunicated from the Church because she healed a devil, right?"

"Yes."

"That devil is Diodora Astaroth, and he is a perverted scumbag. His favorite hobby is to cause nuns to be excommunicated, at which point he picks them up with a seductive smile and a few cheesy lines. His peerage is full of such former nuns. And he doesn't treat them well, at all. He whips them all whenever he doesn't get his way. He will likely be there to watch the rating game, and I'm pretty sure he will try to scheme to get his hands on Asia if he sees her near me."

"I see." grimly said Kaede. "I assume we're going to save those unfortunate girls, and teach them what it's like to have a kind and affectionate Master?"

"That's what I'm thinking, yes. Do you feel up to taking in fifteen young women and teaching them our ways?"

"Master, you're being greedy again." said Suzu, and Kaede laughed.

"Yes. We know Alice and Hisui asked Master to slow down, but he is already eying fifteen more… Still, we should do it, and the sooner the better, if they are treated badly by that butthole."

"Yes. Let's save them soon. then we'll make them into more submissive maids for Master." said Suzu.

"Before that, I'll create a few more accessories or outfits that should help. I have a few ideas." nodded Noah.

"Oh? Do we get to try them first?" hopefully asked Kaede.

"That's a good idea. I'll want your opinions to iterate on them." grinned Noah as he handed the last plate over to Suzu and washed his hands. Once they were dry, he sent a message to Layla, asking her if he could come over. She quickly replied.

"And I'm off. After seeing Layla, I'll go to Hueco Mundo for a few hours. Have fun with the fallen angels, girls."

"Yes, Master. Good night!" grinned Kaede before kissing him.

"Good night, Master." said Suzu as she kissed him in turn.

Noah nodded to them with a fond smile and teleported away.

…

"Noah, thanks for coming." grinned Layla as he appeared in her room. She was wearing the black silk pajamas he had made her before.

"Hi, Layla. Thanks for letting me come in. How are you doing?" smiled Noah.

"I'm doing great. School is fun, and we made many friends. Some enemies, too, but that's to be expected."

"Enemies?" frowned Noah.

"Well, it's just the usual school stuff, you know? Girls that are jealous of our looks, stuff like that. Nothing you need to worry about. They're aware that if they try to harass us with more than just a few rumors behind our backs, we'll beat them half to death. Anyway, let's speak about happy stuff instead."

Layal pointed to her bed, and he obediently sat on it. She grabbed her tablet and took place beside him.

"Since you got me that nice set of underwear, which I'm currently wearing, by the way." she grinned at him. "I'm done some research on that stuff and found a few designs I like. Would you mind making those for me, please?"

"Sure. I may have a few conditions, though." he grinned.

"Conditions? I'm willing to humor you, as long as you don't go too far."

"Don't worry, it won't be too bad. I just want you to model for me one of the things I'll make for you. You'll be the one to choose which. And I'll take a picture as a memento, but I won't share it with anyone. That's the first condition."

"That's acceptable." nodded Layla. "What's next?"

"Just one more. Among the stuff I'll make for you, I'll add a pair of leggings, and a latex skirt. I want you to occasionally wear them at home. Hopefully, Maria and Iris will ask you about it, and I want you to, advertise my services, let's say."

"I see. You want to use me to get them into latex as well."

"Exactly."

"I don't mind. But make me a lot of clothes in compensation. And not just latex. I have a few more outfits in mind, for casual street wear."

"You wish is my command." grinned Noah.

Layla grinned back and showed him the first or a dozen screenshots she had taken, depicting a woman wearing a red latex leotard.

"Can you do this one in dark blue, please?"

Noah nodded and used his item creation to make the requested item, imbued with self-cleaning and slightly increased sensitivity. Layla took it and rubbed her fingers on the material.

"Thanks. Next is…"

Over the next ten minutes, Noah made her close to twenty pieces of clothing, from underwear to a full bodysuit.

"Thanks of lot, Noah." grinned Layla when they were done, giving him a quick hug.

"You're welcome, Layla. As far as I'm concerned, just seeing you happy makes it worth the effort." replied Noah.

"Eheh… And now, I should start holding my part of the bargain, I guess…" she said, scanning the pile of latex and leather clothes on her bed. Deciding to be bold, she took the latex bodysuit. It was mostly white, with a few black accents all over it that looked vaguely like electronic circuits and gave it a futuristic look.

"Wait for me." she smiled as she slightly opened the door of her room, made certain that Maria and Iris were still in their rooms, and walked into the bathroom.

Noah waited with a grin, and a few minutes later, she came back, dressed in it. But she didn't have it fully on.

"I don't suppose you can help me with the back zip?" she smiled suggestively.

"Of course." grinned Noah as he walked closer, took the tag and slowly pulled it upward.

"It does feel nice." sighed Layla as she felt the latex becoming snug against her chest and throat.

"That's the whole point, to feel nice and look great. Do I need to make you another one with a front zip?" he asked as he came in front of her, very close.

And he now had an arm around her waist.

"Well, I'm sure I would have managed if you weren't there, but…" she smiled. In truth, she could easily have closed the back zip herself, but she had decided to give him a freebie as thanks. But since he asked, she wasn't going to say no.

"What colors do you want?"

"How about black, with orange highlights?"

"Sure…" He made that smile again, and Layla felt a small wave of happiness spreading from her spine.

"Layla, I'm about to kiss you. But I'll stop if you don't want to." he said.

Layla hesitated for a short instant, then slightly nodded. She knew, of course, how their little game would eventually end. It didn't take a genius to figure it out, and he already had declared his intention the first time he made clothes for her.

"…Just kissing. I'm not ready for more yet." she said in a low voice.

Noah nodded, and hugged her tighter as he gave her a gentle kiss.

She returned the hug and the kiss for a precious minute, until he broke it and stepped back, smiling.

"Let's stop there for now. And Layla, you look drop dead gorgeous in that outfit." he said as he took a picture with his smartphone.

He then made her the black and orange bodysuit she had requested and handed it to her.

"See you later, my dear Layla." he said softly, before disappearing.

Layla stared at the place he had been for long seconds. It had been her first kiss, and it had been a pleasant experience.

With a sigh, she got busy folding her new clothes and putting them in her closet, as she listened to the soft squeaking sounds her bodysuit made as she moved. She liked it.

When she was done, she laid on her bed, thinking.

A line had been crossed tonight, and Layla had changed. Her awareness that she would likely one day be part of Noah's harem, had become a desire for it to happen. She knew Noah didn't really love her. He had too many girls around him to spend much time with one who didn't live in his mansion. But if he was willing to treat her with care and affection, like he had done so far, she was willing to accept it, for now. If he didn't love her right now, she could work to grow on him over time.

Layla blinked as she noticed that she had started fondling her breasts through the latex suit, but it felt good, so she didn't stop. On the contrary, she started focusing on the sensations. The sensation of the tight latex on her whole body was very nice, and she was quickly growing very horny. Eventually, her right hand drifted downward, finding her love button and rubbing around it.

Noah had told her that the bodysuit he had made for her was self-cleaning, and she intended to put that to the test.