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Luka's Story 2: Ancestors	By : Ditmag Category: +M through R > Monster Girl Quest Views: 1445 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Monster Girl Quest is the property of Tortorro Resistance. I make no money off this project.

Chapter List
- 13
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Granberia watched the gladiators practice with strong feelings of envy. She was still not fully recovered from the injuries Saja had inflicted on her. Not that she couldn’t fight. She knew that she was in far better condition than she had been when she prematurely rolled out of her bed during the war against Ilias. She’d had a good reason to do what she had done at that time. She had been needed. Today, she was not. Setting back her recovery through sparring would have been unconscionable. So she simply watched, and critiqued, if only mentally. These gladiators were fine warriors. They were not at her level, but lessons or criticism wouldn’t make them much better than they were. Most of them had already reached their greatest potential. They were proud, and would not appreciate nitpicking of their technique, even from a Heavenly Knight.
Granberia, as always after a loss, thought hard about what she might have done wrong. She determined that getting lulled into a tail lock was the immediate cause of her defeat at Saja’s hands. It had been an incredibly foolish loss in the toughest fight of her life. That made the loss much harder to take. The battle should have lasted much longer than it did. Nevertheless, she knew she could not defeat Saja as she was. Saja was too fast, and while Granberia prided herself on being able to use all elements, wind was where her abilities were weakest. She looked down at her great sword Ares, held in her hands. As much as she hated to admit it, it was the wrong tool for the job. She needed speed if she was to have a chance when next they met. Her armor, while light, also slowed her down, if only just a tad. Since dragonkin already possessed quite a bit of natural armor, she only covered her soft, fleshy parts. Saja, however, had disdained armor. While Saja had paid a price for that decision in blood, going without had been to her advantage. Her speed had was better than Granberia's power. Granberia considered that for the first time in a long time, she might have to fight with just her clothes. Maybe the two knives that she kept at her waist could be her primary weapons? No, Saja’s short swords would give her a reach advantage. Sigh. Granberia reminded herself that she was a Heavenly Knight. She would adjust. She would adapt.
She had briefed the Queen of Noah on her reasons for being in the city. The Queen was very concerned, particularly sensitive given the experience of her city in the war against Ilias. Grand Noah had been sacked, like San Ilia, although unlike San Ilia, the forces of heaven had taken prisoners and locked them in the colosseum before moving on. Luka had saved the survivors of Grand Noah, thus further cementing his reputation as the world’s greatest hero, as legendary as Heinrich. She chuckled at how strange it felt to love that Luka received so many honors for his valor, while Granberia was embarrassed about her own fame. She would have to ask Luka one day if he enjoyed being honored everywhere he went.
Two weeks had passed. Nothing had happened in Grand Noah, but Granberia was always sure to attend the war councils in Yamatai to tell her fellow Knights and the Monster Lord in person that Grand Noah was safe. She wondered if she should even be here. The monsters were extremely loyal to the Monster Lord, even more loyal to their human friends in the city. Unlike Yamatai, where the monsters had turned on the humans, the monsters of Grand Noah had fought and died to protect the human inhabitants of the city. They had simply been attacked with too much force too early in the war. The first attack on Grand Noah had been beaten off, albeit with great loss of life. The second had been an impossible battle, with angels, fresh from their massacre at San Ilia, streaming into the city, seeking a repeat. In the end, two things had prevented Grand Noah from being utterly destroyed. The first was the resistance in nearby Sabasa. Once Grand Noah was overrun, the bulk of the heavenly forces began to make their way towards the strongest kingdom on earth, rather than seek to slaughter survivors. The second factor had been Luka’s actions while he was still fighting on Ilias continent. He’d destroyed an archangel utterly, and nearly sealed a few more. That had caused the angels to remain behind the lines on all fronts, to be husbanded for the most important offensives. So the forces of heaven had instead chosen to lay a trap for Luka in the colosseum. As traps went, it hadn’t been much. Granberia’s counterpart Next Doll had set it up and been meticulously honorable about making it a fair fight and letting the prisoners go as promised should Luka win. Granberia almost regretted destroying Arc-En-Ciel. She had been a worthy opponent, honorable in her own way.
Others had seen more interesting things. Kanon had come to Plansect Forest to speak to the Alraune Queen. The Queen diplomatically explained that her people had already suffered from war, and that she had no intention of starting another one. She urged the Dark God to refrain from violent action and support the current Monster Lord. Kanon had not chosen to take violent action against Queen Alraune immediately, instead making dire promises of retribution and promising to return.
The Dark God had indeed attempted to recruit the Queen Ant, but not by visiting Grangold personally. Instead, she had her summit in the Queen Ant’s dreams. The Queen Ant reported this to Alice and promised that she had been uninterested in joining with the Dark God. She respected the work the humans had done towards reconciliation too much to seek revenge now.
Minagi had visited Succubus Village and directly confronted Alma Elma, although it hadn’t come to a fight. Minagi wanted not just the succubi, but their absentee queen as well. Granberia knew Alma Elma better than that. The queen succubus might seem untrustworthy, but she was not one to betray her friends. Nor was she going to be willing to start playing second fiddle to a greater succubus.She briefly tried to imagine what a battle between two powerful succubi would look like.
She looked up. A silence had descended over the training ground. Everyone was looking to the skies. Granberia saw a giant shadow pass over the ground. She gazed up herself. The sight that greeted her eyes was beyond her comprehension. Dragons, more dragons than she had ever seen before, were flying overhead. They were not attacking, simply flying over the city, in formation. There must be hundreds! She didn’t even know that so many dragons existed. She knew that most dragons lived on the Hellgondo continent. They were not a community as their more humanoid dragonkin cousins were, most preferring to lead solitary lives. There was only one thing that could get them all working together. The return of the Dark God. Dragons were among the most religious races in the world. The Dark God’s return would have carried great significance for them. She just never imagined that they could be rallied so quickly!
Granberia now definitely had something to report.

“Dragons!?” Alice cried. “That many?! How?!”
“She’s concentrating on recruiting and mobilizing Hellgondo’s monster population,” Tamamo mused. “She wasn’t having success with the monsters who already live in close proximity to humans, or who have had good experiences with Luka. The dragons of Hellgondo don’t see humans except when they swoop onto Sentora continent seeking prey.”
“Telling them they couldn’t just grab anyone they wanted and carry them back to their lair must not have been a very popular edict,” Alice groused. “I knew they wouldn’t take that well.”
“It must have been an impressive show of force,” Erubetie added. “She is at least sincere in not desiring war. With that force she could have laid waste to many human cities before we could even react.”
“She wants the humans alive and healthy,” Tamamo pointed out. “she wants to see if she can scare them into submission.”
“I’m afraid it made quite the impression in Grand Noah,” Granberia said. “Many on the Queen’s Council urged her to seek terms. Luka, didn’t you say that the Dark God would let the human kingdoms be mostly autonomous as long as they paid tribute?”
“She did,” I said. “I’m guessing discussions like that happened in nearly all the human cities that armada flew over.”
“She must have had nearly every human on the planet wetting their pants yesterday,” Alma Elma said. “A lot of succubi were as well. Succubi aren’t warriors. I’m afraid they are just going to go along with whoever wins. Alipheese the First, Alipheese the Sixteenth, makes no difference to them. I don’t even see the point of my being there anymore.”
“Taking the humans off of the board seems to be her goal,” Granberia said.
“If the humans are just going to give in, why should we fight for them?” Alma Elma asked rhetorically. “Luka, I respect what’s been done here in the last year, but if they won’t fight for it…. Maybe it’s better to let the Dark God do what she wants.”
“I cannot say that I disagree,” Erubetie added.
“Okay, first off, we do not know that the humans are going to just preemptively surrender and pay tribute to her!” Alice said hotly. “Secondly, it’s not just about them. There’s the small matter of demanding our submission as well. Her views of the Monster Lord’s position are so out of step with the times! Monster Lords have ruled with a light hand ever since Black Alice was killed. We don’t micromanage their lives. There are very few rules. Be loyal to the Monster Lord, don’t rape or eat humans! Those are the only two rules there are at my level! All of the other laws are handled by the individual monster races’ queens!”
“As far as we know, no queens have turned,” Erubetie said. “that is probably why. Even if we do not assume their best intentions, none will be happy to surrender so much of their authority to an absolute ruler.”
“So I’m not a military guy or anything,” I started out. “But it seems to me that if war does come, they’d probably invade the Sentora continent from Hellgondo, right?”
“That would be the most obvious course, yes,” Granberia confirmed. “which is why it may not happen that way.”
“Unless her force is overwhelming,” Tamamo said. “I know her, she won’t get cute or overly complex when the direct approach will do just fine. Ilias certainly wasn’t subtle when she made the decision to go to war. With a force of dragons alone she could have much of the northern Sentora continent burning on the first day. If she can gather up foot soldiers she has an occupation force.”
“In that, her choices are limited,” Granberia pointed out. “Hellgondo does not have large, mass populations of any monster. It is home to the most powerful, but small in number, species. Dragons, behemoths, echidnas…..”
There was a pregnant pause at the mention of Alice’s own subspecies. “I…. I just don’t know,” Alice said, looking shaken. “there aren’t many of us. They all know me. I’m sure they wouldn’t, but… they aren’t fans of humans. Never have been.”
“Your people are also devout worshippers of the Dark God,” Erubetie observed.
“Most Hellgondo residents are,” Tamamo said. “It’s the mirror image of the old Ilias Continent.”
“And the Dark God now controls the seat of power,” Alice noted. “we have to take that castle back. It may be a symbol, but to the monsters of Hellgondo it’s an important symbol. In their view, they are simply following their god and the throne.”
I was getting increasingly fearful about how things were going. I may not have understood military strategy well, but I at least knew the importance of having the initiative. We’d been letting Alipheese seize it, while we spread out trying to prevent her from doing things. I had no ideas, however, so didn’t say that to the room. It didn’t seem like it would be helpful to complain about not having the initiative while having no ideas about how to regain it.
The war council adjourned. I noticed they were calling them war councils again, which also made my blood run cold. We had not been completely inactive on our side. Tamamo had said that we needed to gather an army, and we had, although we hadn’t deployed it. All of the queens, at least the land queens, were openly for us. Their people would fight. I knew that the King of Sabasa would never submit. That kingdom’s army would be in it with us for certain,and it was by far the best human army. Tamamo was taking advantage of the strong bloodlines in this region by getting the elves in the area to mobilize, as well as putting together a small, elite force of human warriors from Yamatai. Yamatai was not a martial village, but they did have some skilled martial artists and swordsmen who could give an average monster a good battle. It was something, anyway.
It was something, but it didn’t feel sufficient to me. I had a brief thought of doing something incredibly heroic and stupid. I thought, what if I go to the castle myself and try to repeat the feat I did the first time I invaded the castle? I could rush in, challenge the four Ancestors that were there to individual combat, defeat them, then charge into the throne room and finish the first Monster Lord. If the plan had had the slightest plausibility, I would have done it. I knew how to teleport now. I could be at the entrance to the castle with barely a thought. Despite their power, I also felt that I could defeat them all. I was stronger then I had been when I had faced the Knights. One on one, I was willing to bet that I could defeat any of them. What made the plan implausible is that they probably wouldn’t fight me one on one. They would more likely attack me as one and then rape and murder me. The Knights had for the most part fought with honor and perhaps a hand tied behind their backs, not considering me a threat to Alice, simply an annoying human who needed to be taught a lesson. Only Tamamo had known what Alice had been planning. Then there was the matter of the Dark God herself. She wasn’t even at the castle. No one knew where she was.
No, if we were to win without mass death and destruction, resealing them was the only way. I went to go check on Promestein and Hiro once again. In the past two weeks, I’d been there two to three times a day.
“Is it done yet?” “No.”
“Is there anything I can help with?” “No.”
This day would be a little different. I walked in to find Hiro pointing a device at Promestein. They both looked at me as I walked in.
“Oh, you’re here!” Promestein said. “Good, you can observe our first real test of what Hiro calls the… what did you call it?”
“The Seal-O-Matic 5000,” he said proudly.
“We’re not using that,” Promestein said. “And why 5000? That’s the first model. It should just be the Seal-O-Matic.”
“Are you sure you should be testing that on yourself?” I asked. “you’re kind of important to our cause.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s completely reversible, at least the testing model. Obviously the production versions won’t be. Go ahead, Hiro.”
He pointed at her. It looked like it was a fancy flashlight with a wide beam. It seemed more appropriate for Ghostbusters than dealing with powerful godlike beings. He flipped the switch on it and the intensity of the light increased to the point where I couldn’t see Promestein. When the light faded, she was gone.
“Did it work?” Hiro said fearfully. “I sure hope that was supposed to happen.”
“It worked,” a small voice said. We both looked down. Standing in a little lab coat was a little kid that looked like Promestein. “I evaded the seal the way your wife did. It was easy since I knew it was coming. That was my failsafe if we can’t reverse the seal on the first try. Go ahead, Hiro, reverse it.”
Hiro adjusted a couple of knobs on the small device. The light shone again and Promestein was back in her old body.
“Can’t the Ancestors and the Dark God evade the seal that way as well?” I asked.
“Depends on if they know how,” Promestein replied. “Remember, your wife Is a genius with magic. She’s the only one to evade the seal without actually knowing she was being sealed when the spell first hit her. That was an incredibly fast reaction. Even Ilias couldn’t evade it when she wasn’t expecting it.”
“You sealed Ilias?” I asked in disbelief. Wait, the game had said she had done so. I guess it had been a logical assumption.
“We sure did,” she replied smugly. “First step before Black Alice consumed her. To sum up your concerns about the Ancestors, I’m only really worried about the Dark God. She knows this spell well, so I’d judge the odds of her evading the way your wife did to be quite high. Of course, that would still leave her in a much weaker form.”
“Great, so when will you have some for us?”
“I think I can get the first set to you by tomorrow,” she said. “There’s a catch to using these things, though.”
“Uh oh, what’s the catch?”
“It’s not like just shooting a gun where you turn it on and bang! You get immediate results. The subject has to be immobile for a couple of seconds. The spell I used in combination with my big sealing device during the last war could capture a moving target. These portable devices can’t. They need to be beaten down, or bound, or at least frozen in place for it to work. You also have to be close. No more than three feet away.”
“Okay, so ideally, defeat them individually, then seal them,” I said.
“Obviously easier said than done,” she replied. “There’s just one more thing.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Special sauce time,” Promestein said with a smirk, pulling out a few syringes. “your power should make the seals impossible to dispel.”

The news that the sealing devices were almost ready was received with great happiness by Alice and Tamamo. Alice was eager to go on the offensive. Tamamo had more of a defensive purpose in mind, however, at least for the first use of the new device.
Tamamo led Alice and I to the house that my questing companions were staying in. “Cindy, do you think you’re up to a Heavenly Knight-level job?” the kitsune asked.
“A job that important for me?!” Cindy asked excitedly. “Whatever you need, Tamamo, I won’t let you down!”
“Now Cindy,” Alice cautioned. “This is really dangerous. I wouldn’t think any less of you if you didn’t want to do it. It’s just that the Southern Seas are critical because all of human commerce relies on those waters. If they get taken over by Hiroku as the Northern Seas did, it would have dire consequences. Your job will be to protect the queen in the event Hiroku comes after her.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Cindy said enthusiastically. “I’ll do it! If that Ancestor comes after my queen, I’ll whip her good!”
Alice, never one to mince words, told Cindy exactly what she thought of that. “You’re an idiot,” she said. “You have no chance against Hiroku. That’s why you’ll be carrying this.”
Alice handed Cindy the portable sealing device. “The kraken queen also stands no chance against Hiroku, but she’s strong enough to put up a fight. Those two will probably fight by grabbing each other with tentacles. The kraken queen will immobilize Hiroku, giving you a chance to swim up close to her and seal her. Let the kraken queen do all the fighting! All you are going to do is use this device! Do you understand?”
Cindy didn’t even look disappointed. If it meant doing something important, she was down for it.
“Got it, your majesty!” Cindy said, saluting.
Alice didn’t seem all that convinced that she did, but Cindy was the only salt water monster we had available. While Cindy didn’t act as if she was smart, she definitely had combat instincts. She could be shockingly resourceful in a pinch. I had to hope that this wouldn’t be too much for her.
“I think I should go with her,” said Nanabi.
“You?” I asked in disbelief. “In the water? The southern shrine is all the way at the bottom of the sea! How would you even get there?”
“You did,” Nanabi pointed out. “I’ll just do it however you did it. Didn’t you have some kind of device?”
“I did, but I don’t know where it is,” I said. “It’s probably in the castle.”
“Nope!” Tamamo said. “That’s one of the ones I keep here! I keep all the important items you brought back from your last quest here! But Nanabi, are you sure about this? A kitsune not just in the water, but at the very bottom of the sea? For days? Maybe weeks? I just can’t see you enduring that.”
“I can endure it, and I will,” Nanabi insisted. “Cindy Is my friend. I’m not going to let her undertake such a dangerous mission alone. Besides, as great as Cindy is at fighting, she doesn’t know tech. She needs someone to help her with that device if it doesn’t quite work as planned. No kitsune understands tech better than I do. I’ll have Promestein go over all the details of the device with me before we go.”
“Nanabi, you really mean that?” Cindy asked. “You’d journey all the way to the bottom of the sea for me?”
“You were willing to walk on land for three straight days,” Nanabi pointed out. “We were fortunate in that we could get you access to water, but if we hadn’t, you were tough and brave enough to endure the walk. I can endure the feeling of water on my fur.”
“Fine,” Alice said, handing Nanabi the device. “Good luck, you two. And please give the queen kraken my best. She was always in favor of coexistence. She’s very important to our cause.”
“C’mon, Nanabi,” Tamamo said. “Let me go get the Ball of Guidance and show you how to use it. It’s really simple.”

I received a rare treat a few days later when Granberia, finally fully recovered, did some light sparring with me. The “light” part was more for my benefit than hers. As a human, I don’t heal as quickly as monsters. Granberia had to be sure not to injure me, even slightly, given that I might have to fight at any moment.
Just when I thought the match was over, as Granberia had put down her sword, she charged at me and took me down. She lay on top of me smiling.
“I have missed being alone with you, Luka,” she said. “As much as I love battle, being unable to spend time with you has been hard on me. I’d grown used to having a close friend by my side. Perhaps we shall fight together for real, soon.”
“Unfortunately, you seem to be stuck in Grand Noah,” I said.
“No longer,” Granberia replied, getting off of me and helping me up. “Now that we can seal the Ancestors, I am being held here in reserve. Our plan is to use me to seal Saja as soon as we can get a precise fix on her location. I have a score to settle with that one. In the meantime, I will remain here, with you, Tamamo, and Alice.”
“It seems like we’re still waiting for things,” I said. “What if they attack someplace with those dragons? Or by some other method?”
“Then we respond,” Granberia said, shrugging. “It is true that the Dark God holds the initiative, but if those sealing devices work as Promestein says they will, it is sensible to wait for an opportunity. In one way, we have an advantage. They wish to dominate an entire world. We only have to seal six individuals.”
“So Cindy and Nanabi have been sent to lie in wait for Hiroku, and you’re hanging out around here waiting for a chance to get Saja,” I said. “that still leaves four.”
“I only know what my own job is,” Granberia said. “You will certainly be called upon to seal the Dark God herself. I would imagine that Alma Elma and Erubetie will battle their counterparts.”
“They’re overmatched,” I said worriedly.
“They were overmatched when they faced their Next Doll counterparts as well.”
“Funny you’d mention that,” I countered. “Because they kept on teleporting me around to help them out. All of them except you. I guess I’d be wasting my time telling you to please come get me if you run into trouble with Saja.”
“You would indeed be wasting your time,” Granberia said. “As for the others, stay where they can find you in case they do need your assistance.”
“So who takes on Kanon?” I asked. “I don’t think she has a counterpart among the Knights.”
“Don’t let your nervousness cause you to think too much,” Granberia said. “It is normal to try to plan and plan and plan when one is worried. I have certainly done so myself. But now you’re overplanning, trying to come up with strategies to handle enemies for whom it isn’t even your job to plan strategies against. We have the devices. We can teleport. Alice and Tamamo are brilliant strategists. You and I are warriors. We will be called upon, and we shall do our duty. That is our role. You will live longer if you worry less.”
“So do you have some ideas on how you’re going to handle Saja?”
“I have given it a great deal of thought, yes,” she replied. “I will probably need different equipment. She is too fast. I have become attached to my sword and armor. Both were forged exactly to my specifications to face the types of enemies I anticipated facing. Circumstances have changed. I need speed. I need agility. I am willing to sacrifice some power.”
“Wouldn’t a katana be much faster than that huge sword of yours?”
“It would,” she answered. “If I could find one of sufficient quality.”
“I might have just the thing for you.”

“Wow! The Heavenly Knight of Fire, right here in my crib! You’re my idol! Yeah, if you like any of my swords, even all of them, take them! Anything you want!”
Granberia was a bit embarrassed by his excitement, but she apparently had learned how to take it in stride. Which in Granberia’s case meant grunting at him and giving her full attention to his katana collection. I decided not to tell her one of the katanas was dragonsteel. I wanted her to be surprised, and also wanted to see if she could tell just by looking at it or feeling it. If I’d been betting, I’d have put all of my money on her identifying it.
Sure enough, her expression changed from skepticism to wonder and admiration, as she grabbed a katana from the rack and held it up for inspection. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the dragonsteel one. Was it?
“Do you realize that this sword is an antique?” Granberia asked Hiro.
“Um… yeah, that one’s about four hundred years old,” Hiro said. “that’s what I was told, anyway. Mac, the guy who sold it to me, is an honest dude. Said it was a gladiators’ sword from back when they fought to the death in Grand Noah.”
“Perhaps it was used for that four hundred years ago, but this sword is much older than four hundred years,” Granberia said. “This steel is a lost art, from a time when Ilias Continent had blacksmiths who could create weapons that in the hands of a capable human hero, could slay even powerful monsters.”
“They used to be able to do that?” I asked. “The King of San Ilia tried to get me to quest for a sword that could supposedly kill the Monster Lord but Alice picked it up and it broke easily. I’d thought that the humans here were pretty poor at making weapons.”
“For the last few hundred years, they have been,” Granberia said, sniffing the steel and making a face as if she was Alice sniffing an Ama Ama Dango. “the sword Alice broke was likely a forgery. Such weapons most definitely existed at one time. Some of the better ones are in Tamamo’s possession. I wouldn’t put it past her to steal the real sword herself and replace it with a forgery. She enjoys that kind of humor.”
“That’s a katana, though,” Hiro noted. “Those swords didn’t exist here until Yamatai arrived in this world.”
“The current form of this sword is more recent,” Granberia explained. “It must have been a holy sword that was reforged, possibly right here in Yamatai. The hilt is definitely of Yamatai design, fairly recent in fact. The alloy, however, is most definitely an old Ilias Continent alloy. With your permission, I would love to borrow this weapon.”
“Absolutely! No problem! You can have it! I didn’t even know what it was!”
“It is not mine,” Granberia said. “I pledge that I shall return it.”
Hiro looked like he was going to object and insist that Granberia keep it, but a look from her stopped him cold.
“Thank you for lending me this weapon,” Granberia said. “If there is anything you desire in return. Anything….”
Hiro looked very uncomfortable, and in fairness, Granberia’s stare should have made him uncomfortable. It was similar to the stare I received when she looked into my eyes at San Ilia after defeating me. I wondered if it was safe to mention that she hadn’t even found the best katana yet.
“I will be going now,” she said. “Think about how I may best repay you for this amazing favor you have done me. Perhaps you’d like lessons in how to use these?”
Hiro relaxed a little. “Yeah, that would be awesome! Trained by the greatest ass kicker in the world? Who wouldn’t want that?”
Be careful what you wish for, kid, I thought. At least he wasn’t feeling nervous anymore. I might take him aside and suggest that he enjoy Granberia’s gentler gratitude, however.
“Granberia,” I said. “Maybe you should take a look at the rest of them. I think there’s one in his collection that you’ll like even better.”
She looked at me quizzically and then began going through the remaining katanas in Hiro’s collection. I inwardly smiled when I knew she found it. She gasped and grabbed it off the rack, holding it up in elation.
“Please tell me that you actually know what this is,” Granberia said to Hiro.
“That’s dragonsteel, dog!” he said, as excited as she was. “The best steel there is! There can’t be more than a few like that in any human collections!”
I tensed and then inwardly relaxed as Granberia was too absorbed with the katana to notice that Hiro had called her “dog”.
“This sword is enchanted,” she said, sniffing it. “Normally the Monster Lord would disapprove of such a weapon being in human hands, but the enchantment can only be invoked if one has complete mastery of the element of fire.”
She concentrated for a moment. I expected the katana to burst into flame, but what actually happened was even more spectacular. It glowed white hot, almost as if it was a light saber, albeit much brighter and white instead of yellow or blue or red.
“I would normally be reluctant to use a sword as deadly as this,” Granberia said. “But for Saja I shall make an exception.”
“We are trying to seal these Ancestors, not kill them,” I reminded her.
“I would normally tell you where to go with that statement, my friend,” Granberia replied. “But I agree. I will only remove a few parts of her with this before I seal her. That tail could stand to be shorter.”
“Dude!” Hiro exulted. “I totally own a light saber! You’re giving that back, right?”
Granberia ignored him, already having assured him she would return his things and not interested in repeating herself. I’d grown so used to how Granberia was around me that I’d almost forgotten how she was around people she didn’t know.
“I will use two weapons in my battle with Saja,” she said. “she also uses two. In addition, she has a whip which I have not seen, but which I have heard is even faster and more dangerous than her swords. Now I only need to decide how to make myself lighter as well as my sword. My armor is not bulky, but it slowed me down just enough.”
“If you give me a few days, I might have something for you,” Hiro suggested. “Tamamo brought me some stuff a while back that might be almost as tough as your armor but a lot lighter. I’ll need your measurements, of course.”
“You would forge armor… for me?” Granberia asked, for the first time looking at him with something other than sternness.
“Um…. Yeah! Like, who wouldn’t want to create something state of the art for the Heavenly Knight of Fire!”
“Oh, thank God,” Promestein said, still absorbed in her work elsewhere in the room and dutifully ignoring us until now. And why was she invoking God? She can’t have adopted any of my world’s religions! “Yes, Hiro, please do a project of your own. Not that you haven’t been helpful, but I really do prefer working alone. If I need you though, please drop what you’re doing and help.”
“Absolutely, Prom, Mr. Reliable, that’s me!”
Promestein sighed. As someone who also talked “funny” for this world, but wasn’t laying it on that thick, I was aware of how annoying it was to people here. I’d imagine Granberia’s manner of speech would irritate people in my world as well. She was a “thee” and a “thou” away from sounding like Thor.
“If you forge me quality armor, I will be greatly in your debt,” Granberia said, looking at Hiro intensely again.
“I might even have some gadgets that could be useful,” Hiro added, apparently not realizing how deep he was digging. Granberia’s look only grew more intense.
“Monsters…” Promestein muttered.

“Luka, come here!” Gabriella called to me, standing near the forest that bordered the southern portion of Yamatai Village.
I went over to Gabriella and inquired what she wanted. She beckoned me to follow her into the forest. I walked with her for a short time. This area couldn’t even be properly called a forest, so much as a patch of woods, not even the size of a football field. The tree cover was light. It looked more like a park than real woods. There was no overgrowth and it was well maintained by the villagers. I’d heard that young lovers would often sneak into these woods for some private time. As well as monsters and their male prey, since even in Yamatai monsters had always needed to gain consent, and unlike Succubus Village, public sex was strongly frowned upon. At the moment, however, the forest seemed unoccupied. It was just Gabriella and me. By the way, even though I just told you this, I’m really dense sometimes.
We stood there for a moment gazing at the beautiful scenery. I never did quite figure out how the seasons worked around here, but this must have been some version of the beginning of fall, because there were a lot of leaves on the ground and the trees were a bit less leafy than usual when I’d visited Yamatai in the past.
“Do your levitation,” Grabriella instructed. “Go as high as you can.”
I did as she requested. I actually did better than I ever had before, getting about ten feet off the ground before crashing back to earth. Fortunately, the ground was soft. She laughed softly.
“You have blocks on your own mind as great as Ilias placed,” she said. “You should be able to fly as well as any legendary bird, at least as long as you have the fuel to do so. I can see your power clearly. You have barely used any. You should be able to fly from tree to tree as gracefully as the queen harpy. Do you simply not believe you can fly?”
“Not really,” I said. “I come from a world where physics are more stringent. A person can’t fly unless they are supported by the air, or something like that. I’m not familiar with how flight works, I’m afraid.”
“That’s the point of your power,” she said. “It is otherworldly. It defies even the looser physics of this world, although as I told you, some of the more outrageous uses of your power could be dangerous. But flying, many of us can do that.”
She lifted herself off of the ground, soaring and flying around, doing loops in the air, before settling back down gently.
“I know that I’ve told you that you must understand certain things to really do magic well,” she said. “you can never create anything of permanence as you are now. But there are still a great many things you can do using only your imagination. I must confess, this goes against everything I have ever learned as a magic instructor, but you must simply believe. If you believe you can do anything, then you can. Even the limitation on your power, that’s in your head as well. As long as a strand of your power is left, you should be able to regenerate it at once. The only limits on you are the ones you impose on yourself. Are you afraid of being powerful?”
“Actually, no,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. To be honest, I’d be thrilled if I could just be invincible, fight injustice and evil with no fear that anyone could stand against me.”
“A little bit of weakness is always a good thing,” she admonished. “Power corrupts. You must always remain human. But you need not be as limited as you are now. I think a man of your character can stand quite a bit more power before it starts to corrupt his heart. I would very much like to see what we can make of you when you have more time.”
“I’d like that too, Gabriella,” I said. “You’ve been an amazing tutor.”
She embraced me and kissed me on the cheek. “You have made me think that perhaps humans aren’t so bad. The humans here are wonderful as well.”
“I’m glad I helped make another believer,” I said, laughing.
“Yes, speaking of which…. I am hungry. Do you think it would be okay if….?”
“Oh.. Wow… um, Gabriella, as wonderful as that experience was for me, I’m afraid that the conditions under which Alice allows me to mess around with other monsters are pretty specific. I can’t just feed any monster who is hungry. I can only do it if it’s important and I’m the only one who can do it. At least, that’s how I interpret the rules. She hasn’t been as clear as she could be. But if you’re just hungry, there are plenty of males here who would love to feed you.”
“I don’t know them. I know you,” she said, disappointed. “But you are right, of course. Perhaps I should find a willing male. I have just never tried to woo a man before.”
“Believe me,” I said. “You won’t have to ask more than three. And I only say that because half of the men here are taken and take their vows seriously. Nearly all the unattached males would be thrilled to come into this forest with you.”
“Then I shall return,” she said, smiling. “Are you coming?”
“No, I think I’ll practice a little. This place is nice. Maybe it’ll relax me enough that I can do things I never did before.”
“Very well, then,” she said. “Don’t practice too long. I intend to be back with my prey soon.”
“Good luck,” I said, and she left.
Glad that my turning her down hadn’t seemed to hurt her feelings too much, I concentrated on levitating again. It would be really awesome to be able to fly, I thought. I tried something a little dangerous that I probably shouldn’t have. I imagined that I was Iron man, that my shoes had jets under them, and launched myself to the sky. That got me higher than it ever had, actually above the tree tops. I exulted in the sensation. And… then I started to fall. I didn’t panic, though, I imagined myself falling like a feather. I didn’t quite get it completely right, but I slowed my descent enough so that I landed with my knees only slightly bent when my feet hit the ground. Not bad, I thought.
I heard some strange rustling in the small woods. I looked around, to see if maybe an animal was near, or if Gabriella had returned. Nothing. In hindsight, I should have noticed that the trees were moving closer together, ever so slowly, like the bars of a cage closing. Since I wasn’t being terribly observant, I went back to my experiments. Perhaps the fact that it was broad daylight made me feel safer than I should have. That being said, the treetops were closing as well, making it slowly get darker. How did I not notice that? I must have been having too much fun.
I jumped slightly off the ground and made like a superhero, flying forward at high speed only a few feet off the ground. This landing was a little tougher, as I made it about twenty feet and skidded among the fallen leaves and dirt to a stop just short of a tree trunk. Okay, time to start being a little more careful. Can’t get injured when I could be needed, I thought.
I went back to the trick I knew well. I simply levitated myself slowly, higher and higher, staying close to the tree I had landed next to so that I could grab onto a branch if I got too high and started to fall. I could feel that my power had barely been touched. It truly was getting stronger. Perhaps if I kept exercising this way, I could actually create a blast strong enough to obliterate the Dark God. Or at least hurt her enough that she’d be helpless to avoid me sealing her. I really did prefer not to kill, although I didn’t know what I would do if Alipheese murdered someone I cared about. I knew from experience what I was capable of, and I was still not sure that I liked that about myself.
I continued to levitate, perhaps fifty feet above the ground, slowly, slowly rising. Also slowly, it was getting darker and now I was actually starting to notice. What time was it? Had I been out here that long? Was Gabriella having more difficulty finding a man than I expected? Maybe they just went back to his home if he was single. I wish I had a watch or a cell phone here, I thought, but we hadn’t yet figured out how to make cell phones work here. I was pretty sure that required satellites, and getting rockets here wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon.
“Hey there, cutie!”
Directly in front of me, sitting on a tree branch, was Minagi!
“Can you give me a lift?” she said, and leaped off the branch into my arms. The sudden added weight started me plummeting to the ground. I knew she would survive the fall with barely a scratch. Me, on the other hand…Despite what her touch was doing to me, I desperately slowed my descent until we landed on the ground. I still landed too hard. She was on top of me when I hit back first, knocking the wind out of me.
“Oh, you’re just making this so easy!” she said happily, ripping my pants off in one motion. “But like most men, you are naturally most vulnerable to my weapons of pleasure. The others get to deal with your female friends, with all of the blood, and cutting, and hitting, and destructive magic getting thrown around. I get to deal with you the fun way!”
She wasn’t wasting time. As she was speaking, she was reaching for my penis and putting it inside her. I’d grown slightly resistant to her touch. Just her being on top of me and then grabbing my penis didn’t finish me this time. But putting me inside her was too much. I ejaculated instantly. Then kept on ejaculating, orgasm after orgasm. I knew that I would be dead in less than a minute at this rate. A long time ago, I would have been dead already. Being married to the Monster Lord had its advantages.
For now, those advantages were insufficient. She laughed and bounced as I came again and again. She wasn’t even trying to use exotic techniques. What was the point? I was already coming! Perhaps the lack of using those exotic techniques was why I was dying fast, but not losing my mind. I was glad to see that I was not panicking, In real life, I had yet to lose my marbles at a critical moment, and this was definitely a critical moment.
I couldn’t move, due to the most intense critical ecstasy I’d ever felt by far, but I had one card to play. I could see her sexual magic, being experienced at mimicking it from my marriage to Alice. Thank goodness I had practice, because it was hard to think. I simply made a small part of my magic mimic her own. Then I gave up struggling and hoped for the best.
It worked better than I dared hope. She wasn’t used to a taste of her own medicine. At first, it made my problem worse. Her sadistic joy at giving me such hellish, deadly pleasure, turned into intense passion as the pleasure hit her as hard as it hit me. She began gasping and crying out. Good, I thought. She’s even louder than me. Maybe this will bring help! Her bouncing got even more intense as she sought greater and greater heights of pleasure. Now I could tell that she was climaxing as much as I was. She collapsed onto me, continuing to pump away, both of us embracing in an endless climax that would only end in our mutual deaths.
Before I could actually die, however, she lost consciousness and fell off of me. She must never have been subjected to pleasure at the level she could deliver. She could dish it out, but not take it. I just had to hope that help would arrive, or that I could move again, before she awakened. I realized that if someone came with a sealing device, that we could seal Minagi right here and now.
My hopes were dashed in the next moment as I was suddenly submerged in a viscuous substance. I’d been looking up, being on my back and all, and without warning a gigantic mass of slime simply fell on me. Kanade!
She also wasn’t wasting time. There were no speeches, no threats. She simply landed on me, highly acidic, and began dissolving me. Painfully. The Dark God was trying to take me out! If she put me out of play, it was all over. Alice had been right that I should try to stay away from danger until a critical moment. I was getting taken out because I’d wandered into a small patch of woods! I’d developed a false sense of security hanging out in the peaceful Yamatai Village, with so many of my powerful friends so close. Where were they? Had they not heard all the noise?
Let me tell you, being dissolved in acid is even worse than being cut up. I thought I’d known pain from Granberia’s sword. This was far worse. It was so awful that my power released completely, a painful orgasmic explosion of otherworldly power that would have nuked Yamatai Village had the most powerful slime in existence not absorbed the entirety of the explosion. One moment, I was covered in slime, horribly burning and dissolving to death. The next I was on my back in fresh air once again, slime raining down everywhere. She seemed to have been obliterated. I didn’t feel bad for her. She should have gone with the pleasurable dissolving, which all powerful slimes were capable of. She had chosen pain instead, out of sadism. Play cruel games, win cruel prizes.
I was in considerable pain. She had only been dissolving me for a few seconds, but I could tell looking at my body how messed up I was. I must have had second and third degree chemical burns all over my body. Had I an ounce of power left, I would have tried to relieve some of my own pain the way I did for Eden. Perhaps I could have healed myself at least partially. But I had nothing left. I was in critical ecstasy, severely hurt, and powerless. If there was a third enemy and my friends didn’t get here, I was doomed.
The small woods seemed to be growing smaller. Now the change was very noticeable. The trees had grown so close together that it felt like a wooden prison. Despite the daylight outside, it was as if it was night within these small woods. This had to be Kanon’s work. How many of her daughters had the Dark God sent for me?
I dimly heard explosions and yelling from a distance. I could distinctly make out Gabriella’s voice. Alice’s as well. Others were near. Perhaps help would come soon. But it seemed as if the woods were preventing entry to any aid. I’d read that Kanon could make all of nature fight against her enemies. I was seeing it in action. Slowly her familiar, more humanoid form, descended to the ground in front of me.
“It appears that I get to be the one to finish you,” she said. “I can enjoy it slowly, unlike my sisters. Your friends can see you. I assure you, they have no chance to rescue you. My wards will prevent even your Monster Lord’s magics from penetrating. I will enjoy seeing the look on her face as I drain you and dissolve you. Don’t worry, my dear boy. I am not as cruel as Kanade. It will be a peaceful end.”
Numerous vines shot out, wrapping me up. She was true to her word. This was a mercy. The pain of my burns immediately went away, replaced by intense pleasure and a feeling of peace. Perhaps it was time to give up. I could not win. I was immobile, powerless, and my friends could not reach me unless she was overconfident in her spells’ ability to keep even Alice out. But as had happened to me many times on my first journey when I had been about to give up, I stopped thinking about myself and began to think about the ones I loved. If I died, they would die, or be enslaved. I had to keep fighting. But how? I had nothing left. So I did the only thing I could do. I prayed.
I couldn’t even speak, so I prayed silently. God, please help me. If you’re a part of this world, if you truly have dominion of all things, please save me. No, save this world!
A bright light burst into the forest, shattering the prison from above, turning the darkness back into daylight. Cursing, Kanon released me, causing me to drop onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. The pain slowly started to return. But through the pain, there was hope. I had never seen a figure so majestic in my life. Standing to my left, facing Kanon, was Eden. Her wrath only made her more beautiful. Not many women actually look beautiful when they are angry. Eden was an exception, the wrath adding a holy glow to her features that made her both intimidating and lovelier than ever.
“I was wondering when I’d get to face you again, ancient enemy!” Kanon said, hatred dripping from her voice like sap.
“I could have waited quite a bit longer, myself,” Eden replied. “I hadn’t intended to intervene in this conflict until requested. My dear friend has now requested it. Let us find out who truly is the master of nature!”
Lying on my back, I’m afraid I couldn’t give you a play by play of what occurred next. I lost sight of both the Ancestor and the Angel, as the small forest seemed to wage war on itself. Leaves and wood flew everywhere like shrapnel. Lying flat on the ground probably saved me from further damage. When the battle finally ended, I was surrounded by friendly faces. The woods were no more. Only stumps and piles of foliage remained.
“Oh Luka,” Eden said, kneeling gently before me. “Oh, brave hero Luka. Defeating two Ancestors while lying on your back is quite a feat. Not even Seraphs can claim to have accomplished that. Now if your wife does not object, allow me to return the favor you once did me, and relieve your considerable pain.”
Alice motioned for her to do what was necessary. Alice’s restoration abilities were limited to reversing magical effects, like critical ecstasy, or paralyzation. She was not a healer. And my injuries were too much for the local healers. Eden was my only salvation.
I feared that Eden would have sex with me right in from of all my friends, and most importantly, my wife, who still held quite a grudge against the new goddess for entirely understandable reasons. But Eden didn’t need to go that far. She did disrobe and place her naked body on top of mine. She also kissed me, deeply and passionately. But no more than that. A feeling of warmth and peace similar to what I had felt the first time she had touched me filled me. If I hadn’t known that she was flawed and limited in power herself, I might have become one of her worshippers after that experience. The end result was that I was completely restored.
“Thank you,” Alice said, approaching Eden as she put her white robes back on. “I can never forgive you for the crimes you have inflicted upon my people, but at least now I can forgive you for what you did to Luka, and be grateful for what you’ve done for him. I only know dark magics. I could not have relieved his suffering. If you want to truly be allies in the future in building this better world, you’ve earned an ally today.”
“Oh, Luka!” Gabriella cried. “This is all my fault! Curse my lust! I should never have touched a human!”
“Okay, I’m sure I don’t want to know what that’s about,” Alice replied angrily. “and later on we are going to have a serious talk about you wandering off like that. Those beings can teleport! No place is truly safe!”
“Um, guys, we might want to deal with the more immediate problem.”
Promestein was standing over Minagi’s still unconscious body. Her body wasn’t the only one. Kanade, far from obliterated, had reformed, her own body still lying unmoving on the ground. Kanon was in similar straits, her half plant, half human body lying motionless.
Promestein pulled out a sealing device(I’m just not going to call it a Seal-O-Matic, sorry), and pointed it at the fallen succubus. She turned it on and it worked like a charm. Minagi was gone, presumably zapped to subspace, safely back in her ancient seal. Gabriella took a device and did the same to Kanade. Apparently each device had only one use? Promestein pulled out another, but Eden requested to do the honors for Kanon. Eden seemed quite satisfied when Kanon disappeared in a flash of light.
“I’ll never get used to how our success increases in proportion to your idiocy,” Alice said in wonder. “I would never have imagined that we could seal three of the Ancestors so soon. And it was all because of you, Luka! Maybe we should stop making plans and let you just be you.”
“As much as I appreciate the backhanded compliments, my dearest wife,” I said. “It seems that our success is less.. painful for me when it’s the result of your well laid plans.”
“See? You do learn!” Alice said with a smile.
That smile had been only for show. When she got me alone back at Tamamo’s house, thankfully with Tamamo not present, she held me and cried for an hour. It was as if she was letting it out for all the times she had watched violence be done to me and not intervened, hiding her true feelings about what she was witnessing.
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Luka's Story 2: Ancestors