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Luka's Story-Paradox	By : Ditmag Category: +M through R > Monster Girl Quest Views: 2709 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Monster Girl Quest Paradox is the intellectual property of Tortorro Restistance. I make no money from this.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
Back at the castle, Alice took me to her room. Not for a feeding, which was rather surprising given her gluttony, but to speak privately.
“I don’t even know where to start,” she said. “how much of all that’s happened in the last few days did you know was going to happen?”
“None of it,” I insisted. “Mithril, that technology, a… robopope, a super powerful intelligent robot… that was all new. Nothing even remotely like any of that happened to me back on my world.”
“That’s not comforting. If we’re supposed to be reenacting history in order to reduce chaos, having all these crazy things happen that aren’t supposed to can’t be helping.”
“Well, our next two missions should be a little more in line with the true history. Getting Sylph was obviously something I did the first time, and the haunted house was also something that happened.”
“Okay, so we’ll go to the haunted house….”
“No,” I said firmly. “I will go to the haunted house. Maybe I’ll take Sonya. But you are not going anywhere near that place. You’re not strong right now, you won’t have any useful information since I’ve already been there, and you have a phobia.”
“I do not!”
“Alice….”
“Okay, fine, maybe I’m a little scared of ghosts! I guess I can’t hide that from you. But ghosts aren’t even real! So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that ghosts are real, and they are in that house,” I answered.
“You can’t be…. You are serious, aren’t you? G-Ghosts? In the h-house?”
“Uh huh. I had to carry you all the way back to San Ilia because you’d fainted.”
“Maybe I’ll stay here then,” she said.
“That’s a good idea.”

Sonya also flagged me down in the hallway, on my way to checking in with Promestein. I was making a point to visit Promestein daily, for a few reasons. First, she had potential to be trouble and needed careful handling. Second, she didn’t usually come to the dining room for dinner, so I had to bring her sustenance to keep her mind in tip top condition. Especially since she slept as rarely as she ate. Third, she was my greatest hope for getting to the bottom of the mysteries we were trying to solve, so getting a daily briefing from her was essential. But first, Sonya needed to talk to me.
“Wasn’t that whole situation wild?!” Sonya asked excitedly. “The pope… he turned into… Did you know that was going to happen?”
“No, that definitely didn’t happen on my first adventure,” I replied.
“And those insect creatures! And Hild! So crazy! I feel so overwhelmed all the time. I don’t know if I’m up to all of this. You have such powerful friends. I'm just... me.”
“Believe me, Sonya, you’ve done really well. You performed better than anyone in that facility. You reacted faster than most when I got paralyzed by that apoptosia…”
“Apoptosis,” she corrected.
“And you got the pope out of harm’s way.”
“That’s what we were there for, to protect him.”
“Don’t ever doubt your value to me, Sonya,” I said. “I know you’re having trouble with the fact that I’m not your Luka, and that I’m…. involved with our companions.”
“I admit that bothers me, but there’s more to it. I’m just a kid, Luka! I’m growing used to the idea that you’re the older, wiser leader figure. I imagine I’m going to grow up a lot in the coming weeks. Who will I be at the end of this? Will I even have the patience to deal with a Luka who didn’t go through those things with me? He’s so… innocent and naïve. I used to find those qualities so endearing, if frustrating at times. But I’ll be so beyond him in maturity when this is over.”
“You’d be amazed at how quickly people revert back to old habits once they return to their routines,” I assured her.”Yes, for awhile you’ll feel like a different person. But once things get back to normal, your life will reassert itself and you’ll start looking at the world the way you did before all this. In most ways, anyway. On the other hand, things could happen to you on this quest that will change you forever. If that happens, you may very well no longer be the kind of person who could love Luka.”
“Well, at least it won’t break his heart,” she shrugged. “He was always blissfully unaware that I was into him. And I’ll still be his best friend. That will never change.”
Sonya and I found Hild standing in place in a hallway. Hild’s eyes turned to meet mine when she detected my presence.
“Master Umluka,” Hild said. “Do you have any instructions for me? Perhaps a mission?”
“Our next mission isn’t really suited for your talents, Hild,” I replied. “So just hang out in this castle and…. Do whatever interests you. Do you have any interests?”
“Interests?” Hild asked, confused by the question. “My only interest is saving the world.”
“But once you accomplish that, what will you do?”
“I am a machine,” Hild replied. “Once I serve my purpose, I will probably go dormant until master needs me again.”
“You seem to be more than just a machine, Hild,” Sonya insisted. “Why create you in such a… lifelike form if you’re just meant for battle? You could have just been all weapons.”
“My body is sixty percent weaponry,” Hild replied.
“But that other forty percent is there for a reason, isn’t it?”
HIld seemed to consider Sonya’s point. “I do have a free will subroutine. It is not supposed to be activated unless master directs, or my mission is complete. I had decided to simply go dormant to preserve my resources in case I was needed again. But perhaps I will activate my free will and do… something else.”
“If you have a free will button…”
“Subroutine,” Hild corrected. “I have no buttons.”
“Okay, subroutine,” Sonya said. “Activate it now! Do something interesting with your free time, rather than just…. Standing in place and waiting for orders.”
“I can only activate my free will subroutine at the direction of master,” Hild replied.
“Luka, could you….?”
“Oh, sure,” I replied, although recognizing that there were a ton of ways this could go wrong. Still, Hild simply standing in the hallway was bothering me as well. “Hild, activate free will subroutine.”
The change in Hild’s demeanor was subtle and yet radical. Her eyes, lifeless and artificial, seemed to change, appearing to have depth behind them where there was none before.
“I’ve done as you asked, master Umluka,” Hild said. “I think I will…. Go and read. Is there a library in this castle?”
“There is,” I said. “It’s…. actually, I’m not sure how to find it. This castle doesn’t have the same layout as the one I lived in.”
“I shall explore and map the castle for your later reference then,” Hild said. “When finished, I will read and learn more about the world I’m trying to save.”
“That’s outstanding!” Sonya cheered. “Do you like games?”
“I have never played a game. At least, I don’t believe I have. My memory seems to have been mostly erased. Do games have value?”
“Well, they’re fun, which is the most important part, but they also can improve your thinking and reasoning skills.”
“Then I would love to play games with you, Sonya,” Hild said, almost sounding happy.
“Oh, this is so exciting! We’ll be best friends, Hild!”
“Friends? That sounds… nice.”
“Hild, if you would, could you also talk to Promestein, answer any questions she has?” I asked. “Remember, don’t allow her to take any parts from you. Don’t let her do anything to you at all. But any questions she has, please answer them to the best of your ability.”
“I’m going with you whenever you talk to Promestein, Hild,” Sonya said. “I don’t trust her.”
“I believe that would be best,” Hild replied.
“It’s a little late, Hild, so do you want to come to my room and play chess with me?” Sonya asked.
“Chess,” Hild replied. “I know this game. It is an excellent tactical simulation. Yes, chess sounds useful and fun. Yay.”
“Okay, don’t ever say yay unless you can muster up some enthusiasm. It sounds super weird when you say it. C’mon, I’ll show you to my room. You can map the castle while I sleep.”
“In a moment, Sonya,” Hild said. “master, since it is late, would you like me to pleasure you before you go dormant for the night?”
“What?! No!” Sonya yelled. “He doesn’t need you to pleasure him!”
“But that is a purpose my soft parts were created for. To pleasure master.”
“What kind of pervert created you!?”
“My non-metallic, anthromorphic parts do not only serve the purpose of pleasuring master,” Hild explained. “They also make others more willing to speak to me when I must gather information.”
“Well, I guess that makes sense,” Sonya grudgingly admitted. “Promestein mentioned that your looks make you more sympathetic. I have to admit, I was more protective of you than I was of those bugs.”
“My sexual organs are also an alternative source of energy extraction.”
“What?!”
“Semen is an energy source. Since I was being sent to a time in which there would be little in the way of efficient energy sources, my master assumed that I could rely on semen to keep myself fully powered up.”
“Do you need semen now?” I asked. “Are you low on energy?”
“Luka!!” Sonya exclaimed. “We have men here who can help her with that.”
“My sensors detect that Umluka’s semen is very potent,” Hild said. “But I do not need energy at the moment. I am currently at 85%.”
“How long will that last? When will you need to charge?” I asked.
“If I am not in combat, my current charge should last one year,” Hild replied.
“Oh, thank Ilias,” Sonya sighed.
“However, if I engage in combat for more than one hour, I will need an energy source to continue to be effective.”
“Every hour?!”
“Depending on conditions, yes. And availability of alternative energy sources.”
“That’s good to know, Hild,” I said. “We’ll be sure to only utilize you in critical situations. It’s not practical to give you my semen every hour that we’re in a combat situation. Do you cause critical ecstasy?”
“I can,” Hild replied. “My programming allows for the forcible extraction of semen from unwilling males if they are an enemy. But if I am pleasuring master, or an ally, I will not drain energy.”
“Good to know,” I said. “Sonya, I know it bothers you when others drain me, so we’ll try to keep Hild out of combat except when we really need her. Hopefully she’ll be such an asset that any combat she’s in won’t last long. Then she’ll be able to recharge back here.”
“I understand,” Sonya said. “And thank you, Luka. I know I have no right to be jealous, but I can’t control how I feel. C’mon Hild, let’s go play chess. Chess won’t drain your resources much, will it?”
“My processing is extremely efficient,” Hild replied. “Only combat is a large drain on my resources.”
“Good, because I intend to kick your ass at chess and I don’t want you staggering around these halls like a mendicant begging men for energy.”
“Have fun, ladies,” I said, and headed down to the lab to check on Promestein.
To my delight, Promestein was already eating a bowl of applesauce. Her new mithril sword, which she never used in the facility, was on the table in front of her.
“Hey, love to see that you’re eating!” I greeted her. “Did you find that in the pantry?”
“No, I never leave this lab unless I’m out in the field,” Promestein replied. “Ilias brought this to me.”
“Ilias? I didn’t know she cared that much.”
“It was unusual,” the scientist mused. “She was a little emotional. Losing her Seraph, nearly being killed yesterday…. I healed her. She had some internal damage. Would have been fatal if left untreated.”
“Oh, so she felt she owed you one,” I said.
“Apparently, she felt that applesauce was a way of repaying that debt,” Promestein chuckled. “She had an ulterior motive as well. She wanted me to study her, find out how much power she got from Micaela and what she might be able to do with it.”
“She’s possessed vast amounts of holy power before. Why would she be confused about how to use it?”
“She was worried that she might be containing too much power for her current form, and that it’s use could do her harm. She can’t detect and read magic as well as she used to. She knows she’s powerful now, relative to how she was, but she can’t read her own power precisely enough to be certain of what she can and can’t do.”
“And could you read her well enough to tell?”
“It was easy, actually,” Promestein replied. “She’s at my level now. In other words, she’s got the power of an adult lowly angel, rather than a lowly angel toddler.”
“Do Ilias and Alice’s sealed forms place severe limits on their power?” I asked.
“Yes, their bodies can only hold so much. It’s more of a problem for Ilias than Alice. Ilias in her true form is pure holy energy. In her sealed form, she’s partially holy energy, but partially flesh and blood. In her true form she only simulates flesh. The Monster Lord, on the other hand, is very much herself, just smaller. She can come closer to her true potential in her small form, simply because her potential is far less than Ilias’. I estimate that she can max out at about half of her true power in that form. Ilias at best could be only a tenth of what she was. But practically, they are equal while sealed. Ilias just has a lead on Alice in power at the moment. Since Alice doesn’t trust her, we can count on Alice to redouble her efforts to catch up.”
“So what are you working on now?” I asked, “Anything to report?”
“In regards to the chaos spreading around the universe, no,” she replied. “Right now I’m working on enchanting this sword. I know you don’t like killing, so I’m trying to create something similar to Angel Halo. I’m altering the sword so that it draws energy rather than literally cutting my enemies.”
“That’s really great, Promestein!” I said. “Could you do that for the weapons the others are carrying?”
“If they are made of mithril, yes. It’s not a high priority for the less powerful members of our team. Monsters are likely to be the bulk of our sentient opponents, and they don’t die easily. I’m fairly powerful, so I need to be able to fight without holding back. I know that the Monster Lord doesn’t want to kill her opponents, so once I’m done with my sword I’ll enchant her rapier as well. I’m sure I can also talk Ilias into letting me replace her arrow heads with enchanted mithril. She likes killing monsters, but takes your rules very seriously. It’s also more practical if the arrows can seal upon contact. Although I don’t know if I can make them that powerful. We’d need an even more conductive material, such as orichalcum.”
“Oral what?”
“Orichalcum,” she corrected. “It can hold even more magic than mithril. It’s very rare, though. A sealing arrowhead made with orichalcum would seal all but the most powerful entities if the arrow so much as grazed them.”
“Hopefully we’ll come across that, then.”
“It would certainly be nice,” Promestein agreed. “Would you mind helping me test my sword? I want to see if the enchantment took.”
“Test it how?” I asked suspiciously.
“By cutting you, of course,” she said, as if she was asking merely to prick me with a needle.
“How about no?”
“If I don’t test it now, then it will have to be tested in the field, and I might accidentally kill my opponent. I don’t care, but I know that you do. Don’t worry, it won’t even hurt. I’ve made it superior to Angel Halo. Angel Halo is very good at draining energy, but it causes as much pain as a real cut.”
“You made your sword so that it cuts painlessly?” I asked. “Promestein, that’s amazing! Thank you for doing that! I always hated that I hurt my opponents, even though it caused no real damage. I hate pain, myself. So I sympathize with my opponents when I hurt them. Is there any chance you could alter Angel Halo’s enchantment in the same way?”
“It would be very difficult, perhaps impossible. That sword was forged by a Seraph with the intent of punishing her own kind. As painful as the touch of that sword is to monsters, it’s excruciating to angels, and it’s intended to be.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said, feeling extra bad now for the angels I’d struck with the sword.
“So can I test?” Promestein asked.
“Um…. I guess?”
“Excellent!” Promestein said eagerly, picking the sword off the table and approaching to within an arms length of me. She took a deep breath. I took a deep breath as well. Promestein readied herself. “Oh, take your shirt off. I can heal your body, but I can’t fix fabric.”
“Oh, good idea,” I said, removing my shirt and the mithril mail under it. Wait, good idea!? What about this was a good idea?
“Angel Dance!” she cried, and executed three quick but shallow cuts on my bare chest, almost like Zorro cutting his Z into his enemies. I looked down. I knew what energy draining cuts looked like. Flesh would appear to part, but instead of blood, energy would leak from the wounds like steam. All I was seeing was blood trickling from the wounds.
“OWWWWWWWWW!” I yelled as the pain set in.
“It doesn’t look like the enchantment worked,” Promestein sighed. “Come back tomorrow and we’ll test it again.”
“Promestein!”
“Oh, sorry, you need healing,” she said hastily. “You can’t heal yourself?”
“I’ve never been as good at it as healing other people.”
“Interesting,” she said, placing her hands on the cuts as soothing holy energy seeped into the wounds. “I wonder what that says about the kind of person you are?”
The wounds healed within a few minutes. I found myself getting hard from Promestein’s touch. It was interesting how angels and monsters were so much alike in that almost everything about them had an erotic quality. Sonya could touch me and I could have no reaction unless there was sexual intent behind her actions. But if an angel or monster so much as shook hands with me, it made my hand feel like it was being pleasured, if only for a moment. Having an angel’s hands on my bare chest was causing my body to react. Promestein didn’t notice, or being used to it, chose not to comment. Instead, she had a question.
“Luka, what is pain like?” she asked.
“It… is unpleasant. Something most mortal beings want to avoid at all costs.”
“I know that much. It’s the opposite of pleasure. It’s a noxious stimulus designed to make even the most unintelligent creatures learn not to do things that could result in their harm. Whereas pleasure encourages behaviors that are evolutionarily advantageous. But can you describe what it feels like?”
“It’s hard to explain if you’ve never experienced it. I know angels don’t feel pain, or pleasure. But clearly you feel. Otherwise, how would you know if something is good or bad for you?”
“Angels didn’t evolve, we were created,” Promestein explained. “If I cut myself, I know I’ve been cut. My brain tells me that I’ve been cut. I feel the cut. But it’s not pleasure or pain. It’s merely information. I have been cut. So I heal it. Since we are intelligent and immortal, we don’t need such base responses as pain and pleasure to teach us how to survive. As long as our injuries don’t cause our immediate deaths, we can recover. Animals in the wild, on the other hand, something as minor as a sprained leg can cause their starvation, or leave them vulnerable to predators. So animals evolved to avoid injury at all costs.”
“Well, your counterpart… altered herself so that she could feel pain and pleasure,” I said. “I hope you won’t do that to yourself.”
“Why not? Did she like experiencing those things?”
“The pleasure, I’m sure she did. But pain, she didn’t have much use for.”
“Ilias seems to have expressed the same opinion. It’s what I would expect, but it still doesn’t tell me what those sensations are like.”
“So when angels have sex, they feel nothing pleasurable?”
“No,” she answered. “Angels use sex to punish or reward males. It doesn’t matter how it feels to us. Feeling pleasure would only get in the way of inflicting reward or punishment. It would make it harder to concentrate. That doesn’t mean we get no enjoyment out of it. It’s fun and interesting.”
“Oh. Well, again, I can’t tell you what to do, but I hope you’ll avoid the mistakes your counterparts in other universes keep making. Your holy nature is precious. If you really want to feel what mortals do, I believe there’s a way to make it so that you can do it temporarily. But please don’t do the things to yourself that my Promestein did. She may never have expressed regret over it, but she lost a lot of herself in the process.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” Promestein replied. “But let’s talk about you. I found out some interesting things about you through your semen sample,” Promestein said when she was finished. “Your DNA is unique. You may look human, but your DNA is as similar to humans in this world as their DNA is to an artichoke. I doubt you’d be able to produce any children with anyone in this world.”
“I knew that,” I said. “I was married, and of course you know I’ve been with a LOT of monsters. I did reproduce though. My wife had twins.”
“I guess if you had sex enough times, and the female had sufficient control over her reproductive system, it could happen. But you don’t have to worry much about getting anyone pregnant. The odds are astronomical without intent and ability to achieve that intent. And even then I imagine it must have been very difficult.”
“it was. It took a year of trying.”
“I’m surprised it was that easy,” Promestein said. “You would have had to be married to an extremely powerful monster.”
“Did you learn anything else?” I asked.
“Probably nothing you don’t already know. I still have to map and analyze your DNA. That means I’ll need more semen. I’m still working on a magical syringe that can withdraw your power directly, but that task is proving more difficult than I anticipated. I have to admit I’m very impressed with my older counterpart. It’s good to know that as long lived as I am and as brilliant as I am, I will continue to become even smarter and more knowledgeable. I’m almost embarrassed to be working for you as I am now. I must be a virtual ignoramus compared to the version of me you are used to working with.”
“An ignorant Promestein is ten times smarter than me,” I laughed. “I appreciate whatever help you can provide.”
“I’m significantly more than ten times smarter than you,” Promestein noted. “But in order to take advantage of my intelligence, we’ll need more semen. And I made you something special for that purpose.”
Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out a small, squishy…. It looked like some kind of sex toy. To my horror, it was twitching.
“Is that thing mechanical?” I asked.
“No, you said you didn’t like mechanical draining. So I made this entirely biological.”
“Wait, that thing’s alive!?!”
“Technically yes, although it’s not sentient. Its only purpose is to drink semen, which it doesn’t even digest. It’s very efficient. It will feel amazing and make you come several times, and I’ll be able to collect and study one hundred percent of it, so I won’t need samples as often. It’s truly a marvel!”
I was pretty sure it burped. “Um…..”
“So let me just put this on your penis and you can stand there and drain into it. It doesn’t cause critical ecstasy.”
“I…. don’t want that anywhere near my penis. Especially after your last test went the way it did.”
“But there’s no possible way that this can injure you!”
“No, Promestein! Bad scientist! No putting artificial living things on my dick! I have a rule about people who want my semen. They have to get it from me themselves. With their own bodies! I have… experience with artificial devices, most if not all of them created or influenced by the work of your counterpart. None of them were pleasant, although I admit they got the job done.”
Promestein sighed and placed the wriggling semen sucker back into her drawer. “Okay,” she said. “Go sit down in the chair and I’ll use my hands again. The things I do for science.”
I removed my pants and sat down on the chair, as Promestein knelt between my legs once again. As much as I disliked being looked at with predatory eyes, I wasn’t too fond of Promestein’s clinical expression either. I found that what I really liked was the way Kyona had looked at me a few days back. Her expression had told me, “I’m doing this for you,” even though she had also been doing it for her own sustenance.
Instead of using the lube as she had last time, she slobbered on her hands and went to work. Just the touch of her hands and her saliva caused me to writhe in pleasure.
“Interesting,” she observed. “Part of your reaction can be explained by my inherent magic, which would be present in my saliva in a way that it wouldn’t be in the lubricant I used last time. But I think it’s also psychological. Men seem to prefer bodily fluids, even if they aren’t as efficient as artificial lubricants.”
I wholeheartedly agreed with that. It also didn’t hurt that this was the second time and she was a fast learner. Her technique was already expert-level. I was already close to orgasm. Sensing that as well, Promestein slowed down and loosened her grip.
“I must thank you for placing your body in front of mine and taking those paralyzing scales,” she said. “I’ll try to reward you by making this better than last time.”
Her fingers of one hand danced around my shaft and head while the other softly stroked me. Promestein had to add more spit since her hand was already drying.
“So inefficient,” she sighed. “But you seem to like it.”
I sighed in appreciation. Silently, she continued to pleasure me with her hands, adding more saliva whenever her hands became a little dry. She made me last ten minutes, then decided to end it, pulling a cup out of her lab coat and jerking me furiously into it.
“That’s one,” she said with satisfaction. “it was a lot, too. I thought that edging you a little might result in greater output. I also gather that you haven’t ejaculated in three days?”
“Two, I think,” I said. Indeed, no monster had approached me, and I hadn’t gone looking.
“Since you gave me a lot, I’m going to just do your next one for pleasure,” she said, giving me a soft smile.
“Saving you from getting paralyzed wasn’t that big a deal,” I insisted. “You don’t have to. I know you just do this to get a sample.”
“Your behavior is interesting to study,” she replied. “Besides, sexual techniques are useful in combat. I never learned them well enough to apply them practically. Those classes weren’t mandatory like the sword classes were. So it couldn’t hurt for me to refine my hand skills. How’s this?”
She began moving both hands around in circles. My response was notable, so of course Promestein noted it.
“Ah, I’ll keep this one In mind,” she said. “You like this. How about this?”
She began moving her hands quickly back and forth, as if she was trying to warm them. That was a Cindy special, although Cindy could do it with four hands. Six if my dick had been longer. If we ever met a succubus who could cast a spell to make my dick bigger, I'd have to visit Cindy with it. Maybe she could pleasure me with eight hands!
“Move your hands up, just under the head,” I instructed.
“Like this?” she asked, her palm directly stimulating my frenulum and back muscle. The response was instantaneous, my semen shooting everywhere.
“That works,” she said, amused. “Too quick, though. I’ll keep that in mind as a finisher, but I wanted this to be good for you. So I’ll keep going, but a little more gently.”
She began to slowly knead my penis with both hands, which I loved but wasn’t likely to cause me to orgasm again anytime soon. Satisfied that it was giving me pleasure, but not too much pleasure, she continued with that technique for a few minutes, my pleasure slowly building.
“Wasn’t that facility incredible?” Promestein asked as she worked. “That technology! I can’t believe how amazing it all was! Is there any chance I could go back in there? I might be able to learn some things that would be a huge help to our mission.”
“You have a point, but it’s pretty dangerous down there,” I said.
“You overestimate the danger,” Promestein countered. “Even humans weren’t dying down there. Those apoptoses weren’t nearly as dangerous as the ones in the Tartarus. I think it’s because they weren’t defending space time from intruders. I wonder how they got in that facility? Was it a byproduct of whatever event transported that facility to this time period?”
“Still, we have to go to the haunted house and the forest of spirits,” I said. “I do want to revisit that place, but I’m not sure it’s the highest priority right now.”
“The pope said the place was cleared. Maybe I should just go myself. I have no interest in the haunted house or the forest of spirits.”
“I’m not really comfortable with that,” I said. “I mean, I can’t tell you what to do, but I don’t think you should go down there by yourself.”
“Then escort me,” she insisted. “Between the two of us, no stragglers remaining down there should be a threat.”
“Promestein, I know how much you want to look around in there, but I just don’t think-“
I was cut off in mid sentence by the sensation of her mouth on my penis. Not that I was terribly unfamiliar with that mouth from my relationship with her counterpart, but it still caught me by surprise and it had been many centuries.
“Please?” she said hopefully, then resumed sucking.
“Okay, okay!” I said. “We’ll get up early and check the place out tomorrow morning! I can teleport us directly inside since I’ve been there recently.”
“Thank you,” she said. “now come in my mouth.”
She was obviously doing this for the first time, as her technique was clumsy, but the feeling of her tongue exploring my shaft and head was wonderful nonetheless, a contrast to her more mature counterpart’s experienced, more predictable way of blowing me. I was also noticing how much stronger her angel magic was. Promestein’s endless experiments on herself had rendered her nearly human, preserving her immortality but weakening almost every other aspect of her magic, except that which she had enhanced through further experiments. Monster magic made men’s lust rise, causing arousal and ejaculation very quickly. Angel magic, by contrast, soothed the soul. I found myself relaxing under her ministrations, enjoying how comfortable her mouth felt. Despite her inexperience, it felt like she was making love to my penis, rather than trying to suck as much semen out as quickly as possible. I still didn’t last long, however, thanks to the work her hands had done before she had escalated to sucking me. I came into her mouth, causing her to slow down and concentrate on accepting it all without gagging.
When I finished coming, she removed my dick from her mouth and swallowed. “Hmmm… I don’t get the appeal,” she said. “The taste isn’t offensive, but hardly what I’d call delicious. Monsters must have evolved to enjoy the taste because it gives them sustenance. Still, it gave you enjoyment, so I’ll do that to you again sometime. There’s a couch over there. Why don’t you nap and then we can go to the facility when you awaken? I’m going to keep working on this sword.”

I teleported Promestein and myself directly into the facility. It sure was convenient to be able to do that. I wished that I could teleport to places I hadn’t seen before, as powerful monsters and angels could, but that weakness was offset by my accuracy. I always ended up exactly where I envisioned.
Promestein looked around in wonder, despite already having seen the place. “Luka! This is…. Incredible!”
“Promestein, please tell me that you have super senses,” I said.
“As in superior smell or hearing? I’m afraid not. My senses are no better than yours in that regard.”
“Okay, I’ll do my best to keep an eye out. Those things are quick, so don’t get too mad at me if we get surprised. Maybe we should have recruited a monster to come with us.”
“Maybe it’s illogical for me to say this,” Promestein said. “But I like being down here just with you. It almost feels… romantic. A third party here would just ruin the mood.”
Romantic? Promestein was so weird. But it made sense. I was helping her stimulate her intellect. What could be more romantic to a being who was created for the sole purpose of having a great intellect, so that Ilias wouldn’t have to be troubled with all that thinking?
Promestein was already at a terminal near the entrance fo the facility. “Wow, this is easy to use,” Promestein said. “It’s not even password protected.”
Data began to appear on the screen. Promestein scrolled through it much faster than I would have been able to. She went through what appeared to be over one hundred pages of text in 10 minutes, while I looked around, daring anything to try to attack us.
“Okay, I think I’ve got the gist of it,” she said. “First of all, this facility’s network is cut off. It appears that we can’t read all the data from here. This terminal has various manuals. I was hoping for some research journals. That may be on other terminals. Do you understand any of what I’m saying, Luka?”
“I understand all of it,” I said. “Sorry, I’m just being your protector in here. I know you’re going to be absorbed in checking everything out. But I do understand computer networks.”
“You are just full of unexpected delights, Luka!” Promestein said happily. “No wonder my counterpart liked you so much! So the world you came from was highly advanced?”
“Not like this facility, but yeah, pretty advanced. I helped bring a lot of that technology to my adopted world. You helped a lot with that.”
“Adopted world? So the world you just came from wasn’t your home world?”
“It had become my home world, and I lived there a lot longer than I ever lived on the world of my birth.”
“How many alternate worlds have you been to?”
“Well over a hundred,” I replied. “But I’ve only ever lived on two. The others, I was just passing through.”
“You must tell me about all of them!”
“Sure, we can discuss it over dinner,” I said slyly. Not because I was trying to date Promestein, so much as get her to eat regularly.
“It sounds like you’re trying to trick me into eating your cooking,” she responded.
“You like my cooking, don’t you?”
“It’s amazing,” Promestein replied. “So how did you and my counterpart meet?”
“Well, she was helping some very bad people to destroy all life on the planet, she tried to capture me as a research subject, she ordered one of her creations to cut my legs off, we had a brief battle that ended inconclusively, then she fled to my world. Then she tried to scam me out of my money.”
“Oh,” she said, nonplussed. “That’s…. not what I expected to hear. I would have assumed you would have met in a library or something. You shyly approached the lovely scholar sitting at another table, reading a huge tome on particle physics, and then charmed her with the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. How did my counterpart end up in such a situation?”
“Wait, back up a second. That sounds suspiciously like you fantasize about a handsome man approaching you. I never took you for being interested in that sort of thing.”
“I am interested in boys,” she replied. “I just don’t spend my time longing for one. I’m going to live a very long time. I imagine at some point, a male with a reasonable IQ of 170 or above will approach me and not bore me too much with his delusions of intellectual adequacy. What’s your IQ, by the way?”
“Nowhere near yours,” I laughed. “I’m not so much smart as I’ve been around and I’ve lived a long time.”
We passed by a specimen tank that actually contained a specimen. Looking at the creature gave me flashbacks to another facility I’d been in. One in which Promestein had been doing cruel experiments, creating new creatures out of the parts of others. The creature inside the tank looked a lot like something Promestein would have created.
“Promestein, does this…. Thing look like something you would do?” I asked.
“I’ve thought about making new life, yes,” she replied, staring at the creature in the tank. “But this is…. Not right. I sure hope another Promestein had nothing to do with this.”
“Keep your innocence, Promestein,” I said. “Don’t go down the path other versions of you have.”
Promestein shuddered. “Hild, on the other hand, is more admirable. I’d be honored if a variant of me had created Hild.”
“We’ll have to ask her if perhaps her master was an older version of you.”
“Very unlikely,” Promestein replied. “Do I really look that different from the Promestein you knew?”
“Not really,” I said. “She didn’t wear glasses and she’d made some changes to her body and hairstyle, but I can’t imagine that Hild wouldn’t recognize you immediately. Why do you wear glasses, anyway?”
“It’s just an affectation,” she replied. “My eyesight is perfect. I simply found that glasses give other people the impression of intelligence. Due to my youth, I’m often not taken seriously. I found that the glasses made people appreciate my intellect more. I guess that when I get older, I’ll either no longer need them since I will appear to be mature, or I simply won’t care anymore.”
“I wonder why Hild doesn’t remember who her master is?”
“A few possibilities,” Promestein replied. “First, she recognizes masters by usernames. If his or her username was simply master, than any question about master’s identity would simply result in circular responses. Master is master. Another possibility is that her memory was erased so that she wouldn’t give away critical information about the future. I’m leaning towards that hypothesis, since I found the researchers names blanked out on that terminal back there.”
“Or, whatever they were doing here, they didn’t want anyone to know who was behind it.”
“I’ve considered that possibility as well,” Promestein replied. “You know, you’re pretty smart. Not the kind of guy I could have an hours long conversation about boson particles with, but you reason well. And really, intelligence isn’t about being able to compile facts, it’s all about reasoning. I fear that I may not be as intelligent as I thought if I end up doing the kinds of things you described. Hmm, let’s check this terminal.”
She walked over to a different terminal and began typing in commands. More text scrolled at lightning speed across the screen.
“This is apoptosis research data!” she said excitedly. “I wonder if those insect things were artificially created? That would explain why they are here, far from any Tartarus rift.”
“Is there anything in there you didn’t already know from your own research?”
“I’m looking…” she said, continuing to scroll. “Damn! A lot of it is erased. Only a few parts concerning Hild have been left behind. It looks like Hild was created to fight apoptoses. I wonder if that’s why the ones in here were so weak and didn’t kill the way others did? They might have been created to give Hild battle practice in a low risk environment. Wow. Hild has a holy-dark fusion reactor. That is new to me. I’d always theorized that something like that was possible, but could never figure out how to make it work.”
“I have a pretty good idea how it might have been done,” I said. “Promestein, prioritize work on extracting my power directly. And then see if you can extract some from Hild’s reactor. I’m betting you’ll find my power mixed in with holy and dark.”
“You think…? Really? So your power stabilizes the mixing of holy and dark magic? That’s incredible! There has to be a reason for that!”
“So now the question is, where did whoever made this get my power? Again, that points to you, Promestein. Your counterpart was the foremost researcher on my power, since she had direct access to me.”
“Or it could point to you,” Promestein said, continuing to read. “Interesting, though unsurprising. Hild has apoptosis body tissue.”
“Those must be the parts used for sex,” I said.
“It seems so, but why do that?”
“She said her master knew that she would be in a world without reliable power sources for recharging.”
“Ah, and semen is a power source,” Promestein nodded. “Still, that doesn’t fully explain it, unless whoever created her was a pervert who just wanted a hot battle droid. I don’t think her main function is actually combat, though. There’s just too much of her subroutines devoted to other things.”
“What other things?”
“She has very advanced emotion processes. She doesn’t need that for battle, or for sex. She can also reproduce.”
“What?! Reproduction?”
“Whoa…” Promestein breathed.
“What? What did you find?”
“Hild has a computer brain, yet can’t do even the most basic calculations. That’s pretty important for battle. Why would anyone create such a being and handicap it so?”
“A computer that can’t do math? That’s pretty much the entire purpose of a computer!”
“What in the world were their actual reasons for building Hild?” Promestein asked. “Maybe we’ll find out more on another terminal. Let’s go.”
We continued to move deeper into the facility. I tried not to let my guard down, but I was sensing no threats of any sort. The insect creatures may have been good at hiding, but they weren’t exactly stealthy. Even I’d been able to hear their movements. I heard no such movements that morning. Perhaps we had cleared the facility?
“So how did you and my counterpart become close?” Promestein asked. “It doesn’t sound like you had the best introduction. You must be a pretty forgiving guy.”
“So I’ve been told,” I said. “Basically, the world was threatened again, and I managed to convince her to help us save it. That established a relationship and it lasted a very long time.”
“Well, I do hope that I can help you save the world this time as well. I like you, Luka. I’d hate to ever be your enemy.”
She paused and stared. A threat? Something interesting? I followed her eyes to a shattered specimen tank. I wasn’t sure why that was interesting or alarming. Many of the tanks had been shattered when we’d arrived the first time and we’d shattered a few more during our visit.
“What? It’s just another shattered tank,” I pointed out.
“That one was intact with a specimen inside it the last time we were here,” she said.
“You remember that? Oh, I guess you would. And we didn’t just break this one at some point?”
“No, definitely not. We didn’t damage anything until we reached the lower level. Boy, your memory is not very impressive.”
“I’ve lived a long time and I have a lot of memories. I get confused easily.”
“I’ve lived a long time too,” she countered. “What’s important is that you need to keep an eye out. What was in that tank looked a lot more dangerous than those insect creatures.”
“Thank you for the warning,” I said, now very much alert again.
We cautiously went down the stairs to the lower level. Seeing its condition, I was reminded that we had indeed had our battle on that level. Shattered tanks, broken terminals, pieces of equipment strewn about, and scales thrown by the insect creatures were all over the floor. The bodies of the apoptoses were gone, however. Had they been taken away by the church for their own study? Promestein found another working terminal next to a strange device that I couldn’t identify.
“This is some kind of transfer device,” she informed me. “The set data is still here. Oh my goddess!”
“What? What did you find out?”
“These are standard coordinates to the time and location of when I was drawn into the Tartarus Rift! The day I did the experiment!”
“You were experimenting with dark-holy energy fusion as I recall, right?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “Back then, I thought the experiment was the cause. That I accidentally made a small dimensional crack. But I was wrong. This device was used to pull me into foreign space.”
“Why would the people who worked here do that?” I asked.
“Why indeed?” she asked, seeming to consider. Then without saying anything more, she moved deeper into the facility, me following hastily behind.
We found a couple of working terminals on the second level, but Promestein found nothing interesting on them.
“Let’s go into the mainframe room,” she said. “Assuming they left anything for us to find, that should be where the motherlode of data is.”
“All right,” I said. “Keep your eyes open. Whatever got out of that tank might be in there.”
We walked down the hallway into the mainframe room. We were not attacked.
“What if…..?” Promestein thought aloud. “What if the people who pulled me into another dimension did so in order for us to meet?”
“Do you think that’s a possibility?” I asked.
“Humor me, here. What purpose would it serve for us to meet?”
“Well, I needed you badly. Our party is pretty good on power, or at least potential power.”
“Yes, although the Monster Lord and Ilias are diminished, if you were to restore them completely, you’d have more than ample combat power to overwhelm any conceivablethreat. Add in your own power, and no known force could stand against you.”
“What we were lacking was someone who could solve all the mysteries surrounding this quest,” I added. “That’s why I was so thrilled to find you.”
“A Promestein exists on this world,” she mused. “Which means that if I was brought into the rift so that I’d meet you, it would mean that the Promestein of this world wasn’t suitable to assist you. Maybe because…. She’s contributing to the problem?”
“I’ve considered that, yes.”
“So whoever brought us together, knew the exact date we would meet.”
“You sound like you’re going somewhere with this,” I prompted.
“Not yet. I don’t have enough evidence to even go down that rabbit hole. Sorry, just thinking aloud.”
We reached the mainframe without incident. Even more text scrolled across the screen.
“Yes, as I suspected,” she said. “the moment you touched the panel, Hild started up. Holy shit!”
“What?! And should an angel really be saying that?”
“Your biometric data is registered as authentication data!”
“I’m an authorized user of Hild?” I asked.
“No, just an activator. And the only one. There’s no other authentication data here. You were the only one authorized to activate Hild. Luka, are you sure you’ve never been to this laboratory?”
“I’ve had amnesia before, but I’m pretty sure this place would trigger a memory if I was still suffering from the lingering effects of the condition. I’ve got nothing.”
“So if it wasn’t you, then someone still wanted you to activate Hild. Which means this place ending up here was no accident, just like my transference to another dimension was no accident. You and Hild were meant to meet just as you and I were. The only question is, was this sent back from a parallel future, or this world’s future? And why would they have your biometric data? Did another Luka do this? Or simply someone who knew you?”
“Let’s also not forget the whys,” I noted. “If the people who built this place are on our side, then I can see why they’d want you and I to meet. But why Hild?”
“She specializes in fighting apoptoses, so that’s useful. We’ll have to be sure to take her into any Tartarus rifts we explore. But there’s so much more to her. I’m thankful Sonya didn’t allow me to dismantle her. There’s a lot more to her than I thought, and we won’t ever find out her real purpose unless she’s active.”
“So are we done here?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Promestein sighed. “A lot of useful information here, but more questions than answers. I guess we can teleport back to the castle now.”
I reached for Promestein to take us back, when I saw it. It was a tentacle monstrosity, with dripping openings at the end of the tentacles, obviously designed for draining men. Most disturbingly, it had a halo, which told me that it was part angel.
“Luka,” Promestein breathed. “That thing… it’s…”
“A hybrid of angel and monster,” I said.
“It has human parts as well! Why would anyone create such a thing?!”
“That looks exactly like something you created once,” I said.
“My goddess…. Luka, get us out of here!”
“No,” I said firmly. “That thing looks a lot more dangerous than any of those insect creatures. I have to destroy it, or else church soldiers and researchers will be attacked by it. You, however, can go.”
With a thought, I sent Promestein back to the castle, her protest cut off as she disappeared. The experimental creature moved towards me with surprising speed and silence, propelling itself with its soft tentacles.
“Friend, if you’re sentient, tell me now,” I said nervously.
Its response was to extend three tentacles towards my groin. I didn’t wait to see what it was going to do to me. I blasted it with my power. It fell over, ceasing to function.

“Luka, don’t ever do that again!” Promestein yelled as I materialized back into her lab.
“It was fine,” I said reassuringly. “I don’t think it was even properly alive, so I just blasted it. Wait, were you concerned about me?”
“Of course I was concerned! You’re crucial to solving all of these mysteries!”
“Oh, right,” I said. “Sure. Well, the day’s just started. I have to go take care of that haunted house. Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“What could possibly interest me in a creepy old house where things that don’t exist won’t be there to bother us?”
I smiled knowingly. “Nothing, Promestein. Nothing interesting there at all. Never mind the men who went in and never returned.”
“I’ll get my bag,” she said quickly. “I don’t believe in ghosts, but obviously there’s something dangerous in there. I’m not letting you out of my sight after that stunt you pulled.”
I smiled as she grabbed her bag and I went to get Sonya. I knew Chrome could be dangerous, but with Promestein and Sonya with me, I decided that she shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
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Luka's Story-Paradox