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Luka's Story	By : Ditmag Category: +M through R > Monster Girl Quest Views: 4827 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Monster Girl Quest is owned by Tortorro and I make no money from this project. It is a labor of love.

Chapter List
- 36
- 37
- 38
Author's note: Okay, folks, this is where I'm starting to get a little shaky. The mythology and the logic behind it was a little wonky in the game, and me taking some elements out and adding some in may not be doing it any favors as far as logical consistency goes. So in order for this story to not go off the rails, I'm going to need some help. If you spot anything blatantly moronic, please let me know. If you can think of better ways to explain things, or alternative ways to do them entirely, I'm all ears. There are a couple of other storytelling elements that are to come that I'm having trouble with:
1) In the game, once the war starts, the big bads end up getting destroyed completely, not sealed. The game never really deals with Luka's feelings on him having to kill, it just sort of ignores them. But I've made that a pretty major part of his character. So do I:
a) invent ways for him to avoid killing that sound as plausible as possible?
b) have him kill and explore how this changes him

2) This story is told entirely from Luka's perspective, which poses problems for Chapter 3, since a lot happens in the game that Luka never sees. The most important of these are the Four Heavenly Knights' battles with the Next Dolls. I have a few ways to approach this.
a) Switch to first person perspective for the Heavenly Knights for those battles. That could actually be fun, so that's my first choice for now.
b) Keep the story fixated on Luka's perspective no matter what, and use whatever exposition I need to explain things.
Or option c) Do something entirely different so that Luka can be present and participate in the Next Dolls battle. I have some ideas for a gloriously chaotic free for all where the Next Dolls meet the Knights, Luka, and Alice in one big rumble.
As always, leave a review or email me at adaheraec@yahoo.com. I'm clearly getting readers here, but if the story is to avoid a big time loss of momentum and plot consistency, I might need a little help from the community. If not, I'll do my best and still be proud of the results. It's been the obsession of my life for the last 45 days.
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To call it a fray would be an understatement. The great hall that had witnessed four duels between me and the Four Heavenly Knights had become the battleground of an all out war. It was complete mayhem and chaos. There were no battle lines. It was just a melee. The Four Heavenly Knights were there. I also spotted monsters of various types fighting the invaders. A vampire. A behemoth. A basilisk. Too many varieties to count. The chimeras facing them also featured great variety, although in far more disturbing ways. The monsters were giving as good as they got, but they were outnumbered. The castle’s defenses had always been lax due to the fact that no humans could reach this place except in the tiniest numbers. With only that as a possible threat, the Four Heavenly Knights or whatever monsters happened to be present as visitors or residents could deal with it. The castle had not been on a war footing, awaiting an organized large scale attack.
Being outnumbered was bad enough, but things were even worse for the monsters. Also moving among the combatants were what I could only assume to be angels. The angels were slaying monsters almost at will. The monsters had no defense against them. I saw the behemoth slam a mighty fist into one of them, but her fist passed right through the angelic body. The angel’s sword had no such limitations.
As we watched the scene, I turned to Alice. “Alice, those angels clearly come from the heavens, but where did those other creatures come from?”
“I don’t know!” Alice responded. “They must be a new creation of Ilias! She must have been planning this for some time!”
“That’s not exactly right,” said a voice off to our left. We turned to see who had addressed us. It appeared to be a woman in a lab coat.
“My name is Promestein,” she said. “I am the seeker of wisdom. The one who gave fire to humans.”
“I see,” Alice said. “So you were an angel. That’s why I didn’t sense anything from you. What are these strange creatures? Why did you make them?”
“They are called chimera monsters,” Promestein replied. “I created them with dark magic. The fruits of the research Ilias directed me to perform.”
“Ilias ordered you to create monsters?!” Alice asked in disbelief. “This is the first time I’ve heard of a god ignoring their own beliefs.”
“You mortals are unable to understand divine providence,” Promestein replied. “I brought my masterpieces to assault the castle to defeat the Four Heavenly Knights and the Monster Lord. And a hero, it seems.”
“It’ll take more than those chimeras to overcome the Four Heavenly Knights and the Monster Lord,” I said, remembering how Alice had destroyed dozens of them without breaking a sweat.
“True,” replied Promestein. “So it’s a good thing I brought more than just chimeras.”
Granberia flew past me and slammed back first into a nearby wall. She brought herself to one knee, attempting to stand. She could not. She’d been hurt too badly. The one who had thrown her stepped forward. This was no chimera. I wasn’t sure what it was. It almost looked like some kind of battle mech. It was eight feet tall with the head of a beautiful blonde woman but a body that appeared to be made entirely of steel.
“The strongest cursed swordswoman among monsters, Granberia,” it said. “Was that truly the extent of your power?”
I knew Granberia and the other Knights had been weakened by the fight against me. This was the worst possible time for an attack to occur. I saw Alma Elma tossed into another wall. She was as tough in her way as Granberia, getting back to her feet and dusting herself off, readying herself to resume the fight.
“That wind of yours is awfully slow,” another mech-like creature said, addressing the succubus. “It’s like you’re standing still.”
There were more. I counted five of these mechs, each one with a vastly different design, but clearly all created along the same concept.
“These were created just to deal with the Four Heavenly Knights,” Promestein explained. “I analyzed everything about them, to insure they were all designed specifically to defeat them.”
“That means you all have to die now,” one of the creations said. “Then we’ll take turns raping the disgraced hero.”
Could these creatures even do that? Why design these war machines with sex organs? Sadism for the sake of sadism? I decided that I’d had enough of Promestein. Even more than the Four Heavenly Knights, she had been running around causing trouble in the world. I pulled out my sword and attacked her, intending to seal her quickly.
“Come, Zylphe!” she shouted, dodging my attack with ease. “Don’t think you’re unique in using the power of the spirits. I’ve already analyzed that power, and am mass producing artificial versions.”
“Luka, I told you when we first met that we weren’t allies,” Alice said. “That I was just a fellow traveler along for the ride. That changes now. You and I are allies now. We fight for the same goal!”
I’d done so much either totally on my own or with just a small helping hand from Alice. With her fighting by my side I felt there was nothing we couldn’t conquer. She was done assessing this battle. Now it was time to fight.
“Let’s go Luka!” she shouted, charging into the fray. “Don’t fall behind!”
I joined her, my sword swinging, all four spirits summoned.
“Luka, I’ll take the chimeras!” she ordered. “You have the only sword capable of defeating angels! I leave them to you!”
I charged towards the nearest angel, a cupid-like being firing arrows into the fray. When she saw me, she greeted me.
“Welcome to the battle, disgraced hero! I’m going to enjoy raping you today!”
Why was an angel talking about raping? What kind of twisted world had I landed on? Cupid wasted no more time on banter, firing arrow after arrow at me. As recently as yesterday I would have been a pin cushion, but with all four spirits working within me at their maximum potential, most passed by me harmlessly while I batted others aside. I hit her with a mighty swing of my sword, opening a huge glowing gash from her shoulder down to her navel.
“What? How did the human’s attack hit?” she said in bewilderment.
Another angel flew by and answered. “That’s the cursed blade, Angel Halo. The original fallen angel created that to bring ruin to the angels. Be careful, Cupid. That sword puts even us in danger.”
“Hmph!” Cupid said. “That’s so cowardly!”
“It’s cowardly to be able to hit you!?” I shot back. “You were massacring these monsters and they couldn’t touch you! Now you face someone who can fight back!”
“Since you hurt me, I’m going to rape you with one of my arrows!” she yelled, pulling out a dagger and flying at me. She never had a chance. I dodged to the side as if she was standing still and would have beheaded her had it been that kind of sword. As it was, she vanished in a flash of light.
“Cupid was killed?!” another angel exclaimed. “No, she’s been sealed.”
“Don’t hesitate, Luka!” Alice shouted. “She was just reduced to her original holy state! Take the rest of them out. You’re the only one who can!”
I nodded and went for the next angel. This one carried a longsword. With my enhanced speed, she barely got her weapon up in time to parry my initial attack.
“I am the greatest swordswoman in the heavens,” she stated. “I am known as Valkyrie. I was hoping to face Granberia, but I’ll settle for you.”
Uh oh. This battle might be much tougher and lengthier, I thought. I’m not sure that she was better than Granberia, but she had a lot more tricks. She was more willing to use pleasure attacks, for starters. Fueled by the spirits as I was, she was hard pressed to hold me off with her sword alone. I was backing her up and would soon have her trapped. She began using her wings to caress my body. This kind of attack wasn’t new to me. This was a harpy tactic. But you can’t compare the feeling of a harpy’s wings to an angel’s. The distracting pleasure of her wings allowed her to regain the initiative.
She struck at me with a divine fury, her holy sword creating sparks as it made contact with mine. I was holding my own, so she attempted a new tactic. She took to the air to gain a height advantage. Now she was permanently on the high ground, striking down at my head while I could only effectively strike at her legs. She kept me at a distance with kicks. I grabbed her leg and dragged her down to my level, following up with a blow that knocked her helmet off.
With renewed indignation, she attacked, but for all her skill, she lacked Granberia’s fortitude. She was not used to actually being hit. It was frustrating her, causing her to lose her discipline and forget her skills. I wasn’t even using my sword to parry her blows. She was trying to behead me. I slipped every swing of her sword and responded with quick strikes of my own. I was losing respect for these angels as opponents. They were nothing more than bullies, happy to use their skills on defenseless opponents but losing their fighting edge at the first sign of adversity.
“This cannot be!” she shouted. “I am the Angel of War! A human can’t defeat me!”
You might call it divine fury, I just call it a temper tantrum. I’d seen it from Ilias and I was seeing it from her Angel of War. These beings just could not accept that anyone had the right to fight back, much less possess the temerity to defeat them. With a final cry of frustration, she faded away.
I looked around the room for more angels to fight. I saw none. Alice was handling the chimeric beasts. Alma Elma and Gramberia were still battling their respective opponents and seemed to be getting the worst of it. I decided to aid them since I had no obvious opponent. As I started to head for Granberia, the closest to me, I heard a voice.
“I have received permission from Eden for my advent to the lower world. I shall face the disgraced hero.”
A being of pure light with angel wings descended through the ceiling, appearing in front of me. “Luka!” Alice shouted. “That’s an archangel! It’s much more powerful than the others!”
“As a being not from this world who is potentially more powerful than even the Goddess, you cannot be allowed to exist,” the archangel said, drawing a flaming sword. I know I’d been wishing for more sword battles on this journey, but this was getting tiresome! She wore no armor. In fact, she wore almost nothing at all. She did not conform to the image of an angel very well if that image was supposed to be modest. Again I wondered what kind of twisted world this was.
Unlike the Valkyrie, the sword wasn’t her primary mode of attack. She intended to use that body on me. First she had to solve the problem of my resistance. This she did by distracting me with her flaming sword attacks, while her real goal was getting a hand on me. When she touched me, what felt like electricity slammed through my body, similar to the effect of a taser. I dropped my sword and fell to the ground, seizing. She pinned me down, her face inches from mine.
“We angels can subdue a man with sexual techniques as well as any monster,” she said. “Better, in fact. Our critical ecstasy is far more potent. We lack the perverted magic that makes monsters feel so amazing, but we make up for it with our pure divine bodies.”
With that, she began rubbing her body against mine, softly kissing my chest and running her hands all over me. “I am an archangel,” she went on. “My place is in the heavens, not here. I dislike touching dirty male, mortal bodies. I was chosen to face you because Ilias desires your power. My special ability is that I can absorb your power into me. Rejoice that you will die in the arms of an angel, and that your power will be put to good use cleansing this world!”
I had recovered my ability to move, but her strength was unreal and the spirits had somehow been affected by the shock as well. Without their help, I couldn’t move her off of me. I felt my penis enter her and desperately tried to hold back the orgasm. The feeling wasn’t like anything I’d experienced before. I felt that my lifeforce was being drawn into her.
“Hey!” Alice’s voice rang out. Distracted, the archangel turned.
Alice had Angel Halo in her grasp, anger flashing in her eyes. The archangel turned only to see Alice drive Angel Halo deep into her chest. The archangel went down. Alice followed her down, holding the sword with one hand and pummeling her with her the other. Yes! That’s my woman! I thought. I’d been dreaming of her doing that to someone who attacked me for months!
The archangel disappeared in a flash of light. I heard laughter. It was Promestein. “Oh, Eden!” she laughed. “What will you do now that your favorite archangel has been defeated? I know you can hear me up there!”
Alice and I stood and faced Promestein. Alice quietly handed the sword back to me. “Your beasts are all destroyed,” Alice said. “The angels have either been sealed or run away. Time to finish this.”
“I don’t think so,” a voice said. It was one of the mechs, the one who had been battling Granberia. “I will be the Monster Lord’s opponent.”
“No,” Promestein replied. “There are already countermeasures in place for the Monster Lord and her pet. You have your role. Fulfill it. Granberia still lives.”
“Countermeasures?” Alice asked. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but clearly you’ve underestimated me.”
“Monster Lord,” declared Promestein. “You will have the same fate as the Dark God and the Six Ancestors.”
As Alice moved to attack Promestein, a magical seal appeared on her, stopping her in her tracks. “What is this?!” she shouted. She was frozen in place.
“Alice!” I shouted, as power filled the room.
“Capture successful,” Promestein said. “Now for the transfer.”
With that, Alice vanished. No! I’d been waiting so long for her to be my ally and she was gone?!
“What did you do to her?!” I demanded.
“Do you remember that barrier?” Promestein said. “You should have seen something similar in the basement of Grangold.”
“The seal that kept the Queen Ant?”
“This is the most powerful magic seal barrier that exists,” she said smugly. “A seal I researched from ancient times, called the Six Ancestors Seal. The ultimate seal, used to seal the Dark God Alipheese and the Six Ancestors. It took several hundred years of study to reproduce it.”
“Who are they?” I asked.
“The ancient Dark God, known as the first Monster Lord,” she replied. “and the ancestor of all monsters, the Six Great Monsters. Even the most powerful monsters are sealed. It’s the ultimate seal. There’s no way the inferior current Monster Lord could resist it.”
“This is what the experiments on the Queen Ant were leading up to,” I breathed, remembering what we’d seen in Grangold.
“Heh, not quite,” she replied. “That was a poor model, with low output. This is the completed version.”
“Bring her back!” I demanded, pointing my sword at her.
“I told you there were countermeasures. They applied to you, too. I prepared a seal just for you. The wide area, seal, operating now.”
I didn’t feel anything. Was it not working? Sensing my confusion, Promestein laughed. “Don’t you notice the difference?”
No, I felt fine. No! I couldn’t hear the wind anymore! The spirits! They were gone! I called to them, but they were gone!
“What did you do!?” I yelled, beginning to despair.
“I developed a special seal against the elements of the four spirits that covers the entire world,” she said, now very proud of herself. “The spirits are akin to a force of nature. Wherever there is wind, water, fire or earth, there they can exist. So the seal had to be worldwide. It was quite troublesome to set up, but more than worth it. Now you’re just a guy with a sword. Now even a single one of my beasts is too powerful for you. But don’t worry, I don’t want to kill you. I want to study you. You should surrender now.”
Alice had been wrong. Not all the chimeras were dead. Just the ones in the hall. More entered, surrounding me. Alma Elma and Granberia could not come to my aid. They were getting their heads handed to them, although they weren’t finished yet.
“Surrendering to me has its benefits,” Promestein said. “If you cooperate I’ll treat you to pleasure from my beasts anytime you want. I have a huge variety to choose from. You can help me refine their magic so that it’s closer to what monsters have.”
“I won’t do it,” I said. “I may be without the spirits, but I guarantee I’ll give you a far more difficult fight than you bargained for.”
“I really don’t care,” she said. She turned to one of her mechs. “Rip his legs off. I only need him alive, not mobile.”
I wasn’t sure how much I could back that statement up, so I tried to find my power again. I could not. I was nowhere near serene. I was anguished about Alice being sealed and frightened at the idea of being experimented on. I wasn’t even sure it would be there to find. I’d expended all of it on Ilias just a short time ago and had no idea how fast it replenished. Did it even replenish?
The mech advanced on me with a wicked grin, a wicked looking blade emerging from its hand, clearly enjoying the task Promestein had assigned her. I readied my sword. This thing wasn’t going to scare me with a simple blade. Even without the spirits I was going to rip her apart. I hoped that the reality would match my determination. If she should use spirits….
Before the combat could be joined, however, something crashed through the wall. It was the Giganto Weapon with Tamamo riding on its back!
“Did I make it in time?” she said, giggling.
The Giganto weapon charged into the chimera beasts surrounding me, pulverizing them and tossing them about. Tamamo was having a great deal of difficulty controlling the beast, trying as best she could to prevent it from further injuring fallen monsters.
“Giganto Weapon,” Promestein mused. “A relic from the sacred monster wars. I wasn’t aware that anyone had the knowledge to restart this being, besides me.”
Tamamo was shaken off the beast, which was now engaging with Promestein’s mechs. The mech that had defeated Granberia was the first to challenge it. To my astonishment, she stopped the beast with one hand, then picked it up and slammed it hard onto the ground. She continued to pound the creature with both fists. Before too long it was a smoking, gory ruin.
“That was disappointing,” she said. “This is the ancient ultimate weapon? Were the fighters back then of such low quality that this was considered powerful?”
“She’s been in storage for 1000 years,” Promestein explained. “You would have had a much harder time then. Besides, she was only in training mode. Still, figuring out how to get her operating again was impressive.”
She turned back to me. “These five ladies are my ultimate creations. I call them the Next Dolls. There are no opponents on this world that can stand up to them. Except perhaps for you, at least when you had the spirits. It looks like we’re done here. Grab the hero, kill everyone else. Destroy anything that looks important in this castle.”
Tamamo, however, had other plans, stepping in front of me and facing down the beasts. “So, these chimeras have animal brains, correct?”
“Yes,” Promestein replied. “It was the simplest way to mass produce them.”
“Well, if they have the brains of animals,” Tamamo said. “Then they know what will happen if they cross me.”
The chimeras wilted under Tamamo’s glare and backed away. “What’s wrong?” she taunted. “Not going to attack?”
“Oh, this one seems more interesting,” the Next Doll that had fought Granberia said, stepping forward. “I’d like to face this one.”
“No, Arc-En-Ciel,” Promestein ordered. “we’re falling back. “
“You can’t be serious!?” Arc-En-Ciel yelled in disbelief.
“The Monster Lord’s power was sealed, and the hero has been neutralized,” Promestein replied. “We’ve achieved our objectives here.”
“But the cleansing of the remaining monsters here still needs to be done!” the Next Doll argued.
Another Next Doll stepped forward. “I was created to take down Tamamo,” she said. “If we fall back now, that would be truly regrettable.”
“We could defeat Tamamo here,” Promestein noted. “But our huge advantage wouldn’t be changed much. We’d take losses. At this point we can’t afford losses, especially among you five. Don’t lose sight of the big picture.”
“I do not like this,” Arc-En-Ciel said. “But you are our creator. I merely obey.”
“With that said, you escape with your life,” Promestein said, addressing me. “For now.”
“Wait?!” I called to her. “Where’s Alice?!”
“Heh,” she chuckled. “If you want to know, follow me. If you don’t hurry, you may never see your dear Monster Lord again.”
She walked out, the remaining chimeras and the Next Dolls following behind. I gave chase.
“Luka, no!” Tamamo called out to me. Once again, I failed to heed her.
The first time I had entered the castle, I hadn’t worried very much about finding my way, assuming trouble would find me. The problem with that was that when I needed to be able to navigate I found that I couldn’t. I got lost in the great halls and failed to keep up with Promestein. That was probably for the best, given how easily they could have captured me if I’d stuck too close to them. It also meant that when I finally found my way out, they were gone. Without my enhanced wind senses, I doubted I would notice an army if it wasn’t standing right in front of me. Still, she walked out of the castle with those five huge Next Dolls and at least a dozen chimera beasts. I should have been able to track them with the limited skills I’d picked up patrolling the forest back in Ilias Village.
I performed a search of the area, trying to find tracks or other signs of the passing of the giant creatures. The last tracks I found ended just outside the castle. Had they teleported? That was bad. They could be anywhere on the planet if that was the case. But I couldn’t give up! They had the love of my life! Desperately I thought. Where could their base be, assuming that’s where they returned? Then I realized… Remina! We’d encountered a small army of the chimera beasts there! It was the best place I could think to look.
How to get there, though? Remina was a few days’ hike and I was low on supplies. I’d arrive hungry, possibly dehydrated as well. I would have to go back to the castle and see if they’d let me resupply. Perhaps one of the Knights would teleport me? Could they take passengers when they teleported? I guessed perhaps not since Alice had never done it. She had flown when she deigned to transport me. That’s it! Fly! The Garuda Girl! It was a long shot since we’d left her days away, but maybe she was staying close to us, at the ready! We were her parents after all! I called out to her.
“Galda! Galda! I need you!”
With a loud “Kweh!” she descended. I gave a silent prayer of thanks. She was the most beautiful sight I could imagine at that moment. I hopped onto her back. “Take me to Remina!” I ordered. She took off immediately. I didn’t know what I’d be able to do when I got there, but I was determined to try. Despite all I’d done, I still didn’t feel like the brave, fearless hero. As a matter of fact, I was getting the sinking feeling that all of this was hopeless. Promestein had executed her plan perfectly. I tried reaching for my power again. It seemed my only hope. It wasn’t happening. My mind was in too much turmoil. Too much fear, too much worry, too much despair.
Galda seemed to sense my urgency and flew with much greater speed than she had ever demonstrated before. It took only a few minutes to reach Remina. From the air, no sign of a base or chimeras could be seen. I was starting to fear that my guess of Remina was wrong. When I landed, I began frantically looking for evidence of a base. We hadn’t had a chance to explore the whole city, so I had hopes of finding it, but no matter where I looked, I could not see any sign of one. I was near tears, almost ready to sit down and bawl my eyes out, when I noticed a hatch. I ran to it, not even daring to hope that it might be important. It was open. With nothing better to try, I climbed down.
What I descended into was jarring. As I’ve said many times, this world ranged from medieval to early 20^th century in its tech. Down here it seemed like a modern facility. In some ways, more advanced than where I came from. There were strange machines everywhere whose function I couldn’t begin to identify. They didn’t trigger any memories, so I had to assume they didn’t exist in my world.
I explored further, going deeper into the facility. Suddenly, I heard a klaxon going off. Had I triggered something? I unsheathed my sword, ready for anything, but at least for the moment, no one seemed to be coming. Sword still out, I continued my search.
In the next room, I found tanks containing what looked like partial chimera beasts. This did trigger a memory. I’d seen this kind of thing in movies. The chimeras didn’t seem to be conscious. I still didn’t know if these beasts were even properly alive. Whatever the case, the beasts in the tanks didn’t seem to be a threat. They were incredibly freaky. Some were designed for battle. Others seemed to be designed as sex machines, with outrageous parts such as two dozen breasts, or three foot tongues, or multiple vaginas, or tentacles with openings designed to extract semen. Promestein was toying with the very essence of life.
I moved on to the next room. The place seemed to be structured very simply so that it was impossible to get lost. Just one room, leading to the next room, leading to the next room. At least so far. I was starting to see signs of destruction. Perhaps I wasn’t the one who set off that alarm? Machines busted up, doors torn off hinges, dents in the walls. As I walked through the open doorway, I caught sight of a chimera. It squealed and ran from me. She wasn’t the only one. Other chimera beasts were running around in a panic. I saw broken tanks. Were they set free from the tanks by whoever was here? To my horror I even saw a couple that looked like they had angel parts. Was Promestein even experimenting on angels? Again I marveled at how sick this world was.
The next room was the largest I’d seen in the facility. Just entering the room had a profound effect on me. I recognized the machines immediately. Computers. Servers. Network cables. Terminals. Suddenly, it felt like everything came flooding back. This was what I used to do for a living! I was a programmer! I’d been a network administrator as well! It felt like whatever fog had been on my brain had been lifted. It was as if I was playing a game of tetris and I’d found the piece to eliminate most of the board.
“Oh?” a voice said. I turned. It was Promestein. “You got here fast. How did you find this place? I thought I hid that hatch well?”
“Guess I was just lucky,” I said. “Where’s Alice?”
“You two sure are interesting,” she replied. “So anxious about each other, you miss each other in your fury. Didn’t you take notice of another intruder besides yourself?”
“I assumed it was one of your experiments getting out. They are rampaging through the place as we speak.”
“You are so daft!” she laughed. How many words had people used around here to describe my mental abilities? “Anyway, you won’t have to wait long. The other intruder will be here shortly.”
The sounds of violence outside were getting closer. I’d thought the place was a straight line, but apparently not, since the sounds of violence were behind me. I must have missed a side entrance or two. Soon enough, the other intruder burst into the room.
“Here you are, Promestein,” the intruder said. “I’ll make you undo this seal on me!”
It was a little Alice! Had she been changed into a kid?!
“Alice?” I said.
“Of course it’s me, you idiot! There’s no time to explain, but any idiot could tell it’s me!”
I was so relieved I could barely stand. “Thank goodness you’re safe! I was so scared!”
“Interesting,” Promestein observed. “That would indeed nullify the Six Ancestors’ Great Seal if applied quickly enough. But how did you come up with that method so quickly?”
“That nasty kitsune taught me quite a lot,” Alice replied. “Though I never thought I’d actually have to use that magic.”
“No matter,” Promestein said. “You can’t bring forth even a tenth of your power in that body. Your pet hero has no spirits, and you are at 10% capacity. You’re no threat. This is the perfect opportunity to try this body in combat.”
Her coat started to expand, until it was ripped apart. Several plant like appendages emerged. Had she experimented on herself?
“Is that seaweed?!” Alice asked.
“An extinct species that I have revived,” Promestein explained. “I’m very proud of it.”
“Why would you be proud about being seaweed?” Alice snarked.
Alice punched Promestein in the gut. Promestein responded with a loud “Oof!” and staggered backwards.
“Knew it!” Alice exulted. “Burdening yourself with the body of a monster, and creating your own weak point. How idiotic! Your experiment is a failure.”
“Oh, you think so?” Promestein replied. “Why do you think I chose an ancient, primitive seaweed gene instead of a powerful monster’s? Raw physical power wasn’t my goal. Look deeper.”
“Professor seaweed, huh?” Alice replied. “Well, whatever, we’ll just beat you until you’re unable to stand.”
The battle had begun. Alice was limited to physical attacks. I hadn’t expected that, since I’d seen her use magic as a young child in my vision. I’d have to ask about that later. She still packed a wallop, though, landing punches at will on Promestein while I struck her with my sword. Promestein had a variety of weapons to counterattack with, and she used them. Her strategy seemed to be keeping Alice at bay with what seemed to amount to a seaweed shield, while attacking me with semen sucking plants. I didn’t doubt that she was a genius, but this body she had made for herself wasn’t impressing me. She’d given herself monster weaknesses without gaining strength. The pleasure attacks were almost beneath my notice, and her shield was only mildly inconveniencing Alice.
What’s more, my relief at Alice’s appearance was calming my mind. I found that I could still find that serene state that I’d had with Undine. It wasn’t nearly as powerful an effect without Undine’s assistance, but I found that I could just barely make out the flow and move with it. Promestein was becoming frustrated, having more and more trouble hitting me, either with pleasure attacks or physical attacks. She began to switch her physical attacks to Alice, but despite her small form, she endured them like a small tank and gave better than she got.
Promestein, sensing that she had miscalculated, began to retreat. “Looks like you’re having trouble, Professor Seaweed,” Alice taunted. “Before I finish you, I’ll have you remove this seal.”
“Hah!” Promestein laughed. “I can’t undo the seal. Once it’s done, it can’t be undone.”
“What did you say?!” Alice cried.
“The Six Ancestors’ Great Seal maintains itself by taking power from the very person it’s sealing,” she explained. “So once it’s in place, no one from the outside can break it. It’s only released when the magic power maintaining it is lost. In other words, once the being inside is dead.”
“So I’m stuck in this form!?”
“No,” Promestein replied. “Because you’re going to die here! I still hold my trump card!”
It had better be more than what she already showed us, I thought. She whipped out a syringe and pierced her own neck with it.
“This hasn’t been properly tested yet, but you haven’t given me much choice,” said Promestein.
“What is that?!” Alice asked.
Before Promestein could answer or inject the strange liquid, a portal opened up beneath her. She went rigid, frozen in place. A voice spoke.
“Hehe, don’t do that,” it said. “You shouldn’t use that injection yet.”
A strange looking girl materialized inside the room. She looked like a young girl herself, and she was carrying a teddy bear. She had a look of innocence, but something about her caused me to recognize her as evil personified. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe it was the way she carried herself.
“Black Alice,” Promestein said. “Don’t interfere!”
“Black Alice?!” Alice exclaimed.
So this was the Black Alice who had been recruiting monsters and causing trouble lately! How many foes were we up against? At that point, I just didn’t care. As long was Alice as by my side, I felt that we could conquer anything. The despair I’d felt only minutes before seemed like a distant memory.
“Goddess Ilias doesn’t wish for your brain to be mush yet,” Black Alice said to Promestein. “It would be quite troubling if you used the White Rabbit before it was finished. Please, cool down for a bit.”
The portal underneath Promestein flashed, and she dropped into it. Alice and I were alone with Black Alice.
“Who the hell are you?!” Alice demanded. “Why did you assume the name of the eighth monster lord? Your appearance too! You’re even trying to look just like her! What do you have to gain by mimicking that ancient Monster Lord?”
The Eighth Monster Lord had looked like that? I thought she was a lamia?
“I am Alipheese the Eighth, my dear,” Black Alice replied. “I know you can read magic. Look at me closely. One might be able to fake the appearance, but the signature of my magic is unmistakable.”
Alice gazed at her. Her eyes went wide. “But how?!” she asked. “Black Alice was destroyed by the legendary hero Heinrich!”
“Yes, I know,” Black Alice replied. “I was defeated by him 500 years ago. But I never died. Just before I slipped into the next world I was saved by the Goddess.”
“Ilias saved you?” I asked. “I thought she hated all monsters, especially the Monster Lord?”
“Hehe,” Black Alice chuckled. “Ilias has her own circumstances. Let’s just say she needed me so that she could do a few things she otherwise wouldn’t be able to do.”
“So you became her dog?” Alice raged. “A monster lord becoming a slave to Ilias?!”
“I prefer to think of myself as a rabbit, actually,” Black Alice replied, giggling. “That reminds me, I have a message from Ilias. You know that little battle you fought at my castle?”
“That would be my castle!” Alice corrected.
“Whatever,” Black Alice replied. “Ilias didn’t just attack the castle. She’s sent her armies all over the world. She plans to eradicate the human race! She’s tired of them continuing to not follow her commands and has decided to wipe the world clean and start anew. It will be such a lovely party! And I’m in the role of hostess! I have so many great ideas! Humanity’s last days will be quite lively! Anyway, gotta run, so much to do, so much to plan. Have a nice day!”
Black Alice waved goodbye with the teddy bear’s stuffed hand and vanished.
“Destroy humans?” I said in disbelief. No, not really disbelief. I was familiar with apocalyptic legends from my own world. This seemed to be normal behavior for gods. Still, it was more awful than anything I could imagine. I’d just finished saving Ilias Village from an economic blockade and the possible destruction of their temple, only to find out that an angelic army was marching on them. Them, and every other city in the world! Compared to that, taking on the Four Heavenly Knights had just been a small errand I had to take care of. A stroll in the park.
“The tyranny of that Goddess is finally clear,” Alice said to me. “it seems her hatred is no longer limited to monsters.”
“Alice…” I said, overwhelmed now that we were alone. “I’m so glad your safe. Why are you a child now? Was that a way to partially defeat the seal?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “it’s a spell I was taught that can evade a seal. My real body is wherever the seal is. What you see in front of you is just a temporary vessel. For now, look around you. This a laboratory, isn’t it?”
“It’s more than that!” I said. “This place brought back so many memories that I remember almost everything now!”
“What?!” Alice cried with joy. “Really?! You remember everything now?!”
“Almost,” I said. “So much came back that it’s hard to process, but I really think so. I might even know how to operate most of this equipment. These servers must have data on her experiments. I’ll bet there’s information on the Great Seal here.”
“Wait, you also know how to use these machines?! That’s fantastic! You’re a gen-.. I mean, not totally an idiot, Luka!”
“I think so,” I replied. “It might take some fiddling around. This equipment is similar to what I worked with back on my world, so it might use a different operating system and language than I’m used to, but I bet I can figure this out.”
“I don’t know what any of that means, but please, get to it,” Alice ordered. “And hurry! You heard what Black Alice said, Ilias is attacking the whole world! You’re needed! You’re the only one who can defeat angels.”
“That might be a problem, then,” I said. “because there’s a lot here.”
I grabbed a random case off of a shelf and opened it. Inside were compact discs. There were dozens more of these cases and each one appeared to hold at least one hundred discs. That would be a lot of data to sift through.
“There’s even more here,” Alice said, opening a box on the ground that contained even more. “There must be thousands of them here.”
She picked one of the discs up and stared at it. Then she licked it. Then the darndest thing happened. She began to speak. “Month 10, day 21, no problem with cell culture A10235. X2 Denon body separated, kept at room temperature.”
“Alice, are you reading the data off of that disc with your tongue?”
“I… I think so,” she said, and started to stick her tongue out again.
“No!” I said, grabbing the disc from her hand. “you’ll damage it! There’s a more efficient way!”
I took the disc she’d licked and wiped it with my shirt, then looked for a terminal I could use. I found one with a CD drive. I opened the drive with the press of a button and inserted the CD. I was mildly disappointed that the contents didn’t appear on the screen immediately. That meant I was going to have to figure out how to use her system. I pulled up a chair, sat down and went to work.
Alice came over to my side and peered over my shoulder as I typed on the keyboard. To my delight, the keyboard used the same QWERTY format I was used to. My hands glided over the keyboard with blinding speed, trying random commands to see if the operating system recognized anything. It was a command line interface of some sort, although not one I’d ever seen before. Everything I did came up with errors.
“I don’t think you’re doing it right,” Alice commented. “Maybe there’s a manual around here?”
“That would help,” I said, looking around. Then I realized. “Duh! Help!”
“Duhhhh!” Alice said as I typed the word Help. That did it. A list of commands appeared on the screen. I found the command for reading from the CD in the drive and looked at the directory of files. Promestein had unhelpfully listed them by date rather than subject. If all the CDs were like this, it was going to be a weeks long project. Could the world last weeks?
“Ooooiiiii! Monster Lord!”
Was that Tamamo’s voice? Had she found this place too? I turned towards the entrance, expecting to see her walk into the room. Her voice called again. I realized she wasn’t in the facility, she was above it. She would need to find the hatch.
“Luka, stay right where you are if you don’t want to die,” Alice ordered.
In the middle of the room, the ceiling caved in. Tamamo’s head poked through the opening. “Oh, Luka’s here too! What’s with the sciency room?”
Tamamo dropped a rope and climbed down it to the floor.
“We found a large number of silver discs used to record information,” Alice explained. “Luka knows what they are and how to read them, but there are thousands of them.”
Tamamo picked one up and put it in her mouth. Her tails began to move from side to side. “Yep, lots of information recorded on this thing. I can’t read it though. This one’s encrypted.”
That wasn’t good. The first CD I’d put in wasn’t encrypted, but if some were that would mean that the most important information we needed would probably be on the encrypted discs. The project had just gotten much more time consuming.
“Tamamo, you know what encryption is?” I asked.
“Sure!” she replied cheerily. “Haven’t you heard that us kitsunes are the technological wizards of the monster world?”
“That’s fantastic! I need to pull the data from all of these, but I can’t stay to do it all because I have to help fight the invading angel armies! If I could show you really quick how to use these devices, I could go and do my duty!”
“Hmmmmm….” Tamamo mused. “I only have one tongue. It’ll fall off before I get through even a fraction of these discs. I’ll need to get help.”
“No, you see, you can… aaand, she’s already gone.”
Indeed, Tamamo had left. “Don’t worry,” Alice said. “she’ll be back quickly. Try to be patient. You’re only one guy. While you wait, we need to plan where you’ll go first.”
“It’s the furthest away, but I have to go to Ilias Village,” I said. “Then we’ll have to work our way back north.”
“That’s a bad idea,” she replied. “We should go to Gold Port and work our way south. If you go to Ilias Village it will be hours before you get to engage the enemy.”
“Ilias Village is nearly defenseless, though!” I countered. “The cities on Sentora have large armies! They can hold out much longer!”
“I understand,” Alice said. “If you think that’s best, then do it. You’re going to be carrying the largest burden, not that that’s new. It should be your choice what places you prioritize. Let’s just hope that the attacks haven’t already begun. It’s only been a couple of hours since Ilias attacked my castle. She can’t have been ready to open up a worldwide offensive on such short notice.”
“Unless that was her plan from the start,” I responded. “I find it hard to believe that she wasn’t prepared for the possibility that I wouldn’t kill you.”
“Or maybe,” Alice mused. “She was going to do this whether or not you killed me. If you’d done her that favor, it just would have made this even simpler. I was such a fool! I thought I was doing something she wouldn’t expect and ruining her plans, but I was doing what she wanted all along!”
“You’re not a fool, Alice,” I soothed. “Who can outthink a god?”
“Well, we have to if we’re to have any hope,” Alice said. ‘something about all this bothers me. It doesn’t seem smart.”
“She’s uniting monsters and humans,” I observed. “If she fails to annihilate us all, the world we dreamed of will become a reality.”
Tamamo teleported back into the room, this time with Nanabi and Yao in tow. “Luka, I know you need to get going, so show Nanabi how to use that machine and we’ll get started. Aliice, I’ll come to you and report anything we find on that seal as soon as we find it.”
I was all for that plan, although I wondered if working with Nanabi would be a bit awkward. Turns out she was pretty delightful. My initial impression had been positive even though we’d had a really tough battle, but I feared there might be some hard feelings. There were none. She listened attentively as I showed her how to use the system to read the data files. I also figured out how to print the data out, although because there was so much of it I advised not printing anything but vital information. Paper and ink were probably limited.
We did find a few important things to print, nothing related to the seals, unfortunately, but potentially valuable nonetheless. The system Promestein had was a bit primitive, seemed to be 1980s level tech. That meant that while I was printing I couldn’t do anything else. So while we waited, Nanabi and I talked a little.
“You said you were Tamamo’s aide,” I said by way of making conversation. “What does that involve?”
“Basically, this,” Nanabi replied. “I handle a lot of clerical things. Tamamo has been handling day to day governance while the Monster Lord has been away. That involves a lot of paperwork.”
Geez, so even in the monster world there were bureaucrats.
“You fight really well for a paper pusher,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said, blushing. “I was really disappointed that I lost to you. Kitsunes aren’t supposed to lose to humans. Especially not kitsunes with as many tails as I have.”
“I only beat you because you couldn’t have possibly known not to use eye magic on me.”
“You beat me because I got impatient,” she corrected. “I may not have known, but there was no reason for me to resort to that. I had you beaten. I was just getting frustrated because my tail magic kept cutting out.”
“Funny how that happens,” Tamamo said, staring meaningfully at Alice. Everyone in the room turned to Alice.
“What?!” Alice asked. She was stuffing her face with what looked like a bag of potato chips. “Did I miss something?”
“Oh, we were just discussing how crazy it is that Nanabi’s ultimate attack had its magic cut out twice in a row,” Tamamo replied.
“What are you implying?” Alice asked, stuffing more chips into her mouth.
“You know what I’m implying,” Tamamo replied, giggling.
“Your majesty!” Nanabi said. “You didn’t!”
Alice groaned. “Okay, fine! I dispelled your magic just before it finished Luka.”
“Twice!” Tamamo said gleefully. “Toldja it wasn’t your fault, Nanabi!”
Something about that bag looked familiar. “Alice,” I said. “Is that a bag of Doritos?”
Alice held up the bag and inspected it. “That’s what it says,” she replied.
“Where did you get that?!” I asked.
“It was in Promestein’s office,” she replied. “That wasn’t all. I grabbed anything that looked interesting. She had lots of stuff.”
“Let me see one of those,” Tamamo said. Alice offered the open bag to her. Tamamo reached in, pulled a chip out, and licked it.
“There’s about 20 ingredients in here that I can’t identify,” she said. “I wonder what’s in this?”
“The ingredients are listed on the bag,” I said helpfully.
Alice turned the bag over. “Some of these I recognize, but what’s monosodium glutamate? Sodium acetate? Disodium gua- I have no idea how to pronounce that.”
“Is that even safe to eat?” Tamamo asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s good,” Alice replied, stuffing more into her mouth.
“Do you realize what this means?” I said excitedly.
“It means Promestein liked exotic foods?” Alice said.
“That food comes from my world! It means she must have a reliable way to bring things from there to here! That’s got to be where at least some of this equipment came from!”
“That’s another thing to look for on these discs,” Nanabi noted. “We can figure out how to get you home!”
“Okay,” Tamamo said. “We’re looking for information on Alice’s seal, the seal on the spirits, how she transports things between dimensions…. Anything else?”
“Couldn’t hurt to see if there’s data that can be used to identify weaknesses with those chimeras,” Yao answered. “They aren’t much of a problem for us, but humans and weaker monsters will need any edge they can get.”
“Right,” Tamamo agreed. “I’m sure we’ll find more useful information as we come across it. I’ll keep you updated, Monster Lord!”
That settled, I resumed my tutoring of Nanabi on how to operate Promestein’s systems. She was an amazingly quick study. I’d tried to show people on my world how to do things as simple as expand a window and it stumped them. Nanabi was grasping a command line interface as if she did it every day. I was happy that this wouldn’t take as long as I had feared.
“it’s too bad,” Nanabi said as we were finishing up. “I really wanted to chastise you.”
“What would that have involved?” I asked, curious.
Nanabi moved one of her tails in front of my face. Concentrating for a moment, her trail transformed into a weird tentacle like appendage with a sucker on the end of it. As if that wasn’t strange enough, it stuck out a tongue at me!
“I would have used this on you!” she said sweetly. “I have seven of them, one on each tail. Each one is different. I would have made you come into all seven.”
“Regretting your life choices about now, Luka?” Tamamo said, chuckling. “Boy, did you miss out!”
“Not for a second,” I replied, looking at Alice. “If Nanabi had beaten me, I’d be stuck on Ilias Continent and I never would have traveled all over the world with Alice.”
“Awwwww…” all the kitsunes said in unison, looking in Alice’s direction again.
“You’re very sweet, Luka,” Alice said.
“And you’re impossible!” Tamamo giggled. “How long are you going to be stubborn?”
“Sh-Shut up!” Alice yelled.
“Hey, Luka,” Tamamo teased. “I’ll bet you’ve never seen this many fluffy tails in one place before! Better watch it, our tails tend to have minds of their own. They wander.”
“You’d think someone as old as you could at least try to be subtle,” Alice retorted.
Sure enough, I felt a tail subtly slip into my pants. “Nanabi!” I yelled. She smiled wickedly. “Um, it looks like we’re done here, I think you’ve got it now. Do you feel comfortable operating this?”
“You’ve taught me well,” Nanabi replied. “I’ll show the others what you showed me and we’ll get to work. If there’s anything to find here, we’ll find it!”
Given what I knew about my previous life, it almost felt wrong to not be the one to do this job. It was as if my brain had returned from wherever it had gone, replacing the one that I’d been carrying around with me for the past two years. Since I’d arrived in Ilias Village, I’d developed a warrior mentality because I was physically gifted. I’d assumed myself to be simpleminded because I had a stereotypical view of warriors as simple. Now that I knew I was a tech guy, I wanted to do this instead. I had to get my mind back to where it was. The world was about to be at war, might already be at war. I wielded the Angel Halo, making my presence on the battlefield essential. It was time to save Ilias Village. Again.
As Alice and I were about to board the Galda Express, I heard Tamamo yelling behind me. “Luka, wait!”
This time I heeded her. She slammed into me, fortunately not with earth power, embracing me in a big hug. “Thank you…” she said softly.
“Thank you for what?” I asked.
“You know what, silly!” she replied, looking up at me with moist eyes. “I thought I was going to lose her.”
“I’m not sure how much I had to do with that.”
“You had everything to do with it!” she insisted. “I’ll never forget what you did. I’ll always be grateful. Next time I get a chance, you’ve got a Nine Moons coming.”
“A Nine Moons?”
“No! Nine Moons isn’t enough! Yao and Nanabi are gonna want to show their gratitude too! 24 Moons!” she said, getting excited.
“24?!” Alice interjected. “He doesn’t even have that many parts!”
“I’ll have Nanabi draw up a diagram!” Tamamo giggled. “We’ll make it work!”
“Let’s go, Luka!” Alice ordered.
As I mounted Galda, I asked Alice what Tamamo was talking about.
“24 moons means 24 tails,” she answered. “Wipe that smile off your face!”
“Galda! Ilias Village!” I said.
I wonder how she knew these place names, anyway? Oh, well, more important things to talk about, I thought. It was going to be a long flight.
“Alice, what did you mean when you said that the angels I defeated were reduced to their original holy forms?”
“THAT’s what you want to talk about right now?” she responded. “All right, I may not have been completely honest with you. When you use Angel Halo on an angel, they are sealed into the sword. I didn’t want you distracted during that battle. I know how you get.”
“Sealed into the sword?” I asked. “That doesn’t sound good. Can they ever get out?”
“Yes,” she replied. “But only if we do a ritual to release them. We can do that when it’s safe to do so.”
“That’s a relief,” I said. “You know how much I hate killing.”
“Oh, believe me, I know,” she replied. “So is there anything else you want to talk about?”
“I guess I’ve said all I had to say. I’m not sure what else to add.”
“Well then,” she said. “Let me say what I have to say. I can’t tell you enough how sorry I am. I would have never asked you to kill me if I’d known how you felt about me.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t notice,” I said.
“I’m not completely oblivious, Luka. I knew you had feelings. I knew you were affectionate towards me. Tamamo beat me over the head with this idea that you wanted more. I just assumed you wanted to be my lover. To want to marry me…. I never imagined….”
“I guess I jumped to the wrong conclusion,” I said. “All the training, all the hints that I was going to end up fighting you, your sudden urgency to get me to your castle when I thought we were supposed to be taking our sweet time getting there… it was as if all the puzzle pieces were fitting together. It never occurred to me that you might have other plans.”
“And I did tell you that any man who wants to marry the Monster Lord has to be stronger,” she said. “I just feel so stupid for not seeing it. I couldn’t have picked a more cruel way to break your heart.”
“If you want to make it up to me, then live to see the better world you want to create.”
She reached out and squeezed my hand. “Deal,” she said. “Speaking of better worlds, don’t you want to go home? I mean, now that we know it can be done... I didn’t say this out loud, but I feared that only Ilias might have the power to do it. Now that we know Promestein did it too, does it regularly in fact, the chances of you getting back look a lot better today than they did yesterday. Does that change your desire to marry me?”
“I don’t think so, no. You were right about my life where I came from being trivial. It seemed important at the time, but I was really just a regular guy with a regular job. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed that life. But here I have purpose. I’m needed. Of course, I’d love to be able to visit home from time to time. There’s a lot there that I love and would miss.”
“Now that you remember everything,” said Alice. “tell me something about your world. Hopefully now you can tell me about things other than fictional characters or weird turns of phrase. If you could take me there, what would you want to show me the most?”
“Food,” I said. “The sheer variety of things to eat there.”
Alice’s face showed a look of determination. “When all this is over, getting access to your world is going to be my top priority! We will not fail!”
We shared a good laugh. But the big question still hung in the air. “So how do you feel about me, Alice?”
“It’s not that simple,” she said, turning serious. “I’m the Monster Lord. Yes, you defeated me in battle, although technically that didn’t HAVE to be the test of strength. It qualifies well enough, though. There’s so much more to it, now. I have no idea what the world will be like tomorrow, much less months or years from now. I just can’t make you any promises, Luka.”
She took my hand again. “Except this: as long as you want to work to create a better world where humans and monsters can live in peace, I’ll be with you every step of the way. Until our last dying breaths. And if we survive this, when it’s all over…. Let’s just say I’m not shutting you down here. If what you said in my throne room counts as a proposal, I haven’t said no yet.”
“It means so much to me that you’re openly my ally now,” I responded. “For now, that’s more than enough.”
Something else occurred to me just then. “How did you end up in that lab, anyway?”
“When I completed the counterspell to Promstein’s seal, that’s where I ended up. It’s not a mystery how I got there. Now that I remember it, Black Alice’s magic was at work.”
“Why would Black Alice direct you to Promestein’s lab?” I asked. “Aren’t they on the same side?”
“Either their alliance is fragile and they are pursuing their own agendas,” Alice mused. “Or they wanted us to find that lab. Given how much important information landed in our laps, I have to think it’s the former. Black Alice wanted to mess up Promestein’s plans for reasons known only to her.”
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