Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

Luka's Story-Paradox	By : Ditmag Category: +M through R > Monster Girl Quest Views: 2711 -:- 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
- 75
- 76
- 77
“So how are you getting to Sabasa, hero?” Alicetroemeria asked. Maybe I’m paranoid, but I detected more than a hint of sarcasm in her tone.
“I was hoping you’d fly me there,” I answered, quite reasonably, I thought.
“I’d rather we didn’t go anywhere near Sabasa! For one, it’s hot. And dry. Due to the changes in my physiology since I started messing around with some really dark magics, I need moisture to be at my best. Second, it’s not your place, and it sure as hell isn’t mine, to get involved in Ancestor business. They want you to do something for them that they don’t want to do themselves.”
“Exactly,” I said. “I’ve been around the block a few times, Eight. I know exactly what Saja and Minagi are doing. I’m doing it because they are the two good ones among the Ancestors. Relatively, anyway. Having them as allies helps me.”
“They aren’t the best allies, they’re the easiest allies to win. There’s a difference. You just want to stay on the good side of the ones most predisposed to already like you.”
“Are you suggesting I should try to cozy up to the meanest Ancestors?” I asked.
“If you had to cozy up to anyone, yes! But you don’t even have to do that! You’ve seen enough! You can decide now!”
“What do you think I should do, Eight? From what you’ve seen, do you want me to side with Makai?”
Alicetroemeria paused, as if unprepared for me to ask her that pretty crucial question. When she recovered her composure, she spoke carefully.
“I have no particular loyalty to monsters I don’t have any responsibility for,” she said. “My interest here is to survive. For my subjects to survive. So before I joined them I’d want to know more about their plan. I get the part about evacuating everyone that can be from the Paradox world to Makai. The part they haven’t made us aware of is how they plan to save this world from falling to chaos right after it.”
“I’m betting that huge asteroid has a big part of the answer to that question,” I pointed out.
“Well, unfortunately, we haven’t seen the big ass rock in a couple of days.”
“Then we obviously still have business here until we can get a look at the big ass rock in question. Since I have nothing more useful to do, I figure why not go to Sabasa, find out what’s troubling Saja and Minagi, and say hello to Regina while we’re there. There’ll be good food….”
“Do you think all Fateburns can be tempted so easily?” Alicetroemeria said defensively.
“Actually, yes. I see how much of my food you eat.”
“I need to be alive to eat.”
“What makes you think there will be a fight?” I asked.
“You tell me. You’ve encountered these Ancestors on other worlds, I haven’t. I only know what I’ve read. And from what I read, Hiruko is homicidal.”
“Aren’t you?”
“This isn’t about me! This is about Saja and Minagi being ‘concerned’ about something Hiruko is doing, so they are sending you over to do something about it. There’s just one problem: Hiruko isn’t going to play patty cake with you like Minagi did.”
Tentacles shot out from under Alicetroemeria’s dress and wrapped me up. Alicetroemeria brought me close to ber, her face an inch from mine.
“What Hiruko will do when you inevitably piss her off, is wrap you up in her tentacles. She’s got a lot more of them, and they’re a lot stronger than mine. You know her best. Tell me, will she run her slimy tentacles all over your body first, to reduce your resistance?”
Alicetroemeria’s tentacles did precisely that, oozing mucus and who knew what else while slithering all over me. It was gross, but it felt pretty good.
“Or will she squeeze you and crush your bones?” Alicetroemeria growled, squeezing hard enough to cut off my air.
“Oh, you like that a lot less, huh?” she snarked, grinning madly. “Do you know what I could do next? I could just pull you into my body and devour you in seconds.”
“You won’t do that,” I croaked. “Because it’s very dangerous to put someone who can explode in your tummy.”
Alicetroemeria dropped me to the ground, none to gently.
“Besides,” I gasped. “The Ancestors aren’t trying to-“
“Yeah, I get it, they want to recruit you, not kill you,” Alicetroemeria scoffed. “That’s only valid as long as they think they can recruit you.”
“Well, Minagi and Saja certainly haven’t give up on me, and there isn’t anything I can do to help them with their Hiruko problem which will change that. If Hiruko gets it into her head to murder me, then she’ll be on her own.”
“And you can take her?”
“If I have to. On another world, she got beaten by a kitsune and a crab girl.”
“Was that crab girl Cindy by any chance?” Alicetroemeria asked.
“How did you know?”
“Because even I’m a little scared of that one. She may rule us all one day.”
“Look,” I said. “If you want me to take you home, I can do that anytime. Saja will take me to Sabasa.”
“You’re impossible!” Alicetroemeria erupted. “Fine, I’ll take you.”
“Why? You wanted to see a Monster World, you’ve seen it. Why expose yourself to more danger?”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you. I’m a Monster Lord.”
“Am I starting to detect a hint of loyalty to your friends?” I teased.
“You’re not my friend,” she replied matter of factly. “But it’s in my interests to keep you from getting killed.”
“Oh, okay,” I said sarcastically.
“All right, now you’re pissing me off!” she said, grabbing me in her tentacles again. “So I’m going to explain reality to you, before your delusions get us both killed! For all you’re experience and age, you still think people can just be changed by being nice to them and doing things for them! Is that how you think the world works?!”
“Not always,” I admitted. “But often, yes. Some people just haven’t been treated well by others. Treat them well and they become nicer themselves.”
“Ha!” Alicetroemeria crowed triumphantly. “You are such a naïve moron! You probably think you’re turning Ilias into a sweet little angel from the human storybooks rather than the genocidal goddess that she is!”
“Actually, yes. Are you denying the change we’ve seen in her?”
“Oh, this is too good,” Alicetroemeria chuckled. “You are so, so stupid. But I’ll give you a small victory here, before I crush your self-image. Yeah, I do kinda like you. And because I like you, I’m behaving a little better than I normally would. But do you think you’ve changed my worldview? Do you think I’m going to go back to my world after this, treat all the humans as my chums, and usher in an era of peace and rainbows with Heinrich?”
“Would that be so bad?”
“It’s not about what’s good or bad, it’s about reality! The real world is shades of grey! Ilias knows that as well as anyone! She’s not turning into a better person! She’s in love with you! She’s just doing what I’m doing, only moreso, because she craves your approval.”
“See, now you’re the one seeing things in black and white,” I argued. “Maybe she is in love with me. But there’s a lot more to her change than that. She’s had to live, to feel, what it’s like to be mortal. She’s gotten to interact with monsters, and to their credit, they’ve been nothing but friendly to her. Probably a little too friendly now that I think about it.”
“People don’t change, Luka!” Alicetroemeria said, dropping me again. “They might seem to change, because their interests change, but at their core they remain who they are.”
“I don’t believe that,” I said firmly. “I was married to Tamamo. She’s living proof that people change.”
“Only because you don’t know who Tamamo really is! You see an evil Tamamo, you see a good Tamamo. They are the same fucking Tamamo!”
“I don’t follow.”
“Did you go to school?” she asked.
“Of course I went to school.”
“Okay, so you know how there’s these girls, they’ll be all mean and haughty when they are friends with the queen bee at the school?”
“Yeah.”
“And what happens when they are no longer part of that clique? What happens when they have to make new friends? What if those friends are a little nicer?”
“You think that’s Tamamo? That she just becomes like whoever she hangs out with?”
“That’s exactly who Tamamo is,” Alicetroemeria said.
“You don’t know her like I do. I was married to that woman for centuries. Yes, she’s impressionable for someone so ancient, I won’t deny that. The Dark God used to call her out for that. But Tamamo is no mere follower. I’d argue that in this world she’s the worst of the Ancestors.”
“You’ve only met half of them.”
“And on my world,” I concluded. “She was the best of the Heavenly Knights. Yeah, she’s impressionable, but people can’t be reduced to simple models of behavior. Is Tamamo influenced by the worst behaviors of the Ancestors and the Dark God? Sure. Is she also influenced by the best of what she later saw in humanity and the nice monsters? Okay, I can buy that. But she doesn’t just mimic behaviors. She doesn’t just follow. She leads. She’s been both the queen mean girl and the sweet teacher’s pet. Life is about growth, and she’s made good use of all that time she’s had. Tamamo has been in some pretty dark places, but she never goes backwards, only forwards. She only got better as a person the longer I knew her. And I’m sure if I could meet her back on my world today, she’d be an even better person.”
“Hmph. Maybe you do see shades of grey,” Alicetroemeria conceded. “I still think you’re a naïve moron, but at least I’m satisfied now that you don’t have the brain of a child. I’m still pissed at you, though. And I know just how to take out my aggression on you.”
“Uh oh.”
“Oh yeah. I’m going to rape the shit out of you. Besides, it’s a long flight to Sabasa. I need your energy.”
“But I’m empty!”
“It’s been a few hours. You’ve got just enough.”
“Eight…..” I cautioned. “Be nice…”
She wasn’t nice. She pounced on me, tentacles outstretched, and took me violently. At least I slept through the harrowing flight that came afterwards.

“Wake up, moron, we’re here!”
I looked up into the eyes of Black Alice. Not Alicetroemeria, but definitely Black Alice. It wasn’t the outfit or her chosen form. She had changed neither. It was the eyes and her actions. While I didn’t consider what she had done to me to actually be rape, as I could have stopped it at any time if I’d been willing to get violent, but the fact that her intention had been to violate me made me look at her the way I looked at her counterparts. I wasn’t angry, but I was no longer deluding myself that I could reach her. There was only one person who had a chance to do that, and he was worlds away. And history said that he would fail. If she was trying to get me to lose my faith in the fundamental goodness of people, she had failed. But if she was trying to get me to lose my faith in the ability of Black Alice to change for the better, she had succeeded.
I cleared my eyes and looked out at the city. Sabasa was the grandest city in the four kingdoms. Not as populace as Grand Noah, or as majestic as San Ilia, but it was the largest area-wise, and the most opulent. But where was everybody? It was the middle of the day.
“Notice something missing here?” Black Alice asked.
“Yeah, where are all the people?” I replied. “Is it just this block,or….?”
“Nope. I didn’t see a soul flying over the city. No humans, no monsters.”
“But…. Why? What could have happened to everyone?”
“I’m guessing that’s why Saja and Minagi were so eager to send you here,” Black Alice mused. “Hiruko must have happened to everyone.”
“But monsters too?”
“Only in Sabasa. I saw the normal wandering monsters while I flew over the desert. I also saw a few small settlements and encampments. Whatever Hiruko did, she only did it here. I wonder if Sabasa rebelled and she ate them all?”
“Can she do that?” I asked.
“She’s an Ancestor,” Black Alice shrugged. “Who knows what her limits are?”
“But why would Sabasa rebel?” I asked. “Don’t the monsters believe in freedom for all? While I have a lot of problems with the sheer license they give everyone, it’s not exactly the kind of thing people take up arms over. ‘Oh, there’s too much freedom, let’s form a militia and show the queen that we won’t tolerate having all this freedom!’ No one ever does that.”
“You actually have a point there. I can think of a lot of people that would have a problem with it, but a rebellion wouldn’t solve that kind of problem. It’s mainly the weak who would rebel, and even if they somehow defeated Hiruko and those benefitting from the system, how would they impose their version of order? Successful revolutions happen for only two reasons: the rebels want freedom, or more often, they simply don’t like the despot and want to be the ones telling everyone what to do.”
“So where did they go?” I wondered. “Maybe a Tartarus made them all disappear?”
“I guess you can’t rule it out, but there’s none even close to here. I haven’t seen a rift anywhere on our travels.”
“Hmmm, I wonder if this world only has the one in Hellgondo connecting it to Paradox World,” I suggested.

“A reasonable hypothesis.”
“So we have a mystery on our hands,” I said. “I wish Saja and Minagi had been more forthcoming about what’s happening here.”
“Saja said she was at your beck and call,” Black Alice reminded me. “Well, call her.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea! Saja!”
“Yes, Luka?” Saja asked, a bit more sweetly than I would have expected.
“Saja, would you mind explaining what’s going on here?” I asked, just as sweetly.
“I… am not completely certain,” Saja admitted. “Hiruko is not the sharing type. She’s surly, that one. And obsessive. She only spoke of trouble of some sort in the region, presumably some kind of rebellion.”
“So there was a rebellion!” Black Alice crowed. “Was she ruling in a way contradictory to all your lofty rhetoric about freedom?”
“Actually, no,” Saja said. “Granted, all of the Ancestors rule their region in their own way, but we all share a love of liberty, even Hiruko. I can see her taking away freedoms to put down a rebellion, but I cannot see one starting due to that. That is why it is a mystery, even to us.”
“Isn’t the Dark God omniscient?” I asked. “She has to have seen what happened here.”
“The extent of her abilities in that regard is not known to us,” Saja admitted. “We would normally not speak of our goddess’ less than unlimited power to a mortal, but she holds you in high regard. She considers you to be her equal. So how much she knows of what has occurred here is unknown to me. She will share if she deems it appropriate.”
“Did she want me to come here?”
“She has not stated any opinion on whether or not you should come here. Minagi and myself requested this for our own reasons.”
“Manipulated him is more like it!” Black Alice said accusingly. “You knew he’d agree to it whether he defeated Minagi or not!”
“I had nothing to do with Minagi’s horseplay!” Saja said indignantly. “She merely wanted an excuse to play with him. And to avoid personal responsibility for taking the punchbowl away, so to speak. Now the succubi blame Luka for the orgies being drug-free.”
“So you want me to find out where all the people went,” I said. “And then do what? Presumably Hiruko meant to do this, which means I’m going to butt heads with her. And as my companion so helpfully pointed out, Hiruko isn’t going to use that as an opportunity to have fun with me. Just how far do the Dark God’s orders not to kill me go?”
“There are no such orders,” Saja said, looking down.
“Well that’s not good,” I said. “So if Hiruko and I get into it, one of us might die.”
“It is a distinct possibility,” Saja conceded. “I hope it will not come to that.”
“You hope…” Black Alice said. “Luka, I have a very bad feeling about this. Let’s go home.”
“Wait….” Saja said, grabbing Black Alice’s arm. “Hiruko knows the prophecies as much as any of us, and she knows you have been brought to our world. Our Dark God would never tell her that she cannot do something if she feels it necessary. Simply…. Do not give Hiruko a reason to kill you.”
“You do realize we’re talking about Hiruko, right?” I said. “Her counterpart wanted to kill me simply for insulting her.”
“Then do not insult her,” Saja said helpfully. “she is… sensitive.”
“Saja, if I find out that she ate everyone, I promise you, you’re going to be the Five Ancestors. That’s not an idle threat. So think really hard about whether you want me to get involved.”
I expected that Saja would be angered by my threat. Instead, she seemed saddened.
“I do not think she has done such a thing,” Saja said. “But I cannot rule it out. If she did, then she not only committed an atrocity against the humans of Sabasa, but the monsters as well. The Dark God’s wrath would be turned against her, and you would be the instrument of that wrath.”
“You said she didn’t send Luka here,” Black Alice reminded Saja. “You did.”
“The Dark God works in mysterious ways,” Saja said. “It is likely that it was always her intention for you to come here. I pray that Hiruko did not do what you fear she did. If she did…. Then I will know my sister no more. As the tool that my goddess uses to punish her, I cannot be angry with you. But we are making assumptions. I am reasonably certain she did not eat everyone. As voracious as she is, that would be a rather tedious way to deal with a rebellion. Effective, but very tedious. Such a process would have taken months, even for her. Many would have escaped such a reign of terror and told of it. No, I believe she did something more magical in nature. Which means that getting her to reverse whatever it is she has done should require only a modest level of violence.”
“Okay, Saja, thank you,” I said. “Look, Saja, back on my world we were friends, sort of. At the very least there was mutual respect. I really want that relationship with you. So I’ll do this, and I hope when it’s all over that you’ll start to trust me. Because if we’re going to work together, if we’re going to be in an alliance, then we have to trust each other. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“He means he needs to know what the plan is once he marries himself to your cause,” Black Alice said.
“I fear my orders on that are clear,” Saja said. “That cannot be revealed unless you choose us. Should we reveal our plans and you choose our enemy, we would be doomed. Our only chance should you make the wrong choice is what we keep secret.”
“Fine,” I said, earning a dirty look from Black Alice. “I’ll solve your little Hiruko problem.”
“Minagi and I would be most grateful,” Saja said, licking her lips meaningfully.
“Uh huh….” I said in response. The truth was, I wanted what they were offering very badly, but I also knew I needed to stop thinking that way. My wife was back. My relationship with Alice had changed overnight due to the emergence of the part of her soul that had been my Alice. While I was sure there would be more “necessary fooling around” on my journey, I needed to avoid the purely recreational flings. I had to get my mind right if I wanted to build a new life with my Alice.
“Okay, Saja, you can go, although I’m sure you’ll be watching,” I said. “I’m guessing you can’t help if we come to blows.”
“Ancestors do not directly interfere in each other’s affairs,” Saja confirmed.
“All right, and I know Eight isn’t helping, so it’s just me. Okay, I’ve got this.”
Saja nodded and vanished. Black Alice glared at me.
“You’ve got this,” she said sarcastically. “Okay, detective Luka, where shall we look for clues?”
“I’m not smart enough to be doing all that,” I said. “So we take the direct approach. I’m going to the palace. Hiruko is sure to be there. I simply demand that she tell me what I want to know and I beat her up to make her do what I say. That’s the monster way, right?”
“It is,” Black Alice answered. “Easier said than done. You only seem to have two modes: Commence obliteration, and play footsie.”
“I’ve got a few other tricks you haven’t seen,” I said. “I know who Hiruko is. She won’t play patty cake with me, as you said, but I won’t be playing games either.”
“Ooooh, is Alpha Luka making an appearance? So hot.”
We walked to the castle. It was so weird to see a big city completely deserted. It wasn’t like the ruins of Remina, which I’d visited a few times to pay my respects. Sabasa was completely intact. Since no plant life grew in Sabasa, the buildings weren’t being reclaimed by nature. At worst, there was a little more sand buildup than there otherwise would have been. Whatever had happened, there were no signs of a struggle. It really did look like something that might have happened in Rostrum, or Esta. But a Tartarus could not have been responsible, and Saja had already confirmed that Hiruko was likely responsible for whatever had happened here.
I marched into the castle, full of determination to give Hiruko a piece of my mind. I had to admit there was a little bit of unreleased aggression in me when it came to her. We’d never actually clashed before. I found that I was actually looking forward to taking her on, which was absolutely crazy, but probably good for my survival chances since I needed that motivation to be at my best in combat.
The problem was that Hiruko wasn’t cooperating. The castle was empty. Black Alice and I went straight to the throne room. It was abandoned. We went to the library, because I remembered that Hiruko had actually enjoyed reading. She wasn’t in the library. Maybe she was preparing herself dinner since there was no staff? No, the kitchen had not been used in months.
“I can’t believe she’s not here,” I said to Black Alice. “Maybe she wasn’t behind this? Maybe whatever happened here happened to her as well?”
“Possible,” Black Alice mused. “But it’s more likely she’s simply not here. There’s no city to rule, so why sit on the throne except for vanity? It’s also possible she is here, but chooses not to show herself. Even I can’t detect an Ancestor that doesn’t want to be seen. I never know Saja’s there unless she makes her presence known.”
“Well that’s not good,” I said. “If she’s not here, we need to go find her. If she is here, but doesn’t want to be seen, then I don’t know what to do. We’d be searching but we’d never find her.”
“Wow, you really are bad at detective work,” Black Alice observed. “Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to sleep in this palace tonight. If Hiruko is here, I’m betting that will piss her off and she’ll make an appearance. If she doesn’t show, then we travel to one of those settlements and ask questions. They probably won’t know much, but you never know.”
“Okay, yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I’m still tired from your aggressive lovemaking before you flew me here, so I could use some more sleep.”
“It wasn’t aggressive lovemaking,” Black Alice snarled. “It was rape.”
“I get to decide what rape is, not you. And I’m not giving you the satisfaction.”
“Whatever,” she huffed. “Just make me something tasty before you go off to bed. I’m taking the queen’s suite. You go sleep wherever.”

Since deserts get quite hot during the day and neither of us liked the heat, I was early to bed and early to rise, setting out before dawn. Black Alice flew me out to within a mile of the nearest settlement, making sure to be as terrifying as possible. Apparently her promise to be a team player from now on didn’t preclude her trying to humiliate me in various ways.
But, we made it safely and began the short walk in the early dawn light to the settlement. From a distance, it didn’t even look like a proper town. There seemed to be no permanent dwellings, just tents and makeshift houses made of rocks stacked on top of one another. This area of the Safina desert featured very high sand dunes, Perfect place for an ambush, which is probably why the settlement was where it was.
I don’t know that we got ambushed, but we did get challenged once we were within a quarter mile of the encampment. Since I’d been prepared for the possibility, I’d heard them on the wind, and even if I hadn’t, I knew that Black Alice had been aware of their presence. So we weren’t startled in the slightest when the bows were pointed at us.
“Hey guys, we’re not here to cause trouble,” I said. “We just want to ask a few questions.”
Black Alice looked at me as if I was an utter moron. The bows didn’t waver.
“Okay, was that the wrong thing to say?” I asked.
“That would depend on what your questions are, and on whose behalf you are asking them,” an unmistakeable voice said, emerging from behind a sand dune.
“Eden!” I said joyfully, although I kept my hands in the air, even though I hadn’t been asked to raise them. Black Alice was just standing there nonchalantly. I guess someone like her would have nothing to fear from mere arrows.
Speaking of arrows, apparently everything I said was wrong today. Even more people were pointing arrows at us, from atop sand dunes, from behind sand dunes, from behind rocks, and right out in the open.
“How do you know me?” Eden demanded.
“That’s a very complicated question,” I said. “Or maybe it’s simple and the answer’s complicated? I think I’ll just go with my favorite answer to everyone: it’s hard to explain.”
“He’s been to a lot of other universes and known a lot of Edens,” Black Alice explained.
“Oh,” Eden said. “How is that complicated? If I ask you your name, will you also consider that a difficult question?”
“Well I am Alicetroemeria,” Black Alice said. “A perfectly ordinary human mage.”
“Do not play me for a fool, monster,” Eden growled. “you are only slightly less powerful than Hiruko herself.”
“Hey, just testing you!”
“I’m Luka,” I said. “And I’m very human, although not very ordinary.”
“Luka!?” another familiar voice said. “Luka, you’re THAT Luka? THE Luka?!”
“I don’t under-“
Before I could finish that sentence, the person asking me which Luka I was took to the air and barreled into me, knocking me to the ground and covering me in kisses. When I finally got a good look at her, I found that I’d been tackled by the very person I had wanted to see, Regina.
“Regina, you’re alive!” I said joyfully, hugging her close.
“You know this Luka person?” Eden asked.
“Know him?!” Regina said, getting up. “He’s only the hero who is going to save us all! He’s obviously here to help us!”
“And his companion?”
“Oh, she’s some kind of Monster Lord from another time. The Eighth one, I think.”
“I see,” Eden said. “And what does a Monster Lord from another world want on Makai?”
“I don’t want anything,” Black Alice said. “I’m just tagging along with this moron.”
“Well, if Regina vouches for Luka and this Monster Lord, then we can take you to our camp,” Eden said. The bows trained on us were lowered.
As we walked to the encampment/settlement, I marveled at Eden’s clothing. It seemed that everywhere I went, there were interesting little differences between Edens. The Seraph was wearing desert garb. Her accent was more the slightly British lilt of my world’s Eden, although less prominent, almost undetectable unless one listened carefully. I preferred it to the flat tone of perpetually grumpy Paradox Eden.
Regina on the other hand, was back in her skimpy outfit that embarrassed her to no end. I asked her about it.
“When you die, as they say, you can’t take your stuff with you,” Regina answered. “I was a warrior, so death didn’t hold any terror for me. It was a glorious, brutal warrior’s death. And then I was… back home, or so I thought. I wondered if I’d gone back in time. But I quickly figured out how different this world is.”
“How is it that Eden is here? I thought angels were extinct?”
“Not all,” Eden said bitterly. “I am the only high ranking angel that remains. There are others among us, but like me they hide their angelic features. You recognized my face. You may recognize others when we get to the camp.”
“What exactly is this camp?” I asked.
“It’s obviously a rebellion,” Black Alice answered for Eden. “The last remnants of Heaven’s army, along with some monster and human allies.”
“So much for my theory that there couldn’t be a rebellion against freedom,” I observed.
“The freedom to eat any human, simply because a monster believes he is tasty?” Eden asked. “The freedom to rape? The freedom to enslave? The monsters preach freedom and liberty, but you do not know what Sabasa was like before Hiruko made everyone disappear. Monsters didn’t simply rape humans and send them on their way. The monsters of the Safina region are particularly vicious, consuming their prey as often as letting them go. Even the monsters that aren’t carnivorous enjoy making males addicted to them and using them as slaves.”
“I’m sorry, Eden, I didn’t see that in San Ilia or Ilias continent,” I apologized. “We’ve only been here a few days.”
“Different rulers, different monster populations,” Eden replied. “Ilias Continent’s monsters have always been more gentle. I’m sure rape is common, but murder and enslavement less so. San Ilia is a city of degeneracy and debasement, but everyone who still lives there wants to live there and participate. I do not approve of their idea of freedom, but I recognize that the people there, monster and human alike, choose how they live. My priority is defending the humans who cannot defend themselves. Who are truly oppressed, as the peoples of Sabasa and Grangold are. Let us just say that Hiruko and Kanon are not as ‘fun-loving’ as Minagi.”
“You mentioned the disappearance,” I said. “Does that mean you know what happened to the people of Sabasa?”
“I do,” Eden said. “I shall tell the tale over breakfast. Your appearance roused us all from bed early. We have not had a chance to eat.”
I looked closely at the people in the encampment as we walked through it. The angels’ disguises were quite good. I couldn’t definitively peg any of the women as angels, although there were many that I suspected. Their heavy tans from the desert sun hid their naturally pale skin, and their desert clothing was very different from their traditional angelic outfits. Males, obviously all human, made up the majority of the camp. But there were monsters sprinkled throughout, many of them Devil Fighters like Regina, but to my surprise a few scorpion girls, lamias, and kitsunes that were obviously very far from home.
Eden took us to a modest looking tent that did not stand out. I knew that part of the reason for that was tactical. A rebel force didn’t want to post a sign saying where to find the leader. But Eden, unlike Ilias, had never desired extravagance. Even in Heaven, she had chosen a modest dwelling for herself.
Black Alice grimaced at the eggs being served for breakfast. The rebels clearly needed a cook, desperately. Eden ate without complaint, presumably because she couldn’t actually taste the food. As long as the food was nutritious, it would taste “good” to her practical angelic senses.
“Where do I begin?” Eden wondered aloud. “Ah, perhaps I should start with the fall of Ilias.”
“Minagi told me how she died,” I said. “Is it true?”
“The tale was probably embellished, but the manner of her death is essentially true. The revered Goddess proved herself to be fallible and as weak to temptation as any human. She didn’t have to die. She chose to die because she could not bring herself to fight back, so wonderful were the sensations she was being exposed to for the first time. The succubi cast a worldwide seal that enabled us to feel as mortals do. Ilias’ fall not only demoralized the angels, it even seemed to give them permission to succumb themselves. As much as the monsters hated us, as much as they wanted to cook and eat us alive, or tear our wings off, they did not pass up the chance to defeat us in the most humiliating manner possible. With the seal in place, not just succubi, but all monsters, used exclusively pleasure-based attacks on us. In a matter of weeks, almost every angel died in agonizing pleasure, cries of ‘More! More!’ on their lips as they expired.”
“How did you avoid that fate?” Black Alice asked.
“I guess I simply was more what Ilias portrayed herself than she was. Hiruko came for me, not even giving me a moment to mourn the goddess I had devoted my entire existence to. In my rage, I disregarded the temptation of her slimy tentacles. My flaming sword nearly slew her that day. Ever since, she has sought revenge. That’s why she chose this posting, instead of ruling the seas, or at least a wetter, cooler climate. She is obsessed with consuming me. Since then other monsters have tried to use pleasure on me. All of them met the same fate. The angels with me were also fueled in those early days by their rage. But most…. Most were either too morally weak as Ilias was, or too demoralized by her fall.”
“And Micaela and Lucifina?” I asked, fearing to hear the answer.
“Tamamo slew Micaela,” Eden answered. “She did not fall easily. Those two had fought many battles during the wars, and it had always ended inconclusively. Tamamo’s newfound ability to use pleaure attacks against a Seraph tipped the balance. Micaela did not succumb, but Tamamo was able to inflict critical ecstasy on her. And then…. The pleasure attacks ceased. What Tamamo did next was pure sadism. At least it wasn’t drawn out.”
“What did she do?” Black Alice asked.
“I will not speak of it,” Eden said firmly. “You may ask her yourself. I am sure that wicked demon will tell you in gory detail. Experiencing pleasure for the first time is torturous, in its way, but pain…. What my sister must have gone through in those final moments…”
I’d never wanted to kill a Tamamo before, but I wanted to just then. My power was beginning to rise. Black Alice was looking at me with concern, wondering if I might blow everyone up inside the tent. I forced the power down until it had a better outlet.
“I’m almost afraid to ask about Lucifina,” I said, my voice thick with emotion.
“Her end was less awful,” Eden said. “She fought off both Kanon and Kanade. She was in a berserker rage over the death of Ilias. Saja finished her. Saja, unlike Tamamo, does not believe in excessive cruelty. I don’t know what it was that killed Lucifina specifically. Witnesses say that Saja’s sword created cuts that would not heal, and due to the seal she bled as a mortal, not an angel. But Saja’s whip…. Saja’s whip was designed for slaying angels. Even that couldn’t finish Lucifina. Saja used powerful magics, but Lucifina countered even that. But the onslaught weakened her. There is one thing all the witnesses of that battle agree on: Saja wrapped Lucfinia in her coils and swallowed her. The only disagreement is whether she was alive or dead when she went into Saja’s stomach.”
“At least it would have been a pleasurable end,” Black Alice said. “No matter how great the enemy, no matter what he or she has done to me, I always make their end blissful. Humiliation I enjoy. Killing and eating I like even better. But inflicting pain…. I’ve done it, but only as punishment I want someone to remember. If I choose to kill, it’s always with pleasure.”
“Enough about death,” Eden said. “Let us talk about what we are doing now. What you see here is the entire rebellion. We have focused on liberating the Safina region because it is where the worst injustices are.”
“But why?” I asked. “You can’t hope to end monster rule on Makai.”
“No, we cannot,” Eden said. “For myself and the survivors of Heaven’s Army, there is no chance of victory. We are all doomed. But the humans still have a future. It is for that future that I fight. There are some monsters who believe in protecting the humans, but they are few. That leaves the angels to fight for those who are too weak to fight the monsters on their own. We would be more than satisfied with defeating Hiruko and Kanon. That would end the worst abuses of the human population. Alas, in centuries of fighting, we have not even liberated one province. We are too few. But perhaps your coming has offered us possibilities…”
“Whoa now,” Black Alice said. “We’re not here to fight in your war. We’re here to solve the mystery of the great disappearance.”
“In the spirit of total openness, Eden,” I said. “Minagi and Saja sent me here because they are concerned about it as well. They don’t approve of Hiruko’s methods.”
That got everyone in the tent talking amongst themselves excitedly and angrily. They were not happy to hear that I was an agent of the Ancestors.
“Silence!” Eden commanded. “Luka is not on our side, or on their side. He is a visitor from another world. We have no expectations of his loyalty. In fact, I trust you more, Luka, for being straight with us. Now I know that your interests align with ours in regards to Hiruko’s actions. So then, let us discuss how we shall liberate the people of Sabasa.”
“So they aren’t dead?” I asked hopefully.
“They are not,” Eden said. “But I should probably allow Hannah to explain what we know.”
Hannah stood up. She was a two-tailed kitsune.
“Hannah is my most trusted advisor,” Eden explained. “She understands monster technology and helps us device countermeasures. One of this is this encampment itself.”
“I was about to ask,” I said. “How is it that Hiruko hasn’t sent forces here to crush you?”
“The short version is that she doesn’t have the balls!” Hannah laughed. “This camp is built on a large deposit of Negamite.”
“Negamite?” I asked.
“Negamite is a mineral that repels magic,” Hannah explained. “It doesn’t make this a complete magic-free zone, but it does place powerful magic using monsters, such as Ancestors, at a severe disadvantage.”
“As well as Seraphs,” Eden noted.
“Eden, unlike Hiruko, has guts,” Hannah said. “Hiruko knows where Eden is. She can come challenge her anytime. But without her magic, she’s afraid of Eden.”
“But if there’s no magic, why not just overwhelm this camp with sheer numbers?” Black Alice asked. “Surely most monsters in this region are loyal to Hiruko. They get to eat as much as they want with no one to stop them.”
“This camp didn’t exist before Hiruko disappeared the entire population of Sabasa,” Hannah answered. “Before that, we hid in the city, gathering recruits, and doing operations.”
“Please tell me you weren’t resorting to terrorism,” I said.
“If you are implying that we attacked civilian targets, no,” Eden said. “We do not use explosives or firearms as our enemy does. We limit ourselves to melee weapons and bows, so that we can be precise in who we attack. I am proud to say that not one human has been so much as scratched. It took many long years, but we eliminated nearly all of Hiruko’s lieutenants. Our exploits caused support for our rebellion to grow.”
“And then Hiruko decided she couldn’t take it anymore,” Hannah said. “Eden was like a ghost. And a few months ago, we had the numbers to attempt an uprising that might have overthrown Hiruko. It was to be the final battle. Eden was going to face Hiruko in the castle.”
“I’m very interested in what the plan was supposed to be after you succeeded, but I’m guessing that’s when Hiruko pulled the rug out from under you,” Black Alice said.
“Exactly!” Hannah confirmed. “Hiruko had been preparing a spell to teleport everyone to a facility that she had built near the Sphinx’s pyramid. It happened in an instant. We were making final preparations when all of the humans among us vanished. Every single one. Then the monsters started disappearing as well.”
“How come you didn’t?” I asked.
“The spell was geared towards removing only those monster races who were native to the region, leaving only rebels behind. Then she began implementing the next stage of her plan: she’d obviously been working with Tamamo, because what came next had her furry mittens all over it. Seeker bots fanned throughout the city, shooting anything that moved. Three quarters of our force had been disappeared in an instant. Three quarters of what remained were shot down in the streets.”
“In the ensuing months,” Eden continued. “We’ve managed to recruit some humans and monsters from the surrounding areas, but we are still but a fraction of our former strength.”
“But Hiruko did herself worse,” Hannah said. “She must have thought she didn’t need her elite forces to finish us. She probably assumed the seeker bots would do the job. But they weren’t built to last. Only a few remain in the city last we checked.”
“We didn’t run into any, thank goodness,” I said.
“Then they might all be glorified paper weights now. But that means Hiruko is all alone.”
“We kept on waiting for a final blow to fall,” Eden said. “But apparently the lack of magic in this area has made Hiruko cautious about attempting to crush us once and for all. Perhaps she expects us to starve out here.”
“More likely die of old age,” Hannah said.
“Indeed. I age slowly, even with the low magic levels here, but I am aging while I stay here,” Eden said sadly. “If Hiruko is willing to wait two or three centuries, time will end at least the angels’ part in the rebellion. Then the humans will be mostly on their own.”
“All right, so the humans and monsters of Sabasa are in a facility,” I said. “And you know where the facility is! So let’s go free everyone!”
“Hold on, hero,” Black Alice cautioned. “First I want to know why they haven’t assaulted it themselves if they know where it is.”
“There is a magical barrier around it,” Eden said.
“Of course there is,” Black Alice said. “Don’t tell me, it’s the kind of barrier that only someone powerful could get through. Say, a Seraph?”
“Yes,” Eden replied. “An obvious trap for me. But Luka has power that exceeds mine. The barrier could not keep him out. You would probably be able to get in as well, Monster Lord.”
“Then let’s do it,” I said. “Let’s spring Hiruko’s little trap with a trap of our own. She won’t be expecting three powerful adversaries.”
“Two,” Black Alice said. “I’ll go with you, but I’m not fighting an Ancestor. I thought I made that clear.”
“Fine. Eden and I can handle Hiruko.”
“Hey, I’m all for this,” Hannah said. “But the trap isn’t likely to just involve Hiruko. She’s choosing the battleground. She’ll have all sorts of spells and technical tricks in that facility to give her every advantage. We haven’t allowed our leader to go in there alone because we know Hiruko would defeat her under those conditions. But you’re a wild card, Luka. Just be aware that it won’t be as simple as a straight up fight with Hiruko.”
“I understand,” I said. “When do we leave?”
- 75
- 76
- 77
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Luka's Story-Paradox