Chapter 121: Step on a cat's tail

"Haa~" Rias sighed happily as Ophis seemed to become interested in something and wandered off, leaving Momonga and the daughter of Gremory house to have a moment of peace alongside Akeno. Or rather, wash the dishes together after the midday snack in the Peerage quarters of Phenix castle-mansion.

Yubelluna and Xuelan had wanted a moment to calm themselves and had gone off to have a dip in a swimming pool after they had woken up, spotted Ophis, and almost had simultaneous aneurysms from seeing the legendary dragon act like a spoiled child while sitting on Momonga's lap.

Yuuto had managed to avoid notice as he had continued to drink his tea in peace and tranquility, until he had excused himself to go and train his wordsmanship. Albeit Momonga had spotted a faint trembling in the boy's legs as he had walked off.

Momonga couldn't couldn't blame them- He wanted to join the two women in the swimming pool as well, or go train with Yuuto again, albeit both only to hide from Ophis. But since at that time the Ouroboros Dragon was still sitting on Momonga's lap, he had no such luxury. 'Sheesh… Ophis acts all innocent and clueless, but if I make a mistake and she turns hostile, even [Boosted Gear] wouldn't be enough to level the odds… I think…'

"Nope, not enough. She'll totally flatten-"

'I know, but thanks for reminding me.' Momonga ignored Ddraig's huffing and puffing. 'That being said, she said she had something to talk about with 'the old head dude'... What was that about…'

"Dunno."

'Haa… I suppose I should have asked, but I didn't want to push my luck…' Momonga sighed while putting a pile of brownies to his [Inventory], just in case.

"Ara? I guess I'll need to prepare a stock of sweets and tasty things in case of sudden invasions by legendary dragons with sweet tooth…" Akeno noted playfully and reached to grab a few of the brownies that were left, incidentally pushing her breasts against Momonga's chest in the process.

"U-umu…" Momonga felt his physical body blush a bit and Akeno seemed amused. 'I guess that sort of touch wouldn't be enough to fluster me normally, considering what has happened in the last few days… But eh, somehow it feels a bit more intimate with Akeno, with her 'traditional Japanese housewife' mannerisms and all… A noble lady like Lady Phenix or a Youkai like Yasaka seems like something out of a folktale or legend, and even then my relationship with Yasaka is… accidental… That, or it's just [Actor] acting up again and guessing that acting innocent would be what hits Akeno's triggers…'

"Ufufufu… Mo-mon-kun? Didn't you say you were 'saving up' in case Serafall-sama attacks?" Akeno noticed that Momonga had been staring and chuckled against the back of her hand. "Ara, ara… Don't tell me that you 'saved up' too much and need to release already? Ufufufu…"

"Ahem… cough, I… don't think so…" Momonga figured that he might as well double down and coughed a bit to the side to hide a small blush.

Akeno chuckled and Rias sighed.

"A-ke-no. Bad. Tease after dangerous stuff is no longer imminent…" Rias poked Akeno's cheek and the latter poked her tongue out at her red-headed friend in an amused manner.

Akeno then turned around to kiss Momonga on the lips a bit, and then leaned back away. "In that case… You better last until Serafall comes knocking about, ufufufu…"

She sashayed off with excessive sway in her hips, and Rias shook Momonga's shoulders a bit as his eyes had followed the movement while his rational mind was thinking of his next move.

"Right, umu… " Momonga nodded. "I should probably go and see Yasaka-san. We had some unfinished business and should probably figure out where she and I stand, politically…"

"Would you also mind telling me why she was in our bedroom last night?" Rias asked with a small pulsing vein on her forehead and she was holding Momonga by the shoulders. "Moreover, what exactly… Actually, that is a good way to ask it: What? Just what? Last night. Explain."

"Well, for starters I went to Tokyo with Rossweisse to have a free night. It went well, I think, except that I think I killed Great Red…"

Rias's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"I also met Ophis-san and took her on a tour around Tokoy's candy shops…"

Rias nodded numbly.

"Umu, then there was a small teleport mishap and I accidentally barged into Yasaka's shower… Although that was during the morning…"

Rias's grip on his shoulder tightened.

"Then things escalated and we ended up having sex, but her daughter found out because I was milking Yasaka's breasts and the stuff went everywhere…"

The grip tightened even further.

"And I ended up splattering her daughter with my stuff and pulled a runner…"

Rias was starting to shake.

"Ah, before that, I asked one of my maids for an experiment, just a kiss on the lips, but she must have misunderstood that as 'perform a morning fellatio' somehow…"

Rias's eyebrow twitched violently.

"...And then I asked Xenovia-san to build Sona a school for devils, angels and youkai." Momonga finished, causing Rias to smile a bit, albeit the combination of shaking, vein-throbbing, smiling and groaning made her expression quite complicated. "How are you doing? Akeno seems to be doing alright so you managed to cheer up."

"I… I'm alright. Considering." Rias suppressed a groan with herculean effort. "Thanks for saving mom, by the way. I… I don't know what I would have done if…"

"You're welcome. It's the least I can do for my dear wife." Momonga ignored the fact that saving Venelana Gremory had been just a happy coincidence. However, he could guess where the conversation would go so he took the initiative. "There might be troubles with resurrecting Sirzechs-san though. He did try to kill me, so if I end up resurrecting him, it'll have to happen once the situation has calmed down a lot more. I'd rather not resurrect him if it means he'll instantly kill me afterwards, you'll understand. He was your brother, but he was also a Maou, who declared me an enemy. Your father, however, doesn't have that kind of burden and even spoke in our defense, so I'll resurrect him as soon as I can."

'I think that sort of 'compromise' is better than flat out saying 'I won't be doing that ever', which is the likeliest scenario...' Momonga thought while he gauged Rias's reaction to the words.

Rias looked more than a bit sad, and she had tears in her eyes by the time Momong was finished. "I… I…"

She hiccupped. "I… get it… Eventually, right? I'll just have to… tell Grayfia-nee that…"

Momonga offered the girl a handkerchief and she blew her nose in it. "I'd appreciate it. I feel she might be somewhat annoyed with me, even though I forgave her after she raised her hand against me during the peace conference…"

Rias shook a bit, which told Momonga that his small 'reminder' had told Rias how shaky Grayfia's position was- Or rather, that Rias should try to keep Grayfia pacified. "I… Momon-kun… You're scaring me…"

"Don't worry about it. It's just an unfortunate fate that your family members have landed in our opposition, but I'll unite us all and ensure that we'll prosper and be happy." Momonga piled on the reassurances, as he wasn't willing to let Rias languish- Both because letting his wife feel that way because of him made Suzuki Satoru ashamed, and because 'Overlord' in him knew that Rias would be in key position to influence Gremory family's head, thus potentially scoring him additional allies against the remaining Maous. 'I've become the 'True God' and enemy of the Maous, so I might as well act the part and keep the momentum up…'

Rias hiccupped a bit and took Momonga's hand in hers. "I trust you, so… Please. I'll help however I can."

"Thanks. I'll be in your debt." Momonga nodded, albeit the 'debt' part was more or less just him coating the denial with honey to make it more palatable.

"Shush…" Rias seemed to, however, buy it up and reached to kiss Momonga on the lips. "Ah, come to think of it… Before you go, what should I do with Kuroka? You did something to her, and she seemed quite terrified when I talked her up after we found you two mid, um, sex… Not to mention, did you know she is a SS-tier criminal in the Underworld? That's basically kill-on-sight order!"

"We are those types as well now, to the Pillar families and their supporters, no? Strays, kill-on-sight etcetra…" Momonga handwaved. "Besides, I interrogated her a bit and she should be just fine staying with us."

"She killed her previous master, you know. What if she tries to do that again?" Rias sounded more than a bit concerned, and Momonga felt a bit happy that Rias was concerned about his safety.

"I saw- er, heard that she did it because her previous master tried to vivisect Koneko, so Kuroka killed him and ran off, albeit only after contacting Gremory house to get her little sister lugged to you…" Momonga noted and Rias's eyes opened a bit in surprise. "She didn't tell you that herself?"

"No, it was… um, the interrogation was more about her shaking in her yukata and muttering about abstinent skeletons and horny masters whatnot." Rias handwaved in turn. "How'd you meet her, by the way."

"I stepped on her tail by accident, she passed out and I took care of her until she woke up and ran away. When I went to grab Koneko she was with Kuroka. Kuroka tried to run for it and I grabbed her tails, she ran for it again, I grabbed her tail again, and the familiarity hit me since I've done that with Koneko as well and she reacted about the same." Momonga leveraged level-five [Actor] fluently to tell the truth.

Rias was holding her face with both hands. "Of course. Right. We should probably talk to Kuroka and Koneko at some point and figure out what to do with Kuroka…"

"They should be fine just staying here for the meantime, no?" Momonga noted. "Hm- come to think of it, they're in here, right? In this dorm? We could just invite them into the conversation instead of talking behind their backs."

"I suppose." Rias noted and pointed her thumb towards one of the rooms in the Peerage Quarters. "I figured they wanted to sleep a bit longer, but it's midday already… Might as well wake them up."

Momonga nodded and walked to the door, put his hand on the doorknob…

And there was a scrambling noise from the other side before he could twist the doorknob.

'Hm? The doorknob is stuck…' Momonga scrunched his face a bit as the door refused to open. He used a bit more force, and realized that someone was likely holding the door closed from the other side. "Ah, Koneko-san? Do you mind if we talk a bit with Kuroka?"

"No! She- Ah- I- Shiro- K-Koneko is changing clothes!" A shaky voice came from the other side. "You definitely can't come in! Nyaan!"

There was an odd mewl at the end of the sentence, which made Momonga a bit worried and Rias scrunched her face in concern.

"Kuroka? What is happening?" Rias knocked on the door, yet the only answer that came was in the form of a purr and small, surprised shriek.

Rias gave Momonga a glance, and Momonga nodded.

The two of them kicked the door, causing it to slam open and down as it came off its hinges.

Inside of the room was chaos- There were torn pillows, the bed was ripped to shreds, and Rias instantly created a ball from [Power of Destruction]. At least before Momonga put his hand over the ball of energy and extinguished it, even if it caused some damage to his fleshy body before it [Regenerated].

"Kuroka, would you mind telling us what happened?" Momonga asked as Kuroka was squirming weakly under the now-dislocated door.

"No- You have to get away from her… It happened- I tried to stop it, but-" Kuroka was clearly in panic as she spoke to Rias, although Momonga caught her sending a frightened glance at him.

"What is it- Senjutsu?" Momonga asked, but before he could finish his sentence properly, something hit him in the waist.

"No! Koneko!" Kuroka let out a small pop of smoke as she turned into a regular cat to squirm her way from under the door… Only for Rias to catch her mid-lunge and lift her up by her twin tails. "Meow?! Mrrrooow!"

Rias shook the 'cat' a bit. "What did you do to Koneko?!"

"Meoww!"

"Um…" Momonga looked down to see that Koneko was hugging his waist.

Or rather, the girl was hugging his waist while her white cat-ears and tail were out, and she was rubbing her face against his crotch. 'She's using senjutsu?! Last time she went feral and needed to be pacified with catnip, so…'

"Umu, I think there has been a…. miscooo- wait, wait wait!" Momonga grabbed Koneko's shoulders as she reached for the belt and tried to pull his pants down. "Koneko-san?"

"Breed." Koneko purred adorably, if one ignored the words she used, and the small cat-girl grappled Momonga by the waist, and using Rook's strength, tossed him over her shoulder so he landed in the 'nest' of sorts that was made of a lot of fluffy cloth and ruined bedsheets. "Momon-sama- I need sex, breed me, screw me, mount me, I need it in me, stuff me full of lewd stuff, I want it, I need…"

"U-umu, umu?! Senjutsu makes her break character too?!" Momonga struggled against the Rook whose strength seemed to have gotten a serious 'upgrade' through the power of lewd. 'Well, figures, since ero-world has ero-ways so ero-deprivation would cause ero-powerup… Gah!'

His somewhat serene thoughts ended as Rias let out a small yelp when still cat-formed Kuroka coiled around the red-head's arm and bit her in the wrist to force her to let go.

The cat-woman lunged at Momonga, transforming back to her 'human' form mid-flight. "Master! You- You can't! Koneko- She's in heat! And too young! If you put it in, she'll die! She'll die for sure!"

'I think I've heard that before…' Momonga had a tranquil thought as two nekomata sisters fought over him, except that one was fighting to keep Koneko in line and the other was trying to struggle past Kuroka and start doing something to Momonga jr, which the white-haired cat-girl had managed to unleash through ripping his pants.

"Umu, [Hold Species]. [Hold Species]."

Two nekoshou flopped over on his lap, frozen still like statues.

"Ow… What the heck was that?" Rias asked as she healed herself and flexed her wrist.

"A immobilizing spell, it seems to work quite well on low-tier opponents, but it looks like Maous and such can shake it off fairly quickly…"

"No, this time I wasn't actually asking for the abilities you used, but… Koneko has gone into heat?"

"Seems like it. Do nekoshou have a rutting season or something?" Momonga wouldn't be surprised if they had. His memories of cats in Neo-Japan were shaky as is, even more so when there hadn't actually been any living cats when he was in that world. 'I'm already starting to think of it as 'that world back then… Hm. I seem to be moving on already… I suppose that's good, I guess… Haa- and I'm procrastinating again. Back on topic, brains.'

"...You know, you don't have to monolog internally when you have two people in your head."

'I really don't need your quips right now, Ddraig… Actually, wait, do you know if nekoshou have a rutting season?'

"I'm fairly sure they do. I did see them every now and then, when I was used by my previous users… Although these two seem to be the only ones I've seen of their kind so far. Did they get culled or something? I think there were way more of them at some point…" Ddraig stuck a 'thinker' pose while answering. "So, to coin your phrase, ero-world has ero-ways."

'Right…' Momonga cut off the internal exposition dragon, who noted that it resented such a title, and returned back to the present.

"What am I going to do with you… Rias, do you think I can just chain Koneko to a rack and wait for the 'heat' to end?" Momonga asked.

Koneko seemed to pale quite hard as while she couldn't move, she could hear. Kuroka meanwhile had blushed a bit but she seemed quite tranquil otherwise, if frozen still like a statue due to the holding spell.

"I… Uh, I don't think that'll be a good idea…" Rias looked around the devastated room. "I think Koneko would end up escaping or hurting herself, or both. Do you… I can't believe I'm about to say this… Do you think you should just 'take care of it'? You're her King now, you know. Although… Ugh, I don't think Koneko-chan minds you when she's in her right mind, but I don't think her relationship with you returns to the same if you indulge her now…"

"Haa…" Momonga undid [Hold Species] for Kuroka. "What did you mean when you said I'll kill Koneko?"

"Ah- I, um- master…" The neko woman shook to her core while she remained in Momonga's hug. "The- This feeble woman wishes- no, I mean, I wish for master to know that my sister´has entered heat before her body is ready for it! If you indulge her now, she'll die! She'll die for real!"

"I see. Anything else?" Momonga sighed as it wasn't the first time someone said that to him. 'I think Sona said that, Ravel said that… Lady Phenix, no, I don't think she said that… Gasper said something along those lines, but she, er, he was speaking eldritch at the time, I think it's a bit hard to translate it properly… I think it was more like 'his virginity will die' or something…'

He shook his head as he needed to focus. It looked like Kuroka took that motion the wrong way.

"No- no! Please, master! You can't! If…"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill Koneko." Momonga hastily corrected himself as he was aware that Kuroka would instantly betray him and go for 'beheading her master 2.0' if Koneko was threatened. "Moreover, I can resurrect people, so you shouldn't be so panicked either way…"

Kuroka, however, looked quite panicked. "But… If…"

"Trust me, will you?" Momonga stroked the woman's black hair and scratched behind her cat-ears, eliciting a small purr and sway of her twin tails almost against her will.

"I… I trust my master…" Kuroka remained quite scared.

"Speaking of masters, I was thinking of extending my Peerage. I have some Pawns left- so would you like to become my Pawn?" Momonga grabbed the Piece from his inventory. 'I can control Kuroka through Koneko, and since she proved herself with Overlord General, I think this is a good move…'

"She also has nice breasts and cat-girls are a kink, so…"

'Ero-dragon'

"Lewd meat skeleton."

'Point.' Momonga surrendered the mental debate while Rias was groaning a bit and Kuroka was looking at the Piece with wide-open eyes.

"I… But Koneko…"

"She's in my Peerage already, so you'll be together." Momonga noted, observing that Kuroka was quite terrified. "You know this already. Ah, and I know about your old master. Don't worry. I won't experiment on Koneko or anything like that. I am quite compassionate, you know?"

Kuroka shook even harder to the point she looked like she was vibrating and the Piece Momonga handed to her shook in her grasp.

.

.

'Compassionate? Was that compassion, the horror, the murdering, the destruction wreathed by that bony creature… No- I shouldn't think that way. The Supreme Being tried to erase my memories, but Senjutsu brought them back… But he might have planned for that to be the case as well… What is he after? Do I want to know?' Kuroka shook while her head threatened to overheat. 'Do I have a choice? But if I refuse, I'll die! He'll kill me… I… At the same time he hasn't tormented me like the Overlord did, but… At the same time… The torment from the Overlord General was brutish, uncaring, collateral… The Supreme Being is more refined than that… HE doesn't merely torment through pain and violence, his is…'

Kuroka realized that she was clad in comfortable clothes, in a luxurious palace, yet at the same time, she was even more scared than she had been with the Overlord General.

The Supreme Being was quite literally holding Koneko's head and cradling her gently, but Kuroka knew that if she breathed off-script, her torment would grow ever-more harsh. 'He must have planned out everything- Koneko didn't go in heat randomly, it was because she caught wind of me being screwed senseless… The Supreme Being put a gun to my head, flipped it to give it to me, making me think I had agency, that I was loved, and then pointed my hand and the gun in it towards Koneko… And I have a choice, to go along with it, hoping that he loaded blanks, or… Go against it…'

Kuroka would have attacked the Supreme Being already, if not for three things- One, she knew she had absolutely zero chance against the monster. Two, if she was gone, nothing would protect Koneko. And thirdly…

She was utterly, mind-shatteringly, afraid.

"Don't be afraid." The monster reached to scratch Kuroka's cat-ears and stroke her hair. "I'd like you to be part of my Peerage, but if you refuse, I'll understand… But if you want time to think I'll give you that as well. I feel as if Koneko would be sad, however, if you refused…"

'In other words, Koneko will pay if I go against the script… Please, please, pleasepleasepleaseplease…' Kuroka put the Evil Piece against her chest, hoping against all hope that everything would turn out alright.

She knew it would not, that the illusion of compassion was just that, an illusion to cover the master of countless plans moving marionettes on strings. 'Pleasepleasepleaseplease… Not Koneko… Shirone… Master…'

"Thank you, Kuroka-san. I shall strive to be a master worthy of having you in my Peerage." Momon reached to stroke Kuroka's hair. "But how should we treat Koneko? I believe that you're the expert on the subject…"

'Yes! Yes! Yes!' Kuroka celebrated internally before the joy was brought down by realization that the Supreme Being had tossed the ball to her court- In other words… 'What am I supposed to say to that? Should I just tell him that it should be… Ah, he said he can resurrect, which means…'

Kuroka shook all over, but knew that she had no choices. She was but a marionette on the Supreme Being's strings, ever since that fateful meeting with it's servant.

Kuroka recalled Vali leading Bikou and herself to an 'ally' for 'join training', and met the Supreme Being's skeletal servant for the first time. The memory still haunted her- The aura of death and madness had oozed out of the skeletal creature in excess, and if Kuroka didn't know better, she would have assumed the undead to be a malefic god of undeath.

Only for her to know better, that the creature was but a pawn. A disposable foot-soldier for a far greater monster.

Far more vile god.

Kuroka thus knew she had no choice. Her torment would continue.

She opened her mouth to tell the Supreme Being to take Koneko by force, which would kill her, and then beg for the Supreme Being to resurrect Koneko afterwards.

Her eyes watered from the torment and pain in her heart, and from the suppressed anger for the Supreme Being, for him to torment the two nekoshou so…

"Ah, I got it, wait… Found it!" The Supreme Being pulled a small bag from a swirling black void, and opened it.

Kuroka's head spun instantly. "Mrrow?"

The bag smelled all kinds of fun and relaxing, making Kuroka's worries fade away. "Mrrrow… Nyan…"

Koneko's frozen state ended, and she let off much the same murmur-purr. "Mrroww… purr…"

The two nekoshou sisters wobbled all over, and collapsed on top of the Supreme Being. "Mrrow… sniff… purr… purr…"

Kuroka realized that the Supreme Being had pulled out a bag of catnip, which had distracted Koneko from her near-feral lust-daze and had turned her into a cuddly lap-cat.

'I… I can't believe it… The gun was loaded with blanks… Does that mean… Does that actually mean…' Kuroka's head spun from the pleasant, intoxicating scent, yet her head spun even more from the actions of the Supreme Being. 'I was ready for the torment, but… Instead he gave me pleasure… So good girls get rewarded, but bad girls get tormented…'

"Purr.. Purr…" Kuroka nudged her head against the Supreme Being's chest and Koneko was purring and had curled into a ball on the Supreme Being's stomach while purring adorably and occasionally twitching her white cat-ears.

'I see… It starts to make sense… Master, I see… You do not only torment, but also reward… I get it now… ' Kuroka realized that she had made a mistake- The Overlord General had been cruel, but it's master had mastered both cruelty and sweetness, thus making him perfectly sweet and sour- In other words, irresistible.

Both because resisting him would be rewarded with torment, and because becoming an extension of His will would be rewarded so sweetly.

Kuroka swore through her foggy brain that she'd be the second-best cat there ever was, and that Koneko would be the best!

'You'll see master… I will not let you down, so… Please don't let me or Shirone down either!'