Chapter 31

Rei #8 walked through Knossos with Ali and a single member of the Ikelos familia, a freckled redhead named Rudy. Huh. She'd killed Gran, and now Erza had killed Dix. That was basically all the upper level members of Ikelos, wasn't it? "Hey, just so you know, I killed Gran," she said, turning to face him. "That's how come I had the key to your house."

The man seemed suitably cowed. Good. She didn't want to have to waste Essence turning into a Goliath and smushing him. Also it'd be annoying getting out if that happened, even while she was watching through Erza's eyes to keep track of the labyrinth's design.

Rei #5 and #6 had gone with Erza and the other Ikelos members to find one of the exits. She was mentally keeping track of their direction, even as she made this guy - Rudy, apparently - tell her where to go to find the currently-captive Xenos. She figured they'd be able to take care of Ali. Not that Ali couldn't take care of herself - eating half the take of two adventurers had definitely made her plenty strong. "Hey," she said to Ali, making the lamia twist her way, blinking curiously. "You ever gonna be able to speak Koine you think?"

"H-h-h-h," she got out.

"Sometimes the ones that can't talk, learn to talk. It takes a lot of practice," Rudy said. He was being helpful, so she didn't do anything to stop him.

"How do you tell the smart ones from the dumb, when they can't talk?" Rei #8 asked. She had saved Ali from this place, after all.

"We, uh." He glanced at Ali, who let her tongue flick at the air as she looked at him with big eyes. "We probably didn't, that much." He winced, as if ready to get killed. "Monsters that run, though, only the smart ones do that before you actually start killing them."

"Pretty good business, I guess."

"We don't actually get most of the money," he said, sighing. "It just goes back into Knossos, and equipment, and potions, and..." he trailed off, looking her way, his jaw snapping shut suddenly.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't care. I might fix it later for you once I get strong enough." She could probably do that. Right? Right. Rudy seemed less sure, but he didn't argue. "Build your stupid Labyrinth. Just don't kill any more Xenos or Erza will kill you." The man gulped. There was an idea now in the back of her head, though. What if the person who broke the rules was a pretty girl? Then she could make that woman into her sex slave. She always wanted a sex slave... bah, Drake wouldn't let her. She could do it in secret, maybe? He didn't have to know. She was pretty sure Julia had killed Soma, but she was also pretty sure Drake didn't know that.

Bah. What was the point of a secret sex slave, though? I mean, secret from the law, sure, but obviously you want to share your sex slave with your husband, right? That just made sense. Well, there was always the refuge of wild sexual fantasies. Maybe the slave would look like one of the many hotties that Drake cycled through when he did that You and Yours Stance thing... no, realistically would probably be moderately attractive, neither Gran nor Dix had been super hotties, exactly. Yeah, there was some compensation from high Levels getting rid of all the blemishes and smoothing things out, but it was a pretty minor thing. Maybe take you from a 5 to a 6 or something, not make you into an 11/10 hottie like Julia.

A thought blossomed in the back of her head, though. She could shapeshift. Could she shapeshift other people? It should have been stupid and obviously a no, but just putting the thought together suggested it might be possible. Just like how she'd learned to transform her tongue into an erogenous zone, but for other people. Something unintuitive, but possible, and she could almost see the path, laid out before her. er body was mostly made of the same stuff as everybody else's body, so... big-titty Loki? Make Tiona a perfect match for her sister? There were more possibilities than those, too. Like giving Julia even bigger boobs! Supersensitive boobs, too. She'd read that smutty book that Drake had written for Julia, and taken special notice of the parts that Julia liked, which especially included the scene where the rubber-body girl had her nipples and clit distorted by the supervillainess on the inside so that she came her brains out just from walking around, so she had to spend the rest of her life in the guy's house, naked and constantly coming.

Not that she could blame Julia for being into that. Female orgasms were awesome. She'd stopped being a dude basically just to get more of them.

Yeah, no, this idea was great, and it had lots of consensual uses too, so she didn't have to worry about Drake ruining it. She'd tell the other Reis about it, they'd get to work, and soon Loki would have to do whatever she said, if she wanted big boobs! She grinned at the thought, and at about that point, they came to the room Rudy had been leading her too - the one with the cages holding the Xenos.

They were pretty quiet, though that was clearly more due to her presence, plus the head of Dix she was still holding by the hair in her right hand as a show of friendship. "Hey," she said. "Any of you guys able to talk?"

A kobold spoke up in response to that. "I can." He didn't look like a normal kobold - they had full-on Egyptian style animal heads, while this guy was a bit closer to an anthro. I mean, even if you'd shaved him, there was no way he'd pass for even an ugly human, but the snout was more like a bulldog than a wolf. His gaze went to the head in her hands. "Is that Dix?"

"In the recently deceased flesh," Rei #8 proclaimed, tossing the head his way. It banged unceremoniously off the bars - it hadn't quite cleared, making her look dumb. God he was such an asshole, even in death he was trying his best to ruin her day.

The kobold leaned forward towards the skull, peering at it, hand grasping the thing, hefting it up. He was clearly doing his best to confirm it really was Dix, one hand forcing open the eyeball. Several of the other monsters watched him closely, and eventually, he seemed satisfied, and just spat on the head before letting it fall. "How'd he die?"

"Friend of mine decapitated him," Rei #8 declared. "Right, Rudy?"

"Yes," Rudy agreed. The word came out like a snap - as if she could have said literally anything and followed it up with 'Right, Rudy?' and he would have said that.

"You got a name, kobold guy?"

"Donner," he said. "Are you with the Ikelos familia?"

"Nope," Rei #8 said, popping the 'p' for emphasis. "I just want you to take care of my friend, Ali, here. If I let you out, can you do that?"

Donner looked at Ali for a long second. The lamia responded by bouncing in place excitedly, which did amazing things to her boobs - it was another trick that Ali had learned would help her get what she wanted. "You have to let the rest of them out, too," Donner said.

"Yeah, sure," Rei #8 agreed. She wasn't going to keep them in cages anyway. "Keys, Rudy?"

"Y-yes," Rudy agreed. She had to follow him as she rushed off to find them, but soon the pair were back, keys jingling in hand.

"Don't kill Rudy, by the way, he's been good."

"I wasn't going to," Donner replied. He even sounded mildly offended, as Rudy clicked open the door to his cage, which squeaked as it opened wide.

The kobold stepped out, clearly glad for the chance to properly stretch, and howled at the ceiling - prompting several of the other monsters to let out similar cries of excitement. He turned his attention to Rei #8 for a moment, a frown on his lips. "Why'd you do this?"

Why did she do this? It was just the sort of thing you did, wasn't it? Yeah, if you had metaknowledge that Xenos were actually cool people who mostly just wanted to chill out and find peace with the people living on the surface. Julia would have some badass line to say here. She should just steal that. Her inner Julia quickly supplied the line: "Because everybody should be happy, no matter what they look like." She didn't add the 'except evil people, of course,' addenda that the real Julia would have offered, mostly because it kinda ruined the flow for no reason.

Donner simply stared at her for a long second, his bulldog face seeming completely implacable. "Well, thank you," he said.

"Oh, and teach Ali to talk, I probably won't be able to come back to the Dungeon for a while to power level her, so you can take her off-time to teach her how to talk."

"I'll do my best," Donner agreed, then turned his gaze to Rudy, who let out a squeak and took a few quick steps back. "The rest of us?" He prompted, and Rudy nodded rapidly, hurriedly rushing about to unlock the cages of the other Xenos. Rei #8 kept close, just in case one of these cages held regular monsters, but apparently not. They made pretty quick work of it, all in all, and she couldn't help but feel a surge of pride. She was the real hero of this story, not Drake or Erza. Obviously. That's why she had the best cheat ability for Orario.

She ignored the question of why the real hero would have taken so long to introduce, or have her soulmate constantly talk about how Drake was cucking her.

Julia was just saying that, anyway. If you took everything Julia said seriously, you'd go insane.

* * *

Finn felt some relief when their main force caught up to Ais and saw her standing among the unconscious bodies of five Ishtar familia Amazons, chatting amiably with an unharmed Xulia, Drake, Cassandra, and Noriko. They should never have been in this situation in the first place. If Loki had told him about her plans with Ishtar, he would have advised Drake and his wives to avoid the Dungeon until the planned battle. Instead, they'd nearly lost four record breakers - and a woman who would have been a recordbreaker, just last year - in a single day.

"Ah!" Came the distinctive voice of Xulia, noticing them first. Even before Ais. "Look, goshujinsama, it's the rest of them, here to save us!" She pointed at the group, and he could see the easing of tensions among the group.

"You should have kept one of them conscious, Ais," he said, looking down at the bodies of the five Amazons. After a moment, he noticed that Aisha and Aliyah were different from the others. They had red welts from a recent strike with the flat of a blade, but Aisha and Aliyah didn't have visible wounds on them, and their breathing was much shallower, as if they were in a deep slumber rather than having been sent unconscious. "What happened to these two?" He pointed to Aisha and Aliyah.

Ais shrugged, making him sigh. Drake raised his hand to speak. "I took them down."

Finn blinked at that, glancing down at the bodies again. Aisha was one of the strongest Level Threes in the city, and Drake's stats were... not even to 500 by this point? He hadn't maxed out his stats before Leveling, either. He should have been far, far weaker than Aisha. "How did you manage that?" Finn asked.

"My Skills. Before that, are Rei and Erza okay?"

Finn turned his gaze around, seeing as Rei hopped off of Tiona's back, waving at Drake and Xulia. She started to speak. "Yeah, they're great, actually. They're coming up now, they'll be on this floor in a few minutes, I think. Erza's carrying a couple of Reis."

"Thank god," Drake said, making Finn momentarily confused. Thank... which god? "Right. Uh, I can disguise myself really well, and I have a poison strike," he explained.

"You were doing the sexy thing too, goshujinsama!" Xulia smiled brilliantly at that. "Ah! Maybe these Amazons will want to fuck you when you wake up, and they can join the harem too?"

"Maybe," Drake said, seeming to completely ignore Xulia's words. Finn supposed that if you were married to a woman like that, you had to filter her out sometimes. "So, what's the plan with them?" He gestured to the unconscious bodies of the Amazons.

"Mm." Finn hummed as he stared down at the unconscious bodies in question. Capturing and ransoming would be a viable response, under normal conditions. At the moment, though, it was his understanding that the familia had a very strong vested interest in ensuring that the planned War Game proceeded apace. Something like that could create a crisis, and given that the Ishtar familia currently held a lot of influence over the Guild... they might use the situation to create some kind of ambiguity, which would put off the War Game and replace it with a more conventional legal procedure with the Guild. While the Loki familia would probably prevail in the ensuing conflict - they did have the truth on their side, and despite all the cynics in the world, that was a valuable advantage in legal proceedings, as Ishtar had shown when she'd been accused of lying about her children's statuses - they would receive financial compensation, not the acquisition of a Renard with an incredibly valuable magic.

On the other hand, if they left them to die in the Dungeon, that might also give Ishtar the excuse to back out of the coming battle. If they wanted the War Game to go off, they needed... to give them back to Ishtar, it seemed. "If you want the War Game to go off, we'll have to return them to their familia," he explained.

"Ehhh? Won't they just try to kill us again, Finn-sama?" Xulia asked him.

"No, since you won't be coming back down to the Dungeon until after the War Game is finished," Finn told her. "With Rei and Erza, you can beat six Level Threes, yes?" Drake had defeated two on his own, apparently, and Rei and Erza were incredibly strong for their level.

"Yeah," Rei offered, from behind him. "But, what, we just give them back?"

He explained his thought process to them, and Rei let out a brisk noise of annoyance.

"Really? All you can do is get a fine? For obvious treachery?"

"Yes. The Guild doesn't have the capacity to levy much beyond financial punishments."

Rei seemed to be getting more annoyed, and Drake spoke up. "It's hard even in the American court system to get a non-financial reward." American? He'd never heard of a country with a name like that. Maybe it referred to some parallel legal system he was unfamiliar with?

"Ugh," Rei said. "What if I ate one of them and pretended to be her?"

"I don't think you should do that," Finn said. "Even with a large familia, a god will eventually notice that one of their familia members is dead."

Rei just rolled her eyes. "Inside a week, after talking to the girl?" She looked down at the unconscious bodies.

"You shouldn't do something like that," Tiona offered, clearly not convincing the girl at all.

"You can't get a form unless you're actually the one to catch and kill it, Rei," Drake said, and that finally made her huff in acceptance.

Finn adjusted his beliefs on Rei's character appropriately for the new evidence. Willing to kill in cold blood for minor advantage. "How far out are Erza and the other Reis?"

"Oh, they're like ten minutes walk that way, wandering around to try to find us," Rei said, pointing in a particular direction. "I memorized the Dungeon layout," she noted, with some pride in her voice.

* * *

Erza strode straight through the Dungeon, having abandoned the Ikelos familia members several Levels ago, at Rei's urging. The Reis she had brought with her had both adopted the forms of green snakes, which were currently slithering about under her armor, their cool scales brushing against her breasts, her stomach, her inner thighs, as they sought out a pleasant place to find their seat. She hoped they would do so soon - it was taking them quite some time.

Rei had said that Rei #1 was on the Eleventh Floor, so that was precisely where Erza was headed. It took some time to make their way far enough up to meet with the other members, but she was happy to see that they had Drake, the Prettiest Princess, Cass, and Noriko with them. The two Reis that had been firmly curled around her breasts slithered out of her armon and plopped onto the cool Dungeon floor before turning back into a pair of twins.

"Ah. Good," Finn said. "I'm glad to see you two are alright, Rei, Erza," he noted. "Let's head back up."

"Whoa. What?" One of the Reis who had just popped out asked. "The Ishtar familia totally fucking attacked us, flagrantly! We're not some no-name familia that has to take it on the chin!"

"Mm." Finn looked her way. "It's not a good idea, Rei. I already explained this to you."

"No you didn't! You probably explained it to her," one of the Reis pointed to the original Rei, "but I don't know what she's thinking!"

"Firstly, we have five captives from the Ishtar familia already," Finn said, though he already began to turn the whole little group around. "Two of whom will remain unconscious for days, thanks to Drake's Skill." Was that one of the Skills that he could teach her, like the walking on air skill? Because she could think of some insanely sexy things to do with it, if it was...

"That fucking Phryne cunt killed Rei #7!" The Rei looked genuinely enraged at the idea of letting this go.

"Language," Riveria said, and the Rei flipped her off.

"You're not my fucking mom."

"Phryne isn't here, Rei," Finn said, with a gesture to the unconscious bodies. "You lost her, I take it."

"Probably, maybe, but we can track her down and kill that murderous rapist bitch if we try," Rei declared. "She's a fucking murderer! She killed a member of your familia! Come on, a life for a life, that's the oldest rule there is."

"You're still alive," Finn replied dully.

"It's not-" Rei twitched, her head turning to the other Rei, then up to Erza, then back to Finn. "It's not that simple. It's worse, even - if I was dead-dead, I'd go to heaven or reincarnate or whatever bullshit. Rei #7 is just fucking gone, kaput, like the writing on a piece of paper that you burned, she's nowhere at all."

"I understand your feelings," Finn said. "Still, you can't actually kill Phryne on your own, or we'd be having a very different conversation, and none of us are going to act on your impulses. Correct?" He asked, glancing over at his small party. Rei's eyes flicked between them, looking for a confederate.

There didn't seem to be one, though Ais and Tiona seemed somewhat conflicted. Erza turned her gaze backwards, thinking of chasing down Phryne for Rei's sake. "Perhaps I should," she began.

"You really shouldn't," Finn said. He sighed. "If Phryne doesn't come out of this Dungeon at some point, that's not any great tragedy. But if you kill her now, under these circumstances, the War Game will be called off. Do you want that to happen?"

Rei's face twitched, then she sighed and shook her head. All three Reis made their journey the rest of the way up in silence.

* * *

I held Rei - specifically, Rei #5, apparently - in my arms, her petite body fully planted on my lap, her large breasts jiggling a bit as I held her close. She was upset, and I understood perfectly well why. Even if 99.9% of Rei #7 was contained in her, and the other Reis, there was something uncomfortable about imagining just... disappearing like that. Especially since I knew that she could only do it actively, intentionally, basically putting a gun to her own head and pulling the trigger. Only Rei and I knew that, as far as I was aware.

"This place fucking sucks," Rei #5 said. "Not you, though. You're cool. Julia too, and Noriko." She huffed. "That bitch Ishtar needs to get her asshole raped."

I just ran my fingers through her messy hair, not really having anything to say to that. In the back of my head, I was contemplating how I could kill Phryne. I didn't like the idea of Rei #7 getting killed like that, any more than Rei #5 did. "Sorry," I said, softly. I had summoned her here, after all.

"It's not your fault."

"It kind of is."

"Yeah, but, whatever," Rei #5 huffed loudly. I held her tighter, and she let out some stupid noise, sniffing. "We should seriously kill Ishtar and Phryne, or fate-worse-than-death them. Probably the latter."

"Mmm," I hummed, glancing up at the door. Someone could be listening. I knew Rei was an unbelievably good liar, so Rei #5's behavior was definitely a consequence of her being mad as all hell and forgetting even the basics of covering her ass. "Maybe."

"Oh. Rei #8 mentioned an idea, I could shapeshift other people, maybe I could give you a bigger dick?"

"I'm pretty comfortable with my current penis size," I told her. "Bigger could easily be uncomfortable for my partners."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Bigger is better, simple as," she replied, and I gave the top of her head a quick kiss. "If Ishtar knew that Freya was interested in Cass..." she trailed off thoughtfully. "No, she doesn't have any mental defenses," she said, shaking her head. "This sucks shit. Where's Bitch? I want my pussy eaten."

"I think she's doing target practice in the field. One of the other Reis should send her up here," I said, knowing that these little gremlins were constantly riding one another's senses, so this wasn't a fully private conversation.

"Yeah, they should," Rei #5 agreed, and I held her that little bit closer. A cool silence drifted over the two of us.

Resplendent Destiny as a member of the Ishtar familia, then Maw of Dripping Venom on Phryne when she wasn't expecting it? No, reaction speeds on a Level Five were absolutely obscene. I'd barely managed to get something off on Aisha and the other Amazon, and they had only been Level Three. I needed something that would let me get in melee range and make a strike. Attack while she was asleep? Adventurers had heightened senses, even if I was floating on air I didn't know if I could manage. If I had figured out Ceasing to Exist Approach, I could have just become Phryne's secret lover or something so she wouldn't complain about me crawling into bed with her and placing my hand on her neck.

Phryne was a serial rapist, wasn't she? Could I... entice her, somehow? No. She wasn't going to be stupid, she was just a monster. She would figure out that I wasn't there for a fun time. Rapists were aware of their circumstances, that's how they knew how to get away with it. I bit my lip. "I'm pissed too," I told her. She snuggled back into me in some reciprocation of my words.

"Don't get all gay on me," she said. I just let out a laugh.

"You do know that you're a bisexual trans girl, right?"

"Now you're being a pedantic fag," she corrected, letting out a small laugh of her own.

The door opened then, and Julia came through. "Joousama, this lowly bitch is so sorry it took her so long to show up! Her mouth is meant just for comforting your pussy, not talking, so let her get to work." She closed the door behind her, clambered up onto the bed, and immediately got to work, peeling away Rei's pants and panties and just diving straight in without hesitation.

It did seem to distract Rei #5 at least. She was still all tense and unhappy, but she was trying to unwind at that point.

My thoughts went back to Skills, both mine, and Julia's, and Rei's, and if there was any combination that could give me the chance to kill Phryne. "Can you make high Level weapons, Julia?"

Julia just completely ignored me, continuing to eat Rei's pussy without a care in the world.

"Julia?" Her eyes didn't even turn my way. "Oh, right. Sorry. Bitch," I said, letting out a sigh as I shook my head. "Can you make high Level weapons?"

She popped off Rei's pussy then. "I can, goshujinsama, but they're suuuper heavy, so I can't really wield them well. Sorry!" She dove right back into Rei's pussy a moment later.

"It's alright," I said, giving her head a pat too. I was sure she was also mentally calculating how to kill Phryne and/or Ishtar. "After the War Game," I told her, and she and Rei both nodded. "We'll discuss it... somewhere private," I decided.

* * *

Ishtar's fingers tightened into a fist as she looked down at the unconscious form of Aisha, even going so far as to kick one of her strongest familia members. The one who was supposed to participate in the upcoming War Game, except now she was unconscious.

The Amazon didn't respond in the least. Her rate of breathing didn't even change. According to the Amazons with her, it had been Drake who had done this to her, though he had used some strange disguise Skill or magic to obscure his identity. Her fingers wrung at the air, as if she could strangle him right here and now. For a moment, she considered trying to simply call off the War Game, using an "attack on her familia members in the Dungeon" as an excuse. It would be an uphill battle, given the circumstances, but if Drake was able to handle her strongest Level Three, there was a good chance he and his wives were strong enough to handle any of her Level Threes.

No. No. She smiled as she realized it, letting out a grim, sadistic laugh, her face twisting up in a manner that any man would tell her was unsightly - if she showed it to them. There was one trick left up her sleeve. Her Charm. Oh, she couldn't simply unfurl her full Charm in the midst of the War Game, the Loki familia would notice and stop her. But she only needed to catch his eye once in the lead up, to let just that little spark of her true essence as a goddess of beauty reach through and ensnare him, just like she'd ensnared so many other men in her long time on Gekai. He'd lose on purpose just to join her familia at that point.

She imagined his little harem crying out in surprise as he suddenly turned that poison strike of his against them, and laughed again.