Some people have to be told twice

I was awakened by Alice the next morning and informed that we were going to Lyra Falls. Why Lyra Falls? I asked.

"I thought were were prioritizing the orbs," I said.

"We can get the orb guarded by the sphinx at any time," Alice said. "But to get the orb from Kraken, we need Kraken."

"Oh yeah!" I remembered. "We have to restore her! Why couldn't Poseidoness do that again?"

"She doesn't have the power. But she believed Queen Mermaid might."

"We know where Queen Mermaid is now?"

"Yes," Alice replied. "Lyra Falls. Alma Elma received a tip from a concerned mermaid in Port Natalia."

"While I agree restoring Kraken is important, we know where the blue orb is. Why not just send one of our aquatic allies to go get it from the undersea temple?"

"Don't you think I already thought of that? Since that sea cucumber girl seemed to have no other use, I sent her on that errand days ago. She says it's not there."

"Did someone take it?"

"There's no way for us to know," Alice answered. "I certainly hope not. That would complicate things a great deal. Our best lead is to restore Kraken and hope she just hid it really well."

"Okay, then. Lyra Falls it is. Where's Lyra Falls?"

"Don't worry about it," Alice said, pushing me back down into the bed and removing her top. "You sleep, I'll travel. I just need a little energy first."

I'd been hoping that we wouldn't have to fight all four monster tribes on their home ground, but since we needed Queen Mermaid's help, we had no choice but to invade her territory. Then would come the unpleasant task of forcing her to help us. I hoped that she'd do it for Kraken if for no other reason, but I'd heard that she was extraordinarily stubborn.

Since mermaids generally didn't fight to the death, and we knew that opposition would be a certainty whether we went in with a lot or we went in with a little, I decided to err on the side of a lot. But I didn't issue a general call to arms this time. I only brought people who were actual fighters. And I left out one person in particular, and I'm mentioning this now because it would be important later: Alicetroemeria. While her help had been invaluable during the battles in the cities, and she hadn't killed anyone, I found her methods too brutal for a battle with mermaids. The screams of the spiders who had fallen victim to her particularly awful dark magic spell still haunted me, even if they hadn't died.

I was pretty confident that we'd overcome the mermaids easily. While the mermaids were stronger than the elves, their tactics weren't as creative and their abilities were more limited. Individually stronger, but collectively weaker, were the mermaids compared to the elves. My diverse force would hit them in more ways than they could adjust to.

"Wow, that's a huge waterfall," Sonya observed. "This has to be the place where the mermaids are hiding."

"It's also evidence that they haven't given up on conquest," Alice added. "This isn't their natural habitat. It's just a base that can provide them with enough water to keep them strong. But they'll still be at a disadvantage. They fight best in water, not just close to water."

"Shall we hand down some divine punishment?" Ilias asked eagerly.

"Time to kick some holy ass," I confirmed. "But be gentle about the ass kicking, okay? The mermaids are nice. They tried really hard not to hurt anyone too badly."

"I'm getting used to your rules, Luka," Ilias said. "I'll keep the asskicking within acceptable parameters. I do still enjoy beating up monsters."

"I'd always thought you were a bully," Alice said. "You still enjoy beating up monsters even though they can beat you up as well?"

"At first I was pretty irritated that my opponents could hurt me, but on some level it actually makes it more fun."

"I think you just like the pleasure attacks," Alice retorted. "You're always surrendering to them."

"Not always!"

"Okay, enough playful banter," I said, trying to put on my big boy leadership pants. "There's no shame in losing, just do your best, everyone. Just one thing. The queen is mine. I need to get her to do something for us."

My companions all signaled that they understood. With a battle cry, Hip and Sonya led the charge into the waterfall, to the cave behind it. The mermaids were no fools. Some of their elite soldiers were waiting. But Hip was too strong and Sonya too angry, eager to take out her frustration from her battle with the elven princess' guard to let a few mermaids hold her back. Hip and Sonya's clubs flailed about as if they were in a berserker rage. Seeing that there were a lot more where that came from behind my two crazed companions, the mermaids chose to fall back.

Although the mermaids weren't the brilliant tacticians the elves were, the caves had too many obvious chokepoints, too many places to mount ambushes. But I'd chosen my force well. All of my companions were either stronger than the mermaids or faster or both. Claudia used her speed to good effect, almost untouchable. Her new sword, Mugen, carved a path through any mermaid opposition Sonya and Hip's clubs didn't deal with. Ilias' bow and Alice's dark magic drove off the rest. I barely had anything to do except admire my companions' work. For all the violence of our attack, I saw no mermaids seriously hurt, and those that were moderately injured were quickly attended to by Ilias once we'd advanced beyond their positions.

I was feeling sorry for my mermaid friends on the MS Fish, who could not participate in the attack since we'd reached Lyra Falls by land. The MS Fish would have taken an additional week to get to our location had we waited for them. It was probably for the best. Mermaid versus mermaid didn't appeal to me.

During the skirmishes I could see Princess El watching, looking worried and quite scared. She never engaged us directly, choosing instead to keep falling back with her forces. I felt more than a little bad for her. She was a child, ordered into a situation she barely understood by her resentful mother.

That mother, apparently tired of seeing her elite soldiers swept aside, made her appearance, El by her side.

"Do you hate mermaids so much that you came all this way?" the Queen mermaid asked.

"I don't hate mermaids at all," I responded. "In fact, I love mermaids. Most men love mermaids. Mermaids are awesome!"

"Perhaps as fetish objects," the queen countered. "But mankind has never truly loved us."

"I think a lot of men would argue that you see humans as simply reproductive livestock. But I've seen too many true, loving relationships between mermaid and human. I know your story. I truly feel awful that your own relationship ended that way. But I've seen a lot of happy endings as well. Please don't sour the relationship between humans and mermaids with this insane war."

"The only way to get me to call off my army is to defeat me in single combat," the queen said. "You realize that, don't you? My hatred is too strong to be swayed by mere words. I've seen humanity at its worst. I do not trust them. But to my endless regret, we do need them. If we cannot live without them, we must live with them under our domination. You should be happy with that, human. You know that we are kind to those we conquer. We would never abuse our livestock."

"I'm afraid that's not good enough, but I expected that. So I guess we settle this with weapons."

"I have no problem with that," the queen said, picking up her trident.

The Queen Mermaid was another monster that I had never met. Granberia had had two run-ins with her, first to defeat her attack on Port Natalia almost single handedly, then in an embarrassing barroom confrontation. Granberia had emerged victorious, dominant in fact, each time. But I knew the Queen had a mean streak. She spoke truth about the kindness of mermaids, but she herself was bitter. She would sleep perfectly well at night if she killed me, and if she didn't kill me, she'd be equally happy to keep me as her sex slave. She'd probably have El rape me as well, which was a digusting thought. I held onto that vision, however, because I needed motivation. Queen mermaid was a dangerous enemy. Too often I'd been defeated or almost defeated because I wasn't determined enough.

At least it was to be a battle of honor. My companions and the mermaids surrounded the queen and I. I wasn't used to dealing with an opponent wielding a trident. A trident is vastly superior to a sword if the person wielding it knows what they are doing. In addition, the queen had her tail, the water element, pleasure attacks, and presumably other nasty magical tricks. I was taking a risk by agreeing to face her alone. By agreeing to this, I risked my friends leaving me to her mercies if I was defeated. But I needed her help to restore Kraken. So I had to earn her respect.

I peed myself a little when I saw how effortlessly and skillfully she used her trident. The heavy weapon spun in her hands and came at me at unpredictable angles. I couldn't use the flow because I was facing a water master in the queen. She would simply enter with me and use it far better than I could. So I relied on Sylph instead. The power of wind, combined with my natural reflexes, gave me the advantage. I was hit once, painfully, with a slashing cut across my chest that would have required stitches if not for me having healers in my party. But I landed several solid hits on her, causing her to noticeably weaken and slow down. Just a few more, and the battle would be a foregone conclusion.

So of course she changed tactics, rapid firing small water bullets at me and using her tail to strike me. Standard mermaid tactics, but difficult to avoid regardless of the fact that I knew they were coming. A tail strike nearly broke my jaw. A trident thrust took out my right leg, making me almost immobile.

Since I was already nearly stationary, I summoned Gnome as she spun her trident to deliver the finishing blow. I was glad to see that she wasn't going for a fatal blow, but without access to healers she would have ample time to enslave me with her body while I couldn't resist her or escape. Summoning Gnome was the right move. As her trident arced down to pierce my shoulder, I caught it and forcibly disarmed her. Like a veteran, she barely missed a beat, her tail seeking to take my legs out from under me, where she would probably force her weight onto me and try to rape me. I anticipated the tactic and struck a grevious blow to her head, dazing her. Before she could react in defense, my sword was buried into her abdomen. I quickly pulled it out, as even a nonlethal sword is no fun to have buried into your flesh.

She fell, but even then she wasn't sealed. I waited for her to rise, but she could not. She was too weak from energy loss, able only to feebly flop around like…. Well, like a fish. I sheathed my sword and helped her up.

"I can't do anymore than I have done," the queen said with resignation. "I am defeated. I will cease making war on the humans. But my righteous anger is undiminished. The humans have wronged us for generations."

"The humans have changed," Alice said. "If you hadn't been isolating yourself and governing like a proper queen, you'd know that. Mermaids have been living peacefully with the humans in Port Natalia for a long time."

"So long that the mermaids there don't even know you're alive!" Ilias added. "As far as they are concerned, you're just a legend!"

"Mommy," El said tentatively. "I don't want to fight the humans anymore. They aren't so bad. Even though we attacked them, they didn't kill any of us. And this Luka guy is pretty nice."

"Perhaps it is time for someone else to lead the mermaids," the queen said. "Even if I acknowledge my error, my hate runs too deep. I cannot govern the mermaids and lead them into peaceful coexistence. You, my idealistic daughter, must do so. Do you think you are ready to take the reins of leadership?"

"Mommy, no! I'm nowhere near ready!"

"No one is ready to be a leader," Alice said. "Luka here is terrible as a leader."

"Wait, what?" I asked, insulted.

"But only he can lead us," Alice continued. "And only you can lead the mermaids now. The queen is at least self aware enough to realize that she can't be an effective leader anymore."

"A- all right," El said reluctantly. "I'll do my best. As my first act as queen mermaid, I'm going to go apologize to the humans!"

"Maybe you should hold off on that for awhile," Ilias cautioned. "The war is still on and the humans are in a bad mood, understandably. When this is all over you can try to make amends."

"For now," Alice said. "As your liege, El, I recommend taking your mermaids back to the sea. There's another problem out there, some human poachers. The sea monsters could use the mermaids' help in dealing with that problem."

"Poachers?" the queen asked. "And here I've been, waging war on land dwellers while my people have been murdered at sea! Come, El, we must find and deal with these evil humans."

"Actually, there's something I need first," I said. I gestured to Alice, who produced what was left of Kraken from her bottomless bag.

"A dried squid?" the queen frowned. "Do you need me to cook this?"

"No!" I said hurriedly. "This is kraken! She was turned into this by an evil succubus. I've been told that only you can restore her!"

"That's Kraken?! Give that thing here!"

I handed the dried up squid to the queen mermaid, who sniffed it, put her ear to it, and then grunted to herself. Holding the squid in her hands, she concentrated. I could see water slide off of her body into the dried squid. Soon, the squid became too large for her to hold, so she drew even more water from a nearby stream. The squid absorbed more and more, becoming a giant squid, then the Kraken we all knew and loved.

"Oh my!" Queen Kraken exclaimed. "That was quite an ordeal! Thank you, old friend, for restoring me!"

"If I'd known they were trying to save you, I wouldn't have attacked them," queen mermaid replied. "Why didn't you present kraken at the entrance and ask for an audience with me?"

That made me feel really stupid, not the first time and I was sure wouldn't be the last time.

"We also needed you to stop attacking the humans," Alice said, coming to my defense.

"Well, you've achieved both of your objectives," the queen replied. "If you have no further need of us, we shall go and find those poachers. To me, my loyal soldiers!"

"Um, mom?" El said.

"I'm sorry, child. You are the queen now. You give the command."

"To me, my loyal soldiers!" El ordered. The mermaids snapped to attention.

Once the mermaids had left Lyra Falls, our own soldiers returned to the Pocket Castle, which had been left about a mile away from the cave. That left Alice, Ilias, Sonya, and I with Kraken, who was enjoying a dip in the stream, sighing in satisfaction at the feel of water on her body.

"So were you aware during that time?" Alice asked.

"I was," Kraken answered. "At least aware as I ever am. You know how it is, Monster Lord. Semen is so hard to come by in the deep sea. How silly of humans to inconvenience me so by not having undersea cities. I could show them such a good time with my tentacles up their anuses."

"Well if you're aware of what's going on," Alice prompted. "Then you know why it was so important for us to restore you."

"Ah yes, you need the orb! Now what happened to that damned thing?! Oh, it's so hard for me to keep track of my things. You know how it is, Monster Lord, semen is so hard to come by-"

"Yes, you said that," Alice said, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Just try to think. Where did you put the orb?"

"Hmmmm…. Where indeed? Oh, now I remember! I put it in a little treasure box, the same place I've had it for years, ever since your mother entrusted me with it. I would take it out to make sure it was still there every few weeks, and also to admire it. It's such a lovely shade of blue, prettier than the finest sapphire…"

"It wasn't in your treasure box! I already had someone look!"

"No, it definitely wouldn't be there," Kraken confirmed.

"Ilias, please kill me," Alice pleaded. Ilias smirked but didn't respond. Alice returned her attention reluctantly to Kraken.

"Ah, now I remember!" Kraken said triumphantly. "That succubus destroyed it!"

"What?!" Alice and Ilias both said in disbelief.

"Yes, I distinctly remember her destroying it," Kraken repeated. "Then I think she said bwahaha…. Then… bwahahahahaha…. Bwahaha."

"So we're screwed," Alice said in frustration. "Now what do we do?"

"I have an idea," Ilias said. "I don't like it, though."

"Spill it," Alice said.

"We could go back to that dimension that's five hundred years in the past and go get a blue orb there."

"Oh," Alice said. "That's actually a really good idea! Of course! Those orbs are ancient! If that world is just like our own, just five hundred years in the past, the orb is there! We just have to find it!"

"I know where it is in the past," Ilias said with trepidation. "Finding it is easy. Getting it out and surviving is another matter entirely."

"Uh oh," Alice said. "So where is it?"

"In the Monster Lord's castle."

"We're fucked," Alice said with finality, using a word she almost never used.

Kraken teleported herself back to the southern sea when she was feeling up to it and we went back to the castle, feeling pretty deflated. Getting to the Monster Lord's Castle in Black Alice's time was difficult, but not impossible. There was access to Hellgondo from the Sentora continent in that time. But after that would require a two day trek to the castle and a battle with its very powerful denizens, denizens we knew nothing about. So naturally, Alice held a meeting.

"We have five of the six orbs," Alice announced.

"Really?" I asked. "When did we get the yellow orb?"

"Tamamo helpfully ran that errand for us yesterday. So if we can just get our hands on a blue orb, we can awaken the Garuda Girl and get to Hellgondo. But as you all know, getting a blue orb is going to be quite the hassle."

"So what exactly would getting to Hellgondo five hundred years ago involve?" I asked.

"Well, the Tartarus leads to an area not too far from that world's Succubus Village," Ilias said, impressively conjuring a map of the area in front of us. "From Succubus Village, it's possible to get a ship, which can drop us off where there's a tunnel that leads through the mountains."

"But those mountains are going to contain some pretty serious monsters," Alice cautioned. "Way beyond our ability to deal with, except for you, Luka."

"Too much for a couple of Heavenly Knights?" I asked.

"We may have to pull Tamamo and Alma Elma off what they are doing for this," Alice replied. "I don't see any other way to make success likely."

"What about Alicetroemeria?" I asked.

"Luka," Alice said gently. "Do you really think she'll let you rummage around her castle for a powerful magical item she's keeping there?"

That was true. Even my Alice and the Heavenly Knights had felt honor bound to resist my intrusion, and they mostly liked me! Black Alice and whoever else was in that castle would come after me with a vengeance.

"Wait a minute," I said. "One thing that my Alice once told me was that Black Alice had so alienated everyone that she had no friends, so that when Heinrich went to fight her, she was basically on her own. If we were to go there without telling Alicetroemeria, maybe there wouldn't be any serious opposition aside from native hungry monsters."

"That's….. simplistic," Ilias said. "My memory is fuzzy on that point, but Alice may have been exaggerating somewhat. Certainly by the time Heinrich got to the castle there was no one on the level of the Four Heavenly Knights to defend her, but even the worst leaders have sycophants who will do anything they ask. But we're not talking about invading the castle at the end of Black Alice's reign. We're talking about going in earlier, when she might still have loyal followers."

"Okay, so it's going to be difficult. We do difficult. All the time. Sometimes its easy, sometimes it's not. Obviously this is not. But we still have to do it."

Alice sighed. "I agree," she said reluctantly. "We're dead in the water if we don't get that orb. We'll have to wait a few days until either Tamamo or Alma Elma gets back to check on us. I still can't communicate telepathically. In the meantime, I guess we could rest up. Luka, you took a bit of a beating in that fight with the queen."

"Nothing a little healing couldn't fix," Sonya said proudly.

"Nevertheless, Luka is obviously worn out. Let's take the next few days to rejuvenate."

"Well I'm all for that!" Ilias said, slapping her hands on the table. "With the mermaids and elves out of the war, there's only so much trouble left for the Monster Lord to cause."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that…."

Our heads darted towards the sound of that all too familiar voice. Oh no. Alicetroemeria.

"How long have you been listening to us?" Alice asked accusingly.

"How long have you been talking about me behind my back, fufufu…." Alicetroemeria replied.

"Never mind," Alice said. "What did you mean by that?"

"Spider Princess isn't here anymore," Alicetroemeria answered matter of factly.

"What do you mean, 'not here anymore'?" Alice asked. "Did she just… walk out of the castle?!"

"Pretty much. Our great leader said that she wasn't a prisoner. I guess she took him seriously."

"Luka..." Alice and Ilias both said disapprovingly.

"I also told her she couldn't just walk out!" I said defensively.

"And yet she did," Ilias said.

"Did she say where she was going by any chance?" Alice asked.

"Oh, just back to the Solitary Island to marshall her forces for another attack," Alicetroemeria sang happily.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Sonya yelled. "Now we have to go deal with that problem too!"

My heart sank. The spiders alone among the monster tribes had killed in the process of their attack. I would have to put my people at risk again, and it was all because of me.

Going to the Solitary Island meant teleporting back to the MS Fish. Fortunately the Fish was already sailing in that general direction, so we would be there by the next morning. That gave me time to plan. I made a decision. No one would assault the island except the strongest allies I had. We would go in hard and fast. Shock and awe.

For that purpose I chose Alice, Bonnie, Ashel, Victoria, Carol, Mina, Claudia, Matis, Barbun, Mary, and Alicetroemeria. I didn't like using Black Alice for this purpose, but I hoped that perhaps her very presence would cause the spiders to flee. Since all had survived her terrible dark magic, they would likely panic at the sight of her, not willing to go through that again. That could help end the battle quickly.

Despite the fact that Spider Princess had returned to gather her forces for a renewed attack, they didn't seem ready for us at all. Perhaps they didn't think we had any way of reaching them quickly and so hadn't been preparing with any urgency. We blitzed them hard and held back only a little bit, leaving beaten and bruised opponents in our wake. To my dismay, even Alicetroemeria didn't scare them. Even after she hit them with her excruciating dark magic, they continued to fight.

"Why are you resisting us so hard?!" I interrogated a fallen spider girl, laying on her back with her eight legs up in the air.

"You're here to kill us all!" she wept. "You want revenge after we attacked Grangold!"

"We're not here for revenge!" I insisted. "We're here to get you to stop making war! That's it!"

"We're only doing it because you've pushed our backs to the wall!" the spider girl cried. "We get no men, no semen! We have to hide out in caves and on this stupid island! We can't live if we don't conquer the humans!"

I was getting nowhere. I turned my back on her and continued to advance with my companions, seeking out the Spider Princess. I winced as more spiders fell screaming before Black Alice's horrible arcane spells. As hard as the spiders fought us, something was different this time. I turned to Alice.

"Alice, is it just me or are they fighting differently?" I asked. "The main way they killed in that battle of Grangold was with their poisonous bites. I haven't seen any of them try to bite us this time."

"They are relying more on inhibiting us with webs and attacking us with their legs," Alice noted. "Maybe they don't want to kill anyone?"

"I'm starting to feel like the bad guy here," Claudia said. Claudia had been exacting a pretty terrible price herself with her new sword. She hadn't killed, but spider girls had no way to heal and I'd left my healers back on the MS Fish. I didn't need Ilias falling to critical ecstasy again in a situation where she'd be helpless if a spider decided to kill her. And Sonya, despite her increasing prowess on the battlefield, was soft and delicate. I feared for her in situations where our opposition played for keeps. But they weren't playing for keeps today. Why not?

I decided that I'd have to ask the leader herself. I summoned Sylph and raced ahead of my forces, looking to find and confront Spider Princess myself. I found her soon enough. She wasn't hiding. She was actively directing the defense of the spiders' island refuge, albeit without much success. It wasn't that the spiders weren't formidable. In fact, they were tougher than any of the other tribes that had attacked the human kingdoms. But due to their own brutality and the brutality we visited upon them in return in our first battle, there were still a large number of spiders unfit for combat duty.

One spider who I had caught my eye during the first battle was fit, however, and seemed to have been waiting for me to do exactly what I was attempting to do. She looked less human than any monster I'd ever seen before with many glowing eyes and gray skin that matched her spider body.

"Very foolish move, human," the Arachne Lord said in her inhuman sounding voice. "You are now isolated from your allies. Your foolhardiness has doomed you. You are now my prey."

Webbing shot out of her spinneret at me, entangling my sword arm. More webbing restricted my feet. Another bigger blast of webbing plastered me to a tree.

"Now to drain you dry, foolish human," the Arachne Lord said, a lewd smile on her surprisingly pretty, if inhuman, face.

She had left my crotch unwebbed so that she could reach it easily, but when she reached for it, I simply wasn't there anymore. I was instead behind her, having teleported a short distance, the first time I'd ever tried that trick. I'd seen Granberia do it, how hard could it be, right? I thrust into her backside(with my sword! The steel one!), which wasn't enough to seal her, but did take all of the fight out of her.

"Please, hero!" Arachne Lord pleaded. "Spider Princess is not in her right mind! Don't hurt her too badly!"

"Not in her right mind?" I asked, quickly trying to peel off all of the webbing that still clung to me. "Is she brainwashed like so many others I've had to fight?"

"Brainwashed? No, not exactly. Just not being rational. She fears that our people have no future if we do not defeat the humans! I've tried to advise her that there are other ways, but she has not listened!"

"All right, I'll see if I can reason with her. But one way or another, the war ends today, at least for this tribe!"

I resummoned Sylph and ran as fast as I could, steering clear of any spiders I could see, occasionally being narrowly missed by webbing from the spiders I failed to notice. Maybe it was unwise for me to get ahead of my forces. I was simply not aware enough, even with Sylph, to make anything about this a good idea. I guess I just wanted to end it as quickly as possible in light of losing friends the last time we fought the spiders. At least I achieved my primary objective, reaching the Spider Princess.

Spider Princess betrayed no surprise as I skidded to a stop in front of her.

"Why are you subjecting your people to this again?!" I demanded to know.

"You fail to understand our plight, human!" Spider Princess answered. "This refuge is all we have left. My tribe deserves more! We cannot thrive here! Black Alice promised that we would have everything we dreamed of if we took Grangold for her!"

"There are better ways! You haven't tried to coexist with humans! All you've ever tried to do is dominate them! I can't believe you'd do this! I thought you were showing remorse for your actions!"

"I felt remorse for killing your friends," Spider Princess replied softly. "I will not apologize for seeking what is best for my people. I do not expect you to apologize for doing what you think is best either. I must confess that I have come to sympathize with you and your cause since you brought me to the castle as your…. Guest."

That explained why the spiders were being gentler. Spider Princess had indeed softened a bit in the days since she'd come to the castle. But what had caused her to run off half cocked to start trouble again? Was the plight of her people really that bad? The island seemed nice enough.

"Then call off this war, help me save this world, and I can show you how to live peacefully with the humans. Most monsters have been doing that for years! The only reason the spiders haven't is because you've been continuing to see the world as a struggle between humans and monsters. But it doesn't have to be that way! You want something from us and we want to give it to you! We just prefer not to be eaten or enslaved in the process. Is that really too much to ask?"

"I don't have time for this debate!" Spider Princess yelled. "Guards! Deal with this human!"

Tsuchigumo and two other fearsome looking spiders emerged from concealment. I was relieved to see that I hadn't killed her, but was beginning to regret getting ahead of my forces. I looked behind me. No allies in sight. Should I fight or summon Sylph again and retreat?

I was spared having to make that decision by the sudden appearance of allies I didn't know were even in the battle. The Beelzebub Sisters each appeared behind a spider opponent and wrapped them up in their breast hell. The spiders never stood a chance. The Beelzebub breasts squeezed them and rubbed against them, causing the spiders to immediately forget what they were fighting about. Tsuchigumo lasted a bit longer than the other two, but even she succumbed within moments.

"What is this betrayal!" Spider Princess raged. "You are fellow insects!"

"What can we say?" Striga laughed. "The boy makes some good arguments. We actually intended to ambush him rather than you, but perhaps the human's way is better. We once thought as you did, and all it got us was centuries trapped in a box."

Ugh. I needed to be more aware of who I could trust in my group. I was recruiting increasingly untrustworthy people. I was glad that at least my principles had won the Beelzebubs over. If they'd ambushed me….. I'd be a semen slave right now.

"But lofty sounding words are worth little if you can't back them up with strength," Barbarella said. "Spider Princess, we have not truly betrayed you. We have simply made the battle a fair one. Should you prevail, we will join and serve you. Should Luka prevail, we shall stay with him and do things his way."

"I'm rotting for you, Luka!" Media cheered.

"That's rooting," Striga corrected. "Get your mind out of the garbage."

"If that's how it is," Spider Princess said, drawing a katana. "Then our strength will determine who is in the right. Should you defeat me, I will return to the castle with you and I vow to make no more trouble. I will fight for your noble cause as if it was my own. But should you lose… I will keep you and you will feed my people for all the days of your life."

Spider Princess charged at me and the battle was joined. I was confident. With the exception of Granberia, no one could defeat me with a sword. I attempted to dodge her first strike, which was a very basic technique that I should have been able to avoid in my sleep. Instead, the sword bit deeply into my shoulder. Yee-ouch! Thankfully it wasn't my sword arm.

"A slow spell," Striga commented. "Luka clearly doesn't know what his opponent is capable of."

Having never fought Spider Princess before, that couldn't be helped. So that's what she had done to me! She'd slowed me down! I summoned Sylph again as a counter, easily parrying her followup attack. Fortunately she hadn't cut the shoulder of my sword arm. Sylph only made things even, however. Under the influence of Spider Princess' Slow spell, I could only move at normal speed with Sylph.

At first, it seemed to be enough. I drove Spider Princess back, putting her clearly on the defensive. Seeking to regain the initiative, she stopped retreating and stood her ground. Now let me tell you, when a spider girl chooses to stand her ground, she really stands her ground. Anchoring all eight of her legs, Spider Princess engaged in a test of strength with me, our swords crossed, our faces inches from one another. She was clearly the stronger, so I summoned Gnome as well. That evened things up. Frustrated, she pushed me away and webbed my feet. Oh great. Didn't I just do this with queen mermaid yesterday? At least the way Spider Princess had done it was less painful.

I parried her first attack but suffered a deep cut on my side from her followup. I had not yet put a scratch on her. And I never would if I was stuck in place. Parrying with one hand, I pointed the other down at my webbed up feet and fired a blast of power at them. I knew from experience that my own power couldn't hurt me. The webbing crumbled into nothingness and I confidently advanced on Spider Princess, not only driving her back again, but inflicting two small cuts. She had a sound defense, however, and like most monsters was very good at utilizing her other attributes in combat. Her front legs were giving me fits.

"Such strength!" Spider Princess marveled. "You are a remarkable man, Luka! When I defeat you, you shall enjoy a place of honor in our tribe!"

Head semen slave? No thanks. I pressed my attack. Spider Princess began using her webbing more, firing small amounts of silk at various parts of my body, trying to entangle me so that I might make a mistake. But as powerful as she was, her combat experience was nowhere near mine. I was no longer out of practice. For months I'd been regaining my skills. The fight with Granberia had brought me fully back to the place I had once been. Granberia always did bring out the best in me. I waited patiently for my opening.

It came when I felt the slow spell weakening. At first, it actually made things more difficult for me. I was timing my attacks as if I was moving at normal speed, but as the slow spell weakened, some of my movements were faster than I had planned, causing me to be thrown off balance. Her legs and webbing trying to trip me didn't help. But then the spell expired completely. When it did, I seemed to be moving faster than I normally would, even with Sylph. Spider Princess' face froze as Angel Halo cut her again and again. I hadn't intended to hit her that many times. I was simply moving so quickly that she took several unprotected hits to her torso. As a result, I found myself looking down at a rather large, but no longer threatening, spider.

Medea picked the spider up in her palm. It angrily hissed at her. "Now, now princess, don't be a sore loser," Medea said. "I wouldn't want to have to suck your juices out."

The small spider cowered. Medea laughed and gently placed the spider on her chest. "Now you stay safe and comfortable there. I'll take you back to the castle and my sisters and I can restore you."

"It looks like your view has prevailed, boy," Striga said. "To be honest, I'm glad. There are so many good delicacies in this world to try, and it would be hard to try them if the humans weren't free to exercise their creativity in the culinary arts. You do not have to worry about either the Spider Princess or us betraying you again. You have proven yourself."

So that was that. No one died, thank goodness, and three of the four monster tribes that had participated in the attack on humanity were defeated. That left only the vampires. But the news was even better. I heard wild cheering as I wandered the castle halls. I ran into Barbun and Carol conversing excitedly as they walked.

"Did you hear, Luka?" Barbun asked. "The vampires have surrendered! With their allies defeated, they saw no hope of winning the war!"

"That's amazing!" I exclaimed. "Now we can concentrate on getting that last orb and dealing with the Monster Lord."

"Let me introduce a bit of caution here," Carol said. "The Monster Lord used those four tribes because they were ready and eager to go. She hasn't called off her war. She has her own dedicated forces and will most certainly be seeking to convince other monster tribes to pick up where the first four left off."

"Still, we won a pretty amazing victory!" Barbun countered. "It could be months before the Mosnter Lord is capable of attacking again!"

"You know what this means, right?" Carol asked Barbun.

"Party time!" Barbun answered, doing a little dance. "Luka, you absolutely must come to the bar after dinner. Everyone will be there and as the leader, it'll be good for morale if you party with the rest of us."

Dinner went quite well, in part because Spider Princess wasn't "helping". All right, maybe that was a little mean. She'd actually become quite proficient at many simple kitchen duties until she'd gotten it into her head to escape and renew hostilities. I had to assume she was either moping, ashamed, or both. I would have to go talk to her tomorrow. But for today, my friends deserved a celebration. The war wasn't over, but it would be some time before the Monster Lord could strike again. That would give the human kingdoms time to prepare, and us time to get to the Monster Lord and force her to end her insane war.

I decided to sit with Alice, who was eating with Tamamo and Alma Elma. Since it was rare for both Knights to be present at once, I couldn't miss an opportunity to spend time with my oldest friends(and lovers. And WIVES! Two of them, anyway.)

"That was pretty foolish, what you did today," Alice scolded mildly. "I understand why you did it, but it was a huge gamble."

"Don't give away the war just to win a battle," Tamamo said sagely. "If we lose you, we lose everything. As important as it was to stop the spiders from attacking Grangold again, it's not worth your life, Luka."

"I understand. Sorry, I get carried away sometimes and I don't always think," I said. "Centuries of experience and I still have brainfarts like that."

"Brainfarts?" Alice asked. "I like that one. I'm having this vision of a giant brain farting."

"Doesn't seem to be affecting your appetite any," Tamamo laughed.

"Have you tasted this food?"

"Literally eating it right now, Alice," Tamamo chuckled.

"Are you three going to come to the party in the bar later?" I asked. "Saki's going to be performing."

"I don't do Saki performances," Alice said abruptly. "One was enough."

"I'm afraid I've got to get back to my primary mission," Tamamo said with regret. "Anyway, I'm an old lady. I can't get into that noise she sings."

Indeed, I recalled that Tamamo was no fun in that regard when we got married. Classical music, folk music, those she could enjoy. But rock and dance music was a big fat no for Tamamo. Alice on the other hand had taken a liking to the Earth styles. Granberia had embraced heavy metal with a passion, and Alma Elma enjoyed anything sexy.

"I'll go," Alma Elma said. "I'm always interested in succubi who do something besides…. You know. What we do. I'd offer to make you happy after the show, but I don't think you'll be conscious long around two dozen monsters that have been drinking."

"Alma Elma, I'm leaving it to you to keep that rabble under control," Alice said. "If things get too hairy for Luka in there, you use that wind power of yours and whisk him out of there, okay?"

"I'd do that anyway just so that I could have him for myself."

Except for Mary and Eva, who had shown up early, there wasn't much alcohol being served. Barbun had let those two get a little tipsy, but was being quite strict about how much anyone else would be served. It was a fun, crowd, however. They didn't need alcohol to have a good time, except for our sheep girl whom we all knew and loved.

A sober crowd was a mostly polite crowd to me, and in any case I wasn't really the center of attention. I'd arrived in the bar's little concert hall only a few minutes before Saki was scheduled to hit the stage. In very undivalike fashion, Saki was always punctual, usually hitting the stage at the exact minute she posted on our little messaging billboard. Today's crowd was bigger than usual, but the small concert hall could easily accommodate over one hundred. Actual attendance was about thirty, which was most of the castle's current residents.

Saki came out to wild cheers and went into her standard setlist, mostly originals she wrote that she insisted were trash. But she had such a great voice and was such a charistmatic performer that it didn't matter. She could have sung anything and it would be gold.

For the next hour, she plowed through familiar songs, at least to anyone who had been to her little bar shows over the past weeks, and the small crowd was eating it up. I was basically forgotten, so enrapturing was her music. I knew that it was not just her talent, but her magic that held the audience in her tight grip. That loss of control was one reason Alice didn't like her shows, although she had come to value Saki as an ally.

After finishing up an intense dance number, Saki addressed the crowd.

"Are you enjoying Saki Night Live?!" she shouted.

"YAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" the crowd of thirty yelled back, sounding like a crowd of thsousands.

"Are you ready for the final performance?!!!!!"

"YAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

"Then it's time to bring our favorite hero on the stage!" Saki cheered. "Luka, come on up!"

Me? I had no time to wonder what was going on. I was shoved onto the stage by my friends. Oh, please don't make me sing, I thought.

"Since this is a monster only crowd, Saki can end this show right!" Saki said joyfully. "Who wants to see me drain Luka dry?!"

"Drain! Drain! Drain! Drain! Drain! Drain!" the crowd shouted.

"Wait, you're going to have sex with me on the stage?" I asked. "In front of all these people?!"

"Well it wouldn't be a performance if we did it in private, silly!" Saki laughed. "Haven't you been wanting a piece of this since I got here?"

It was true. There had been a few moments, Saki singing to my dick, then another time giving me a few seconds of light sucking, but by succubus standards that was playing hard to get. But I wasn't sure about getting done in front of an audience. It took me back to my first time in the colosseum when another succubus, one who I saw in the audience, had humiliated me in front of thousands. I knew Saki was a much friendlier sort, but it still made me a little queasy.

"Oh, you look a little reluctant," Saki said symphathetically. "I guess he doesn't want to."

"Noooo!!!!" "Come on!" "We want to see Saki screw the shit out of you!" I was sure that last one was Alma Elma.

Dueling chants of "Saki! Saki!" and "Luka! Luka!" started.

"How about this?" Saki addressed the crowd, clearly enjoying the reactions she was getting and trying to make it part of the show. "How about….. we let the cards decide Luka's fate?"

"Oooohhhh!!!!" the crowd oooohhhhed.

"The cards?" I asked. "Aren't those weapons!?"

Saki had pulled her deck of magic cards out of her little purse and was going through them, discarding every second or third card.

"Some of them are," she replied. "Let's see, we definitely don't want to immolate you."

The crowd gasped.

"Freeze?" Saki said. "I guess we could all lick him like an ice treat!"

"YESSSS!!!!!" the crowd yelled.

"Too dangerous," Saki said, putting that card back as well.

"Abnormal growth of a body part," Saki said. "Normally not a very useful card in combat, but that could be interesting."

Saki shuffled that one back into the deck. After discarding several more, she had about thirty cards. She began rapidly shuffling the deck, again and again, increasing the crowd's anticipation.

"So for those who don't know," Saki said, continuing to shuffle. "This is a magic deck. I'm cheating a little by removing cards. You're really not supposed to do that. It renders the deck almost useless for combat by diminishing the magic. But since I'm only using this deck to decide our favorite male's fate, it should be fine. Now, Luka, draw, and decide your fate!"

"Draw! Draw! Draw! Draw!" the crowd chanted.

I reached to take the top card off of the deck, but Saki quickly pulled it away.

"Just a quick explanation here of what you can expect," Saki said. "Chances are, we're all going to be disappointed. The majority of the remaining cards don't do much without the whole deck, or their effects are irrelevant to this situation. If you draw a card that does nothing, you get to walk out of here and do something boring like read a book until you go to sleep."

"Booooo!!!!" "Books suck!"

I was pretty certain the game was rigged, but something about turning it into a game of chance made it more palatable for me. Knowing I was definitely going to get screwed, I reached out and picked the top card off the deck.

The card was a picture of a naked man. The crowd roared. Not at the card, but at my nakedness. I knew the game was rigged!

"The hero's fate is sealed!" Saki sang, then pushed me down to the ground as the opening bars of Holding Out for a Hero played.

Saki stood over my prone body, then did a flip so that she was doing a handstand. She lowered herself while standing only on her hands to take my penis into her mouth, and started doing pushups from that position. The crowd loved it. I even saw Alma Elma looking impressed. She may even have taken out a pen to take notes.

But her mouth was about to be busy singing, so as the song's first verse began she laid across me, singing to me as she rubbed her body against mine.

"Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods…"

As the verse ended, she rose up on her haunches.

"Isn't there a white knight, upon a fiery steed…"

When she hit the chorus, she dropped her waist, plunging my dick deep into her succubus pussy. My world instantly went white.

"I need a hero!"

As if that wasn't enough, she began dancing furiously as she sang the chorus. I caught a glimpse of Alma Elma looking a little concerned. Succubus pussy was nothing to play around with, but Saki was a professional. Presumably she had done this many times, with weaker men than me. I spent most of the chorus coming explosively.

She bent back down, with me still inside her, to sing the second verse. At least she wasn't moving anymore. Given how tightly my penis was locked inside her, that only provided a small relief. A succubus' vagina creates an unbreakable bind, molding itself firmly to the victim's penis. There is no way to get out once inside short of pulling your own penis off. No matter what crazy gyrations she did as part of her performance, I wasn't falling out until she was ready to let me go.

I began coming again as she hit the second chorus, dancing and gyrating even more furiously than before.

"He's gotta be strong, and we already know he's fast," she sang cheekily, much to the approval of the audience.

When the second chorus ended, I sighed with relief. I'd forgotten that the next movement was even more intense.

"Up where the mountains meet the heavens above!"

I started coming a third time, convinced I was going to see the heaven she sang about.

"Like the fire in my blood…."

Orgasm number four followed. Alma Elma seemed to relax. As amazing as it felt, it didn't seem to be breaking me. Saki's control was excellent despite the appearance of wild abandon for the benefit of the audience.

When the song ended, she helped me up and we took a bow. I stumbled and the audience laughed appreciatively.

"Encore!" they yelled. "Do it again!"

"Now, now, let's not kill our favorite hero!" Saki admonished the crowd. "But if you want more, I have one last treat to give you lovely people tonight."

The crowd had no idea what she was talking about, but cheered anyway.

"You think you have one more in you, Luka?" Saki asked.

"One more what?" I croaked out.

"You know," Saki said seductively.

"Maybe… one more?" I agreed with trepidation.

Saki launched into her finale, an original tune she wrote called "Love is in the Air." Placing her warm hand around my penis, she began stroking me to the music. I lasted until the end of the first chorus. Seeing that I was near my limit, she grabbed me with one strong arm and took off into the air with me, hovering over the audience. As my semen rained down into their eager, waiting mouths, she shouted, "Thank you for coming today!"