Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-35898511-20181017212939/@comment-33398500-20181018152023

Yeah, we really should have seen this coming.

The first signs that something suspicious was afoot had become clear once the ‘ghost town’ we arrived in still looks like it was well-maintained.

It looked as if everyone had simply stepped inside for lunch.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” I’d started to ask the rest of the guys in the squad when suddenly, the gate closed behind us as we were getting ready to head into the town to figure it out.

“Yeah, I’d say it is...” the lieutenant stated, as the group of us now saw mamono seeming to emerge from every building in the town.

“Damn right we got them.” A minotaur near the head of the group stated. “Looks like this lot was more cautious than last time, though. Only a few new toys for us to play with.”

As the group closed ranks when the mamono had us surrounded, I sighed calmly to myself. This was an ambush? Attempting to grab fresh meat for their beds? “Heh, how absurd.” I commented quietly.

“Oh? Have we got some fighters? Or are you guys just gonna cuddle there until we take you?” The minotaur asked mockingly, getting a laugh out of the rest of the mamono.

“Oh, we’re neither cuddling, nor being taken.” I stated simply, stepping in front of the men, earning a grin from the minotaur and noises of surprise from the men behind me, no one in the squad having a good idea to get out of this situation.

“Ohohoho… Looks like we’ve got the first volunteer, girls! Let’s see what you do when we come get you! Anyone want this one?” the minotaur then called out, before I suddenly got rushed by a harpy who cried out “Mine!” as she dove toward me.

Just as she was getting close, I sidestepped the dive, my voice not carrying past the two of us before a blast of energy issued from my hands, the burst sending the harpy into a nearby tree, sparks issuing from her as she was there, dazed. “Wha-?” she started, unable to get up.

“Oh? A mage, huh?” The minotaur concluded with a giggle.

“When did you learn to do magic!?” the lieutenant asked in shock.

“Not really that important, is it, sir?” I asked before turning back to face the minotaur. “Now, since the ground isn’t as uneven as you thought, I have a suggestion for you. You and me. One-on-one. First one unconscious loses. You win, I give up. I win, you let us leave.”

“Hey, that head of yours must bobble if it got that big from surprising a rushing opponent! But if that’s the way it is, I accept! One adjustment, though. Once I win, you surrender not to US, but to ME. I like the idea of breaking a mage-nerd.” She stated before giggling to herself.

“Fine.” I responded simply.

“Don’t speak for all us!” The lieutenant called to me.

“Any better ideas, sir?” I then asked him over my shoulder.

“Damn it… no. Take her down, kid.” He then encouraged me.

“Oh, if she thinks I’m that weak, this’ll be all too easy.” I commented. Stepping a little further away, I silently wished I was as confident as my current guise appeared. I’d only ever used this spell before at home, and never before in a fight with anyone. But I had to reassure the rest of the squad, once I essentially entrusted their well-being to myself.

All right, here we go…

Calling on the reserve of spirit energy I actively generated, and which the girls wanted us for, I muttered quietly to myself, the wind starting to pick up around me. I’d only ever done this at lower levels, and was uncertain how a more powerful version would affect me, but I needed to try: minotaurs were impossibly strong, and I needed whatever I had if I wanted to best her.

Tensing myself as the waves of energy started to hit me, essentially drawing my reserves to the outside, I could feel the world becoming lighter, as if I could do absolutely anything by just willing myself to do so, and take on each and every one of them right now if I needed to.

Everything in my field of vision seemed to have a red hue to it. I wasn’t sure if my energy was glowing or if the strengthening spell affected my vision somehow, but it certainly had left quite the impression on the mamono in front of me.

“H-h-hey!? What is that he’s doing!? Isabelle, information!” she called to a mamono in the ambushing group, fidgeting on the spot for some reason.

“It looks like a strengthening spell. A very strong one. He must have quite a reserve of spirit energy if he hopes to maintain that spell in a fight…” I could dimly hear a voice explain to her.

“Strengthening, eh? Well, what do you know? This might actually be FUN.” She stated with a smirk now as she looked back at me, picking up a massive axe she’d set down. “If you’re really that strong, no need to hold back, right?” she suggested, now readying her weapon, her expression downright terrifying as she made ready to attack.

It was probably demon realm silver, but it looked hefty nonetheless.

“Not a problem.” I replied, now getting into a combat stance, not drawing the sword I brought with me. If my spell worked as well as I think, it would probably break on the first strike. However, I had no need to charge, as she now engaged in a headlong sprint toward me, weapon raised. Was just this much red enough to set her off!?

As she charged headlong into me, I sidestepped her heavy vertical swing, before meeting her elbow’s charge once her axe lost momentum, neither of us budging at the moment.

This isn’t her normal strength. This is her heat strength, there’s no way she’s holding anything back at this point… a true test.

Now shifting around to her off side, where her axe wasn’t, I struck, aiming for her face, only to meet her off-hand moved to defend against me, her other hand letting go of the axe as she swung it to land her own hit, only to meet my free hand. Luckily, even in heat she wasn’t very fast, as minotaurs were typically heavy, slower combatants relying heavily on their strength advantage. This was perfectly valid, as not many could match them strike for strike.

Which made the fact that I was doing just that all the more exciting to me.

“You got any better than that?” I asked with a smirk, earning only a strange sort of groan in response, as her rational mind was taken over by her desire to claim the man in front of her in her red heat. Then, while we were still locked, she landed a headbutt on me, sending me flying into the wall behind me. “Better.” I commented, semi-dazed now from the impact. It seemed even my toughness had been enhanced by the spell: something like that might have killed me normally.

“Here’s mine!” I then declared, sending a blast of red-hot energy pelting her way, which she managed to dodge out of the way of before it exploded into the wall of the building behind her. This was followed up by a second burst to compensate for her dodge, sending her skidding back a fair distance, sparks issuing from her.

Tough, too, this one. I hope I haven’t bit off more than I can chew…

However, since I’d started glowing red, she hadn’t said a word, guided only by her urge to assault me. Charging again, she found herself rushing past me as I managed to sidestep her, using my enhanced strength to strike her in the back, sending her into the wall faster than before, now bounding up to the top of one of the buildings, my leg strength at the point where it could propel me into the air.

Staring up at me from the ground now, she then bounded from down on the ground to the roof of a lower building, then to the next building up, until just below the one I was one, before I again sent an energy burst at her, a red explosion sending her staggering back and half-conscious, now with me charging at her across the roof of that building, another powerful punch sending her off the roof of the building and down toward the street below.

Oh, crap.

Now managing to propel myself forward absurdly fast, I caught her just before she crashed into the ground. Minotaurs were tough, but that would have probably ended something rather bigger than her…

“Anyone else want to try?” I asked angrily, looking around at the group of them. “Had I not caught her, she could very well be dead…”

Now moving back toward my men, I looked up at the gate. “You want to open that, or should I just put a hole in it?” I then asked simply, which led to the hasty reopening of the gate, with myself not looking affected at all by the situation.

“Victor… that was damn amazing!” the lieutenant complimented, as the group of us now started on the way back into town.

“Y-yeah…” I started, having long since reached the limit of my energy, but having simply been bluffing them. Had any of the others wanted to try, I’d have gone down like a sack of potatoes. However, as we walked, the world went black, my only hope we were far enough to not be spotted from the town.

////////////////////////

Once I came to, it was clear we hadn’t quite gotten back to town.

I found myself in a vast chamber that looked as if an open room in an ancient Greek or Roman temple, the only feature apart from the perfect white stone all over the building was the large bed in the middle of the room. “Umm… hello? Sarge? Lieutenant?” I called out feebly, still rather frail after the vast expenditure of energy to have maintained such high-powered magic to go toe-to-toe with a minotaur.

“I’m afraid your fellow soldiers are not here, boy.” A voice called out from every direction at once.

“Am I dead?” I asked, confused.

“Dead? No. But you are in a much better place…” the voice told me, a mere moment before the form of a being appeared in the water of the inch-deep pool that looked to be half a mile long. She was impossibly beautiful, a white-winged goddess in a translucent black dress. “Greetings, boy.” She spoke, and it felt like my entire world shook. Though the beauty before me I could tell was not of the divine, but of the demonic. She was a demon, but her power and aesthetic made me believe the demon lord herself stood before me.

“Are you… her?” I asked, now shaking with nerves.

“Oh? You mean her?” she asked with a smirk, clearly knowing what I meant. “Afraid not. You’ll like mom, though. She’s fun.”

Mom…? She’s a lilim.

“W-why am I here?” I then asked, still shaking in her presence. “Oh? I was hoping you were a stronger man than this, after having felt your power springing forth in town.” She commented, sounding disappointed. “Your spirit energy was really appetizing when I felt it before. But you were too exhausted for me to try you immediately. So I brought you here. My friends were chasing your friends when last I looked, but they probably made it home.”

“Try me? Don’t have that much energy.” I commented, stepping back from her as she started to float toward me.

“Well, not right now, but we can fix that. Very quickly, in fact. Did you know that when you’re claimed by a mamono, your body makes A LOT more spiritual energy to fulfill her needs? Your little red light show is nothing compared to what you could do, and I want to see just what that looks like. I REALLY want to know what that TASTES like.” She continued, looking at me as if sizing up a meal just before dinner time.

“In the meantime, though. You’ve got to eat. Without any energy, you won’t give me anything I want, not to mention how boring you’d be in bed… so feel free to eat while you’re here…” she informed me, gesturing to a door that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Where exactly is here?” I asked, confused.

“Oh? We’re in a pocket dimension in my home.” She told me, as if the magic to conjure entire dimensions was just something you’d run into every day. “If your energy reaches even half the point I think it will, then I could teach you, if you’d like.” She then continued with a giggle, before pushing me lightly toward the door, almost sending me flying into it in my state, before I went through.

Upon exiting, I realized we were back in that town we were just in, the window of the nearby hall telling me we were in the upper floor of a building in the town we’d been about to investigate. “My subordinates will bring you whatever food you desire. But just know that if you try to escape, I’ll send Amanda after you, and in your state right now, she’ll be all too happy to finish what she started earlier.

After an hour and the most awkward meal I’ve ever had, surrounded by the Lilim, who still hadn’t told me her name, and her subordinates, many of whom had been part of the initial ambush, still looking at me with a measure of fear, I stood up, able to feel strength in my limbs again, before the Lilim guided me into the door once more to the quiet dimension she was using as a bedroom.

“Now that you’re in fighting form.” She started, eyeing me hungrily. “I’ll offer you the same wager you offered Amanda. Fight me. You win, you can go home. I’ll take you home, in fact if you want. Or, to sweeten the offer – I will personally be at your beck and call, a lilim willing to do whatever you want~” she offered, winking at me and shifting her stance to allow her generous chest to bounce. “But, should I win, you will remain here, and… well, I wouldn’t exactly say serve, but my body has needs, and most wouldn’t come within a mile of satisfying them. But we’d find out just how close you’d get~” she encouraged again, before stepping to the opposite end of the pool. “Come on and try me. Just so you know, if you don’t choose, I will attempt to claim you by force anyway, and we’ll find out how much your reserve grows once I attune you to me~”

This was clearly a serious situation, and I needed to actually try to fight HER now, despite not having a realistic chance of winning. “Fine!” I declared, murmuring the spell to myself, my body beginning to glow red again, having called up my energy again. “Let’s go!” I shouted, now charging at the Lilim.

/////////////////////////

Waking up what felt like eons later, I looked around the heavenly room, pockmarked with blast impacts and collapsed structures. The fight had gone far longer than I expected, but she had clearly been toying with me, not allowing the fight to go long enough to drain me, as she intended to claim me after the fight, having thrown me into her seemingly-indestructible bed, which she then proceeded to demonstrate by smashing her body into mine for what felt like an eternity.

“Morning, darling.” She the cooed, as my immobile form didn’t even realize she was actually behind me. The lilim still had me in her embrace, which meant she clearly had found me acceptable. “That was fun.” She bubbled. “You turned into an incubus after the second round… No wonder I got to have fun for so long~”

“A-an incubus?” I repeated, unable to move at all, my limbs currently dead.

“Yes. Your energy never seemed to run out. You seemed to get a deeper reserve every time you would have run out~ It was amazing~” The bubbling lilim then giggled happily. “Though it looks like I finally found the bottom.” Wobbling me with her hand to show my limpness.

“S-so… why did you choose me?” I asked, still uncertain.

“Why? Because even high-ranking demons need someone to love. But I needed someone to fulfill my hunger. I think you fit the bill now~” She told me. Now getting out of bed, she smiled back at me, before saying “You’ll need to rest up a bit, though. A lilim’s pent-up hunger will take a while to recover from. My friends will be along to bring you your food, I’ll be back~” Now, as she sauntered off seductively, she spoke as if reading my mind as she looked over her shoulder "...and it's Hera..." This place still feels like I died…