User blog:LightningS9/The Place I'll Return to Someday Ch. 2

“….”

She growled as she forced her tired body to her feet and charged at the man named Jack once more. As she closes in she raises her new great sword over her head, but in a swift motion he slashes through her middle and dashes past.

She bites her tongue to hold in her involuntary moan, and falls to her knees.

“You’re never going to hit me like this, Gladia.”

“It’s not my fault you’re so much stronger than me.”

“I’m no stronger than when we fought earlier today. I’m just more cooperative. You need to start treating your weapon as an individual instead of a tool. Sure she can’t speak now, but she can still help improve your fighting ability.”

“I still don’t get this either…”

“You didn’t pay attention in class?”

“You mean did I listen to that Hakutaku drone on while confined to a seat?”

Jack sighs, “You and Claudette the hellhound are going to take some work, though I should’ve expected an ogre to be stubborn. I’ll give you a refresher then. Your weapon is unique, not because of the demon realm silver, but because it is the first synthetically made monster girl.”

“What? So it’s a cursed sword?”

“No,” He moves to her and holds his katana out. Upon closer inspection she sees that the hilt is very ornate, the black wrap leaving three oblong shapes that alternate between red and white. The blade is clean and sharp, obviously well taken care of. Then to her surprise she sees not her own reflection, but the reflection of a fierce woman. She was decidedly not human, but she was one of those mamono that could almost pass as such. She had long, deep red hair that was tied into a flowing pony tail. Her hair, which framed her face, had a pair of small horns that looked more like hair clips peaked out the side of her head. The gaze from her brass eyes and the expression on her coffee colored face was strong and unflinching.

Lastly her mamono instincts cause her to examine the reflections body, finding it to be of ample proportions, and though she felt a bit of pride that she was slightly bigger she could see that she was flawless. This figure was held in place by bandage wraps for her chest and a pair of hakama pants that left her hips exposed, showing her lack of undergarments.

“Theses swords were forged with a special technique by a mage who pursued and married a Cyclops. The pair found a way to make magic weapons that were pre-monsteriezed. These mamono were formulated to…”

“Formuwhat?”

“…Formulated, it means made. Anyway they were made to give non-magic users a way to use inhuman skills. To keep the Magic Weapon docile, these “Sword Skills” can only be used if either Spirit Energy or Demonic Energy from the wielder is given in a controlled dose. These doses can change as new, stronger skills are learned but are always specific.”

He then sheaths his katana, “Still, combat doesn’t happen consistently for us here. To compensate for their lack of spirit energy consumption, they were forged to devour energy rather than simply wound a targets mana pool and don’t supplant their energy into a target as a cursed sword would. That is a sword skill lesson, and neither of you are ready for that. What you need to do is give her energy in the smallest dose you can manage. She chose you the moment she let you lift her, but she can only help you fight better if you form a connection.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“There’s no concrete method, but here, hold up your sword.”

She lifts it as instructed, and he gently takes her hands holding the large blade’s hilt and helps her turn the blade to point to the twilight sky.

“Now close your eyes.” Jack said as he closed his eyes on the other side of the blade.

Once again, she follows his instruction.

“Now take a deep breath, and focus on your weapon.”

She breaths in, trying desperately to tear her focus away from his hands on hers. She can feel frustration build steadily, and she growls when she sees that this wasn’t working.

His hands leave hers, “It’s gotten late. We’ll pick this up again tomorrow.”

“N-no, I can get it.”

“Then you can prove it to me tomorrow. I need to meet the boss.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jack knocks on the door to Baku’s chamber, and gets the quickest invitation inside he’s ever received.

“That was fast.” Droidika said from his shoulder.

He opens the door, Baku’s wives all gathered around his large chair next to his fireplace.

“Come on in boy.”

He moves forward, and once he circles around the chair he spots another figure in the seat next to his boss. He was an average man, almost nothing of note about his appearance at all. What gave him an idea as to who this man what were the large amounts of writing supplies in his pack next to his chair.

“Fascinating, that creature looks so much like a fairy, but looks like a living doll as well!” the man exclaimed as he began to rummage in his pack, pulling out a quill and a blank sheet of paper.

One of the pages that slip out onto the floor looked familiar, with the picture of a mamono in the corner with four paragraphs of information next to it.

Suddenly a leanan sidhe flutters up to Droidika from the man in the brown travel cloak still scribbling away on his paper.

“Woah, you’re a magic material type monster, but what family could you be from?”

“Hmmm….” Droidika said to herself as she began emanating the Jeopardy theme.

“You make art as well?” the leanan sidhe asked excitedly.

“Could she be a new breed of your kind?” the scholarly fellow asked.

“Ah!” Droidika said with a ding, “Considering I was born from a piece of technology from Jack’s world, which has more advanced technology than this one, I guess I’d be from the future tech family.”

“So, the Demon Lord has a new daughter, who created a dimension for technological advancement, a sort of tomorrow land?”

“Nope, bookbrain.” Baku stated bluntly, “This here fellow is from a world completely separate from ours. That’s why I asked you here remember?”

He perks up at this, “You mean….”

“Yeah, you and the kid might finally have a way home. This here is the illusive Wandering Scholar who wrote those encyclopedias on the mamono.”

The Scholar gives a dejected sigh as he rummages through his pack and hands Baku a moderately sized back of money, “I was lead to believe that I was simply here to research some new mamono for the encyclopedia, but it seems I’ve been brought to help with something otherwise unrelated.”

The Scholar gives a cutting glare to Baku, “I’m not interested in another joint venture after what happened with Ms. Spherica….”

Baku simply laughs as he takes the money, pouring about a fourth out into his large hand and handing the sack to Rita. He then extends his hand out to the Scholar and drops the coins into the surprised man’s cupped hands, the amount still slightly too great for the man’s much smaller hands as some coins escape to the floor.

“Don’t worry book boy, you’re still gettin your two mamono interviews, but you can keep a bit of coin for the inconvenience.”

Baku then leans forward, a serious look in his eyes. “I’ve spent two years, and I’ve used all the sources I have tryin to find a way for these boys to get back where they belong. Now I’m down to my last option…you.”

“What do you mean boss, what could the Scholar do?” he asked, interrupting the Scholar.

“I’m determined to get you and Xavier home, and there’re not many people who’ve traveled to the places this guy has. If anyone might know of something, anything that can get you back to your own world it’d be this guy.”

He felt shocked, it’d been so long.

He looks to the Scholar, finding the man holding his chin in contemplation, “There are some places I’ve been that may have such things. Still those places are dangerous, more dangerous than my little…friend here,” He motions to the leanan sidhe, “can handle since Lescatie was taken. Not to mention the Order is out for my head.”

“Well, is that all?” Baku said with a laugh, he then pats his chest, “That’s an easy problem to solve; I’ll tag along and help you find what we’re lookin for.”

He looks to Baku, “That’s not a good idea.”

“Why not, boy? Don’t ya still want to go home?”

“Of course, but the Band needs it’s leader.”

“Nah, this baby practically runs itself. If I leave….”

“No offense to either of you, but if you leave with a known enemy of the Order, you risk having them come down on us.”

Baku gives him a hard look, and he feels a shiver run down his spine.

Then the pink haired man sighs and relaxes into his seat, “You got a point boy, I guess I’ll send Trevor.”

He shakes his head, “I should handle this myself. I haven’t made a name for myself in the Band. If the Order were to capture us there’d be no way for them to tie me to you.”

“What of that mamono on your hip?” Baku asked, “I don’t go selling those to anyone. That’ll tie you to us.”

He looks away, staring at the fire for a moment as he thinks, “Not if I quit.”

He hears Baku stand from the seat behind him. “Nobody’s ever quit, and you know why.”

He turns and looks to up to the giant. For once his wives aren’t clinging to him, each looking to them with worried expression.

He holds the boss’s glare. The man had been good to him, better than any father figure he’d ever had even. Even so, he needed to get home.

The boss’s glare doesn’t subside, “We’ll settle this tomorrow morning, bring whoever you want to take with you. Let’em know they’re gona be in the same boat if they do.”

He cuts away and makes for the door.

“You if you’re willin to wait for tomorrow, you’ll get a detailed view of your second mamono egghead.”

He can’t help but shiver a little at the thought as he opens the door. Just on the other side he is met by a familiar green face.

-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“No.” Jack responded curtly.

“Why not!” Gladia demanded back.

“You just got here, and the price of quitting the Band is too much for you to handle.”

“As if….”

“Jack!”

She snaps her head toward the new voice, finding an Anubis walking toward them with purpose. Her moderately sized chest held in place by a black top that was little more than a bra and her crotch-less harem pants leave her tight black underwear exposed. She is accented by exotic gold jewelry that must be native to her home. As she gets closer her blood red eyes burn with a fierce intensity that seemingly threatens to set Jack ablaze.

“What are you thinking?! You can’t quit!” she roared.

Jack nervously cuts his eyes away from the dark skinned dog-girl.

“As your attendant, I forbid you from quitting the Band.”

“I’m sorry, Nefertari, but….”

“But what?”

“The boss may have found a way for me to get home.”

The Anubis goes wide eyed; her ears drooping just like her tail. Jack looks away, “I know that quitting the Band is a big deal, but I need to do this.” He pats her on the head, causing an intense blush to appear on her despite her dark skin tone. “Tari…I never had an attendant back home, but you’ve been an amazing one, I’m sorry.”

He turns to walk away, and she prepares to press on and make him let her follow him, but the Anubis catches his wrist with one of her black paws. “I-I’m coming with you.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“You can’t stop me. I may be your attendant, but my Pharaoh is the only person who gives me orders. Besides, who’s going to make sure you keep yourself fed and fit out there?”

“If she’s goin, then I am too!”

“And who are you supposed to be?”

“I’m Kakacarrotcake! I am real super sand!”

She turns to the new intruder to their conversation, finding the blond kid from the village.

“Glad I found you bro.” Jack stated bluntly.

“What’s up bro?”

“He’s quitin’ the Band that’s what, and I’m goin with him!” She interjected. “Wha-why?”

“Baku found someone who might be able to get us home.”

The seventeen year old looks in complete shock and after a moment Jack continues. “I was looking to see if you wanted to come with me, but I understand if you want to stay.”

“Nah, bro, I have your back!”

“Are you sure? This quest has a high chance of failure, and besides that you’d have to leave the Band too.”

“Whatever bro, I’ll always stand by you.”

At that moment the strange little black fairy begins playing a song as she flutter’s in front of Jack’s face.

“You know I’ll always stand by you too!” she said in a sing-song way.

A second fairy, this one blue, fidgets its way out of the blonde’s pocket.

“I guess I’ll tag along if Xavier’s going.”

Jack then looks to his katana, the blade shivering slightly.

“Thanks Echo.” Jack said down to his sword, “I guess the girls will tag along as well?”

This time Xavier’s weapons shiver, and he gives a thumbs up and a toothy smile, “You know it.”

Jack gives a shy smile, and the submissive and cute nature of the look nearly drives her to attack him against her better judgment, “Thanks. Now I suggest we get some rest, we have a big fight to start this journey off.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Xavier was more than a little nervous about this now.

“You can always stop you know.” The voice of his left dagger, Ylanna said gloomily.

“What?! No he can’t, he’s got to do this for his bro!” His right dagger, Annaly said in a chipper tone.

“He has a good thing going here, with us. If he goes home, we’ll be left with nothing….”

“No we won’t, we could go with him! Besides, where’s your spirit of adventure?”

“Guuhhh, there’s no point anyway, the Boss is getting ready.”

He draws his weapons as the Boss stands opposite their party. “Y’all better be ready, cuz I’m gonna kick each of ya asses for tryin to leave the Band.”

Then the Boss draws a great curved blade shaped like an oversized falchion. To his and apparently everyone else’s surprise in the yard his weapon begins to glow. When the light fades a catlike woman with a lascivious smile and an outfit close to the Boss’s stands next to the pink haired man, and in her hand she holds a ghostly replica of the Boss’s own weapon.

“Surprised? Well ya shouldn’t be. This Great Magic Weapon is the next steps our weapons take to bringing the Band to greatness!”

That’s when he sees the vaporous line of energy linking the Boss’s sword to the cat girl.

“Amazing!” he hears the man in the brown cloak gasp as he scribbles on a sheet of paper at the edge of the arena.

“Pay attention kid.” The ogre, Gladia, said from next to him as she grips her great sword.

“How should we handle this Jack?” Tari asked as she gets into stance with her staff.

“Me and you handle Baku,” Jack then looks over to him without turning his head; “Xavier and Gladia can handle Kittycut. Droidika and Cortana, handle support as best you can.”

“Right.” They all say simultaneously.

“C’mon, I don’t got all day.” The Boss grumbled.

With that they charge and Droidika begins playing the second phase of the Ariandel and Friede boss theme from Dark Souls 3.

“So epic….” He finds himself whispering.

And just as the picked song predicted Kittycut dashes forward to meet them while the Boss lumbers forward.

Jack barely rolls away as Kittycut slashes at him, but she nearly hits him with a second slash as Tari blocks it.

“Biting Wind!” the girls in his hands say as he rushes forward, but despite his boosted speed Kittycut dodges back and nicks his side.

He forces himself to ignore his growing buldge in his pants as he dodges a mighty swing from the Boss.

Baku makes for a second swing on him, one that looks to take him out of this fight before it could even begin, but it is suddenly intercepted by Gladia.

The giant of a man bears down on the ogre despite her strength, overpowering her with only a single arm.

“G-get out the way kid!” She strained.

He moves around the Boss, catching a glimpse of his bro and Tari holding off Kittycut. Once he gets into position he goes for a backstab, but instead is caught around the throat by Baku’s free hand. The sparking of metal and a grunt from Gladia signals that she was forced back. Baku then lifts him effortlessly and prepares to shove his blade through his blade through him.

However he is saved as Cortana flies in front of the Boss’s face.

“Aero!” she shouts, and a small gust of wind hits Baku in the face, forcing him to let go and attempt to swat Cortana away.

He rolls away just as Tari moves in. Using her staff she knocks Baku’s feet apart and hits up into his junk. Despite the fact that he knew the staff didn’t cause any pain he still feels a sympathetic ache as the Boss grunts.

“Xavier!” he hears Jack shout.

He quickly rushes to the voice, finding Jack and Gladia trying to handle Kittycut. The Great Magic Weapon obviously hadn’t noticed his approach, and he takes the chance to jump between her blade and Jack, parrying the blow.

“Assassinate!”

As his body goes through the motions of the sword skill Jack moves to assist Tari.

Kittycut doesn’t even drop from the skills DE damage, and he knew he’d probably already been using too much SE. He was getting exhausted, but he mustered up the strength to push on.

As the fight with Kittycut drags on he can see why Jack had them handle her. He was just barely quick enough to cover Gladia, and she hit hard enough to cover his damage output despite her being a noob.

Kittycut’s face grows redder every time he lands a hit, and she moans as Gladia gets in a blow, though she is repaid with a counter.

Suddenly there is a deep groan, and Kittycut dashes around him causing him to stumble to the ground.

He rolls over and sits up, watching as Kittycut forces Jack and Tari away from a kneeling Baku.

“Master!” she pleads as she holds onto him.

Without a word Baku reaches up her skirt and he hears ripping fabric. He blushes hard and looks away, hearing a muffled moan from Kittycut.

“Stop being soft kid, we got trouble.” Gladia said from next to him, her sword at the ready.

He turns back to see Baku on the ground, breathing heavily. In front of him Kittycut was wielding herself in one hand and the ghostly form in her opposite one. There was something trickling down her thighs from her skirt, meaning the Boss must’ve given her SE. This was also accentuated by the glowing pink aura that radiated from her. Her eyes held a lusty focus, and drool dripped from the corner of her mouth.

Jack and Tari move in, but with ease they are deflected. Kittycut was apparently able to use both her own speed and the Boss’s strength now. He rushes forward with Gladia as Kittycut slashes into Tari, causing the Anubis to moan. Jack goes for a “Storm Counter” as she swings at him, but her feint passes by his sheath as she turns and swats him into the air.

“Yarn Ball!” Kittycut shouts as she drops to her back and begins playfully rolling Jack along her blades before twisting like a dancer back to her feet and slashing him one final time before he can hit the ground.

He growls as he charges forward, using “Biting Wind” once more.

He is rewarded with a flipping that throws him to the ground. He feels her cat tail lift his feet as the flat ends of the falchions lift him by the neck.

She rocks him back and forth until she jumps in the air. They spin while entwined, and she places her face next to his ear.

“Cat’s Cradle.” She whispered as he feels the swords slash along his back.

The pain from the impact with the ground is drowned out by the pleasure that wracks him, and he can feel his consciousness fading. The last thing he sees is Cortana’s worried body standing before him as her little hands shove his cheek.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-

Jack moves forward, trying to keep his focus despite his heavy breath and the blood rushing to certain places.

“One down!” Kittycut exclaims as her pink aura seems to get larger, “Tryin to quit was a baaaaad idea Jackie-poo. I wonder how fast these girls will jump your bone when you fall?”

She had a point, he could see many of them eying Xavier even now, just waiting for the fight to end so they could take him and release their pent up urges. Others were eying him and the girls. Even little Droidika and Cortana couldn’t escape the lustful gazes of the crowd.

“Like I’m gonna lose!” Gladia roared as she charged forward.

“Gladia, wait!”

But his warning was too late as Kittycut strikes her.

“Nyan, like you’re even worth using a sword skill on little girl.”

Gladia grumbles, but he sees Tari nod to his right as Kittycut pins Gladia down and traces one of her blades along the ogre’s breast.

The cat girl weapon seems fixed to Gladia, and Tari takes this as the moment to attack. She launches herself forward using her staff, but her foot is intercepted by the ghostly blade in Kittycuts opposite hand. He takes the moment to strike, rushing forward.

Kittycut simply lifts the opposite blade to block him, but he smirks causing the weapon’s face to show an emotion other than lust.

Thankfully using the opening they provided, Gladia grabs her large sword and slams it into Kittycut, slamming her into the ground nest to her. He and Tari go for a hit while she’s down, but she is able to dodge away.

Gladia shuffles to her feet, and despite her heavy breathing and deep blush she holds a stable stance.

“We cannot keep this up Jack.” Tari said as she looks worriedly to the crowd.

Gladia growls in response to Kittycut’s laughter.

“You almost have her!” Droidika stated, “Don’t give up!”

He nods, unable to articulate much in the state he was in.

Kittycut rushes forward with blinding speed and assaults Tari, “Scratch Fever!”

The amount of DE she must’ve lost was so immense that her Aura barely remains flickering, but it was obviously worth the risk. With a flurry of slashes Tari, who’d avoided every hit through the whole fight, is taken down instantly. She squeals as she is sent flying towards him, and he can feel her tremble in his arms when he catches her. She grips onto him as she rides the waves of pleasure, constricting him. To his horror he finds Kittycut rushing at him and he could do nothing to stop her.

Just before she makes contact, however, Gladia is between them. She parries the blow with an unnatural ease, and then follows with a spinning slash to the surprised weapon’s ankles. As Kittycut falls Gladia slides under her and catches her with her blade, slamming her hard into the ground.

“You just used a sword skill!” he exclaimed in surprise.

“Told you I’d get,” Gladia said proudly as she props her sword on her shoulder which obviously ends the skill as Kittycut shrieks, “now let’s finish this pussy for good.”

Kittycut jumps away as he gently lowers the now unconscious Tari to the ground. He gets into stance, finding Kittycut’s aura gone and her solid sword on the ground.

“D-don’t go gettin confident, ya hear?” She stuttered though obvious sword induced arousal, “I don’t need both swords to kick the ass of a quitter and a newbie!”

She proves herself correct as the fight continues, seeming to make fools of he and Gladia. After he and Gladia extensively attempt to trade blows with her he finds himself nearly exhausted. Soon after he is flung away by Kittykut and he hits the ground hard near Xavier’s unconscious form. He forces his shaking limbs to lift himself just in time to see Kittycut slash Gladia down. The Great Magic Weapon mamono looks to him triumphantly as she saunters over slowly, readying her ghostly blade.

Suddenly Droidika speaks next to him, “She’s nearly down, we just need to hit her with your best move!”

He sighs in defeat as he stands and prepares to at least go down fighting, “I don’t have enough SE left for it Droidika….”

He hears his little friend groan worriedly before she gasps, “I can help!”

“How?”

“W-well….”

He feels her lift off his shoulder, and once he feels her land on his sword hand he feels something wet on his wrist. He blushes, “Droidika, I don’t need this now.”

“J-just hear me out, if we just connect for a moment I can help with my own energy.”

She yelps and grips him as he dodges Kittycut’s new offensive.

“But….” He began as he jumps a fair distance from his attacker.

“No buts, we’re too close to lose now, please.”

He looks down to Droidika, a pleading look in her eyes, and with the way she held herself he couldn’t help but look at her perky chest just below her chin. He then looks around at the others.

He sighed, he couldn’t condemn the others to the fate that awaited them if they lost. He lifts his pinky finger, and once Droidika lifts off his wrist for a moment he feels something warm and wet embrace the digit. Droidika squeaks, and he sees Kittycut give a sly grin as she closes in once more.

“Trying to pair up now won’t save you.” The cat weapon purred, “There are plenty of harem lovers who’d gladly take you both.”

She charges once more, but he focuses. He had only one shot at this.

“Mamono Hunter.” He hears the soft, yet strong voice of Echo say in his mind as the world goes black around them. He feels his body move, and his blade arm slashes with incredible speed. When light returns he is past Kittycut, the woman frozen in mid air behind him. He sheaths his sword, and with the skill’s end there is an immense session light flashes coming from behind him. Both Kittycut and Droidika scream and he falls to his knee, exhausted.

Droidika slips from his hand unconscious, but they’d done it. He turns back to find Kittycut’s form gone as the DE that connected her to her blade retracts into the sword near Baku, who was now conscious and surrounded by his wives.

The crowd around them is a mix of disappointed groans and cheers. Rita retrieves Kittycut and sheaths the sword for Baku as he walks to him.

Once there Baku pulls him to his feet, a grin on his face. He hands him a milk potion as his wives move to the others and help them drink their own.

He downs his milk, feeling energy return to his body as he looks up to Baku.

“Ya did good, boy. Didn’t think ya had it in ya. I guess this mean’s y’all are outta here.”

The giant of a man then punches him in the stomach, hard. He buckles from the pain, “Take care of yerself, and I hope you find your way home.”

Despite the pain he looks to the pink haired Band leader with a smile, thankful the man had pulled his punches up until now.