"Not that I doubt your plan, but wouldn't have it been more simple to ask her counterpart to solve this issue?"
Tamamo grimaced. "Unfortunately no. While Freya is mostly smart and reasonable, bringing another version would risk threatening her mentality which is currently under strain from the brainwashing magic."
A large group was gathered onto the bridge of the MS Fish. They had created a simple yet elegant plan with the hope to kill a whole flock of birds with one stone.
Officially, the Grand Noah Queen was here in an act of goodwill after hearing from the current monster regent about the plight from the Elven people, since the latter had built resent against mankind. The regent was only here to arbitrate the situation as a last resort, in case of a life or death situation. That way, they would prevent a "possible" conflict with Grand Noah. But in reality, the group had a whole slew of underlying objectives.
The first obvious one was the need to get in the good grace of the elven queen to get her to contact the Elven Princess, as she was the current owner of the red orb. Once acquired, only the blue one would be missing to summon the Garuda Girl.
The second one was the most dangerous and risky. Luka told Tamamo and Micaela about Azi Dahaka, and both of them had agreed on the need to put her out of the picture once and for all. The fulfillment of this goal made the crux of a multi-layered plan. None of those who had dealt with the tyrant dragon wanted her to serve Black Alice any longer, and this at any cost.
Third, they had to get the Yggdrassil Fruit for the still sick Harpy Queen. Nobody wanted to take the risk of having Lucretia fuse with her other self like that.
And last but not least, they needed the World Tree and its resources themselves. Not only was it the only source of the famous rainbow material which would allow to craft some of the best armor and weapons available, but Tamamo and Alma Elma needed its other abilities for their infamous plan.
"In that case, what is the probability that we end up involved in a fight with the Elf Queen? I doubt she will be in a mood to talk as long as she's brainwashed…"
"I know. But once we'll have helped her clear her mind, you'll just have another argument to convince her that you only want the best for both of you."
"Monster diplomacy at its finest. First, beat up your opponent, then discuss with them to convince to join you." Ilias smirked.
As an answer, Tamamo shrugged. "It's a good way to put them into their place. If they think they're stronger than you, they'll end up challenging you, and a good show of force first is the best way to prevent that."
"Barbaric. We never needed to do that in Heaven. Everybody naturally follows me."
The kitsune smirked back and tilted her head when she answered. "Remind me who's at the top of Heaven and the characteristics of those that rebelled under her commandment."
The smirk on the small goddess's face gradually disappeared before she casted her gaze down. "Touché…" She then looked up. "But I still have some loyal followers even after I became weak!"
"Lukaaaaa?"
The hero sighed. "The only ones we didn't beat before they joined us were Eden and Micaela. And the latter first and foremost joined me."
"Fine, I get your point." Ilias stepped away leaned on the guardrail. "We're not so different after all…"
Luka slowly made his way to the small angel. "If you consider that you both changed for the better, then you're right, you're not so different after all."
Ilias chuckled. "Right… Did Tamamo ever tell you about her familial parties in Babylon?"
The aforementioned monster went wide-eyed. "No no no no! Luka definitively doesn't want to know about that you petty goddess!" Ilias started smirking again. "And besides, you're one to talk with the rewards granted to the heroes!"
Ilias emitted a strangled noise. However, before things could escalate further, the two rapidly calmed down as they noticed everyone was looking at them.
"Not different at all…"
Fairy's Island was slowly filling the sight of the party. The travelleres were curiously nervous, and Tamamo was repeatedly sniffing the air.
"Mmmh… It looks like Azi Dahaka didn't put any warning trap around the islands themselves… Perfect. The second team is good to go."
A second later, Alma Elma, Fatima, Lucretia and a few of her harpies took flight to the World Tree while lifting Yao and Nanabi. The kitsune centaur emitted a few indignant noise, the only reason she accepted this plan being that her mistress insisted. She repeated a few times that kitsunes were not made for flying as she disappeared from the party's sight.
A few minutes later, the boat finally landed on Fairy's Island itself. The place looked like an unnaturally thick forest, with only a few limited pathways for the traveler. Curiously, fairies, elves and even several gigantess were crossing through the forest as the thick green walls magically opened and closed to make a way for them. An amazoness at the entrance was frowning, victim of a bad mood likely caused by the latent aura. Still, she bowed and led the way to the center of the island, at least by respect for the monster regent.
The party soon reached the middle of the island, a verdant place of small pathways surrounded by clear water. Both the Elf and the Fairy Queen were present, and neither of them seemed happy to see the party.
The Grand Noah Queen bowed while tensing inwardly. Even if she was used to this scenario by now, getting to face monsters that they already recruited while pretending nothing of it was as strange as the first time.
"Greetings. I heard about the plight of your people. I sincerely wish to work with you to better that situation."
The Elf Queen sneered as she looked at Tamamo. "We didn't need your intervention. We only want back the territory that had been taken from us."
"And as we never got informed of this matter until now, I came here to discuss the details of how we can work on this matter together." The Grand Noah Queen remained civil, even as the all-too-obvious outcome of this meeting was appearing herself in front of her eyes.
"Elf Queen, I only came here for the sake of peacekeeping. I do not wish to influence you. Any choice is up to you."
"My choice?" The Elf Queen readied her bow while the Fairy Queen came by her side. "Here is my choice! Attack!"
In the blink of an eye, both queens had been wrapped together by a whip and were slammed on the ground repeatedly. In the meantime, Ilias and Luka fought back-to-back to push away any elf or fairy that tried to come their way while Tamamo took care of a giantess. The fight barely lasted a minute.
"Well, that was awkward. Also, I do not know if I told anyone yet, but I never expected to be able to deal with two queen-class monsters just like that."
Luka sheathed back his sword without a bead of sweat running over him. "Training pays."
"I don't think that much power is a good thing."
"And I'd wish everyone agreed with you, but we're not the most fitting ones to tell." Tamamo brought a hand to her ear. "Alma? Tell the others you're up. Be careful, focus on your own safety first."
Azi Dahaka was patiently waiting at the top of the World Tree, invisible to all but the sharpest of the senses. The aura she used to brainwash the queen of alraunes was slowly expanding, and was now encompassing Fairy's Island.
The dragon tyrant stood tall, her black hair flowing over her upper white torso as she leaned forward while her two snakes connected to her head hissed. Her long blue snakelike body was coiled over itself, as she was hidden in a small spot near where queen alraune was to observe the effect of her aura. The instructions left by Black Alice were clear: brainwash the peace loving queen into a more violent version of herself, and only intervene should the queen be beaten to incapacitate the one who would, by all logic, be the hero who came here to save her. Of course, she was free to do as she wished with the hero, and was already imagining herself using her two snakes to torment him lewdly…
She reacted when she heard some commotion from the base of the world tree, repositioning herself appropriately. The moment she deployed her senses to reach the entrance of the tower-like insides of the tree, she frowned: The scent of the hero was nowhere to be found, only the ones of a mix of monsters that had likely come here to raid the place. They wouldn't be a problem for her… until she felt her confidence suddenly vanish: The group was progressing extremely fast, and she recognized the scent of a powerful, young succubus, likely that Heavenly Knight… She hated those damn nymphomaniacs. Even as monsters, they took things too far with their perverted games.
During that few seconds where she let herself get sidetracked by her thoughts, she realized that there also was a magic shield able to block teleportation now surrounding the area. Well, she only needed to strike while the small group would be reeling from their fight with the alraune queen… Who was already getting tossed around by a harpy and a vampire.
Before she could try gauging her two future opponents, she shivered in disgust when she recognized the feeling of a succubus coming from behind her to wrap her arms, legs and tail around her body. She could feel her pheromone charged breath directly in her ear.
"Greetings, I know a lot about you, and I was told to inform you that we could do this the easy way or the hard way…"
"HOW DARE YOU?! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" Azi Dahaka lifted herself, furious that a shameless whore wouldn't even acknowledge the power of the dragon tyrant. However, she started to crumple on herself almost immediately, stunned by the aura of pleasure the Succubus Queen was drowning her in. She used her two snakes to try to attack her as her clouded mind found itself unable to focus on casting a spell, and while she initially thought she stood a chance as they reached for the throat of the sex demon, she felt a wave of despair hit her when the two other monsters made a beeline to attack her.
She heard the disgusting sex demon talk again before she fainted. "Thank you for brainwashing the elf queen. If we didn't save her from it, we wouldn't have been able to get in a good standing with her."
A few minutes later, both groups had gathered at the top of the World Tree. Alrauna and Freya had both fused back with their other versions, and everybody was looking at the still unconscious form of Azi Dahaka.
"Sooo, what do we do with that one? I'm not even really convinced Sun Wukong will remain loyal, but I am sure this one won't even consider accepting joining us." Ilias gave a small kick in the body for good measure.
"Not that we want her in the first place." Tamamo turned toward the Vampire Queen. "Fatima, did the Lilith Sisters remove your teleportation connection with your castle?"
"No…" The vampire queen frowned as the realization of Tamamo's plan hit her. "And I am not sure I want to sacrifice my subordinates and my castle for the sake of your plan."
"First, they're now following the Lilith Sisters who're also there, and second, I'll build you a new one if that's all it takes."
Fatima frowned for a second, and eventually made a rude gesture toward the dragon tyrant who disappeared into a flash of light.
"There! Problem solved! You better owe up to you words!"
"Thank you. Now, Alrauna, about our little plan…"
The alraune queen fidgeted as she focused her senses through the tree. "It's going to take a few weeks at least, even if I don't get interrupted. A lot of roots had been damaged by the Great Disaster and it will take time to reach that precise point. Assuming I don't run into troubles, that is...
"Take your time." Tamamo turned to see Ilias eyeing her suspiciously.
"Do you care enough to share your famous plan?"
"Not yet. Sorry, but it's one of those that are better shared with as few people as possible. But don't worry, your subordinates won't be the one to suffer its brunt."
"…Fine."
Tamamo joined back Luka and Freya who had isolated themselves. The hero was still looking down when the elven queen turned toward Tamamo."
"I did as instructed. The Elven Princess is willing to meet at the Snake Shrine at Yamatai Village."
"Great! Let's get that red orb!"
"…"
"Luka?"
"Nyaaaah! I'm going to turnyah into fried chicken!"
"Stupid cat! I will turn you into a carpet!"
In a mountain in the western part of Sabasa, two strange, powerful looking monsters were attacking each other.
The first, Quetzalcoatl, looked like a crossbreed between a harpy and a lamia, red with an exotic plumage. The second, Tezcatlipoca, was a jaguar with the torso of a brown skinned woman with the features of a cat and two differently colored eyes, one blue and one orange.
And both monsters hated each other with a passion, assaulting their opponent with an extreme violence. Claws and spells were clashing against one another in a savage brawl, even as both monsters keep moving through the landscape, carried away by their fight and without a care for their environment.
Indeed, neither of them seemed to notice the dot shining brighter and brighter as an unidentified flying object rushed toward them. Quetzalcoatl was coiled around Tezcatlipoca, but the latter was gnawing at her opponent's chest. The meteor accelerated as if it was conscious, and hit both opponents with its full strength, knocking them both unconscious and creating a large crater in a deafening explosion.
Micaela unfurled from the impact in her seraph form, and cleaned the few debris that had landed in her hair while taking a look around. Her assault had knocked out both monsters at once, and the mountain was still standing, so she wouldn't have to suffer the White Rabbit's presence once again.
She wordlessly grabbed each monster under an arm with much difficulty: The weight wasn't an issue for the supernaturally strong angel, but their large volume needed a few adjustments before she could carry them properly before teleporting back to the Pocket Castle.
As she prepared herself to get carried away, the seraph exhaled slowly. She was still not convinced by Tamamo's master plan, even if her trust in the small kitsune increased by the day (not that she had much of a choice). Still, she took a second to consider the fact that she wanted Tamamo to succeed, in opposition of what she had wanted for the last millennia.
Once back in the Pocket Castle, she was greeted by the sight of absolutely nobody. That ape couldn't even be bothered to prepare herself to take over the cargo… She reflexively made her way to the bar, still dragging the two unconscious monsters around like sacks of potatoes. When she opened the door, a coarse laugh reached her ears. She saw Sun Wukong surrounded by a red-faced assembly who fell silent upon seeing the sour-looking seraph and her victims. The Monkey Queen turned around with a mug of strong alcohol in her hand and a smile on her face.
"Oh hey, didn't have too much difficulty beating those two?" She raised her mug. "I was just talking about that one time in Heaven. Wanna join us?"
"No thanks you." The seraph's tone was cold, and she dropped both unconscious monster on the ground. "Please take care of them well. I have another job to do." Both of those statements were lies, but keeping on doing a good impression was key.
Sun Wukong just shrugged it off. "Meh, they won't be that hard to convince that Black Alice is a disaster. You're sure you don't want a drink and a minute to talk of old times?"
"Again. No. Sorry." Micaela briskly walked away from her interlocutor. "I have a course to do."
"Sheesh, fine, I get it."
The first seraph slowly exhaled as she exited the place. The more time passed, the more they recruited monsters she had butted heads with in the past: Tamamo, Sun Wukong, and now Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca… How did Luka deal with it? Before he ended up in that depressive state, of course… Her train of thoughts was interrupted by Tamamo's mental link.
"Micaela? We have a smaaaall problem with Luka near Yamatai, and I don't think you'll be too much to solve it."
The first seraph groaned. "Give me a minute, I'm already on my way."
Aaaand there went the occasion to relax.
The hero was prostrated over himself when Micaela was in sight of the group. Alma Elma was trying to comfort him, hugging him closely while Tamamo was grimacing. The kitsune stepped toward the first seraph when she saw the latter arrive.
"Sooo… A bad memory inside him got triggered, sending him into a mentally exhausted state again."
Micaela took the moment to consider what was coming next. "We're going to see the Elven Princess to get the red orb right now, right? Did Luka happen to tell anything about what happened last times?"
Tamamo shrugged. "The barest of details. The information I gathered from other monsters was fuzzy at best. Alma Elma is trying to shake him up a little, but…" She pointed at the still unresponsive hero. "We didn't manage to get him to move yet."
"Isn't the elven princess also a shut-in? That gives them something in common…"
Tamamo raised an eyebrow while hiding her face with her fan. "Micaela? A little familial love please?"
Micaela looked down in shame. "Sorry, I'm getting cranky as well now… It's getting harder to keep up with the chaos. I mean, we just recruited Sun Wukong who had been a fucking pain in my ass in the past, pardon my language. The last time I dealt with her, Ilias nearly tore me a new one back then, and, contrary to you, it's crystal clear that ape didn't change one bit.""
"Don't worry, I already have a job for her and her partners, they'll be out of our way before long."
Micaela joined her hands in front of her face, closed her eyes and bowed while exhaling slowly in relief. "Thank you. Now, let's help Luka."
The duo turned back to see Alma passing her hands through the hero's hair while singing a melodious rhythm. There wasn't even anything sexual in the succubus queen behavior, just someone trying to console a partner.
"Right, sooo…" Micaela put a knee down to be on the same level. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Luka mumbled something pathetically. Tamamo's ears perked up as she tried to understand it.
"Marriage… Sonya… mistake…?"
"It's his childhood friend who turned out to be an apoptosis and died during our last exploration."
"I see. They had mutual feelings for each other and then… Something blew up when they met the elf princess who likely instantly fell for Luka and proceeded to get a little overbearing. I suppose Sonya helped a great deal then."
"Oh, come on, she's an elf, a shut-in, and has barely seen him! It can't be that bad, can it?"
"The kitsune marriage ceremony is less pushy than she is. Also she can be even more whimsical than Alma Elma."
"…Nevermind, let's focus on bringing Luka back in."
"One second, he's saying something else... begin everything again?"
"I'm an idiot. A really huge fucking idiot…" Micaela inwardly violently castigated herself, throwing every insult and curses she could think of. "…I never took a moment to ask him WHY he wanted to restart his adventure! The wisest seraph for fuck sake!"
"…You're becoming really foul mouthed, you know that?"
"I shouldn't have screwed up something that basic! That would have also helped you to support him, and he wouldn't be relapsing!"
"He's not relapsing. He's not even out of his depressive state yet."
"Huuuh, are you alright?"
The duo looked back at Alma Elma who was looking at them while still patting Luka's back, feigning concern. Of course, she likely had heard the whole mental communication, but it was apparently necessary to remind them that Luka remained the priority.
Micaela got closer to the duo with a sad smile. "We are looking for a plan to get sure the Elven Princess doesn't get the wrong idea since she apparently doesn't know a lot about how real romances usually go."
The first seraph made her best efforts to ignore Tamamo's jaded, mocking smirk.
"Right... We must balance our discussion with her. Get sure we get the red orb without getting… a misunderstanding."
"Do you really think a shut in princess who believes in fairy tale romances would even try to understand that the hero doesn't want to be with her?" Luka's lower than usual tone was incredibly sarcastic.
Nobody voiced the way too obvious answer, and all three other party members awkwardly looked at each other silently, this time not even communicating through the mental link. Micaela was the first one to come up with something.
"…How tough are the Elven Princess and her guards?"
Tamamo went wide eyed. "Wait. You don't suggest…"
"I don't suggest anything. I only want to be aware of what exactly are we going to face should it come to the worst case scenario. If it got that bad that Luka judged necessary to restart everything, we better be prepared for anything. At least, Luka must come out fine, we'll still be able to get the red orb through other means later."
The kitsune remained static for a second before answering. "Most of the elven royal guards are kunoichis that are equal to my six-tailed handmaidens. They're powerful warriors, but extremely frail, and, most importantly, they're elves." She looked at Alma Elma.
"Oooh, is this an invitation?" Alma licked her lips.
"Only a plan for necessity, should the worst-case scenario come to pass. This is supposed to be a cordial first date for with an elf princess who is beyond shy. Not with a drunken, clingy kitsune or a nymphomaniac succubus."
"Hey!"
"Hey!"
Luka chuckled as he got up. "Fine. Let's do it."
In their little sanctum drifting through time and space, the White Rabbit nervously jumped around while Reaper was standing perfectly immobile as both of them watched the orb that displayed Luka's latest adventure.
"Well… That's getting… Interesting…"
Reaper shook her head disapprovingly. "This won't end well at all."
"Should we force him to restart again? I mean, I also noticed the growing pattern to guess how this will go."
"…No, I shall remind you that these must happen of his own accord. Everything must be done from his own free will."
"I know of some people who would disapprove… Taking that risk is a huge gamble that could compromise everything everybody worked for."
"We're not supposed to intervene directly. We are only here to watch and get sure that the hero has access to the tools he need to accomplish his mission."
The White Rabbit raised her hands in a dismissive gesture. "If you say so..."
"…Just be there to give him a little push when the time comes. We don't want to lose everything either."