It's a strange feeling to be finishing my first fanfiction.
It ends much the way it began.
Kinky.
She had fought her hardest.
Struggled bravely and honorably.
… But it had not been enough.
As the end drew near and she was forced to surrender even control of her own voice, the only action that was left to Busujima Saeko was to mark her defeat with but a single scream.
"... Whoa, you totally just went cross eyed for a second there." The wide-eyed victor said.
"I did… didn't I~?"
Looking remarkably satisfied for one who had just 'lost', Saeko rewrapped her legs around Takashi's waist, pulling him just that little bit deeper inside her.
… Not every defeat need be an unpleasant one.
It had been almost a year since the biggest battle of all their lives.
Whether by rising heat burning it from her body, or the all the flesh and blood of the Berserker she'd gulped down over the course of that titanic struggle, the Dragon's battle, and her life, had ended with her wearing the svelte form of a woman, rather than that of a crazed and towering beast.
The battle had ended with her head resting on Takashi's shoulder…
And his bloodied fist jutting out from her back.
He had been… so very gentle when he returned to them with that limp body in his arms.
A glance downwards had directed their gaze to a garishly colored wound upon a slim wrist… a small bite mark that hadn't been left by any sort of animal.
"She said that… an apology would be cruel of her, so she… she just thanked us, you know?" He had said quietly. "... Finding someone to put her out of her misery was the best she could do."
They'd buried her at the top of a scorched black hill, and left the bent and half-melted remains of Titan as a marker.
Following some half-formed instinct, he'd led them the direction the Dragon had flown in from.
They hadn't found much of anything, but that in itself had been welcome, because what, or rather who they found were nothing but charred corpses.
Five months and counting since they'd encountered their last infected, more than enough time to build anew (especially when magic was involved), and create something of a life for all of them.
A small forest that eagerly welcomed a Fairy Queen and her loved ones, a forest that seemed like a normal forest from without, but was more or less an organic fortress from within.
At least after weeks or so of Shizuka and Saya working to secure their potential home.
They built three log cabins- a main, two story house that most of them slept in, as well as gathered for meals. A smaller cabin was built a fair distance away so that the smaller couple (Saya and Kohta) could have privacy, and another cabin even smaller than that was also built.
That one was basically just a spare bedroom that ended up being used for more private sorts of intimacy, or when someone felt like having a little alone time (which didn't happen all that often).
There was an underground spring that Kohta and Takashi built a well to tap into, and all the provisions they needed could be gathered or hunted from the forest.
It was a bit rustic, but it was an ordinary life that at one point they'd expected to have to give up on, and it was just in time.
… Just in time for them to welcome in a new life.
Rei was having a bad morning.
She'd woken up with barely enough time to get outside before she threw up, she was woozy and her body was aching all over, and she felt like she hadn't slept in at least a week, even though she'd gone to bed early and fallen asleep the moment her eyes were closed.
"Someone's having a rough morning, huh?" Saya, who Rei had no idea was there, commented with an eyebrow raised as she casually knelt and rubbed Rei's back. "Downside of not having the kind of bullshit physiology that lets you recharge from an orgy, I guess."
Saya didn't actually know if there had been an orgy the previous night, since Kohta and her had their own cozy little lovenest, but it wasn't the sort of thing one made bets against.
As Rei flopped back heavily into a sitting position, Saya moved her hands in intricate patterns without really paying attention- vaporizing the mess and drawing water from the well to float its way into the conjured cup she offered Rei.
"Nevermind an orgy, I feel like there was a brawl between Oni and I was the floor." Rei complained, gritting her teeth as her lower body locked up from hip to toes.
"Well, list 'em out for me, none of us get sick so this is a lot out of nowhere," Saya instructed. "Unless you were being all you about it and hiding it from us."
Rei shook her head immediately, a wry smile briefly replacing her grimace. "I was a little more tired than usual by the end of the day, but nothing that a little fatigue couldn't explain. Now I feel like I overworked literally every muscle in my body, and I don't even want to smell food, but I'm also craving something spicy?"
"Spicy?"
"Yes?"
"Rei, you don't even like spicy food." Saya reminded drily. "You're literally the only person I've ever met that thinks any and all curry is spicy."
Rei blinked as the word 'curry' stirred her appetite.
"Huh, yeah, that is a little…"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on!" Saya burst out, startling Rei as she wove her hands about.
"Strange cravings, nausea, cramps…" The pinkette cut herself off with a sharp gasp.
"S-Saya!?" Rei's hands hovered awkwardly in the air, confused why there were suddenly a pair of big boobs squishing against her legs and an ear pressed to her stomach. "Okay, a little weird don't you-"
"Quiet, I'm trying to listen!" Rei clammed up at the angry hiss, going as still as she could manage.
Saya's head shot up, face pale as she stared wide-eyed at Rei.
"Oh Maou, it all makes sense!" Saya stammered. "Rei, you're not sick, you're-!
"- Nope, definitely freaking out a bit!" Rei's voice cracked as she blurted that out, from where she sat on her bed, propped up by a small mountain of pillows. "I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but-!"
"Just take a deep breath, nice and easy," Shizuka softly advised, soothingly stroking her arm. "There's no shame in being a little scared, but we're right here with you, and we caught this soon enough that we can make this as smooth as possible for you."
Rei, with some effort, stopped herself and did just that, her grip on Takashi's hand loosening somewhat.
"Y-yeah, s-sorry, it's just… y'know," Rei fumbled for words as she remembered who she was talking to. "It's not that I'm… against this, actually I'm pretty happy, but still, it's just…"
"None of that now," Saya scolded. "I'm the only one who's been through this before, and I had it a lot easier than you did." Saya was exaggerating more than a little when she called it easy, but precisely because she hadn't expected it, it had been over before she knew it.
And now it was Rei's turn to experience the same.
One could say it was the natural end result for a healthy young woman who had spent the last several months getting laid on an almost nightly, and sometimes daily basis.
It had been only a matter of time before Miyamoto Rei began turning into a monster.
It had given them a bit of a scare, even though it had probably been for the best- Rei had fallen asleep without warning, in mid-conversation.
"It's nothing strange, even if it was a little scary- with how far things have progressed, Rei's body will start to doubt whether it belongs to a Human or a Mamono, which means that it can't tell if it's at full strength or running on empty, since it doesn't know what kind of mana it should have." Shizuka explained when they stepped outside.
"Have you been around women who were undergoing Monsterization before?" Saeko asked.
"Not just women- the process of turning into an Incubus is almost identical even if it's less extreme, but it's not always as smooth as the stories make it out to be."
"Oh, but speaking of 'strength," Rika cut in, "we'll fill her in later, but we basically have no idea what kind of Mamono Rei's gonna turn into."
"... What do you mean we have no idea?" Saya demanded. "Don't people normally turn into something that matches their personality? It's Rei! You must have some idea!?"
"Oh yeah, you guys were raised human so you only got the abridged version," Rika said, sharing a look with Shizuka that suggested they both might have forgotten. "It kinda feels like we've all been together for a long time, but I guess it hasn't quite been a year yet, huh?"
"Countless life and death struggles would do that, so I'm told," Saeko suggested, her tone as dry as her slight smile was warm.
"Especially when the people you're trying not to die alongside are sexy," Rika added, Shizuka nodding along largely as if something profound had just been said.
"..." Saya went to say something, only to belatedly realize that she'd once again subconsciously snuggled up to Kohta, and instead just gave a shrug.
"... No hold on, how do we always get sidetracked so easily?"
"Sexy people are distracting," Rika pointed out, to yet another round of nods, and this time, not just from Shizuka.
Saya gave a long suffering sigh at that, partially because she had taken note of being the only one to have not nodded along, but mostly because she had once again found herself immediately agreeing with the Ocelomeh.
"Strong personality and willpower, how much mana they have, any talents that might coincide strongly with certain types of monsters, geography, and… the reason they're being turned in the first place all play a factor, sooo…." Rika recounted. "Which was close and often intimate proximity to a Fairy, a Beastfolk, and a Succubus, with a Majin keeping her company for good measure? So, Rei is… not going to turn into an Undead because she's alive?"
"We really have no idea at all, do we?" Saya's shoulders sagged.
"Nope." Rika grinned.
"Nuh uh," Shizuka chimed in.
Saeko shook her head, and Kohta scratched the back of his.
Takashi got scowled at for being the slowest on the draw.
The room was darker than she remembered, when Rei next opened her eyes.
It was nice not to be nauseous or cramping- at that moment, rather than feeling exhausted, Rei just felt like she had slept a little too long, and woken up stiff from lack of movement.
She'd naturally noticed the presence at her left (she wasn't a former Hero for nothing), but, given that they hadn't said anything she hadn't seen the harm in taking a moment to gather herself.
The moment she did turn their way though, Rei was left with that familiar feeling of admiration, tinged with what never quite managed to be jealousy, at least not anymore.
And the just as familiar question of how that girl always managed to look so damn picturesque without trying.
She had her long hair down, the deep purple blending with the shadows of the room as if adding a tinge of color to the night. That her eyes were lightly shut allowed one to admire her features in full without getting lost in the sharp and shimmering gaze of her blue eyes. She brought to mind the measured danger of the most lovingly crafted blade- a weapon of war sheathed in feminine elegance.
A short, unadorned yukata of gentle blue clad that serene beauty, a simple garment elevated in status merely by virtue of the one wearing it.
The measured rise and fall of her chest, and the fact that her glossy lips were smiling, clued Rei in that no, Saeko was not sleeping, and yes, the Kunoichi had caught her staring, despite said Kunoichi still having her eyes closed.
"How is your body, Rei?" She softly questioned.
"Heavy. How long was I asleep for?"
"Only about seven hours- five have passed since I shooed away Takashi to sleep in a proper bed."
"Thanks for that." The idea of Takashi being constantly at her bedside was all very touching and romantic, and she knew he would do it if allowed, but it wasn't like she was that badly off, so she'd rather he was taken care of too.
But… she also appreciated not being left by herself.
"Hey, Saeko?"
The woman in question opened her eyes, turning her head but remaining still on her chair.
"Just… thanks."
"For what?"
"You know what."
"... I suppose I do." She agreed. "Then, you're welcome, Rei."
"But, since it's just the two of us, and things will be… different soon enough, there are… well, some things I never did tell you."
"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing."
Cold blue eyes slowly opened, and met determined red without falter.
I hated you.
I was never going to forgive you.
How dare you try to take him from me.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter anymore, does it?" Rei shrugged.
Saeko blinked, and her smile made a gentle return.
"No, I suppose it doesn't, does it?"
… The words that had weighed them down had long since lost any meaning, and so in the end, they were discarded without ever once being spoken aloud.
In that gentle darkness, the night passed quietly.
As if the serenity of the night had been a lie, the morning started with a scream.
A scream, and the distinctive thud of a body hitting the floor from up above them.
Takashi wasn't all that worried though, because it had been a sexy sort of scream.
"'Gashi, 'oo early," a not-really-awake Shizuka mumbled in protest as he sat up, Rika's complaint sounding like something between a meow and snore.
Both of them were slow risers, but they were also good cuddlers, which was why he'd been able to fall asleep to begin with. Saeko may have agreed to switch out with him part way through the night, but the way he'd been dragged off the moment he did suggested he was the only one who thought that was the plan.
As he disentangled himself carefully from the two and hopped off the bed, Takashi felt a wry grin spread across his face.
A glance over his shoulder gave him a glimpse of Shizuka and Rika managing to pull each other up into a sitting position with their eyes still closed.
It was good to remind himself of how lucky he was.
The second floor of the main cabin was about two thirds the size of the first, basically just a bedroom, and almost half of that space was taken up by a bed that was big enough for all five of them.
In spite of that, the bed was unoccupied when Takashi entered the room.
Rather, the two of them were on top of Saeko's kimono, which looked less like it had been intentional and more like it hadn't made it out from under her when it was peeled off of her.
Actually, it was more accurate to say that it was just Saeko on top of Saeko's kimono.
Rei was mostly on top of Saeko.
Since it was blatantly obvious from the noises that they were making that neither woman was hurt, Takashi decided that there was no reason to interrupt what they were doing.
It totally had nothing to do with how seeing two unbelievably gorgeous women all tangled together and making out was a sight that never got old.
Of course, it also had nothing to do with how it was kind of novel to see Rei dominating Saeko instead of the other way around.
And it definitely, totally had nothing to do with how the woman on the bottom had noticed him, winked, and started putting on just that little bit more of a show.
Mostly because he was aware it was only a matter of time before-
A thin line of saliva left their lips briefly linked, even as Rei broke the kiss. Licking her lips as she rose into a sitting position, Rei gave a teasing little wiggle of her hips, smiling down at the sight of Saeko laying breathless and flushed beneath her.
Giving the Yokai's breasts a playful little squeeze as she rested her hands on top of them, Rei's gaze flickered towards the entryway, where Takashi was leaning with a smirk.
"Someone's feeling better, I guess?"
Rei beamed back at him in response, and, without saying a word, twisted and opened her arms to beckon him forward. Saeko, who he noticed had quite suddenly caught her breath, did the same, extending the hand that wasn't gripping Rei's hip.
That had been the other reason Takashi hadn't interrupted- it was only a matter of time before one of them invited him, anyways, so there was no sense getting impatient.
It wasn't even that out of the ordinary to be stopped with a hand on his shoulder, since that usually meant that even more people would be joining in.
Happened all the time.
Sometimes more than once in a given day.
The benefits of love, high sex drives, and high stamina.
Takashi looked over his shoulder to find both Shizuka and Rika there.
"As much as interrupting is no fun, we should all probably talk a little first."
… It must have been serious, because he could barely remember the last time the Fairy had looked serious.
"Rei, how have you been feeling since you woke up?"
"Horny." The Heroine answered without a trace of shame or hesitancy, from where she sat side by side with Takashi on the edge of the bed.
"Don't I know it," Saeko murmured with a soft smile, now sitting on the other end of the bed.
"That why you ended up on the bottom?" Rika whispered with a suggestive little grin.
"She's not normally that assertive," Saeko nodded, the explanation more than enough for her fellow monster.
Though Rei could be competitive at times, and it was generally agreed that she was very cute when fired up, in safer settings she generally tended to give way to those she trusted.
That the man and monsters she had grown intimately involved with treated that trust with the utmost care, explained why that side of hers had moved more and more to the forefront as time in their little haven passed.
Aware of all that, Shizuka took it upon herself to take charge, and rip the bandage off quickly, so to speak.
"Hmm… the way things are going, you're going to wake up a Mamono, Rei~" Spoken in Shizuka's usual, fluffy tone of voice, Rei found herself nodding casually along a moment or two before the contents of the Fairy's words sunk in.
"... C-can I just not go to sleep?" Her grip on Takashi's hand tightened.
"Hmm… nope~!" Shizuka denied with a smile. "You're going to need your rest, silly~"
"... I thought you'd say that," 'was afraid you'd say that' was more of what she really meant.
It had taken her a bit to get a handle on just what about this whole business had her so disturbed.
… Rei knew better than to think they were keeping it a secret from her, which meant…
"... I never really thought about it before, I mean, I was fine with the idea of one day becoming a monster girl, and I'm not even worried about not being 'me' anymore, but…" Rei shivered.
"Something about not knowing what species I'll be in the morning scares the shit out of me."
Takashi slipped his hand from hers to wrap his arms around her, pulling her head down to press against his chest.
"Hey, I'll be right by your side the whole way, okay?" He promised in a low voice. It was one thing when the timing was vague, but now that wasn't the case, he fully intended to be by her side until she didn't want him to be.
Rei's forehead rubbed against his shirt as she nodded, her own arms wrapped tightly around his midsection.
… It was funny to think that once she'd been so against showing weakness.
"... That's a better answer than you realize, Takashi," Shizuka smiled gently. "Now that Rei's this close to monsterization, with a little setup we can finish things up in a round or two."
"A… round or two?" Kohta tilted his head.
Saya sighed, and Saeko covered her mouth with a demure little chuckle.
"... Of sex," the pink-haired Mamono said. "You mean rounds of sex, don't you?"
"What else would I mean?" Shizuka gave her a confused look as Rika turned away with a snicker.
Shifting upright but clinging to Takashi still, Rei lifted one eyebrow.
"... Okay, I'm kinda not really surprised, but why sex? With monsters, it somehow, eventually, inevitably looped back to sex, but the implied involvement with Takashi (who was no closer to Incubization than the day he met Saeko) had her a little puzzled.
Puzzled, but certainly not complaining, because involving Takashi was a win by default in her books.
"It's not quite to the point where you can see it with your regular eyes," Shizuka said as her own droopy amber orbs gleamed, "but the scale is tipping- your mana is just a little bit more Monster than Human. So with a little set-up, all you have to do is something a Monster would do, and the change will happen before you know it."
Rei opened her mouth to ask for clarification, but when no words were spoken and the blood came rushing to her cheeks, it became obvious to those in the room that she'd answered her own question.
In the present day and age,'taking in' a man's mana was the most monster-like thing she could do.
It really did always loop back to sex.
"So to help it along, I'll just draw a little marking on your lower abdomen, and-"
"Like a womb tattoo?" Rei blurted out.
"A what now?"
Rei went very, very red.
"N-nothing! 'Womb tattoo', what are those? I've never heard of them!"
… All heads turned to the person who had said that.
Which was Saya, not Rei.
As the two former Heroines began to turn red and fidget, averting their eyes from those present, Shizuka graced them with what she probably thought was a reassuring smile.
"No need to feel embarrassed, most of the smut in circulation was written by Mamono anyways!"
The chorus of wails that soon filled the house revealed exactly how her attempts at comforting the two Heroines had turned out.
Fitting the Titania that had drawn it with a flower for a brush, the sigil was that of a stylized heart formed from twisting, flowery vines that pulsed with a faint yet sultry luster, lines of orange, blue, red, and amber all intimately entangled.
The glistening in Rei's eyes hinted that the significance of the colors were not lost on her.
Shizuka had taken it upon herself to broach the topic of Takashi's own circumstances in the not-so-distant past.
She'd explained as clearly and as gently as she could that he was probably never going to become an Incubus.
Unlike with Rei, the transfer of energy between a man and a Mamono was much more efficient- it should have taken a month or so for a Queen-class Monster like Shizuka to turn him by herself, without any deliberate effort on her part.
And yet he'd been with her, Saeko, and Rika for almost six months at that point without a trace of their mana lingering upon him.
It had been an awkward conversation, because Shizuka had been very worried about something that hadn't crossed his mind at all- that when Rei turned, and it wouldn't be long before she did- that being the sole remaining Human might leave Takashi feeling isolated or out of place.
Shizuka had blushed like a maiden when Takashi had shrugged and said he could never feel lonely with them around.
But it was different with Rei, and he was well aware.
Whether in looks or ability, Rei was exceptional by any reasonable metric, and remained so under several that weren't.
But between Takashi's seemingly limitless stamina and the girls who recharged from every roll in the hay, Rei keenly felt the frustration of being the only one in the relationship who ever really 'needed a break' in the physical sense.
It didn't matter how caring and considerate the others were, on some level that awareness always lingered for her.
So, while she may have panicked a bit when the time had come, Takashi knew Rei was actually looking forward to becoming a Mamono.
Even if he didn't quite know the reason.
Every moment she could spend with Takashi was something indescribably precious to Rei.
To have a body that could draw strength from their time shared was, in her mind, the best way to ensure that not a single second shared would ever be wasted.
And so, surrounded on all sides by the women she'd grown to love, and in the arms of the man she'd loved for as long as she could remember, Rei slid up her dress and pulled Takashi down against her.
It started much like any time with Takashi did- love and lust in perfect harmony, professing their love for one another in exquisite detail without needing to say a word.
But, something was different, and Rei felt no shame in the discovery, even if it meant she was brought to completion the moment he was inside of her.
Takashi was… so warm.
It felt like she was melting.
Like the lines between her and Takashi were being burned away.
No, not just Takashi.
That warmth was all around her.
A subtle and tempered heat like a lovingly crafted blade, fresh from the forge.
A gentle and joyous heat like sunlight trickling through the leaves of the forest trees.
And a fierce and passionate heat, like firelight reflected in the gleaming eyes of a beast in the dark.
And clinging to her tightly, a furious and unrelenting heat, that would consume her wholly for no other reason than to keep her safe.
Steadily, the heat began to rise as bodies moved as one, Rei quickly losing track of who was touching who, who was moving who, who was-
Cast into that carnal pyre, Rei lost, no, surrendered everything that made her who she was, every dividing line between herself and those she loved.
The flames took everything, and returned that, and even more.
Far beyond the eyes of civilization, within a shaded wood, a pillar of flames rose high into the air as if to illuminate the heavens themselves.
But in more civilized lands, what came was darkness.
High above a city that had grown silent for the first time in a hundred years, a dark, sultry purple spread across the sky, like an ink blot staining the clouds one by one.
From within a swirling storm more powerful than the fire of a thousand Dragons, and more gentle than the wingbeats of a thousand Fairies, She descended.
She, who had not only challenged the Gods, but swayed more than half their number to her side.
She, who made even the Lilim seem like naught but children before her.
… And truthfully viewed them as such, because it was at least a thousand years too early for the Lilim to outgrow their mother.
For the first time in centuries, the shadow of Lilith darkened the skies of Avalon.
Upon the silent city of Lescatie, the Demon Lord descended.
More than a little dazed, Takashi blinked the spots out of his eyes, staring up at the ceiling.
At least, he would have, if there was a ceiling.
He kind of wasn't surprised- when she was on top, Rei had suddenly screamed, clenched, and then there was fire.
Lots and lots of fire, which probably explained where the roof had gone.
The reason he wasn't panicking at all was because, first off, despite it apparently blowing up the ceiling, the fire had felt kind of like a warm hug so everyone was probably fine, and because it also felt like his most vulnerable body part was still tucked safely away inside Rei.
It was very much like Takashi to not rush at all unless his Blessing was up and running.
Belatedly lifting his head, Takashi was greeted by the sight of a pair of round, fleshy globes, jutting forward proudly and jiggling occasionally in time with the shudders of the body they were attached to. Rei was still straddling him, but seemed pretty out if it from what he could see- her head tilted up towards the open sky and her glossy lips parted wide.
Still gripped by that same sort of languidness that followed after a good orgasm, Takashi idly examined her, taking note that her breasts might have gotten a little bit bigger, and that Rei's skin was glowing in a more literal fashion than he remembered.
As he looked around, Takashi was able to confirm that Rei was the only person not on their back, but, just like him, the others certainly didn't seem to mind.
One by one, expressions of blissful reverie faded but didn't quite vanish as Rei laid claim to everyone's attention in seductive fashion once more.
With a shuddering, sensual moan, Rei came alive once more, drawing a grunt from Takashi, who had been a bit too comfortable where he was to consider pulling out. Rei did it for him, rising up onto her knees still straddling him, a brief frown flitting across her features as if she'd just misplaced something important.
Tilting her head back down, she gazed down at Takashi with a languid, sensual smile, what little semblance of awareness she'd managed to regain centered upon him.
But only for a moment- lifting her arms above her head, Rei stretched herself out with a sinuous sway, back popping and breasts bouncing proudly.
And, it was at about that time when it occurred to Takashi that the warmest thing in the room was actually his cheeks.
At least, it would have if he, or anyone else, had leeway to pay attention to things that weren't Rei.
… She moved slowly, as if her limbs were learning their purpose for the first time, but every motion was of unsurpassed grace, as if 'beautifully' was the only way her body could move.
Lithely muscled arms raised themselves high, her wrists alone clad in merrily flickering flames that wrapped around them in a way that made it hard to tell where skin ended and flame began. The same could be found at her ankles.
That warm and gentle glow that had suffused the room had faded slowly with Rei at the center, as if she was the sun, slowly recalling its rays of light. It left her skin just a touch richer in tone, as if she'd been spending more time in the daylight and it had agreed with her very, very much.
The markings on her lower abdomen burned away with a muted flash, and were replaced by new ones- the same deep crimson her eyes had darkened to become. They licked their way up the front of her body like tongues of flame, drawing a playful trail from her thighs and all the way up to her cheeks, arrayed as if they had no other purpose but to highlight her curves in bold fashion.
Her outline had… softened in a sense, but without sacrificing any of its supple strength, becoming more lush in its appearance like fruit that had ripened to perfection.
There was something… else, but Takashi couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Then Rei finished stretching herself out and dropped her hips, seating herself upon his and pinning his boner between them. As she closed her eyes briefly and tossed her head, her ponytail flickered to and fro.
Flickered.
Takashi didn't feel embarrassed at all by the need to rub his eyes and do a double take.
Just like with the flames on her body, it was hard to tell where Rei's hair ended and the fire began, but that high ponytail of hers was crackling and flickering silently at its end, like a living plume of fire.
Rei had most certainly become… something else, but the way she beamed at him seared away that last, tiny little bit of worry that had nagged at him. Because that loving expression was all it took to prove that Rei most certainly had not become someone else.
Vivacious and welcoming, with a hint of feminine mischief teasing at the edges.
He didn't know what kind of Mamono Rei was supposed to be, but it was mostly because he didn't care.
Everything that he cherished and loved about Miyamoto Rei had just become that much more vivid.
And nothing illustrated that more clearly than Rei's very first words as a Mamono, spoken with a devotion that strayed far into the realm of reverence.
"I love you, Takashi," Rei said, giving her body a seductive little shake. "I love you so much I can't even put it into words."
Rei giggled as the temperature in the air spiked- skin flushed and breath hitched all throughout the room as the heat went straight to the veins like a shot of adrenaline.
"I guess I'm a monster now, and I should probably be more curious, but…" A pink tongue, just a little longer and more pointed than he remembered, dragged itself across Rei's lips. "But, right now, I'm a lot more interested in… this~"
He didn't know how she did it, but as Rei dropped her hips with a serpentine sway, she managed to take him back inside her, hands-free.
Takashi grit his teeth as her pussy clamped down on his shaft with a slick and possessive heat, and, for a moment, he couldn't tell where Takashi ended and Rei began.
Both hands to her flushed cheeks, Rei gave a long and shuddering sigh, eyes unfocused as ecstasy took firm hold of her senses.
As if in a trance, her hips began to slowly and rhythmically rock back and forth, drawing another grunt from Takashi as Rei's hot folds rippled against his length with every shake of her hips.
Gradually, her awareness seemed to return as she gently rode Takashi, her eyes coming back into focus but her rhythm undisturbed.
Meeting Takashi's eyes with a radiant smile, Rei offered her hands, pulling Takashi up into a sitting position when he accepted the gesture.
Their faces inches apart, Rei gave a brief laugh and closed the distance, breasts ballooning against his chest as she pressed her soft lips against his.
Wrapping her arms around the back of Takashi's neck and tangling slender fingers in his hair, Rei shifted her weight as she ground her soft and warm body against his.
Deepening the kiss, Rei's muffled moans briefly rose in pitch as Takashi began to thrust upwards in time with her movements. Her tongue sought his, and though her tongue entangled his in a way a human couldn't pull off, the kiss didn't feel aggressive, somehow.
Rather, it felt like Rei was trying to do the same thing with the kiss as she was with the rest of her body- trying to have as much of it in contact with Takashi as possible.
Combined with Rei's increased body heat and the burning haze of lust that had blanketed everything, the kiss was briefer than they both would have liked, and from nothing other than necessity.
Rei was simply bouncing on his cock too wildly for kissing to be comfortable for either of them.
Though, on the note of 'comfort', the heat gripping his shaft had built far past the point where it should have been pleasant to be inside her, but rather than pain or even discomfort, it just increased the pleasure more and more.
And the way Rei was gasping open-mouthed suggested it wasn't just Takashi feeling it more and more.
Her first orgasm as a monster was nearly as fiery as her last orgasm as a human, and every bit as loud- with a crackling roar that was strangely pleasant to the ear, wings of pure flame erupted from Rei's back as their mutual finish sent a blissful scream echoing from her throat.
A series of convulsive, erotic shudders rocked her naked body like a chain of explosions- if Takashi had been less absorbed with filling her pussy full of cum, he would have noticed that every shot he pumped into her was setting off another small orgasm.
… It was a strange feeling, Rei couldn't help but think.
Her bodily control was, at that moment, absolutely none, but every wave of pleasure seemed to sharpen her senses further.
It was like… like…
Like her only option was to savor and experience every moment.
'Is this how it always feels… for them?'
Rei could only laugh with delight as the jealousy she'd struggled to keep at bay turned out to be just a little warranted.
But, as much as she wanted to play catch-up… and as much as Takashi no longer being inside her left her feeling deprived…
"Well, I guess I shouldn't keep you all to myself, tempting though it is." But she did want one more kiss, so Rei leaned down onto Takashi and did just that.
A quick one, tempting though it was to lengthen it.
To her surprise though, when Rei went to pull away, Takashi put his hands on both her cheeks, making her freeze up when their faces were still only inches apart.
'C-close! If he stares that close, I'm gonna wanna-!'
Takashi's intense stare melted into a boyish grin, and Rei let out something that sounded more like a whimper than a moan when she found herself feeling like she was blushing with her whole body.
"Sorry Rei, just making sure you're alright."
Red eyes went very, very wide.
… That wasn't fair at all.
Maybe it wouldn't have sounded like much to someone who didn't know Takashi, but it was different for her, and especially when they were this close.
She could not only see that last bit of worry drift away from him, she could feel it.
But she wasn't ready at all for how she would experience things differently as a monster.
All those warm and tender feelings seemed to ignite one by one, and the willpower she'd rallied to let her get off of Takashi, which had been barely enough as it was, went up in smoke.
"Ah geez, I don't care anymore! I love you Takashi, I love you so much I can't stand it!"
Takashi didn't get a chance to answer, because the moment his mouth opened, it found itself occupied.
From the other end of the bed and between a set of plumb and quivering thighs, Saeko lifted her head and twisted to throw a brief glance over her shoulder at the two, licking her lips to clean them as she did.
Good for her.
Rei worked so hard not to be selfish that she ended up not being selfish enough.
So being reborn into someone a little less… inhibited might do her some goood~!?
"Ehehe, someone let their guard down, huh~?"
"R-Rei~!?"
The moment her eyes had left the two, she'd abruptly found herself taken by the shoulder and flipped onto her back and swiftly pinned beneath a naked and grinning Rei, who wasted no time in taking her lips in a sloppy and enthusiastic kiss that left Saeko moaning in moments.
She had, in fact, let her guard down, and she'd definitely thought Rei and Takashi were going for another round.
Well after the date on the calendar would change, she would learn from Rei that apparently now, kisses helped her focus.
She'd learn much, much sooner, that the reason she was being kissed senseless while her boobs were fondled, was both as a show of gratitude and a distraction.
Then a pair of big hands were parting her thighs, and Saeko couldn't think about much else beyond how she felt the most complete when joined with Takashi.
Breaking the kiss with a lick of her lips and a saucy wink, Rei made way, and Takashi leaned down over her.
"Keep you waiting?"
"Perhaps a little, but the side benefit is that you can taste all four of your lovers just by kissing me."
"I kinda want to test that out."
Saeko wrapped her arms gently around the back of his neck.
"You always know just what to say, don't you~?"
Saeko had wanted him to be a little rough with her.
Takashi had decided to give honoring her request a shot, which was why Saeko was on all fours and getting railed from behind.
… The slovenly, love-drunk smile she'd flash over her shoulder now and again was proof enough of whether or not her expectations were being met, though the commentary was a little… well…
"No seriously, she's drooling. How does she manage to make drooling look graceful!?"
"Saeko's got a special talent, Rei… but if you want to learn it yourself we should probably practice."
"That's a smooth way of trying to get into the pants I'm not wearing."
"And distracting you so you end up in the middle~!"
"That too… no, hold on, what was-" Coherency was lost beneath Rei's shuddering moan as Rika hugged her from behind, sucking strongly on the side of her slim neck.
Shizuka covered her coy smile with one hand as Rika hefted both of Rei's breasts, as if to present them to her Fairy lover.
"Don't mind if I do~" Brushing a lock of hair behind her pointed ear, Shizuka planted a dainty, suckling kiss against one pert nipple, Rei's tit bouncing lightly against her lips as the younger woman trembled from the stimulation.
Shizuka gave the same treatment to the other breast, before rising up on her knees, palming Rei's bosom as she kissed the newly-turned monster on the lips.
Meanwhile, Rika, with a sexy grin more befitting a Cheshire Cat than an Ocelomeh, pressed her palms flat against Rei's stomach, fingers pointed downwards and slowly sliding their way down the flat plane of the redhead's abdominals.
Hands moving on their own in familiar movements, Rika occupied herself with examining Rei's hair, not feeling any discomfort from having a half-flaming ponytail waving near, and sometimes against her face.
It was warm and still smelled like Rei, so that was enough to appeal to the wildcat.
It was with a start that it occurred to her that she didn't know what Rei's hands were doing, and that the one moaning more loudly into the kiss was Blossom.
Then her arms were empty as Rei pushed Blossom down onto the bed, Shizuka's long legs stretched out from beneath them and trembling delightfully as the Titania wrapped both arms and wings around Rei's upper body.
This meant that the two women were both very much exposed to Rika, who had a great view of just how wet they were, but, before she could decide what to do about it, a pair of strong hands slipped between her butt and the bed, taking two meaty handfuls.
Wine red eyes widening eagerly, Rika shifted her weight to accommodate as she was lifted off the bed just like that, the hands shifting to cup and spread her thighs.
A sudden plummet, and a moment of white-out as a throaty yowl echoed from somewhere that seemed far, far away.
No warning, no foreplay- she'd been dropped into someone's lap, and the cock prodding at the entrance to her womb meant it could only be one person.
S-so rough… exactly what she wanted.
With a quavering but thoroughly satisfied purr, Rika reached a trembling hand behind her head to tangle itself in the dark hair she knew she would find.
Takashi gave her a little nip at the crook of her neck, wrapping his arms around Rika's waist as she got her feet beneath her, straddling his lap to begin rocking her hips.
'Sex with Blossom is very gentle, even when it isn't'.
Maybe if Takashi had never had sex with her before Rika said that he would have been confused, but now that he had…
He was still confused, because it made perfect sense even though he couldn't quite explain it.
At the moment, Shizuka was quite literally folded up beneath him, and the whole bed shook a little with every thrust, but somehow it still felt like he was still being pampered by her.
Well, satisfying as it was, he hadn't said 'that' to her yet, and he made a point to tell them that at least once (in the sense that it was almost always more than once), and…
For some reason, even with her looking deliriously happy, Takashi was struck by the sudden urge to want to spoil Shizuka in return.
So he leaned down a bit more, waiting until her watery amber eyes met his, and she flashed him a disorderly but joyful smile.
"Hey Shizuka, I love you, you know?"
Shizuka came, hard, her face so red he was almost worried for her.
"Ya know, I've thought this before, but... Monsters are kinda awesome, aren't they?"
Despite the fact that he'd just been seeing the whites of her eyes, Takashi suddenly found himself on the bottom and wrapped up in butterfly wings as Shizuka did one of those full-body hugs of hers, the kind that turned anyone useless in an instant.
"... Good job, kid." Rika said from the side, just getting finished with (or finishing off) Saeko.
Takashi mouthed the same words at her, and suddenly, Rika lost the advantage in splendid fashion.
… She didn't seem to mind, though.
"... Like this?"
"Mhm, be careful not to press too tightly against each other, though~!"
"Oh, this is rather enjoyable… how does it feel for you, Takashi- oh, I suppose I didn't need to ask, did I~?"
At first glance, herself and Rei sitting in front of one another with their legs interlocked would look simply like a lesbian sex act.
Which had its own charm, but having Takashi's cock between her pussy and Rei's made it feel like she was having sex with both of them at the same time, which Saeko was also very much enamored with.
And this time, everyone was truly involved at once- Shizuka and Rika, the more experienced ones who had arranged everything, were laying down on the bed like Takashi was- only they were straddling his arms in such a way that they could kiss both each other and him as desired, while Takashi kept his hands busy between their legs.
Yes, it most certainly had its charms, and…
Her eyes met Rei, and the newly born monster flashed a smirk to match her own.
And, it was the perfect time for her and Rei to have a little competition that no one was really going to lose.
It was the kind of competition they would need to take time to have more of.
Turning her head to flash Takashi a wink, Saeko began to rock her hips as Rei did the same.
Despite the fact that there hadn't been a roof over their heads for several hours, not one of them noticed that both sunset and sunrise would pass them by before they were all satisfied.
Shirtless and barefoot (his pants had been the only thing he could find), Takashi made his way outside, feeling a bit ache-y in all the good ways.
Keeping up with four monster girls was hard work even for him, but so, so worth it.
To his surprise, there was already someone at the well, her hair not in its usual twintails but that satisfied smile fully in place.
"Someone had a good night."
"It helps that I actually slept," Saya gave him a sidelong glance.
"... You did?"
"I got plenty of sleep." Saya confirmed.
Takashi stared.
"Several hours." She insisted.
Takashi stared.
"... Sunrise hadn't finished when we dozed off." Saya admitted.
Takashi smirked.
"... Don't look so smug, you dolt." Saya grumbled as she finished pulling the bucket up. "I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't even bother to figure out what kind of monster Rei was before things got freaky."
"..."
"... I was joking. Takashi, that was a joke."
"H-hehe, yeah, pretty funny, huh?"
"Takashi, what kind of monster is Rei?" Saya flatly inquired.
"A pretty one?"
"That's my fault, I set the bar too low."
She still scolded him for being careless, though.
Rei, it would turn out, had been reborn as an Ignis- the monstrous equivalent of a fire elemental.
Ignis were created in one of two ways- from a fire elemental being corrupted by demonic energy, or from sufficient amounts of fiery mana condensing within Makai, or another sufficiently large Demon Realm.
Rei had apparently forgotten this from her lessons at the Academy, and so the newly discovered third option for creating an Ignis was labeled as 'being Rei'.
There were some other explanations thrown around such as 'having a flame-based Blessing' or 'having an affinity with fire to rival a Dragon' or even 'well it kinda suits her', but eventually, even Saya gave up and accepted that it happened because of Rei 'being Rei'.
It was the sort of lackadaisical conclusion that suited a tightly-knit little group that had managed to outrun the end of the world while smiling.
Given another month or six, they might have finished letting their guards down.
In the end, that lingering undercurrent of paranoia would prove itself to be…
Wholly unnecessary.
In less than a year, the nightmarish infection that swept the globe had seen almost half of the world's population devoured.
There had not been such a global, widespread loss of life in over a thousand years.
The world where such tragedy occurred was… supposed to be a thing of the past. And yet the Gods had remained silent, and the Demon Lord had, for all the mortal realms knew, remained impassive upon her throne.
Had the world then been forsaken?
No.
That had not been the slightest bit true.
For that horrific plague, that would come to be known as the Ravening, had been but a mere symptom of a greater calamity.
A World-line Convergence.
A world whose history had come to an end, like a fruit rotting on the branches of a great cosmic tree.
A world entirely consumed by a now all too familiar apocalypse. A world consumed by the hungry dead, reaching out to a near and healthy world in a mad attempt to save itself by taking in new life.
Had the Convergence completed, that nameless world and the world of Heroes and Monsters known as Gaia would have overlapped.
Physically- the entire contents of two planets attempting to occupy the exact same space at the exact same time.
The Gods and the Demon Lord, regardless of allegiance, had been forced to unite, struggling desperately to keep a dying world from killing theirs.
And thus both Heaven and Makai had grown silent- their realms not truly apart from Gaia, had they crossed the threshold between those realms carelessly, they risked hastening and spreading the Convergence.
The Gods had managed to reach out only to their greatest believers, and offer but a single phrase too desperate and vague to be considered a Divine Oracle.
We beg of you, endure.
Alas, the nature of Makai made it far easier to reach from Gaia, and so the Demon Lord and her Lord Consort could not risk even that much.
Even sending but a single messenger to their little Druella could have doomed them all.
But no longer.
The world was stable, the 'tears' in both earth and sky sealed.
And, unlike the Gods bound by their heavenly laws, the Demon Lord was merely god-like, their equal in strength and influence, but kept only in check by those divinities still aligned with Heaven.
Divinities that turned a blind eye as Lilith tore open the sky in a mad rush to reach her daughter's side.
Few were the things that could have halted her descent.
To find a low hanging storm cloud blocking her entry from above was one of them.
At least, that was the case when the cloud was a deep dark crimson, and smelled so thickly of her daughter's blood that she nearly found herself too nauseous to stay aloft.
Her daughter had found a cure to the rampant illness devouring the world, and put it into practice even as her rational mind frayed and snapped- carrying out her work to fruition, egged on by nothing but the driving obsession to protect what was hers.
The cure was blood- the blood of a being vastly more powerful than that of the infected would find itself 'attacked' by the infection upon entering the body… and trample it down in self-defense.
The blood of a Lilim like Druella could cure any human or monster within a thousand miles of her city, if they received enough of it.
It was a macabre sort of misfortune that she would have discovered that much, much earlier, had her darling Black Goat deprived her of four fingers instead of three.
Nevertheless, Druella did not have enough blood in her body to cure even those within her castle, let alone the city at large.
And so she had simply made more- in the form of a gory crimson storm, raining down upon her city.
Dyeing hundreds of frozen tombs red, one after another, as blood carrying a Lilim's will seeped easily into the ice that kept her people safe.
Bathing her surviving people in the blood of their mistress, in a horrific yet effective effort to deliver the cure en masse.
It was an insane method that no rational mind would have attempted to implement, and doing so nearly killed the exhausted Lilim.
But she had saved her city.
The dreadful things she had done to both herself and those who had sought her city out were not in vain.
And, though the broken Lilim would not be awake to witness, after she had swept her daughter away and into the care of the greatest healers of Makai, the Demon Lord, with tear-streaks on her perfect face that refused to dry, would go on to ensure that her daughter's achievement did not go unrecognized.
Nor unutilized.
Though the second… 'immunization' was carried out in far less macabre fashion, the infection would be conquered by the willingness of the absolute rulers of the world, whether their thrones sat in Makai or Heaven, to bleed for their people.
Beyond the knowledge of most, every living person on the face of Gaia received an infusion of a single drop of blood, whether infernal or divine.
Through the efforts of the Gods and the Demon Lord, united by tragedy, the world's first truly global pandemic was destined to be cured in four hours.
Lilith would accept no less, from a cure her daughter had nearly drained her own body dry to discover.
But those first seven souls that Druella had saved, by sending far, far away from herself, would not learn of any of this until almost another year had passed.
They had far more intimate and immediate concerns on their hands.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Maybe she had just been feeling playful, but the beautiful Kunoichi who had taken a hold of his heart almost two years ago approached him by slipping through the open window, and responded with only a smile.
It reminded Takashi of the first night they had met, though she was leaving the house instead of entering, and she wasn't carrying anything sharp and pointy.
She'd taken to wearing her hair down, a glossy river of dark purple that drank in the gentle moonlight.
… Maybe that's what it meant to love someone- just laying eyes on her made his night a little better.
The way her pale cheeks colored suggested that Takashi hadn't shaken his habit of occasionally thinking out loud.
"I love you too, Takashi," Saeko whispered warmly.
With only moonlight adorning her long legs, she made her way to him and fitted herself in against his side, leaning her head on his shoulder as they stared off into the starry sky.
It was a comfortable silence that neither of them were in any hurry to break, and perhaps that was why she said nothing, at first.
Slipping out of his grasp, Saeko gracefully spun herself around as she stepped in front, a sultry little smirk on her lips as she ran her hand down the loose hem of her yukata, exposing her front from the valley of her bust to well, well below her navel.
Gently taking hold of his wrist, Saeko guided his hand to press flat against her bare stomach.
"Do you feel that?"
"... No?" Unless abs were what he was supposed to be feeling.
The hesitant answer served only to make that tender, mysterious little smile widen.
"Oh, but you will, Takashi, you will." Saeko promised. "You will. But, in the meantime… help me come up with a good name for our daughter."
It was surely a coincidence that Takashi's four daughters would be born almost exactly nine months apart.
It was probably also coincidence that Saya and Kohta's daughters were twins, but Saya would insist for years to come that she was just saving time.
… Eventually, they would find out that the apocalypse never quite managed to succeed in ending the world, and when they did, what changed was almost nothing at all.
Because they had everything they'd ever wanted, just by being together.
And times funny, at times cute, and at times scary.
And often, often smutty.
It felt important to capture a bit of everything in the second part of our finale.
Rei is a monster, the family is doubling in size (that pregnancy scare tho) , and the god-like beings who can fix the end of the world finally got around to it.
Would have been a pretty big plothole just to ignore how directly the gods can intervene, and Lilith is basically the goddess of monsters, so…
There had to be a reason why they couldn't intervene, at least for a time.
So, isekai'ing a zombie apocalypse was, surprise, just a symptom of a bigger crisis.
Druella low-key figured out how to cure the infection first, and the reason it involved the sky raining blood was partially because she was batshit insane, and mostly because a rain of blood is metal as fuck.
I have my priorities straight.
Hope you guys had fun with our finale, and thank you once again for all of you who stuck with me to the end.
In terms of stories, I'm going to keep it to three for a while, probably for the summer so I can take things a bit easier.
Then we're going to be back with another never before seen crossover.
But, with a protagonist I have written before, and so I'll hope to have a few of you join me in the world of Gainos for 'Queens of Grisaia'.