[EMIYA SHIROU] [THE GAMER]
[LV 50 - 3.500/50.000] [HP: 5000[MP: 35[MC: 27[ST: 920[SP: 9]
[STR: 50[DEX: 50[INT: 50[WIS: 50[CHR: 102] [ATK: 100] [DEF:100]
It took Shirou the better part of the day to finally find an opening in the rock that could very well be a way out. He knew how long it had taken him, because his Gamer Eyes promptly informed that Lilith's Blessing was once again in effect, meaning that twenty-four hours had passed since he last gotten laid.
During his journey, he ran into more creatures, such as huge bats and man-sized spiders. They were all high-level opponents, not one bit inferior to the Fishmen. Fortunately, he didn't run into more of those, and the other monsters didn't move in groups, therefore they were more of an annoyance than anything else.
Shirou had to stop and scavenge their corpses, which didn't have Mana cores like the creatures in the Reverse Side. He did it for their meat.
While in Die Hard mode, he bled stamina as fast as he did blood, and his meager reserves of food had depleted pretty damn quickly. He was forced to resupply otherwise he'd die if he ran out of stamina where there weren't monsters to kill.
Fortunately, he had everything he needed to set up an impromptu cooking session inside of his Inventory. He would have eaten the meat raw if he had to, but he'd rather not.
As he prepared himself a meal, he pondered on how his Cooking Skill had been stuck at level 99 for a long time. He had no idea why, unless there was a level cap that halted its advancement at that level. Or it could just be that the last level required a lot more experience to clear, or some special conditions.
There was no way of knowing in advance, so he only briefly pondered about it, before resuming his exploration. As for the quality of the food… Shirou was conflicted about the taste. Spider wasn't meant to taste that good, but Level 99 in Cooking meant that even stuff like that would turn out excellent.
But that wasn't really important.
Now that he was in front of what appeared to be a way out, his thoughts turned to Velvet. Was he alright? Did he get out safely? Shirou hadn't found a single clue of his whereabouts. He would have kept looking for him down there, but the more time he spent in this abyss, the more at risk would be Matsumoto and the refugees, especially with Ibaraki out for blood and Shuten up to no good.
Velvet had the means to defend himself, therefore Shirou's decision, however difficult, was easily made.
Letting Velvet to his fate because he had tried to kill him never once crossed Shirou's mind.
[br]
At the opposite end of the island, altitude-wise, Shuten-Doji woke up slowly and stretched languidly Descending from the pile of soft-looking pillows that served as her bedding, she slowly trailed out of the door and upon the balcony that overlooked the island and the fortress teeming with inferior Oni right underneath her.
She did not care that she was completely naked. Even and especially because this body was not her own. Also, because no one of her subordinates would so much as dare to look at her with anything short of absolute reverence and fear.
Their survival instinct far outstripped their lust after all, and even constrained by this human body her power could not be compared to their own. Not that being stuck in this shell was without its perks.
The mind of her host was not quite completely open to Shuten-Doji, but she caught glimpses of some interesting things. Not about her the woman herself, but rather about the golden-eyed boy she came to this island with.
That little morsel promised to make for a better liquor than she first thought, if the vigor he showed within the memories of his woman was anything to go by. The fiercer they were, the more they would burn in her throat. She almost regretted having to let him go previously, but she wasn't afraid of losing him to something else on this island.
She knew that he was strong enough to survive on his own and that he would not leave the island as long as this woman was under her control. She only had to wait and he would show up at her door. Home delivery, the humans called it, and she had to admit there was some merit to that.
It would be nice if the most exquisite humans came looking for her on their own volition. Unlike Ibaraki she was quite lazy and found no pleasure in hunting her own prey. However, she was starting to get restless.
Patience was a virtue and Oni were not renown for having those. She could keep her urges in check better than the rest of this species, but she still had them. How was she supposed to entertain herself while she waited? Perhaps she could have a bit of fun with this body.
Her host was fully conscious after all and completely aware of what was happening around her. Her feeling were as bare to Shuten-Doji was it was the body they shared. Tasting her humiliation would make for a decent appetizer, while she waited for the drinks to be served.
[br]
The bright side of having found a tunnel to explore was that there seemed to be no monsters residing in them. After he set up a Boundary Field to protect himself and accelerate time, Shirou did the smart thing and slept.
Losing a hour of real time in exchange of deactivating Die Hard Mode was an acceptable trade off, even if he had to return as quickly as possible. Furthermore, he would do better to regrow his arm as soon as he could. He rather not stumble in a situation where he needed it, but didn't have it.
The real problem was the time he lost running into one dead end after another.
Without Volumen Hydrargyrum ability to check out several tunnels at the same time, Shirou had no way of knowing which was the right path without trying the all.
For several hours he wandered. He was fortunate that the rocks presented the same luminescent properties as the rest of the caves, however faint, otherwise he'd be completely blind.
He wasn't even sure any of these tunnels would get him on the surface. He was just lucky that with his high INT he wouldn't become confused and be forever trapped underground. Incredibly enough, after what seemed an eternity he saw the light shining at the end of a tunnel. Actual, honest-to-God sunlight. It would have been a lie if he said that he didn't very much rushed out.
And nearly fell into the raging waters below as consequence.
The cave opened to the outside, yes, but on a vertical cliff upon the ocean. If he hadn't reacted fast enough he would have fallen several dozen meters onto the rocks below.
It was almost noon, judging by the position of the sun, which meant he had been underground for at least eighteen hours in real time.
Of course, he had not yet returned to the base camp. He still had to climb his way up on a sheer wall to get anywhere, but that was on the easy end of the difficulty spectrum, compared to everything he had been through up to this point.
He did not hesitate to tackle the rock wall and climb his way up. Slowly but steadily he kept rising until he was faced with a slab of rock perpendicular to the wall he was climbing.
It was perfectly flat. As such, there was no way it was a natural construct. Nature did not do make anything in regular shapes. It was clearly man made. He climbed around it and eventually he came up to a balcony overlooking the ocean, which in turn opened to a lavishly furnished room.
Shrou frowned. What place was this? Maybe he accidentally stumbled on the location of another shard? With the skull necklace still equipped, he decided to explore. He entered the room and looked around, examining its contents.
There were chests full of gold and other precious items, but also fine clothes of all sorts. Shirou didn't touch any of them, of course. It wasn't his stuff.
Nothing in the room really piqued his curiosity and unfortunately there wasn't a shard of the sword either. The last thing there was left to check out was the rice paper door standing on the opposite side of the balcony.
He approached it carefully and silently, sliding it open just enough to look what was behind it.
[Shuten-Doji] [??????] [LV ???]
He nearly choked on the spit that he forced himself not to shoot out of his mouth and he achieved that feat only by locking down every muscle of his tiny body.
Why hadn't his Supernatural Detection gone off? The last time he picked up her presence from a much higher distance. Was she hiding it somehow? Could she do that? But why would she?
The answer to the last question was self-apparent, at least to Shirou. What Shuten-Doji was currently doing, was an activity that requires a measure of concealment.
Squatting in front of a full figure mirror, completely naked and with her legs spread open, Shuten-Doji was impaling herself on a thick dildo seemingly made of black, smooth obsidian.
Her back was turned to him, so she had not noticed his presence. The crack he had made in the door was smaller than his eye. Big enough for him to see through it, but too small to be noticed unless one paid sufficient attention.
At that time, Shuten-Doji's focus was directed entirely elsewhere.
Her hands were roaming her body, while she slid up and down upon the phallic contraption. Shuten's body, or more correctly Mikado's, was a thing of beauty. Shirou didn't know how much of it depended on Mikado's natural endowments and how much was Shuten's actions, who played those curves like a finely tuned instrument.
Ever from a distance, Shirou could hear her soft, lustful moans and see her movements as if he was up close. Arousal gushed copiously from her womanhood, coating the dildo with a translucent sheen that pooled upon the stone floor.
"Fu fu fu!" Shuten laughed. "It is quite the sensitive body you have here, girl. It is holding so dearly upon this simple toy despite your protests. Neglecting your needs, have you? How deliciously hypocritical of you. That is quite alright. I shall show expose your bare, animalistic impulses until you can no longer deny them."
Shirou's brain failed to get into gear for several seconds while this was happening. He never expected a scene like this to appear in front of his eyes. How could he have? He had randomly stumbled upon a place and it was the final boss' lair? He could have accepted that, because that's how his luck seemed to work at times, but he wouldn't have expected, even in his wildest dreams, that he'd catch the boss during a mastrubation session.
It took him quite a while to snap out of it and the matter was not helped by the erection he had developed in the meantime. He pried his eyes off the scene and scoured the room where it was playing out instead.
It was arguably a bedroom, if the pillows layered up in the middle were any indication. However, there were all sorts of things strewn about as well, chief among them bottles empty bottles of liquor.
It seemed that the legends had gotten that part about Oni's preference right, but the again Shuten-Doji roughly meant little drunkard, so there had to be a foundation of truth to it in the first place.
What caught his eyes, which he firmly avoided to turn toward the naked figure, was the inconspicuous sake cup resting upside down in a corner, completely forgotten by its owner.
That was their key to leave the island. If only he could get his hands on that, there would no longer be need to gather the shard of the sword and get into an impossible fight with Shuten or Ibaraki.
But it was in the other room, not too far away from where Shuten was playing with herself.
"Aahhh!" she moaned.
Shirou knew how a woman sounded when she reached a climax by now, and his eyes immediately turned onto Shuten, who was trembling in delight while she twisted and pulled her nipples, causing her supple breasts to stretch abnormally.
Shirou was swept with nausea. That was Mikado's body and by the way Shuten talked to it, the human Magus was aware of what was going on. This was nothing short of rape and Shirou hated himself for not being able to put an end to it, even worse, for being aroused by it.
However, even if it would have been the perfect setup for a sneak attack, he couldn't act in any shape or form. It would be Mikado that would suffer from any damage inflicted on Shuten-Doji.
Not to mention that doing so would break their contract and allow Shuten to freely and easily slaughter him, leading to the same result. As much as he loathed it and himself, the only way he could help Mikado was getting out of there alive.
But he would not leave empty-handed. This was a gambit worth taking. There wouldn't be any other chance like this. Even if he managed to reforge Doujigiri Yasutsuna, it was no guarantee of victory. They needed that cup. Everything they had done until that moment was for that ultimate goal.
He just needed to be smart about it, especially considering that Shuten was not yet done tormenting Mikado.
However, his options were still quite limited. Any use of Magecraft would give away his presence right away, and if he opened the door any more she would see him in the mirror, even with her back turned to him.
Could he rush in and get out faster than Shuten-Doji could react? Considering the circumstances, it could be possible. In fact, it was the only option he had, but he had to time it just right.
He needed to move precisely at the right moment, when her defenses would be at their lowest. His window of opportunity would open with her next climax.
Never once in his life did he think that a situation such as this would arise, or that he would have the experience to tell in advance when a woman would be about come. So he sat there in silence, waiting and watching Shuten-Doji for the subtle clues that would give away that she was about to reach the apex.
That wasn't an easy thing for Shirou to stomach. All that his eyes saw was a beautiful woman playing with her body and his body reacted accordingly, even though he knew intellectually that this was an act of violence.
Arousal warred with disgust and self-loathing, but all three of them were held in check by steel-cold resolution.
Eventually, the moment he was waiting for drew closer. He saw it in the way her shoulder tensed, in the increased passion she put impaling herself, in the way her eyes fluttered and the way she bit her lower lip in preparation.
He did not wait for it to happen. He slid the door open and stepped past the threshold as fast and as silent as he could.
Shuten's wanton moan filled the room, seemingly unperturbed by his presence. Shirou snatched the cup and he rolled back whence he came from, sake cup already safe in his Inventory.
He was back in the previous room before Shuten had even started come down from her climax, but he couldn't afford to see if he had been detected. He just made a run for the balcony and swung himself over the railing and onto the stone wall beneath.
Only then he dared to stop and see if she came looking for him but after some intense seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity, in which he could only hear his own hammering heart and the crashing of the waves down below, there was no hin that Shuten-Doji had noticed him at all.
Shirou allowed himself to let out a breath of relief.
He couldn't believe he had done it. He managed to steal the cup without getting spotted. With this, safety was well within their grasp. He only needed to figure out a way to undo Mikado's ritual and then they could go back to their world.
Brimming with excitement, Shirou quickly climbed back down and toward the side. Taking the long way around would cost him even more time, but it was a necessary sacrifice.
[br]
Shuten had not kept count of how many orgasms she had subjected her host to. There was a double pleasure to this activity. For one thing, she experienced the same physical feelings, but she also tasted the shame and humiliation of the human woman trapped in her own flesh.
They both knew that she had a naturally lewd body, which the human woman had suppressed and denied her entire life, like humans were wont to do. However, Oni were the antithesis of human civilization. They existed to bring ruin upon it, both collectively and individually.
Therefore, Shuten-Doji found greater pleasure in the shame she inflicted upon her than she did through carnal satisfaction.
Unfortunately, there was only so much shame she could inflict upon a person before she got used to it. Humans were surprisingly adaptive that way, and unless she wanted to go looking for new forms of shame, the fun was pretty much over.
But maybe there was no need for that. There was such a thing as killing two birds with one stone. There was yet one more use she could make of the golden-eyed boy before she consumed him for good.
[br]
Shirou managed to reach the cave shortly before sunset, a good twenty four hours after he had left. With the sake cup in his possession, they were one step closer to returning home.
He didn't even have to fight Shuten-Doji to get it. It was an absolute stroke of luck on his part. Much better than finding the missing pieces of Doujigiri Yasutsuna. If he had known that it would have been so simple, he wouldn't have bothered with that in the first place.
Granted, if things hadn't gone the way they had, he would have never found that way into the Oni Fortress either. Unfortunately, he was short of a competent Magus to reverse Mikado's ritual and transfer them all back to the their world.
As he approached the cave, he hoped that Velvet had made it back before him.
However, when he arrived in front of the opening, he found out that his Boundary Field were gone, which alarmed him. He pumped them with enough Mana to last much longer than a day.
Somebody had taken them down and Waver would have closed them behind himself if he also returned this way.
Alarm bells went off in his head and he rushed inside without worrying about hitting his head in the dark cave, or tip-toeing to ambush any possible enemy. All that mattered was getting inside as fast as his legs could carry him.
[Supernatural Presence Detected]
He took stock of the scene the moment he stepped into the main area. There were only two figures present and he knew both of them.
"IBARAKI!"
Ibaraki-Doji stood with her clawed hands wrapped around Matsumoto's pale neck, who was on her knees, gasping for breath.
Shirou flew at Oni with a blade in each hand, disregarding the absolute power gap that separated them, not caring if it would turn out just like the previous time.
Ibaraki turned to him, having only noticed his presence now. Just like before, she was completely at ease.
His speed that would be hard to follow for an ordinary human, was nothing to her, especially now that she wasn't hungry. She took one step forward into his guard when he was almost on her and punched him in the gut, flinging him back the way he came.
"Oooh. If it isn't my walking snack. How considerate of you to join me so soon," she said amusedly
Shirou spat blood from his ruptured stomach as he rolled himself to a stop.
"Let her go!" he told her, bouncing back to his feet.
"Aaah? Who do you think you are talking to, morsel?" she asked annoyedly. "Understand your place, food."
"Shi-Shirou…" Matsumoto gasped. "P-Please…!"
"Let her go, I said!" he insisted.
"Or what? Weaklings like yourself don't get to make demands."
Truer words had never been spoken, unfortunately. Shirou's power wasn't something he could threaten Ibaraki with, and even if he had already removed the Skull necklace, she wasn't a creature that he could dominate with his Charisma.
But he had one thing that she wanted and that he could bargain with.
"I'll destroy myself," he told her.
"What?" Ibaraki asked, looking as if she thought she had not understood.
"You said you wanted to eat me, didn't you? f you don't let go of Matsumoto-san right now, I'll destroy own my body and leave not a single piece behind."
"Ha!" she laughed. "I knew humans were stupid, but for you to think that I would believe such an obvious bluff, you must really be--"
Shirou's left arm, which he had just restored a few hours ago, was torn to shreds by the swords that he Projected through it. He didn't just cut it. He grew swords through every inch of its volume, leaving him with an outgrowth of sharp steel roughly the shape of a human limb.
He did not even flinch, but stared squarely at Ibaraki, daring her to challenge his resolve.
"... you would do it. You would really do it," she said with a flabbergasted expression that quickly changed into a feral smile with both lower canines exposed. "No wonder your flesh is so tasty. People like you… wait… didn't I already ate that arm?"
"I am a Magus. Things like regrowing my own limbs is just a parlor trick," he lied. "Of course, that's only if I'm alive to do it. If you want to get your hand of a meal that never ends you've got to let go of her."
Ibaraki licked her lips at the prospect of an endless meal.
"An interesting proposition," she said, "Very well. I shall agree to this exchange. Come over and I will… huh?"
All of a sudden she fell to one knee. At the same time, Matsumoto stood back to her feet, no longer being held by the neck by Ibaraki, but rather holding Ibaraki by the arm.
"Bitch, you talk too much," the blonde bombshell said. Her voice was like a growl, and much to both Shirou and Ibaraki's shock, her lower canines had started to stretch and horns begun protruding from her forehead.
Not just that, but she was growing in size as well, to the point that her white dress was starting to rip at the seams.
She was turning into an Oni. At the same time, Ibaraki was visibly shrinking.
"What is… what is… this?" the original Oni asked.
"You came looking for a meal, but you have become mine instead."
It was only then that Shirou was able to connect the dots. The dessicated Oni corpses and withered trees he had found in the forest on the first day as well as the way that Matsumoto's wounds had faded so quickly after her rescue….
She could absorb the life force from other beings.
It was a power limited by direct contact and that clearly worked over time, but it was fearsome all the same.
Ibaraki had been holding onto Matsumoto without knowing she was slowly being sucked dry. Shirou wasn't sure why she had not noticed until now, but judging from the way things were going, there was already more Ibaraki-Doji in Matsumoto than there was in Ibaraki herself.
"Let… let go… of me," said Ibaraki, but there was no bite in her voice.
"I'm going to show you the same mercy you would have shown me, you cunt."
With each passing second, Ibaraki shrunk a little more, until she was the size of a small child held up in the air with ease by a Matsumoto who had almost doubled in size. Her dress had ripped at the shoulders exposing her chest and it now hung at her waist like a very short skirt.
"I… said… LET GO!"
The tiny Ibaraki released a burst of energy with a blinding light. It was like a miniature explosion and just enough to force Matsumoto to release her.
The diminished Oni sped away like a streak of light into one of the lateral caves and disappeared from sight before they could chase after her.
"Come back here, bitch! I'm not done with you yet!" Matsumoto roared, but couldn't give chase because with her current frame she couldn't fit through the corridor where Ibaraki had ran into.
"Ma...Matsumoto-san," Shirou called out. "Matsumoto-san, are you alright?"
She whirled on him, eyes ablaze. For a moment, Shirou thought she would pounce on him, but she quickly collected herself.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice back to her normal human timbre as she approached with long strides.
"That's my question," he replied. "What happened here? Where is everyone?"
"They ran away when that thing tore apart your Boundary Fields," she explained.
"I thought that you of all people would have been the most likely to get away. …. You bought them time to escape, didn't you?"
Matsumoto shrugged. "Either I could stop that bitch, or I couldn't, and if I couldn't stop her it was a toss between all of us dying or just me."
"... you are a better person than you give yourself credit for, don't you?"
"Nonsense," she said dismissively, her voice dropping back to the almost demonic growl. "If I could I would have escaped on my own. I couldn't so I just picked the scenario with the least amount of dead people."
Shirou would have said that a lesser person would have watched out for their life first, disregarding how many people they had to trample upon and regardless of their chances of survival.
He had been a person like that, once.
"You are one to talk, anyway. Would you have really done it?" she asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"Would you really have traded your life for mine?" she inquired.
"It's not important," he dismissed, this time. "We should go find Mikoto-san and the others before they get into trouble. Where did they ran off to?"
"That tunnel over there," she said, pointing at yet another cavity. "But it's been a long time."
"Then I better get going if I want to find them before they get lost."
"I can't fit in there right now," she told him.
"I'll go by myself. Are you going to be okay?" he asked instead.
"Of course. As long as this condition lasts, I'm pretty sure that nothing on this island can harm me."
"Okay, then. Please, hold onto this," he said, handing over the sake cup.
"What's this?" she asked.
"Our ticked back to our world. I assume you didn't see Velvet-san? We got separated down below."
"Haven't seen or heard from him since he left with you."
"Okay. Look, if he returns before I do, give it to him and tell him to start working on reversing the ritual."
"Will do," Matsumoto agreed.
"And, uhhh… cover up your chest, maybe?"
Matsumoto looked down at herself. She, who already had breasts that could be called huge was now big enough that Shirou could almost fit his entire body between her lumps.
"A bit late to worry about my modesty, isn't it?" she replied, swatting him over the head. "Go find the girls."
"Alright," he agreed and took off running in the direction where Matsumoto pointed out.
He was getting seriously tired of all this impromptu spelunking. After he returned home, if he never saw a cave again for the rest of his life it would still be too soon.
[br]
"Damn Humans!" Ibaraki shrieked as her diminished form traveled at fast speed through the underground corridor.
Never in her entire existence had she been humiliated in such a way.
How could such an inferior creature dare to steal her power? Even if she killed the insolent cow ten thousand times, it would still not be sufficient to wash away the indignity. Her vengeance would be a thing of legend nonetheless. Her wrath would put the demons of hell to shame and al who stood in her way would have their skull crushed under her feet.
So great was her rage that she didn't notice the soft, wet wall that suddenly appeared in her path until she splatted right into it. The sticky substance wrapped around her like a flytrap.
"What is this? Let go!" she screamed as she trashed around. However in her current state she could no longer break free.
"Well, well, well," said a voice from within the darkness. "What do we have here?"
Ibaraki looked in the direction of that voice, but all she could see was the faint outline of a face with brown hair, illuminated by the cinders of a brown cigar.
"We meet again, Oni."
"Who the hell are you? Are you an ally of that redhead human? I'll kill you! I'll kill you all… Wait… I know you. What happened to you? What are you doing? No! No! Don't you dare. Don't you fucking dare. Nooooh!"
Ibaraki-Doji's screams and pleas fell on deaf hears, as lightning crackled around her and into her, inescapably binding her.
"My name, Oni, is Waver Velvet," he said, stepping closer to the trapped Ibaraki. "You would do better to learn it."
He dropped the cigar and squashed it with his foot.
"Although, I suppose, calling me Master would work just as well from now on."
Thus Ibaraki's rage found fuel to burn even stronger but she had already lost all ability to express it. On that day, she learned that such a thing as rock bottom did not truly exist and that one could fall to even lower depths. Humans and Oni alike.
