Key:
Text
"Speaking, or in-text quote"
'Thoughts'
Additional Emphasis
Year 16 AL, Unexpected Plus One
The storm had completely disappeared by morning. In fact, not a single cloud remained in the sky, the entirety of the bright blue up above remaining unhampered by any covering.
These were the conditions that the Prophet and the Monster Lord found themselves in that morning, and it had thus far remained that way for the duration of their traveling that day. If it wasn't for the significant layer of water leftover in the shining emerald grass, one would think that the storm from the night before had never occurred at all.
Despite preferring cloudy days herself, Alice was happy. Hell, if she had real legs, there might even be a pep in their step.
Alice hadn't been very sure of the reason, but when she had woken up that morning, she had felt completely rejuvenated. Of course, she wasn't all sunshine smiles or anything, but she had felt more content with herself than she had in a long time. The only thing more peculiar about this was the stark contrast that Luka had to her demeanor.
He wasn't sad or angry, but something was definitely off.
For instance, Alice had actually been the first one up that morning and had to wait almost half an hour for Luka to finally get around. Once he did, he had been very slow to pack up his tent, agonizingly slow. Funnily enough, though, Alice hadn't a single complaint about this, and so she had let him take his time even though she would probably be nagging him to hurry up on any regular day. She just didn't feel so inclined now, for some reason.
The other thing she had noticed was how quiet he had been.
Throughout the duration of the morning, Luka hadn't said much more than a mumbled "Good morning" to Alice before starting to pack the rest of his things. The only other notable comment was him saying "Thank you" when the Lamia gave him Angel Halo once he was done. Now, one could assume by the dark circles around his eyes that perhaps he simply hadn't gotten a good night's sleep, but that couldn't be the case. After all, she had successfully saved him sleep with her oral efforts the night before, so he should be fine. Although, that might've actually been part of the issue as, admittedly...
She might've gone a bit overboard.
But it wasn't entirely her fault, it was Luka's too. It wasn't as if she had wanted him to get excited, the boy had gotten that way all by himself. Alice's offer to help him calm down was only done to get him to go back to sleep easier, which was needed because a proper Hero had to be well-rested. So, if she hadn't done what she did, it would be hampering his progress.
'Yeah, that's right. If anything, Luka should be thankful that I was willing to stoop to such lows to help him. I had even used my mouth from the start to make sure it would be all the quicker!' Alice thought, 'He's just lucky that he tastes good, or else I wouldn't have even bothered swallowing it all.'
Hell, she had to continue even after he fell asleep because his erection hadn't gone away after the first climax. So, really, she had gone above and beyond what was necessary to help him by getting him to cum in his sleep, too. Although, one could argue that Alice herself had helped keep Luka's erection up with a particularly thorough cleaning job after he had came the first time...
...Well, either way, she had done her part, and he had gotten a good night's rest because of it.
Alice looked over to the boy at her side, whose sluggish and stumbly gait really emphasized how this may not be the case. Clicking her tongue at the sight, she moved to question him. "Hey, what's been up with you?"
Luka gave a quick "Ehh!?" at her sudden prodding, looking at her with a much more alert gaze. "O-Oh, nothing. I'm just... a bit, uh, out of it, I guess." The boy scratched at his head with a bit of nervous energy. "I think that my mind is just a bit unclear, I-I think..." Alice pursed her lips at his comment, watching as the purple-haired boy raised a hand to his mouth to stifle his oncoming yawn.
'Okay, maybe I did overdo it some.' Alice admitted to herself as she noticed the slight slur in his speech. Then suddenly, an amusing thought hit her. She snickered to herself a bit, arousing Luka's interest. The boy's half-lidded pale blue gaze turned over to her. "Huh?" Luka asked, leading Alice to reply sarcastically.
"Maybe you should try meditating." Alice suggested jokingly. Luka peered at her, further confused by her words. The Lamia elaborated, "You said your mind was unclear, right? Then you should meditate, it might make you feel better." Alice laughed a bit more to herself, not noticing as the boy stopped walking to tilt his head in thought.
Eventually, Alice noticed that Luka had stopped walking alongside her. She turned her golden-eyed gaze over her shoulder, noticing that the boy had closed his eyes and folded his hands in front of himself. "What are you doing?" She asked, watching the boy stand still behind her. He simply answered her with one word, keeping his eyes closed. "Meditating."
Alice rolled her eyes, not believing that he had actually taken the piece of joke advice. The Lamia shook her head, not noticing as the boy's purple hair started to gently flow as if caught in a breeze, despite the fact that there was no wind present. "Luka, I wasn't being serious, you know. Meditating won't actually-"
Before she could finish, his eyes snapped open, a renewed energy showing in them. "Wow! It worked; I'm feeling a lot better now!" Alice watched dumbly as the young Hero started marching forward with a skip in his step, all previous tiredness vanishing. Even the dark circles around his eyes started to fade. "Thanks Alice, that helped a lot!" He called back to her.
"...Huh?" Alice said, disbelieving at what had just happened.
'Did he really just...' She quickly shook her head, '...No, no way. There's no possible way that he actually just made that work...' The Lamia thought, though her mind was still baffled as she followed the boy on their way to Iliasport.
Their traveling led them to another one of the forests of the Ilias Continent. However, this one was a bit different than the ones that Luka was used to. Upon reaching the entrance of the ecosystem, the wetness of the air seemed to grow. That, coupled with the lusher and jungle-like flowers growing even at its edge, led Alice to make a quick observation.
"This is a tropical forest," The Lamia said. The slight edge in her tone caused Luka to go on alert as she continued, "You'd do go to keep a good eye out for any potential plant-like Monsters. They love to ambush unsuspecting boys like you. Especially in places like these." The purple-haired boy cringed at the way she described him but replied curtly, "R-Right."
He scanned the edge of the forest, the odd noises of large bugs and the chirping of birds coming from the heart of the forest. Luka glanced over to Alice, ready to enter, but saw that his lavender-skinned traveling partner was preoccupied with something behind them. He followed her gaze, his pale blue eyes falling on a small collection of shrubbery a couple meters away. He looked back to Alice, who seemed to be analyzing the bushes.
"Is something wrong?" Luka asked, spurring Alice to mutter something under her breath. "...I could've sworn..." She shook her head, softly casting her white hair around. "...Nevermind, let's go." The somewhat confused Hero shrugged his shoulders to himself, pushing forward into the forest. Almost instantly he felt a twinge of uneasiness as the jungle-like noise of the forest grew louder.
The dark brown path they walked was ill-defined and snaked around some. Long and tall leaves of unknown plant life leaned over onto the path, helping to give the indication that the dark brown dirt path that he and Alice currently transversed was not often maintained, if at all. Luka glanced into the densely packed forest around him, hardly able to find any break in the trees at all.
'This place is kinda creepy.' He thought, his mind becoming a bit worried. 'I never even knew that the Ilias Continent had forests like this, and by the looks of it, people don't seem to come through that often.' The small Hero hefted his travel bag on his shoulder, his mouth becoming thin as his nervousness grew. He looked over to Alice, who seemed unaffected by the forest's aura of danger.
"Oh, by the way, I need to tell you something about Blood Fissure Thunder Thrust." Luka felt a flare of annoyance rise at Alice's saying the move's full name, but her golden-eyed gaze meeting his quickly quelled this. "I had meant to tell you yesterday, but your catastrophic failure to test it properly kinda got in my way."
Luka grimaced and said, "Ah, yes. Well, what is it?" The Lamia leveled her gaze at him to reply, "It is best utilized at the start of your battles in order to catch your opponent off guard. If you hit it, you might just win that quickly, or at least heavily wound them. And even if you don't, it'll certainly shake their composure."
The purple-haired boy slowly nodded, "I see..." He smiled a bit, "...Hey, if I scared them bad enough, they might not even want to fight anymore, and so I wouldn't even have to seal them!"
Alice was swift to stomp out that idea with a stern reply, "I wouldn't bet on that, I doubt anyone would be scared of you. It's better to go in for the kill than to take chances." Luka quickly became timid, unintentionally helping prove Alice's point. "I-I guess you're right..."
Rustle Rustle
Luka jerked, looking over his shoulder at the sound of something moving in the foliage behind him. He kicked up some of the wet dirt below while turning around, his pale blue eyes squinted, and his body tensed as he focused in on the noise. He noticed as some leaves from large ferns swayed up and down in the thicket before him, the movement indicating that there was something there...
Luka took a quick glance to his side, confirming that Alice had indeed disappeared. 'Yeah, has to be a Monster, then.' Slowly, he began shouldering off his traveling bag. If the Monsters here were more dangerous like Alice said, it'd be best to have full movement ready on the get-go. He held his right hand aloft in front of himself, firmly placing his left on the hilt of Angel Halo.
The trilling and chirping of the wildlife rose to a loud and high-pitched chorus around him, the forest seeming to come to life. The sudden wave of chaotic trilling caused his hair to stand on end. He broke his staring away from the spot where the ferns had been rustling, casting his insecure gaze around the trees. "N-Now, where are you?" He whispered to himself, the sound of his own voice giving him a minute amount of comfort.
Rustle Rustle Rustle
His eyes practically flew back to where he had first heard the sound of movement. At first, his eyes were small and focused when looking back to the spot, but they quickly went wide when he saw what was there. Or rather, who.
"L-Lona!?" He said in a stupor, the name flying out of his mouth on instinct.
Indeed, standing before him, was the Elf girl he had fought in the forests surrounding Enrika. Still in her sealed form, the former Dark Elf stood probably only as tall as one of the Four Bandits from Iliasburg. To his immense thankfulness, the short Elf girl was wearing clothing. Funnily enough, it seemed to be the same dress he had remembered her wearing when they were both much younger, which consisted of a light green dress with a bright gold trim running along the bottom just above her knees.
The blonde-haired Monster girl gave a friendly wave, though her dull brown eyes were anxious. "H-Hey, th-there!"
Luka's mouth hung open slightly, nothing but pure confusion evident on his face. He shook his head, before finally looking at her again in question. "You... wh-what are you doing here?" After chasing her off in Enrika, Luka had figured that he wouldn't see the girl again so quickly, especially just a day later. Not that he didn't want to see her again, but it still came as a surprise to him.
Lona cringed at his question, her tone uncertain as she stepped closer. "Heh, well, you see... I..." The small Elf girl wrung her hands together in a nervous manner. "...I-I just wanted to thank you." Luka was taken off-guard by the statement, his body finally relaxing. He tilted his head as he replied, "You wanted to thank me for... fighting you?"
The girl's face faltered a bit at his words, "Not specifically for fighting me, no. But whatever you did, it helped cure me." Luka rose to full height, his mind whirling at her statement. "Ehh, I'm sorry, I'm still not sure what you mean."
Lona's nervousness finally melted away, her face now showing a twinge of frustration. "I'm talking about when you sealed me. It fixed me, somehow, and now I'm no longer a Dark Elf!" Luka felt like slapping himself, 'Of course that's what she meant! Even Alice had remarked how Angel Halo's sealing had reverted her back to a regular Elf!'
"Oh! Yes, that's right!" Luka exclaimed quickly, "Well, um, you're welcome. For that." He abruptly finished, still not entirely sure how to approach the situation. He was glad that he had cured Lona of her Degeneration, but was that really why she followed him all this way for? It seemed like a bit much, to him. The Elf girl in question shuffled in place, her dull brown eyes dropping away from his gaze. Luka couldn't help but feel a bit out-of-sorts himself, the exchange between the two becoming more and more awkward as it went on.
"...So, are you planning on going back to Enrika now? Or..." He trailed off, not quite sure what else to say.
Lona's dull-brown eyes raised back up to meet his as she replied, a somewhat hopeful gleam in her tone. "Well, a-actually I was kinda wondering..." The Elf bit her lip, "...I-If I could..." Luka raised an eyebrow at Lona's nervous stuttering, not used to being the less nervous one.
However, her stuttering fell out of focus as a curious thought came to his mind. 'Why is Alice still gone? Surely, she didn't disappear because of Lona...' The thought caused him to make an abrupt realization. '...Unless I haven't seen the actual Monster yet!' Luka tensed up once again, the familiar paranoia coming to him much to Lona's confusion.
The Elf girl's blonde hair ruffled as she tilted her head at his behavior, "Is there something wrong?" She asked, to which the boy did not immediately answer. His pale blue eyes looked through the trees again, noticing that the volume that the forest had before was gone. It was almost completely silent now. "I've just got a bad feeling..." Luka nervously flexed and unflexed his fingers, not sure how else to explain how he knew that there was a Monster nearby.
Luka perked up as suddenly a very peculiar smell began to invade his nostrils. It was a pleasant type of wet smell, much like morning dew after a night of rain. The purple-haired boy paused, the scent throwing him for a loop, as he hadn't smelled anything like it since first entering the forest. "Huh, that's weird. Do you smell that?" Lona looked at him curiously, "Smell what?" She asked before sniffing at the air. The sealed Elf flinched, "Whoa, that's..." Suddenly, the girl faltered in her speech. Luka watched on as her eyes became unfocused, and she suddenly started falling!
"Lona!" Luka exclaimed, rushing to the small Elf girl's side. He grabbed the girl's arm, holding her steady. She sluggishly latched onto him with a tight grip, having to lean on his arm just to stand upright. "L-Luka, what's..." The girl failed to continue her question, swaying as she stood by his side.
The young Hero wildly looked around as the smell began to grow stronger, filling his nostrils with its sweet smell. At first, Luka had found the scent pleasantly sweet, but now it was overpowering. He could almost feel it like a mist in the air now. What began to trouble him was that the smell was starting to build a familiar warm haze inside of his head. Luka gritted his teeth upon hearing a girly voice laugh out from the trees.
"Ahahahaaa, look at what we've caught here!~" The voice said, a light bounce to her voice, as if on the cusp of singing.
"Hmmm, he s-smells like vanilla too, how s-sweet..." Luka was confused as what seemed to be the same voice spoke an octave lower, with a more timid tone to her speech. He whirled around, coming face to face with the Monster who began crawling out of the forestry. The boy kept a firm grip on Lona as the Monster revealed herself.
This Monster had to be the oddest he had seen thus far, as its main body was that of a Rafflesia plant. The five large petals were bright red with multiple uniformed white dots and had large droplets of dew-like substance recreating out of them. From the middle of the flowers poked out not just one, but two feminine torsos that were held up by segmented green stems. The torsos - as always, it seemed - were completely bare, the Monster's two different sets of slick breasts on full display as she crept closer.
Luka groaned at the sight of the naked flesh, 'Is clothing oneself really so difficult!?' He forced his eyesight upwards but found it difficult to figure which pair of eyes to meet, as the Monster had two different heads. One of them, the taller one, faced him fully with a confident smile, her green eyes looking him up and down through her shaggy green hair. The other one seemed less bold, halfway hiding behind the first one and only giving him a sideways glance with a single eye, as the other eye was covered with her green bangs.
Both of the heads had odd brown protrusions that looked like the parts of a flower's stamen coming out of their foreheads, the organs waving around wildly. To his strong displeasure, Luka also noticed that coming out of the middle of the flower along with the torsos were multiple green tentacles. He shivered but fought down the panic that rose in him. He had to stay calm. He couldn't freak out like last time.
The plant Monster slunk closer, the "main" head eyeing Luka down with a salacious smile. "Ahaa, what a cute boy he is, too!~" She looked down to Lona with a befuddled glint in her gaze, "Ehh, could do without the kid, though. Won't need her, when we'll be making plenty of our own~"
The "secondary" head's lone eye looked him up and down as well with a longing gaze, "Hmmm, I wonder if our children's pedals will be purple like his hair..." Her torso shuddered, "...Aa-Ahh, I-I want to find out, now..."
Luka fought to ignore the way the timider one's breasts bounced alongside her shuddering and faced them with a hardened gaze while pulling Lona behind himself. "Hey, n-none of that! I'm not wanting any trouble from you two, I just want to get to Iliasport!" The more confident torso perked up at his words, "Two? Ahahaa, oh no, we are not two. We are one entity, just with two heads." She winked, "And who doesn't love more head?~"
The shy torso leaned out from behind the other, "Yes, we are one. T-Two halves to the same w-whole..." She paused, her body shivering again. "Hmmm, and we have many holes n-needing to be f-filled..."
Luka grimaced at the Monster's lewd words, shaking his head at their behavior. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in those things. Just let me leave in peace, and..." Luka paused, the strong scent of sweet dew invading his nose. He clamped a hand over his nose, the overbearing smell becoming too much for him now. "...O-Okay, wh-what the heck is that smell!?" He exclaimed.
The main head smiled wider, her teeth on full display. "Ahahahaa, that is my sweet pheromones. It'll get you all hot and hazy, so you're easier to breed with~" The Monster dragged itself closer, the secondary head muttering, "Hmmm, o-oh, keep huffing my scent in, pl-please. It gets m-me all worked up..."
Luka glanced down to Lona, who looked worse for wear. 'That must be why she's acting all groggy, then. The smell must be affecting her, too." Luka shook her gently, trying to get the sealed Elf to focus. "Lona, get somewhere safe. I don't think these two- Er, I mean, I don't think she's going to back down." The blonde-haired Elf wearily nodded her head, "O-Okay, be careful..." Lona said, stumbling off of the dirt path to watch on from the underbrush.
The purple-haired Hero finally took Angel Halo off of his back, pointing the wicked-looking blade at his foe while trying to igore his growing heat. "I'll warn you; I am prepared to do what I must!" Luka declared, taking a low stance. The Monster eyed his weapon with a bit of hesitation, seemingly not ready to actually fight for his seed.
"Aww, w-why make this so hard? Come on, just get over here and pollinate me like a good boy~" The confident head said, though her eyes were a bit nervous now. More concerning to Luka was the fact that the timid head looked more excited now. "O-Oh, you want to fight first? A-Ah, d-don't hold b-back then. I-I like it r-rough..." Luka watched as a couple of the green tentacles flew forward towards him, the limbs looking grab him!
"Hiyaa!" He yelled, batting away two different sets of tentacles with Angel Halo and cutting the tip off of one with a quick horizontal swipe.
"Ouch!" The main head exclaimed.
"Aa-ahh~" The secondary one... gasped?
"Umm..." Luka murmered, not quite liking that noise. However, he had little time to think about that, as a second volley of tentacles came to attack him! Luka was swift in his reaction and swiped at the oncoming tentacles once more, but this time, one of them ducked around his attack and grabbed him by his ankle. With a grunt, the purple-haired boy slipped as he was yanked on roughly by his left leg.
"G-Gaah!" He yelled, feeling his body being dragged towards the plant girl. The Monster's main head grinned, "A-ha! Now I have you, time to pollinate me with your sperm!~" Luka fought against the pull, planting his right foot into the wet dirt below. They came to a standstill, neither side having quite enough strength to overpower the other.
"O-Oh, he's strong. H-He must have very good g-genes. Hmmm, my pistil is a-aching for him..." Once the secondary head spoke, more tentacles slithered over to Luka, but the boy fought them back as they tried to restrain his arms. After some struggle, he was able to push himself up off the ground to stand, the tentacle still wrapped around his left ankle. He raised Angel Halo up, prepared to cut at the tentacle, when an idea struck him.
'Wait, Alice basically said that Thunder Thrust was best used when an opponent is unsuspecting. If that's so...' Luka grinned at his own realization, pointing Angel Halo towards the plant girl as he built up magic to perform the attack.
"Thunder Thrust!"
The two heads recoiled at his yell, watching as the boy jumped forward, letting the tentacle pull him as well. He flew towards the Rafflesia Monster and ferociously stabbed into the heart of the flower, right between the two torsos.
"AAHH-HAA!" The confident head yelled.
"OHH!~" The timid one... groaned?
Luka grimaced, quickly pulling his sword out and moving back to keep away from the plant girl's potential follow-up. However, he stumbled, his proximity forcing him to breath on a particularly large amount of the Monster's erotic aroma. The boy nearly fell, a wave of pleasure hitting him and - embarrassingly enough - he felt himself get just a bit excited. He fiercely shook his head, forcing himself to stay focused and put distance between himself and the two-head plant girl.
Thankfully, the Monster was a bit preoccupied, staring at the very large gash that was scarring over in it's flower body. "H-Hey!" The main head yelled, "What the heck was that? D-Did you just drain me?!" The secondary head had a much more peculiar reaction, her face covered in a deep blush. "Haa, haa, wh-why'd you have to p-pull out so quick? Ohh, you sh-should've gone d-deeper~"
Luka gawked at the bizarre comment, almost forgetting about the fact that he was in a fight when another tentacle grabbed him by the leg! However, even more strangely, it did not come from the Monster in front of him. This much he knew, because this tentacle was purple and had come from behind...
"L-Luka, behind you!" Lona's weak voice called out too late, as shortly after, the young hero fell face first and was dragged backwards across the dirt. The two-headed Monster he had been fighting screamed out "Hey!" in unison as Luka turned and looked to what was dragging him away this time.
"Heehee, got you, you little morsel." The owner of the haughty voice was an overwhelming sight. The purple-haired Monster was a Roper girl, a Monster infamous for it's cruel feeding habits. The very bottom "foot" of her body was bright green and seemed to be armored. The segment right above it was starkly different, being fleshy and dark red. Luka noted with some disgust as this area seemed to be secreting some sort of thick liquid.
Above that was another, larger section of bright green armor but also had three red eye-like organs running up its middle. From this section of her body is where the Monster's eight large tentacle arms sprouted, one of which currently being wrapped around his leg. The Monster's purple eyes stared down hungrily at the boy, her long tongure running over her lips with a wet slurping noise.
Luka felt the hair on the back of his neck bristle at the lecherous sight, and he immediately stabbed at the offending limb wrapped around his leg. "Get off!" He yelled, thrusting Angel Halo through the purple tentacle. The Monster let out a low hiss, as mass of purple flesh was cut off from Luka's attack. However, she did not slow in her advances, more of her wet tentacles snaking their way over to him.
"Let go of him, you greedy pig! I saw him first!" Luka, having forgotten about the Rafflesia he was already fighting, was caught by multiple green tentacles grabbing him by his right arm. He looked over his shoulder, watching as the two-headed plant Monster grabbed at him while glaring at the newcomer. "D-Don't touch him, his s-seed is all f-for me!"
The young Hero gave a gasp of pain as the Roper's purple tentacles tightly grasped his left hand, causing Angel Halo to drop from his grip. He watched in horror as the sword dropped to his feet, leaving him defenseless. The Roper, meanwhile, replied to the Rafflesia in indignation. "Know your place, you pathetic plant. This boy is for me to feed on now!" The purple-haired Monster redoubled her efforts, yanking on Luka roughly.
Luka yelped as the Rafflesia pulled back. "As if, go slurp down a squirrel or something!" The Rafflesia's main torso declared as more of its tentacles grabbed at him. The secondary added its own comment, "Y-Yeah, this boy is ours to slurp on!" Luka gritted his teeth, the two Monster's opposite pulling causing great strain in his arms.
'They're going to rip me apart!' Luka thought in a panic, squirming in the increasingly painful game of tug-o-war between the two Monsters. He felt his shoulder sockets start to burn as more of the tentacles from each Monster wrapped around his arms, their tight grips squeezing down on his forearms and wrists. Slowly, he began being dragged towards the Roper, the larger Monster being the stronger of the two.
"AAHH!" Luka finally yelled in pain, spurring very surprising interference in the form of a small, sealed Elf girl. Having forgotten that Lona was still in the area, Luka was dumbfounded as the blonde-haired girl dived for Angel Halo, roughly landing the dirt before quickly standing upright once more with the hilt in hand.
The Roper girl stared at the Elf in confusion as she hefted the sword up, her arms shaking from the effort. "Wh-What are you..." The purple-haired Monster started, watching in alarm as Lona swung Angel Halo down towards her tentacles! "...H-Hey, don't you dare-"
Slice
"RRAAH!" The Roper screamed out in as that set of tentacles writhed around, their ends cauterizing as they retracted back towards the Roper. The Rafflesia girl's two sets of eyes widened at the display, their tentacles letting go of Luka as Lona rounded over to their side. The purple-haired Hero fell to a knee, holding both arms close to his body as Lona rushed to his side and unsteadily held Angel Halo in her hands.
"Whoa, whoa! Don't come swinging that freaky thing at me, you brat!" The main head warned, her face steeled. The secondary head slunk back behind the first one, her nerve lost as well. "I-I want him th-thrusting into me, not you! St-stay back..."
Luka glanced up to Lona, meeting the Elf's gaze as she looked down at him at the same time. "L-Luka, are you a-alright!?" The purple-haired boy was unable to answer, as the enraged Roper girl's yell filled the forest. "You should worry about yourself, kid!" The Monster's purple tentacles came into view, wrapping around Lona's torso and yanking her backward!
"AHH!" The girl shrieked, Angel Halo falling from her hands. Luka's eyes widened at the attack, scrambling to his feet to reach his sword when the green-haired Rafflesia girl went on attack once more, tripping him by the leg yet again. "Hey!" He yelled, looking back to the plant in anger, "Let me GO!"
The plant just laughed, "Ahaa, no way! Let the Roper have her snack, I don't care as long as I get to pollinate~" The now confident-again head cackled, and the timid one followed suit. "Hmmm, yes, let me rub my pollen all over you..." Luka heard Lona shriek again, his gaze snapping forward to see the short Elf being pulled closer to the drooling Roper girl.
"Come on!" The young Hero hissed to himself, before an idea came to his mind. He slammed his hands together, calling forth his Magic.
"Shield of Heaven!"
Luka's call filled the air as a large white dome fell around him, cutting off all of the attacking tentacles and causing them to unravel off of both Lona and Luka.
"DAMN IT!" The Roper screamed, blood spewing from her cut-off tentacles.
"GAAHH!" The main head of the Rafflesia girl yelled, blood coming from her's as well.
"O-O-OHHH!!~" The... secondary head... screamed in ecstasy...
Luka ignored the interesting reaction, rushing over to Lona's side. "Lona, Lona, are you hurt?" He asked as the smaller Elf heaved. She grabbed at his arm, shaking as she tried to right herself. "I-I think I'm fine..." She responded, coughing all the while. Luka raised his gaze to the Roper girl in front of him, glaring down the Monster. The Roper met his glare with a look of fierce anger, her tentacles writhing crazily.
"I-I'm going to squeeze your fucking neck for that!" The purple-haired Monster spat, rearing back and slamming a tentacle into Luka's shield. She gawked as her attack bounced of uselessly, barely causing the shield to waver. Luka felt the slight destabilization, but the wall of Magic remained strong. "H-Huh?" The carnivorous Monster said, "What the Hell is this?"
From behind him, Luka felt the Rafflesia poke and prod into his shield, her tentacles harmlessly bouncing off. "E-Eh, you brought protection? That's not fair!" The main head exclaimed, the secondary whining soon after, "H-Hey, let me in! My pistil is th-throbbing..." Luka sucked in some breaths, feeling as the soreness of his shoulders really began to set in.
'I need to finish this fast. The longer this goes on, the worse it'll get...' The young Hero thought, his gaze bouncing between the two Monsters on either side. '...The Roper is certainly the more dangerous of the two, but I can't take my eye off the Rafflesia for too long either.' He sighed, definitely feeling out of his element. That, and the lingering scent of the Rafflesia was still making it hard for him to think straight. Finally, he looked back down to Lona, who was shakily watching the Roper stare down the two.
An idea came to his mind, though it wasn't a surefire one. But the Rafflesia seemed to be hesitant when Lona had a weapon, so...
He looked over to where his traveling bag had been left and thankfully, it was inside the shield. "Lona..." He said, bringing her attention onto him, "...G-Go get my bag, please. I have a plan." She gave a hesitant nod, running over to get the bag while the two Monsters outside began to argue.
"You stupid, awful-smelling creature! Can't you just turn that off!?" The Roper girl exclaimed, apparently having started to become affected by the Rafflesia's scent.
"Turn my smell off? No way, I need it to turn him on!" The confident head proclaimed, while the timider one whispered, "W-We need him nice and h-h-hard for our p-pistil. How else could he im-impregnate us?"
"He isn't going to impregnate you, you foul flower; he is going to feed me for weeks!" The Roper responded, her eyes now somewhat hazy as she glared at the Rafflesia.
Luka was thankful that Lona returned quickly, as he was really not interested in hearing the debate over his body. He kneeled and reached for it carefully, having to focus his magic on keeping the barrier up as he opened his traveling bag. Once doing so, he reached deep in, pulling out something he hadn't thought he'd need again:
His Father's sword.
"Here," He presented the weapon to Lona, who looked at it with wide eyes. "Take this and distract that Rafflesia, I'll handle the Roper." Lona shook, holding the sword warily. It shook in her grip, the sword being a good deal heavier than Angel Halo, which had already given her problem enough.
"I-I don't know, Luka..." She said, but he quickly shook his head. "It'll be fine, just keep her away from me for just a little bit and I'll handle the rest, okay?" He gave her a quick smile, "I promise."
Lona seemed to find some confidence, giving the boy a firm nod. "A-Alright!" Luka wearily stood to full height, eyeing the distracted Roper as he slowly moved to grab Angel Halo off the ground.
'Okay, just take this one out quick, Luka. Lona probably won't be able to hold off the Rafflesia for very long.' That, and he wouldn't stand for her getting hurt on his behalf. He'd make sure she wouldn't.
Lona slowly moved into position behind Luka as the boy readied himself, standing right next to his still-discarded weapon. He could feel her shaking behind him as he took a breath, and then he went for it. In an instant, he dropped Shield of Heaven, surprising both Monsters. Without missing a beat, Luka squatted down and grabbed Angel Halo, rushing towards the bewildered Roper.
"Thunder Thrust!" He yelled out, charging the Monster as it tried to ready its cut-off tentacles to count. However, it was too slow, and Luka rammed his sword straight into her chest! The Roper's eyes widened, a sickening wet coughing noise coming from her throat as she was pierced by Angel Halo. However, the battle was not over yet.
Still wheezing from the near-fatal attack, the Roper's tentacles all converged onto Luka, somewhat weakly wrapping around him in an attempt to cocoon and squeeze him. The young Hero heard Lona shout something behind him, but he forced his worry for her down to focus on the Monster in front of him. He yanked on Angel Halo, eliciting another wet gasp from the Monster currently latched onto him.
"Y-You, I-I'll throttle you..." The Monster hissed, her multiple limbs starting to hold him aloft. Luka felt waves of panic hitting him as he kept tugging at his sword. One of the Roper's tentacles tried to disarm him, but he kept an iron grip on his weapon as he finally got Angel Halo free and raised it high. He brought it down at an angle, striking the creature right between her shoulder and neck.
With a strained croak, the Monster released him, her tentacles limply dropping to the ground. Luka fell out of her grip, roughly landing on his back as the purple-haired Monster before him started to disappear. The purple-haired boy quickly rolled off of his back and pushed himself up to face where Lona and the Rafflesia girl were at...
...And both of them were staring at the boy with eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"Ahahaa... Uh, you know what? I-I actually d-don't feel like pollinating so much anymore. I-I'll just b-be going now!" The main head said, all confidence now gone. The timid head said nothing, her one visible eye tightly closed shut as she quivered. Luka quickly raised Angel Halo to point at the Rafflesia. "Hey, not so fast!" He said, causing the Monster to stop in her tracks.
Quickly, the Rafflesia started waving her tentacles as if to call the boy off. "N-No! I swear I won't mess with you! I-I'll leave you alone, just let me live!" Luka lowered his sword but kept his face stern. "Just one second, I need you to promise me that you won't be attacking anybody else like that after I'm gone."
The Monster's red and white petals shook, her fear evident in her wide green eyes. "I-I promise that I won't! I-I'll be good, I'll only pollinate with whoever wants to!" She declared. The secondary head came back around, nodding her head at Luka vigorously. The purple-haired boy looked them up and down warily, trying to gauge how much of their declaration was honest and how much was just fear talking.
In the end, he decided to give them the benefit of his doubt and placed Angel Halo on his back. "Alright, then. But if I hear anything about a Rafflesia girl causing trouble here..." He trailed off, to which the plant Monster shook her head, "O-Oh no, I won't be doing any of that anymore! I sw-swear it!"
With that, the Monster scurried off into the brush, vanishing from took a huge breath in and released it quietly, 'Man, that was a lot...' He thought, turning his attention to the short Elf girl staring up at him. He offered her a weak thumbs up and a shaky smile, but the shock in her dull-brown eyes did not fade as she walked up to him, still haphazardly holding his Father's sword in her hands. Lona walked up to him, presenting the blade to the boy, who took it gratefully. "Thank you, Lona..." He said, taking the blade back over to his traveling bag for safekeeping. Lona watched him with a nervous smile as he put the weapon up and turned to her. "...Now-"
"What the Hell, was THAT!?"
Luka was very abruptly cut off as Alice suddenly appeared out of nowhere, her face showing the most disbelief he had ever seen from the Lamia. The young Hero physically jumped, turning to the side to see the golden-eyed Monster emerge from the forest. "I-I'm not sure what y-you mean..." He said, to which Alice was more than ready to elaborate. She slithered up to him, an almost accusatory look in her gaze.
"I'm talking about th-that thing you did, that weirdo barrier-dome... thing!" She exclaimed, pantomiming the shape of the dome with her hands as she did. "I never taught you something like that!"
Luka's face widened in realization. "Ah, ohhh... You mean Shield of Heaven? That's the technique Micaela taught me!" Lona's eyes widened at Luka's explanation, "Wow, Micaela taught you that? No way!" Luka looked at the sealed Elf in curiousity, but his attention was brought back to Alice, who now seemed quite perturbed.
"Oh... that's what Micaela showed you?" Luka nodded in response to Alice's question, his shoulder-length purple-hair shaking along with his movement. "Yeah! It's pretty neat, I meant to show you it before, but..." Luka faltered, suddenly looking very confused. "...Wait, what did you think she showed me?"
All was silent as both Lona and Luka waited for an explanation, but Alice just crossed her arms. "Th-That's none of your concern..." The Lamia looked down to Lona, swiftly changing the subject. "...So you're the one who was following us, then? I knew I was sensing something yesterday."
The sealed Elf bristled, looking away from Alice's direct stare. "Y-Yeah, I followed you two since you left Enrika. I meant to reveal myself to you both sooner because I wanted to thank Luka for helping revert me into a regular Elf. However, I kept losing my nerve." Lona squirmed a bit, her hands grasping at her small green dress. Luka perked, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down at the Elf with a wide smile.
"Well, I'm glad that you did follow us. You really helped me out back there. I practically owe you my life!" He said. Lona looked over to Luka, a small tinge of red painting her face, "I couldn't j-just let them hurt you l-like that..." Alice eyed the sealed Elf with suspicion, the white-haired Monster not quite appreciating her fellow Monster's behavior.
"So," Alice began as she crossed her arms. "Since you've gotten to give your thanks and all that, I'm sure you'll be on your way, then?" Lona flinched at the question, her face showing the wave of nervousness currently attacking her. "A-A-Actually, I-I was wondering that m-maybe, if L-Luka didn't mind, I c-could... tag along?" The sealed Elf tentatively said.
Lona's offer instantly caused a gut reaction to come from both Luka and Alice. The purple-haired Hero looked at Lona with a bit of surprise, not having expected that the Eof would want to come with him. In a way, they were somewhat familiar, but only really on a surface level. After all NBCbefore yesterday, he had only met her when he was a toddler, and that was for a handful of minutes, at best. However, he did feel flattered that she'd feel so strongly as to even offer such a thing.
Alice, on the other hand, was extremely opposed to the notion and was quick to let her feelings on the subject known. "This isn't just some vacation trip we're on. Luka's going to fight the Monster Lord, so he can't be babysitting half-pints like you while he's trying to get there." Lona's expression became downright dismal at Alice's dismissive words, but Luka quickly intervened.
"Hey, don't say that, Alice..." The young Hero said, turning to look up at his traveling partner. "... Even when sealed, Lona helped me out quite a bit just now. I don't think it's such an awful idea." The small Elf's face brightened at the boy's words, but Alice didn't look so convinced.
"She might've been of help here, sure, but that was due to happenstance. If you needed her to do anything more than clumsily swing a sword around, you would've been a goner." Alice closed her eyes while turning her head away, "As long as she's sealed, she'll be more of a burden to you than anything else!"
Alice's harsh words seemed to bring the entire mood down. Luka disheartenly looked on as Lona became even more dour, her brown-eyed gaze locked firmly on the ground. "Sh-She's right, Luka. I-I should've just stayed in Enrika..."
Luka frowned, both at how the small Elf was now acting and at how brutally Alice had just criticized her. He couldn't argue against the Lamia's logic, though. As long as Lona was sealed, she'd be liable to get into trouble more than she'd be able to get him out of it. This particular fight had been won by the skin of their teeth, and they had lucked out on the Rafflesia losing her nerve at the end. If anything had gone wrong, Lona would probably have been unable to do more than watch as Luka was either consumed or raped...
...Unless.
"Hey," Luka said, an idea coming to his mind. "What if she was unsealed then? You said before that Monsters eventually will return to their regular forms, but is there a way to speed that up?"
Alice leveled a very stern glare down at Luka, who met it with a pleading gaze. The Monster Lord and Ilias's Prophet kept the staring contest while Lona watched on, a twinge of hope coming back to her. Finally, much like before in Enrika, Alice couldn't find it in her to battle off his sickeningly adorable facade and relented to him.
"...There is another way, yes. If another being gives their energy to her, then she can be unsealed right now, no problem." Luka smiled brightly as he said, "S-So we can unseal her just like that, then?"
The white-haired Lamia nodded, "Yes, either of us could. Though I'd ought to do it, as giving energy from Monster to Monster is much easier and quicker than from Humans to Monsters..." Alice said, leaving out the fact that the process with Humans required a great deal more intimacy.
Alice slithered over to Lona, begrudgingly lowering her gloved hand onto the short blonde Elf's head. Alice's hand shimmered, a dark purple glow seeming to emit from it. Luka watched on, his eyes wide with awe as his traveling partner began to share a very miniscule amount of her power with Lona.
However, there was something that Luka hadn't thought of. It was a unforeseen consequence that his wonder-filled eyes would unintentionally feast upon as Lona went from her childlike sealed form to her unsealed adult form...
...For he hadn't accounted for the fact that Lona was not currently wearing adult-sized clothing.
RIP
As Lona returned to normal size, the now white-haired Elf small green dress ripped open, revealing the Monster's naked peach skin to both Luka and Alice.
"WHAA!?" Lona screamed, quickly trying to cover her privates.
"G-G-GAAH!!" Luka shouted while slamming his hands over eyes.
Alice just rolled her golden eyes.
"A-Alice, w-wh-what the heck?" Luka exclaimed, turning in the Lamia's general direction although the effort was difficult, due to his self-afflicted blindness. The white-haired Monster became indignant, "What do you mean, "Alice!?" I did what you asked me to!"
Luka shook his head, "W-Well c-couldn't have you Magiced up L-L-Lona some clothes while y-you were at it?" The annoyed Lamia crossed her arms, giving a great huff. "I'm a Monster, not a Magician! What, you think I have some sort of clothes beam I can shoot at her!?"
Lona, completely besides herself - and a bit cold now - exclaimed, "C-C-Can we just get m-me something to wear, PLEASE!?" Luka turned to the Elf, or rather where he assumed she was, as he responded. "There's s-some blankets in m-my traveling bag, you can wrap up in one of those, I g-guess..."
Alice looked on, half-amused and half-annoyed, as the blushing Elf tried to keep herself covered while she bent down to grab the bag. Alice looked from Lona to Luka, who was standing as still as the trees around them. The purple-haired boy kept his gloved hands over his eyes, a heavy blush on his on face.
'This boy is hopeless. He's already seen plenty ofnaked Monster bodies so far. It really shouldn't faze him by this point...'Alice thought, shaking her head at his behavior. Luka's spoke up once again as Lona rifled through his bag, "W-When we get to Iliasport, I'll try to find you something to wear, o-okay?" The white-haired Elf didn't answer, her attention still on finding something that can provide her decent cover...
...That, and Lona was trying very hard to push down the excitment she had gotten from the split-second Luka had seen her naked...
And so now we have out first member of Luka's "party". Shenanigans abound, to be sure. Though it will also be sure to make things a bit more interesting as well. There will be more, but they won't stay along with Alice and Luka for too long, so don't expect Luka to have an entire entourage by the time he gets to Hellgondo.
As funny as that image is to think of, it would damper the emotional impact a bit, I think.
Just to clear up something, yes Lona's hair does keep changing on purpose, there'll be an explanation for that in the next chapter.
Guest: Unfortunately probably not here. But it is an option for any future stories...
Joe Biden: Thank you, I think.
espioll: Promestein's fate will be an interesting one. Her and Black Alice both, I should say.
Speaking of, the distinction I made with Black Alice about her DNA is very important. Yes, previous Monster Lords would've had Human blood, but my headcanon is that they would have much more Monster DNA than Human DNA. But Black Alice here, will be the anomally.
Comparatively, Black Alice is similar to how Luka is with his genes, with both sides being about half. They're like two sides to the same chaotic coin: One is Half-Human and Half-Monster, while one is Half-Human and Half Angel.
This is a very story-important distinction, and plays a part in my interpretation to how Black Alice's and Heinrich's battle went down, and how Black Alice was "saved" by Ilias.