122 – Biting Back
<span style="font-weight:400">We left Jonangu Shrine as quickly as possible because the st and falling tree had alerted a lot of people to the area. A nearby apartment building''s rooftop provided us some semnce of privacy. After giving Taleia and Yumi some space, the rebellious, teary-eyed subus returned to me with a solemn apology.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Sarena captured Mio and Selene because she took advantage of my weakness. I don''t know if I will ever earn your forgiveness, but I will do whatever I can to make things right. Whatever punishment awaits me is deserved," Taleia said, making an effort to sound as genuine as possible.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Well, as long as you''ve learned your lesson." I folded my arms and sighed.
<span style="font-weight:400">The excess trouble Taleia brought affected all subus. Including the ones that were about to betray me when I became human. After all, they were a race that followed one another. A human leading subi would have been a hard pill to swallow.
<span style="font-weight:400">Although… <i><span style="font-weight:400">They</i><span style="font-weight:400"> had a more direct hand in trying to rape me, so punishment might be appropriate there.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Now that you''re safe and sound, why don''t you tell us what you were nning to do?" I asked Taleia.
<span style="font-weight:400">She raised her head, shocked. "You''re not… going to punish me?"
<span style="font-weight:400">"You still have the wrong perception of me. I''m not like Beatrice. I never will be. Besides, I get that you did it for Yumi. Punishing you for something I''d probably pull for my own sister would be wrong. There <i><span style="font-weight:400">is </i><span style="font-weight:400">a certain group of subus I want to punish though…"
<span style="font-weight:400">When Taleia turned to Yumi, the elder sister simply smiled.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Saeko is possibly the kindest queen we''ve never had," Yumi said, much to my embarrassment.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I…" Taleia pressed her fingers together in a shameful disy of guilt. "Sarena gave me an enchanted bomb… If I used it to blow myself up, she would ensure the subus in this world would be spared. I thought doing so would make up for what I did…"
<span style="font-weight:400">Yumi held her younger sister tightly tofort her.
<span style="font-weight:400">That damn Sarena. People were all pawns to her. Taleia, the elven artifact hunters, and even myself… We yed into her hands, and she now had the power to back up whatever schemes were on her mind.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Taleia, can you tell us anything you might know about Sarena''s ns and where she is so we can stop her?" I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">She shook her head. "I don''t know. Sarena chose to meet me at a park, but I''m pretty sure she hade from elsewhere. Regarding what her ns with the sword are, I''m not entirely sure either. She was really secretive about it. Even when the light elves who were with her mentioned something about a deal with the Goddess of Everlight, Sarena snapped at them to be quiet."
<span style="font-weight:400">Goddess of Everlight?
<span style="font-weight:400">From what Shayle had told me earlier, that was the goddess that cursed the faction of elves with infertility for siding with the demon lord. But what did a subus have to gain for bargaining with her? Certainly not to help the dark elves with their ailment, otherwise Sarena would have been more open with Shayle about her ns.
<span style="font-weight:400">The fact that the ones helping Sarena were all light elves and not a single dark elf made it all the more suspicious.
<span style="font-weight:400">"It appears we have no lead. What shall we do?" Yumi inquired.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Wait!" Taleia lit up.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Did you remember something?" I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"As I was flying away, I distinctly heard them talk about a shrine to make contact with the goddess. But is there such a ce on Earth to do so?"
<span style="font-weight:400">If there was such a ce…
<span style="font-weight:400">When I turned to Yumi for any ideas, she said, "It would have to be a ce where the veil between our worlds has weakened. Perhaps ces where portals have been ripped open previously?"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Like the ce where all you subus were first transported?" I put forward, furrowing my brows in thought.
<span style="font-weight:400">Both Taleia and Yumi nced at each other with their mouths agape.
<span style="font-weight:400">"That must be Fukuo Shrine then," Taleia said.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Fukuo… Shrine? That''s where I fought Beatrice." Recalling that battle sent shivers down my spine and not the sexually pleasurable kind.
<span style="font-weight:400">Just remembering how ass-clenchingly close that battle was enough to put the fear back into me. Come to think of it, Beatrice had also briefly transformed me back into a boy at the time. These damn subus think they can mess with my gender… Mio, Beatrice, and then Sarena which made three.
<span style="font-weight:400">My gender wasn''t something to mess with!
<span style="font-weight:400">"What do you think, Saeko?" Yumi asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"It''s our only lead, so we should at least investigate."
<span style="font-weight:400">Using the artifact Shayle had given me and visualizing the love hotel room, I opened a portal for us to return home.
<span style="font-weight:400">As soon as I stepped through the portal, the overwhelming scent of lust sted my face like standing in front of a fan on max settings. Subi and dark elves were having sex like no tomorrow. On the floor, the bed, the bathroom, even outside in the hallway, and against the open window, no ce was off limits to them. Several subus even had a dick, evidence to them having taken the dark elves'' potions.
<span style="font-weight:400">The only light elf among them was Era, just as much a participant in the orgy.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Ara~ It seems everyone has been busy while we were away for a short time." Yumi giggled.
<span style="font-weight:400">"HANA!" I ran out into the lobby to find her asleep, legs up on the counter, sleeping mask on, and drooling from the corner of her mouth.
<span style="font-weight:400">Instead of waking her up normally, I tightened my aura around her.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Uuuwaaaahh! No wet dreams! No, sir!" She fell backwards and tumbled to the ground.
<span style="font-weight:400">I picked her up by the cor of her shirt. "You were supposed to supervise them, not let them have an orgy!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Whaddya want me to do next? Tell mas to stop working? You put a dark elf and subus in a room together, sex is inevitable!"
<span style="font-weight:400">Sighing, I let Hana go.
<span style="font-weight:400">Light elves were lounging in the lobby. Many of them red up to the tips of their pointed ears from the sounds of sex. Others put on a regal demeanor in an attempt to stayposed, but the squeezed-shut thighs rubbing together was proof that their restraint was waning.
<span style="font-weight:400">Just the sight of them made me want to ruin every single one of their purity—
<span style="font-weight:400">No! Now wasn''t the time!
<span style="font-weight:400">"Yes… Yes… Come to the dark side…" Hana croaked, making weird hand gestures behind me.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Stop that!" I pped her hand. "It''s time to gather all the subus and elves. We''re heading to Fukuo Shrine to confront Sarena."
<span style="font-weight:400">It took some corralling to separate the subus and dark elves from each other, then out into the lobby. Thankfully, Shayle''smanding presence whipped her artifact hunters into gear, and arge number of my subus were afraid to anger me further after the near-mutinous incident.
<span style="font-weight:400">In fact, many of them were made to stand before me on Clerissa''s orders.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Q-Queen Saeko, we are terribly sorry for even thinking about betraying you. It won''t happen again," the frontmost subus said to me, trembling where she stood and unable to meet my eyes.
<span style="font-weight:400">I stroked the side of her cheek. So many of their small, ovepping auras were engulfed by mine. The difference in our strengths were night and day. Upon shrinking my aura to her size, the subus shuddered and fell forward into my arms.
<span style="font-weight:400">A human would have been mind broken in a split second, but for a subus…
<span style="font-weight:400">"I''m truly… s-sorry for having… nngh… the audacity to think about betraying… you…" she stammered, face flushed red and eyes spinning.
<span style="font-weight:400">My aura and a mere touch had brought her to a climax.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I''ll just have to thoroughly punish you allter, and I''m sure Mio would like to give me a hand." I smiled, causing her eyes to roll back and shudder.
<span style="font-weight:400">"As… As youmand, Queen Saeko…"
<span style="font-weight:400">"All my artifact hunters, with the exception of the four who have sided with Sarena, are ounted for." Shayle nodded to me from the other side of the room with her elven group at ready.
<span style="font-weight:400">I returned the nod and used the mirror artifact to carve a portal to Fukuo Shrine. As the leader and one who bore the sole responsibility for letting this get out of hand, I took the first step through, followed by Yumi and Hana.
<span style="font-weight:400">Chilly winds battered me the moment I came out the other end to the familiar shrine. The ce where I had done battle against Beatrice. However, not a single piece of evidence was left from the destruction of that fight. The entire ce had been quickly repaired, as was expected of a ce with cultural and religious significance.
<span style="font-weight:400">With the othersing out and nking me from behind, I walked towards the shrine''s main worship hall past the torii gate. Mio''s and Selene''s aura brought mefort, knowing that they were alive.
<span style="font-weight:400">But among them was another, muchrger aura than a greater subus. It belonged to Sarena, which shouldn''t be since she was a lesser subus.
<span style="font-weight:400">There they were before the building. Sarena was channeling sexual energy from the sword, guarded by four light elves. Mio and Selene were on their knees, bound and gagged. Their eyes filled with relief upon seeing me.
<span style="font-weight:400">As expected, when I tried tomune with or recall the sword back to me, it didn''t respond.
<span style="font-weight:400">"So you were here… Give up, Sarena! You can''t possibly fight against us all!" I shouted to her.
<span style="font-weight:400">"We''re here for vengeance, baby!" Hana added, brandishing her gigantic dildo weapon.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Regrettably, I need not fight you myself, dear queen!" Sarena nced over her shoulder and smirked. She let the de of the First Temptress hover above the offering box where magic began to seep out like a cyclone. More than that, wispy tendrils tethered to Mio and Selene, draining them of their energy. Both keeled over on the ground, groaning in pain.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Then we''re just going to have to do this the hard way! Everyone, surround her and attack from all sides!" I ordered.
<span style="font-weight:400">As we charged in and the four rebellious light elves took an aggressive stance. Sarena turned around and pointed at us.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Kneel before your new queen!" she demanded.
<span style="font-weight:400">All of the subi were forced to the ground. Only myself, Yumi, Hana, and the elven artifact hunters continued the charge thanks to our cloaks.
<span style="font-weight:400">I shattered through the gate and flew past the light elves. They tried to pursue me, but my friends kept them busy. A destructive brawl waged explosively behind me as I mmed a fist into Sarena.
<span style="font-weight:400">The ground shuddered beneath my feet and wind bursted outwards from the impact.
<span style="font-weight:400">Sarena had easily blocked my strike with her palm.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Incredible, isn''t it? That my strength could rise to that of a queen from merely wielding the sword! I''ve never felt so much power. Oh, I can get drunk on this forever!" she cackled.
<span style="font-weight:400">Our duel tore across the shrine grounds. Sarena lobbed powerful spells at me, but I saw theming a mile away and deftly dodged every single one. Hana and Beatrice casted deadlier spells than that, and Selene drilled it into my head to pay close attention to the hands for their trajectory.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I expected nothing less from the one who defeated Beatrice. How about something you can''t dodge?" Sarena flew high into the sky and absorbed some of the magic from the cyclone-like pir, coalescing into a marble-sized ck orb in her hands.
<span style="font-weight:400">I recognized that spell from when Beatrice had almost levelled the shrine with it. If I dodged, the entire ce would be destroyed.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Enjoy this parting gift, <i><span style="font-weight:400">former</i><span style="font-weight:400"> queen!" She fired the orb at me, and I stood firm to take the st.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You aren''t dying until you fulfill your end of the bargain!" Shayle came between me and the spell, using her ring to absorb the magic.
<span style="font-weight:400">The ck marble stopped in ce but continued to rotate at high speeds, creating a gust that tore branches off trees and blew people off their feet.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Crack!</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Shayle gasped. We both realized that the ring was reaching its limit.
<span style="font-weight:400">When it shattered atst, I shoved Shayle away and took the st. It sent me skidding to the other side of the shrine. Aside from my boobs being slightly crispy, I was otherwise fine.
<span style="font-weight:400">With Sarena''s elves defeated, the artifact hunters came to mine and Shayle''s defense. In the corner of my eyes, Yumi attempted to help Mio and Selene but was shocked everytime she got near the magic tethers.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You''re alone now, Sarena." I flew up to face her from a distance along with an army of elves.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Come now. This arrangement would be good for you, too. A permanent portal connecting Earth and Elza. All for the small cost of handing the over to the light elves and their Goddess of Everlight," Sarena said.
<span style="font-weight:400">The light elves were stunned. They almost faltered from fighting any further once they heard the name of their goddess.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What? The Goddess of Everlight would never make a deal with a subus. What do you even have to gain from theming here? They would annihte all subus including you!" Shayle blinked at the massive portal that was manifesting as a result from the sword.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Things have changed ever since the demon lord upset the bnce of power. The goddess needs worship after all, and what better than the cattle of humans? Only I could have struck a deal with her, and once the armies of Everlight have arrived, there would be nothing and no one to stop them. You light elves, after hearing that, would you still rebel against your goddess'' will?" the treacherous subus asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Why do people like you want to enve Earth so much? Can''t we just live in harmony instead?!" I cried.
<span style="font-weight:400">For once, Hana was spooked. "Even after the demon lord decimated the armies of Everlight''s forces, them''s still packing a whole lotta firepower. More than we can handle, that''s for sure…"
<span style="font-weight:400">Many of the light elves <i><span style="font-weight:400">did</i><span style="font-weight:400"> lower their weapons. They bickered amongst themselves over what was right. After all, their express purpose was to help their dark elven sisters regain fertility. But with their own people and goddessing, that had be a conflict of interest.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What are you doing? Don''t surrender now! You have promised to help us!" Shayle pleaded desperately to her light elven counterparts.
<span style="font-weight:400">Amongst the nobatants, however, one of them stepped forward.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I for one, will not side with the Goddess of Everlight," Era dered to the gasps of her many kin. "It is wrong to let them conquer this peaceful world, and it was our hubris that helped ignite the civil war back in Elza. I refuse to see it happen again here."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Era…"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Are you really going to betray the Everlight for them?"
<span style="font-weight:400">Several of the light elves expressed disappointment in their fellow sister, but others appeared supportive.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You just want to have more degenerate sex with the subus, don''t you?" one of them teased.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Urk—! Th-That''s not entirely true! Just like ourselves, even the Goddess of Everlight may be led astray herself. I genuinely believe we cannot continue these ceaseless battles. We saw what it did to Elza! Shall we see it done to Earth?" she asked everyone.
<span style="font-weight:400">To my surprise, their answers were a resounding and unanimous, "No!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Well, Sarena. Going back to what I said earlier, it seems you really are alone in this." I sneered.
<span style="font-weight:400">Sarena''s normally steeledposure began to falter.
<span style="font-weight:400">"The Goddess of Everlight promised me and to rule once her ilk have conquered this world. I will have my kingdom one way or another, and she has granted me her blessing to do so!" A golden bow manifested in her hands, a weapon brimming with as much power as the de of the First Temptress. "Behold, the artifact of the light elven people— Everdawn!"
<span style="font-weight:400">The light elves watched up in horror as Sarena pulled the bowstring back. An arrow made of pure light, as though stolen from the stars above her, nocked itself on the bow.
<span style="font-weight:400">Era grabbed my shoulders. "We have to escape! If she fires that, it will annihte this entire mountain!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"It''s <i><span style="font-weight:400">that</i><span style="font-weight:400"> powerful?!" I choked on my spit.
<span style="font-weight:400">My body seized as a familiar power returned to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Begone from my sight." Sarena fired the arrow which shot forth with the intensity of a meteor.
<span style="font-weight:400">Instincts took hold, and I called forth the de of the First Temptress into my hands. Sarena''s eyes widened with surprise. The sword''s powers flooded into me, and with its dark magic, made null the arrow back into harmless light. Below, Mio and Selene were freed from whatever was sapping them of their energy, but the cyclone continued to manifest.
<span style="font-weight:400">"H-How?" she screamed like a banshee.
<span style="font-weight:400">"From what I can feel it telling me, you became unworthy the moment you wielded Everdawn! Looks like you and the Goddess of Everlight didn''t think this one through." I smiled, swinging the sword with glee. "Now, how about we settle this <i><span style="font-weight:400">queen </i><span style="font-weight:400">versus queen?"