An Evening Without the Hosts

"Alright Nox," Z said while wrapping her hands for their next training session. "I'm hoping to get enough VP to graduate Wednesday. Part of that occurring is for the non-leadership portions of your training to be completed. Trust me when I say that is in both of our best interests to have happen."

Nox nodded while she wrapped her hands. The dojo had changed location, and otherwise altered in line with the earlier purchase done by Noah. Racks of weapons lined the walls, there was even more training equipment, and it was now a room connected to the gym, open to anyone. The goblin hadn't had the chance to see what her bedroom looked like after the change, but she assumed it had changed. For that matter, Janessa's sleeping arrangements had potentially changed because the room her bedroom used to be in had also gotten moved.

"By the end of the day, I will consider your combat training complete if you can put up a performance that isn't embarrassing in hand-to-hand combat," Z approached the goblin. "We will start with sparring, but eventually, we will have an outright duel where I do not hold back. Seeing as you've convinced someone to improve the dojo, perhaps you'll actually succeed."

With that, training started in earnest. It didn't take long before Nox could tell the difference made by the new dojo, as she found that she could learn techniques quicker and easier, even some that had seemed impossible before. For instance, she was able to not only dodge a kick Z liked using, but turn it into the start of a grapple on the first try. That same faster learning affected other moves, to the point where it felt like someone was guiding Nox from afar, steering her limbs into the correct positions so that lessons moved faster than they ever had before. Despite feeling handheld, lessons stuck in a way that no teaching approach had caused them to before.

Once the structured training went into sparring, the difference caused by the new dojo became more apparent. Z was downright impressed by how quickly Nox was catching up, something she never was before. It wasn't so much her learning new moves at that point, but instead being able to use moves she learned previously more effectively, to the point where the prior week of training came off as several months of training, if not more. Nox had made so much progress that in just four hours of training, it was already time to start the duel.

"Demon of this bunker, come help us resolve this matter of ours," Z said with great practice. "Watch us with your great experience, and show us whether this goblin has learned anything in her time here."

The demon appeared in a cloud of black smoke. "I am here, Z, and I do hope that this dojo has indeed prepared Nox for our activities. I'd be very disappointed if you called me too early."

"Don't worry about any physical injuries, there will be magical assistance to help prevent that," The demon said. "For the duel proper, this will unfold in two stages. The first stage will be an unarmed fight where either gaining ten points from good enough strikes, or getting an opponent to tap out through a grappling submission, will grant victory."

The demon paused for questions. Nox asked, "What counts as a good enough strike?"

"I will judge that," The demon continued. "I do want you to succeed Nox, but we have an ancestor to please, and he will not accept me going easy on you. Got it?"

After Nox nodded, the demon continued as she took out a pair wooden knives. "The second stage will use these wooden blades that leave red lines where they meet skin. This will show you what the impact would've been from a real blade. Scoring for the second stage is a mixture of who delivers the most simulated cuts and stabs, along with how damaging those attacks would've been if they had delivered by real blades. That stage will last two minutes, so make it count."

With the explanation concluded, the demon waved her hands, the wooden blades disappeared. "The first round starts now. Don't disappoint me."

Nox bolted towards the oni, and delivered the first blow of the duel by punching Z's gut. The blow didn't phase the oni, but under the rules of the match, it was still a scored point. That did nothing to make up for how painful it was for Nox, who felt like she had punched a brick wall. The match went from there, as Nox barely dodged around various powerful strikes from Z, and retaliated with hits that often weren't hard enough to count for scoring. But this was intended by the goblin, who knew she couldn't win a stand up striking match with Z, but had to wait for an opportunity.

That opportunity came when Z slightly overextended a jab, and, as if every lesson Nox had learned came to a head at once, she managed to rush into the oni with enough **** to knock her back, but not down. However, as Z caught herself, Nox managed to get behind her, and onto the oni's back. She then climbed up Z's back, and put her arms around Z's neck. It was there that Nox, with every bit of strength in her being, held onto a ****. It wasn't the best **** in terms of technical execution, but that didn't matter. Nor did it matter when Z tried to throw her off, because the goblin wouldn't let go, and the effects of the strangling were catching up too fast for even the oni's massive strength advantage to come to the fore.

Z went to the ground with a crash, hoping to throw Nox off of her, but it didn't work. So upon hitting the ground, Z tapped out, and then, only then, did Nox let go.

"Excellent work Nox," The demon said. "Doesn't matter how strong someone is, or how tough they are, if they have to breath, there's a vulnerability there."

Both Nox and Z just laid on the floor for awhile, catching their breath. What surprised the goblin as she turned to face her oni tormenter was that Z was grinning at her. Nox didn't think Z had let her do the ****, so what was that about? Was she just that happy to be rid of her student? Or was some violent version of a breath play fetish? Whatever it was, it confused Nox, and it made her angry because it made her doubt her own accomplishments.

"You two ready for the second stage?" The demon asked while the two wooden knives from earlier appeared in her hands. "Or should I come back later?"

After catching one more big gulp of air, Nox got up, and walked over to grab her knife. Z followed soon after, showing far less wear and tear from what they had just gone through. It would've angered her, but she remembered that the oni had much faster regeneration, whereas Nox did not. Still, it'd be nice to have a weapon this time, and perhaps she could take advantage of her smaller stature by being harder to hit. These thoughts raced through Nox's mind as she went to grab a knife, and then stand at one side of the room, preparing to get into a knife fight, something that even before Harem Hotel she knew was a terrible idea. Even though it was with simulated knives, some of that residual fear flowed through her veins.

If Z, had any fear of being engaged with a blade, she showed none of it as she calmly took her wooden knife as well. Nox took one last deep breath and switched to an ice pick grip, with the blade pointing down from her hand rather than up, because she wanted to strike as fast, and hard, as possible. Holding the knife close to her, she got into a stance facing Z, and prepared. She wouldn't be the one to attack first this time, as she suspected Z would be ready for that.

Unlike her, Z took a cautious approach on the offense. She walked up, always careful, and prepared to run back if Nox tried to attack. That turned into a pattern each would lunge, and then dart back whenever the other tried to respond. It became a dance of sorts, but because they were on a time limit, it couldn't continue forever. At the last possible moment, with mere seconds remaining, was when Nox threw caution to the wind, and bolted forwards. In that mad dash, she ran up to Z and thrust her wooden blade onto the oni over and over again. Nox at that point wasn't thinking of anything except... rage.

Rage at her treatment by Z. Rage at being **** by Harem Hotel. Rage at Felix for being the center of all this with all his self pity and doing nothing despite how much Nox had been tormented by the oni. And most of all... rage at the person she used to be. An athlete, a star student, and a bully **** for her father's approval, all so small and pathetic. This rage at herself was why Nox didn't care whenever she felt Z's practice blade run along with her body, whether it be a simulated stab or cut. She didn't even really care in the moment whether she won this competition. All that Nox wanted was to punish something, anything, for everything that had happened over her time at Harem Hotel.

"STOP NOX!" The demon yelled in a voice that would've caused a normal human to soil themselves. "CEASE THIS MOVEMENT!"

Nox paused, frozen by some magical ****. The demon then whispered and movement returned, but the earlier rage was gone, as she had time to examine herself. As she saw many markings simulating cuts and stab wounds, she suspected that rage had been for nothing. But when she turned back to Z, she saw the oni was covered in markings, many of which looked nasty.

"What an excellent performance," As the demon spoke, the wooden blades Nox and Z had been using disappeared. "You had won earlier, but whatever rage possessed you meant you couldn't hear me. I had to expose you to a little bit of onomancy to get you to calm down. Now, lets go visit your ancestor, and see if this performance was enough to impress..."

Jamina wasn't sure what she had expected, but seeing multiple people who used to be teachers brought memories to the forefront. Memories of her life as Benjamin Winters, a name she could remember only through exerting great power versus the influence of her demonic host. A name that brought with brought with it a great sense of guilt, as while the man's life was ultimately tiny and insignificant compared to hers, she knew this was who she used to be. She knew that she used to be an utter failure of a math teacher, one so catastrophically terrible at his job that Felix didn't even want to remember Benjamin Winter's existence, and that he drove away students from mathematics in droves.

But seeing other teachers who were better than her as teachers drove in that failure like a knife. Jamina Lightbringer had tried to get over that life by burying it in the memories of being an elf fighting evil, but that life felt, despite being far longer, and having plenty of pain of its own, like a fairy tale. A long delusion that she had chosen to embrace because what she had done as a human man to the people who depended on her was horrific. It was after she finished watching the show, she searched through the library for pin and paper, then went back to her room to write. In that moment, she wrote a letter that Benjamin Winters would've been too cowardly to write, no matter how much he knew the words were true.

Chloe,

I just want to say, you're a better teacher than I ever was. You never abused a student, or made their parents blame them for something that wasn't their fault. More than that, through being there with Andy, you helped teach him to forgive. To get anywhere near with that Felix, I had to be jammed into the same mind as a... horrifying person lets say, and had every mistake I ever made as a teacher, and a human being, reflected back at me in a way that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Then, I had to be fundamentally altered twice, not only losing my masculinity, but also my original name, and my very humanity, to get to a place where Felix could forgive me. This wasn't because he's a bad master, but because many of the things I did to him as a teacher are almost unforgivable for how much it trashed his life.

All of which is to say, I think you're doing great, and have been much better with the kids you take care of than I ever was.

Sincerely,

Jamina

Upon finishing the letter, Jamina Lightbringer sealed it away, and then sobbed. Every bad decision she had ever made as an educator came rushing back. The complaints she had brushed off, the sobs she had pretended not to hear, and the willful ignorance of every time it was obvious a student had tried their best, yet still failed. To think that she was under the illusion that she could save her students from the threat of automation through fear. The idea was a sick joke, as the litany of students who had failed not just her class, but had dropped out of school entirely because of her approach, had demonstrated.

"I'll take that dear," Paisley said while picking up the letter from the table Jamina was writing at. "I'm sure whoever receives will appreciate it."

Jamina Lightbringer didn't even hear Paisley leave. She was so overwhelmed by how every failure in her professional career could be traced back to an unearned stubbornness that bore no correction. Was that why the demon had **** her to spend so much time with a woman that **** her students? To have her sense of self righteousness reflected back at her in a sick, twisted way? It was true she hadn't done anything as terrible as Kei Winters, but that woman's infuriating lack of guilt or care about her objectively awful behavior... that in of itself was the lesson. That Kei had been able to exploit Benjamin Winter's sins for her own gain made it even worse, as someone doing the worst kind of crime was profiting off her failures as a human being.

After an indeterminate time sobbing and reminiscing, Jamina Lightbringer pulled herself together. While she prepared for bed, she made a vow to help Felix, whether he was ready for it or not. He needed to remember everything, so she could truly apologize to him, and to ensure that none of his relationships to others in the harem would have shaky foundations. She had the power to find the memories lost, and Jamina intended to use it.

Of course, that wouldn't be the only she'd apologize. Jamina smiled as she began to play with herself before bed. Her date was Tuesday, and she was going to rock that boy's world with the centuries of sexual experience she had as an elf. He'd be far from the first human she had experience with, and in that respect, she could be a very different kind of teacher for him. More than that, pleasure could be a useful tool to bridge the gap between them. It'd make it easier for him to accept the need to remember. Even if it meant remembering someone like Benjamin Winters...

Felix ended up with three bits of fanmail. One was for Erin, as he sympathized a lot with her given his perpetual nudity. Another was for the other master, partially because it expected, and partially because he thought Andy needed to appreciate the role of luck in his life. Most important of the letters though was his letter to Riley. She had shown him what he was like in the first week of his stay at Harem Hotel, and that had been the reminder he needed to truly sort out his bullshit. If only Hailey hadn't disappeared that morning, he could've truly made up for his fuckups in the second round.

When Felix finished his letters, he realized he had no idea how to send them. It was going to another show, which was in another dimension, distinct from his own. However, Paisley showed up before he could wander outside the master suite looking for a place to drop them off.

"I'll take those, and ensure they are delivered safely," Paisley collected the letters from Felix while she spoke. "Thank you for writing these, really. I know this wasn't the most pleasant experience, but it's important that other contestants hear from you. I'll be sure show you tomorrow any responses you get."

Before Felix could ask about how his letters could get a response that fast, Paisley was gone. Left alone, he took a breath, and prepared for his date with Castelilise. There was little he could do, given he was stuck naked, so instead Felix tried to think of what he knew about the nereid besides her insatiable lust. But then he realized, because of all the recent reality changes, he didn't even remember the reason Castelilise was there in the first place. He couldn't even remember her original name.

It was in that moment he heard knocking, and knew his date was waiting. He came to meet her, and she swam right in, using the canal that lead to his room. "Hey babe, want to continue where we left off?"

"Before we do that, I wanted to ask you something important," Felix said. "Do you remember why you're here?"