Battler pays Lucifer to go to round two. (Pink Trigger, Favors -1)

Battler gulped, then gave his answer with a dry throat. "...Yeah. Who could say no to that? Sorry for being so bad with money, Old Bastard, Kyrie, Ange... This Lucifer is an actual devil! This is an actual deal with the devil!"

"Exactly. A devil's temptation!" Beatrice continued to smile with amusement at Battler's weakness when presented with her furniture, grabbing another of the lanyards and placing it delicately in his hand. "Who could blame a man for giving in to such temptation? And who ever has to know what you paid for it? That mysterious number shall join you in the grave when you pass from this world, Ushiromiya Battler! Put that thought from your mind and enjoy your short life."

"Will do!" The young man unfastened the lanyard, then unhooked it. He reached forward and grabbed one of Lucifer's thighs shamelessly to stop her movement temporarily, then pulled it tightly around her upper leg and fastened it there like a kind of garter. Even the fickle witch seemed thrown off her game by Battler's forwardness. Evidently having a clear idea of what his money had bought him, the Battler reached out and gave Lucifer a smart slap on the ass.

The dancer yelped, a cry given more volume from indignation than any apparent pain (although it had left an impressively red print on the pale skin of her behind). "This... human...!" Lucifer growled as she straightened up and wrapped her body around the pole, as though refusing to go any further.

"Now, now, Lucifer." Beatrice adopted a more friendly tone to try and coax a continued performance out of her furniture. "Battler has paid a king's ransom he can hardly imagine for a little more entertainment."

"... I thought you told me you weren't going to remind me of that..." Battler grinned and screwed his eyes shut. "Aaah! I'm gonna need something really damn sexy to wipe that imaginary number out of my head! Hey, this is supposed to be a strip show, isn't it?! You've got a long way to go still, Lucifer of Pride!" The human continued to heckle and push his luck.

"All right. Very well!" Lucifer finally decided the smart thing to do was to get it over with before Battler thought of another mortifying way to urge her on. "A mere human ordinarily couldn't track one of the Seven Stakes of Purgatory travelling through the air. Please keep that in mind as you witness a pleasant, reduced-speed showcase."

The performer smiled a bit more confidently, probably thinking she should have done this from the start. If she showed Battler something that could only be accomplished by magic, she'd help re-establish her position as a terrifying magical being he should be afraid of. That said...

The "travel through the air" she was here referring to was an inhuman, fantastic display of pole-dancing. Lucifer leaned away from the pole while grasping it with one hand and did a single, tentative spin around it, her eyes narrowed in concentration as her feet momentarily left the floor. Interesting, but tame... And then, the show changed entirely. Lucifer tried this motion again... However, as magic circles appeared above and below the pole, she began to spin as if in defiance of physics, her dark hair trailing behind her. Her confident smile and the mark Battler had left passed by her quarry's face in repeated rotations. "How about this, human?!"

"It's impressive! It's impressive, but you're still not stripping!"

"Kh! I'm getting to it!!"

"For such a speedy stake or whatever, you're pretty slow getting to it, Sis!" Battler continued to taunt. I thought to myself he seemed to be enjoying that as much as the show.

With **** in her red eyes, and red on her pretty face, Lucifer picked up speed even further... Soon, she was like a red, black, and flesh-colored tornado centered on the pole. Then, with expert aim, garments began flying from the tornado, straight in my direction! I clambered to catch a pair of brown boots... then a pink tie, which shot with improbable velocity for such a garment... a red jacket, then a matching vest. I felt like a lucky guy, standing there with arms full of Lucifer's clothing...

Lucifer skid to a stop, now wearing a threatening expression cast my way. Her black, legless leotard stopped below her breasts, where her white, long-sleeved shirt began, and her legs were still hidden by tall, garnet-fastened stockings. She had paused with both hands reaching behind her to grip the pole, her legs spread with both feet flat on the platform. It seemed that movement she'd made seem so effortless wasn't so... Her cheeks were flushed pink with exertion, and she let out small gasps as sweat rolled from her body. "Set those somewhere carefully, you! I will not have the treasured uniform cast upon the filthy floor!"

I glanced over at Beatrice, who pressed her fingers together in a guilty gesture. "Ahem. Lucifer, the floor here is actually quite clean. The servants prepare it regularly in case I should deign to grace these humans with my presence." That was all a kind way of letting Lucifer know she had just thrown her skirt wherever in the excitement.

Battler laughed once again at Lucifer's tormented squeal... Try as she might, there was no way to retain her pride in a situation like this.

... Still, she seemed determined to try. Putting on the smile of a demon working to dominate a human, Lucifer glared at Battler with her red eyes and dipped her hips closer to him, swaying in time with the music. With impressive dexterity and flexibility, Lucifer kept one stocking-clad foot on the floor and extended the other leg to play along the side of his face. "The look on your face is priceless, human. You're completely enthralled, aren't you?"

"Yeah... I'm honestly not sure I've seen a woman this beautiful..."

I glanced at Beatrice... She still had a big, playful grin on her face. "Ho! Lucifer actually has six sisters nearly as wonderful as she is, including bubbly blonde beauties! What a shame that your magical talented is so limited... It would have been fun to summon all of them for a party."

Battler only seemed to have half a brain for her. To Lucifer's surprise, he'd reached one of his large hands to undo the garter fastening Lucifer's stocking and began pulling it down, as though craving her bare legs. "I don't believe it. There can't be seven sisters this hot... A-and this one, Lucifer, she's exactly my type!"

"Y-y-your type?!" Lucifer gasped, although I noticed she didn't pull back from him again. "Me...?!"

"Sure! So what if you're a little full of yourself? A girl with a little pride in herself and the confidence to shake her ass is way hotter than the stuck-up girls I know. And the fangs, and the, uh, sword... Those are challenging, sure, but I'm a man! I wouldn't let tiny things like that get in the way of a good time!" I wondered if this guy could possibly say that if he knew what that sword was actually capable of...

Still, I could see his careless speech was somehow working wonders on the young woman he was showering affection on... Lucifer's fanged teeth bit her lip with obvious arousal. It was plain to see she was letting herself think about Battler as something other than a meal or her master's guest to be entertained. "My Lady... Battler- Um, that is, this human... What should I do?"

I glanced at Beatrice again... She still had a big grin on her face, but it wasn't a playful one. I imagined Battler couldn't tell the difference, not at this stage, but I'd seen this grin enough times to know the difference. She seemed to be ignoring Lucifer, with her smile turned on Battler instead. "Ho...? Lucifer is... your type, is she? Hm, hm, I see... So Lucifer is your type. Very well. If you are fine settling for this furniture while passing up the mystery and fantasy to be granted to you in the second game, present Lucifer with the final favor. If you do so, the favor I will grant Lucifer is... a transfer of ownership. If she is so happy to serve you, let no one stand between the two of you."

"W-what?!" Lucifer shouted. Her legs seemed frozen in place as Battler rolled down her other stocking, revealing more of her lovely legs. "My Lady, I apologize! That isn't- I c-clearly got carried away! Human, keep your hands to yourself, and prepare for the Great Witch Beatrice's final game! W-w-whatever you do, don't give me another favor!"

"Oh, I thought you would be happy with that arrangement!" Beatrice put her hands on her hips with a convincing frown, as though genuinely confused, but I could still see an icy absence of light in her eyes, where her bad intentions hid. "Sure, Battler is a talentless, good-for-nothing sorcerer, but I'm sure the two of you could be happy in your own quaint little way! Will you grant Lucifer that favor, Battler...?"

...

Needless to say, Beatrice was surely royally pissed about this possibility. Lucifer was supposed to be a warm-up act, making Battler open to the possibility and sensuality of magic. However, if Battler gave Lucifer the final favor, there would be no final game. Beatrice would lose her chance to gain her power. I thought I had the least effective voice in the room, but, nonetheless, I begged Battler as well. Don't even think about that final favor! Release Lucifer now...! Isn't it a man's job to chase mystery as well?! In spite of my warnings, and in spite of whatever confusion he might have about "furniture," I could see Battler carefully considering what "owning" furniture like Lucifer might entail...