June 19th GI 785

08:00 A.M.

I woke up at eight, as refreshed as I will ever be. I had Hebi-san to thank for that. She made sure I would have the most optimal rest. She was quite proud of her level 2 hypnosis and I had to hand it to her. It was well deserved for once.

For the first time in what feels forever I was finally able to take a proper shower again. Well, almost proper because Maria insisted on assisting me and shaved my beard(among other places) as well as trim my hair down to a reasonable level.

It wasn’t quite as excessive as back when I was prepared for my stint as the Amber Princess but there was apparently still quite a lot that needed to be done for me to met the tournaments standards again. I doubt the would disqualify a finalist because he no longer meet the beauty standard but I suppose I rather not chance it.

“Master Beta”, the maid suddenly started as she put the final touches on my appearance. “Serving you was an honor.”

“H-Hey now”, I chuckled. “You are not done serving me yet.”

“Of course, Master Beta”, Maria responded with a smile.

Finally, after about an hour of way too intensive skin care, that thankfully did not involve a full body shave, I was allowed to leave the bathroom.

In the meantime Cia had prepared breakfast. All of my girls where already at the table eating, but I could feel how tense the atmosphere was.

“Much better!”, Sylphid gave my new look a thumbs up. “Now I can finally call you Handsome again! Don’t get me wrong that rugged style has it’s appeal but this cute look suits you way better!”

I am not trying to look particularly cute, you know?

“Yes, yes, very fetching. To more important matters, I would like to hold a strategy meeting”, Beatrice said while munching on a croissant. “We have a lot of things to discuss and by discuss I mean you listen and nod obediently.”

“We require your time as well. We will perform an extensive hypnosis. For this, two hours will be required. One right now and one shortly before the start of the bout. This is not up for debate, foolish Mari Beta.”

I was very tempted to send the two of them to bed for a very intimate and intense make out session with each other.

“And training! My Lord! We should do some basic warm ups to make sure you are ready! This is not up for debate either!”, Sanakia jiggled her boobs for emphasis.

“Would you please fix Sanakia already?”, I grumbled towards Hebi-san.

“Hey, I don’t mind her at all like this.”, announced a very grinning Sylphid who stared unabashedly at the Sexy Knight’s impressive assets.

“She is not for us to fix, foolish Mari Beta”, Hebi-san spat back in her usual pleasant demeanor. “We do not have a single minute to squander on such nonsense! Our hypnosis is of the most highest of priorities!”

“Before all that, Daddy”, Cassandra interrupted. “Mind looking out the window for a spell?”

I did and immediately understood what the huntress meant. The large panorama window on Minerva’s tower was in shambles. Instead, a few planks of wood were crudely covering up the window.

“What the hell happened?”

Cassandra only shrugged. “Looks like someone paid the cunt an evening visit.”

“Hey don’t look at me!”, Sylphid defended herself. “I swear, I wasn’t over there!”

“It appears a burglary took place at Lady Margaret’s place yesterday night”, Maria informed us.

“Burglary?”, Fisti gasped. “What kind of daft numpty is trying to burglarise a Dark Lord?”

“I am afraid the details are unknown to me. But I was assured it will have no effect on today’s schedule.”

Figures that something like this wouldn’t faze a Dark Lord. I certainly don’t have the luxury to worry about something like that.

And speaking of schedule. Looks like my own will be quite packed. But in a sense, I far preferred this to just waiting around.

…

..

.

Hebi-san was first, reinforcing the hypnosis that was already one me. Hypnosis 2 functioned with both Hebi-san and Gilbert hypnotizing me at the same time. We did a number of tests already yesterday but this felt even more amazing. The boost in confidence and capability I received was indescribable.

I could also tell that my Queen was trying very hard. I had no idea how this symbiosis between her and Lord Gilbert works, but she clearly was just as invested in this as him. I will never disgrace my Queen by losing today.

“Not bad”, Femto, who joined us half way through let out a whistle. “Hypnosis isn’t exactly my forte, but even I can tell that this is some mighty fine work here. Breaking out of this one on your own should be borderline impossible.”

“We do not require your praise, devil”, my Queen hissed and glared at Femto. “You will keep our thrall safe is that understood?”

Of course, I made sure the other girls were ready in case my Queen would ever try to **** this power over me. But that seemed quite unlikely. I mean, my Queen clearly only wants what is best for me.

“Hmph, I suppose it is adequate”, my Queen stated, a small sheen of sweat on her perfect, immaculate visage.

“Yeah! Would suck if it didn’t amount to anything after all the fucking sis... gyaaahhhh!!!”

My Queen was elegantly strangulating Lord Gilbert.

“Listen carefully, Mari Beta! You will win and deliver us glorious victory in this match today! Do not dare to fail us!”, my Queen demanded.

“Yes!”, I shouted full of vigor, going down on one knee. “I will not fail you, my Queen!”

“Ugh.” Beatrice made a face. “Enough with this trite nonsense, let’s talk strategy!”

…

“It should go without saying”, the ex witch began. “But Minerva is a Dark Lord. And since we don’t have any weapons to deal with such, we will have to rely on this traitor here. You only have one hour with this useless devil, so make sure you make it count.”

Our resident devil gave a quick nod. “I will be the damage dealer, Sir’s job will be to distract her and try to not to get himself killed.”

“B-But I gave my Lord these weapons!” Sanakia complained. “He may not have the holy blade Nikkou, true, but he should still be the one who strikes that fiend down!”

“Tough”, Cassandra cut in. “This isn’t some heroic fantasy and Daddy isn’t the Hero. Then again he might get his chance after all. Assuming things work out as the little witch brat predicts”

“Of course they will”, Beatrice scoffed. “Your little criminal sister is the issue here. She better holds up her end of the bargain.”

Yes, Cassandra and Beatrice had arranged for one hell of a trump card. But it was also a very unreliable one. Ideally, I hoped that it wouldn’t be needed.

“Don’t worry! If you need some plot convenience happen I’m your girl!”, Lucky happily stated, a bit too cheerful given the situation. “I super want to know the truth about your missing sister!”, she gasped. “What if Minerva is actually your long lost sister?”

If that turns out to be truth I might as well kill myself.

“Don’t need more sisters.” Aiju grumbled. “Don’t want to share any more meat.”

“Remember, Minerva will want you to surrender”, Bea cleared her throat and continued. “That fact will give you a small edge. Be sure to exploit it to the fullest.”

“I will.”

Beatrice gave a nod. “Any closing thoughts on Minerva, Sylphid? Strategies? Weakness. Anything that you forgot to mention the last five times I asked?”

Sylphid stretched herself, apparently her method to jog her memory. “Minerva is...exceptional. She might look all brawn but she is extremely intelligent and a master at deception. And that was before she became a Dark Lord. In a way she really is the perfect champion.”

“But ya defeated her, Lady Sylphid”, Fisti objected. “She got to have some weakness!”

Sylphid scowled at that. “Quite frankly? I got lucky. Minerva didn’t view me as a threat. Wanted to showboat. Allowed me to get some cheap shots in. I don’t think that will work this time. She knows we have a devil, she knows we have the means to hurt her. And she will be ready for that.”

I was really glad for that hypnosis induced confident boost right now.

“And that was before the cunt was a Dark Lord.” Cassandra narrowed her eyes. “Don’t let your concentration slip for even a second, Daddy. Cunt will capitalize on it. The fight is not over until the sissy announcer has declared you the victor.”

Most of the rest of the morning was spend like this, as we fine tuned our strategy against Minerva and our counter measures and contingencies against anything she could throw at us. Of course, there is only so much planning and theorizing could do. Depending on how this fight goes we will have to change our approach considerably.

That was followed by an early lunch, as to ensure it wouldn’t hinder my fighting capability, and a light warm up session with Sanakia. Then, after one more round of hypnotic reinforcement, I spend the last half hour in isolation, preparing myself mentally for the battle.

And finally,

The clock struck one.

“LAAAAAADIIIIIIIIES AAAAAAAND GENTLEEEEMEEEEEEN! THE HOUR IS FINALLY UPON US!”

Perhaps to my biggest surprise, Ben was actually dressed like an announcer for once. He wore a snappy white suit and accompanying pants. So he can look like a guy, although even now I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that this was just a girl crossdressing.

The weather wasn’t exactly particularly accommodating for such attire. The sun was bearing down quite mercilessly today. I barely noticed the heath thanks to the hypnosis but even so I made sure to be well hydrated.

“OVER A THIRTY THOUSAND COMBATANTS FROM ALL ACROSS THE CONTINENT HAVE APPLIED FOR THIS YEARS TOURNAMENT. AFTER A STRICT PRELIMINARY EVALUATION THAT NUMBER WAS CUT DOWN TO 8192 FROM WHICH THE 128 FINEST SURVIVED THE QUALIFIERS AND ENTERED THE RASHEUL GREAT **** TOURNAMENT. NOW, AFTER SIX MORE ROUNDS, ONLY TWO REMAIN!"

“HE TAMED THE FEROCIOUS, MADE THE HUNTRESS, THE HUNTED, DISENCHANTED THE WITCH OF MIRACLES, CAUSED THE SQUIRE OF THE GOLDEN KNIGHT SILVESTER SPARTANO D’ARTAGAN TO KILL HERSELF. WON AGAINST HIS PRIOR BULLY AND EVEN **** THE SPEED DEMON HERSELF INTO SUBMISSION. THIS IS MERELY HIS FIRST TOURNAMENT AND YET HE DOMINATED EVER SINGLE OPPONENT THAT STOOD IN HIS WAY. JUST ONE MATCH FROM THE SUBLIME **** SLAM. WITH A HEIGHT OF 168 CM, WEIGHING IN AT 58KG, WELCOME THE AMBER DOMINATOR. MAAAARRIIIII BEEEEEEEEETAAAAAAAA!!!”

That is some amazing lung capacity.

“OPPOSING HIM, STANDS OUR THREE TIME CHAMPION, SHE ANNIHILATED THE NINJA KANAMI, MURDERED DOMINATRIX SVENJA, **** DRAGONGIRL FANFAN INTO SURRENDER. CRUSHED THE GOLDEN KNIGHT, ENSLAVED A DARK LORD AND THE STRONGEST GALMON ALIKE, ENTERING THE FINAL MATCH FOR A RECORD BREAKING SIXTH TIME. NEVER WAS SHE MORE POWERFUL. NEVER WAS SHE MORE INVINCIBLE. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME THE CRUSHER OF DREAMS, SUBDUER OF DARK LORDS, ENSLAVER OF LEGENDS, THE INDOMITABLE DARK CHAMPION MINERVAAAAA MARGAREEEEET!!!”

There she stood. Minerva had, as always, an easy smile on her lips as she regarded me with what could almost amount to respect. “Have to hand it to you, boy. Takes guts to show up here. Guess Sylphid pressured you into this?”

I couldn’t help but notice the blood that was splattered all across Minerva’s torso.

“Oh that?”, the Dark Lord chuckled. “had some guest yesterday, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?”

I remained steadfast as I regarded my opponent with cool silence. Minerva merely smirked at that as she formed a black axe in her right hand. Looks like she doesn’t even bother with her regular weapons anymore. I responded by reading my dirks.

“WHO WILL BE VICTORIOUS? WHO WILL FALL? WILL DARKNESS REIGN OR LIGHT PREVAIL? THE HOUR TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION ONCE AND FOR ALL HAS AT LAST ARRIVED!”