Last respite

“BRING THE WHORE OUT!”

In the noble hill district, in front Ojou-sama’s mansion, an angry mob has formed, demanding that the mistress and shadow ruler of the city was brought before them to answer for her crimes.

Normally, a gigantic massive steel gate would prevent any such intrusion. But said steel gate was obliterated by a certain Galmon a few days ago and only a makeshift barricade was since erected.

Thus, the guards desperately tried the keep the citizens of the premise.

“DISPERSE!”, one of them shouted. “OR WE WILL USE DEATHLY ****!” The guard brandished his gun.

“Do not be afraid!”, one of the protesters screeched. “Far too long was our beautiful city held in the grasp of evil criminals! No longer! Soon our Champion will speak justice! Soon order will be restored! ALL INJUSTICE WILL BE PURGED! NO SINNERS WILL ESCAPE HER JUDGMENT!

“Oh my…”

Slowly, the devil Asmodeus was stepping forward. Fazing through the gates as if it was nothing she moved towards the crowd. “Am I part of these sinners, mortal?”

The appearance of a devil quelled the mob for a bit but not for long.

“You don’t scare us, unclean one! The Dark Lord will purge you! Like she did with that other filthy whore!”, their leader spoke with fanatic zeal. “Have no fear! We are on the side of justice! We are the chosen ones! You vile abomination will answer for your crimes!”

Asmodeus merely stood there, letting insults upon insults fall down upon her.

Then one of the fanatics pulled a knife out and lunged at Asmodeus.

“WE ARE THE DARK LORDS HOLY WARRIORS! DIEEEEEE DEVIL!”

The devil didn’t even bother evading the attack. The knife plunged into her chest with ease.

Asmodeus calmly grabbed the man’s head and sucked his soul out.

She wasn’t very gentle with it, so it resembled a bit of a fish getting dried of all liquids. Only this fish was capable of shrieking.

“Your donation is very appreciated”, Asmodeus licked her lips and threw the lifeless husk back into the shocked crowd. “Are there any other donors?”

It was enough of a gross spectacle for most of the crowd to flee in terror, the leader among the first of them. Some particular defiant ones remained but made sure to keep their distance from the devil.

Asmodeus sighed and returned to the guards. “Is the perimeter still secure?”

The guard named Deltz gave a grunt in response. “For now. Your holding up?”

“Of course, my dear.” Asmodeus smiled gently. She knew Deltz since the day he was born and while the two hardly ever exchanged a word, she still felt something resembling camaraderie with him. And she rather not see two of her associates perish on the same day.

The devil of lust closed her eyes. In the centuries of her existence Asmodeus saw many of her colleagues perish. The time she spend with Femto was in comparison nothing more then a blip.

And yet she knew from the start. That child was never cut out for this.

Fate can be a cruel mistress.

…

..

.

I had to **** my rage and anger down.

As much as I want to attack Minerva right now, I knew it was futile. She may look like she was sleeping but I could tell that all her senses were primed to counter the moment I would step into her shade.

Of course even if I would make it to her, it would be pointless. I had no way of injuring her. All I could do now was keep resisting.

Worried about a sneak attack from the shades, I simply waited in the scorching sun, standing.

It was now the middle of the afternoon and the sun was as merciless as ever. But it was exactly that sun that protected me. In a few hours that protection would have vanished. And by then my loss would be assured.

It was a horrible situation.

I gave a brief glance towards Ben, who seemed rather confused about this whole situation. Clearly pauses like this were not the norm. The audience held their breath as well. Some few seats were empty, I noticed. I wonder what these were doing, were they trying to break into my tower right now?

Now that it was that silent I could hear the shouts and screams from the city. It sounded like half of Rasheul was rioting, clamoring for some twisted sort of justice this Dark Lord promised them.

About thirty minutes passed without incident before Minerva finally got up again. The Dark Lord stretched herself showing up her slick, alien form and let out a pleasant sigh. “Much better, but fuck I’m thirsty”, She licked her lips. “It’s too damn hot. Let’s end this fast.”

I readied myself. I was in the sun, so her shadow tricks wouldn’t work and I was fast enough to avoid her spears.

But she didn’t need them in the first place. Minerva rushed me, her liquid form a mirage in the sun.

Her speed had significantly decreased compared to when she was fighting Femto. Believing in my heightened sense I did the best I could do avoid her attacks.

Naturally, attacking would be utterly pointless, so I focused completely on avoiding and defense. That said even so, I was barely able to keep up.

“It’s useleeeeeesssss!”, Minerva hissed. I could match her speed, so skill was the deciding factor, but that also meant that I could not allow myself a single mistake. With how she ripped Femto to pieces, even a single wound could spell the end for me.

“Your pet Devil was only the first”, Minerva sneered as she ferociously pressed the attack “I’m looking forward of having Sylphid **** all her girls to dead! I have a perfect strap on for that. It’s formed like a dick and when squeezed pushes acid out.”

A quick overhead slash **** me to duck and roll away.

“Oh, but not Cass! Cass belongs to me! I give her a nice, long lashing. I make sure she stays alive for a long time. At least until I peeled every single piece of skin of her. And then I come for you, Ojou! You hear that, you fucking cunt? You are going to die with all the other fucking traitors!”

Her axes changed forms rapidly trying to catch me off guard.

Minerva was laughing maniacally. There was little purpose to her attacks, she was on a pure power trip. Savagery in its purest form. But that also made it predictable. Minerva was trying to overwhelm me with pure strength. Given her invincibility field there was no reason for technique or skill.

“As for you boy. I think I keep you. You can watch as all your slaves waste away. Don’t worry. I do them slowly. And you get to choose which body part to amputate first. I’m thinking one piece per week. I make you do it. You get to kill them piece, by piece, by piece!”

No, her attacks may look haphazard but she was following a clear plan. The Dark Lord was goading me, I noticed. Openly to drive me into the shadows but her real aim was to get me to slip on any of the many pools of liquids or gore. Or perhaps make my use my secret weapon.

“Wanna know what I did to the Valkyrie? She was holding out pretty well, but when I gouged her eye out she finally screamed. Oh, but I left her one. I want her to watch this, you know? I wonder what face she is making right now? Do you think the strongest Galmon is capable of feeling despair?”

She got my right Hirara dirk. It was a splendid weapon, forged from the finest metal the continent has to offer but against the sheer **** of dark energy even this metal was now reaching its limit. After receiving multiple cracks, it finally started to crumble. I silently apologized to Sanakia and replaced it with my one remaining steel Dirk.

“That’s one down.” Minerva laughed. After crushing one of my dirks, her attack slowed down. After all, she couldn’t kill me. The goal of this push was hence simply to sap my strength. “You know what happens once you give up. Come on, entertain me more! More!”

I answered her taunts with silence.

The Dark Lord sneered and continued the attack. It was the same spiel as always. She attacked, I defended. Minerva tried to incapacitate me but these weren’t attacks I couldn’t avoid.

After five more minutes of this passed, Minerva finally took a deep breath and stopped. “You are one persistent bastard. Isn’t it about time to use that secret weapon of yours?”

...

The Dark Lord let out a chuckle. “Still giving me the silent treatment? What are you planning, boy? If you had a holy weapon you would have used it by now. Same with a spare devil. Killing the referee is out, you yourself made sure of that. And you certainly won’t trick me into saying that I give up. I think I proved that one myself.” She laughed. “Oh! I get it! Why don’t you try to seduce me? Strip naked and dance for me! Maybe if you do a good enough job I start masturbating!”

“I don’t have to rely on tricks to beat you”, I replied dryly.

“Tricks?”

“What else are you doing, besides hiding behind a shield? Some champion you are. You are nothing but a coward.”

Minerva smirked and inhaled deeply. “Trying to rile me up, is that it? But what for?” Then suddenly she snapped her head around in a grotesque motion. “Oi, Referee!”

Ben yelped.

“The devils out, right? Don’t want her suddenly pop up again because she’s faked her dead or some bullshit.”

Ben nodded. “Y-Yes, according to the newly imposed rules that would count as a violation and result in the immediate loss of your opponent.”

Minerva nodded and faced me again with that same curious inquisitive look from before. “What are you up to, boy?”

Again my only response was silence.

She stared at me for a long while, once again trying to deduce what I could possible hope to achieve by stalling or if this is simply me trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

“Fuck, it’s too hot for this shit”, Minerva cursed and walked back to the shadows. “Feel free to give me that striptease, boy.”

I glanced at the clock.

Fifteen minutes until four.

Mari’s estimate on victory over Minerva

upgrade to high grade equipment (+10%/+5%)

mental anguish due to excessive spending (-5%/-2.5%)

Balance Breaker Lucky, trying really, really, hard(+10%/+5%)

Amber Dominator Mari Beta void training completed (+7%/+3.5%)

Rule VIII struck from the record (+1%/+0.5%)

true Dark Lord Minerva(greatly weakened) (-20%/-10%)

My Queen’s hypnosis LV 2, patched up (+7%/+3.5%)

Plan D (+4%+2%)

Dark Lord Minerva reinvigorating (-8%/-4%)

minus one Hirara Dirk (-2%/-1%)

steel dirk (0.2%/0.1%)

Dark Lord Minerva reinvigorating (-4%/-2%)

Plan D (+8%/+4%)

chances of victory by kill: 4.2%

chances of victory via surrender: 2.1%