They day of the finals

“I LOVE YOU, DARLING!”

The little ex-witch turned jester flung herself at me without any shame. Her blushing face a mixture of adoration and pure lust as she hugged me like a love starved doggie.

It would be rather cute if it wasn’t so creepy.

“DARLIIIIING! LET’S GET MARRIED TOMORROW!”

Being somewhat overwhelmed with this much affection, I awkwardly petted the girls head, to which Beatrice responded with happy purring.

The day has finally arrived.

It felt weirdly unreal. I knew this was coming but with us going dungeon crawling and all the legal mumbo jumbo, the fight itself has almost somewhat faded into the background.

This type of carefree thinking was dangerous. I was about to fight a Dark Lord. A tremendously powerful being. I can not let myself get distracted.

That was easier said then done however. Due to Minerva’s stipulation the match was postponed to the evening, meaning I had almost the entire day to prepare for it.

It was more nerve wracking then I liked to admit, perhaps that was Minerva’s intention but at least I was kept somewhat busy.

After a late breakfast, Maria insisted of giving me a full body clean up. I then spend another hour or so doing a light warm up before lunch.

Afternoon was strategy time(or sexy strategy time as Sylphid called it), with the majority portion of it spend on how I would get the Dark Lord to surrender.

Which brings us to the situation at hand.

“DARLIIIIIING!”, Beatrice looked up to me, her pupils having somehow turned into pink hearts. “Stop thinking about other stuff. Think about me! Me!”

To be sure.

This was absolutely still Beatrice in there.

“Get her to cum already”, Cassandra demanded from the sidelines. “And remember to not make it an order.”

It goes without saying that attempting to **** a surrender via **** appeared to be a hopeless endeavor. Cassandra and Sylphid both attested that even with Nikkou’s anti Dark Lord ability, which came with near unimaginable pain, there was no way Minerva Margaret would ever surrender.

A few ideas were floated, but ultimately we settled on one of my dance techniques: “Sexy Striptease”

Beatrice was nice enough to “volunteer”. And while it took a few attempts(quite to some of the girls delight) to actually hit her, before long my new jester was hopelessly fawning over me.

“Darling! Darliiiing! Let’s go on a date! I want you to feed me strawberry cakes! Buy me a red Kalar Crystal Staff!”

“A-alright, Beatrice. But first, would you like to cum for me?”

“EVERYTHING FOR YOU, MY DARLING!”

It felt like a firework went off in the ex-witch’s currently vaccant brain.

Beatrice started humping herself against me like a Doggie in heat and after a mere few seconds she climaxed loudly.

“Nice”, Sylphid let out a whistle while she took custody of the blissed out girl. “But lets do a second test. How about...Fisti? Oh! Oh! Or Cass! No wait...Gilbert! Hehehe.”

Fisti did not seem particularly enthusiastic about the prospect. Neither was Cassandra. And do not even get me started on that last suggestion.

“M-My Lady! In that case allow me to volunteer!”, Sanakia eagerly suggested.

Unfortunately, I doubt we are getting much data out of you.

Besides, its not like I have an unlimited amount of tries with this in the first place.

“It matters not how many foolish girls that foolish Mari Beta charms”, Hebi-san hissed. The snakegirl had a rather strong aversion to this plan of attack, perhaps feeling somewhat upstaged. “Answer us this: How will this spell penetrate a Dark Lord’s invincibility field?”

“Thou may leave this to mine. Merely cut the fiends arms and legs, skewer him with mine blade and perform thine ritual.”

Nikkou proposed.

Quite excitedly.

As brutal as that sounds, it was most likely our only option. “Sexy Striptease” required me to, well, perform a striptease. I doubt Minerva will just stand by and watch me do so.

“Ya, alright that is all well and good but how about ya put some clothes on?”

Fisti attempted her best(which was still poor) attempt not to stare. Meanwhile, I blushed and quickly dressed myself again in the (freshly washed) Kyan-Kyan suit. I was definitely getting way too comfortable about being naked in front of these girls.

“Eh”, Sylphid gently patted the still happily giggling Beatrice. “A few hours from now you are gonna do that in front of tens of thousands of people. So, it’s like, not that big of a deal.”

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR REMINDING ME OF THAT!

“That aside”, I responded with a grumble as the annoying affect of “Horny Bunny” returned. “Do I have to remind you that this technique has a mere 25% chance of working? What are we going to do if I happen to get unlucky?”

“Then you kill the fucking cunt”, Cassandra responded bluntly. “You know what’s at stake here.”

I do.

In a few hours all my girls will be given over in the custody of the **** Tournament Association to await the outcome of the final. Minerva does not even need my surrender to get her hands on them. According to her condition all she needs is my ****.

A part of me felt like vomiting.

“Just look at this foolish Mari Beta!”, Hebi-san sniffed. “Listen to us, sword. Do not hesitate to take control over his body. A fool who took almost a day to fetch one single blade should not be trusted with anything and deserves to be strung along like a puppet!”

I don’t think Nikkou is capable of that. Thankfully.

“I shall, if need doth arise.”

WHAT!

“I’m so booooooored!”, Lucky yawned. “Can the fight start already? I’m tired of all this talking!”

“Am tired of no dick”, Aiju added while glaring at me.

“I HOPE YOU LOSE!”

Oh, it looks Beatrice’s charm ran out.

Wow, she seemed supremely angry. And embarrassed.

“YOU STUPID KYAN-KYAN! YOU WILL RUE TO THE DAY YOU EVER…”

SMACK!

“EEEEK!!”

“Silence!”, Sanakia slapped my jester on the (by now very red) butt. “You haven’t gotten better at your juggling at all! You have slacked of enough! There are only a few hours left until my Lady’s victory celebration! Back to training!”

…

You know.

It was somewhat difficult to really appreciate the severity of the situation with all this going on.

But before Sanakia could return to her jester training she handed me my final rare level up candy. “My Lady, this is it. The final battle is upon us. I know you will emerge victorious. Vanquish the fell fiend and restore peace to the continent!”

I nodded. “I will.”

...

CONGRATULATIONS! MARI HAS GAINED A LEVEL UP! MARI IS NOW LEVEL 95!

CONGRATULATIONS! Your Cleansing Performance uses went up to ten (Level 95)

..

..

.

6 P.M.

“LAAAAAADIIIIIIIIES AAAAAAAND GENTLEEEEMEEEEEEN! MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES FOR THE DELAY! BUT NOW THE HOUR IS FINALLY UPON US!”

The arena erupted in a gigantic cheer. The ranks were somehow even more packed then during the semi-finals, which should not be physically possible.

You know, I was really, really hoping that Ben would wear a particular outrageous outfit to distract from my own appearance. But no, the little shit was actually dressed like an announcer for once. He wore a snappy white suit and accompanying pants.

“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!"

…

“WE HAD 127 FINALS BEFORE THIS ONE, BUT NEVER DID WE HAVE THE IMMENSE PRIVILEGE TO HOST A FINALE OF THIS ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS! FOR OUR CONTESTANT MARI BETA, KEENLY AWARE THAT SHE WAS FACING THE INVINCIBLE POWERS OF A DARK LORD DECIDED TO DELVE DEEP INTO THE LABYRINTH FROM WHICH RASHEUL GAINED IT’S NAME AND RETRIEVED AN ANCIENT ARTIFACT THAT WAS CONSIDERED LOST FOR THE AGES! THAT’S RIGHT! LADIES AND GENTLEMEEEEEEN, WE PROUDLY PRESENT YOU THE NEW CHOSEN WIELDER OF THE LEGENDARY HOLY BLADE NIKKOU! THE BUSTY BATTLE MAIDEN, MAAAAAAAARRRIIIIIIII BEEEEEEEEEEEEEETAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

You didn’t have to sneak busty in there.

If there was one mercy to this, it was the fact that the tournament absolutely milked the shit out of my new appearance. Meaning the fact that I turned into a Kyan-Kyan wearing, Katana wielding, smoking hot girl stirred the pot not quite as much as it could have.

Stirring it, it did however and I was greeted with rapturous applause. These guys clearly absolutely loved what happened to me.

“HOWEVER! DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE AND PRESUME THAT OUR BODACIOUS BATTLE BABE HAS THIS BOUT IN HER BIG BAGS! FOR HER OPPONENT GLEEFULLY WELCOMED THIS CHALLENGE AND IS INTEND TO CRUSH NOT ONE BUT TWO HOLY WEAPONS IN ONE TOURNAMENT! 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!!!”

And there she was. Minerva.

It was only two days ago since that visit in her tower but it felt like an eternity.

The Champion turned Dark Lord looked as self assured as always. Not one to be intimated by a weapon particularly designed to defeat her she let out a friendly laugh. “Nice new weapon! Wasn’t thinking you could really pull it off. Guess that was worth the small...change. Really, I can barely spot the difference.”

I wasn’t about the let myself get provoked. Instead, I calmly studied my opponent, in particular her armaments. Minerva didn’t wield the shadow axes I was expecting but rather two Hirara ones. Although, they looked rather different then the ones she used prior.

“Oh these?”, Minerva chuckled and effortlessly lifted her two massive great axes. “Since my last ones got destroyed I decided to get somewhat of an upgrade myself.”

I could tell. Not only were they considerably bigger, they also appeared much sturdier. Attempting to block them with Nikkou would be unwise.

It was six in the evening now. The sun was starting to set and the shadows have already claimed half the arena.

“I doth sense a familiar presence in that one”, Nikkou told me. “Who was thee fiend thine enemy absorbed?”

“Dark Lord Ithere”, I responded. “Did you know him?”

The blade did not respond but there was a curious glimmer in it.

“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!

I took a deep breath.

And rushed my opponent.

The Dark Lord responded immediately by impeding my advance with one of her axes. I avoided the first strike which brought me directly in the trajectory of the second.

Minerva had perfectly anticipated in which direction I would evade and was ready to catch me.

Evading again was impossible, I had to guard with Nikkou.

But these were Hirara Greataxes. Even her previous axes chipped the Holy Lance. And this holy weapon was much less sturdy.

It would no doubt shatter with a few strikes.

I am sure that was what was going through Minerva’s head as I avoided that second strike as well.

“Son of a…!”

Having evaded her two strikes I was now inside Minerva’s guard. I immediately attempted a deep cut across her torso but suddenly an explosion of dark spikes flew in my direction.

Should I avoid them?

…

Unnecessary.

“HAAAAAA!!!!”

I am sure that for any spectator this appeared just like an explosion of incomprehensible darkness but I could make out the individual spikes.

Or rather, I could sense them.

And cut them down with perfect precision.

The spikes didn’t stop coming but neither did my slashes. Slowly I managed to inch my way ever closer to Minerva’s body.

“YOU FUCKING PUNK!”

Seeing that her spikes were not enough, Minerva struck with her greataxes once again. Not only two, she had grown herself two more arms and attacked with four axes at once.

…!

Her Hirara Greataxes were certainly an issue but I could destroy her shadow axes easily enough. Of course she immediately regenerated them but despite attacking me with such ferocity, I actually managed to keep up with Minerva’s barrage

No.

I was pushing her back!

Minerva fought a retreating battle, slowly falling back towards the edge of the arena.

By doing so, she managed to block or avoid all of my attacks but there was a limit on how much she could retreat. I pressed onward, driving her back even further.

Before long her back was almost to the western wall.

“Careful, battle maiden!”

I jumped back instinctively. And just in time too. A shadow spear emerged out of the ground I just vacated.

“Got you now!”, Minerva laughed.

Numerous shadow spears started to spike upwards beneath me.

Right, the shadows were her domain. Even with my speed, evading was my only recourse. Taking full advantage of my evasion I barely managed to avoid this onslaught.

But Minerva wasn’t just contend with the spikes. She hurled her axes at me. Naturally, she created more immediately. Her intend was clearly to overwhelm me with sheer quantity.

The amount of them was quickly increasing. This was bad. There was no way I could deal with the spears and her axes combined.

I had to fall back to the light.

Minerva certainly had no intention of allowing me to do so. A massive wall of pillar erupted in front of me, cutting off my path of retreat.

At the same time, dozens of axes rushed towards me.

A wall of shadows in front, a storm of axes to the back

“Hmpf!”

“Secret Technique...”

I cut a deep triangular swath through the shadow pillars and immediately jumped through, escaping back to the sunny part of the arena.

And just like that, our first exchange had ended with neither side landing a single blow.

At least not physically

Minerva made no attempt of following me. Neither did she throw more axes. For a few moments she did nothing but glare at me from the safety of her shadows.

Finally, she let out a chuckle.

“Not bad, girl. Now, how the fuck did you get that strong?”

“Candy”, I responded curtly.

“That so?”, the Dark Lord sneered. “You learned some nice tricks, I give you that. Won’t cut it though if that’s all you got.”

I glared at my opponent who looked back with that same carefree expression she wore at the beginning of the match.

But I rattled her. My strength was beyond her predictions.

I readied Nikkou again. “Come then.”

“Nah. Don’t think I will.”

“I see”, Nikkou remarked. “Thee fiend intends to wait o’er ‘ere til dark and she doth gain the upper hand.”

It would take about an hour for the entire arena to be covered in shadows, but that was certainly an option Minerva had. The finals have no time limit after all.

“Well, unless the bunny wants to spare us the wait and attack first”, Minerva smirked. “Would probably be the smart choice. The longer it waits the longer the shadows get.”

She had a point.

Waiting would be pointless.

…