Prey

During this longest pause yet, the riots within the audience had quieted down somewhat. Chiefly because the large majority had fled the arena. Minerva did no longer attempt to rile the remaining lot up either and instead focused herself entirely on getting as much strength back as possible.

After her long rest, the Dark Lord came at me with her usual ferocity. It was pretty much impossible to tell that she was struggling.

The same was true for me. But I could sense that the mental door Hebi-san put on me was bursting at the hinges. This calm I was projecting was nothing but a facade.

But even with the hypnosis still active, it was impossible to not sustain some damage from the Dark Lord’s vicious onslaught.

When not even Hirara ore was able to withstand these attacks, my one remaining steel dirk obviously had no chance. Minerva’s hands, turned axes, destroyed it within minutes and I was finally down to just avoiding her slashes. The high quality of my equipment offered me a last modicum of protection but it won’t amount to much against such an opponent. Already, my clothes were torn and ripped in numerous places.

Given the headway she was making, one would assume Minerva was keen to finish the job now and yet she stopped her pursuit the very moment she slowed down. A near perfect allocation and preservation of energy. And tremendous discipline.

She eyed me with the tenacity of a hunter after a long day in the woods. Exhausted and starving, but by no means willing to give up on her prey. “Next time, I get you next time I…”

Minerva pretty much collapsed herself on her resting shade, that by now accounted for half the arena surface. The Dark Lord immediately started to take in short, shallow breaths.

This time she only managed to keep her top form up for ten minutes. The period of fighting is getting shorter and shorter while the rests are taking longer and longer. She probably has only one more burst of energy left in her.

I am getting close. So close! Just a little bit longer! I can do this! I just need to endure…

The bells reverberated through the city, heralding that yet another hour has passed.

It was now six in the evening.

And suddenly, the door broke.

My lungs were burning, as if they were filled with hot magma.

Pain engulfed every single nerve ending of my body.

Exhaustion like never experienced before assaulted me.

And the base urge to urinate suddenly returned with a vengeance.

Not even capable of standing upright anymore, I collapsed to the ground.

Hebi-san’s hypnosis has at last given out.

And then I heard the Dark Lord’s throaty chuckle. “Oh? What’s this? Are you finally, finally, fucking done?”

Her breathing was ragged and ****.

Minerva had almost no energy left.

But only almost.

She was still in the fight. She still had more stamina then me remaining. I greedily sucked in as much air as I could. I needed to get as much energy back as possible. I needed to use this last break to its maximum potential.

But now the hunter had smelled blood.

Not waiting to regain her stamina, she stood up again and walked towards me. Seeing my pitiful state, she clearly had no intention of taking things slow anymore.

Summoning up all the strength I had left I powered through the pain and got back on my feet.

Then the attack came.

Not via her axe, it was just a regular punch but it came with a power and speed that was completely divorced from her previous attacks. Or perhaps that was merely how I perceived it up until now. I tried to evade the punch, but the strike hit me directly in the gut and I crumbled back to the ground with a pained grunt.

The sensation was multiples higher then what I felt before. I did my best to stomach the debilitating, searing pain that engulfed me.

For a brief moment of mercy, Minerva just stared down at me.

“Was a good idea”, she said. “You got close.”

N-No! This can’t happening! This can’t be the end of it! Not after all this! Not after Femto died to give me this chance!

“No one ever pushed me this hard.”

I rolled myself to the side in anticipation of an attack, but Minerva was faster once again and brutally kicked me in the side.

“But when all is said and done…”

Another kick followed.

“You’re still about an hour short!”

She viciously stomped down on my left leg, crippling it in the process. And now I screamed.

“Oi, Oi, come now, boy. Try to to at least keep some dignity!”, she sneered with a dark chuckle and destroyed my other leg by sending a spear through it.

I started to sob as my bladder relieved itself, the pain, the ****, everything was overwhelming me.

In response, Minerva only laughed. “Well, that’s kinda…” Forming a knife, she slashed my already shredded trousers and underwear off. “Really fucking pathetic.”

“Please”, I begged. “Don’t…”

The Dark Lord responded with a somewhat annoyed sigh, as if what would come now was nothing more then a pesky hassle. “You probably croak If I **** you, so you better enjoy this.”

A slick, slimy hand engulfed my shaft.

“I’m pretty good at this, you know”, Minerva mused. “Be grateful, boy.”

Then, just like that, she started jerking me off.

She wasn’t good. But that didn’t matter. My entire body was burning in agony. My legs were crushed. All my weapons gone. Femto. I have lost everything. There was nothing more I could do to prevent this.

This...is it. I’m done. I’m sorry, Femto. Please forgive me. Everyone...please...please escape and forget about me.

…

..

.

“MAAAAAAAARRRRIIIIIIII!!!”

The loud scream pierced my ears.

“DON’T GIVE UP! FIGHT!”

...huh?

Who?

Was this...Aiju?

Where did she come from? It wasn’t from my tower. Minerva seemed just as confused. The both of us glanced upwards.

There, on the very top of the magic barrier, was a small catgirl holding on to it with her dear life.

Don’t tell me she...jumped down there. What the hell is that crazy catgirl doing? She can’t do this! She’s pregnant!

And yet, there she was clawing herself against the barrier and staring down at me with determined, blue eyes.

Then Aiju inhaled very deeply and...

…

…

...

“UAAAAARGHHHHHH!!!!!!”

I raised my hands and pressed them down on my crotch.

Minerva seemed amused by my sudden outburst of energy and did nothing to stop it. “Boy...what do you think you’re...”

I grabbed my balls tightly and…

CRUNCH!!!!!!

The pain almost made me pass out. Oh fuck, I should have done this while still under hypnosis. I screamed in pure unadulterated excruciating agony as my entire body was rejecting my actions.

But I succeeded.

“Try to get me to cum now, you biiiiiiiiiiiitch!”, I howled at my opponent.

For a brief moment, even Minerva was dumbfounded.

But that didn’t last long.

“Fine”, the Dark Lord growled down at me. “The old fashioned way then.”

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%)

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

steel dirk (0.2%/0.1%)

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

minus two Hirara Dirks (-4%/-2%)

Dark Lord Minerva reinvigorating (-2%/-1%)

Plan Dehydration (+16%/+4%)

Minerva caught on (-8%/-4%)

Dark Lord Minerva reinvigorating (-1%/-0.5%)

broken legs (-10%/-5%)

Plan Dehydration (32%/16%)

stone guardian trousers destroyed (-2%/-1%)

crushed balls (5%/2.5%)

chances of victory by kill: 1.0%

chances of victory via surrender: 0.5%