That's Heresy!

Mary felt the pleasant squish of breasts against her face as she woke up. It would be great, except for two issues. The first was that she could not pull her face away from the breasts, which wasn’t a major problem by itself, but the second problem made it an issue. She could barely breathe. She started to struggle, which just caused the coiling mass that was Sam to tighten around her and Brooke. Mary did feel Brooke’s hands on the small of her back and the back of her head. Seeing no other recourse, Mary bit down on Brooke’s breast.

Brooke woke up with a start. “What was that?” Mary felt Brooke start to struggle against Sam, mostly ineffectually, but she was successful enough for Mary to tilt her head up and to the side, allowing her to breathe easier.

Mary said as loudly as she could manage, “Sam! Hard to breathe!”

Brooke’s brain finally processed the situation. “Sam! Wake up, Sam! You’re crushing Mary.”

Sam opened her eyes and glared at Brooke. Then she realized what Brooke had said and started to shrink down to the size of a house cat and went back to sleep on top of Mary’s back.

Mary did not let her stay there as she rolled off of Brook and grabbed Sam, holding her in the air above her. “That needs not to become a habit, Samantha.”

Sam was glaring down sleepily at Mary.

Brooke said, “That’s too late; she did this yesterday with Laura and Talia.”

Sam struggled to get free, which wasn’t difficult considering Mary didn’t have any enhanced strength at the moment. Then she floated down and used Mary’s breasts as a pillow and went back to sleep.

Mary pulled on one of her horns. “No going back to sleep. We’re talking here.”

Seeing Mary wasn’t going to drop the matter, Sam shifted into her humanoid form so that she was straddling Mary’s waist. Sam sleepily yawned, “Mary, you were perfectly safe. You were asleep like that for several hours.”

“I could barely breathe!” Mary retorted angrily.

Sam leaned down, bringing her face close to Mary’s. “Were you in pain? Do you feel weird?”

Mary pursed her lips. “No, and no.”

“That’s because even subconsciously I couldn’t really hurt you. I think you felt it too while you were a dragon.”

“You still know I don’t like being restrained.” Mary countered.

Sam sat up and sighed as she nodded. “Sorry about that, but it also doesn’t feel like that’s why you were upset.”

Mary considered her reaction and found she was mostly concerned about her shortness of breath and not the fact that Sam had coiled around her.

Sam tried her best to contain a small smirk as she realized Mary came to the same conclusion. Sam said, “Frankly, I think that makes sense.” Sam pulled Mary up into a near bone-crushing hug, then released Mary. “It really isn’t different than that, or if we were spooning and I was gripping a bit too tight.”

Mary gently pushed Sam away. “I guess… It’s still really odd to wake up like that, especially when I can’t actually tell what’s going on.”

Brooke finally reinserted herself into the conversation. “Sam, I’m going to have to agree with Mary here. This is a problem, and you need to work on it.”

Mary winced as she saw that fact click in Sam’s head, realizing it had just been added to Sam’s list of things to perfect in some form. Mary looked at Brooke. “You should be really careful telling Sam stuff like that in the future. She’ll have the choice taken away from her otherwise.”

Brooke tilted her head to the side, confused for a moment. “Wait… you mean her list of things?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, luckily it isn’t really a new thing but instead folded into something else on the list already.”

Brooke said, “Mind if I work on curing Mary some more before I leave?” Sam grumbled slightly but got off of Mary’s lap and let Brooke do her work. Brooke shuffled closer to Mary. “Mary, if you would lie on your stomach, please.”

Mary rolled onto her stomach, but asked, “What are you going to do here?” Brooke sat on Mary’s butt and then started rapidly hitting Mary’s back with the sides of her fists. Mary found the sensation rather soothing, as it seemed Brooke was trying to also relieve some of Mary’s tension that had built up as well.

Sam got up and went to prepare the three of them some breakfast. Mary just lay beneath Brooke for a good half hour, being pampered as all the stress seemed to slowly melt away. When Brooke finally stopped, and she and Mary joined Sam at the breakfast table, Brooke said, “Well, good news, bad news. The good news is that it looks like my boon did actually cure your infection. Bad news is that it didn’t remove the curse. I’ve gotten about half the curse removed between last night and this morning, though.”

Mary picked up a piece of toast, spreading jam onto it. “Does it really matter? I’m incapacitated today.”

Sam said, “I figure Talia is going to fix that.”

Mary said, “She shouldn’t. She should save that. We have today, tomorrow, and then half the day after that. You’ll manage without me.”

Sam said, “If you’re sure…”

“I’m not, and it’s ultimately Sadie’s and Talia’s call, but that’s my view on the matter.”

Brooke snickered, “You just want to lie in bed all day.”

“Can you blame me? With few exceptions, things have been go, go, go, since the show started.”

Sam asked, “I thought things were better after you took the day off?”

Mary nodded. “And they definitely were.”

Brooke asked, “Are you really going to be able to keep up with all of us?”

Mary shook her head. “I doubt it. I’m going to try, but can you seriously imagine juggling more than a dozen romantic relationships?”

Sam shook her head. “No. I’ve got three, and that’s complicated enough. Though I guess if you are staying here, you don’t need to copy my dragon transformation this morning.”

Their conversation was interrupted as there was a knock at the door. Brooke went to open the door, finding the remainder of the team on the other side. Sam frowned as they all filed in and sat down, joining in on breakfast. Sam was at least pleased to see that Freya was with them and brought more food, so they wouldn’t be pilfering the breakfast she made for Mary and Brooke.

Sam grumpily asked, “Why are you all interrupting my morning with Mary?”

Sadie said, “Because we are leaving soon and need to discuss some things.”

Laura sat down next to Sam and pulled her into a side hug and wrapped one wing around her. Sam’s anger melted away as she enjoyed the softness of Laura’s wing.

The group discussed their plans and the current state of the empire forces over breakfast. Talia explained that generally things were looking good for them. The empire managed to establish several encampments near the mountain and was holding off the horde of infected so far. Unfortunately, the horde of infected was growing slowly, and they would need to deal with the idol, or it would become a real hazard. Talia also informed Mary that she likely saved their team from a major setback by getting the bomb out of the city and into the lake. There were now small pockets of infected to the west of the capital, but when the infected were defeated and reached their respawn timer, it seemed they were being teleported to the idol, which at least made containment easier.

Talia laid out a plan that she hoped would allow them to break into the mountain today, but as they didn’t have a layout of the mountain interior, she wasn’t able to make any definitive plans on how to proceed after that.

As they came to the end of the discussion, Talia broached a subject that several people had been avoiding. “So the last thing I wanted to discuss was possibly reaching out to Ellen and seeing if we can broker some sort of deal with her.”

Laura frowned. “I don’t know how I feel about trying to get her to betray her team. I mean, how would all of you feel about them doing the reverse and trying to get Sadie to do that?”

Brooke said, “Isn’t that exactly what Ellen did with Sadie? Turn her against us?”

Laura shook her head. “No, they used magic to get that to happen. I’m not completely sure how I feel about that, but that is clearly a tool the other team is meant to have, and I’m not going to hold it against them for using the tools they were provided to win.”

Allie asked Laura, “How is persuading Ellen to betray her team different? Betraying the team is an intended part of the challenge too.”

Laura said, “Allie, if Sam were on the other team, wouldn’t it feel a bit weird to ask her to betray her team? Knowing she’d be more likely to accept because it was you asking?”

Sam nodded. “I actually agree with Laura on this. There isn’t a practical way of doing this that doesn’t leverage Laura’s personal relationship with Ellen. Besides, Sadie, correct me if I’m wrong here, but if you betrayed us and we lost, you would still lose with us.”

Sadie nodded. “Yeah, at least that’s what Smug seemed to imply.”

Talia said, “Okay, I just wanted to bring up the possibility. If Laura doesn’t feel comfortable, then I guess there isn’t really anything to discuss.”

Mary felt obligated to comment. “That’s not completely true.” Everyone looked towards the smallest woman in the room. Mary felt a little weird having everyone stare at her. “It’s just… If I copied Laura’s goddess transformation, I could probably reach out to Ellen on our behalf.”

Sam said, “That still has the same issue that Laura brought up.”

Mary shook her head. “I don’t fully agree. I’m helping both teams as best I can. I’m not sure that my counterpart has been as effective as I have since I have better transformations to copy, but I’m not going to use my position to pressure Ellen. So if you wanted to come up with an offer to Ellen to sweeten whatever Cassandra offered her to betray her team, I could act as a mostly neutral party.”

Laura said, “I still don’t know how I feel about it, but if the team wants to go with that plan, I won’t actively oppose it. Plus, I know I wouldn’t mind having a go with Mary as a sex goddess.”

Sadie said, “Umm… I don’t want to be involved with this in any way.” Her statement got her some odd looks. “It’s just… I told Brooke this when she confronted me, after I got my hint. I think Chloe would take me convincing Ellen to betray her team as proof I’m manipulative and conniving. I don’t want to give her more ammo against me.”

Laura frowned. “Sadie, at this point you’ve proven yourself to all of us. If Chloe can’t understand that her perception of you was flawed, I know she’s going to have a problem with me. I think that is true for the rest of us. I’m not saying I expect her to simply move on, but if she continues to cling to the notion of you being a manipulative, backstabbing bitch, that will be a problem.”

Sadie was surprised and grateful to find several nods of agreement around the table. She even started floating slightly as she saw Mary nodding along to Laura’s words. Sadie blushed a bit and mumbled, “Thank you…”

Talia said, “Well… if people don’t object, I’ll try to come up with something to offer Ellen to make accepting Cassandra’s offer more enticing.” There were noncommittal shrugs from people, but no one objected. “Okay then. Mary, I hope you have a nice day relaxing in the palace; the rest of us should head out after we spend our empire merit.”

Everyone stood to leave, with almost everyone stopping to give Mary goodbye, hugs, and kisses. Sadie and Brooke were the exceptions, both of whom just hurried out of the room. Mary started cleaning up as no one had actually dealt with the dishes. She knew that the ASTRIDs would likely take care of it eventually, but it felt wrong to her to leave a mess on the table. Mary didn’t notice when someone else entered the room and took a seat off to one side. The newcomer patiently waited for Mary to finish what she was doing and only spoke up when Mary was about to change.

“Hi Mary, I thought we should talk.”

Mary whipped around, finally realizing that Ethel was sitting in an armchair in a corner of the room. Mary said, “Hi, Ethel… when did you come in?”

“Not long after the others left.” Ethel stood and strode across the room. “I like your outfit.” She said teasingly.

Mary pulled the short skirt of her magical girl outfit down. “Would you mind if I got changed before we talk about whatever it is you wanted?”

“By all means. I can wait.”

Mary quickly grabbed a more modest dress from her wardrobe and went to the bathroom to change. Mary came back out in a strapless, lavender dress that went down just past her knees, and two-inch black kitten heels. Her hair was her natural jet black but cropped short, just below her ears. Mary had small blue sapphire earrings on as well.

As Mary came out, she found Ethel had moved to the table and was sitting there patiently for Mary, with tea for each of them. Mary sat across from Ethel, and Ethel said with a teasing smile. “I still like your outfit.”

“Thank you… What exactly brings you here? I thought you would be on the front lines helping us?”

Ethel shook her head. “No, not unless one of you specifically requests that I go there. I’m managing the capital defenses instead. As for what brings me here, nothing related to the challenge.”

“I take it you’re here to tell me your choice, one way or the other, about joining my staff or harem, right?” Mary asked.

Ethel nodded. “For the most part. I still haven’t completely made up my mind, but I am leaning towards joining your harem.”

“Why?” Mary was genuinely curious.

“I’ve talked to the rest of your staff over the past several days. Astrid, of course, thinks I definitely should, but that isn’t really a surprise. Freya, Slevia, Maja, and Smug all seem to think either is fine, with upsides and downsides. Freya is actively hoping that she gets added when you upgrade your Princely Staff transformation. Petra… she… she didn’t really want to talk about it. She sort of shut down whenever I brought up the topic.”

Mary nodded. “Nothing new there, but that still doesn’t tell me why you are considering it.”

Ethel sighed. “I guess I should tell you a bit more about me. The Evolian Empire was a place Cassandra took the Lundevalls and me, for me to grow up in. Apparently, it had been a project of Maja’s for a while. I don’t know the full story there, but it was a real place. Maja was really the empress. I wasn’t the only princess, but I wouldn’t really call the other princesses my sisters. We didn’t really interact, and there was a massive age gap.”

Mary interrupted her, “I’m confused. Cassandra said she was your foster parent.”

Ethel nodded. “She was. So was Maja to some extent. I think Maja and Cassandra were using the Evolian Empire as a place to put people from Harem Hotel that didn’t exactly belong on the show for one reason or another. As Empress Maja never had a biological daughter, at least not that I’m aware of. Rather, all the princesses were adopted. The thing is, I was a bit different. I was raised from infancy there. Cassandra and the Lundevalls raised me. They really are my family.”

“Still not sure why that makes you want to join my harem.” Mary pressed.

“You’re considering adding another staff member to your harem to help Astrid, right?”

Mary nodded.

Ethel continued, “So, I could be added anyway, and if by joining I could help Astrid…” Ethel trailed off.

Mary nodded, “Okay. That makes some sense. You see them as close family. I doubt that you see Astrid that way, considering what’s happened to her, but she’s still family of family, so you care. I can respect that.”

Ethel smiled at Mary. “There’s also the fact that I actually like you too. You’re pretty, and pretty handsome as Mark. You’ve also been mostly kind and respectful to me, and when you haven’t been, it’s because you weren’t sure how to act toward someone you thought Cassandra was manipulating or forcing into liking you. Freya was the one who has tipped the scales for me.”

Mary looked at her curiously. “What do you mean by that?”

“Just… Freya pointed out that being part of your staff isn’t a short-term position. It is something that will last for your entire life, which could be centuries, if not longer. She told me I could almost certainly try to be with someone else after this is all over, but I’d have to accept that any mortal lover would be one I’d be parted from.”

“What about you? Hilde explained to me why she and her sisters were so long-lived, and Smug is a dragon—”

“Being a part of your staff halts our aging. That’s true for anyone who is a member of it.”

“Ah.” Mary replied, “That would make things awkward.”

Ethel nodded. “Freya personally thinks every member of your staff will eventually wind up romantically involved with you or a member of your harem.”

“And you’d prefer it be me?” Mary asked, and got a nod in response from Ethel. “Well, it’s your choice, but you should realize just how complicated things are going to be.”

“I do. I just thought it best to update you on my plans and see if you had anything to add one way or the other.”

Mary said, “If it were up to me, I think I’d prefer it if you joined my staff.” Mary saw Ethel frown and hurried to explain, “It isn’t that I don’t like you or am not attracted to you. It’s just I’m overwhelmed as is. Cassandra made it clear there were others still to be added to my harem. I don’t know how I’m going to handle everyone as it is.”

Ethel sat with that for a few moments before replying, “You won’t be upset with me, will you?”

Mary shook her head. “No, even if it isn’t my preference, I won’t hold your choice against you regardless of your decision. I might be a bit less sympathetic if you complain about how things turn out than I would towards those who didn’t choose this.”

“I can live with that. I hope you have a relaxing day.” Ethel stood to leave, and Mary walked her to the door. At the door, Ethel turned around and leaned in and kissed Mary on the lips. Mary was startled by the action as Ethel smirked, saying, “Just taking what you promised me, even if this you doesn’t remember it.”

Ethel then skipped happily away, leaving a stunned Mary, whose hand slowly moved up to touch her own lips. Mary couldn’t help but think, What else did my counterpart promise her?- - - - - -

As Sam landed near the front lines about an hour after leaving the capital and everyone got off her back, they quickly got an updated status report. Things were just about what they were expecting, except they were finding the horde to be a problem growing faster than they expected. The defeated infected wouldn’t lose the abilities they copied, so they were becoming more than the troops could handle fairly quickly. Apparently, Arnell was one of the major reasons that they hadn’t been overwhelmed yet, as they managed to set up an encampment on farmland that let her act as a bulwark for the troops.

There were also reports of Hilde popping up all over the place, sometimes in more than one place at a time, and taking out a few people and then running away.

Talia thanked the Freya captain who gave them the report and smiled, glad they had spent the Empire Merit the previous night to get Arnell relocated to the front lines. Before they split up to help various parts of the front lines, Laura said, “Look, Talia, I know you were against it yesterday, and I get that, but I really think I should just use my big spell like before and supercharge it to safely take out the idol and all the infected.”

Sadie said, “I actually agree. It seems like we aren’t finishing this today, so we can have Laura launch it now and act as a reserve for today. Plus, it would likely get me to max level if I’m boosting her when she does it.”

Talia said, “I can’t put my finger on what it is that is telling me it could wind up being a bad idea, but I have a gut feeling it could be.”

Allie said, “A gut feeling? From the smartest woman on our planet, and you’re going with a gut feeling?”

Talia rolled her eyes. “Gut feelings are just your subconscious processing things and using your intuition to make you realize something. I feel like there’s a reason not to do it. I just can’t tell you what it is.”

Laura said, “Talia, not that I don’t trust you, but I think we should risk it. Even if you are right and there is a reason we should consider not doing it, whatever risk it is might not actually occur.”

Talia shrugged and gave a go-ahead gesture to her Goddess. As Laura and Sadie moved towards the edge of the encampment closest to the idol, Allie asked the group, “Does anyone find it odd that only Hilde and Ellen have really been spotted? Assuming that one of the Hildes is actually Ellen.”

The group continued to follow behind Laura and Sadie.

Talia said, “Not really. Aubrey could engage us, but she isn’t exactly the most mobile. Kitty could infiltrate, but she has the problem here that getting away would be a major challenge if she actually attacks anyone. Merida… well, she could, I suppose, since she can teleport apparently, but the biggest danger she poses is hypnotizing us.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, it’s a little scary how easily she did it to me.”

Allie asked, “Are you okay from that? I mean, with her in your head?”

Sam shrugged, “I’m not worried about what she might have tried to suggest to me. Even if she was going to do something to help win the challenge, she wouldn’t do something horrible. I just find it unnerving just from the total loss of control. At least from what I remember, she didn’t really try to force me to do anything.”

Isa moved up next to Sam. “You remember your time entranced?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah. Mostly. It’s a little fuzzy, but Merida entranced me. Convinced me to get into Hilde’s storage. I stayed there for a while. They took me out of her storage. Then got me to drink a vial of something, and it was gross. I’m pretty sure that incapacitated me. After that, it was a blank.”

Isa hesitantly said, “I… I don’t want to be accusatory here, but… how do we know you don’t have any triggers put in place?”

Brooke smacked Sam upside the head. “She’s good.” Sam rubbed the back of her head. “I just tried to fix any issues with her mind, and while there was a response, it didn’t have anything to do with embedded triggers.”

Sam asked, “What sort of response?”

Brooke gave her a sympathetic look. “You don’t want me answering that.”

Sam opened her mouth to object but realized Brooke was likely right and shut her mouth.

The group had stopped a little ways away from Laura and Sadie, who had begun preparations to cast Laura’s meteor swarm spell.

Allie had to ask, “Umm… what are the mice doing exactly?”

Sadie had her swarm of mice forming circles around Laura, and they seemed to be dancing on their hind legs as they slowly circled Laura. Each concentric circle alternated direction. Talia frowned, watching the proceedings as it looked like blasphemy to her, or at a minimum a mockery of real worship of the Goddess they danced around. Talia unfortunately could tell that whatever it was they were doing was actually buffing Laura, so she didn’t intervene.

Sadie stood just outside of the circles to make sure Laura was in range of her passive auras.

Laura started channeling mana, and as she did, the mice too started to glow pink, matching Laura’s mana. Laura had decided she was going to supercharge the spell again with a charge from her raiment, and after several minutes of shaping the mana, the spell finished casting. As the sky turned pink, the mice all collapsed, exhausted, and Sadie quickly started passing out cheese for a job well done. The rain of pink meteors began, each homing in on an enemy, and a massive number of them headed straight for the city where the idol was located.

---

Aubrey couldn’t believe this plan. It was clearly a stupid plan. A stupid plan that would get her knocked out of the challenge, for sure. There was absolutely no chance this was going to work. Yet, she had agreed to it. She was to protect the idol from being destroyed like the last one was. While probing the Empire’s forces, they learned that there was talk of Laura repeating her spell that scared the orcs to the point they came running to their lair far earlier than intended.

So here she was in front of the idol, with the ten sturdiest, even if not the strongest, orcs. Mark and Merigold were there with her as well. The plan was simple. Her None Shall Pass ability made it impossible for anything hostile to get past her for a time as long as she still stood, even ranged attacks, while also providing a significant damage reduction effect. When they saw Laura use her meteor swarm, Aubrey would tank it, using the increased HP pool the ten orcs provided thanks to the crown, her healing song, and Mark healing her from behind as well. Merigold was there both to tell them when the others noticed the spell being activated and to teleport Mark and Aubrey away if it looked to be too overwhelming for Aubrey.

They had just gotten word that Laura had cast the spell, so the plan was a go. Judging by how the blasts were landing, they’d have a minute before the blasts started hitting the church they had barricaded. Aubrey shouted out, “None shall pass!” The pink defensive barrier of the ability sprang up, protecting all those behind her, including the idol. The only way to them now was through her. Then Aubrey waited for Merigold to give her the signal to start her healing hymn, with the hope of unleashing her full-powered healing shortly after she started taking blasts. The blasts started rocking the church doors and quickly busted through and went straight for Aubrey.

Aubrey was shocked at how powerful each blast was. These hit so much harder than what Laura got me with yesterday. Aubrey shrugged off the damage as much as she could to the orcs. Mark was reaching around and groping her while kissing her neck, which felt great, but was extremely distracting. The blasts kept coming, and just as all the orcs dropped below 50% of their health, Aubrey finished the hymn, and a golden light with occasional pink lines flowed out from Aubrey in all directions and rejuvenated her allies. In fact, it was far more powerful an effect than they had planned for.

The blasts seemed to be accelerating in frequency, but Aubrey’s healing seemed to be empowered by these very same blasts. As Laura’s spell came to an end, Aubrey’s ability did as well, causing her to collapse to her knees. She felt brimming with power, but it was so much that it felt immobilizing as well.

Mark patted her on the shoulder. “Good work. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think we’d have such success. You doing okay?”

Aubrey nodded, then shook her head. “Sort of? I’m not sure.” Aubrey used her sword to help pull herself to a standing position, and the stone tiles of the church cracked beneath her. “I feel heavy. Like I’m stuffed full of power. I have an idea, but I’m not sure it will work. Merigold, could you teleport me to Mira near where the Empire front lines are?”

Merigold nodded. “Do you want me to send just you or everyone here?”

Aubrey said, “Might as well do everyone. The plan was to hopefully prevent them from destroying the idol this way. So it’s already been a success. The orcs and Mark won’t be enough to protect it by themselves.”

Merigold nodded and teleported them away, with her remaining behind as she flew up to the rafters now that the barricade on the doors was broken. She didn’t want to risk the infected coming after her.

Merida, Chieftain Slevia, High Shaman Maja, and Kitty were standing around a battle map as the group teleported in. Merida immediately asked, “Wur ye successful?” Aubrey nodded. Merida breathed out a sigh of relief. “Guid, 'cause we took massive casualties. Aw the infected are doon, an' the few orc raidin' parties we approved tae help Hilde an' Ellen harass the enemy troops wur wiped oot. Hilde an' Ellen managed tae avoid bein' hit 'cause o' their speed, an' we wur fine here thanks tae Maja an' the ither shamans helpin' me shield this location. We’re gonna be fallin' back shortly.”

Aubrey said, “Wait…” Aubrey was breathing heavily. “I have an idea…” Everyone was looking at Aubrey and her labored breathing with concern.

Merida said, “Maybes ye shud juist tak' it easy.”

“No… this is baaaaaaaa… important. Merida, can you project my voice? Like, make it ba everyone can hear it for baaaa… miles.”

Hearing Aubrey baaing, Mark moved to help her by milking her, much to Aubrey’s annoyance.

Merida nodded. “I can. Whit for, though?”

“I’m going to sing my healing hymn again.”

Merida wasn’t sure what Aubrey was getting at, but figured there wasn’t any harm since they were going to teleport back to base shortly anyway. Merida and High Shaman Maja started casting an illusion spell. Merida even linked with Merigold and Mira, who were elsewhere, to have an Aubrey projection near them as well.

---

Sadie was quite pleased with her gains, as she was raking in experience as Laura’s spell rained down. When the sky finally turned blue again, she frowned. “Laura… did you get a notification that you destroyed the idol? I didn’t.”

Laura shook her head. “No, but I didn’t for the last one I destroyed this way either.”

Brooke said, “Give me a moment.” She sprinted out past the defensive line towards a downed infected and stabbed it with her rapier. Then, in an alarmed state, she sprinted back behind the defensive line. “They’re still cursed.”

Allie asked, “How? That doesn’t make any sense. This looked more powerful than your previous spell, Laura. It should have melted the idol like last time.”

“Umm gals…” Isa said, pointing towards the sky. There was a gigantic Aubrey from the bust up. There was a second one far off in the distance and a third off in the direction that Hilde and Ellen had last been seen. “I’m guessing this might have something to do with it.”

Talia swore, “Goddess damnit! Aubrey! That’s what the tingling in my gut was. Laura, your attacks are all pink. Her boon makes pink things better for her.”

Aubrey started belting out her healing hymn again, her golden hair gaining lines of pink. Talia’s eyes went wide, and she bristled with indignation as she felt a familiar aura in Aubrey’s song. Talia shouted, “HERESY! This is blasphemy!” Everyone looked at Talia, a little concerned.

Laura frowned. “Talia, you know—”

Talia cut off her Goddess, “Don’t you feel it? She’s using your power! There’s a trace of your divine aura in her song right now!” Talia’s eyes glowed as she tried to think of a way to stop such sacrilege, but she came up empty.

Laura didn’t notice it while Aubrey was singing, but just as her images finished the song and released a wave of power, Laura could feel it. It was her mana and aura. As it washed over the battlefield, they didn’t know what Aubrey was trying to accomplish until they saw the first of the incapacitated infected arise with a pink and gold aura around them.

Laura swore, “Well, shit.” The infected seemed to be moving faster and stronger than before.

Sam said, “So… ummm, Laura… Talia… why are the two of you and me glowing?”

Talia looked at Sam and then looked at Laura. Then she burst out in maniacal laughter. “Aubrey did something to heal all the infected, who I guess are her allies. It’s invigorating them too. But this is Laura’s power. I guess it recognized her and her devoted followers as allies too. Because I feel powerful.”

Laura said, “The debuff for my meteor swarm is gone. The one hampering my mana regen.”

Talia said, “I think it’s time for the three of us to go on the offensive. Sam, if you wouldn’t mind transforming. I think we can clean up the infected and take out the idol with this power-up.”

Sam nodded and transformed, with Laura and Talia quickly mounting her.

Allie asked, “What about the rest of us?”

Talia said, “Stick together, and keep troop casualties to a minimum until we return. None of you should travel alone.” Talia then kicked Sam’s sides like one might a horse. “Onward, our noble steed! For the glory of our Goddess!” Sam slowly turned her head fully around and snarled at Talia. Talia winced in fear and said, “I… I’m sorry I got carried away.” Then, far more hesitantly and uncertainly, she said, “Please, oh beloved of Laura, carry us into righteous battle so that we might smite the blasphemers?” That resulted in her receiving a smite of her own directly from her Goddess, to the back of her head. “Oh, come on, I’m supposed to say stuff like that.”

+2 CP Playing your Part (Talia)

Talia showed Laura her change in score on her phone. “See, that’s literally a way for me to earn points. You wouldn’t deny me a chance to place well in the challenge, would you, darling?”

Laura did not answer Talia. Instead, she said, “Sam, we should get moving before this buff wears off. Plus, it looks like the defensive line will get overwhelmed if we don’t.”

Sam growled in annoyance but took off to do righteous battle, as Laura was part of her hoard, and using Laura’s power against her was to use her hoard against her, and Sam had to agree with Talia that that was indeed blasphemy.