The friend of Kimie had turned out to be Mary, the goddess of Marriage. Netori naturally figured it out, and then appeared in a waitress outfit so as to not appear conspicuous on approach. Just like before, the two were like oil and water. However, there was something a bit different about this time. True, their bodies were different, but there was also a kind of suppressive feel coming from Mary. It was then I realized that at this stage in their lives, Netori was weaker than Marriage, with no chance of flipping things. Although she was angry, she also had a slightly defeated look to her.

In the past, marriage had stolen Harem away from her. This might not have even bothered her, as she was the goddess of theft, but then Marriage had cut her off, monopolizing Harem’s affections for many years. No matter what NTR did after a certain point, she was unable to move Harem’s heart. This had made NTR collapse to the point she broke into the three sisters, and those sisters had taken the bitter failure to heart.

However, I wasn’t just Netori’s man. Marriage had been taken by Harem as well. I couldn’t allow one of them to undermine the other. I realized I was going to have to step in between these two goddesses before it broke out into a fight that Netori would assuredly lose.

“Cow tits, I see you still like women with back disorders.”

“Hoh… hoh… still as jealous over my breasts as ever, but your right, large breasts don’t suit a hussy like you. It takes a woman with proper assets to keep a man.”

“Why, you stupid bit-“

“Netori, I’ll take care of this.” I cut into their argument, causing the two girls to send their glares at me in surprise.

Being looked down on by two beautiful, angry goddesses did cause my heart to quicken, but I just managed to keep my cool.

“Hmm? So, you’re working with her? I knew there was something off with you. Is that… a champion? How antiquated…” She shot a look to Netori. “It suits an old, decrepit-“

“Enough!” I slapped my hand on the table, causing her to jump. “Netori, trust me. I’ll handle Marriage.”

Netori narrowed her eyes for a moment, her arms crossed, and a strong desire to keep fighting still on her face, but after a moment she gave a curt nod. “Fine… take care of her. I have better things to do anyway.”

Even though she had made such a show of coming out in a waitress outfit, she disappeared instantly without a trace, teleporting away somewhere. No one in the club seemed to have noticed her. Once she was gone, an incredulous look formed on Mary’s face as she turned to me. Her large breasts hung down menacingly in front of my face as she glared down on me with the might of a level thirteen god.

“You’ll take care of me?” She asked, her tone sounding icy. “Just who the hell do you think you are-”

Not giving her a chance to keep talking, I grabbed her wrist and pulled. She let out a cry of surprise as I pulled her from her seat and led her away. For some reason, she didn’t resist. As we walked, she lowered her head, a strange look appearing on her face as I guided her out of the club. I went through a back door which I unlocked before closing it. We were now in an alley behind the club, completely alone. I could still hear the faint thrumming of the music, but it was rather quiet out here.

“What do you want?” She asked, her voice filled with various emotions. “Let go of my wrist.”

She tried to pull her wrist away, looking at it with slight worry. A realization struck me, and I suddenly knew what I had to do. I spun around and then grabbed her. Before she could react, I planted a kiss on her. My hands found her but and grabbed it roughly as my tongue explored her mouth.

“Mm! Mmnssmmmm!” She cried out in alarm.

She tried to push away. Despite all of her god-like strength, it was completely useless in my arms. I squeezed her body tightly and kissed her with all of the built-up emotions that I hadn’t been able to display before. Her resistance weakened, and soon she melted to me. After kissing her for a minute or so, I finally broke my lips away, but I kept her in my grip.

“Please… let go of me.” She looked up at me tearfully.

“You… you can’t pull away from me. Godless?”

A realization struck me. Godless was an ability that exchanged all of my power so that even gods couldn’t mess with me. This gave me a hidden power I had never realized before. I had the power to restrain a god. Not only could they not target me with their powers, but if I grabbed onto them, they couldn’t teleport away, and they lacked the strength to injure me. In my arms, Mary was just a woman, no longer a goddess.

This was why her expression had turned strange. She had probably attempted to teleport out of my grip the second I grabbed her, but she’s unable to. After kissing her like that, I had confirmed what I expected. Although I only had an outline of what I was doing before, it all depended on how Marriage reacted.

This also gave me a revelation about Netori. In the past, or maybe I should say the future, Netori would always avoid me grabbing her. She’d float out of my reach. I had always thought it was metaphoric, but perhaps she was always on guard for being grabbed by someone with an ability like that. When she said that once I had godless, I could have her, there was more meaning to that. It meant that once I grabbed her, she couldn’t flee. In the end, we had been forced to a point where she couldn’t flee, but Netori was also the flighty kind of girl who might have genuinely run if things became too intense.

However, Marriage was a bit different. She loved the intensity. This is why, even after I kissed her, she wasn’t panicking. Other than having flushed cheeks and hard breathing, she otherwise was fine.

“What do you want from me?” She demanded.

“I want you.”

Her expression froze like she didn’t quite understand what I was saying. So, I squeezed her body righter in my grip.

“I-I’m married.” She responded, trying to keep an air of distance between us.

“I don’t care.”

“Tsk… just like a minion of Netori.” She turned her head away, a flash of anger in her eyes.

“Are you happy, Mary?”

Mary’s body shook imperceptibly as she heard those words. If I hadn’t had her so close to me, then there is no way I would have noticed. She turned back to me, her eyes looking into mine, but they contained a slight emptiness to them.

“Of course.”

“Liar.”

“You… don’t even know me.” She shot back, looking increasingly awkward. “I don’t know you.”

I reached up with my free hand and gently stroked her cheek. “In time, you will…”

As I said this, I released my grip on her. Her body fell forward slightly. Without realizing it, she had been leaning against me, and as I pulled back, so did the support she had. She looked up at me with wide-eyes, another flash of confusion on her face. I had manipulated and seduced many women, but I never meant any of it. This was why I was caught off guard as my heart quickened as I felt her soft skin under my fingertips.

I had put all of my pain and hopes on NTR. Perhaps, I had felt it easier to focus on the woman who had torn my heart out. In her case, I had been helpless as she betrayed me. However, Mary had also been there, and she hadn’t left me willingly. Harem had flat out stolen her, and she wasn’t even happy about it. I wasn’t strong enough to keep NTR’s eye, but I was an even greater failure by not being able to protect a woman who already gave her heart to me. I had failed her once. As I looked into her eyes, I realized that I wasn’t going to fail her a second time. I would save her from Harem.

“Just who are you?” She asked the intense look I gave her causing her soul to flutter.

“There is no point in a marriage where you are unhappy,” I said instead. “A true marriage is one you want, even if you have to share it with others. Perhaps, you should take some lessons from your enemy.”

She continued to stare at me for a few more moments, and then she disappeared without a trace. I stood in the alleyway silent for a bit. Other than the sound of dripping water from an air conditioning unit and the thrumming of the club, I was alone with my thoughts. My hand tightened once again as if I was summoning the power to defy the heavens in my fist.

“I will save you too. I swear it.”

I slowly regained my calm and brought my heartbeat back to normal. Only then, I turned around and re-entered the club. As I approached the table we had been at, Kimie was looking around with her face furrowed. When her eyes landed on me, they instantly brightened.

“Hakaru! Where did you and Mary go?”

“Mary wasn’t feeling well. I think she drunk too much. I found her a cab.” I responded, the disarming smirk returning to my face.

“Oh, so it’s just you and me then…” She responded, her eyes holding a suggestive quality to them the old Hakaru might never have noticed even if it slapped him in the face.

“You want to come to my place?” I asked.

“Yes!” She nodded, blushing.

The pair of us left the club. I didn’t get a cab though. When she questioned it, I told her I lived very close. That was technically true. The location I was going to was a spot that Netori knew about. It was a spot my mother had, one of the hidden hangouts of her gang. It wasn’t much, just an abandoned building with a few furnished rooms. Thankfully, her gang was one that belonged to women, and they didn’t spare any expense decorating. If I had tried to drag her into a room that was just a dirty mattress on the floor, seducing her would be near impossible.

Even so, walking down the street of downtown and then stopping at a seemingly abandoned building made her nervous. She held my hand tightly, pushing close to me in a seductive manner. I had worried that she would be repelled by such a place, but I forgot the effect fear had on making a girl sexually aroused. In the club, filled with warm rooms and posh amenities, women always felt safe and secure. Although this was one way to make a girl loosen up, a more effective way was to take her out of her comfort zone.

The fear of taking such a naughty risk would increase her heartbeat and send adrenaline running through her brain. As those thoughts turned to arousal, her brain would confuse her physiological changes to be emotional ones. Since she already took several risks, she would be more willing to commit more risky behavior, and it was a prime way to conquer a woman.

Suffice it to say, it worked very well. Once we went into one of the rooms that was less feminine decorated, she quickly began to lose her clothing. There was a big glass window leading into the factory portion, but this was pitch black, while the room was well lit. As a result, she couldn’t see on the other side of the glass a certain man, tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth.