“Concessions?” Alicia thought. “Really? That's what all your bluster was about? Bug off!”

“We'll talk about it later, then,” Jack thought.

Jack walked away from the girl as she unleashed her barrage of telepathic insults. He found a blur that resembled Diana and sat next to her. He used his hands to write out a message on her back.

'Neck looks stiff?' he wrote.

Diana turned, tilting her head considering the boy for a moment before nodding.

'I help?' he wrote.

'Why? Unusual?” she wrote on his arm.

When he wrote his answer, he could feel the girl smiling.

'Sounds fun!' she wrote.

Alicia sat alone, quietly fuming. She hated how Jack could read her so easily through their soul bond. So what if I'm pent up, she thought. He still can't talk to me like that!

A trace of satisfaction coming through their bond interrupted her. She looked at Jack, frowning. She couldn't really tell what he was doing but she knew he had his hands all over Diana and that he was enjoying it. A vein was throbbing on the side of her forehead.

That should be me he's touching like that, she thought. He's mine-

Alicia pinched herself. She definitely didn't want him touching her all over like that or to be carried in his arms like he did earlier. There was no way she wanted that at all...

She couldn't stop her roving mind from replaying what he'd done to her yesterday over and over. Her eyes glazed over as her hand slipped between her legs. It's not because of Jack, she thought to herself. I just have a healthy sex drive. I do this everyday. I'm just doing it because I want to and because its normal for me.

She was already wet, so she started off by teasing her clit with one hand while she slid two fingers inside of herself with the other. Her arms worked frantically. Her craving for stimulation mounted. She missed her special 'accessories'- especially the oppressive binding of smooth rope on her flesh and the deliciously sweet mix of pain and pleasure her nipple clamps delivered.

She felt her head growing numb, her sweet release was near. She pumped her arms harder. This orgasm wouldn't be nearly enough to drown her pain and worries, she had to go harder. She needed more. As if responding to her desires, she felt two strong hands grasping her breasts.

“Do you-” Jack started.

“HARDER!” Alicia thought. “FUCKING HARDER!”

Jack crushed her nipples between his fingers. Alicia went off, kicking and squealing as an orgasm rocked her body. Jack looked at the girl bemused, before mirth finally took its place.

When the waves of pleasure died down, she wanted to hide her face. She could barely sit straight, leaning against Jack's body while trying to catch her breath.

“See?” Jack thought. “We make a pretty good team, no?”

“I-”

He held a finger to her lips. Even though she could still think at him, she stayed quiet.

“You haven't cum enough, right?” he thought. “Get those fingers moving.”

She obeyed without a second thought. Alicia couldn't help herself. His brutish embrace tickled her darker desires. She delighted in submitting to someone who could overwhelm her, someone who could give her the domineering attention she yearned for.  She was already close again when Jack stopped her hands. She tried wrestling out of his grip but he didn't let her continue. As much as it frustrated her, it turned her on even more.

“Let me go!”

His hold on her stayed firm.

“No. Every night, doesn't matter when,” Jack thought. “You and me are going to have some fun.”

“What?”

“Did I fucking stutter?” Jack thought. "Agree to it or you don't get to cum today. I'll hold your hands all fucking night if I have to."

Alicia bit her lip in frustration but nodded decisively. Instead of releasing her hands, Jack pinned her to the ground, resting his cock on her lips.

“Good girl,” He thought, “It's my turn now. Every successful partnership needs some give and take. You're going to take my load down your throat and I'm going to give you another orgasm. Fair?”

“Completely fair,” she thought. "That's totally reasonable and you're definitely not a manipulative asshole.”

“That's not right,” he thought. “Because I'm a manipulative asshole that can make you cum your brain out on repeat. Now choose. Get Diana or the Goddesses to diddle you or suck my cock and you get to squirt again.”

Alicia gulped, unable to take her eyes off the hefty slab of man-meat twitching on her face. She took his cock into her mouth, feeling her body get unnaturally hot as the boy forced himself deeper in. She struggled against his grip, wanting to touch herself, but Jack kept his grip firm on her hands.

“Let me go,” she thought. “I'm sucking it.”

“Sure,” he thought. “After I see you swallow. You got to cum first, remember? It's my turn, right now.”

“You can still let me masturbate...” she thought. “Like, what the fuck?”

“Considering your opinion was one of the concessions I intended on offering. Shame you weren't interested.”

She glared at him, trying to sneer but failing to do so due to the penis tickling her tonsils.

“You're really spiteful,” she thought. “It's unmanly, you know.”

“Hey, if you want to gripe, don't stop sucking!” he said. “If I cum more, you cum more. So get to it.”

***

Jack let the pleasure build up in his penis. He breathed out hard, chuckling a little. He couldn't believe his balls were this full of cum after how much he'd unloaded yesterday. He still couldn't see Alicia clearly but just knowing it was her riled him up. Just knowing that obnoxious bitch was obediently servicing his cock with her mouth drove him closer and closer to the edge.

His face tingled. He could feel his blood pumping all over his body, as pleasure swept through his waist. Semen rose up from his balls like a roaring river. Jack thrust deep into Alicia's mouth, his cock spasming in delight as he poured his load straight down her gullet. He held her down for a while, letting the girl suck out the last bits of his cum straight from the tap. He lifted off of her, settling himself in between her trembling legs.

“Now what should I do with a good girl like you?” he thought.

***

While Jack and Alicia were spending quality time together, Lisaseron carefully observed the progress of the fight outside. Like the others, her physical sight couldn't see much through the haze of the mirage formation, but her increased awareness from her Innate and the intuition and senses built from millennia on the battlefield showed her the events clearly. The transportation of the Void Tunnel had ground to a halt thanks to her formations, while the battle's aftershocks damaged the exposed and less resilient inner walls of the Void Tunnel. Unable to carry out their mission, some of the stalled incursion forces had exited the tunnel to engage two of the Void Behemoths that were picking at the edges of the Tunnel.

Lisaseron smiled as she noticed nearly a dozen more Void Behemoths gathering around the ruptured Void Tunnel. As she felt the panic of the incursion forces rise, she slowly let up on restricting the Tunnel but only going backwards not forwards. She let the pressure of the frantically retreating incursion build up in the tunnel before she released the backwards restriction. The sudden mass retreat of the incursion tore the Tunnel apart even further.

Lisaseron waited for the incursion to travel further before she snapped her fingers, gutting the ruptured Void Tunnel. As the Tunnel unraveled, the helix formation took the shredded parts of the spell, spinning them together until they formed a chaotic maelstrom of a portal. The Void Behemoths moved towards the portal but backed away when they felt a chaotic presence emanating from it.

***

When the mirage formation finally started clearing up, Jack and Alicia sat side by side, slightly leaning against each other. Their faces were flushed. Sweat poured off their bodies onto their disheveled clothing. Mixed feelings swirled within Alicia; on one hand she wished they could keep going and that she could cum more but she could tell she was extremely close to being charmed again. In fact, she wasn't the only one. She felt Jack easing off each time she felt that sweet feeling in her chest build up. At first, she was grateful but as time passed, she wished he would just put her out of her 'misery'.

When Alicia looked up at their surroundings, she gasped. Massive Void Behemoths of all shapes surrounded a menacing portal in front of them. A few of them were void worms but there was also a black salamander, a golden bear and something that looked like a pyramid formed by floating rocks.

“That's a lot more than four,” Alicia said.

“Indeed,” Lisaseron said. “Unfortunately, I can only handle four Behemoths at once. If we could bring more, that would allow us to field a larger squad but alas... it would seem like its time for us to go.”

The chaotic portal spun faster and more erratically. The void Behemoths backed away but two void worm Behemoths disappeared with a flash of green light. Alicia's vision filled up with green light before she saw themselves reappear ten feet away from the mouth of a void worm Behemoth.

The Behemoth worm immediately locked on to the void disk. Lisaseron clicked her tongue, moving the disk sharply away from the Behemoth worm's mouth. Syraviel immediately felt something was off. Her shadow grew denser around the Void Disk but Lisaseron held up a hand to the woman, shaking her head.

“Save your mana, Shadow,” Lisaseron said. “Stronger stealth is not the answer. I will handle this.”

The pyramid Behemoth and a Behemoth that looked like a squirrel with a spiked and bloody tail appeared in front of the Void Disk. Lisaseron zigzagged around them with the barest of margins. The void disk trembled from the raw force of the Behemoths.

Syraviel looked around their surroundings and her feeling of wrongness grew. Lisaseron tried to ignore Syraviel's questioning gaze but the shorter Goddess quickly piped up.

“This Void Tunnel is completely different than the one you talked about,” Syraviel said. “Your modified Tunnel was bigger than this. What happened to the bewildering formation? Why is the Void disk not moving ten times faster than this and why is Brawler's remnant aura growing stronger? Is he just messing things up again? Void, please tell me it's Brawler.”

Jack noticed things were odd as well. The Brawler's aura was growing stronger and yet also changing. There was also an odd shimmering light surrounding outside of the Void Tunnel.

Lisaseron let out a sigh.

“Can you not tell the answer yourself, Shadow?” she asked. “You don't think the Brawler's stray aura could affect the tunnel so greatly while I control it, do you? If he were so strong, he could probably match the Unceasing Conqueror.”

A forlorn and bloody aura emanated from Syraviel. The humans trembled as the Goddess bit her lip and took a deep breath.

“When were you going to tell me you modified the plan?” Syraviel asked quietly.

“If I was going to tell you, it would have happened beforehand,” Lisaseron said.

Syraviel's aura suddenly vanished, leaving an oppressive stillness in its wake. Jack could feel the air nearly solidifying in place, forcing him to take big gulps just to get enough air to breathe.

“You want to share the changes you made and why you made them?” Syraviel asked. “You know what, why bother? Obviously, you don't think I'm a worthy collaborator. Why tell me anything?”

“Syraviel-”

“Forget it,” Syraviel said. “Focus on the Void Disk. I'll start the diversion tactics.”

Syraviel moved to the other side of the disk, facing away from Lisaseron before placing her hands on the disk. Scattered afterimages and refractions of their Void disk appeared around them. The pressure on the Lisaseron slightly decreased, allowing her to dodge with the Behemoths with wider margins but they could still feel the disk shaking with each missed attack. Alicia moved towards the smaller Goddess.

“Um... are we okay?” she asked.

“Maybe,” Syraviel said. “I knew the risks of bringing her on this mission. Her desire for revenge against the Unceasing is perhaps the strongest amongst the Pantheon. I knew she was going to try something wild at some point. I figured it would be fine. I never had high hopes for this mission to start, why not let her try something once we've hit a dead end?

Syraviel turned her head to look at the Goddess behind her and let out a sigh.

“Honestly, I blame myself for this as much as Void,” Syraviel said. “What can you expect with throwing a spark onto dry wood? Showing this kind of naivety at my age is a bit embarrassing, especially when so much is on the line. Even though I'm a Goddess, I've still got a lot to learn.”

The shaking of the disk intensified as minutes passed. Diana put her hand to the disk, her aura rising up.

“Stop, Diana,” Lisaseron said. “The Void disk is not the same as before. You will not able to channel into this.”

Diana bit her lip.

“I can for a little bit.”

Lisaseron let out a sigh.

“It is not advisable.”

“Might as well, then," Diana said. "'Not advisable' seems to be the theme of today."

Lisaseron sighed, tilting her head in begrudging agreement.

"Besides, I bet it would be a good learning experience,” Diana said. “And I must know what on earth you've done with this Void Tunnel? It's incredible!”

“It is impressive, no?”

Lisaseron puffed up a little bit, then winced when Syraviel's aura flared up behind her. She turned her attention back to maneuvering the void disk.

Jack watched in awe of the Goddess's movements. After watching for a few minutes, he realized she was able to read the Behemoths movements almost exactly as they started making them, combined with her varying speed, odd dodging angles and the slight bending of space around the void disk, she simply outclassed the Behemoths in every way... except stamina and her base speed.

Jack could see the back of Lisaseron's tunic drenched in sweat but the Behemoths weren't getting any slower. The squirrel and worm Behemoth closed in from the front. The Void Disk flipped on its side, slicing in between the narrow gap between the squirrel and worm Behemoth, managing to break free ahead of them.

Cracks appeared in the Void Disk but Lisaseron stabilized them and patched them over. Jack felt Lisaseron's aura diminish as the sound of her ragged breaths filled the disk. Syraviel snorted.

“That's your plan?” Syraviel asked. “You're going to burn your divinity and hope for the best?”

“It is not as if I cannot recover it,” Lisaseron said. “I am simply employing one of the resources at my disposal.”

Syraviel shook her head in disbelief. Diana looked at Lisaseron in shock.

“That's not- is it true?” she asked.

When the Lisaseron turned to look at Diana, a thin trail of blood was leaking down from the Goddess's mouth. She gave the humans a smile.

“I did it because I had to.” she said. “Chance is a fickle beast. It has no acceptance for mistakes, no patience for cowardice and no time for those not willing to pay the necessary price.”

A shade of melancholy touched Lisaseron's face for a brief moment before she shook herself from it. Lisaseron's aura surged outward as determination filled her face. Jack felt the space around him swirling around his body like the scrubber of an automatic carwash, only gentler and more clingy.

“I did it for a chance to unleash a decisive strike against the akashic field of the planet,” Lisaseron said. “Normally, you could think of a Void Tunnel as needle and thread, swiftly connecting two spaces with minimal damage. But to move an entire incursion requires great power. Power I can use now that I have hijacked the spell. Originally, the plan was to use this power to secure ourselves safe passage alongside the Behemoths, creating multiple support formations to help me outmaneuver the Behemoths inside the Tunnel. But I saw an opportunity for more. In the same way common transportation devices such as icebreaker ships or war chariots carry inherent destructive potential, I have turned this method of transportation into a battering ram against the Unceasing.”

“This isn't a mere battering ram,” Syraviel said. “You gutted so many supportive elements of the spell and added too many extras for something that simple. What does Brawler's aura or collecting passing starlight on the outside of the Tunnel have to do with anything?”

“You are correct, Shadow,” Lisaseron said. “I am using the Brawler's Collateral Calamity aura as a catalyst for the starlight to form false Stellar Direwind. This is the heart of a brewing cosmic storm.”

“You're mad!” Syraviel said. “No Void Tunnel could withstand Stellar Direwind!”

“They did call me the Mad Witch, no?” Lisaseron said. “And yet I ended up proving myself correct at the end?”

“At the cost of needing intensive soul therapy for three thousand years!” Syraviel said. “And what does that have to do with the Tunnel holds?”

“That is just the thing,” Lisaseron said. “The Void Tunnel will not have to withstand the force if the false Stellar Direwind only manifests right at the very tail-end of our journey.”

“You said there was no way to know the distance from the Unceasing until we'd almost arrived! You can't just guess when to release the Direwind!”

“Naturally not,” Lisaseron said. “I can somewhat estimate the distance more as we get closer. The false Direwind will give us a bigger distraction. This will allow us to exit the Tunnel earlier if necessary.”

Syraviel held her head in between her hands.

“We'll... talk later,” Syraviel said.

Jack sat next to Lisaseron.

“Disappointed as well?” Lisaseron asked.

“No, I think it's really cool, honestly,” Jack said. “I mean fighting monsters was great but making cosmic storms? That's metal.”

“Really now?” Lisaseron asked. “Thank you. But I must advise you against appreciating such rash behavior as mine. I could not let this opportunity for revenge pass without giving my all. Even now you can see the cost of my actions.”

Jack frowned.

“Is there a way I could heal you like I do with Alicia?” he asked the Goddess. “This burning divinity stuff doesn't sound that healthy.”

“I don't think so, dear,” Lisaseron said. “You've barely touched the basics of mana, let alone healing magic. And it would not be wise to channel an Innate Infusing connection with me. The quality of your soul bond protects you from the usual dangers of the technique. It is not easily done between those of differing-”

Jack put his hand on Lisaseron and focused on mobilising the aura of his Innate towards Lisaseron.

“Jack, were you not listening to me?” Lisaseron asked. “Very well, if you do not wish to learn from me, then experience can be your teacher.”

Jack felt a connection extend from the Goddess toward his aura. The second he accepted the connection, his Innate's aura was immediately sucked towards the Goddess. Once the aura he'd generated was sucked out, his soul shook. He saw the dark figure of his Innate struggling as the chains holding him pulled on his limbs as if they were trying to dismember him.

“Alicia!” he gasped out in pain. “Hurry up and help me!”