Good morn, morn, morning, ’Cynthians!

 

Today's the day of hearts, kisses, and chocolates, and Symphony needs YOUR help to get them. Pay her a visit at the palace in two hours for more details.

 

Mod Aelis

 

Kiyomi looked up from her holoscreen. Another seasonal quest. She and Sako could handle this, even if it would likely be another grand challenge. I've had enough of wyverns. She didn't want any more. And they had killed so many that they had both earned the title “The Wyvern Slayer” in a bold and gold font.

Sako walked out of the bathroom, naked, drying her hair with a towel and humming.

Kiyomi accidentally caught a glance of her full body in detail then averted her eyes and turned her back to stare out the window. “Put your clothes on,” she mumbled, slightly irritated.

Sako chuckled. “Right, right. I'll get to that.”

Now, where should she start with the preparations…

“But not just yet!” Sako threw her arms around Kiyomi, pressing her bare, petite chest against her clothed back.

“What the hell?” She couldn't escape her grasp. “Clothes first.”

“No! Huggies first!”

“Ugh.” Kiyomi gave up. It was just an innocent hug anyway. Sako wasn't the lewd type. If you were to give her a hundred jokes with lewd subtexts, they would all fly over her head.

She giggled at the fact that Kiyomi had given up so easily. “I love youuuuuuuu.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kiyomi uttered.

“Do you love meeeeeeee?”

She was reluctant to say it aloud. “...Yes…” 

“Then say it back.”

“No.”

“Do it.” Sako’s time was firmer.

“No.” Her tone wouldn't shake Kiyomi’s resolve.

“Aw, why not?” Her warm breath tickled Kiyomi’s ear.

“I don't want to.” 

“What if I do this…” Sako kissed her cheek.

Kiyomi bit her lower lip, trying to keep her composure, but she could already feel a hotness in her cheeks. She hadn’t expected that.

She was odd and random like that sometimes, kissing people, especially when her mood was through the roof. Kiyomi was mostly used to her weirdness by now—though sometimes, Sako still managed to catch her off guard. It reminded her of a time IRL when it had been one of Sako’s birthdays. She had gone around kissing pretty much everyone in the class that day. Naturally, everyone had freaked out and confusion brewed, and by the end of the semester, at least 10 people—boys and girls—had crushes on her.

“Don’t do that,” Kiyomi mumbled and looked around self-consciously to reassure herself that they were alone in the bedroom of the inn where they had privacy. “At least not now. I’m trying to think.”

“Aaahhh,” Sako smirked. “So, you like my kisses?”

Kiyomi broke free of Sako’s hold, turned around to her, and swung her fist instinctively.

Sako ducked and avoided it then stood up. “Awww, Kiyomi’s too socially inept to get a boyfriend, so she’ll have to settle for meeee!”

“WHAT? NO!” Kiyomi’s redness worsened. She didn’t love her that way.

“Whaaaat?! So, you can get a boyfriend?! Or maybe a girl—” Sako ducked to avoid another punch, giggling.

“Shut up!”

Soon, Sako’s childish laughter filled the room as she enjoyed her own stupid joke. “Ah, a girlfriend sure would be better, wouldn’t it? Think of all the things you could—”

Kiyomi shoved Sako down on the floor, grabbed a pillow from the nearby bed, and threw it down at her. 

Sako rolled out of the way as the pillow hit the ground where she had been. “Too slow!”

“I’ll show you who’s too slow!” She turned to grab another pillow from the bed.

By then, Sako was already up on her feet. Before Kiyomi could launch another attack, Sako shoved her onto the bed. 

She stumbled back and fell on the bed, flat on her back. 

“Just returning the favor!” Sako said while she ran back into the bathroom and shut the door.

Kiyomi sat up. “You coward!” Now she couldn’t get her revenge. Fine then. She would wait until Sako came back out.

“Ahaha! I’m fine with that!” she replied from the bathroom.

Socially inept… Whatever. People are trash anyway.

In a few minutes, Sako came back out fully clothed with a devious smirk.

Kiyomi began her ruthless attack, throwing pillow after pillow.

Sako deftly dodged all of them and ran at her. 

She couldn’t react in time.

Sako grabbed her and wrestled her until they both fell on the ground with Sako on top of her. “Haha! I win!” She acted like the dominant type sometimes, but only when it came to playing around.

“Whatever,” Kiyomi mumbled.

~~~

Sako, Kiyomi, and the rest of the adventurers who were interested in the special quest waited at the palace gates. There was some chattering as usual.

And, same as last time, when 7 came, an orchestra sounded in the empty courtyard as the gates opened. Everyone made their way into the castle through the double doors and now stood in the main hall. 

The large room was decorated in pink and red colors. Guards stood by the walls and saluted together, this time holding a big, heart-shaped box in one hand.

“Ugh, not again. So embarrassing,” a guard mumbled. 

 The guard beside him replied. “Just be patient.”

The first guard sighed.

At the center of the main hall stood a familiar blonde girl in a black dress. This time, she wasn’t playing a violin but the Aorian flute instead. It dissolved in the air, turning to light particles then scattered and vanished.

“Good, you are here as requested, again! Symphony has another tiny favor to ask you adventurers. Nothing much this time, she promises!” Symphony smiled.

 She wasn’t fooling anyone this time.

“I’m not buying that,” a player next to Kiyomi said.

“I’m with ya there, buddy,” someone not too far off replied.

Her smile faded. “There is a certain lad whom Symphony wishes to court, but alas, he will not acknowledge her unless she gifts him with the finest quality of chocolates in generous amounts. He has a sweet tooth, you see. Only then will he bestow to her his heart and a loving kiss of appreciation. She has a group quest for you all that ought to be completed by the day's end, for tomorrow, he will depart in his chariot, and Symphony wishes to see him with a gift before then. There are a few locations that she needs you to visit in order to acquire some crystals that she will then use to make the chocolate. Symphony will mark these locations on your minimaps and world maps.”

Kiyomi heard a click in her head. She pulled up her holoscreen with a flick of her hand and looked at the map.

Sako beside her did the same.

Kiyomi couldn't count all the blue dots. There were so many. It would be smart then to split into small teams and spread out across the world, working their way outwards to the closest points from their current location.

“We got this!” Sako gave a thumbs up to Kiyomi.

“Let's split into small teams,” a girl told the group. She had common sense apparently.

“Good plan,” someone else replied.

Players began talking among themselves to form groups.

Kiyomi and Sako took the time to think.

Sako stared at the ceiling in thought, a habit of hers.

“Hey, girls.” A group of mostly men walked over. “Wanna join our party?” They grinned.

Kiyomi and Sako replied simultaneously:

“No.” “Sure!”

Sako looked at Kiyomi. “No?”

“No,” Kiyomi repeated. They worked best as a duo. Playing with any more people would ruin their smooth team dynamics. She and Sako were close, so close that most of the time, they predicted one another’s moves and adapted accordingly in the fight. She knew Sako’s fighting style well, which was at times critical for acting efficiently in extremely short time frames when damage—or a lack—was important. She also knew Sako’s weaknesses and how she typically tried to compensate for them. Between them, they pretty much did high-speed mind reading that none of these idiots would ever be able to keep up with.

“Aww, why?” A girl from the group asked.

Kiyomi ignored her and turned back to face Symphony in the center of the room, who was patiently waiting for everyone to reach a verdict.

Sako chuckled and gave her usual apologetic smile. “Sorry, looks like that’s a no.”

“Okay,” the girl replied, disappointed as she hung her head.

A big guy walked up to them from the group. He was tall and looked down on them. “No offense, but if there are monsters out there, you wouldn’t last five seconds, not with your low levels.” The disdain in his eyes only showed his ignorance.

Kiyomi ignored him too. She didn’t talk to idiots.

After staring long and hard at them, he turned his back and walked away with the rest of his sad party.

After a few minutes, everyone else turned to Symphony.

“We’ll all do it,” someone spoke up for the rest of them, which included Kiyomi and Sako. Many of the players nodded.

Symphony smiled. “Very good! Symphony will mail you some more information.”

The words “Quest Accepted” flashed in front of everyone then faded.

Kiyomi heard a ping. She swiped open her UI, checked her mail, and read the details. Each location on the map was different, so the obstacles for each place would vary, including the monsters. They would likely have to kill monsters for the ingredients that Symphony would use to make the chocolate. The ingredients were listed.

“And do not fear, adventurers!” Symphony caught everyone’s attention. “You can do this! All you need is ten!” She showed all her fingers and thumbs.

…Ten?

A boy breathed out easily. “Oh, just ten items.”

“Yeah, what a relief. I thought it would be something crazy,” his friend next to him replied.

Everyone’s mood softened. They were relieved.

But not Kiyomi.

“By the way, Symphony means ten million Kerium crystals,” Symphony corrected herself. “But that should not be a problem for you!” The number in figures appeared in the quest details on Kiyomi’s screen.

Everyone froze and gawked at her.

Kiyomi wasn’t surprised.

“But… those are so hard to get,” someone said.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME, GIRL? WE GOTTA GO KILL ONI FOR THOSE CRYSTALS!” some guy cried.

“Symphony has faith in you!” Symphony kept her smile.

“BUT THEY’RE LEVEL 50 000!” the same guy cried.

“Teamwork makes the dream work!” Symphony replied.

Kiyomi doubted Symphony was listening.

“Symphony’s right! We can do this!” Sako encouraged everyone and threw her arms up in the air.

She got a few curious looks her way.

“Hm? You think so?” one bearded guy asked, wearing a helmet with the visor up.

“Of course! If we all work together!” she replied.

“I think she’s on to something,” a short girl wearing an orange hat said, smiling as she walked over to the girls and the guy.

“Oi! Don’t listen to some random low-level! I checked her stats!” one man chimed in from a corner of the crowd some distance away near the wall.

A few people checked their holoscreens, presumably to look at Sako’s level. They all lost interest after a moment and shifted their attention elsewhere.

“Eugh, low-level,” the short girl mumbled in disgust and walked away, moving further into the crowd until Kiyomi couldn’t see her anymore. Wow. The community was so hateful towards new players. Or was this how people were in general?

Sako frowned, standing alone.

Kiyomi approached her and put an arm around her neck in a half hug. She pulled her in close until their heads almost touched. “It’s alright. We’ll just have to flex.” She didn’t usually get all close and touchy, but Sako needed some comforting.

“I like when you hold me like this. Heh. I get to see your true feelings.”

Kiyomi flushed and moved away from her. “Shut up.” Sako was obviously feeling better now, so they didn’t need to continue hugging.

“Anyhow!” Symphony’s voice rose above everyone else’s. “Symphony wishes you good luck! She hopes to see you again soon! Check your mail for details! And your reward is a surprise!” After a friendly wave, everyone was teleported back outside in front of the palace gates.

Players talked and tried to figure this all out.

And now, the quest was a race against the clock.

~~~

The quest was harder than the wyvern one mainly because of the shorter deadline.

Everyone took off and would do their own thing in their groups. Many of them had agreed to split up for wider coverage.

The blue dots indicated all the locations of the oni, so Kiyomi and Sako had many options. 

Kiyomi tapped two horses in her inventory. They appeared—one for her and one for Sako. She hopped onto hers.

“Thanks.” Sako did the same.

They rode off.

~~~

They stopped before a cave and got off their horses. 

Kiyomi looked at her minimap on her holoscreen. They were standing in a blue dot. “This must be the place.”

As they walked into the cave, it lit up with hanging lanterns on the walls. In each lantern was a fireball.

Kiyomi silently cast Fanatic on Sako and herself.

The cave led to a large, empty room that only had more lanterns mounted against the walls. It was quiet, and the air was cold.

Kiyomi noticed a pile of bones in one corner. Apart from that and footprints leading up to the ceiling, there was nothing here. Nothing on the floor, nothing on the ceiling. And she didn’t sense any energy. It all puzzled her.

“Should we head back?” Sako asked.

“Yeah.” A waste of time. Symphony got her information wrong. They didn’t have the time to sit and question it. They needed to keep moving. There were so many other dots on the map to check.

Before they could turn to walk back to the entrance, a figure in red robes appeared out of nothing behind Sako, katana drawn and swinging in a horizontal motion to her neck to cut her head off. Its red face mask had an angry face. Its long hair was white. Two horns stuck up from its head. One smooth, quick stroke of its blade in silence.

Although Sako didn’t turn around to look, she ducked, crouched, and swept her foot across the ground to knock it off its feet.

It jumped backwards, avoiding her foot.

“Wow, that was close,” Sako said casually as she stood up and glanced at the oni.

That surprise had nearly given Kiyomi a heart attack. Her heart was pounding.

Sako didn’t seem bothered at all.

“You’re weird, you know that?” Kiyomi commented.

“No, you are, Ms. I-Love-Sako-But-I-Won’t-Admit-My-Feelings-For-Her.” She grinned.

“I will murder you.” Kiyomi clenched her teeth, unable to hold back the redness in her cheeks.

“Teehee!”

The oni split into ten figures. They all breathed out an intense fire.

Sako dashed behind Kiyomi for protection. The fire clashed with Kiyomi’s forcefield. Kiyomi felt the massive weight of the fire against her magical, transparent forcefield, but she managed to block it entirely. 

The combined fires were like a river: they split and flowed around and above Kiyomi’s forcefield on both sides like water. Eventually, the fire filled half the cave and then the whole cave, bathing everything in a literal sea of fire. Kiyomi couldn’t see anything but fire in her cool bubble. Sako was just as lost: she looked around in bewilderment. It lasted for minutes. Meanwhile, Kiyomi checked the game guide on her holoscreen and skimmed through to find info on oni. She now understood why oni were Level 50 000.

Once the fire calmed down, the oni merged into one figure again. So, these were fire oni, the most common and easiest ones to find in this region. Then would water be their weakness? Exploiting a monster’s weakness would be best, since they really needed quick, easy kills.

“Hey, I think we need water.” Sako looked around at the sizzling, smoking, charred walls.

Kiyomi was surprised. Sako had the same thought. “So, you do have a brain after all. Huh.”

“Hey, that’s mean!” Sako pouted.

“Yeah, I know.” It was supposed to be mean. Water… Who had a water element? She couldn’t think of anyone. “Do you know anyone with water?”

“Uh…” Sako checked her friends list.

Kiyomi did the same. Oh wait. There was no point. She didn’t have friends. Just Sako.

While they thought about it, the oni persistently hit the forcefield from every direction with impressive speed, wielding its fiery katana, all to no avail. Every time the blade hit, immense fire splashed out of it. The constant strikes were barely audible though as the bubble was thick and so blocked out most of the sound.

They hardly noticed the oni anymore.

“There’s Luna?” Sako proposed.

“No way.” Kiyomi didn’t want to put up with her again.

“But I don’t know anyone else who’s a water type.”

They could pay a random player who had a water element… No, Kiyomi didn’t want to pay anyone. She preferred to save her money. She also didn’t like the thought of inviting a stranger into their party. Duo forever. But still, they needed someone they didn’t have to pay, at least not with money.

Money… Luna… “Alright. Ask Luna.” Kiyomi gave in. “You’ll pay her in kisses.”

“Sounds good—wait, what?!”

“Kisses. You. Pay.”

“On second thought, let’s find someone else.”

“Why? Don’t you like kissing people?”

“Luna is… a different case. One kiss, and it’ll only encourage her.” Sako had anxiety all over her face.

“Nah, I prefer Luna.” Kiyomi had her mind made up.

“But you just said no—”

“What? I can’t change my mind?”

“No—I mean, yes, but—”

“Sako, do you have a better idea? Do you want to pay someone?”

“...No.”

“Yeah, I thought so. Or we can move at a snail’s pace if you’d like, but then we wouldn’t get much done.”

“Can’t we just hit it really hard?”

“You can try.” Once the oni paused its attacks, Kiyomi dispelled the bubble.

Sako rushed at it and drove a punch into its face and sent it flying into the cave wall. She shrieked in pain. Her knuckles on one hand were bleeding a lot. She was down to 40% HP.

The oni’s HP hadn’t lessened.

Kiyomi checked its info on her holoscreen. It reflected damage and had immunity to everything except water. Perfect. They both couldn’t do any jack. She sighed. There was no way around it. Pay a random water user, or get Luna for free.

Sako drank a Recovery Potion. The bleeding stopped, and her HP went back up to max. “I’ll do it,” she grumbled. She texted Luna for help.

5 minutes later.

“She said to meet her at the Adventurers' Guild.”

“Okay.” Kiyomi teleported them.

~~~

Midday

Sako followed Kiyomi to her usual spot in the corner of the Guild where the lights were dim.

They sat together.

There were some scarce players sitting at different tables around the room, but it seemed most were out hunting the oni. Elora wasn’t at the counter. She was probably behind it taking a nap on the floor.

Luna came in through the door only moments later and looked around until she saw them. “SAKOOOOOOO!” Her face lit up as she ran over to them, or Sako rather. Then she threw her arms around her for a hug.

Sako’s face turned pale as she forced a smile. “Hi… Luna… Good to see you…”

“Very good, I’m sure! I missed you. Did you miss me?

“I—”

“I thought about you a lot.”

“Oh—”

“I was going to text you, but I didn’t want to be annoying.”

“That’s okay—”

Luna pulled away from Sako to sit beside her, on the opposite side of Kiyomi, so Sako was in the middle. “So, how have you been?”

“I’ve been—”

“Do you want some high-quality time with me?” Luna was hardly giving Sako a chance to talk.

“That’s not—”

“I love your eyes.” Luna stared into them, leaning towards her. Her nose nearly bumped against Sako’s. Her social skills were worse than Kiyomi’s.

Sako grabbed Luna’s shoulders and pushed her back gently. “We need your help with something. Could you help us?”

“In bed?”

“No, with oni. What does a bed have to do with anything?”

Luna giggled. “I could show you.”

“Maybe some other time, but right now, we’re in a hurry, since we’re doing the special event.”

“Oh? And what’ll my reward be?”

Sako anxiously glanced at Kiyomi.

Kiyomi nodded.

“A… kiss.”

“Oh, I can work with that…” Luna licked her lips. Her eyes had an intense hunger.

The seductive tone in Luna’s reply made Kiyomi shiver.

Sako was even more disturbed. She looked like she wanted to run away. While turning her head and eyeing Kiyomi again, her eyes said, “Help me”.

Kiyomi gave a bright, encouraging smile, an eager nod, and a thumbs up as if to say, “You can do this!”

Sako gave her a fuck-you look and looked back at Luna who hadn't taken her eyes off her. Her expression softened. “Anyway, Luna—”

“I love it when you say my name. Can you say it again?”

“Luna.”

“Again.”

“Luna.”

“Again.”

“Luna.”

“Again.”

“Luna.”

Luna moaned gently as she put a hand between her closed legs. Her face was completely flushed. She was in total ecstasy... and looked like she was about to cum. This girl had no shame whatsoever. None.

If that alone could make her horny, Kiyomi didn’t want to imagine what Sako’s kiss would do to her. Could players actually fuck? Kiyomi hadn’t actually confirmed it but had just assumed they couldn’t. She didn’t have anyone to confirm it with. She wouldn’t use either of these clowns next to her. Plus, stupidity and craziness were contagious; it was best not to catch them.

“Can we please talk about the quest now?” Even though Sako was smiling, she looked like she was suffering so much on the inside. Her smile couldn’t fully hide all of her disgust.

“Of course. Anything for you.”

Would Luna jump off a cliff too if Sako asked her to? Kiyomi would love that.

“Right… so… um…” Sako tried to collect her thoughts.

Kiyomi would help. “Since we’re fighting fire oni—”

“Don’t talk to me. Didn’t ask.” Luna didn’t even look at her.

Kiyomi wanted to hit her with her staff.

“Luna, don’t be like that. That’s rude.” Sako frowned disapprovingly.

“Fine… Sorry.” Luna mumbled as she lowered her head.

“Listen to Kiyomi.”

“...Okay.” She shifted her eyes to Kiyomi for once.

Kiyomi started again. “Our crit chance will be much higher with water, which is good. And we’ll be good with our Accuracy, since we’ll be using their elemental weakness—elemental weaknesses give a natural Accuracy boost. Since they’re immune to everything except water, we’ll be relying heavily on you—”

“SAKO RELYING ON ME?! I KNEW THIS DAY WOULD COME EVENTUALLY!” Luna squirmed in her seat excitedly and squealed in pure joy as she rocked her feet.

Kiyomi waited patiently for her to calm down before continuing. “I’ll use Skill Share on all of us so we can use your skills, including the locked, untrained ones..” Kiyomi would be able to use them at full Mastery.

Luna nodded eagerly, smiling.

“You don’t have to do anything. Just make yourself available.” Kiyomi only needed access to her skills. As long as Luna was alive and nearby, Kiyomi could do the rest.

“Make myself ‘available’ to Sako?!” Luna flushed at the thought. “I… I can do that…” She twirled a lock of her hair around her index finger while staring down at her lap, too shy to look at anyone. The girl needed a doctor.

~~~

They went back to the cave. Sako had invited her to the party.

Kiyomi waved her staff and cast Skill Share. She waved it again and cast Fanatic, even on Luna. Luna’s stats shot all the way up, though were still below Kiyomi’s and Sako’s. They each had a white aura and emitted white sparkles.

Luna was surprised at the sudden massive surge of power she felt inside her. “What is this?!” she asked Sako.

“Fanatic, Kiyomi’s favorite buff,” Sako replied.

“Really?! It’s like being high and sober at the same time!” Luna would know this of course. As they all walked alongside one another, Sako in the middle again, Luna quickly glanced at Kiyomi. “Thanks, I guess,” she said in a reluctant, low tone and focused on Sako again.

Kiyomi smiled.

They walked into the cave. It was empty again as expected.

“Where is it?” Luna looked around.

“Hiding.” Kiyomi closed her eyes and mentally ran through the long list of Luna’s skills.

“So, we just wait?” Luna asked.

Twenty oni fell from the ceiling above from all directions, their katanas raised over their heads as they prepared their powerful vertical slashes. Their swords blazed with fire.

Sharknado. Kiyomi tapped the ground with the bottom of her staff. From the ground, a water tornado shot up around them and caught the oni mid air.

The oni went around and around in the violent, spiraling current filled with giant sharks. Just being in the water chipped away at their HPs. The sharks chewed on them. Big damage numbers popped up in bold with every crunch. Most of the crunches did Critical Hits. The sharks ate through their HP bars like butter. After some crunches, they swallowed the bodies and disappeared along with the tornado.

A few crystals appeared in her inventory as drops. She tapped the icon to see the details: rarity: very common. That was good. The crystals were guaranteed drops. That shouldn’t make things frustrating then. “Quick and easy.” It really was worth bringing Luna along.

Luna stared at Sako the whole time with a lustful look in her eyes.

Sako clapped her hands rapidly. “Quick and easy!”

~~~

They ran around to the other dots on Kiyomi's minimap, killing more oni and collecting the crystals across different terrains. They mainly focused on the fires but occasionally went after lights and darks if those weren't too far out of the way. Kiyomi empowered all of Sako’s attacks with Water Empowerment, another one of Luna’s spells, so Sako’s physical-based attacks became water-based. Each punch and kick splashed water and did AOE water damage.

Kiyomi spammed AOE water spells from a distance. Luna tagged along and stood safely beside Kiyomi, gawking and admiring Sako’s incredible fighting prowess, who was fighting ahead of them.

Oni came at Kiyomi and Sako in high numbers, but with a constant barrage of water attacks, most of which hit critically, they tore through their HP bars with ease, even the elite ones.

Kiyomi conjured up countless Water Spears in the air with her staff and threw them down at the oni.

Sako was in the middle of the raining Spears, but Kiyomi wasn't worried. Sako had anticipated the attack. She deftly stepped out of the way constantly, narrowly avoiding them as she continued her attacks in the middle of Kiyomi’s AOEs.

Once they defeated the countless ones in the caverns nearby, which took some hours, they flew up into the sky and headed to another blue dot.

Luna flew close to Sako, linking their arms. Kiyomi had helped her to find the flight spell.

Sako said nothing but just looked straight ahead, following Kiyomi’s lead. She looked troubled.

As they neared another dot, Kiyomi looked below and swept her eyes along the wide, green field.

Lots of players in various parties held tight, defensive formations as oni surrounded them, which were at least ten times their amount. They scrambled, screamed, and barked orders at one another.”

Oni of different elements were gradually slashing their numbers down.

“DON’T PANIC! STAY TOGETHER!” a man yelled at everyone. He was the same guy who had told Kiyomi and Sako they wouldn’t last five seconds.

“WE’RE TRYING OUR BEST HERE! QUIT YELLING!” the short girl with the orange hat shouted back, not too far away from him. She held her spear, ready to attack.

The tanks were intimidated, trembling as they lifted their shields and cast their forcefields. The DPSers didn’t look very confident in their DPS. At least most of them had enough sense to shrink away and stay behind their tanks.

The supports looked left and right, wondering what to do—if they should either wait until everyone attacked or was attacked.

Kiyomi stopped midair, having a clear overhead view of the conflict. She would love to wait until they all died first before going in to finish the job, but she knew Sako wouldn’t allow that.

“We should help,” Sako said as Kiyomi had predicted. “I can’t just stay here and let them die.”

“You’re so heroic!”

Sako ignored Luna’s compliment.

Kiyomi sighed. Sometimes, Sako sucked the fun out of things. “Fine.” Personally, Kiyomi would’ve charged these sorry players everything they were worth. But of course, Sako would rescue them all for free, ruining her plan.

As the three of them flew down and landed, Kiyomi realized one problem: the oni were all different elements—Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, Dark, Electric, and Chaotic.

Kiyomi summoned the starter guide and skimmed through the pages until she found info. The Chaotic element was the rarest to find among monsters, and it was the most difficult to deal with. She looked up from the book and eyed the field.

Someone in white robes shouted and pointed her staff at a few Chaotic oni. “WEAPON ART: SPEARS OF JUSTICE!”

Kiyomi checked the girl’s stats for her class. Light Priest. 

A white circle appeared in the sky about as wide as the field. Spears of pure light rained down onto everything. The spears that landed on the players healed them, and those that landed on the oni of the regular elements did damage.

From far away, a Chaotic oni, covered in thick, dark aura, took one step towards the girl. In a burst of speed, it appeared before her. It cut her head off with its sword, and in one motion dashed past other players then stood still. Ten heads fell to the floor, then the bodies fell.

A guy looked behind him. His eyes widened at the bodies. “AAAAHHHH!”

The oni’s blade sliced his head off next, silencing him. 

His head fell, then his corpse.

The swords continued falling from the sky. The ones that landed on the Chaotic oni seemed to only empower them: Kiyomi sensed their power rising.

Yep, those were a problem…

Sako was busy on a far side of the field, back turned, and pummeling other enemies.

And naturally, Luna simply stared at her in admiration, loving the sight.

Kiyomi felt like barking orders at everyone too, but she thought again and changed her mind: they were about as useful as a sack of potatoes. An ultimate, omni-elemental attack would solve this all efficiently, but she doubted anyone here had that, given their incompetence. 

The orange girl and big guy were arguing about their next course of action as everyone else was either fighting or dying around them. They couldn’t agree on anything. That right there was a special brand of stupidity.

She looked around for survivors, hoping to find someone useful to use.

A trembling girl with long, brown hair sat on the ground, looking at everything. She didn’t know what to do. She was dressed in robes and a large wizard hat. Likely a support.

Kiyomi checked her class on her holoscreen. Dreamcaster. What, could she put everyone to sleep then? That could be useful. She walked up to her. “Hey.”

She looked Kiyomi’s way and shrieked but then calmed down once she realized that Kiyomi wasn’t a monster that was ready to kill her.

“I want your consent.” She got straight to the point.

“C-c-consent?!” Her face went full red.

“Yes, consent.”

“W-why?!” She started scooting away on her butt.

“I don’t have time to explain this.” Kiyomi neared her again. “Just say it.”

“OKAY, FINE! I CONSENT. JUST HURRY UP AND TAKE MY VIRGINITY. WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE ANYWAAAAAAAAY!” She lifted up her robes, showing her green-striped panties.

…That’s not what I was after... And personally, Kiyomi would’ve gone with full black. She got a ping in her head. She pulled up a new list of abilities, skimmed through them, and stopped at the Unique Skill section. The skills weren’t what she had expected, but they weren’t bad, especially the unique.

Skills	Description	Mastery (%)
Unique Skill: Spirit Spear	Summon the godlike Spirit Spear from the metaphysical plane Anřa. The Spear ignores all elemental affinities, never misses the target, and does Real Damage. Real Damage ignores all types of damage reductions, including Defense, and the damage cannot be reduced from debuffs like Glancing Hit.	44

 

The 44 wasn’t an issue. Any spell she used would automatically scale to 100% because of  her passive skill, Superior Intellect.

So, basically, the Spear would act as a true neutral element that was outside of the elemental circle and so couldn’t be elementally countered at all. It bypassed any elemental immunities while having 100% Accuracy. Pretty OP.

The tip of her staff glowed. Unique Skill: Spirit Spear. The sky turned black and split open into a rift. The glowing Spear flew out and into Kiyomi’s hand. It vibrated and pulsed with so much power.

The orange girl and big guy stared at her.

 She pointed it at a Chaotic oni heading her way. Black streaks of energy rushed out of the tip, —much like lightning—utterly silent and swift. The streaks ate the oni’s whole top half down to the waist in an instant. The lower half fell and turned to ashes.

Players around her stared in disbelief—the ones who could afford to and didn’t have their hands full with monsters.

Other oni shifted their focus and ran at her, sensing their new threat.

Kiyomi pointed the spear again and swayed it across the field, spraying them all with black lightning—she would call it “lightning” anyway. One sweep across the field eradicated most of them. She pointed it at a few more that were in combat with Sako. Luna was well out of the way sadly. Hardening her grip, she fired streaks again.

Without looking in Kiyomi’s direction, Sako jumped out of the way as the streaks zapped the oni.

Kiyomi blasted a few dozen more, and that was it. The numbers had hardly been crits, but they had been high nonetheless. She dropped the spear. It scattered into tiny energy particles and faded.

“What was that?” The big man approached her. The short girl followed, equally shocked.

Kiyomi pointed at the girl who was still sitting on the floor, trembling. “That was her spell.”

They looked at her confused.

“I don’t have the time to explain. We have an event to finish. If you’re not on board, that’s fine. I can do it without any of you.” She turned her back. She didn’t have the patience to try and enlighten their small minds either.

“We owe you one,” someone behind her said.

“It’s fine,” Kiyomi replied. She had no interest in them, except the girl with the Spirit Spear.

“Yeah, it’s fine!” Sako skipped happily over to Kiyomi, Luna by her side. “Good work! We all did great!” she shouted at everyone.

Those who survived cheered and high-fived one another. Some supports healed, revived, and resurrected where they could.

“I’m heading out. We’re not done yet.” Kiyomi took a step forward.

“We can’t do it. The sun’s already setting,” a guy said.

“Yeah, it’s too late now,” someone replied.

She turned towards everyone, seeing their disheartened faces. “I said, I’m not done yet. There’s time. If you want to sit on your asses and cry like babies, do that, but I plan on finishing this event before midnight.” She glanced at the girl she had borrowed the OP Spear from. “You. You’re coming with me.”

The girl shrieked. “NO, NO, NOOO! PLEASE! I’M NOT READY FOR SEX!”

“That’s not why I called you!” Kiyomi snapped. “Just follow me.”

She got to her feet and reluctantly made her way over to Kiyomi.

“We’re borrowing her,” Kiyomi told the big man and short, orange girl.

“Um…” the man looked at the orange girl next to him.

The orange girl shrugged.

“Sure,” he finished his sentence.

Everyone watched as Kiyomi, Sako, Luna, and the girl took off into the air.

Kiyomi had put the girl on her back so she wouldn’t fall mid flight.

The girl had her arms around her neck, clinging tightly. “So, where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Kiyomi followed the rest of the blue dots on her minimap. Instead of landing, she summoned the Spirit Spear and fired streaks of energy while she flew across the sky. This was a far quicker and easier solution. The Chaotic oni dropped significantly more crystals, so she focused on those.

Sako didn’t bother landing to attack, since Kiyomi just one-shotted them from above.

By 11:30 pm, they got all the crystals they needed and teleported back to the capital.

As they landed under a street light, Kiyomi allowed the girl to slide off her back to stand on her feet. “Thanks, you really made it easy for us. You actually had some use after all.” She was a little impressed. 

“We literally couldn’t have met the deadline without you.” Sako smiled.

Even though all the girl had done was watch Kiyomi zapping tiny targets way below on the ground with the Spirit Spear from the sky.

Luna had become obsolete, but at least she had been quiet and stayed out of the way.

“N-no… I didn’t do anything special.” She blushed.

The four of them walked back to the palace not too far away.

Symphony was already outside the gates waiting around beside two guards. She smiled when she saw them. “Symphony assumes you have successfully completed the quest?”

“Yes!” Sako replied.

“Wonderful! Symphony shall collect them then.” She opened her hand, which had an open coin pouch. All the crystals from Kiyomi’s inventory icon in the lower right corner of her field of vision flew into the pouch (she had the option of whether to show or hide icons in her vision). Crystals from Sako flew into the pouch too. Eventually, the pouch swelled until it looked plump. “And now for your rewards.” 

Kiyomi’s cash stack increased by 5 mil.

Symphony walked closer to Kiyomi. Much closer. She was much prettier up close. Much prettier…

Kiyomi reflexively stepped back to regain her personal space. What was she doing?

Symphony closed the gap again in a swift motion and put her lips against Kiyomi’s for a long while.

The other girls sounded shocked.

Kiyomi froze and couldn’t process this. Her lips were soft, her breath sweet. 

Symphony broke the kiss and stepped away. 

Kiyomi couldn’t find it in herself to get angry: for a second, she turned gay.

Symphony went over to the girl with brown hair and kissed her lips too. Then Sako’s.

Both were stunned.

“HEY! YOU CAN’T DO THAT TO MY SAK—”

Symphony shut Luna up with a long kiss. She stepped away from all four of them. “The rest of the adventurers out there will also receive a monetary reward.” Then she lowered her voice. “But not this. Shhh.” She put her index finger to her lips, smiled, and continued in a hushed voice, “It does not count if Symphony osculates others of the same sex.”

What kind of rule was that?!

“Anyhow, you have her appreciation, diligent adventurers.” Symphony curtsied.

“Bye!” Sako waved as they walked away from the palace.

They exchanged goodbyes with the brunette as she went her separate way. The three continued walking alongside each other, Sako in the middle as usual.

“Sako, where’s my kiss?” Luna asked.

“O-oh… right…” Sako replied.

“You could just back out,” Kiyomi advised.

“Fuck off. Nobody asked for your opinion!” Luna glared at Kiyomi.

Kiyomi shrugged.

“No. I’m a girl of my word.” Sako would never.

~~~

Sako had serious doubts about this. She had turned her back to Luna, sitting on the edge of the bed by the wall and staring at it.

Luna was humming while doing whatever behind her on the other side of the room. She wanted some alone time with Sako, so Kiyomi had allowed that and went off to do some grinding.

Sako had thoroughly searched her for dangerous stuff and found nothing. But that wasn’t what scared her.

“Relax. I won’t hurt you.” Luna, smiling, came over and handed her a bottle of apple juice.

Sure. Maybe some nice, cold apple juice would calm her down. Sako took it without looking at her, uncorked it, and drank it until the bottle was empty. 

“Wow, thirsty, huh?” Luna sat beside her.

Not as thirsty as Luna. She put the empty bottle on the nightstand and mustered up the courage to look straight at Luna. “So, just a kiss, right?”

“About that…” She got up, walked to the door, and turned the lock.

Click.

This felt familiar. Sako got up. “Why’d you lock the door?”

“No reason!” She smiled, approaching Sako.

Sako backed up until her back was near the wall.

“Don’t run, please. You’ll only make this harder.” She attacked like the animal she was. She shoved Sako against the wall.

Sako hit the back of her head against the wall.

Luna pushed her lips against Sako’s, not giving her a chance to recover from the headache. She forced her tongue into Sako’s mouth, tilting her head at an angle.

Sako put her hands on Luna’s shoulders, but she felt weak. She couldn’t shove her away. Her body started feeling hot, and her face was flushed.

 Luna separated their lips. “Mmm… You taste good,” she whispered.

“Could you be gentle—”

She grabbed Sako by her collar with both hands and pulled it as she backed up, walking Sako forward and nearer to the bed. She shoved her down on the bed and got on top of her.

Everything was spinning slightly around Sako.

Luna kissed her again, put a foot between her open legs, and moved it up. She began grinding her knee against her crotch.

That forced a moan from Sako.

She lifted her head and left a string of spit between their lips. “Come on, you can do better than that, right?” Luna grinded her knee vigorously against her crotch.

Sako moaned louder.

Satisfied, Luna resumed the kissing and mixed their spit together, moving it back and forth between her mouth and Sako’s. She lifted her head and stuck her tongue out, letting the mixture fall down in a thick line into Sako’s open mouth. “Swallow it.”

Sako swallowed it to avoid choking.

Luna lowered herself and connected their mouths.

This time, Sako needed air because Luna was pressing their noses together. She put her hands to Luna’s chest and tried to push her away but couldn’t. Though, if Sako couldn't breathe, Luna couldn’t either, so Luna would have to pull away eventually. Sako just had to stay conscious. She couldn’t even move her head to either side: Luna was locking it in place with her hands. Her vision blurred.

Luna fondled Sako’s breasts, brushing her tongue against Sako’s tongue.

“Mmm…”

She tilted her head rightwards, allowing Sako to breathe again…

~~~

Morning came.

Sako stumbled out of the room, unsteady on her feet. She was about to fall over. Her vision dimmed then cleared.

Luna was a fucking animal. An untamed and thirsty animal. They had gone at it for 12 hours. No sleep. And during all that time, Luna had been taking the lead. Her endless stamina absolutely baffled Sako. That hadn’t just been kissing. That had been foreplay. Luna had touched her everywhere. At one point, they had somehow rolled off the bed, but Luna just continued on the floor. Sako had gotten up and tried to climb back onto the bed, but Luna yanked her back down on the floor and was all over her again in an instant. And at one point, she had chickened out and made a run for the locked door, but Luna caught her and hauled her away from it. “We’re not done yet!” Luna had said.

“I-I feel so violated…” Sako mumbled. How…

“Let’s do it again sometime, okaaaay?” Luna said happily

Sako slowly turned around and stared at Luna wide-eyed as she got off the bed. HOW IS SHE NOT TIRED?!

It would make more sense if Sako had higher endurance over Luna, but it was as if her in-game stats hadn’t made a difference. Maybe because I’m not out fighting or something? What was stamina? If it was physical endurance that excluded that erotic activities, then that was dumb. So dumb. 

She was sure that she had high stamina, but Luna was a different breed. It was as if Sako’s stats hadn’t mattered. Even her strength had felt less than Luna’s, based on the way Luna had wrestled and manhandled her. Thankfully, that hadn’t been actual sex. She wouldn't have been able to handle Luna’s roughness without passing out in the middle of it.

And she had felt unusually aroused.

“Oh, by the way, I had put another Ultra Stat Reduction Potion in your juice when you weren’t looking! This time with an aphrodisiac!” Luna admitted.

Sako froze. Oh. Of course. That made perfect sense now. Not once had she thought about checking her own stats, so she had completely missed that. Luna wouldn’t have given her the chance anyway. But that didn’t explain her endless stamina and enthusiasm. Maybe she had drunk something to enhance her stamina.

“Heh. I can’t believe you fell for it again! Oh wow, Sako, you’re so easy to fool!” Luna stood in front of her and stuck her tongue out. “Thanks for the tongue action!”

Sako wasn’t the violent type, but Luna knew exactly how to awaken a dormant rage buried inside her. She knew what buttons to press. Sako wanted to take her by the neck and fling her down the stairs, but she didn’t have the energy. Clever son of a…. Not even Luna's spit-covered bite marks all over Sako’s neck had fully healed yet. “But… I had searched you.”

“Yeah, you had. But you hadn’t searched the room, had you?”

“...No…”

“If only you had searched the cupboard. But nope! You just thought I was much more important to search! I’m flattered, really. Hehehe.”

But when had she put them into her juice? She remembered that before they had started, she had turned her back for a couple minutes. That had given Luna the chance.

Sako felt like an idiot. No, she was an idiot. Now she had to wonder how to get rid of Luna. If she didn’t, Luna would ruin the rest of her day.