Dark elves.

In my culture, we fetishized the fantasy race so hard that they had become a staple part of any anime, manga, and hentai. Unlike their light-skinned counterparts who were more stuck-up and dainty, dark elves were always depicted with haughty and arrogant attitudes as if they had more to prove. Sure they had big boobs that I wanted to put my face between and motorboat, even the elf before me was endowed with giant knockers of the stereotype.

As a result of being lulled into the complacency of those thoughts, we sometimes forget the deadlier aspect of them— their magic.

"Whoa— crap!" I barely dodged a volley of spells fired from Shayle's finger tips.

"Ora ora ora ora! Don't forget about me!" Hana used the time reversing pocket watch to return the spells back to Shayle, but a ring on her finger absorbed the magic.

When the other succubi tried to join in and help, I shouted for them to stand down.

"She's too dangerous! Stay back and watch for any reinforcements!" 

"As you wish, Queen Saeko!"

Our battle had taken to the skies. Of course it turned out that Shayle could fly. When I thought I was safe from her reach in the air, she threw magic at me and sprouted wings from her boots.

On top of being unable to charm her due to the anti-charm cloak she wore, magic attacks were also ineffective against her because of the ring. Hana and I only stood a chance thanks to Yumi providing us support, and Ellara subduing the other two elves.

"Uwah… She's a hard nut to crack," the trickster succubus said.

"Hahh… Hahh… I know… I can't believe I thought it was a good idea to take them all at once back then." I wiped the sweat from my forehead even though it was a chilly night.

The only trick up my sleeve was the bodyswap rod which would be a double-edged sword. I could swap with Shayle and take off all her artifacts, but she would be in the body of a greater succubus.

If only Selene was here. She would know best how to battle Shayle in a physical fight.

No… Hoping for someone else to fight my battle for me wouldn't help me grow. Relying on others' support was fine, but this was my fight. I needed to figure out a way on my own.

"Don't suppose you're willing to sit down and have a talk instead?" I offered the dark elf.

Shayle scoffed at the notion of parlaying. "There's only two times when negotiations are made— by the party who is losing during the fight, and again right after they have lost. Are you telling me you have already given up?"

"How about you ask yourself if Sarena really has your best interests in mind?" 

Her amusement vanished.

I seemed to have touched a nerve.

"You wouldn't understand. The survival of my people depends on her, and I don't have any other choice. The only one I see hindering me right now is you!" She launched another flurry of spells, but Yumi was quick to raise another barrier for us.

Hana tried to rewind time on the spells, but Shayle moved faster and bursted through the barrier to tackle us through the sky.

"Give up!" Shayle demanded.

"Don't worry, Saeko! I got this!" Hana activated the pocket watch to rewind time.

We returned to the moment Shayle tackled us, knocking the wind from my lungs a second time.

"U-Uwaaaahhh! Wait, I got it this time!"

Shayle tackled us a third time.

"Goddamn it, Hana! Give me that!" I tried to snatch the artifact from her hand, but she sent us back a fourth time.

Instead of trying to take it from Hana, I shoved her out of the way to break the stupid cycle and handed her the bodyswap baton in secret. This time, Shayle tackled me alone.

Both of us were sent flying, arms locked on one another. I conjured chains in an attempt to bind Shayle, but they proved useless against her. Left with no other way to push her off, I channeled as much magical energy as I could muster into my hands for a deadly blast.

"You already know that won't work on me, succubus!" Shayle shouted.

However, she was forced to let go of me in order to raise her ring between us.

My powerful spell was being absorbed as expected, but…

I kept channeling, and as I did, flew straight into her.

"Take this!" I stopped casting at the last second and slugged her across the face.

Shayle crashed back into the park, the impact knocking down a tree which kicked up dust and dirt.

With the adrenaline pumping through me, I found myself enjoying this fight a lot more than I expected. The last time I fought this intensely, the fate of my life and Tsukiji was at stake. Here, in the cool of night, face caked in sweat and enemy forcing me to give my all, everything else seemed to pale in comparison to this battle.

Hana should be hidden nearby. Once the dust settled, this fight would be over.

"Impressive… You hit like a certain beastkin lioness from Elza… Such power from a single punch nearly knocked me unconscious." Shayle staggered out from the cloud of dust.

I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but three additional silhouettes emerged alongside her.

Clones? Another artifact?

Four Shayles sprung out to lay into me. Their hits were just as real as the next. Eight fists were too many to block, and Yumi couldn't repair her barrier fast enough to shield me. Each one I buried a fist into, hard enough to send into orbit, would disappear and reform again. 

If I couldn't find the real one, the plan wouldn't work.

Since hitting them wasn't helping, then holding them still should be enough. I waited for the right moment until there was an opening in their flurry of blows.

My tail wrapped around the neck of one. I stopped another two with each hand. The fourth tried to put me in a chokehold, but I kicked her feet out from under her and pressed a foot to her throat. All five of us were trapped in this stalemate.

Just what I was hoping for.

"Any last words?" I asked Shayle, as both of my hands glowed with the intensity of the sun in preparation to blast us all to smithereens.

The Shayle restrained by my tail was the only one of the four that raised her ring.

"Gotcha!" I let the spell sputter out. "Now, Hana!"

"Your body is mine now, sucker!" Hana aimed the bodyswap rod at Shayle, causing a burst of magic to ripple through the air.

Shayle, who was now in Hana's body, stared at her new form and gasped at what had happened. Unprotected by any artifacts and in the body of a lesser succubus, my aura was able to bring her to her knees.

Game check and mate.

"Whew…"

"S-Saeko… I'm not into suffocation playing, my dude…" The dark elf face that now belonged to Hana was quickly turning blue.

"Oops, sorry!" I released her, allowing her to start stripping off every single piece of artifact down a hairpin.

Meanwhile, I walked up to the true Shayle and unburdened her of the body swap rod still in her hand. It was funny to see her scowl in that body since Hana wasn't the pissy type, so the goof never made those kinds of faces.

When Hana was done taking off all the artifacts, we had them body swap again, but not after sufficiently binding the dark elf's body.

"So you had me swapped with a succubus whom you could control instead of using it on me yourself. That artifact was taken from Ellara, wasn't it? If only she hadn't gone and gotten herself caught…" Shayle sighed.

Hana came skipping over and punching the air in front of the dark elf. "Come on, Saeko! Finish her off. Give her the D! The big dank di— gumphh?!"

"Good work, but I need you to be quiet now." I stuck a ball gag into Hana's mouth which I kept handy for times like this. She stared at me unamused like I had robbed her fun away. Mio had the right idea. These things were useful to have around.

"What shall we do with her?" Yumi asked.

The defeated Shayle remained quiet as she sat on the ground, as though awaiting her execution. She was so passionate earlier, but all that gusto was gone.

"We probably made a lot of noise that's going to attract attention. Take Hana with you, and have the succubi form a perimeter around the park. I'm going to speak with Shayle alone," I whispered to Yumi.

She nodded at my request and pulled Hana away, then signalled to the other succubi in the area to do as I ordered. Once they were gone, I took a seat next to the dark elf to catch my breath.

"I don't know a lot about the other world. Mio told me a little bit about how the dark elves had problems reproducing. Is that what you meant by the survival of your people?" I asked her.

"Why would a succubus care? Just kill me and get it over with already," Shayle said.

Although those words had come out of her mouth, she made it glaringly obvious that it was the furthest thing she wanted. Guilt was written all over her face. The guilt from having failed.

"It might come as a surprise, but I wasn't originally a succubus. I was human, in fact… I was actually a guy until Mio transformed me," I replied.

Shayle was in such disbelief that her mouth hung open.

Since she was speechless, I took the opportunity to press for more. "You were hoping the power of the Blade of the First Temptress would reverse your sickness, right? So you teamed up with the one smuggler who might be able to help steal it from me."

"Heh. You really are something else to have figured all that out. However, you were wrong about one thing. It isn't a sickness. It was a curse." Shayle sat up to face me.

"A curse? By the demon lord?" I asked.

"No, but he holds half the responsibility. We dark elves were once light elves. My skin used to be as fair as Ellara's. When we fell drunk on the demon lord's gift of power, the Goddess of Everlight, patron god of the light elves, turned her back to our kind and cursed us with infertility. All of the men have died out, and soon…" Shayle clenched both fists.

I felt the depth of her pain just looking into her eyes. She and the other elves had fought in a war after all. They no doubt lost people dear to them which led to becoming artifact hunters.

"Then you guys created the temporary penis potions," I tried to say with a straight face.

"Sounds like you have had experience with it." She chuckled. "We remaining women managed to stave off our extinction by having sex with each other, but… we realized soon that we could only give birth to more females. Not a single male in decades. Our numbers continue to dwindle."

"What about the light elves that follow you like Ellara? I'm surprised that they betrayed their goddess to help you." When I glanced over to Ellara and the two other light elves, it was hard to imagine Shayle being one of them.

"They have cast aside much to help. Some of us were once blood sisters. But as you have witnessed, it is hard to also cast aside old grudges."

All this time I thought the artifact hunters were just a group of greedy elves going around stealing people's stuff. The one who was truly selfish was Sarena. Shayle and her elven companion had a noble cause behind it all.

"I think we've talked enough. Go on. Do with me as you will, succubus. Slit my throat or turn me into your sex slave. You will at the very least grant me peace from my unattainable goal…" Shayle shut her eyes and awaited her end.

"You have me all wrong. I'm not going to kill you or make you a sex slave." I stood up and vanished the chains binding her.

"What…?" was all she could utter. "B-But we deceived you. Took your sword away. Because of me, your two companions were taken away by force. You could have died back then when the other succubus arrived and betrayed you! Yet… you would… spare me?"

"It's another story for Sarena, but everything you've done has been to help your people. As far as I can see, killing you would be killing a hero, and killing the hero would make me the villain. Which, quite frankly, I don't think I'm very good at anyway." I shrugged.

Shayle took my hand, and I pulled her to her feet.

"What now, then? It doesn't look like we are allies, but it seems neither are we enemies," she said.

"That depends. If the Blade of the First Temptress was what you were after to help your people, you clearly had no reason to stay any longer. The fact that you're still here meant that Sarena still had plans here, or she never intended to help you. Maybe you can fill me in on what she's scheming? If you help me, I'll return the favor by using the sword to cure your people's infertility." My second attempt to break bread with Shayle got through to her. She fell silent, likely considering my proposal. A stark contrast to the instant refusal the first time around. 

"I've been betrayed by succubi before. How can I be sure you won't do the same?" Shayle asked.

"Do I really look like the betraying kind?" I held both hands up as though to surrender.

The dark elf laughed, and for the first time since we've spoken, the tension appeared to have left her body.

"You're certainly different from the ones I've encountered before," she mused to herself.

"So how about an alliance?" The offer was met with the proud gaze of an elf who refused to be defeated so easily.

"I would like to accept, but before that could happen, we must settle this with another challenge. Succubi and dark elves were allies under the demon lord's banner. We did things a little differently when vying for dominance. Even I fought this battle against Sarena and lost." Shayle folded her arms underneath her chest which made the already large pair of breasts even bigger.

Somehow, this wasn't leading to where I was hoping it would.

"And… What is this other challenge that you're talking about?" I dared to ask.

"Whoever can fuck each other senseless first," she said.

My mind briefly went blank. "What kind of dumb traditions are you guys making in the other world?!"

Hana and Yumi returned to corroborate Shayle's statement.

"Ara ara, Saeko~ It seems you are still wet around the ears when it comes to our culture. Shayle speaks truly. Dark elves are fierce and proud lovers who refuse to bow down to anyone. It is how we determined the hierarchy amongst the demon lord's ranks," Yumi explained, her eyes opening slightly to reveal a glint of interest.

By her side, Hana nodded in confirmation, still drooling from the ball gag stuck in her mouth.

When I turned back to Shayle, I no longer saw an enemy. I saw instead a bodacious dark elf with big tits, shining cocoa skin, and a body that was thick in all the right places. This woman wanted to have sex with me.

Gulp.

A single thought crossed my mind. One that refused to let this opportunity slip from my fingers. The desire that all fantasy race enthusiasts wished to fulfill— I want to have sex with a dark elf!

After all, Mio would totally have egged me on to take this offer. As a former boy recently reminded of how it felt to have a dick and having fantasized about dark elves before, it was my duty to do so.

"Y-You have a deal," I said, shaking her hand and wiping drool from my lips with my free hand.

Our destination was one of the many love hotels that Hana secretly continued to operate since way back when. Shayle assured us that Sarena wasn't going anywhere so that we could focus on our 'challenge'. Some things just took precedence. Being the queen succubus that I was, facing her was one such obligation.

That's right. Obligation. Nothing more.

While the others went off to do their own thing to give us some privacy, Shayle and I entered a master suite of Hana's love hotel in downtown Tsukiji. The room was big, furnished with a king-sized bed and luxurious bathroom, and included a kitchenette for couples wanting to do domestic roleplay.

Both my head and heart were going into overdrive.

"You said you were once human yourself." Shayle walked over to the bed and drew her fingers across the neatly pleated sheets. "Your people certainly have a way with extravagance. Especially in the department of… physical intimacy."

"Aha… A bunch of circumstances contributed to why places like these sprung up." I scratched the back of my head and cursed myself for being so awkward.

Even though I was a succubus, I suddenly didn't feel like the most experienced person in the room anymore.

Shayle took a seat on the bed and pulled out a very familiar potion.

"I think you know very well what this is. How about it, Queen Saeko?" The dark elf smiled.