carl@fire

An annoying, lengthy series of rapid knocks sounded at the door.

"Like I said." Drake smirked at Emma as he stood up.

She tilted her head and took on a condescending smile. "Growing so smug at having succeeded with such a trivial matter truly befits you, Mister Storm. I'm pleased you were able to contribute to my scheme in some small manner."

He looked at her with his eyes widened in exasperation. "Wish me luck," he said on his way to the door.

"You've no need for luck with me by your side," she said in a barely audible voice.

He flashed her a grin over his shoulder and pulled the door open, stepping out into the hall in nearly the same motion. "Hey, long time no see," he said.

Kazuto stood there, too close as usual, wearing the same, very worse-for-wear clothes as earlier. He smiled brightly. "Hey, Drake! I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, but I've just been so busy banging all these hot alien babes," he said in a tone like he couldn't believe how awesome he was.

"Sure, and I wanna hear all about that," Drake said with a forced grin. "But I've got a couple questions of my own for you, actually. About some of those hot chicks you were telling me about before."

Kazuto's eyebrows rocketed upwards, and his smile changed to a grin that crossed his whole face. "Really? I mean, sure, sure, I don't know that any of it's going to be that interesting to a harem god like you, but—"

"Specifically," Drake cut in before his brain could try escaping out his ears again, "I think you mentioned hooking up with a hot girl who had blue skin at one point."

Kazuto's mouth hung open for a moment, and his eyes darted away. "Uh, well, that's… Uh…"

Drake put an arm around Kazuto's shoulders like they were friends and leaned in a little. "No need to be shy, right?" he said a bit more quietly. "It's just us guys here." He made a show of looking around. "Nobody around to overhear, though a real man with a harem of hot girls wouldn't care about something like that anyway."

Kazuto shuddered a little as though he was cold or like he'd thought of something terrifying. "W—well, there was…" He took a few quick breaths and looked up with a distressed expression. "There was this one chick, Lily, and she was awesome, but she… She just freaked the fuck out on me suddenly! I didn't do anything wrong, and—"

"Whoa, slow down," Drake said, patting him on the chest with his free hand. "It's just us here, no need to rush things. Why don't you start at the beginning. How'd you meet Lily?"

Kazuto's expression turned relieved, and he nodded. "Yeah, you're right, sorry. Um, well, I got isekai'd—that's what it's called when you get brought to another world—and this ultra hot goddess was there to—"

"Yeah, but who cares about goddesses, right?" Drake said dismissively.

"Y-yeah, I guess that's not a big deal for you," Kazuto said, sounding a little deflated. "So Lucia had captured Lily, who's definitely the hottest girl of all time, and she was trying to get her to become a spy or something, because her people were athiests or whatever."

"Spies are sexy," Drake said.

"I know," Kazuto agreed in a tone like he couldn't believe he found someone who agreed with him. "So anyway, Lucia told me to bang this Lily chick until she agreed to be a spy, and I did. And she always did whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted—even if she complained about it sometimes, which was just so sexy because she'd give me this look like she hated me even while she was sucking my dick—and we were really happy together for I don't even know how long, even if she never exactly got to the—"

"Wait, that's sort of interesting," Drake interrupted. "So she'd do anything you wanted?"

Kazuto nodded excitedly. "Yeah, it was awesome! Like, literally anything I wanted, no matter how crazy. It was like we were totally on the same page all the time, and those looks she kept giv—"

"Wow, that's…something," Drake said as he thought about it. "So this goddess you know—"

"Lucia's so fucking hot, she—"

"—captured Lily," Drake continued. "And Lily did anything you told her to."

"Yup, yeah, Drake, are the girls in your harem all like that?" Kazuto asked. "Like, they just always follow whatever you—"

"And she never resisted or said no or anything," Drake continued.

"What? No, she said no all the time," Kazuto said with a smirk. "But then she'd just be totally soaked—I mean, I could totally see how wet she was through the lingerie I asked her to wear for me—and so, you know, it was obviously just an act."

"An act," Drake repeated as he took a long blink.

"Yeah, and she had this sexy collar she was wearing with a leash," Kazuto said, growing more excited as he talked. "And she had this great thing where she'd, you know, like, beg me to take her leash off, but then she'd just be drip—"

"Wow, that's… That's a lot," Drake said, pulling away and running a hand through his hair as he let out a breath.

"So how do you get your girls to be like that anyway, Drake?" Kazuto asked from behind him. "I still can't believe how dedicated those lizard chicks were. Do you just have them all in big gang bangs, or do they take turns, or—"

"Just… Just to make sure," Drake interrupted one more time, "did she ever take initiative?"

"Well, no, but that's just because she had that whole sexy fake-hating thing going on," Kazuto said in a dismissive tone. "Why are you so interested in Lily anyway? I—"

"Well, I think that's probably everything," Drake said, bracing himself for the next part.

"Everything what?" Kazuto said.

Emma emerged from their quarters, now wearing a long, white dress she'd found to fit her part. "Drake, come back to bed," she said with an affected yawn, halting when she caught sight of both of them.

"W-what?!" Kazuto exclaimed in a shrill voice.

Drake turned back around slowly, a thousand-out-of-ten grimace on his face. "You're a real piece of shit, you know that, kid?"

"What the fuck's going on, Drake?" Kazuto said, his eyes fixed on Emma. "Why's she in your room?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" Drake asked.

"Y-you… But she's mine!" Kazuto said, his too-pale face contorting in rage as his nostrils flared. "I—"

"Yours?" Emma said in a low voice. "I've no recollection of becoming a belonging."

"Here's the thing, kid," Drake said as he took a slow step forward, "I don't think Lily ever liked you. Her name's not even fucking Lily. I don't think any of your girls actually liked you, in fact. I think they all fucking hated you, to be honest. I think Lily didn't freak out on you, I think she hated you so fucking much that she went completely insane because she never wanted to be anywhere near you, but that goddess was using crazy god powers to—"

"Fuck you!" Kazuto yelled suddenly, raising a fist.

Drake watched him move forward, but, when compared to the impossible speed of Vol or the simple, flawless technique of Ir'alith, the motions were like those of a child throwing a tantrum. He batted the fist aside and ducked into the lack of guard, easily grabbing both legs behind the knee and toppling him to the ground. Unlike in his practice with Vol, this time there was no immediate response, as his opponent seemed stunned to have missed his attack, and he followed through by grabbing one foot and twisting sharply until it cracked.

The sound and feel of the bone breaking were disgusting, but he ignored them.

He was Drake Storm.

The sound of the ankle in his hands snapping just brought him closer to success.

Kazuto screamed and started to flail, the motion causing him to flop around from his strength.

Strength that had already been anticipated.

Drake kept hold of the leg, falling and locking the knee as he hooked the other leg with his own. "Stop moving, or I'll break your knee too," he ordered, twisting a little harder.

"What the fuck!" Kazuto shouted. He groaned a moment later as the pressure on his knee increased. "I thought we were friends, Drake!"

"Not really," Drake said. The foot in his hands clicked and began growing firmer as it healed, so he wrenched it to its new limits.

"I've an inquiry for you, Kazuto," Emma began as she clicked around towards his head. "I've heard you'd had the good fortune to become the betrothed of my sister," she said slowly. "My inquiry is simple enough: have you fornicated with her?"

Kazuto let out a whine as his foot popped. "W-what?" he stammered. "Sister?"

"Yes, Isemeine," Emma said, nudging his head with the tip of her shoe.

"You're…twins?" Kazuto yelped when his hesitation cost him another temporarily broken ankle.

Emma sighed deeply. "I've no desire to dwell on the past, and perhaps my youngest sister might revile me for all time, but, as the eldest of our family, I've some manner of responsibility. You will provide me with the answer I seek. Have you or have you not lain with my sister?" she asked again, enunciating each syllable distinctly.

Drake inclined his head off the ground to watch as he kept his hold firm.

"I…" Kazuto lunged and grabbed Emma's foot with his hands. "Let—" He let out a piercing shriek as both arms were severed cleanly at the elbow, with blood beginning to spurt out of each stump.

"It seems I've a need to introduce myself, haven't I," Emma called as she nudged the bloody forearms away with a disdainful grimace. "You've the privilege of being in the presence of Emma, eldest daughter of the Charus royal family. If you've the notion that I'm somehow weak or foolish as I'm aware my sisters can be, take this moment to reflect upon and discard such fantasies. Now then, you've a single opportunity remaining with which to provide me with the information I'm requesting. Have you, a distasteful piece of offal, plunged what I'd wager is a very, very small cock inside of my youngest, most vulnerable sister?"

Drake twisted the leg in his grasp to the absolute limit, prompting another high pitched whine.

"So what if I did?" Kazuto panted, his eyes squeezed shut. His arms had already mostly grown back, and his hands clenched in pain as they appeared. "She loved me! She came practically the whole time, and she never once said no! She'd be waiting in bed for me most nights! What do y—"

"My, that's quite fascinating to hear," Emma interrupted. "Mister Storm, I'd expect we'll be following through with the second variant of my plan, so please prepare your stomach accordingly. However, Kazuto, or perhaps I should call you Normannus, you've quite the misconception, and I'll perhaps feel more justified if I've provided you with a proper explanation and observed your reaction.

"You see, prior to your arrival, Isemeine refused to consent to betrothal with even the kingdom's most eligible bachelor—who I'll assure you is quite a lot more pleasing to the eye than your ghastly, unsightly form—and if she'd not shown interest in him, despite his many and varied foibles, she'd most certainly never possess any manner of interest in such uncouth riffraff as yourself, deluded as she'd become with her tales of idyllic, fated romances. No, the sole reason you've been capable of existing within arm's reach of such an otherwise unattainable creature is the direct order of my mother, whom my sister has always found difficulty in disobeying."

"No way!" Kazuto said, seeming to be more intent on the discussion than the state of his body. "She definitely—"

"Then please do enumerate, if you would," Emma cut in with a patronizing tone, "a single instance in which Isemeine spoke with you of her own volition. Perhaps she'd approached you to speak about some trivial matter?"

"Uh…" Kazuto fell silent. "There was…"

"No, I'd not imagine such a thing possible," Emma said after waiting for the silence to become awkward and then some. "Were it a lecherous, brainless individual such as yourself, as I've heard of from my Mister Storm—"

"She definitely—" Kazuto's attempted interruption cut off abruptly as a thin jet of blood erupted from his mouth, after which his hands began to flail at his sides.

"Ooh, attempting to speak over a lady? You've truly no capacity for manners whatsoever," Emma said as she affected a sympathetic tone. She knelt down amidst his thrashing and reached into his mouth, fishing out a chunk of bloody flesh and discarding it as he hacked and spluttered. "How dreadful for you. Tilt your head to the side or you're liable to suffocate. To resume, I'd wager you'd mistaken her reticence—her weakness, as it were—as coyness, perhaps as the coquettish charms of a maiden intent on the subtle art of enticement from a submissive position. Suffice to say, Isemeine is most certainly incapable of such artifice."

Kazuto gasped for breath as the blood stopped pumping out of his mouth and onto the hallway's carpet, both hands up feeling around and wiping at his mouth.

"Though I've long since departed from my homeland and given up any aspirations of its throne, I've still this sense of responsibility I'd mentioned previously," Emma said. She waved her fingers and a wickedly sharp knife flew out of Drake's room, coming to settle into her palm. "While perhaps I've no true affection for Isemeine, and perhaps we're to spend the remainder of our days possessing some manner of antipathy towards one another, I've no desire to permit myself to remain in the past. No, we humans must struggle forward with the utmost resolve to attain our goals. As such, and as a lady of a certain status, one who bears certain obligations being the oldest among her siblings…"

She began to slowly twirl the knife about by its handle. "Tell me, Normannus, are you at all familiar with Charus law? In particular, are you aware of the penalty for those caught defiling a royal princess? Perhaps more pressingly, are you aware that the penalty for nonconsensual defilement is somewhat different?" A grin began to spread across her lips, and she strolled leisurely around from his head to his middle. "Yes, perhaps it's become somewhat of a matter of humor to those who know of the law's history and the infrequency with which it's enforced, but the punishment for defilement is castration, regardless of circumstances. In the case where consent is lacking…"

Kazuto whimpered and began to squirm, so Drake snapped first his foot, followed by his leg, causing a different type of squirming and the addition of screams.

"Mister Storm, please show some manner of restraint," Emma said, grinning down at him. She returned her gaze to Kazuto's pasty face. "In such a case, the penalty is to be tortured until the death by the most senior ranking inquisitor," she finished. "Perhaps we might lack for such an individual in this place, but I've the requisite knowledge of such things as well as that sense of responsibility I've mentioned repeatedly."

"Please, c'mon, Drake, we're friends, aren't we?" Kazuto pleaded. "Harem masters, right?"

"Fuck off," Drake said with zero-out-of-ten interest.

Kazuto started to wiggle frantically, but his efforts were hampered as he screamed when both his arms were abruptly severed at the shoulder.

"Now, now, no thrashing about or you'll spoil my skillful torturing," Emma said in a tone like she was suffering the slightest of annoyances as she crouched down and began deftly sawing away at his shabby clothes. "Did you know that one of the first lessons in the manuals from which inquisitors are taught the art of torture is that the ideal session begins by establishing some manner of rapport with the subject? Yes, it's quite important to forge a deep, lasting relationship over the course of the experience, so please do listen, even if I've begun to ramble at times.

"With that matter noted, Kazuto, I'll commence by stating that vengeance is perhaps something Isemeine would never possess the strength to achieve. Fortunately for her, however, she's the benefit of an elder sister with no such deficiencies. I'll not expect any manner of reunion with her in the future, so perhaps this will be sufficient to ease the small amount of guilt I've recently come upon."

The knife stabbed down, blood erupted, and Kazuto screamed.

"I've been told you've the ability to heal swiftly, so please do continue to inform me with regards to how well I'm doing," Emma called loudly.