“Prune-san.”

“Hm?”
The day was growing a madder red. Long shadows crawled all over the room like spiderwebs. Alone on the bed, wearing a simple black dress, Prune was called out from the open window.

“Teal-sama?”

It was a blue haired elf. But her hair looked purple from the gleam of the sky.

“How have you been?”

“Don’t ask. it’s been hell,” not really. If anything, it’s been a bother, and a pain. Both emotionally and mentally.

Prune checked the map, ensuring that there wasn’t anyone close to her at this moment in time.

“That’s too bad. Are you alright then? Do you need to escape?”

“No, I don’t.”

“So I can conclude that your living situation here is still not too bad.” Teal breathed out a relieved sigh, “If you’re still unaware, Toren Kingdom has announced war against the demon territory. If possible, I suggest you make your move now. If possible, together with Liliath.”
“How about Nine?” 

“I’ll deal with her. There must be some way to sever the connection between her and her master.”
It would’ve been so simple if Nine had just decided to rid his status of that title.

“I have a feeling that perhaps Nine is doing this on purpose. She might not be controlled by anyone..”

“Why would you come to such a conclusion?”
“She hasn’t destroyed everyone’s Unique Skill.”
“Do you really think so?”

“I don’t know how to explain it.. I just know, that she might be acting..”
“I have a different opinion on it though. There’s no reason for her to kill Noel-sama is there? Moreover, to do it in front of Liliath-sama..”

“There must be a reason. There has to be.. we just don’t know the full picture. She’s planning something important, that's why..”

A loud knock was heard. Teal’s figure disappeared.

“Prune! Shea-san is calling you to say she’s prepared everything.”

Prune rose from the bed and opened the door.

“Wow, you look stunning. Um, were you talking to anyone just now?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”

“Myself.”
“Are you depressed?”

“Fortunately so.”

“Just bear with it a little longer.”
“I understand. To where now?”
“Follow me.”

Teal watched their conversation and thought perhaps Prune’s words hold some truth. In any case, she decided to go after them and watch from afar.

She thanked Noel from the bottom of her heart that he had adjusted her skills to the max before this. Infiltrating the demon territory would’ve been a hell of a lot tougher without it.

===

A naked girl was taking a bath in the lake. The water glowed in a subdued light from beneath.

Her golden tail that lightly skimmed the water. Pink plump lips, and seductive figure which would’ve enchanted any being that saw her– they would be tempted to fall. Inevitably at this sight.

Prune herself was not spared from it. She found her body making its way closer to the girl. Step by step, inch by inch. First the water reached the hem of her dress, then to the knee

Nine had brought Prune here, to this dark forest behind the castle. Who would’ve thought there would be such a majestic place within the dismal covering of leaves.
“Who goes there?” The girl in the lake exclaimed, golden eyes quivering, frightened.

Water had now reached all the way up to Prune’s waist.
“W-Who are you?” The girl asked.

Prune smiled.

“U-Uh..”

“I’m Prune, nice to meet you.”

The girl paused before speaking.
“Isn’t this the part where you say you lust for me because of my beauty? And I seduce you because you know you just can’t resist?”
Prune upheld her smile, but her eyebrows began to twitch. If one looked closer, one could see a small vein pop on her forehead.

“P-Prune..” Shea faltered at that expression of hers.
“You’re so beautiful, I thought I saw an angel. I couldn’t help but fall for your charm..” Prune took another step further in the water.

Shea looked into her eyes.

Her deep, willowy blue eyes.

It wasn’t that Prune was being charmed. It was Shea.

Her silver white hair, spotless neckline with skin pure as jade. The supplied pink lips, rosy cheeks, and black dress which only contrasted the white glow of her face.

Every inch of Shea’s body was screaming.

Prune. This girl was too perfect.

It was the best prey a Nine Tail could ever have.

No male could best her taste.

The rich aroma Shea could almost taste, even from this distance–

She held back the urge.
Because someone this perfect in her eyes was extremely hard to come by.

Shea had been living for centuries. All this time, she had been alone. The only Nine Tail in existence.

Until one day, she had this idea of finding a companion– someone to become just like her.

For hundreds of years, she scoured.
Someone that matched her, someone she resonated with.

Preferably a male, for Shea had always thought that it’s a custom for a male to be paired with a female– to create offspring.

But everytime she encountered one, they would’ve lost themselves.. no, there was an exception. Javiel.

However, he wasn’t to her taste, they just didn’t match. But Shea respected deeply him nonetheless for not falling.
Even when Shea decided to try the opposite gender, alas, the result was the same.

But not her– not Prune.

This child wasn’t charmed, not even interested.

Putting on a fake play, just to please her. Trying to take interest to not hurt the other party's feelings.

What it means to be lonely– acting brave when she is clearly afraid, to put up a front in the face of others when she herself wishes to be understood– protected.

Prune didn’t like Shea, not one bit.
Shea wasn’t crazy to not realize this point.

Even so..

“Prune, I’ll make you mine, you’ll become me.. we’ll be together, forever.. and ever..” 

Shea slithered her way over to Prune. Nine tails blossomed, and began to wind themselves around Prune like individual entities.

Her golden eyes glowed, Prune’s eyes lost light, she fell into a trace. All the fear she felt for life just disappeared. 

Prune saw her life flash before her.

This was the end she thought..

Then a warm sensation touched her lips.

Slimy, smooth, sweet– slightly sticky even.

Prune began to feel hot– her temperature rose. She felt her skin burn, alongside the tips of her hair. Her heartbeat accelerated, sweat began to pour out from her.

It hurt, Prune wanted it to stop yet.. the pleasure she got from this was insatiable. Her body was changing, Prune realized it. It wanted more, to become complete, it needed Shea, every part of her.

“Is this even legal?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not, but who cares.”

“What would you do if Prune died?”

“I doubt so– keep the camera steady and our comments to the minimum, hey.”

While the ritual was underway, Nine had Teal film the entire scene play out in real time. It’s such a blessing that Noel had given permission for Teal to use the Camerawidget.

Was this merely a coincidence? Who knows.

If Prune found out what Nine was doing, she would be so dead. Though, for the sake of their memories in this world, it was a small price to pay.

“Nine-san, whose side are you on anyways?”

“Me? I’m just doing what I’m supposed to. I’m not out of being free yet, but now that Prune has joined the fray, I suppose things will change from here. After all, she can now command me to do something.”
“Quite the complicated situation you’ve got yourself into.”
“I know.” Nine nodded in agreement.

[Prune’s Special Quest Completed!]

Just like that, Prune’s first time was given to a girl.

===

“What is this?” Javiel watched as Iona bounced around her latest creation which.. wasn’t something tangible to the modern world.

It looked like those triangle flags you would see hanging above during school festivals, except that the flags were replaced by unusual talismans.
“It’s a.. how should I say, a stronger version of a controller. Wrap it around someone and it’ll make the person follow your every command, even if that means killing himself or herself.”
“Do you intend to use it on Nine-san?”
“No silly. I designed this to fit Liliath-chan, your o so beloved toy? You like to see her suffer don’t you? Then why not this? Push her to her utmost limits and break her– no, beyond that. After all, she will have to do everything you say, you could even tell her to destroy the entire world and she’ll do just that.”

“Incredible.. how do you justify its effectiveness?” Javiel was impressed, if anything.
“Look at this,” Iona dragged a cage over. In a was a lone Tuffkan standing as still as a rock. Its eyes were red, tearing up due to the prolonged period of not blinking– as it was commanded to.

“So it works on any creature.”
“Yes. Onii-san, could you create a barrier around the cage, things might get messy.”
“If you say so.”

A magic barrier surrounded the cage.

“Turn it into ash once you’ve seen the result..” Iona’s expression contorted, “Specimen one, explode yourself.”

The result was as commanded, left in the cage was no longer a creature, but a splatter of guts everywhere.

===

“Noel, w-where are we going?”

“You’ll know soon enough.”
“Huh? This place is..”
“This was where we had our first date, this cafe.. well.. I didn’t bring mustard but hey, there’s at least chicken pie here right?”

How queer. Back then, I was the one pulling him on my whim, how was it that I’m having a dream of the reverse?

Oh Noel.. I miss you. When will you come back?
“I don’t understand you at all.”

“Come on, at least I got whipped cream.”

I was having a date with Noel in our uniform.

The sound of clattering metal, the bolt came loose and dropped, ringing on the floor as it made a few jumps.

Fear took over my body. 

The dream gone. I opened my eyes to see a scene of this dismal prison.

And him..

I witnessed once again, his black hair and crimson eyes.

My time has finally come to an end, has it now?

It’s over.. everything is over.

“Liliath-chan, I brought you a toy today.”
I had thought he would bring something slightly scarier, like a saw or a needle filled with unknown liquid. Who would’ve thought that it was a rope of talismans.

“Come, stand up.”
I stood up, as commanded. If not, my collar would send an unbearable pain through my body.

“Look at how dirty you are, haven’t you ever thought to take care of your image? How deplorable of a girl.”
I lowered my head.

Should I take my chance now?

There’s a flame in my heart. 

I can do it.

Kill him, very simple.

Kill him so quickly that the pain from the slave collar would come loose.

He began to pull rope around me.

“Good girl, just stand still.”
No.

I can’t kill him. This isn’t the reason why I fought through all the pain. Would I just let it all go to waste?

Don’t kill him.

Kill him.

What would Noel think?

Oh.. right. He’s gone, no longer here.

Then.. what would be best for me. Yes, I have to think for myself.

“Die.”
I drove my hands into his heart.

It turned into a pulp before I could even crush it in between my fingers, how unfortunate.

The demon’s skin warped, I noticed, how it had been an illusion.

The person I killed was a kijin guard.

Oh..

I..

Didn’t mean to..

I-I’m sorry..

I’m sorry!!
“Bravo, Liliath-chan, bravo. I didn’t think you’d find the audacity to hurt me. You sure have changed from the last time I met you.”
My knees clattered, losing function, I dropped to the ground.

“Who’s my good girl? Having grown so much, it would be a pleasure to break you. Yes, I’ve learnt something new today. I’ll break you and let you rest and recover. Afterwards, I’ll break you again, repeat this cycle, over and over for my pleasure. Aren’t you glad I’ve decided to spare your life, Liliath-chan?” 

I looked down the kijin that fell with me– the blood on my hands.

“Liliath-chan, you’ll suffer more this time, so grant me much happiness this time too, alright?”

He lowered himself to my eye level.

That crazed expression contained in his eyes.. 

Hundreds, thousands..

How many times have I seen it?

It hasn’t lost its oppressive power, the shackle of my very being..

Someone help..

Help me.. save me..

Save me..

I didn’t know why, but deep inside my heart, I felt relieved.

370. 

The crunching of the ground, the hum of giant weaponry.

Everything from mobile turrets to floating turrets. Blimps with their main cannon charged to the utmost. There were also mages and mechanical weaponry held by infantries behind. In front are siege weapons loaded with mana explosives.

“By my calculations, the demon territory should fall. It hasn’t grown enough to gather the necessary funds needed to build its army by this point,” was Jiwon-san’s opinion regarding the matter.

“So we strike now.”

“But, we need to pay attention to the heavy guys.. girls. Right?”
“Right, their only reliable force are those bitches standing beside the demon.”
Such was why Jiwon-san recommended that the heroes arrange themselves in teams of 5. That would make it four teams. There were
Aoki Kaito and Takata Sayu would lead the first team.

Sasaki Ishida would lead the second.

Nanako Rika would lead the third.

And Sakurai Reina would lead the fourth, which was the Pigeon Pipe party.

As for Jiwon.. he would join any of the four teams to tackle the demon Javiel-san.

Laura-sama, Moirae-sama, would act separately, to hold Nine down for as long as possible. I’m there to ensure that Nine’s life is spared.

“Don’t be reckless everyone, we don’t know if we’d be able to get Nine back on our side,” I said, if Nine was secured, then we would have no worry reviving those that died during the war.. 

“Got it.”
“You don’t need to tell us that.”

“Just so everyone knows, information regarding revival must be kept a secret. If it was known to the people after this war, you know what would be the outcome.”
Un! My bad. I quickly apologized to Jiwon-san. It had totally slipped my mind.

“We’ll take back the princess and kill the bastard demon once and for all.”
Jiwon raised his sword– it was a new sword which I’ve never seen before. It looked like a combination of the black red sword and night sky sword he had last time. They looked like they had been fused together, the pressure emitted from it is extreme.

A hymn bega to play, strength filled my soul, and I believe it did so for everyone in range. This must be Luara-sama’s new skill.
The sound of the blaring horns.

“We advance!!”

The army roared, and the war commenced.

The golems that appeared on the outer fort were easily destroyed by Jiwon-san. I was amazed by the might a single person could hold. All it took was a blink to see a hundred go down at once.
I had thought that the innumerable golems would become a hindrance.. how wrong I was.

“Rin-san, keep close.”

“How is the movements inside the castle?”

“Yes! The red markers have all moved out except for.. eh, L-Liliath’s marker has become red?”

===

“I can’t believe we’re actually going to war,” Kaito laughed.

“This isn’t supposed to be a situation where we’re laughing!”
“Kyu?”
“Look, even Nanako-san’s familiar agrees.”

“Don’t interpret whatever you think she says,” Nanako Rika narrowed her reptilian eyes at Kaito.
“Y-Yes..”
“Ahead! the ground is shaking!”

“Everyone spread out! Infantries hold onto fire until enemies come into a 100 meter distance!!” Jiwon yell reverberated through the entire battlefield, those around him felt like their eardrums had been broken.

Jiwon charged forward, his figure seemed to flicker.

“We can’t hold back either. Oya!!” Kaito also used ground shrink.
“B-be careful!! 

“Damn it, he’s grown so strong already.”
“Don’t be discouraged, just fight!!”

From the ground came into being an entire army of dark black golems. Each the size of a building.

“Hahaha! This is revenge!!” Kaito recalled the last time he got done in by the golems in the training dungeon. Back then, he was only so strong. 

Comparing the golem then and the one in front of him, it was like comparing it to an ant and lion. 

However..

Kaito gripped his new Dreadnought bastard sword with both arms and gave it a wide swing. An explosive current shot forth and fell.

Kaito jumped onto the fallen golem and grinned.

He held the giant bastard sword in an inverted position.
“It won't break this time around.”
He dropped the blade and it crushed the core. The golem crumbled into pieces.

“Nice!! Next one.. woah what the hell?!”

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

“Erupt! Erupt! Erupt!”

Sayu dropped the now dull coloured gems on the floor and took out another dozen or so crystals. These rings contained mana, and acted as a spell catalyst.
Jiwon found a few hundred of these catalysts inside the treasure vault and shoved them to the mage of the group, one of them being Takata.

Due to the effects of Sayu’s Unique Skill [MultiCast] that had been tampered by Nine previously, she could cast a hundred spells at one go at the cost of one. What was once a useless skill had become the strongest Unique Skill among all the mages.

As such, a hundred lava spears would manifest in the air each time Sayu chanted.

She alone covered an entire army.
“Shit! I’m not going to lose either!” Haru changed ahead with his lance and shield.
“Nita, rise,” Rika patted the neck of her wyvern donning golden armor.

“Kyu! Kyu!”
“Roar of dragons heed my words!” Rika raised the dragon scepter into the air. The sky rumbled, clouds folded over. The air shook, the ground rumbled.

It was the signal.

GORRRROOOOOOAAAARRRR

From the East came a flock of a dozen or so black dragons which Rika had managed to persuade in this short time.

“Decimate the town,” her eyes shone with a vicious glint.
Rika recalled the information her sensei had passed onto her. Demon Lord Javiel’s strength is derived from his allies. Thus, the only way to reduce his power would be to..

“Burn them all alive!!”

Yes. To kill every inhabitant of the demon territory.

Everyone hated this idea.

But it was their best option. If not, Javiel would be too difficult of an enemy to fight.

The family of dragons blew purple flames, those on the ground screamed in terror. 

And it happened when Pina-chan, the kijin who Prune had saved, was shopping with her mother. Seeing how their lives were going to come to an end, they hugged each other tightly.

“Mommy..”
“Pina-chan..”

But the explosion never came.

===

“Haru!”
“On the way.. gah!!”
Haru, the shield beare smashed his shield against the golem, crushing the core and throwing it into the fray of the other golems, causing their entire line to crumble. The ground cracked beneath his feet.

“This is amazing, I’ve never felt such strength. What the hell.”

“HOLY CROSS!!” Ishida swung his holy sword, the light many times stronger than what he was used to. It crushed everything in its path, even creating a dent on the other walls of the demon territory from a kilometer away.

“Nice one!”

“Look at our sensei and you’d think otherwise,” Ishisda went for his next target.

“He’s already a broken character, you can’t compare!”

Jiwon lightly tilted the his new main– the Black Star. Beautifully orchestrated, like a conductor, the 63 swords danced in the air– disappearing, reappearing. Crushing 100s of golems each time his blade glinted.

He didn’t even have to move. From place to place, he just warped in and out of existence and destroyed everything in a fifty meter radius. Things moved on their own. There was no need for flashy movements or grand acts. 

Alone he cleared out more than 50 percent of all the golems.

Meanwhile, the infantry and army behind were fighting against the stray leaks. 

Though the golems may look like easy prey, the reality was much too different as it took a couple plasma cannons, or a hundred shots from the sentinels just to down a single golem. 

It was that the heroes were just too strong.

To which Jiwon felt just slightly odd. There’s something he was just something amiss here.. 

Even after killing so many golems, why were the numbers not dropping? Moreover, the golems looked like they were becoming stronger.
He felt a familiar chill sweep past the battlefield. He raised his head to look– the purple flames from the dragons– 

Everything just vanished.

There was no way the demon lord would have amassed so much strength in such a short time. Moreover, their aura, it reminded him of a certain someone…

Jiwon looked up– there at that tower, there..

That familiar pair of hazy crimson eyes..

“You fucking.. demon!”

The past was repeating itself all over again.

371. 

“W-Why is Liliath’s marker r-red?!” 

I quickly checked on her situation using [God’s Eyes].. and question marks filled my head. Was Lilaith being controlled? How?
“What?”

“J-Javiel-san because he’s controlling Liliath! Change of plans, Liliath’s life is more important! We have to put Javiel in a time-stasis!”

Follow my heart, my heart.

===

Sizzle.. pop. Pop.

Such sounds aroused Prune to wake. She opened her eyes.

Where was she?

She rose from the bed and noticed how she was naked.. a frown crept onto her face.

She looked to the side.. noticing a girl.

Shea. She too was naked on the bed.

Prune’s face flared up.. they didn’t do anything improper did they?!

No, Prune had no recollections of doing anything indecent.. she kissed her. She kissed a girl– her first kiss stolen by a fucking girl?!

Prune grabbed her pillow and banged it on the bed.

The entire things exploded, Prune’s jaw dropped.

As the feathers came floating downwards, she realized something. Her hair.. her body.. her tail.. even her eyes..

It had changed.
She looked at her hair, silver gold, so long it made an absolute mess of the bed sheets. Moreover, her tail.. she could feel each individual one.

She brought up her status to check. And there it was.

Race: Nine Tail.

Prune was now a Nine Tail.

“I-Impossible..”
Nothing was impossible in this absurd world of Noel’s TALENT, that Prune knew. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but mutter those nonsensical words.

“This feeling..”

She placed her hands on her stomach.. what happened last night was..

“Mu? Prune-chan, goo morning..”

Prune quickly pulled up her AutoCastingwidget. Selecting [Absolute End], she casted it on Shea a couple times. She dropped back into a slumber.
Now wasn’t the time to deal with her.. nor was it the time to cry over her lost chastity.
She needed to find Nine.

“Morning.”
“Teal..”
“Congratulations on becoming a Nine Tail, Prune-sama,” Teal jumped off the ceiling and landed in front of Prune.

“W-What’s going on now?”

“I was told by Nine to take care of you.”

Teal stared into Prune’s eyes.

“Now, tell her to remove her title.”

===

Nine watched as the flames disappeared at a wave of a hand. In awe, she once again realized Liliath’s strength.

“Boost her some more.”
“Yes master..” Nine secretly gritted her teeth as she adjusted Liliath’s status.

Every number was now 6-digits.

“They’re quite the handful, my lord, permission to descend to the ground,” Locket requested.
“Not yet. I want to see the limits of this new toy. How far can she go before she breaks,” Javiel grinned. The first wave of golems were manufactured by Iona, they should’ve been crushed by now. The successive ones after that were all Liliath’s creation– In the thousands.
“And it’s my invention, praise me more onii-san!” Iona bounced in joy.
Nine stood there silently, watching the battle unfold.

‘Nine. Prune’s awake.’

“Master, Shea has called me,”

“That fox, she’s still asleep at this time?”
“She woke up a while ago and is in need of my assistance. It was only yesterday she completed the ritual.”

“Fine, just go..”
“Yeah, shoo, shoo. Tell her to take her medication too!” Iona flapped her hands at Nine.

Nine set her status to the maximum and bore through the pain of resisting an order. Shea didn’t call Nine, but she knew that the only chance of getting out of this mess was to go to Prune.

Nine alone couldn’t remove the effect of the [Vixen Pawn] title.

And since Prune now shared a portion of Shea’s blood.. Nine could only hope it meant Prune had some authority to command her.

===

Nine bursted into Shea’s room with sweat covering her forehead. She fell to her knees.

“Prune! Quick, do something about Nine-sama!” Teal exclaimed.

Prune panicked. She didn’t know what the hell was going on. Nine looked like she was in so much pain.

“His title!”

“You’re a Nine Tail just like Shea, you have some power over me don’t you?” Nine croaked, her entire body was trembling, and hard.

“Remove Vixen’s Pawn!” Prune said.

“Order me.. Prune.”
“Fucking.. I order you, Nine Quaint, to remove [Vixen Pawn’s] title and revive Noel!”

“Aiy, aiy. You didn’t need to shout at me like that.. thanks.”
Nine dropped to the ground and heaved a sigh. Then he got up and stretched his hands into the air– yes, she had turned into a he.

“Prune, Liliath is in trouble. We have two options. One is to kill her and then revive her later, or keep her vitality and mana in check, until someone kills Javiel.”

“What do you mean?”

“Liliath is being controlled, just like me, but worse.”
Nine pulled up his status window. Fortunately Noel had only removed permission for the widget tool for her female avatar. Things would’ve turned really sour if he also took away authority for his male avatar..

“I suppose it’s about time.”
[Startup Menu] [Loading..] [Initiate Revival]

[Cost: 10,000 points, Do you wish to proceed?]

[YES/NO]

Nine grimaced at how many points were left.. did Rin spend all those? It was barely enough to revive a single person.

The option of killing Liliath seemed less viable now.

[Please select a target.]

“Noel Bougainvillea”

[Target name(s) acquired; Identifier specification insufficient.]

[Death History List: Shown]

[Please Select Target]

[Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea.]

“What the hell is this..”

Why were there so many Noels? What’s going on?

Were the different Noel’s from different timelines?

Did Nine have to pick one or..

[Scanning for soul]

[Soul found]

[Acquiring soul data]

[Target: Noel Bougainvillea] [Rebirth cycle number: 3.] [Identifier: 98lib0asi2] [Rebirth History: Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea ] [Base trait: (Hidden)] [Personality factor: (Hidden)] [Karma Value: +24] 

[Confirm Revival of target selected]

[YES/NO]

“That’s it.”

Nine returned to the Target screen and kept choosing until he found the one with a rebirth cycle that matched the number of different Noel’s. This would be the most recent one. But.. did Noel ever die so many times? 

[Target: Noel Bougainvillea] [Rebirth cycle number: 4.] [Identifier: ial98akjsb1] [Rebirth History: Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea, Noel Bougainvillea ] [Base trait: (Hidden)] [Personality factor: (Hidden)] [Karma Value: +32] 

[Confirm Revival of target selected]

[YES/NO]

Nine hesitated.

“Yes.”
[Keep Data {Rebirth cycle number: 4} / Initiate New Rebirth Cycle?]

“Keep Data.”

[Revival in Progress..]
A red magic circle appeared in the middle of the room.