A/N: Well, the adventure continues here. This one's by far the most horrific of all my recent chapters, but I think it should be pretty fun, all the same. Thanks for your perpetual readership!

Two things:

a. Long wait occurred once again. This was not intentional. One never knows when or where Writer's Block will strike! You had best watch your back!

b. I finally got that long-desired "You are a &#$%ing sicko!" review I've always expected! While that reaction isn't necessarily my aim with this story…it's definitely an entertaining response.

Oh, also make sure to check out my new, Primu-centric fic, 80 Years Alone! I started it during Writer's Block season. XD

And now…MOONBITE!

Shuffle!

Moonbite

Chapter 17

(Rin's Point of View)

Oceliquot Club, Osiria

Just before the gate of my escape elevator closed, my friends came running through the smoggy air.

"What the fuck is this, Rin-kun! Hold it!" Daisy yelled.

I scrambled to find the Open Doors button, but after not finding one, I jumped forward and did my best to block the gate from closing, myself, using both arms, with my back to the wall.

"Thanks, Rin-kun!" Asa said, arriving first and squeezing through underneath my arms (I did my best not to concentrate on her ridiculously lovely body since I was struggling against a mechanized motor, at the moment).

"Did you think we wanted to stay here?" Daisy demanded, hesitating at first, and then doing her best to crawl through without touching me, though failing to do so.

"Hurry, everyone!" Matsuri said, dragging along a seemingly intoxicated Itsuki as Primula and Tsubomi struggled to free themselves from the clutches of grabby demon men and women who were trying to fondle them.

"Holy SHIT, that place was nasty," Primula gasped as she came in, last. I grunted and jumped back into the elevator, after which the gate slammed into its slot with a crash.

The lift shuddered and began its uncertain ascent back up to the Phantom Fair. I did my best not to make eye contact with anyone, ashamed of losing my delicate control over my rage and thereafter abandoning them. I did enjoy having people with me, but if they didn't want to come along any longer, than I didn't want to waste any time trying to keep them. I had to find Nerine, as soon as physically possible, before the worst happened. She has only been employed by the Oceliquot for a couple days now, so it's still pretty good timing. I can only hope that somehow she's remained pure…

"Rin-kun, it looks like you're starting to rot again," Asa said gently, walking up to me. I noticed Matsuri glare at me jealously, but what was I supposed to do about it?

"What? Oh, oh yeah. I think it happens the more emotionally invested I get in something, especially with anger. Maybe." I said, feeling too unworthy to meet Asa's gaze.

"Mm, it's a good thing Daisy-sempai doesn't have that disease, then," Tsubomi snickered. Daisy promptly punched her in the back of the head.

"You're only proving her point," Itsuki chuckled, and Daisy swiftly kicked him in the balls in response, now red-faced from anger.

"Here, allow me," Asa said, now directly in front of my face. Her scent was lusciously, deliriously alive. She brought her fingers up to the mossy half of my face and started to peel some off.

"I-is that really gonna help?" I asked, not at all sure what to do with my hands. I knew what I wanted to do with them, though.

"I think it hopefully should, especially if you wash it soon," she said, sounding oddly monotone for her usually peppy self. "I did this for you a lot when you were in the hospital, when you were in your coma."

"Oh, really? Thanks a bunch!" My heart soared with warmth, knowing she still cared about me enough to try and prevent my rotting completely away. Now both Primula and Matsuri were looking at us jealously.

"Not a problem at all." She peeled some more until she reached the tentacle dangling off the side of my face. After looking around briefly, she said, "Ruri-chan, could you c-"

Before she even finished her sentence, Matsuri had sprung up alongside us, her chest galloping marvelously. I swear I tried my best not to look, they were just bouncing WAY too much not to notice. Fortunately for Matsuri, I think I saw Asa looking at them, too. "Yes, Sempai?"

"Uh, what?…Oh, do you think it'd be alright to cut off Rin-kun's tentacle?" Asa asked Matsuri.

"I don't see why it wouldn't be," she responded, winking at me. "Unless part of his brain's in there now!"

"Don't even joke about that, Ruri-chan," I laughed softly.

"Are YOU alright with it?" Primula said, coming up and shyly taking my hand, finally giving me something to do with it.

"Slice away," I said with a small smile. "I don't think Nerine-chan will prefer me having an extra limb on my face when I propose to her."

Matsuri swiftly unsheathed her silver, symbol-covered katana and chopped off the tentacle, letting loose a spurt of blood that Asa ducked to dodge with a scream.

(Kaede's Point of View)

Alright! That was kickass, Rin!

The girls and I had deeply enjoyed seeing him and Daisy reap an assortment of carnage that made even me envious. Plus, it's Rin…it's guaranteed to be incredibly sexy!

The one problem was that Moonbite comment he made…that one curdled my blood. I wondered how far gone he was now. He's certainly flirting with the fringes of sanity right now. I would know, having been there.

The doorbell rang. "Go and get it, bitch!" I sneered at Sakura.

"Yes, Kaede-chan," she said with a sigh, rising up and going to the door, still rubbing her anus from yesterday.

"Who is it?" Mayumi called from the kitchen.

"The fuck do I know! The door's not open yet!" I snapped.

"Don't talk to me like that, Kaede-chan," she said, coming out and folding her arms.

"Geez, don't be so sensitive," I scowled at her.

Meanwhile, Sakura opened the door to reveal…

"HELLO EVERYONE!" Forbesii sang, stomping through. "Sakura-chan! Good to see you again! I see you've kept your titties in great shape. MWAH! Magnifique!"

"Hi, Forbesii-sama," Sakura said with a twinge of annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, see, I was on my way – oh, hello, Kaede-chan! – back to my mansion when I caught a whiff of an enormous amount of horny female genitals," he said gregariously. "Naturally, I just happened to find myself coming in here soon after."

"Forbesii-sama!" Mayumi said, coming in from the kitchen, bringing a tray of baked snacks with her. "How are you?"

"Not too bad, Mayumi-chan. Have you, um, ever thought about plastic surgery?"

"Have you, um, ever thought about BITING ME?"

"Hahaha, oh, girls, always so hilariously sensitive about their breasts," Forbesii chuckled. He finally noticed what was on the TV. "Hey, what's this?"

"Oh! Th-this is prerecorded footage we have of our friends," I said hurriedly.

"Y-yeah, we just like to put it in sometimes, so we can watch Rin-kun. Nothing to see here!" Sakura supplied.

"Yup, just move along!" Mayumi recommended cheerily.

"Is that so?" Forbesii queried with a raised eyebrow. "Why, then, is it the same exact group of people that left for the Demon Realm yesterday?"

"W-well…" I said.

"This is great!" Forbesii shouted, collapsing in a chair and taking a handful of Mayumi's snacks. "Now I can watch their progress while they're searching for my Nerine-chan!"

"Fuck," I muttered.

"I guess that's the end of our masturbation sessions," Mayumi whispered.

"Oh, just pretend like I'm not here," Forbesii said, staring at my breasts intently while licking his lips.

Normally, I'd just kick an unwanted person out of my house, but…I was pretty sure that Forbesii had unlimited power, and could destroy me without even lifting a finger.

So, our little trio of girls apparently just became a quartet of three girls and a pervy old man.

(Rin's Point of View)

The elevator shuddered to a halt and the party disembarked through the now-sluggish gate.

"So where are we going now?" Itsuki beamed, flopping all over the place.

"Well, you're our main navigator," I laughed, "Shouldn't you know?"

"Hey, I don't know anything that's going on anymore!" Itsuki chuckled, tipping backwards onto the cotton candy booth. Tsubomi struggled to help him back up.

I heard Asa clear her throat, so I gave her my full attention. "Rin-kun…I think we need to talk about everything, if we're all going to remain on board with you."

I sighed. "We're on kind of a time crunch here, Sempai. We don't want to lose our trail."

"Rin-kun," Asa said sharply. "We have to know what's going on, like Itsuki-kun said. Can we even still trust you?"

"Of COURSE you-"

"What's to stop you from going crazy and calling yourself Madam Moonbite like you did in the bar, and attacking all of us?" Asa continued, looking at me quite seriously. A thunderclap rumbled as she said that.

I hadn't realized I'd actually referred to myself as Moonbite. That wasn't good…

"You don't have to worry about that," Daisy winked. "I'll just beat him to a wet, greasy pulp."

"Yup, see?" I grinned. "Alright, well…can we at least start walking while we talk?"

Asa sighed. "I suppose…it's probably too late to turn back now, after all."

I patted her twice on the shoulder. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Sempai." I turned to Itsuki. "Hey man, which way's north? The owner of the club said Nerine-chan's about seven miles up that way."

"Well!" Itsuki said, holding on tightly to Tsubomi, who was licking his armpit, "the sun is behind us, so we should go straight right, I reckon."

"You reckon?" Daisy repeated. "How certain is that?"

"I dunno," Itsuki said, peeling his fiancee out from his armpit and making out with her anew. As she moaned and started humping him, the rest of us all gagged and looked at each other in fear.

"Alright, so…let's go, then?" I suggested.

"Wait!" Tsubomi said, pulling away from Itsuki's mouth with a smacking pop. "I don't think Itsuki-tan's sober enough to keep up! We should wait here for at least an hour."

"You've gotta be kidding," Daisy seethed. "I hate this creepy fucking place. I'd rather go back down to the fucking whorehouse."

"Well," I said, "I hate to admit it, but Tsubomi-chan's right. We'll have to wait for him to sober up. He knows the landmarks and culture better than us, anyway. How about you and whoever else hates it here leaves the park, and the rest of us can just chill here while we're waiting?"

"Sounds good," she said. "Come on, normal people!" Her and Tsubomi walked away, dragging Itsuki through the mud.

"Ooh, can we ride something?" Primula asked immediately.

I tousled her hair. "We might as well. You've never been to a theme park before, right?" She shook her head, looking at me longingly. And how could I possibly resist that?

"Have you ever been to a theme park before, Asa-sempai?" Matsuri gasped.

Asa cleared her throat. "Um, yeah, lots of times."

"No way, me too!" Matsuri giggled.

During another flash of lightning, I saw the manager come bounding up to us. "I heard you were interested in going on some, mwahahahaRIDES?"

"Yep," I said, "We'd like to do the Ferris Wheel, if you don't mind."

"Oh," he said, leaning forward excitedly. "You won't be disappointed."

He led us through the rain and mud to said Wheel and opened the door to one of the pods.

"It's two to a pod," he beamed, yanking open the sticky door. I personally hoped it didn't smell like it looked in there.

"I'm with Rin-kun!" both Primula and Asa said, simultaneously grabbing one of my hands and squeezing it to their own chest. I gasped and tried to picture old men being ripped apart by vultures to avoid getting yet another erection. Which was quite hard, as the feel of their breasts gave me a very good mental image.

"Well, in that case," Matsuri said, skipping up and seizing Asa with a backhug. "I'll take Asa-sempai and then it'll work out fine!"

"Sorry, Matsuri-chan, Primu-chan," I said, grabbing Asa's hand and pulling her away nervously. "Me and her need to have a long overdue chat." Since both Primula and Matsuri looked quite hurt, I quickly looked to Asa to see if she approved. And she looked extremely happy, so I guess that's that.

"Alright! First, the girls can go in, since you two lose at the game of life, like me!" the manager sang.

Matsuri glared at him, but Primula seemed to get over her hurt fairly quickly and pulled the sexually-confused girl in the first pod, saying "Why don't we get some good practice in, Matsuri?"

"Wh-wh-what? I-I-I don't need any practice!" Matsuri sputtered.

Asa smiled quite contentedly and embraced me from the side. "The only reason I came on this trip was the hope of spending some time with you," she murmured, which made my heart beat out several racehorses with its galloping.

"And for the incredibly sexy couple!" the manager said, the next pod having arrived. I led Asa in, flinching as I stepped on the extremely squishy floor. The pod didn't really have any particularly foul odor, but it definitely seemed to set a heavily organic atmosphere. Asa and I sat down together on the wet, squishy seat, our hips touching.

"It…um…it's kind of…passionate…in here!" I laughed. "In a way?" DAMN, I'm so bad when alone with girls. "Uh…I'd like to say sorry…for what I said in the bar, when I yelled at you. I wasn't myself, and I certainly never have any feelings even vaguely similar to those when I am myself, and…"

Asa sighed and put her arm around me, pulling me into her. I gulped and looked up at her glowing, sexy face to avoiding the sight of her quite holy and flawless bosom.

"Rin-kun…are you doing alright?" she asked, her voice wavering a little.

"Well…to tell you the truth, I'm really stressed out. You know, since I have to marry a god in order to exorcise a demon spirit from my soul," I rattled off sarcastically. I tried to drink in the moment of peace with her.

"Wh-what do you mean, a demon spirit?" she asked, surprised.

Asa stroked my chest and hair soothingly as I recounted everything that I knew about Moonbite and her possession of me as her vessel.

"So, I'm slowly going to turn more into her every day," I finished, "Despite having this new, resilient body." I figured it was alright to put my arms around her, since her hands were both on me. She giggled and pulled me farther into her. YES! I was now flush with her soft body.

"I had no idea…I'm sorry for getting on you about not being yourself," she said, stumping me for a moment. I realized she must have been referring to what she told me when we were out hunting for zorillas and when we were drinking together in the cone.

"Well, it's alright, you know…" I sighed, resting my weight on her. "I need to try harder to control myself anyway. I'm having a lot of issues with various, um…temptations." Like the extremely predatory thoughts I'm having right now.

Nerine-chan, Nerine-chan! I must keep thinking of Nerine-chan! She needs me to hold out for her!

"I know, but…I realize now that what I said to you in the cone, that one night, isn't necessarily true," Asa murmured, kissing my hair. "At a certain point, extenuating circumstances can excuse changed behavior. I think you're doing a really good job."

"Th-thanks, Asa-sempai. And I really appreciate you coming with me."

"I'll always do anything that you ask, Rin-kun. No matter what. If you want me to never leave you, then I won't," she said, squeezing me in yet another hug. Damn it…I am definitely hard now.

"So…" I said, casting around wildly for something to talk about. "What are your thoughts on Ruri-chan?"

Asa grinned. "Well, she's kind of annoying, but she is definitely cute. Why, do you like her?"

I smiled. "No, she's just a friend."

"I see. Well, it's good to have some just-friends," Asa said, stretching in a way that seemed to inflate her bust size. "I'm happy to be that for you, if you want, or, you know…something…um…" she trailed off, looking away from me.

I hugged her tightly and she made a small moan before embracing me with nearly equal force. It felt incredibly comfortable and nostalgic to be up here with my earliest crush, with no need to rush or do anything, since our time on the ride was restricted to a set amount. Here, I could escape. I could hold her gorgeous, petite body against mine for as long as I wanted, without worrying about my quest, my mission. I'm off the hook to just hold her.

"Asa-sempai," I said, swallowing and stroking the back of her neck. "Is it okay to just be friends…for now?"

"Of course, Rin-kun," she murmured, squeezing me against herself even tighter. "If that's what you need, I'll be as good a friend as I can possibly be. I'll…never let you go."

We spent the rest of the ride simply holding each other, soaking up the support the other person was offering. It was a great time. My heart finally stopped pounding and I found a very momentary respite, but one I desperately needed.

(Kaede's Point of View)

After an aggravatingly long wait, Rin, the tranny, and his two new concubines rejoined Daisy and proceeded to set out across the desert. Once again, Daisy obediently took up her spot in the back, which gave my girls and I great view of Rin's squeezable ass.

Forbesii, meanwhile, switched between boring us with insipid tales of Osirian history and legend – which none of us gave a shit about, I'm sure – and describing how much he liked Daisy's breasts.

"Honestly, yeah, it's great for her that they bounce so much," Sakura said, "but it's totally making me sick to watch."

"Really? It just makes me hard!" Forbesii grinned.

"Good for you," she muttered.

"I hope they find Nerine-chan soon," Matsuri said, "before she gets taken against her will by someone…"

"GAHHH! I'll kill them for touching my Nerine-chan!" Forbesii roared, standing up and seeming to suck the light out of the room as he shook his hands with fury.

"It's okay, it's okay! Rin-kun will find her before something happens to her!" Sakura said worriedly, patting him on the arm.

"Ah, whew. You're right. he's a reliable young demon," Forbesii allowed the brightness back into the room and re-collapsed in the chair. That was certainly a brief fit of rage.

I gasped when I looked back at the TV screen.

"What is it?" the girls asked.

"…What?" Sakura asked incredulously, when she turned to the TV as well. Apparently she could see her too.

A naked Matsuri was walking next to Rin, talking to him. That wasn't terrifying in itself, but there was something off about that Matsuri…she felt wrong, somehow, besides the fact that she was naked.

As I watched, entranced, I moved to sit next to Sakura. "Can you see her?" I murmured.

"Yeah," Sakura said, looking at me with confusion. "Why do you ask?"

I wasn't sure. Just a feeling.

"What? See who? Who are we looking for?" Mayumi asked.

The nude Matsuri's eyes were glowing a very familiar, deadened yellow. "Moonbite?" I whispered.

As soon as the words left my lips, the Matsuri swiveled her head to look RIGHT AT ME from the TV, causing my whole body to go cold. Sakura gasped next to me.

"What's going on, girls?" Forbesii said in concern.

"There's a naked girl there, looking RIGHT at us!" I cried, pointing at Moonbite, unable to take my eyes off her. It almost hurt how intensely she was leering at me. Her smile was awful…so wicked it transcended the bounds of the human face.

Sakura began jerking around next to me. I tore my eyes away and noticed that a large amount of blood was bursting from her nose. "It's her! It's her!" she squeaked, continuing to spasm around like someone was giving her a severe beatdown.

"Rin-kun? I have a question!" Moonbite said, turning her head towards Rin but still looking right at me through the TV.

"…Yeah?" he muttered.

"What do you think about Kaede-chan?"

"Don't even MENTION that name!" he growled.

I whimpered, feeling like I'd just been stabbed. He hates me…he really DESPISES me!

"Aw, don't you love her, though?"

"Who could ever love someone as fucked up as that?" he snarled, not sounding like himself. The others in his group looked at him with concern.

"But, you dumped Sakura and the others for her. Didn't you say that you loved Kaede-chan more than all of them?"

Sakura had pulled herself together and was watching the TV intently again, a finger to her gushing nose.

"…Yes…I loved her. But it was a mistake; I never should have done that. Now leave me alone!" he commanded.

The Matsuri-Moonbite let out a trilling laugh. "So, she had it all and she ruined it forever for herself, huh?"

"Absolutely. I hope she kills herself," Rin growled.

Moonbite started laughing hysterically, looking straight at me. Terror and despair coursed through me as her glowing eyes encompassed me. The laughing, the laughing, the laughing!

It's too much!

RIN! I'M SO SORRY!

"I can't take this anymore!" Sakura roared, surprising me. She got up and stalked away from the couch, still shivering.

"What was that about?" Mayumi whispered, following Sakura with her eyes.

I looked back to the screen. "Come on, Rin-kun, let me be your love. No one can ever love you the way I do, I promise!" Moonbite said huskily, holding his hand to her pussy.

"Get away from me! My only purpose right now is to find Nerine-chan."

"But that won't matter, once I've taken over you and formed all of reality to my vision of it," she giggled. My spine shivered at that laugh. "There is no hope. You might as well give in and fuck me. I've been dying for you to stick your dick in me Rin-kun, for so, SO long now…"

Rin responded by punching her directly in the face, knocking her onto her ass, offscreen.

I love you, Rin.

But…

You really hate me enough that you want me to commit suicide?

Slowly, but surely, I began to give in to my tears yet again. Everything is hopeless now for me.

(Rin's Point of View)

As I gauged we were nearing the area that the armor-wearing demon retard had suggested was Nerine's last known destination, I made a motion for us all to slow down.

I'd been noticing, much to my disdain, that I was starting to have much more of a physical attraction to Daisy ever since our body swap. Whenever I saw her, my mind started commanding me to possess her body again, through whatever means necessary. As a result, I was now trying to fight off lustful urges towards Primula, Asa, AND Daisy, now, while also trying to keep my mind focused on Nerine.

"Alright, everyone," I said, "apparently these people are like a Thieves' Guild or something like-OOF!"

"Surprise backhug!" Asa screamed, squeezing me from behind. I blushed, tried not to think of how much I'd love to suck on her breasts, and patted her arm nervously until she let go.

"So, um, I think we should make an attack plan, you know…just in case things go…awry."

"Pssh, I don't see why," Primula said. "You and Daisy-chan seem like you're able to massacre your way out of just about anything." She sounded a little sulky. She was just WAY too adorable.

"Well, you never know," I said. "Plus, I'd feel terrible if anyone did get hurt out of our group."

"Aww, Rin-kun," Asa said, grabbing my elbow and smooshing it against her chest. "You really do care about us."

I sighed and tried not to let Matsuri's constant glaring make me feel too guilty.

"Right, so, obviously me, Rin-kun, and Primu-chan will be on the offensive," Daisy grinned. "And…"

"But what about…" Matsuri began.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, I WASN'T DONE TALKING!" Daisy screeched. "Ahem. I think we should purposefully entice them to violence, if possible. These thugs lotsa times only really understand and respect you through a show of who's the bigger reaper of carnage."

"That's a good point," Primula said, nodding at me seriously.

Tsubomi laughed nervously. "I…don't think that's such a good idea. What if we kill so many of them that we somehow lose a piece of useful information or something?"

"Maybe," I said in agreement. "And Nerine-chan is hopefully still there, but if that's the case, then they'll probably use her as a hostage against us. If that happens, we should try our best to negotiate her back into our safety before doing anything rash."

"I'm glad you're open to pacifism," Asa said, her hand caressing my chest. "But, back to our organization in case the worst happens - I think Tsubomi-chan should heal from the back. Daisy-chan's right – she, herself very useful as a fighter, so she should only resort to healing if something happens to Tsubomi-chan."

"And I won't let anything happen to you at all," Itsuki told his fiancée. They shared a deeply resonant smile.

"But…what can you do to protect her?" I asked. "Do you have any weapons?"

"Hmm…well, I think I could at least take a piss on them!" he shouted, giving me a thumbs up while patting his package with the other hand. I sighed and gave him a begrudging thumbs up back.

"And Asa-sempai, I guess you should just do your best to remain out of harm's way, alright?" I finished.

"Oh, are you worried about me?" she beamed, hugging me again.

Rin-kun. Now is NOT the time to think about procreation.

"Okay. Let's start looking around here, then," Primula said, walking out in front, still shimmering with the contained storm of fluttering snowflakes she had been pulling along with us to keep us cool in the desert.

We followed her up to the top of yet another sand dune and, noticing a spiny black silhouette on the ground below, I shoved Primula down under me and signaled everyone else to collapse as well.

"Are you alright?" I murmured in Primula's ear.

She hummed and moved her incredible ass around against my quite hard crotch in response.

I whimpered and looked up over the dune to see what was going on. There were definitely a bunch of extremely muscular demons, who didn't look very much like thieves. I didn't see anyone that had long, blue hair, though. Perhaps they were keeping her inside the facility?

"Rin-kun, you're…" Matsuri began from my right.

"What?" I whispered.

She pointed at my hands. I looked down and realized I had been caressing Primula's breasts without realizing it, while she was moaning with pleasure.

"Oh my gods, I'm sorry, Primu-chan," I said, much louder than I meant to as I got up off her, trying as hard as I could to forget the feel of her hard nipples against my fingers. A hush of alarm resounded from our group as we looked over the ridge.

They were looking our way.

Shit.

An ear-splitting whistle trilled across the desert from the camp, the mass of silhouettes sprinting towards us.

Disorienting me even more, Primula jumped up and kissed me briefly on the lips. "Love you," she whispered.

I nervously patted her head and walked over to Daisy. "I guess we're going to have that fight you wanted," I muttered. The club-wielding god nodded, her eyes gleaming with a thirst for blood.

Without warning, a barrage of male demons in lithe, maroon armor jumped out from the sand, surrounding us from all sides. Their armor was covered with intimidating silver spines. Our group rearranged in response so that me, Daisy, Matsuri, and Primula, were surrounding Asa, Tsubomi, and Itsuki for their protection.

"You motherfuckers have just trespassed onto the titty-fucking land of the Binral Guild. Or some shit. Explain yourselves, bitches!" a tall demon ordered from behind me.

I heard Daisy and Itsuki burst out laughing. "SHH!" I hissed, though I was smirking. We didn't want to piss these guys off. Their speech…um…disorder, sounded very similar to something, however, though I couldn't figure out what.

"Hey, who the fuck's here or some shit, you know what I'm saying? Fuck me up the ass! hhHHHAAAAHH!" another voice laughed, this time sounding incredibly familiar. I turned my head to see that the remainder of people had arrived from their base.

"B-Bark-kun?" I asked, tilting my head.

"What? Shit! You mean, you fuckers know my little bro?" the second demon who talked to us gasped, his face brightening. "Now, now hold up, I mean, jus' HOLD UP, everyone, these little slutfucks don't mean any harm, or some shit! Alright?"

"Damn straight, Cap'n! hhhhHHHHAAAAHH!" The army of demons said as one, lowering their weapons. Our group relaxed as well.

"So, like, uh…I don't really know how to say this without being really fucking awkward, or some shit, but, uh, my brother got killed by some little pussy human kid - FUCK IT! - you know what I'm saying? It fucking sucks dick or some shit. Did you know that?"

"Uh, no, we didn't," I said, walking to the front of our group to address him. "I'm sorry for your loss." I bowed in respect to him.

"Man, don't even worry about it, bro. Jus-jus-jus don't even worry about it! hhhhHHHHAAAAHH! Our parents done fucked a shit-ton of times, or some shit, you know what I'm saying? hhhhHHHHAAAAHH!" He looked at ease, but the other demons in the group still looked about as bloodthirsty as Daisy. "BITCHING TITTIES! I got all shapes of crazy relatives, or some shit!"

I nodded. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to ask you a question."

"Ask away, bitch, ask away!" he snorted.

"My group and I heard you hired a young prostitute with blue hair recently. She supposedly goes by Ai."

"Well…I think I might…hmm…" the large demon thought. I thought I saw something change in his face when I said the name.

Itsuki spoke up from behind me. "She's got these, like, enormous titties that are just great, and an ass that you just wanna spank every time you see it!"

"Ah, damn straight, fucker! You speakin' my language now, or some shit!" he responded, pointing at Itsuki with a toothy grin. "As a matter of fact, we might have seen this girl…we might not have, though…if you know what I mean."

I quirked my eyebrow as he made a strange vocal signal to his men. Before any of our group could react, a demon burst out from the sand, grabbed Asa, plunged back into the sand, and reappeared among his kin with her in tow. As Asa violently coughed sand from her mouth, the men set to manhandling her in a way that threatened to plunge me deep into my forbidden anger. Matsuri looked outright furious and walked out of formation to approach Asa. I quickly restrained her.

"What's going on, Cap'n?" I asked the leader as he strolled over to Asa, who was being forced to bend over at the hip while keeping her knees straight, her still-clothed ass facing us. She hummed nervously.

"Well, we seem to be at, like, a motherfucking impasse, or something like that. You know what I'm saying, fucker? You see, like, I'm a man who loves the finer things in life, like, you know, tits and ass, or some shit like that, you know what I'm saying? hhhhHHHHAAAAHH!" Now next to Asa, he pulled up her sport shorts so they rode far, far up her ass, exposing the majority of her very attractive cheeks.

Asa groaned, legs shaking, as he ran his fingers up and down her barely-covered genitals, kneading her butt as he went. "R-Rin-kun…help!" she wailed, her voice sounding quite unlike herself.

Matsuri tensed in my arms.

"So…this IS Rin-kun, eh?" the leader demon said, his grin going malicious as he reached up and began groping Asa's breasts. "We got word that he might be coming, or some shit, and that you was gonna ask for this Ai-chan. We're supposed to kill you and all you friends. Hope that's okay with you. Alright, bitch?"

"No, not really…" I said, unsheathing my blade. Matsuri did the same with her katanas and I could see both Daisy and Primula tense up as well.

"Yeah, I didn't think so. But, fuck! You know what? YOU KNOW FUCKING WHAT? I'm, like, an understanding guy, or some shit. So, like, I'm prepared to offer you a deal in exchange for your lives – how about that?" he said, looking around at his men and nodding like he was being pretty reasonable, despite presently molesting an innocent girl.

"I'm listening," I said warily.

"Fuckin' shit man, don't be like that," he said, ripping Asa's shorts in half, so that her incredible-to-behold butt and crotch were exposed to us. It was a psychotically beautiful sight. She whimpered, struggling to free her legs and arms from the demons who restrained her.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!" Matsuri seethed. I was very tempted to let her go, but this was going to be a rough battle. We needed to keep our cool and avoid it, if at all possible.

"So, like, I couldn't help but notice that you've got some fine-ass bitches here with ya. I don't wanna waste women that look like they're angels of SEX, ya get me? Ya get me? FUCK IT! So, I propose that, like, you let me and all my clan, here, jus' keep the shit outta all o' yer women, and I'll let you go free." The demons that surrounded us all cheered. "Except for that ugly bitch you're holding right now. You can keep her, she's a straight piece of shit."

"H-HEY!" Matsuri sputtered, now sounding despairing. "Th-that's horrible to say!"

"Well, let's see," the captain said, sticking one finger up Asa's asshole while he stuck another up her vaginal slit. She whimpered and shuddered, and my fury kept building, despite my attempts to suppress it. "So, like, who would like to stick their dick in this bitch?" he asked his group, pointing at Matsuri with his other hand.

After a moment of no one raising their hand, one guy eventually did.

"Yo, Braka-kun! You crazy fuck! You like that whore, or some shit?"

"I reckon I do, man, I…I just like her. I reckon she's a pretty cute girl, or some shit, you know what I'm saying?" Braka responded.

Matsuri relaxed. "Thanks, Braka-san!" she called. He blushed and wiggled around in place in embarrassment.

"Okay then, we'll take her, too, for Braka-kun," the captain relented. "Alright, so, like, how bout it? We'll treat 'em real good, or some shit."

"I think we'll have to decline," I said resolutely.

As the words left my mouth, one demon burst forth from the fray, his frighteningly large, erect penis poking out of his armor. "I can't fucking take it anymore!" he wailed, gunning straight towards Primula. "I want to fuck you, little girl! C'mere, slut!"

Primula folded her arms and smiled coyly at him. "You can look, but you can't touch," she said.

"Fuck that shit, I'm-a touching," he said, thrusting his hand up her miniskirt. As soon as he did, Primula formed a gigantic ice claymore out of her arm and swung upwards, through the demon, making a clean arc of blood and severed organs through the air.

"RAAAAH!" he screamed, his organs dangling out now. "She cut off my dick…SHE CUT OFF MY DICK…"

"Well, I actually obliterated your dick, if you want to be technical about it…"

The other demons all readied their weapons, now looking pissed.

The guy kept screaming, pink foam frothing from his lips. He collapsed to the ground as he tried unsuccessfully to keep his organs from spilling out from his slashed flesh.

"Kill him. Now!" the captain shouted with a frown. "End his misery, or some shit."

"Alright," Primula said, casting a spell that caused a giant, spiny ball to appear exactly where his head was, causing his skull and all its contents to explode across the sand. Everyone watched his decapitated body spasm before pissing and shitting all over itself.

I heard a bloodcurdling scream and whirled around in shock to see Asa being lifted into the air by a sword which was stabbing her up her crotch. She didn't stop screaming, her pitch getting higher as the blade kept ripping deeper through her womb. The pained, nightmarish quality in that scream made me start shaking with rage. I could image the kind of sick, demented pain that she felt, from what Kaede had always done to me. And now, she was feeling it, all because of me.

Like Nerine, this unspeakable thing was happening to her…purely because of me.

A switch went off in my head. I let go of Matsuri. Asa began screaming even more horrifically. My head started buzzing, and I started salivating uncontrollably.

"Listen up, you've got one last chance to leave here alive!" the captain roared over Asa as he lifted her impaled body into the air, her blood pouring down on him. "Do we have an agreement?"

"FUCK NO!" I roared, plunging through the air towards him, my killing instincts from Moonbite kicking in. I slashed at him, but he was too fast, dodging just in time. I was intercepted by several other demons, who I quickly began parrying and slashing as well as I could.

I was relieved to feel Tsubomi's healing spell begin casting immediately, so I allowed myself to leave myself open in order to get hits in on the mob that surrounded me. The pain was brutal every time they slashed or stabbed me, but I was used to it by now, thanks to Kaede's conditioning. Plus, with the knowledge that they wouldn't be permanent wounds, I was able to keep focusing on the attack.

Primula began casting gigantic turbulences, throughout the large arc of encroaching demon warriors, which alternately lifted them off their feet into the sky and electrocuted them to death. She easily had the highest kill count so far.

Matsuri and Daisy were furiously fighting as well, and, though Tsubomi sometimes had to switch her healing spell to them, Daisy generally stopped to heal herself and Matsuri as needed.

I completely lost track of Asa and the captain, much to my self-hatred. I wouldn't forgive myself if he did anything worse to her! But, for all my kills so far with Moonbite's blade, more and more demons kept piling in, impaling me and cutting off extremities with their multibladed weapons. I began to fight more wildly in order to free myself from the mob. My added sloppiness soon had a price, however.

"SHIT!" I screamed as I felt a sword slice right through my right arm, sending it and Moonbite's sword flying through the air.

"I've got it! I've got it, fuckers!" some demons said, jumping up and catching it. Everyone who touched the sword dropped dead, immediately.

"Tsubomi-chan!" I yelled as I ran over to retrieve my sword, with my left hand this time.

"It'll take a while to regrow your arm," she shouted, running over to me, Itsuki following immediately behind her. Demons, spells, blood, and organs continuously flew through the air. "You should hold your old arm up to the wound; that will speed up the process."

"Great, okay," I said, sloppily trying to fight off some demons who kept stabbing their knives through my stomach. I was complete shit with my left arm, but I was still able to graze their skin. Primula cast an explosive fire spell, which churned through some nearby demons, killing many. "Geez, this is crazy!" I said, hissing from the pain as I poked their blades back out from my body.

"I know! Here!" Itsuki said, helpfully holding my arm against my wound.

"Thanks, Itsuki-tan," Tsubomi said, beginning to heal my arm. At that precise moment, two demons came running and grabbed the little god girl, dragging her away from us.

"NO! Tsubomi-tan!" Itsuki roared, taking up some of the weapons that had been embedded in me and running off to save his future wife. I sighed and left my arm on the ground as I followed him.

"DAISY-CHAN, SWITCH TO HEALING MODE!" I yelled at the violet-haired warrior, who was taking obvious pleasure in causing as many blood splashes as possible with her club.

"FINE!" she roared back.

"ITSUKI-TAAAN!" Tsubomi wailed from within a throng of demons. Her clothes had been ripped off entirely, enemy hands were over around every part of her body and hair, and one demon was fucking her violently from behind. "NOOOOO, NOT THERE!"

Itsuki dashed past the few demons guarding the rape session, swinging clumsily as he went. They both slashed him in his abdomen, but he kept going and arrived to where his fiancée was getting raped, where he bellowed and went to work decapitating each of them before they could protect themselves. The guy with his dick inside Tsubomi started running, still fucking her as he went. Itsuki chucked a sword at him, which burst right through the demon's head, plunging him face-first into the ground.

As this went on, I distractedly killed demons around me as I scanned the battlefield for Asa, finally spotting her behind a barrier that mages had pulled up around them and the captain, off to one side of the battlefield. She still looked like she was in great pain.

With still only one arm, I ran up alongside Primula, who was summoning a multitude of elemental spells and blasting them into the barrier in an effort to break it.

"You're doing great, Primu-chan," I said. "I think we're starting to gain control of the battle!"

"Yup," Matsuri said, coming up. Not a single part of her wasn't drenched in thick, chunky blood. She gasped, the blood running into her mouth when she opened it. "Daisy-chan's getting the last few, back there. Hurry, Primu-chan!"

"I'm going with everything I've got!" Primula snapped, raising a dragon of black tar from the earth and sending it churning into the barrier. She followed up with a white-hot laser of flame, then an array of shurikens, and lastly a torrent of ice daggers from the sky, which finally broke the barrier. The group of mages collapsed to the ground from the apparent mental shock of getting their spell nullified.

Within seconds, Matsuri and I were over there, beginning to cleave through the last group of soldiers.

"Stop right there, or some shit!" the captain shouted from below. The two of us paused to look at what was going on.

Asa was on the ground, covered in her own vomit, tears and blood. The man had taken out one of her eyes, and it looked, horrifically, like the socket was gushing with semen. Another demon was viciously mutilating her with blood-drenched knives – one in her crotch and one in her anus, plunging them in and out repeatedly. She was no longer screaming, just eliciting a mindless, broken groan that never ceased.

"YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" Primula screamed, running up to us. Matsuri and I were too angry to speak coherently.

"I will kill her, if you come any closer, alright, bitches?" the man said, grinning wickedly. He had a knife sticking through the underside of her jaw. "I'll push it all the way through her brain. You know I will, you fucking little bitches. You just know I fucking will!"

"R-R-Rin-kuun…" Asa gurgled weakly. "Help…" she begged.

"Shut up, cunt!" he sneered, smacking her in the face so hard that some of the semen flew out of her eye.

I made eye contact with Primula, nodding with the hopes that she would understand what I was going to do. "So, Cap'n. Who do you think's the sexiest girl I've got with me in this group? Or…or some shit?" I grinned.

His face brightened. "Well, I've been thinking about that, you know. I've always liked fucking children or some shit, and, like, both the little purple-haired chick and the blonde one are, you know, REALLY damn fuckable, or some shit. On the other hand…"

I signaled Primula with my eyes. She fired off an instantaneous bolt of lightning that blasted through the captain, sending him flying off Asa with a scream. At the same time, Matsuri used the momentary distraction to cut off the heads of each of the demons who were on the ground with Asa.

Meanwhile, I sprinted across the sand until I reached the captain. "Okay, you fucking little bitch," I seethed. "Let's try this again!" My foot pressing into the sensitive wound through his chest, which he must have received from Primula's lightning bolt, I held Moonbite's blade over his head. "Where…the FUCK…is Ai-san? And if you don't answer, I'll make you VERY…" I dug my foot into his exposed lungs. "…uncomfortable."

"I…I don't know…" he whined.

Daisy came up to us, also completely soaked with organs and blood. She seemed to be really enjoying herself. "Would you like me to help?" she offered hungrily.

"By all means," I beamed. I took my foot out of his chest and she quickly replaced it with her club, which she churned through his exposed organs, eliciting an incredible scream from him.

"Wh-why are you doing this, or some shit?" he whimpered. "A-a-all we wanted was revenge for our brother…GYYAAAAAAAHHHH!"

I broke out laughing hysterically. "WHAhaHAhaHAhaHA, you fucking little piece of SHIT! You did a really fucking good job avenging your faggot brother, too, didn't you? Because of your INCREDIBLE intelligence, you've lost almost your entire family! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! Remember, YOU killed them! If you hadn't taken Asa-sempai and tortured the fuck out of her like the deranged, inbred FUCK that you are, your whole fucking family would still be alive!" Still giggling, and completely letting Moonbite's impulses drive me, I unzipped my pants and starting pissing in his face.

"Rin-kun, Rin-kun, can I stomp on his testicles?" Daisy said eagerly.

"Oh, by all means, partner!" I laughed.

"NO! NO!" he screamed as Daisy pulled off his loincloth. "STOP! I'LL TALK!"

"You don't need two!" I cackled, slobber pouring from my mouth as I finished draining my fluids on his face. Primula caught up with us at this point, and watched with great interest.

Squealing with excitement, Daisy took half of his scrotum in her hand and ripped it off. He screamed much higher than Asa ever did today, tears coming out of his face.

"I said I'd talk…" he sobbed, body shaking with pain and sorrow. "I told – I told you, I'd talk…why did you…"

I kicked him three times, hard, in the face, then leaned over so that my face was hanging right over him. "Then…where is she, midget dick?" I screamed at him.

"Um, um…" he blinked rapidly. "She said her next client was…in a city…A.B.A….yeah, that's the one…yes…GGRRRAAAAAHHHHHH!" he screamed in agony as Daisy sunk a knife into his opened scrotum sac.

"You deserve every bit of this," I said, chuckling maniacally. "YOU LITTLE BITCH! Now…where THE FUCK is she in this A.B.A. city? TALK!"

"Um…she told me…let me think, um…she said she had some clients in…" He blinked, trying both to remember and to stop sobbing. "Gigalith Apartment…Suite…um…17. The…the room number was…um…" he looked like was actively wracking his brain.

"WELL? WHAT IS IT? You FAT SACK of FUCK!" I slobbered, leaning down and biting down viciously on his nose. The tip came off in my mouth, and tasted terrible, so I spat it out in the sand.

He whimpered. "Room number 22."

"ARE YOU SURE?" I laughed hoarsely in front of his piss-covered face.

"Yes…yes, I am."

"Did…did you get all that, Primu-chan?" I asked her, as she had been listening much more closely than I had.

"Yes…A.B.A., Gigalith Apartments, Suite 17, Room 22. Are…you alright?" she asked me.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I said, getting up and stomping on his teeth a few times, intent on knocking them all out of his gums.

"Rin-kun, please stop…the disease! Remember, you have to control yourself!" Primula told me soothingly.

DAMMIT! I'd gotten carried away again. I took Primula's advice and backed away, trying to retrieve my own personality. "You're right, Primu-chan," I said irritably. My body wouldn't stop shaking. I looked at my arms and saw that they were rife with moss again.

"Here, I'll help you," she murmured, gently guiding my penis back into my underwear and zipping up my pants. It grew hard nearly instantaneously from her touch, which she definitely noticed, judging from her delighted reaction.

"Can I smack him once more, Rin-kun?" Daisy asked me hungrily.

"Of course," I said, grinning.

As the captain screamed in fright, Daisy lifted her club mightily into the air and crashed it down on the whole in his chest. Blood erupted from his mouth and, oddly, his open scrotum, from the impact.

The three of us left him there by himself, crying and shivering from his pain. We rejoined the others to find that everyone was in good shape, besides Asa, of course.

"Are they all either dead or unconscious?" I asked no one in particular, scanning the grisly carnage our self-defense had exacted.

"Yeah. I did a once over," Matsuri said quietly, who was caressing Asa and holding her body close, despite herself still being drenched in blood. Asa seemed to be in a state of shock. Thick blood poured out from where her ass and crotch used to be.

"Me and Tsubomi-tan counted 208 deaths," Itsuki said gravely, his hands massaging his fiancee's bare shoulders as she worked on curing Asa as best as she could. Tsubomi had her underwear back on, but her clothes were too ripped up to be useful.

"Daisy-chan, could you help, too, please?" I asked.

Despite a brief flash of annoyance, she muttered, "Okay, Rin-kun." She knelt down and began healing Asa as well.

"Are you alright, Sempai?" I asked her, walking around and stooping to caress her vomit-soaked hair.

"I-I'm okay…"she said, staring ahead. "I'm sorry I'm so useless…I'm holding you back from finding Nerine-chan…"

"No, no, don't think for a moment that any of us are frustrated with you," I said with concern. "You're just as important as Nerine-chan is."

"I…I'm not a virgin anymore…am I?" Asa asked emptily.

"I-It doesn't matter, Asa-sempai," I said, caressing her neck and cheek. "It'll be okay…did they actually…um…uh…have SEX with you, or only torture you?"

"I…I guess they just tortured me…" she said, her face contorting in pain. "Did it…did it get to my brain? I need to wash out my eye…did it get to my brain?"

"I don't know, Asa-sempai," I murmured.

"I'm violated…everything I've kept, just for you is, is…ruined…now…"

Primula, Itsuki, and Matsuri all looked around awkwardly.

"No, no, no, you'll be fine…they'll cure you up perfectly, you'll see," I smiled. "I promise. Sia-chan used to cure my crotch all the time whenever Kaede-chan mutilated it, and they did the same for Primu-chan, too."

"Ah…I…I see. I didn't know…she did that…I'm so sorry. I should've supported you more…"

"Don't worry, Asa-sempai. Just take it easy. We won't go anywhere until you're better."

"Th-thanks, Rin-kun."

Sitting back and letting the two gods do their work, I decided not to bring up my missing arm, since that was of less importance at the moment.

(Kaede's Point of View)

Although the massive amount of bloodshed incurred on my ex-boyfriend's family was entertaining to watch (as well as Forbesii's look of vindicated pride and Mayumi's of outright horror), my head was in another place. What Moonbite baited Rin into saying earlier had deeply scarred me. The feeling of the loss of his love punched me in my soul, over and over, crushing what was left of my ability to be happy.

What was the point, now? What can I do to survive? Why am I even watching this, if he wants me to die?

Realizing that I now had no stake in whether Rin was safe, since he had no care for me, I excused myself and walked up the stairs, not knowing where I was headed.

As I leadenly stomped my way up, my nose caught the sharp, metallic tang of blood…and of rotting flesh. I became alert, but in an almost drugged, hypnotized way, as I continued ascending to the extreme dark of the upper levels of my apartment.

"S-Sakura-chan?" My lips asked, my head pounding. Now that I realized she shared hallucinations with me, it all made sense…I remembered she was the third kid that Moonbite had experimented on in my repressed memories that I sometimes caught horrific glimpses of.

I also felt slightly more connected with her, now, and I realized that, no matter what Moonbite told me, she, Rin, and I SHOULD be on the same team. Against her.

Yes…against that CREATURE! It's not Rin that hates me, it's Moonbite that's making him hate me! She's the cause of all my problems.

I'll kill her. I'll fuck her. I'll make her suffer. I'm not sure how, but…

…killing Moonbite…that's my goal now. My reason to live. Even if Rin still hates me after she dies, then I'll have still had my fucking revenge, right?

Sakura…I hate her, and she's ugly, trashy, and pathetic…but she should be with me when we have our revenge against Moonbite! She's also a victim. She's been through what I've been through! She will help me, I'm sure of it.

"Sakura-chan," I whispered, my body heaving in fear of the darkness at the top of the stairs. "Please don't be dead."

I traced the edges of the stairs up to the guest room – the same place where Rin's voice was summoning me the other day – and once again found myself in deep darkness, my hand on the loose doorknob.

The smell was very powerful now. There was definitely spilt blood close by.

I hesitated and gasped out "Sakura-chan," once more swinging the door open.

(Rin's Point of View)

Following an extensive, multiple-hour-long healing (and bathing) session, our entire group finally made it back to full health, although my new arm was pretty numb still. Her eye and genitals now repaired, Asa treated us all to a quick meal, and we took off across the desert again towards a portal that Itsuki located on the map. It would supposedly teleport us to the artificial island city, A.B.A. He and Tsubomi were even more inseparable than usual, ever since he saved her in the battle. More often than not, their tongues would be intertwined, which eventually became pretty irritating to the rest of us single people.

Determined to be as helpful as possible, Asa took the hormone-struck Itsuki's place as our navigator, doing her best to lead the way. Matsuri remained a constant presence of support for Asa, but I could tell my sempai was slowly getting fed up with the girl's constant attention.

Primula, meanwhile, kept trying to take my hand, but I continued to refuse to hold it, which hurt both of us. But I was Nerine's and Nerine's only, for the moment. I had to honor her memory and be her pure destiny, by the time I proposed to her. As pure as I could be, that is. Moonbite and powerful sexual urges towards Asa, Primula, and Daisy kept throttling my mind with every step. It was all I could do to cling onto Nerine's beautiful face. What she looked like was slowly getting more unclear in my memory…but I had to save her!

No one exploded, though, and we had a relatively stoic, silent journey to the portal. Itsuki entered the codes (I have no idea how he knew them) and led us bravely through the swirling orange mist into what would hopefully be A.B.A.

Following the disorienting, trippy sensation of warping through space, we arrived somewhere that certainly wasn't the desert, at least. The pungent smell of trash, unclean streets, and spilt blood hit my nose as I skidded out of the portal onto a stone floor.

"Woohoo, that was awesome!" Tsubomi sang as she popped out of the portal, still dressed in just her underwear. "Can we do it again?"

"Not now, my gorgeous, incredible WOMAN," Itsuki said, stooping down and making out with her aggressively.

"I love you so fucking much, my genius, loyal, brave Itsuki-tan," she gasped in lust as he pulled away. "Oh GODS, come here!" She forced his mouth back into hers.

The others came through behind us. "Is this it?" Matsuri said, looking around warily with one hand on her sheathed katana.

Itsuki parted lips with Tsubomi and said, "Yes, this is A.B.A., the Soul City. The demons crafted this floating island out of magically treated tombs and crypts. The souls of many ancient demons roam freely here, making this both a common tourist site and a pilgrimage destination for demons who seek to reconnect with their heritage and history."

"HA! No one cares about your gay little history lessons!" Daisy sneered, just before a pink puff of energy drifted past her face. "GAH! What the fuck is THAT?" she screamed. I took her moment of distractedness to check out her rather beautiful breasts.

"Oh, it's a soul." Itsuki said. "One quite high in the Doki pylon, judging from its coloration."

"Please…don't say words like 'coloration,' you know-it-all, when 'color' works just fine," Asa groaned. She was clearly trying to put on a show of normalcy, but she was much more anxious, quiet, and generally disturbed since her abduction and torture. Her hands often flew down to her crotch, for a feeling of security, I suppose. We had makeshifted her sport shorts into a clumsy skirt. Our entire group definitely needed to go shopping sometime, as we were all wearing barely-hanging-together outfits. But not now. With any luck, we were catching up with Nerine!

"So…I guess we should start looking for that, um…Gigalith Apartments place, right?" I said. "Do you have any idea where to look, Itsuki-kun?"

He chuckled, leaning over the rail. It seemed we were pretty high up, on a balcony of some sort. "This is great! I can see everyone's titties from here!" he laughed in jubilation as he looked down at the lower levels.

"Ooh, let me see!" Primula sang, skipping over to look over, next to Itsuki. Daisy and Matsuri joined them with interest.

Asa, Tsubomi, and I shrugged to each other.

"Oh that's great! You really can see some great boobies from here! Come here, Rin-kun!" Primula gasped, signaling me over.

"Th-that's alright," I said, my eyes scanning the cityscape. All the buildings looked quite ancient, and many were towering far into the sky. The city looked surreal and alien.

My eyes happened to rest on neon lettering on the side of one of the skyscrapers. "HEY!" I shouted. "I found it!" I pointed across the city to the building. "Look, there it is! Gigalith!"

"Hey, nice find," Matsuri said, but let out a cry of surprise when Asa bounced up from behind and threw her arms tightly around her.

"SURPRISE BACKHUG!" my sempai screamed, squeezing Matsuri's breasts…I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. Everyone but me and Daisy laughed at Matsuri's dark red, stunned face.

"S-s-s-s-sempai!" Matsuri gasped, her body spasming and contorting unnaturally.

Asa pulled away and winked at me, leaving Matsuri panting and with one hand up her own dress. "So! Are we gonna head there now, then?"

"Sure," I grinned. "Does…anyone know how to get from one building from another?"

"How do you think, Dumbshit?" Daisy sneered from next to me. She pointed at the staircase directly behind us.

"W-well…" I said, looking at the several thousand puff balls floating around in the sky. "I was just thinking, we teleported here, after all…"

"I-I think it's just stairs, Rin-kun," Primula said, patting my butt for some reason. "Shall we go find your blushing, busty, blue-haired bride…"

"NICE alliteration!" Itsuki beamed at her.

"Thanks, Itsuki-kun! …before she fucks yet more total creeps?" Primula finished.

"Could you please say that in a way that's less depressing?" I asked, shivering. I'd been trying my hardest not to think of the fact that Nerine may have actually had sex with Bark's sick relatives…I wouldn't want to see what they did to Asa repeated with anyone else, especially her.

"Alright, well…let's make our way down there, I guess," Matsuri said.

While everyone started for the stairs, I paused and looked back at Primula. "Um…could you please let go of my butt, Primu-chan?"

"Oh, but it's so nice," she said, blushing and swaying in place. "I lllllike your butt, Rin-kun."

"W-well, thanks…"

"Just…just let me hold it for a little while longer," she murmured, squeezing my cheek, which made me tense up. I patiently waited for her to finish, masterfully suppressing my urge to grab her breasts in return. "Okay, I got my fill for now," she grinned, licking her fingers suggestively.

I laughed nervously. "And on THAT note…let's go get Nerine-chan!" I pulled her along to follow the others while she stuffed her fingers all in her mouth at once.

(Kaede's Point of View)

Wielding what little bravery and sanity I had left, I swung the door open to the guest room, revealing…

Corpses.

Everywhere.

Rin corpses.

Multiple copies of his body were smeared and disembowled all over the room. I walked in, my breath caught in horror. What was this?

"Kaede-chan!" Sakura panted, standing naked in the middle of the room, her skin white and pure. Somehow, not a drop of blood had made it on her. Tears were running down her cheeks. "What IS this?" she sounded horrified to the point of insanity.

Flies buzzed around the several decomposing bodies of my love. I noticed that all of them had familiar objects impaling them…like a drill, an eggbeater, a yanagiba…

"Do you…HMMMMMM…RECOGNIZE these, my little FUCKING Kaede-chan?" Moonbite's voice giggled from directly behind me.

I gasped and fell forward onto a heap of rotten Rin organs. My face splattered directly in a pile of intestines and severed penises. I hurriedly pushed myself up, moaning despite myself.

Moonbite, back in her disturbing Cyclops form, went into an awful, hee-hawing laugh, coming in and closing the door behind her. "You're not going anywhere ever again, you fucking little bitch!"

"I'm…I'm going to kill you," I said, picking up a power drill from a Rin corpse and revving it. "For what y-y…"

Moonbite broke out laughing hysterically. The sound was hideous. "What I'VE done? What do you mean, what I'VE done? Kaede-chan…my dainty little ass-whore…HMMMM…the reason every fucking one of these corpses should look familiar, my dear…is that they are all YOUR…HEEEHEEHEEE…handiwork."

Sakura and I looked at each other in confusion.

"From other versions of this reality. You see, I don't know if my little Rin-kun told you, but I have been reliving his life over and over again…for over a million years, you see," she groaned, walking steadily towards us with her hulking, decayed body. "Every one of these corpses…is your work. Not mine! I had nothing to do with it! You're mentally ill, you know. Killing the one you love? HAHAHAHA! Isn't it hilarious, Sakura-chan?"

"I…I…you're lying," I gasped, my eyes watering. "There's no way I could ever kill Rin-kun…I'm a good person!"

Moonbite let out her donkey laugh again. "You are a wicked, evil person Kaede-chan. Isn't she, Sakura-chan?"

"I…" Sakura looked at me. "I think she's violent, mean, crazy, and cruel…but she's not evil…she's my friend…right?"

I broke out into a smile, feeling really good about Sakura being here all of a sudden. It wasn't me alone against Moonbite anymore!

"Sakura-chan!" I gasped with tears in my eyes.

"OH? She's your FRIEND, HUH? Let's play a little…HMMMMMM…game, to test that out, shall we?"

"Let's not!" I growled, running towards the abomination with the power drill turned on.

Moonbite effortlessly gestured and sent me careening through a pile of Rin corpses again, the drill flying out of my hands. When I had pulled myself, blood-covered, out from his remains, I gasped when I saw that one of the corpses was holding Sakura against himself from behind.

"Kaede-chan, help!"

"No, you like it," the dead Rin said. Both of his eyes were missing, and his heart looked like it had been ripped out, but overall, he looked more whole than the others.

"S-s-stop, you're not real!" Sakura gasped. "GRAH!" she squeezed her thighs together when he abruptly rammed his dick up her butt.

"Did that feel real to you?" Rin said, smiling tenderly to her as he ran his palms caressingly, sensually all over her naked body.

"Don't…please! Don't watch, Kaede-chan…" Sakura panted as the Rin began fingering her and kneading her breasts.

"No, DO watch, Kaede-chan!" Moonbite cackled hoarsely. "She wants to keep him all to herself! She knows that this is the only time Rin-kun will ever fuck her, and she wants to enjoy it! HAHAHAHA! Shouldn't it be YOU that's enjoying it?"

"I…you're right…" I glared at Sakura. Moonbite was definitely right. She was just pretending to not like it, but I could see the hidden joy in her face. I began to cry. Rin's love was joy that I could never have!

"GHH!" Sakura said, drooling, as her body contorted in a vivid orgasm. Cream dribbled from her crotch. "NO!"

"YES! I've always wanted to fuck you, Sakura-chan, ever since I first met you!" the eyeless Rin told her. "I've never stopped desiring you. I like you better than ALL the other girls, especially Kaede-chan!"

I panted, despairing. Moonbite was watching me. I knew she was trying to manipulate me. I had to fight…

Wait!

What do I care if Sakura lives or dies?

She's useless!

If I kill her…I can have Rin-kun all to myself!

Smiling broadly in my revelation, I walked over to pick up my yanagiba.

"GOOOD, Kaede-chan…make her suffer for taking what's yours! She is nothing to you! Just a weak, slutty friend!" Moonbite chuckled in my ear.

"Yes…yes…" I whispered, approaching Sakura without blinking.

The Rin corpse had bent Sakura over now and was fucking her so hard that her ugly breasts were flapping about offensively. They'd be the second to go, after her begging fucking eyes.

"Kaede-chan…you're my friend…and I care about you…" Sakura said.

I hesitated, my blade pulled back to gouge her. My heart seemed to stop beating as her words clicked in my mind.

"DO IT!" Moonbite screamed, deafeningly, in my mind.

I growled and, keeping my eyes locked with Sakura's, for strength…cut off the head of the Rin that was fucking her. Sakura screamed and ran away.

I was momentarily pleased with myself when I felt talons sink into the skin on my back and throw me to the bed, which was covered with more Rin body parts.

"What's wrong with you!" Moonbite screamed hysterically, stomping over to me, her infested, swollen dick unsheathed and erect.

I tried to get up, but Rin's organs were too slippery! I immediately splattered back down into him.

"HELP! HELP!" Sakura began beating on the door for help.

Moonbite's fist collided with my face. I could feel my skull fracture. Before I had time to recover, she landed several other punches all over my body, concentrating mostly on my jaw and breasts. It hurt much worse than usual…I began pissing uncontrollably from the pain.

"HELP! FORBESII-SAMA!" Sakura continued.

"Shut up, SLUT!" Moonbite fired a bolt of pure black energy at Sakura, but she gasped and ducked in time.

I took the opportunity to kick Moonbite in the balls, but she just smiled and said, "I like it when they struggle," before lifting both my legs up and forcing her cock into my still-urinating crotch.

"GAAAAAHHH! AAAGGGGH!" I cried. I was being raped, again, and this time I was covered in blood! I could feel every pus glob and zit on her dick as she fucked me.

"MMMM! YEAHHH! MMMMM! THAT'S FUCKING RIGHT, SLUT!" Moonbite huffed, as the pain and torture my crotch was feeling coursed throughout the rest of my body. I am filth. I am trash.

"Let me go, I swear I'll kill myself!" I gasped as her dick kept fucking me.

"No, you won't, Whore!" Moonbite groaned, grabbing onto of my right ear and ripping it completely off.

"KAAAAAAH!" I screamed from the new pain.

"You like that? You like that, you little FUCK?" Moonbite crowed as she began fingering the hole my ear left behind.

"NOOO, NOOO, FUUUUUUUCK!" I screeched, feeling my eardrum explode and flog me with even more pain than I felt from her dick.

"Yeahhhh!" Moonbite finally ejaculated, pumping what felt like gallons of semen into my womb, as she continued pinching the inside of my head with her talons.

A gigantic blast arrived at the door, and the whole wall broke down. Forbesii had made it.

"What's going on?" he said, running in and looking around.

Moonbite cursed and disappeared, spraying the last of her skeet on my face. I felt all the corpses disappear, too. The room was normal again.

"Help! Please, I need help!" I sobbed, my body shaking. "Take me to the hospital, or get Kareha-sempai!"

"Oh my gods!" Mayumi gasped when she came up and saw me.

"GO AND GET HER NOW!" I roared in pain. This…is different…normally, things go back to normal after Moonbite abuses me.

But my ear is still destroyed…and…

I fearfully stuck my fingers in my vagina.

I gasped in horror, looking at the slime that coated it when I pulled it out.

Madam Moonbite's dark blue semen. It was in me…in my womb...

(Rin's Point of View)

A couple hours later, my team and I found ourselves in a weird predicament – we'd searched all throughout Gigalith, from top to bottom, in every suite on record…but we simply could not find Suite 17. Granted, the circular floor plan of the complex was needlessly elaborate and unintuitive, but even the demons working the front desk couldn't locate the mysterious suite.

So, stumped, our group of seven found ourselves enjoying an ice-cream substance (that the saleswoman assured me over and over was NOT brains, which only served to make me suspect otherwise) under a banister on the dirty, ancient streets. The city was very cool to look at; it had all kinds of atmosphere. Everything was dark and muggy, yet glowing and illuminated from all the souls. The souls would line the ground and buildings in gorgeous neon strips from time to time, seemingly to entertain the citizens. I would have really liked to spend time here, were I not desperately looking for my possibly prostitute friend.

"It's so WEIRD. It's like it doesn't even exist," I said, slurping my not-brains.

"Tsubomi-tan…" Itsuki breathed huskily.

"MMMMMMMM," Tsubomi gasped.

"Do you remember…back in Phantom Fair…how you were drenched from head to toe? You were SOAKING wet…" he continued.

"GAH, yes, YES, Itsuki-tan…mmh! You're making me soaking wet right now!"

Everyone else crinkled their nose and scooted away from the couple. I could smell Tsubomi very well, against my will.

"Rin-kun…" Matsuri said, her eyes keenly fixed on a fruit stand in front of an old warehouse.

"What is it, Ruri-chan?"

"Watch that demon, there, the one that's talking to the fruit stand vendor."

I did. I could barely detect him saying he'd like to buy a bucketful of kitty candy (which was odd, for a guy dressed in such a high-quality gold suit), before the shopkeeper stood aside to let him enter the warehouse, disappearing when he turned the corner.

"That IS weird…I wonder why someone who looks like that is going in that shitty old warehouse," Daisy said.

"I'm not sure what it is, but…there's definitely something going on there," Ruri said. "Several other fancy-looking people have also said they'd like to buy a bucketful of kitty candy before being let in."

"Could it be the legendary Suite 17?" Asa mused, licking blue not-brains from her lips.

"M-maybe," Ruri said, blushing and twisting around.

"I think it's worth checking out," I said, standing. "The only problem is, we're not exactly dressed for the part. Hopefully, if we're confident enough, he'll let us in, right?"

"Yeah, I bet so," Primula said with a nod.

"Are…you finished, Captain Pedo?" Daisy asked Itsuki, leaning over in a way that illustrated just how well endowed she really was.

"Heh, yup!" he said, separating himself from Tsubomi with a large boner. I groaned and hid my eyes.

After we waited for them to calm down, I led the way over to the fruit stand.

The greasy-looking demon grinned at us, despite our tattered clothes. "Well, hey! How's it going, folks? Could I interest you in some waterballs? Or, perhaps some ginlops?"

"Well, those all look very appetizing," I said, "But I'd only be willing to buy a bucketful of kitty candy."

He raised his eyebrows and looked us over. He looked like he was a bit suspicious of us, but he shrugged and stood aside, muttering, "Kids."

"Thank you," I said, bowing my head in gratitude. I then lead the group on in.

The place was run-down and probably infested with lots of vermin by the look of it. Around a couple turns, though, my heart leapt when I saw a extremely luxurious-looking apartment hallway that was similar in style to the rest of the Gigalith Complex.

"Wow…I think this is it, guys!" I grinned as I walked in. I patted Matsuri on her back appreciatively. "Nice job, Ruri-chan!"

"Not a problem, boss!"

All of us looked much more eager now, even Daisy, as we roamed the halls, working our way through till we found Room 22.

Once we stopped in front of it, my surge of excitement was interrupted when I noticed an alarming stench emanating from the room. It was beyond rancid, beyond fecal…it was the most intensely filthy stench I'd ever experienced. The others all looked quite disturbed by it, except Primula, who seemed fine.

"Something's wrong in there," Asa whispered, holding her nose. "I hope she's okay."

"Yeah," I said. "I…guess I'll knock. If you all feel up to it, you can come on in, I suppose." I grimaced and knocked on the door, but it slid open from the first impact. Apparently they didn't think to lock itOH MY GOD! Shit of all shapes and consistency was splattered all over the carpet and walls. It smelled like pure death in there, now that the door was open.

I clenched my fists and teeth, thinking about Nerine before I waded into the muck with Primula at my side. "Hello? Nerine?" I tried, calling in a voice much louder than necessary.

"Wha? Fuck…is someone there?" a drug-addled voice issued from the bed right around the corner.

I glared at the demon, who was taking a shit on the stomach of a gagged, handcuffed girl on his bed. To the side, a guy was urinating down a tube that was fastened to another girl's mouth. Both women were spasming and whimpering violently.

"What the FUCK is going on here?" I demanded, my dangerous nature rising. Primula began stroking my arm, probably to keep me sane.

"We're just…BLEARG!" the shitting demon said, vomiting all over his victim's crotch. "Just having a good time here, no worries, man!"

"Is EVERYONE in this Realm a fucking sick pervert or something?" I roared, looking around. There were a handful of corpses on the floor, but none of them were Nerine, thankfully. "Is there a demon girl by the name of Ai here? She looks just like Princess Nerine!"

"Fuck, man…AHHHHH! I dunno…check the bathroom. You might look in the closet, too, there's some more bodies there. FUCK, I need another shot of Roth! Man, can you hook a brotha up?"

"Shut up, you stupid FUCK!" I screamed, punching the shitting guy in the face. "People like you don't deserve to have ever been born!" I was seething. Shaking. All these poor women. How could these guys do this? And was Nerine really here?

NERINE!

I spasmed over to the bathroom, wedging through my friends. There were two women with steel pikes impaled through their arms and legs, securing them against the wall. There wasn't a single part of their nude bodies that wasn't covered in dripping green shit, runny yellow shit, splats of bloody shit, or generally smeared with normal brown shit.

The room was covered with cockroaches, a few other corpses, and several torture tools that seemed to be based mostly around scatological functions (obviously). I silently thanked myself that Kaede was never much this into the shitting method.

I couldn't hold it anymore – I leaned over and puked all over the place.

"H-hello?" one girl said, looking at me fearfully. She spat some poop out of her mouth. "Are you here to help me?"

I nodded, hearing the cries of outrage and disgust that the rest of my group made upon seeing the rest of the apartment. I waded through the squishing muck and ripped the steel pikes out of both girls. The other one had a poop hose still attached to her mouth, so I unscrewed the bolts that kept it on her face.

"Are you two okay? You definitely need medical attention," I said, looking at them with concern.

"We're alright," the one who talked first said, while the other gagged and began vomiting poop.

"Let's get you out of here," I said. "I don't have anything for you to wear, but we can always kill the guys out there and you can wear their clothes!"

They looked up, eyes eager.

Matsuri and Itsuki gladly handed the two demon prostitutes their weapons. Our group watched while they approached their Roth addicted captors and proceeded to slice them to death, starting from the crotch, of course.

"By the way," I said as they worked, amidst the guys' screams. Daisy, Primula, and I were helping to hold down the guys while the girls got a free shot at them. The others had left the room, unable to stomach any more. "I was wondering – was there a girl here with you named Ai? She has a great figure and long blue hair."

"Oh, yeah, she was," the more talkative girl said as she stabbed Itsuki's blade down the guy's mouth and through his throat. "She must have left this morning. She was in the bathroom with us, hung on the wall between me and Irike-chan there."

Irike nodded, rapidly stabbing her victim all over his body. "Hi! Thanks for this opportunity, Demon-san!"

"N-no problem," I said, still feeling excessively nauseous. "So…she underwent the same treatment you did?" I asked softly.

"Yeah…"

I snapped, roaring animalistically and breaking the legs of the guy I was holding down, cracking them off at the femur and ripping out any tendons and muscle I could get my hands on. His screaming was heavenly!

After both Daisy and Primula touched me so I'd calm down (Daisy doing so was the only reason it worked, I was so surprised by her compassion), I apologized to the girls.

"Is…she your girlfriend?" the nearer girl asked. "Ai-chan, I mean."

I nodded after a moment, staring blankly at the soon-to-be-dead man. "Yes…I've been tracking her all over the Realm."

"Ohh, I'm so sorry! I would have tried to protect her more, if I knew she had someone…" the girl looked at me with pity as she popped his eyeball with her fingernails. He screamed with yet more sweet, sweet terror.

"D-don't worry about it, there's nothing you could've done," I said hurriedly. "But, uh…do you have any idea where she went?"

"Um…she has a client in, um, the Wreg continent, in Firovale City," she said, looking at me nervously. "It's in a couple days, though, so she's probably off healing right now."

"Okay…alright…do you have any idea where her client is?" I asked desperately. This could be our chance to finally catch up with her!

"It's in a mansion. The Hyrog House, the biggest residence in the entire city. It shouldn't be too hard to find," Irike said, smiling at me. "I hope you can sweep her away to happier times before it's too late, like you did for us!" She continued sawing her prey's skull vertically in half.

"Awesome, THANK you, both of you…so much!" I said, bowing in appreciation. Despite the absolute horror, and the near inability of my mind to comprehend that all this even COULD have happened to poor Nerine, I felt newly optimistic. In two days…we'd be waiting for her!

We said our farewells, took our weapons back, and waded our way out through the room of death.

"You guys alright?" I asked my friends, panting heavily. Most of them had puke at their feet.

"Okay, WHAT…the FUCK…was that?" Asa screamed. "What is wrong with PEOPLE in this Realm?"

"I dunno," I sighed. "But, come on – let's get out of here. We know where she'll be in two days!" I was so happy, I felt like saying it over and over again.

"Thank the GODS," Daisy said, sliding down the wall with exhaustion. "I'm sick of this shit."

"We all are. I really appreciate you coming, all of you," I said, smiling to everyone. "You probably didn't know what you were signing up for, exactly, but there's no way I could've gotten this far without all of you."

"Not a problem, man!" Itsuki said, smiling at me. Tsubomi was crying, huddled against his chest.

"Come on, we have a train to catch to Wreg," Primula said, motioning for us to get out of there. "We definitely need to wash ourselves off, too."

"Ain't THAT the truth," Matsuri groaned.

We walked back out the same way we came, with the girls complaining in horror and disgust about what just happened incessantly.

As soon as we walked back out into daylight, however, we realized someone had laid an ambush for us.

"Halt! Surrender yourselves to us, immediately!" a demon said from a tank. Spotlights blinded us.

"Should we fight?" Daisy said eagerly.

"No, no!" Itsuki said sharply. "A.B.A.'s law enforcement is made up of Arch Mages. Even Primula can't hold a candle to more than one of them."

"Drop you weapons, and put your hands in the air!" the same demon said. It definitely seemed like we were surrounded on all sides, and I trusted Itsuki's knowledge, so I dropped my weapons and raised my arms, giving myself up to them with the rest of my team.

"We surrender," I said wearily.

…damn it.

"We in this court do recognize the demon Rin and his fellow travelers to be on trial in this Most High Court of Law. Do we uphold this?" the judge said excruciatingly slowly, her eyes peering around to the various winged demon guards, whose casting hands were all pointing at me. Itsuki told us all that they were the Arch Mages he had spoken of, the most powerful warriors in the entire Demon Realm. We wouldn't have a chance to fight our way out or escape while they were watching us, ready to execute us at a moment's notice.

This marble, multilayered room lay deep within the city's political headquarters. There were many pillars around the perimeter, and distractingly detailed stained-glass windows refracted their light across the black-and-white tile floor.

"Indeed, your Honor," the prosecutor said, who seemed to speak for everyone…which is never a good sign.

"Then this court is now in session," the judge intoned with a knock of her gavel.

"I'm sorry, what are we on trial for?" I blurted out, even as Itsuki and Asa hushed me. Our group of seven was seated behind the defendant's bench.

"The accused will not speak unless first addressed by a member of the court," the judge's beady eyes flashed from behind her mask, which Itsuki had explained to me was an honorary accessory given to a high ranking judge. "In any case, the accused is on trial for treasonous sedition, trespassing, moral indecency, and general mayhem. While our court offers substitute defense attorneys, no citizens in our city would accept the task of representing you."

"That's convenient," Daisy muttered, glaring at everyone in the room with contempt.

"Therefore, you may either opt to elect one from within your group to speak for your case, or you may accept your sentence. Which is your preference?"

"What is the penalty for these charges?" Itsuki asked, standing up.

"You will each be force-fed your own genitals after they have been mutilated through the use of a serrated razor blade. Afterwards, you will have your intestines pulled forcibly from your anus, then you will hang to death by those same entrails."

As the rest of the girls and I paled and shrunk in alarm (Asa gagged at nearly every word), Itsuki politely replied, "We will choose to elect one of us to speak on our behalf. May we conduct a brief discussion to choose one?"

"You may."

"You have my gratitude," Itsuki said, bowing deeply. He turned to us, looking very calm for the situation. "How's it going, guys?"

"How do you think?" Asa growled.

"Do you want me to give this attorney thing a shot?" he offered.

"I suppose…" I said. Itsuki was, by far, the most knowledgeable of any of us about both law and the Demon Realm, so it would make sense.

"Itsuki-tan really is smart," Tsubomi said, smiling proudly at her fiancée despite her own blatant shivering from fear. "He can definitely get us out of this mess!"

"Thanks, my gorgeous lover!" he said, leaning over and kissing her briefly on the lips.

"All in favor of this douche saving our lives, raise your hand," Primula commanded, who was seated on my right and holding my arm against her chest.

Everyone but Asa and Primula raised their hand.

"What would you suggest, Asa-sempai?" I asked her politely. She was also sitting right next to me, and had her right hand resting on my upper thigh.

"Well, I think you'd be better, Rin-kun," she said, blushing and raising her eyes to meet mine, shyly.

I blushed back, and looked at Primula. "Is that what you were going to suggest, too?"

She nodded, her half-closed eyes gazing at me gently.

I cleared my throat. "I appreciate the support, but I'm not really able to think too clearly at the moment. I also haven't studied this stuff nearly as much as Itsuki-kun, and he's even able to remain composed, which I can't do right now, either."

"That's fine, then," Asa said. "I just wanted to make sure that you know that I'll always back you. It wouldn't even matter if you DID turn completely evil, which you might with Moonbite being inside you like this – I'll always be at your side, even if you don't want me. Even if you forget me. Even if you hurt me…" She turned my head to meet her brazen, dedicated gaze. We were both blushing tremendously. "I'll always follow you and be yours."

I was so enraptured that I momentarily lost the ability to breathe.

"Awww! That was so adorable, I think I might die!" Tsubomi cheered.

Primula flipped Asa off and Matsuri flipped me off.

"BUH-ARF!" Daisy yelled. "Who the fuck could possibly want to hear that kind of sappy, pathetic shit?"

"So, do we have an accord, then?" Itsuki asked me. He was in total business mode.

"Yes, I think so," I said, trying to focus on the situation at hand and not the fact that both Asa and Primula were holding onto me much tighter than before. I tried to will myself to keep Nerine in my mind. I had to save her before I could dishonor her by having feelings for another woman. There was no doubt in my mind now, though, that I had very real feelings for Asa, and probably Primula, too. It is a great shame that neither were gods. Daisy was, though…and I was slowly beginning to entertain the idea of marrying her, although I'd have to figure out how to make her just a little bit less psychotic, I think. That, and she's a very weird person, and seems to hate me, although I think she may like me more than she lets on, given her actions in the arena.

Nerine needed my support and loyalty now, though. It was up to me to save her from any further abuse and suffering! It was solely my fault that she was doing this…I had to get out of this fucking courtroom as soon as possible and get back on her trail!

"Alright then," Itsuki replied, taking a deep breath and standing up again. "Your Honor, we have decided on myself as the speaker for the defense."

"Very well. We shall begin with a presentation of the prosecutor's claims against this group. Velorik-san?"

"Thank you, Your Honor," the blue-haired demon said. He was wearing a suit, had slicked-back hair, and wore a blatantly fake smile that was eerily reminiscent of Kaede's. "Ladies and gentlemen of the court, we have before you a group of criminals so heinous that they will assuredly affect the course of history as we know it!" People gasped. "That is, only if we do not condemn them!"

I looked at my friends, wide-eyed. I knew we'd done SOME questionable stuff, but this Velorik dick seemed to be overreacting like crazy, compared to the other cooks we'd encountered recently.

"All evidence suggests that these villains are party to some broad, overarching plot from foreign lands." Velorik grinned craftily as the crowd drew breath as one. "It is fortunate that we rooted them out before they were able to report back to the God Realm."

"Objection, your honor," Itsuki said, standing up, looking baffled. "This is all baseless conjecture. He's clearly making broad, sweeping statements without backing them up with anything!"

"Objection sustained, Human-san. Let us get on with the evidence, Velorik-san."

The lawyer didn't bat an eye, and began walking pompously around the floor. "Absolutely, Your Honor. You want facts, I'll give you facts. This morning, as the police records show," here, he smoothly passed a folder of records to the judge, "this entire group was caught breaking and entering in our restricted government building, Suite 17 of the Gigalith apartment. Several witnesses saw them enter, so we apprehended them as they exited. Within this building, they would have had access to limitless, top-secret government matters. It is for that reason, alone, that they must be executed as soon as possible."

"Agreed, Velorik-san. Do you wish to respond the honorable demon's argument thus far, Human-san?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Itsuki said, his forehead creased in thought. "We did indeed enter the building in question, and we were arrested there. However, we did so without the knowledge of it being a restricted or government building."

Velorik snorted. "A likely story."

"Go fuck yourself," Daisy recommended, drawing a fiery glare from the judge.

"You see, we aren't spies, but looking for someone very important, on behalf of the Devil-King Forbesii-sama, himself."

"Did it not occur to you to simply call the building's security and ask if this person, supposing they actually exist, was inside?" Velorik mused.

"It did not occur to us at the time," Itsuki said with hesitation. "As I said, we certainly did break and enter, but without knowing it was a forbidden area."

The judge spoke up. "Yet the entire building was invisible and protected by password! If your story is to be believed, you would have to be an incredibly imperceptive person to think that such a place was not off-limits. I do not think it likely that you could obtain the password and enter without some knowledge of breaking into government property."

"I agree," Velorik said. "Moreover, I would like to present to the court-"

"Wait, I have more to say!" Itsuki exclaimed.

"No, you're done. Go on, Velorik-san," the judge ruled.

"As I was saying," Velorik continued, holding another folder above his head as irrefutable evidence, "This is clearly much too strange a group for the Devil-King to send. There is not a single true demon among them!"

The crowd murmured, though I couldn't tell what their reaction was.

"Although this "Rin" looks like one of us, scans of his soul's infrastructure indicate that he is really some magically altered human, clearly formed as either a spy or as an attempt to humiliate us true demons with a deficient copy!"

The crowd roared in support of Velorik this time. I just frowned and concentrated on trying to keep my cool.

"The little girl known as "Primula" is also not really a demon, but in fact a horrific artificial life form, having no biological origin. This can only be taken as evidence that the gods are experimenting with ways to infiltrate our innocent land with dangerous spies, seeking to bring us down! We must kill both of these monstrosities immediately!"

The crowd screamed with approval, this time. Primula looked quite upset, so I held her against my chest, caressing her shoulder gently. Itsuki was calling over and over again for an objection. The judge struck her gavel and called for order.

Once Itsuki was finally given the go-ahead to speak, he stood while Velorik sat down, looking quite satisfied. "I object; the fact that Rin-kun and Primula-chan are genetically modified has nothing to do with our being here. It is simply a coincidence."

"Their presence together seems to be too unlikely to a coincidence to be ignored in this case, Human-san," the judge said.

"But it really does have nothing to do with the matter at hand."

"Oh, but it does," the judge remarked. "None of you are demons, as the honorable Velorik-san pointed out. Two of you are gods, moreover, whom a demon should never associate with. Therefore, your earlier fib about working for the Devil-King seems even less likely. Tell me, do you have any evidence at all that can support that claim?"

"Yes," I said, standing up and taking from my pocket the beautiful ring that Forbesii gave me. "Forbesii-sama gave me this ring, which I am to deliver to the person we are seeking. He also gave me some funds for our journey," I said, putting the cash on the table, next to the ring. "There must be some trace of DNA, fingerprints, or something that leads back to Forbesii-sama."

"Confiscate these materials, guards, and analyze them," the judge said, and an armored demon approached and grabbed the stuff. I winced to see the ring leave my sight before I could give it to Nerine.

"Objection, Your Honor," the prosecutor sneered. "One miserable ring and some money can't possibly support these dangerous criminals' claim that they broke into our base and stole our secrets on the orders of our King. They could have just stolen it from him, or, he could indeed have given it to this fake demon, not realizing what kind of creature he was…that has nothing to do with their treasonous actions!"

I silently wished a painful death on the prosecutor.

"Objection denied," the judge said, taking a sip from a mug of some unknown beverage. "This will give us basic evidence of whether there is any truth at all to what they are saying about being aligned with Forbesii-sama." She looked at Itsuki. "You. Human-san."

"Yes, Your Honor?"

"Who is it that you claim to be looking for, on behalf of Forbesii-sama?"

"That is top-secret information, I believe," Itsuki said, making eye-contact with me as I nodded an affirmation. "But it is of utmost importance to the Devil-King that we continue our search and find this person, if at all possible."

The judge nodded slowly. "I see."

"If I may, I have one last piece of evidence I'd like to present before summoning the witnesses, Your Honor," Velorik said, gesturing pretentiously.

"Go right ahead."

Velorik scoffed and approached the bench where we sat. "Our investigators noticed a piece of spy equipment on one of the spy gods."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded crossly.

Velorik walked over and plucked something from the wide-eyed Daisy's large breast, a small piece of metal decoration that I hadn't noticed before.

"How dare you!" she snarled, holding her breast protectively with one hand while getting out of her seat to glare at Velorik with renewed vigor.

"What is this fixture, my young god harlot?" Velorik asked her, taking some steps back and holding the tiny, glittering metal for all to see.

"I-it's just a piece of jewelry," Daisy growled. Uh-oh. She was nervous. What the hell? What is it, anyway? And how dare she wear something like that, which could jeopardize our mission?

"Hmm, I see," Velorik said, taking the badge apart. "Then, you mean to say that you had no idea that this was an intricately designed radio/video-transmitter that is broadcasting everything it observes to another dimension?"

Everyone was silent. What…the…FUCK, Daisy? Asa caressed me and held me tightly, in an effort to calm my burning rage. Daisy shakily lowered herself back to her seat.

"You see, Your Honor, this flashing light within?" Velorik said, showing it to the judge, who paled at the sight. "This make of radio/video-transmitters is known to me. Rasba is the company name." He whirled around to speak to the audience. "Who is to say how many of our precious government secrets have already been leaked to the gods? This act may well lead to war!"

Everyone behind us cheered. Apparently this city was just itching to go to war with the God Realm.

"Do you have a response, Human-san?" the judge addressed Itsuki, who stood up, looking irritated.

"No, except that…none of us knew that she was wearing such a transmitter."

"A pathetic defense!" Velorik snorted.

The judge nodded as the now-humbled Itsuki sank back to his seat. "We will now move into the witness stage of the proceedings. Velorik-san, you have the floor."

The first witness was the captain of Bark's family guild, whom we'd left bleeding in the desert. After he swore to speak the truth and introduced himself, Velorik began interviewing him.

"You say you encountered this group of rabble yesterday, correct, Oku-san?"

"Maaaan, I don't even know what the fuckin' shit a rabble is, or some shit, and guess what, bitch – I don't CARE! hhhHHHAAAAHH! But I'm like, just, minding my own fucking business, jus-jus-jus-taking care of BUSINESS or some shit, you know what I'm saying? hhhHHHAAAAHH! Fuck it. Just suck my dick, you now what I'm saying? And then, like, while I was finishing up or some shit, I heard my clan's fuckin' whistle, you know what I'm saying? It goes like this…"

Before Velorik could stop him, Bark's eldest brother issued a screeching, nightmarishly-loud whistle.

"And what that means, you know what I'm saying, is like, uh, there's, like, some trespassers or some shit, on my fucking property, know what I'm saying? hhhHHHAAAAHH!"

"You hear that?" Velorik exclaimed to the jury. "They TRESPASSED!"

"Don't interrupt me, ya big faggot!" Oku chuckled. "Pissing on my dick, hhhHHHAAAAHH! So, like, if I remember correctly, I came running, or some shit, and here the fuck was this bitch-ass eunuch fuck here," he said, pointing at me.

Asa and Primula both needlessly, but welcomely, hugged me for support. Their warm, stimulated bodies felt more soothing pressed up against me than I imagined nearly anything else possibly could.

"And he was asking me for the prostitutes that I bought or some shit, you know what I'm saying? hhhHHHAAAAHH!"

"He's a thief, then!" Velorik screamed, pointing at me.

"For sure, or some shit, at least. I mean, I gotta be keepin' what's rightfully mine, or some shit! I paid for them titties, I'm-a keeping em. That is, that's what I would say if I still had 'em, or some shit, but the damn semen-dripping bitch that they're lookin' for, she done run off or some shit, you what I'm saying? hhhHHHAAAAHH! So, what do I do? I jus-jus try to be nice and offer 'em the use of some of our hoes, right, while complimenting the fantastic fuckin' looks of their OWN bitches, you know what I'm saying? And then, then, then…they up and started fighting us. Like, fucking mowing me and my brothers down, one by one! They killed most of us, I'm not even gonna lie to ya, and it was completely motherfucking balls-up unwarranted, or some shit, you what I'm saying? hhhHHHAAAAHH!"

Itsuki stood up and cleared his throat gently. "If I may…"

"Oh, absolutely," Velorik sneered. "Try and worm your way out of it, there's a good lad."

"Why thank you, honorable prosecutor," Itsuki said, bowing his head a moment. "Now, Oku-san, do you mean to be saying that you had not first kidnapped one of our team, and were not impaling her on a sword at the time of attack?"

"Well yeah, but, I mean, ain't no fat, green-haired bitches like her that are gonna be saying no to my motherfucking pleasuring her or some shit!" Oku laughed gregariously, looking around and holding his arms out in an effort to look like an everyman.

"You were torturing Asa-sempai, correct?"

"Yup! Her pussy and asshole were DAMN awesome! I daresay she's a virgin, too, which is, you know, pretty rare for a prostitute," Oku grinned sunnily.

"And we only attacked you after you had been mutilating her, is that correct?"

"Yup, I don't even know why you'd jump a man when he's pleasuring himself on a fresh young slut! That's pretty dishonorable of you, you gay fucker! You should know better!"

Velorik massaged his temples. "This isn't important," he said to the jury and judge. "The fact is, this dangerous young group turned to violence and mass mayhem as their first resort. This, as you will see, is only one of many altercations they have been involved with in the past few days."

"It is completely important," Itsuki pressed. "We may have been quick to attack, but to contend that it was unprovoked is preposterous!"

As Velorik was about to argue back, the judge intervened. "I, unfortunately, agree with the human here, Velorik-san. Now, get this…APE out of my witness box!"

"Oh, you know you want some of this dick, Your Fucking Honor!" Oku said, standing up and stroking his erect cock in front of her, through his loincloth. "All you gotta do is ask, or some shit, you know wh…"

"Alright, here we go," Velorik hurriedly came up and dragged Oku down from the floor, as some of the winged demons circling the courtroom had begun to aim at him.

Oku ran his slime-covered hand through Primula's hair as he walked by, and I could feel her whole body tense up in preparation for murderous retribution.

"Easy, Primu-chan, easy," I murmured, holding her close and massaging her cheek and neckbones. Her body immediately loosened up, and she cuddled up to me again, the smell of her activated pheromones wafting up to my nose.

Itsuki was able to sway the judge on that one, but I was worried that the next witnesses wouldn't be so easy to vilify.

Next, I was dismayed to see the manager of Phantom Fair get led in. He looked quite happy this time, and I was confused why he would be, at first, but then I realized that he thought he might get some publicity for his dying park this way.

As the manager introduced himself and took the oath, Itsuki began quickly thumbing through a book of law that he had requested from the court, clearly seeking a direction for us to pursue in our quest for innocence and getting the fuck out of here.

Once the obtuse man squished into the witness box, Velorik leaned back against his own bench and began speaking to the jury, judge, and audience in his inimitable way. "This demon you see before you is one owner of none other than the sole theme park with rides entirely composed of living matter."

"And they're each living, too," the manager put in with a goofy grin.

"Indeed, and that is very important for this case, so I'm glad you brought it up, Naniyo-san. Now then, this man is well-respected as a scientist, and is an honest businessman who's running a true miracle of technology."

Naniyo, the manager, looked positively delighted to be having so many positive things being said about him in one breath.

"Now then, can you tell me what happened yesterday when the group entered your park?"

"Well, they came in without paying…" Naniyo began.

"NO!" Velorik gasped dramatically, looking out at the audience with significance. Dutifully, they all gasped as well.

"S-so then I gave them my welcome routine, offering them to ride whatever they wanted for free, and explaining the nature of my creations' lives."

"And, what is that nature, exactly? Do they have emotions? Aspirations? Can they feel love and pain?" Velorik questioned about the matter with such false concern in his voice that I felt like taking a chainsaw to his throat.

"Oh, absolutely, my babies are as alive as you and me. They love, and get great pleasure and feelings of accomplishment from giving people rides. They are completely sentient, are easily hurt, but have no degree of aggression. In a sense, they are more pure, good life forms than a normal person of one of the three races."

"That is fascinating," Velorik gasped theatrically. "So, what did this group of infidels do, upon hearing the nature of these living beings?" he asked, pointing at us.

Everyone at our table was wincing, especially Daisy.

"Well, after saying that they were unnatural, unlikable, and generally insulting them, despite my babies' capacity to contain only pure feelings," Naniyo said, sniffling. "They…they KILLED MY KOKO-CHAN!" he broke down and started crying.

I looked around the room and saw the demons in attendance all looking very sympathetic to the manager. Many were also tearing up.

"And, um…who was Koko-chan?" Velorik asked comfortingly.

"She was one of the pods on my loop-de-loop," Naniyo sobbed. "She was a very sweet and sensitive girl, and all she wanted was someone to ride on her and love her."

"Why did they kill her, though? Was there any reason?"

"No, they were just offended by their existence…"

"You see?" Velorik said gravely, turning back to the audience. "These gods and their genetically-modified servants are all completely against our brilliant, pure creation! It's jealousy, that's what it is, and we must NOT stand for them seeking to destroy our culture!" he roared.

The audience applauded. Velorik bowed and took a seat.

"May I ask the witness some questions, Your Honor?" Itsuki asked. Tsubomi was massaging his leg as he stood up.

"Yes, go ahead, Human-san," the judge said with a nod.

"Thank you, Your Honor. Now, Naniyo-san, do you recall what my group said we were looking for at your park?"

"Uh, y-yes…" he sniffled.

"What was it?"

"You were looking for a demon girl with blue hair, wh-who you said had gone there," he said twisting nervously.

"Right," Itsuki said with a nod, looking at the judge and jury significantly. "Do you also remember refusing to give the location of the Coquelicot Club, which is located under your park?"

"Yes, but…I didn't think you were going to kill my Koko-chan for that…"

"Indeed. That was a mistake, and we regret it completely."

"Regret doesn't mean a thing in the face of cold-blooded MURDER!" Velorik sneered from his chair. "And, who cares if you claimed you were looking for someone there? Is it not possible that you simply used that same story as an excuse here as well?"

"I agree with both of those sentiments," Itsuki nodded, "but I was just pointing out that we have not changed our story, and, therefore, we are more likely to be telling the truth. Especially if we only slaughtered one of Naniyo-san's rides in order to pressure him into locating the club, which supposedly was housing the girl we are looking for." Itsuki looked to Naniyo. "Can you confirm that we were holding your rides hostage in order to discern the location of the Coquelicot club?"

"Y-yes, I can. But you guys are mean…"

"Yes we are. And, do you recall telling us that the girl we were looking for was probably inside this club?"

"…I do."

"So, everyone," Itsuki turned to the audience, but with much more calmness than Velorik had. "Does this evidence not seem to hint that our story is correct, in that we are actually desperately looking for one single person, rather than randomly attacking places and disturbing the peace in order to carry out some supposed god-ordained agenda? I implore you to ask yourselves which makes more sense, as a story. Thank you." Itsuki sat, and Tsubomi immediately enveloped him in a passionate hug. Daisy lightly patted him on the back, too.

"Are there no more questions for the witness?" the judge asked. "Very well. Call in the third and final witness for the prosecution."

As Naniyo was lead out, I jumped in my seat when Moonbite appeared in her Cyclops form, towering over me. Her eyes were only on me.

I turned to Asa and Primula, but both of them were only looking at me in concern. The air grew frigid and decayed around me.

"MMmmmm, my little…SSSSSSSS!...Rin-kun…it seems like you'vvvvve…got yourself in trouble…again!" she sneered, green pus dripping from her fangs.

I nodded.

"It seems as though…MMMM…you're not learning, my dear, little slut! All these bad things keep happening to you because…why? Oh, yes, because you're IGNORING MY WILL!"

Huh. She definitely had my full attention, now.

"You ARE me, you pathetic…MMMMEMEM…FUCK! Your inability to act according to your nature is causing a….HHHHHMMMMMM…dissonance. And, since you're not…learning, do you know what negative outcome awaits you next?" She leaned over, her rotting, tentacle-covered face pressing into mine. It was like looking into the face of insanity. "Primula."

"P-Primu-chan?" I asked, my blood turning cold.

Primula looked at me in concern, still not noticing the monster I was mouth-to-mouth with. "What's the matter, Rin-kun?" she asked in her incredibly cute voice.

"I…will kill her…" Moonbite whispered, her creamy, rotten tongue slurping against my face.

I gasped.

"If you don't stop this pointless quest now, and give in to being me…I will kill her myself…" she sounded eerily serious. "Do you understand? Do you want her to die?"

I shook my head as emphatically as possible.

Her mouth twisted into a hideous, black, bleeding-gummed smile. "Goood. Then you must become one with me, one with ME, my precious Rin-kun." Her gigantic, pus-covered hand caressed the side of my head. "You won't get another warning. It will be no one's fault…HMMMMMMMM!...but your own, if she dies. I trust you'll do the right thing."

She disappeared in a flash, leaving me shaken. What…could I possibly do NOW? Maybe if I'm always holding onto Primula? Damn it, but maybe Moonbite will kill her by using me. I am her now, after all. What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck! WHY DOES PRIMULA HAVE TO DIE?

The final witness was the ruby-haired owner of the woman-renting bar, the Oceliquot Club. Still wearing a suit of revealing armor, she made sure to slide her finger down the chin of many demons as she walked down the aisle to the witness box. She took her oath and introduced herself as Kerinna. I could barely keep myself interested in the proceedings now, though, instead just looking at Primula furtively, thinking solely about her. I want to save Nerine, too! It's not fair! What business is it of Moonbite's, who lives and dies! FUCK! I distracted myself from my disturbing questions by observing what Kerinna had to say.

"So, Kerinna-san, have you encountered these lowlifes before, in your bar?" Velorik began.

She nodded, looking at each of us with half-closed, smiling eyes. "Mmmm, yesss…they came in yesterday."

"And what did they do?" Velorik continued. "Did they behave like normal customers, ordering a drink and possibly a prostitute to bring home?"

"No, but I wish they did!" Kerinna said, pouting as she glared at us prettily. "I offered them my girls for free, and they still turned them down."

"Did you feel insulted? That these foreigners were turning away your pureblood, demon-born girls?"

"Yes I did!" Kerinna shouted, as if she had only just now realized her feelings on the subject.

"Now; did they cause any disturbances therein? It seems they have a way of causing damage, wherever they go."

"Yes," Kerinna said, folding her arms. "They slaughtered all my prized warriors, murdering everyone, when they were only supposed to knock them unconscious, for sport."

"I see, that's horrible!"

"They even killed my precious Ziroktula beast, which had cost me millions of kals to capture! Now, it's all wasted!"

"That's unthinkable! Despicable, even."

"Yeah, yeah, and, guess what? After that…" Kerinna took a deep breath. "The demon man there, with the ugly face? He hadn't had enough, and went after me! He beat me up, knocking my face against a wooden bar over and over again! And then he stomped on my neck a few times! He could have killed me! It's a miracle I survived! Then, to insult me further, he didn't even pay me for letting him beat me up…" She looked quite despondent.

"It's alright, it's all over now. Very soon, he will be munching on his own, sliced-up genitals," Velorik said, patting the prostitute consolingly on her bare shoulder. She blushed and smiled shyly at him, pulling his hand down inside her armor so he could feel her breasts.

The judge knocked her gavel. "Velorik-san, you will not molest the witness in this sacred chamber."

Velorik jumped and hurriedly withdrew his hand. Kerinna gasped in pleasure, arching her back. "I…I have no further questions for the witness," he said nervously, returning to his seat while trying unsuccessfully to hide his erection.

The judge nodded and turned to Itsuki. "Human-san, do you have anything you wish to ask the witness?"

"Yes," he said, rising again. "Um, Kerinna-san, do you remember my client," he began, gesturing at me, "asking you about whether a missing person with blue hair was employed as one of your girls?"

"I do not!" Kerinna lied. "He and the violet-haired slut there just went berserk and killed everyone."

"Who does she think she's calling a slut?" I heard Daisy whisper to Matsuri.

"So," Itsuki said, stroking his chin. "How was it that my client wound up fighting your prized warriors, then?"

"He found his way there, somehow, and killed them, just for the sport of it. I think he just hates all demons!" the prostitute pouted, folding her arms.

"Ah. My client claims that he fought your warriors as part of an agreement with you."

"No!" she snapped.

"He says you promised to show him your records…"

"No way!"

"…which contained the missing person's information…"

"Shut up!"

"…if he fought for you for entertainment purposes."

"NO!"

"Is this not true?"

"Shut up, stop talking to me, you tiny-dicked fuck!" the prostitute roared. "Why are you ignoring me? I said, NO!"

"Human-san, please stop infuriating the witness," the judge ruled.

"My apologies, Your Honor," Itsuki said. "Now, then Kerinna-san, I have one last question for you."

She glowered at him for a bit but eventually nodded, her eyes closed.

"What instigated my client's assault on you? You've already described the result…"

"I already told you, he just ravenously attacked me, for no reason at all! I kept trying to offer him my best girls, to calm him down, but he was just set on hurting me! He's a perverted, sadist freak!"

"Do you remember anything about when he first approached you?"

"I think so. The memory's kind of hazy, though."

"Tell us about it."

"I came forward to congratulate him on killing so many great warriors, despite the fact that they meant so much to me. I only wanted him to calm down and not hurt anyone else, you see," the woman continued to lie. "But he just called me an ugly demon whore and started mutilating me! That's it."

"I-I see. Thank you for your time," Itsuki said, bowing politely.

"Fuck off," she growled, tossing her hair. She was soon led from the floor.

"Now then," the judge said, "Would the defense's first witness come up to the floor?"

"I, uh, could we take a brief recess?" Itsuki asked in a small voice. "We need time to gather our witnesses, you see."

Although Velorik was shaking his head in as strong opposition to the idea as he could muster, the judge nodded and said, "Agreed. You will have six hours to yourselves in our prison cells. You should therein say your last goodbyes to one another. I trust this will be sufficient?"

"Absolutely! Thank you, Your Honor," Itsuki bowed to her again.

I hugged both Primula and Asa to comfort them as we stood up to be escorted to the prison cell. I hoped Itsuki had some trick up his sleeve. I didn't have a great read on the jury's opinion so far, but I would guess that they were siding against us at the moment, seeing as they were all from this bigoted city and were mostly dancing in the palm of Velorik's hand.

I must find a way to protect everyone! I can't have anyone else getting hurt from my mistakes…

I took comfort in the exquisite shape of Primula's back, which was covered only by a very thin shirt, as I followed her into the darkness of the Soul City. My temptations to give in to her desperate romantic advances grew every day…maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give her what she wanted? She, and the rest of us anyway, might die soon, and I'm not yet married…also I'm not sure what to do about Asa, since I don't want to infuriate Matsuri. I owe myself to Nerine, now, too. Damn. This is such a touchy situation.

I guess I'll wait and see, once we get to the cell…

I could feel Moonbite's eye on me as we were lead through the darkness. She was waiting…waiting for me to embrace my insanity. Demanding for me to.

What can I do? Please, Divine Scionness, God, ANY HIGHER POWER! Help me!

A/N: Tee-hee, I wish this story was an anime. I think it would at least give Higurashi and Elfen Lied a run for most gross-out/psychotic moments. And then I'd start to get blamed for school shootings and suicides and all that kind of fun stuff. (I'm drunk at the moment, so I apologize if I'm being slightly offensive)

Wow, both Rin and Kaede found themselves in a bad place in this chapter! This story is stressing me out! I hope you guys are feeling the heat! Let me know if you'd like Rin to buckle down and try to make some progress with one of his party members! :)

Also, just for the record, I don't have a scat fetish. At all. I find the very thought abominable. Hence, its presence in this story as a horror item. So, don't go thinking that I'm into the whole shit-smearing thing. B/c then I'd be sad or some shit. :(

A few notes about missing details surrounding the story:

1. The gods can only heal if the wound was incurred within 12 hours prior. That is why Rin's original eye never grew back despite all of Sia's healing sessions all those chapters ago.

2. "Itsuki's weapon" that Rin refers to in the Gigalith Apartment is a spiral sword he acquired during the fight with the Binral Guild (Bark's family).

3. Moonbite wasn't lying; Kaede has killed Rin, against Moonbite's will, many times in other versions of reality. This is part of the reason for Moonbite's slip into insanity.

4. Kaede is on the pill. Whether that will do any good against Moonbite's magically-altered seed remains to be seen, however.

If you want more, then review! If you hated it, then also review! And, if you have more questions, I'd be thrilled to answer them!

Also, thanks, everyone who regularly reviews. You're the only reason this story is still going. :)

Ciao!

p.s. - I'll give cake to anyone who catches the Ar tonelico reference in this chapter!