Chapter 66 - Five Hours At Red Bear's (Part I)

Once the engraved doors were opened, at approximately twenty-five minutes before midnight, all chatter among the acolytes immediately ceased as the elders proceeded to quickly usher them into a pitch-black space, with a roughly hewn stone-tiled floor.

While everyone was filing inside, some elders started to feel along the stone walls in the dark, lit only by their radiantly glowing fists and the main group's torches. Until they each came across one of three unique engravings, set apart on the two opposing adjacent walls and the one farthest from where the group had entered. 

These engravings came lit; gradually bathing the room in a dim, fluorescent glow when exposed to chi fired from the elders' hands, bearing designs that Akira recognized from the door engravings:

A bear. A chicken. A rabbit. The only one missing, being the fox.

Before setting out for the cave that evening, the elders had briefed the entire group on each of the four golems and their chi manifestation specialties.

Therefore, Akira knew more about the golems than their environment, as the group's surroundings gradually came into clear view for the first time, through the enduring light of the wall engravings. Revealed to be a large, square-shaped chamber carved into the cavernous rock; centered by what looked to be a control terminal, with two large levers, despite its anachronistically antiquated stone design.

Once all were shuffled in, the doors were promptly sealed shut behind them.

Akira had been holding hands with Vash still, and now glanced over to see them gazing around in fascination. "We have just entered the first pizza parlor in all of Nirvana," they said.

Akira furrowed her brow. "Reminds me of that squirrel temple…"

"Yes!" Vash exclaimed, exuberantly nodding. "It's the same civilization that constructed both. And though It doesn't seem like there's much that is properly known about them, a theory exists that they're ancient humans who somehow entered into Nirvana before the Deep Karma system was even created."

"They invented Sicilian Pizza before the Sicilians even existed in our world!"

Akira yawned. "Huh? That's crazy..."

"Yeah, I know right?!" Vash said, her excitement growing. "Not only that, but these ancient peoples, called the Deviants, also invented—"

"Ow!" Vash loudly yelped, when Kanna suddenly pinched her on the ear. 

"There you are, my favorite husband," she tauntingly said, grinning with seething resentment at Akira as Vash was squealing in her gasp. "I thought I warned you against leaving your woman's side like that!" she said in a patronizing tone.

"Because I might just wander off from your side, too."

"Y-yes, dear," Vash groaned in reply.

Following this short exchange, Kanna was turning, about to drag Vash away, when Akira quickly snatched them by their other arm.

"Hey! Don't handle my wife so roughly!"

Kanna scoffed. "Your wife?! She's my husband now!" 

A game of shared lovers tug of war then ensued; with Vash, unfortunately, stuck in the middle, pathetically wailing as each woman took turns trying to wrest her from the other at full strength, loudly grunting and groaning, with neither showing any willingness to concede, until...

"Oh, Akira!" Ai said as she was stepping into view outside of the crowd of acolytes. "Kanna and Vash, too?" she said, turning wide-eyed before breaking out into a giggle. "Wow! The whole gang's here!" 

Akira instantly fell silent. 

She hadn't seen Ai up close in some time, and never before this sexy...

Dressed in an unbuttoned plain white karate gi, with the same flame-patterned bikini Akira saw her in earlier poking out: the top being stretched to its absolute limit in a thin strip that just barely contained her bulging, sagging breasts; the similarly scant bottom allowing for a full view of her huge, plush brown thighs full of accumulated maternal fat, that glistened with sweat from even the slightest exertion.

"Ai!" Kanna and Vash exclaimed after all three had turned to face her. Both instantly rushing forward to leave just Akira behind, listing with her mouth hung wide open. A drained husk.

"You're here!" Vash said to Ai, landing a quick kiss on her forehead. "I thought you said you weren't going to fight anymore?

Ai beamed. "Mhm! I came here to learn how to heal," she replied, holding her arms up in excitement. "It's important for a devout wife to be able to heal her adventurer husband's wounds, after a long day crawling through dungeons."

Kanna nudged Akira with her elbow, laughing. "Didya hear that, Akira? Ai-mama is really becoming the perfect woman, don't ya think?"

Akira had heard, but couldn't respond.

Neither could she stop staring blankly at Ai, wondering how it ever became like this.

Then, she remembered demonic fetus. How she'd guessed it was distorting her mind.

'Oh, right. That's the reason.'

But still, a guess was just a guess. And guesses could be completely off the mark.

So, what if that wasn't the real issue?

What if Ai had actually…

Moved on?

Seeing Akira's despondence as an opportunity, Kanna stormed forward; nonetheless with a pleasant, cheerful close-eyed smile, as she leaned against Ai's shoulder.

"Ai-mama! You're looking so mature now."

Ai giggled. "Thanks, Kanna-sis. You're lovely as ever, too."

"But nowhere near as lovely as you, Ai-mama! And so squeezably plump—" she said as she playfully gripped Ai's side with one hand, whilst peering through one eye to delight in Akira's further expression of shrinking pride. "Is your husband okay with this?"

"Actually, Guy-kun thinks I'm even cuter like this," she brightly answered, then began twiddling her fingers with a smiling, timid look.

"He wants me to grow even bigger."

At last, this served as Akira's ultimate breaking point.

The point where she could no longer endure the sickening arousal, combined with the pain of seeing Ai like this: speaking so tenderly about her relationship with another man, who had thoroughly claimed their heart. As if she wasn't even there.

"Ai-chan," she said seriously, shakily stepping forward. "It's too dangerous for the baby! You had best go back."

"Guy-Kun said it would be fine," Ai briskly replied with a gentle handwave, thus marking the first incident of the two once-close lovers conversing, beyond just casual greetings, in the past several days. "He heard from the elders that you would be taking the trial"—she bumped her pregnant belly against Akira's thigh, grinning mischievously —"and of course, you'd never let anything happen to your former wife and her child, now would you?"

At that moment, Akira wanted to die. Preferably, from being smothered between Ai's incredible breasts or thighs, while they insulted her for being useless as a man. And then Kiki could join in, kissing Ai on the lips while professing their undying love for them, in the seconds before her consciousness faded for the last time…

'Fuck this fucked up world, for making me even think such thoughts,' she thought glibly; as insanely, a small group of women was proving to be far more difficult to manage than a multinational billion-dollar corporation.

It was approximately one minute before the hour of midnight when a pair of elders walked up to the strange stone terminal at the center of the room, each taking a position next to one of the levers there.

Both levers were pulled, causing two metal slab doors situated on the opposing adjacent walls to instantly bolt open.

"This room we reside in now is called the safe room!" said one of the two elders. "The two doors that just opened lead to hallways, which will take you to the other parts of the restaurant!"

The second monk chimed in: "We shall remain in this room to keep it secure"—then from his inventory, he pulled out an item resembling a stone tablet computer—"we shall be tracking the movements of the fiends with our POV Cameras, but are sworn to not intervene with anything that happens beyond this room!"

Vash whispered to Akira, "sounds like their priority is to not let the golems escape."

Akira nodded. "At their students' peril."

Ai clung to her arm. "Remember, it's your job to protect me, Akira!"

Akira's stomach churned.

"R-r-right," she answered, rustling Ai's hair. Doing so, with a growing sense of unease while staring into her plainly serious, unmoved expression—instead of the brimming smile she once knew.

'Like she's completely lost all feelings for me.'

Akira Maximilian's heart ached just to see her act so indifferently, without any explanation.t As even still, he reminded himself, over and over:

Like a mantra, to stay calm:

It's just the fetus. It's just the fetus. It's just the fetus.

Ai was still Ai, and she needed protecting. And there wasn't an option to simply keep her back in the secure room, either, if she was to unlock her chi powers.

Meaning: there was no easy way out.

Kanna was taking Vash with her, meanwhile, when she stopped to whisper one last thing into Akira's ear:

"If anything happens to Ai—"

"You'll do what?" Akira snapped at her. "I can kick your ass."

Kanna glanced over Akira for a bit, silently fuming and swallowing her lip with a frustrated exhale through her nostrils. Until suddenly, she came back with a facetious grin.

"Maybe I'm still no match for you..." Kanna said as she slowly rotated away, in-arms with a dismayed-looking Vash.

"But there's still Guy-kun to worry about."

Akira's blood ran cold, realizing the dangerous game she was playing.

"That's right," Ai chimed in with a menacing stare. "If you mess this up, my husband will slap you so hard you'll turn back into a man, then stomp on your balls."

Akira gulped, feeling cornered.