Chapter 69 - The Dao Of Letting Go

The morning had come, signaling the end of the five-hour-long nightmare.

Akira, Ai, and the [Scrawny Monk] were among the handful of trial-takers, out of the thirty or so that had entered, to make it out with their lives. Kanna had survived as well, to be quickly carted away for it to be seen if anything could be done about her arms.

These four were taken out to the mouth of the Hidden Dragon cave, where a crowd of friends and loved ones of the trial-takers were waiting when the few surviving acolytes and the elders had emerged. Kiki was among those present, her heart sinking when Akira emerged with a blankly staring face covered in scratch marks and dried blood splatter. Her gi hanging lazily off her, untied. A look of one who has been through Hell and back.

As Kiki approached, she saw Akira was grasping a scuffed black Mage's hat in front of their chest.

"You tried to fight them," she said.

Akira stared into Kiki's concerned black eyes for a moment, a sorrow-filled smile slowly spreading across her lips.

"We should stop seeing each other."

"Akira!"

She began to amble away in a slow gait, her tail dragging across the rocky ground. The crowd of friends and family of the other trial-takers silently parted to let her pass, watching her with somber dread while they could only imagine what unequivocal horrors she'd just been put through.

Kiki was watching with them, too shocked to speak.

Ai appeared at her side, looking bored, with their arms crossed behind their head. "All strut and no substance, that one," she said coldly. "Like most guys."

Kiki turned to her sharply. "What are you saying?"

"Akira. He's worthless as a man."

"That's not true at all!"

Ai gave a sadistic giggle. "You've never even taken a dick before, have you, sweetie?"

Kiki was taken aback. "I…"

"That's why. You're still inexperienced, but take it from me"—she rubbed her hands along the slope of her pregnant belly—"as someone who's gone through this before, in their past life, I can tell you nothing puts things into perspective more than your first time with a man."

Kiki was blushing, with an angry stare; unsettled by such crude talk. 

"He's all torn up about you, you know."

Ai's gaze narrowed. "I know."

"You know, and yet you're still constantly rubbing it in his face.

"What did you say to him in there!?"

Ai sighed, shaking her head with her eyes closed as she lowered her hands from behind her head, to prop on her hips.

"This is a new low, even for Akira!"

"What is?" Kiki snapped.

Ai glared. "Having his women fight his battles for him."

Kanna had heard enough.

She struck Ai across the face, infusing a little chi into it for some added oomph.

"Is that what you think this is?" Kiki seethed, her voice raised. "Not because I care about him? Unlike an evil, conniving little bitch like you!

"You're no better than the snobby slut girls who used to make my life a living Hell!"

Ai was nursing her face, with a surprised look.

"Wow. I see you've grown some balls."

"Yeah! And it's all thanks to Akira. The man you call 'useless,' who saw something in me that no one else did.

"I won't ever forget what I owe him!"

Ai huffed, then, crossing her arms against her chest and turning away.

"Okay," she hastily said, after a few moments had passed, when she returned to Kiki with a stern look, pointing a finger toward the open mouth of the cave. "Well, if you're his woman now, and he matters so much to you, then maybe you should go be by his side," she said; then adding, with a mournful glance inward, "in case he tries to do something stupid."

Kiki briefly froze with a confused stare, before recalling the hat she'd witnessed Akira was holding.

Then, her face widened in horror. 

"Oh God," she gasped, in realization.

Ai frowned, her intense gaze wavering slightly. "Y-yeah. He could use a friend right now."

At that moment, Kiki gave a relieved smile.

"Deep down: you still do care about him, don't you?"

Ai lowered her forlorn gaze, clutching the underside of her belly. Through the barrier of firmed skin, she could feel the chill, writhing currents of unfathomable darkness glide against her fingers. Whispers of a cataclysmic evil brewing within, the master of which had recently fallen eerily silent.

"Please don't tell him," she told Kiki, without lifting her gaze: facing the world-shattering blight upon her belly with contempt. "It's better if he hates me."

Kiki nodded, with a sad frown. She wanted to ask more, but it didn't feel like her place.

"Still, there's one thing he needs to know."

...

Akira ran out of the monastery in a crying rage, still clutching dearly unto Vash's hat.

'Everyone's...going away…

'Dying…

'And I can't make it stop!'

She plunged into the wheatfields, uncaring of the thousands of cuts incurred by the forest of sharp-bladed leafy limbs slicing into her face and neck and flinging arms.

Last night was the straw that had finally broken her.

When Vash's head had exploded, right before her eyes; with a sickening sound cracking, squishing, crunching noise; in an eruption of spraying pieces of bone and blood, and chunks of brain, some of it slathering warmly across her bewildered face.

Kanna turned pale as a ghost.

"V-V-Vash?!"

With a single hard pull of its jawed grip, Purple Fox ripped a huge, dripping chunk of flesh from the lifeless body's shoulder, pulling off the now bloodstained plain white gi with it; letting the beautiful, bare-chested torso flop pathetically to the floor, with the Squell tail dropping over it like a covering shroud.

Akira was panting hard. Her eyes wide, staring at Vash's limp form. Kanna unleashed another long, agonized yell, before breaking into a string of loud, frantic sobs.

Vash: Akira's oldest friend in this world, and trusty second-in-command...

Was dead!

With the cause of the explosion being—

A [Chi Blast], fired from the doorway, from the upheld palm of an inexplicably fully restored [Yellow Bunny]!

Akira couldn't believe her eyes.

"But I shot that fucking bastard into pieces!"

Tears were streaming down her face as she held up the [Gandiva], in her quaking grip, to shoot at it again—

But Purple Fox was already in front of her!

It let out a shrill, high-pitched wail, swinging its hook-arm to attack. 

But Akira blocked it with the [Gandiva], resisting the golem's superior might as best she could, watching tensely as cracks started to form along with the bow's polished wooden design. 

Glancing over, she saw Yellow Bunny drawing closer.

"Damn it!" She had to move.

She jammed a knee into Purple Fox, providing her with enough space to lunge away, but felt a hand grab her ankle as the golem had recovered quickly enough to react.

Kanna was sensible again, watching all this unfold with no way to contribute, glancing around frantically until she saw it:

"No! No! No! No! No!" 

She became irate, slamming her body against the floor repeatedly in a state of madness as two towering formations of clay, seemingly drawn through pores in the tiled floor, gradually began to grow and take shape before her.

Meanwhile, Akira was having her clothes ripped away by Purple Fox, while Blue Bunny held her pinned against the floor with its feet on her palms.

She recalled the words spoken by Kiki:

"You need to let them have their way with you."

And by the bookish monk:

"Have to...give yourself...to them…

"Sexually."

As well as something said by the elders:

"Remember the Dao, and you will attain transcendence."

'The...Dao?' It certainly rang a bell. Akira Maximilian, as a natural non-believer, never paid much attention to the spiritual teachings the elders would give during the lessons at the monastery. However, this "Dao" concept seemed especially salient to the snake oil they were desperately trying to sell.

'How'd it...go again?' Akira thought absently, fleeing for refuge in the confines of her mind while the golems proceeded to have their ways with her.

Purple Fox was taking her from behind, with her legs curled beneath her so that the knees were pressed against the floor and her lower back was arched into the air; her wide asscheeks clapping with every pounding thrust of its smooth, anatomically correct earthenware member through her well-buried backdoor.

Yellow Bunny was in the front, keeping her head up and locked in place by a tight grip on her hair while it invaded the inside of her mouth, scraping the back of her throat with its intricately sculpted perfectly round-headed glans.

She heard a repetitive noise, like someone being viciously slapped across the face, and glanced over to see Kanna receiving the same treatment from Red Bear and Black Cock; being spanked by the latter as he was taking her from behind.

The further the golems continued, the larger and more engorged their chi-infused members became.

'Oh, right. The Dao is…' Akira drunkenly recollected, just as she could feel the [Condensed Chi] spurting through her insides like lukewarm lava flows, erupting from the charged-to-capacity clay-crafted cocks.

'Let go of earthly pride and possessions...'

Kanna was loudly sputtering, coughing up the radioactively glowing yellow gunk onto the floor. Until Red Bear, with an aggravated growl—presumably from seeing so much high-quality chi being wasted—proceeded to pull her up by the hair and continue the feeding with her now stood up on her knees and her head tilted up, preventing any further "accidental" spills.

'Follow the flow, and achieve harmony with nature.'

"Hey, Akira," Ai tauntingly whispered into her ear suddenly, whilst remaining safely hidden in her [Stealth]. "I got my chi powers! I did it by tasting some of the stuff that came out of the fox golem when it had fun with that scared little monk."

Akira made no attempt at a response, her mouth being far too full at the moment.

"That's a funny face you're wearing," Ai said with a giggle. "There are still four hours left until sunrise, so you'd better get comfortable."

Why was she being like this…?

Akira could understand Kanna, but why would Ai be so cruel?

Oh, the demonic fetus. That's right.

The demonic fetus. Demonic fetus. De—

"You know, it's not because of the demon I'm carrying that I've been acting like this."

Akira's eyes widened. 'What?'

"Don't act so surprised. You've always known I have a dark side"—she giggled—"it's a requirement to survive long in a world like this, as a woman."

Akira was coming against her will when Ai lowered a finger to her jostling thigh.

"This is our strongest weapon," Ai said, running a finger inside of her most sensitive part: Delicately circling. Feeling around. "Men kill, and wage wars for this.

"Become slaves for this…"

Her finger grazed the exact right spot, causing Akira's mind to go blank.

"Give it to any man, and he'll become your bravest warrior. Your most ardent defender. That's why it should always be the most powerful man you can find."

Her words were like a knife through Akira's heart.

'So...I've just been replaced, is all.'

Then Ai smiled as if she could read their thoughts.

"Don't take it personally, Akira." 

She plunged all five of her fingers into Akira at once, causing her to almost choke on her constantly replenishing mouthful of guzzling chi.

"It's just strictly business."

Akira ran out into the wheatfield clearing, searching around desperately for signs of any life, where there were none.

"Here I am, you furry bastards!

"Come on and kill me!"

She dropped to her knees, hiding her face in her palms.

Vash's hat was in her lap.

Vash's [Business Tie] was in her palm, pressed against her face.

"I don't even give a shit anymore..."

Kiki stepped out into the clearing, to find her like this. She'd had a hunch that Akira would come here, and was glad to be right.

No words were exchanged—only a warm embrace.