Chapter 126 - Fateful Battle: Winner Takes Girl! (Part 2)

A [Maidé Battle] seemed like the best option by which the two could settle their dispute, since outright killing each other was hardly in either Akira or Vash's best interest.

Not that even Vash, in all his anger, could bring himself to do such a thing.

'Truth is, he hasn't committed any grievous crimes against humanity...just yet,' the mercurial magus thought calmly. 'It would be unjust to punish him for something he hasn't yet done—only planning to do." His eyes narrowed as he stared across the glade, toward them. "Granted, his future acts CAN be prevented: perhaps, the shame I would cause Akira-san—by defeating his little girl with mine—would be far too great for him to bear.'

With this being his present train of thought, however, Akira's continued look of confidence was of no small concern to him.

'He wasn't any good at battling before, so why is he so fearless all of a sudden...?'

The truth of it was actually quite simple.

Akira tossed his [Maidé Ball], first: summoning the skeleton-turned-loli, apparently named Alice, at his side.

Or rather, so he had intended…

Because, instead of conjuring Alice, he'd actually chosen the wrong [Maidé Ball]! Thereby conjuring the far less battle-capable corpse of Lorica, to lie uselessly in the snow in front of him!

Vash jumped back, looking horrified. "What the Hell?! Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"No. Hard as it may be to fathom, I am prone to mistakes just like any other." Though stern on the outside, inwardly, Akira was delighted by the little mischief he'd just caused: messing with Vash's emotions before the battle proper could begin, for whatever slight small advantage that would give him.

Though, of course, it wasn't going to be just a standard loli versus loli cage match—which Akira assuredly knew he stood little chance of winning versus a veteran gamer…

"The rules of our match are going to be a little…" He recaptured Lorica's corpse, cracking a grin. "Different."

"What are you thinking, Akira-kun?"

"No weapons; only bare fists. The first [Pocket Maid] to hold the other down for 10 seconds will be announced as the winner." He chuckled. "I guess you could call it a catfight."

"Sounds like something you'll get a thrill out of."

"You're the one who wants to fight me this badly, just to feel you're superior to me in some way," Akira said. "Your supposed heroic ideals, as well as your concern for the plight of the [Pocket Maids] are just a cover for that."

"You don't know me as deeply as you think you do, Akira-kun."

"Is that so? Then why do you have a [Pocket Maid] to begin with, if you object to their existence on grounds of morality? Shouldn't you be refraining from using them?"

Vash bristled. "I captured Bridget to save her from you, asshole."

"And is she in that [Maidé Ball] right now?"

"Bastard," Vash said, freezing in his place. "I only returned her to the [Maidé Ball] because she wanted it. Said she wanted to go swimming at the [Sunny Beach]."

Akira raised an eyebrow. "Similar to how my other girl WANTS to be bred?"

"It's not the same at ALL, daaaamn it!"

Vash, having heard quite enough of Akira's taunts, brought Bridget out of her mini-vacation with a flick of his wrist: appearing before him with a confused look, glancing questioningly at her starkly contrasted surroundings.

"Wow! Master is so needy, considering I only managed to turn over once…"

She glanced at Akira without expression, at first; before abruptly glaring, with her mouth open wide, upon abruptly recognizing him.

"Eh?! It's that asshole who almost killed me before!"

Vash nodded. "He will be our opponent."

"Oh, yeah...?" Bridget looked extraordinarily pleased, turning back to Akira with her fist grinding into her palm. "Well, it'd be my pleasure to smash this joker's face in."

"Apologies, dear," Akira said. "But he wasn't talking about me SPECIfICALLY."

And with that, he chose the correct [Maidé Ball] this time: calling forth a sleepy-eyed Alice to carry out his bidding. Something something padding out word count.

"Huh…? I was enjoying myself at the beach, though."

Anyway, Bridget was notably far less enthused about the prospect of beating up a small child that had done her no wrong: crossing her arms and pouting her lip in frustration.

"I actually have to fight a small, innocent thing like that? How lame."

"Not FIGHT"—Akira corrected her, smiling smugly as his ultimate deception was just about to be revealed. "But the other word that starts with an 'F,' and has four letters."

Vash's eyes widened. "What?! You tricked me!"

With the challenge having already been set and confirmed by both trainers, the [Battle Dome] appeared over the heads of their [Pocket Maids] to lock them in, for as long as it may take for a victor to be decided.

Akira shrugged. "Not my fault you couldn't catch my innuendo, before."

"Innuendo?!" Vash snapped, sweat glistening on his brow. "Does the [Battle Dome] system even account for something like that?"

"Isn't it more humane that a real fight?"

"Well...that's debatable, and both are extremely wicked besides—"

Blinking in surprise, Bridget interrupted: "Ah, so I have to only cultivate with that girl, instead of defeating her?" Her surprise then faded, into a look of excitement. "Sounds okay to me!"

"What?!" Vash spouted in disbelief. "You would agree to this so easily?!"

Bridget looked at him, frowning.

Then, abruptly pulled down one of her lower eyelids as she stuck out her tongue, to taunt him.

"Bridget-san…! Quit being a child!"

"Haha! That's hilarious, coming from the person who would rather treat me as a little sister than as a woman. Which is the exact reason why…"

She faced Alice again, pointing at her.

"I'll just have to vent all of my sexual frustration on that thing over there!"

Alice gasped, looking around.

"Could it be you're referring...to me?"

"That teensy slut is correct," Akira chimed in, his arms folded behind his back; the untouchable, dignified air of an elder statesman about him. "You two are going to competitively fornicate, now: the loser being decided by whichever of you two is first to be subdued, or to feel pleasure."

Alice stared dumbly at her opponent, thumb in her mouth. "So, you're saying that her and I have to—"

"Yes," Akira asserted. "Right now."

"Uh…" Alice rose to her feet slowly. "Since you're my master...well, alright…"

Vash was still resilient, though.

"You never mentioned anything about pleasure being a deciding factor, until now," he said with a note of suspicion. "But...whatever." He pumped his fist in the air, with a newfound look of determination. "No matter the challenge, Bridget and I will overcome it! Through the strength provided by our superior bonds!"

Bridget scoffed. "Okay, just because I want you to plow the shit out of me, it doesn't give you a free license to spout a bunch of sappy shit like that."

Akira, by contrast, was cold and unflinching.

"Attack, my slave-wife!" he ordered sternly.

Alice rushed forward.

"Um...Bridget," said Vash, flustered.

"I got this!" she quickly said, before moving in as well.

And with that, the "f$%" had begun!

Both combatants latched onto each other simultaneously, proceeding to pry away articles of clothing with the rapacious energy of a couple of cloistered, young and attractive nuns on a day when the holy spirit just isn't strong enough to thwart their animal urges.

"You're not a bad...kisser," Bridget complimented, blushing wildly. Her tongue wagging out of her mouth, in tune with her vigorous panting.

"Th-thanks," said Alice blankly, in reply. "But I'm just obeying orders."

Both were stripped bare, seated on their thighs in the snow with their supple bodies pressed tight—deriving warmth from their shared natural body heat and frenzied exhales, materializing in the form of moist, steamy grey vapors.

"Grab her chest gently, Alice!" Akira barked.

She nodded. "Y-yes, master…"

"UWA!" Bridget squealed, as the act was thus performed. "The way you're touching me now..." she said, her mind going blank from Alice dutifully fondling her breasts with one hand. "Your master is quite skilled at pleasuring a woman, isn't he...?"

"I wouldn't know. We haven't…"—she gave a slight, uncomfortable groan—"done anything like this, yet."

"Tch! What a waste of a great master." While she was stoically wincing, from the warm rush of blood and tingling sensation running all along her spine, she cut a sideways glance, over her shoulder at Vash—who still hadn't given her a single order. As he just stood there, silently staring, with an expression of timid and uncertain arousal: like a dumb kid, who just saw a naked pair of breasts in a magazine for the first time.

"I'm...losing this battle…!" Bridget whimpered, with an inordinately high-pitched voice. "Isn't there some secret technique you know of, that I can use to turn the tables?"

Vash remained speechless: his head bowed, totally out of his element.

'With Kanna, I could always just follow my instincts because of the intense feelings I have for her,' he softly pondered. 'But, under any other circumstances…'

He slightly lifted his head to glance across at Akira, daggers in his eyes.

'I thought if I beat Akira by his own rules, it would be even more impressive. But from the start I was foolish to take on his challenge, knowing what was at risk.'

This called for desperate measures.

"Bridget-san…" he uttered, like a deep growl. "Start strangling her."