Divine Arsenal: Dual Weapon Cultivation

by Dante King

  “You did it,” Lyra whispered. Her eyes filled with delight. She’d always thought this was impossible. Right up until the moment it happened, she’d always doubted it. I knew that, now that I’d felt her just as I’d felt Anna.

  “We did it,” Anna said, giving the older woman a tired smile.

  “I can feel it! The knowledge… the power… you gave it to me!” Lyra’s voice grew louder and louder, light spilling from her body. “It’s so… it’s so intense!”

  Black Core (Dual Weapon Cultivation)

  Activating Sacred Skill…

  Dual Cultivation → Weapon Creation

  Multicolored light filled the room, so intense that Anna and I were blinded.

  When it faded, a spear lay on the bed.

  Chapter 17

  Anna and I stared at the weapon, each coming down from our peaks. My pulse thrummed like a hummingbird’s, partially from the surprise but also from a deep, primal excitement.

  I hadn’t just made Lyra into a Cultivator. I’d also turned her into a weapon.

  Anna recovered quickly. “Oh wow,” my girlfriend said, crawling over to the other side of the bed. She gently ran a finger down the hilt of the spear, her big doe eyes wide with awe. “Is this what it was like when I turned into the scythe for the first time, babe?”

  I nodded. “What was it like for you? Do you even remember?”

  Anna frowned. “I don’t really have any memory of that first transformation,” she said, shaking her blonde locks back and forth. “It wasn’t until later, when we started Cultivating together, that I started sensing things in weapon form and talking to you. I imagine Lyra feels like she just passed out into a deep, dreamless sleep.”

  I hoped that was all that had happened. I knew this process hadn’t done any harm to Anna—hell, it had made her life better in just about every way—but that didn’t mean it was the same every time. I had no basis for comparison.

  Anna turned her attention away from the spear, looking at me. “What happens now? What did you do with me when you found me this way?”

  “I just picked you up,” I said with a shrug. “Then it was like a Wikipedia article just appeared in my brain.”

  I grabbed the spear that Lyra had just transformed into.

  Black Core (Dual Weapon Cultivation)

  Activating Sacred Skill…

  Martial Mastery (Snake Spear) successfully activated!

  Knowledge blossomed in the back of my skull as I looked my new weapon up and down, comprehending it at a level normally reserved for a master weaponsmith.

  The wavy spearhead resembled a slithering snake, ending in a fork like a serpent’s tongue. I knew those edges would bite deep into flesh, carving ugly wounds that even stitches and antiseptic would have trouble healing. Magic would probably be necessary. However, the shape of the points would make thrusts more difficult than with an ordinary spear. I’d have to hook the target as I thrust, twisting the spear to cut through flesh, or hope that the inward-curved edges of the steel fangs could cut into the target.

  “It’s a Snake Spear,” I said, the words settling into my brain like I’d known them all my life.

  Anna grinned. “So all you have to do is touch the weapon, and you know all about it?”

  I gasped. More information trickled in, filling me with knowledge about the techniques I could leverage to do maximum damage with such a weapon. The Snake Spear’s primary use was as a long-range slashing weapon. A bit of a paradox, considering spears were generally pigeonholed as thrusting weapons. The heavy steel butt cap at the end of the hilt served as both a counterweight and a weapon. Should an enemy get too close, stepping into melee range, I could retract the spear, twirl it, and hit them with the cap.

  Unarmored enemies would die by the dozens before such a weapon. But even one heavily armored foe would prove a major problem. If the spearhead were unable to penetrate any openings on the armor, I’d have to switch to another weapon.

  Shit. I was already thinking in terms of switching weapons. As if I could transform women back and forth, swapping between them like items in a video game. And it was true: I could already see the ways in which the spear and the scythe would complement each other in combat, covering each other’s weaknesses. Was I meant to have more than one of these? More than two?

  As I raised my head from the weapon, black writing floated in the air at the foot of the bed:

  Lyra

  Lyra Successfully Transforms into Cultivator (Early Mana Gateway)!

  Lyra Now Possesses Secondary Form – Snake Spear (Water Aspect)!

  Aqua Lioness Absorbed Using Dual Cultivation!

  Comprehension of Water Increased!

  Initiating Memorize Stage (Level 1: Spout)

  Memorize Stage reached 10% (Level 1: Spout)

  Anna

  Comprehension of Water Increased!

  Initiating Memorize Stage (Level 1: Spout)

  Memorize Stage reached 10% (Level 1: Spout)

  Comprehension of Wood Increased!

  Initiating Memorize Stage (Level 1: Gust)

  Memorize Stage reached 45% (Level 1: Gust)

  Eric

  Comprehension of Water Increased!

  Initiating Memorize Stage (Level 1: Spout)

  Memorize Stage reached 20% (Level 1: Spout)

  Comprehension of Wood Increased!

  Initiating Memorize Stage (Level 1: Gust)

  Memorize Stage reached 90% (Level 1: Gust)

  Initiating Memorize Stage (Level 1: Blossom)

  Memorize Stage reached 15% (Level 1: Blossom)

  “Looks like a lot,” I said, scanning the words with a critical eye. “And we increased our Comprehension of Wood, so those Nipper Cores must have successfully been absorbed this time.”

  Next to me, Anna read through the text, squealing at the lines about Lyra.

  “It’s really official,” my girlfriend purred, putting a hand on my thigh. A tear formed at the corner of her eye. “Lyra is an Early Mana Gateway. She’s a Cultivator, Eric. We made a Cultivator.”

  The knowledge of what we’d done still shook me to my core, no pun intended. But before we could let Lyra in on the good news, we needed to get her out of weapon form and back to being a woman.

  I lifted the Snake Spear. It felt good in my hands, as if I’d already spent thousands of hours practicing with it. Still naked, I took the weapon through a series of experimental thrusts and slashes, practicing against the thin air. Anna gasped as she watched me go, her face filled with shock.

  “You really do learn fast,” Anna purred, sounding turned on despite her tiredness. “Is that what you look like kicking ass with me?”

  “Something like that,” I said, turning back to her with a smug smile. “Except with a scythe, not a spear.”

  Closing my eyes, I concentrated. Picturing Lyra the way she’d been a few minutes ago, a human being instead of a living weapon, I pushed a bit of Mana into the hilt of the Snake Spear. It lifted from my hands shimmering into the air as it settled onto the edge of the bed.

  Again, the room filled with blinding light, and when it cleared, Lyra lay naked in its place.

  Lyra looked around the room like someone starting from a trance. “What… where did I just go?” she asked, running her hands over her naked body. To my surprise, and very slight disappointment, the seed I’d sprayed all over her body during our lovemaking had vanished in the transformation. Maybe it had been pulled inside of her like the Beast Core. If so, I didn’t even want to think of how the energy extraction process worked.

  “You were a spear,” Anna said, shimmying back into her dress. The demonic transformation she’d gone through during sex had faded now, and her horns and ears were back to their cute, almost elfin appearance. “Eric didn’t just make you a cultivator, Lyra—he turned you into a weapon, too.”

  After a night like this, I’d have thought very little had the ability to shock Lyra. But at this revelation, the mistress of the Hungry Herb Tavern collapsed entirely
onto the bed, huffing up at the ceiling.

  “A spear,” she said, shaking her head full of long, dyed red hair. “At my age!”

  She wasn’t really upset, was she? “I don’t get to choose the weapon,” I said, frowning. I scanned the room, looking for the pants and shirt I’d tossed away when I mounted Lyra. “You could take it up with Eliezer, I guess, if you’ve got a problem with it…”

  Lyra rose onto her elbows. “I’m joking,” the redhead purred, her eyes alight with mischief. “I’m just so overwhelmed. I’ve heard Dual Cultivation makes it possible to grant people the power of Cultivation, but actually experiencing it… my mind is blown.”

  “That’s not all that got blown,” Anna whispered, deliberately wiping her mouth and licking her lips.

  Lyra didn’t seem to notice. “You’ve got to show me more,” she said, sitting up completely. Her excitement made her seem at least twenty years younger—as if Anna were her older sister, rather than someone young enough to be her daughter.

  “More?” What I’d done with Lyra felt amazing, sure, but I was pretty fucking exhausted. I’d lost track of how many orgasms I’d had inside of Lyra’s tight, perfect body, but it would probably be a while before I could please her again at the level I really wanted. “Maybe you and Anna could fool around a little bit.”

  Lyra laughed. “I’m not talking about sex,” she said, scooting to the edge of the bed. “I’m talking about Cultivation! You’ve got to let me practice this!”

  Oh! I glanced down at my naked body. Then over at Lyra’s. She didn’t even seem to notice her nudity. “Sure, we could do that,” I said. “Maybe we should cover up a bit first, though. Wouldn’t want to shock your patrons…”

  Lyra looked down, seeming to see her naked body for the first time. “Haha,” she purred, running a hand over her sweat-covered breasts. “I seem to remember I was wearing something when you were done with me. Shame it’s all gone…”

  A shame? A surge of lust coursed through me. What would Lyra and Anna have done with all that seed if it hadn’t been magicked away by Lyra’s transformation? The image of the two of them eagerly eating my cum filled my mind, refusing to leave.

  Calm down, Eric, I told myself, shaking my head to clear it. Not everything in this new world is about sex. Just most things.

  I snickered to myself as I got back into my clothes. Lyra smoothly tied her bathrobe closed, digging her chopsticks out from beneath the bed and sticking them haphazardly into her hair.

  “How do I look?” Lyra asked.

  Anna appraised her frankly, giggling. “Like you just got fucked,” she admitted. “Hard.”

  A grin spread across Lyra’s face. “Well, it’s not like the barmaids don’t all know that’s what we were doing tonight,” she said, rising from the bed. “Come on, Eric. There’s a back exit to the garden. You have got to show me what I can do with my Cultivation. I’ve got to use it to know it’s real.”

  Lyra was so excited she left the suite barefoot, padding her way through the Hungry Herb like it was the hallway of her own personal apartment. She led Anna and I down a winding corridor, through a door half-concealed at the end of a hallway. A steep set of stairs led back down to the first floor, depositing us right next to Lyra’s hidden garden.

  “Have you ever ordered something and felt like it got there faster than was possible?” Lyra asked, noting the way I stared at the stairs like I was trying to discern their purpose. “Food, drink?”

  “Can’t say I have,” I said with a shrug.

  Lyra giggled. It was a night for giggling, for the middle-aged woman to behave as girlish as the youngest barmaid getting her bottom pinched for the first time. “All the maids know about them,” she explained. “There’s a few hidden in the Hungry Herb. Lets the girls get around faster. And sometimes, gives them a place to listen in on a few VIPs.”

  My jaw dropped open. “You collect gossip,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “To blackmail people with!”

  “Only those who deserve it,” Lyra said, pushing open the garden door. “Why do you think the Hollow Frog Guild leaves me and my establishment alone? I know things about Guildmaster Ji that would make strong men quake in their boots.”

  In contrast to the rest of Lyra’s tavern, the garden remained nice and quiet despite all the guests in the common room. Past the curtain hanging over the entrance, the sounds of revelry grew so muffled one could almost believe we were alone in the town, standing among the flowering plants and the moonlight.

  “Alright,” Lyra said, striding forward ahead of me and Anna. “According to the Death Defying System, I learned something called Spout when you unlocked my Cultivation. I want you to help me give it a whirl.”

  “From what the System said, it’s a water move,” Anna said. “And your weapon has some kind of Water Aspect.” She turned to me. “Eric, did you see anything like that for me?”

  I shook my head. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t have an Aspect. Why don’t you pull up the Death Defying System and see what it says?”

  Anna did so, then she grinned. “There it is,” she said. “My Scythe has a Wood Aspect.”

  I nodded. “Just keep in mind,” I said, my words taking on a warning tone, “that what you’ve learned isn’t likely to be very powerful at first. When I first cast Gust against that Marsh Croc, it wasn’t much more than a strong breeze.”

  Lyra looked as though she’d be satisfied with anything, as long as it formed concrete proof of her ability to Cultivate. She walked across the garden to a large tree near the back of the pack. Several of its branches pushed up against the wall surrounding the town, like someone squeezed into a too-small seat on an airplane.

  Anxiety filled the older woman’s face. “How do I do this?” she asked, a catch entering her voice. “I don’t… I don’t feel anything!”

  “Relax,” Anna said, putting her hands on the woman’s shoulders. “It’s okay…”

  “What if it only happened while the three of us were together?” Lyra’s eyes rolled in their sockets, the suggestion that her power had been temporary filling her with horror. “What if now that we’re all happy and satisfied, I won’t be able to feel it?”

  “That’s not how Cultivation works,” Anna said, shushing Lyra. I was impressed at her ability to sound authoritative, considering how little the two of us actually knew about Cultivation. “Close your eyes and concentrate, Ly. Push outward with your senses. Try and understand the world around you, really feel it. The same way you felt Eric and I while we were all having sex in your suite.”

  It took Lyra a few minutes to understand, but finally she did. My enhanced senses let me feel the Mana flowing into her body as she opened herself to Cultivation, but in truth I didn’t even need them. I could see the way the branches on the tree suddenly shifted, pointing at her as if she were the sun just emerged from behind a cloud.

  Suddenly Lyra clapped her hands.

  Lyra Casts Spout!

  A spray of perfectly pure water shot from her fingers, splashing against the trunk of the tree. It could have been my imagination, but I swore the branches wriggled just a bit, like a dog enjoying a bath.

  Lyra opened her eyes. Her pretty face filled with shock at the sight of water dripping to the ground around the tree, soaking into the soil. As Anna and I watched, she sank to her knees.

  “I did it!” she said, sounding like a cultivated matron than a schoolgirl jumping for joy. “I’m a Cultivator! I… I… I really did it!”

  Anna hugged Lyra, and now they really were jumping for joy. For a few minutes, Lyra lost herself in her delight, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. The release from dozens of orgasms was nothing compared to this.

  Lyra had dreamed of this moment her entire life, and now it was finally here. No one could take it away from her. Except maybe Guildmaster Ji, I thought, remembering Hazel. But I’ll never let that happen again. And soon, I’ll get my revenge.

  “You,” Lyra said, cupping my face in her hands, �
�will always have a home here, Eric. This old girl is yours, the same way it’s mine. You, Anna, whoever you want to bring with you, you’ll always find lodgings and food at the Hungry Herb Tavern. You have given me a great gift, Eric! I… I don’t know how I could possibly repay you!”

  “It sounds like you already have,” I said, letting her bury her face against my chest. Big, hearty sobs erupted from Lyra as she clung tightly to me, but they were happy sobs. “We really appreciate you letting us stay here and feeding us.”

  “Not to mention the dress,” Anna said with a smirk. “And the hot sex.”

  Lyra pulled back, still sobbing. “Buy whatever you want with that IOU,” she told us both. “Your money’s no good to me, you two. You’re family now, you understand? Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  The three of us continued hugging for a long time. Lyra looked like she wanted to retire for the night, her head filled with dreams of becoming a champion Cultivator, but there was one more thing I wanted to try.

  “Before we go to bed, how about we get a little more practice with the spear?” I asked, keeping my voice casual. “You’ve only transformed into it the one time, after all. It might be good for you to know the forms.”

  A strange look flickered over Lyra’s face. “I don’t know,” she said, sounding a little worried. “It was mighty strange last time.”

  Anna gave the older woman a smile, placing a hand on her hip. “It gets easier,” she confided. “And better. As soon as I started remembering everything that happened when I was a weapon, I realized I really, really liked having Eric use me to fuck shit up.”

  Lyra’s eyes widened. “Really? It feels good?”

  A flush rose to Anna’s cheeks. “It actually feels kinda like sex,” she admitted, averting her eyes. “It’s this whole fucked up sex-violence thing—the toggles get all switched around when your arms and legs turn into a scythe blade. I can’t really explain it —you have to feel it for yourself.”