Which was how she found herself traveling through deep ravines filled with mineral springs and active mud volcanoes bubbling from the surface. She’d already been walking for what felt like hours. Her legs were tired. The duffel bag on her back and the case with Kevin’s weapons and ammo in her hand just exacerbated her problems.
Iris distastefully eyed one of the active mud volcanoes as she circumvented it. The whole thing looked like a giant ass crack in the ground, a fissure from which steaming hot mud oozed out like shit. Steam rose from its bubbling surface reminiscent of a swamp. It was even muggy like a swamp, though she wasn’t surrounded by trees, just dirt and rocks and sheer cliffs that ascended for several hundred feet above her head. She wasn’t sure if that was any better.
As she walked around yet another bubbling pool of steaming sludge, her instincts screamed at her to move. Not one to ignore such a flagrant warning, she leapt backward just in time to dodge several objects that sank into the ground where she’d been standing.
The objects were arrows. Very primitive arrows. Carved stone made up the arrowheads, as long, wooden shafts ended with several feathers sticking out of them.
Who the hell uses arrows in this day and age?
Iris didn’t get an answer to her question, not at first. Several more arrows descended from the sky, forcing her to move again. A glance up revealed around a half-dozen Amazon-like women standing on a ledge, a couple dozen yards above her. They were holding bows aimed at her. Several were also notching back arrows. Great.
“Void Art: Void Fire.”
Iris didn’t hesitate to fling void fire at the women. Unlike Kevin, who was too nice for his own good, and Lilian, who disliked hurting people unless necessary, she had no moral compunctions about killing others if they stood in her way. The void fire flew at the group of women, who abandoned their position in order to dodge it. It struck the rock wall, detonating and spraying chunks of sediment covered in black fire.
Because she didn’t want to stick around and wait for the group of women to recover and start firing on her again, Iris took off, reinforcing her muscles to enhance her speed. She hopped over mineral springs and leapt across disgusting pits of steaming mud, all in an effort to lose her attackers.
Too bad her attackers were more than capable of keeping pace with her. They ran above her along the ravine wall, hopping over obstacles, rushing across the ledge without fear of tripping and falling to their deaths. Either they had no fear of such a concept like death, or they were simply too stupid to be afraid of dying. Iris didn’t particularly care to discover which one they were.
I need to lose them.
She couldn’t really fight them, not with the large, metal case in her hand and a pack on her back. Wanting to get rid of them or, barring that, at least keep them from following her, Iris flung several black balls of compressed void fire at the ravine in front of her pursuers.
She had to give the women credit. They weren’t stupid. When they saw what she was doing, they scattered, either ascending or descending the cliff to avoid being hit. Not like that mattered, though. When the void fire struck the wall, the explosion of sentient flames caused a good portion of that part of the cliff to collapse. Most of the women were agile enough to avoid it, but one got caught within the slide and ended up falling into a mud pit. Iris would have laughed, but she still had five of those Amazon chicks to deal with.
After tracing what almost felt like a circuit to her, Iris decided that it was time to use her species’ specialty. Illusions. She didn’t know what kind of foe she was dealing with, but that hardly mattered. It had become clear to her that this group of Amazon warrior princesses relied on physical prowess to get things done. Trapping them within an illusion shouldn’t be too difficult.
Sending a quick glance at her surroundings, Iris chose the path of least resistance to reach her foes. Reinforcement. Leaping off the ground with her reinforced legs, she ascended higher and higher, jumping from rocky outcropping to rocky outcropping. It wasn’t long before she reached the level of her foes.
“Void Art: Void Whip.”
Black flames attached themselves to her tails, elongating, stretching. They became pliant, loose, their shape forming into two long whips.
She sent those whips at her foes. The two girls behind her dodged accordingly, one going down and the other up. They didn’t seem to notice that neither whip did any damage to the ground where they struck. That was their fault.
“Void Art: Void Spears.”
Flames of the most abominable black coalesced. Spears of darkness formed from the flames, long, black objects that seemed to absorb all light as if devouring it. Nearly ten feet from shaft to tip, the spears ended in a wicked point of serrated edges.
They were launched forward, shooting at her foes with speeds rivaling a bullet train. These Amazon chicks weren’t inexperienced newbies, though, and they reacted quickly, dodging the spears with alacrity. It didn’t matter. The spears were an illusion, just like her whips. While they distracted themselves dodging imaginary attacks, she lashed out against the warrior nearest to her, the female she’d been corralling to her location this entire time.
“Extension.”
Her two black tails wrapped around the woman, squeezing tight. The femme in her grasp grunted in pain. Iris did not hesitate to slam the female head first against the cliff face with all of her considerable, reinforced strength.
While it is difficult for kitsune to reinforce their body because of their body’s deficient means of containing youki, their tails are another matter. As a kitsune’s tails are where their power is stored anyway, reinforcing them is an easy task. Easier even than snapping one’s fingers.
Iris’s tails were strong. When she slammed the woman head first into the cliff, the femme’s entire upper body became embedded within the stone.
She watched in satisfaction as the woman’s body stiffened, and then smiled when it suddenly went limp in her tails’ grasp. She uncoiled her tails around the now insensate female, allowing the Amazon’s legs to slump down until they dangled several inches above the ledge. Iris almost chuckled at the new look. She could now see the Amazon’s panties. It looked like a fundoshi.
“Ainia!”
The remaining five Amazon women launched themselves at Iris—or what they perceived to be Iris. They never realized that the Iris in front of them was simply an illusion until it was far too late.
The first woman to reach Iris tried clubbing the raven-haired succubus in the face. Instead of her head caving in like it should have, Iris’s entire skull burst into black flames. The flames latched onto the club, consuming it. Then it spread to the Amazon’s arm, consuming that too. The woman screamed as the fire continued spreading along her body, eating away at her flesh. It devoured everything, her skin, her muscles, her bones, her fat. The sentient flames swallowed her whole, until there was nothing left, nothing but ash.
Iris watched, satisfied when she saw the Amazonian who’d gotten caught in her illusion drop to the ground, her wide eyes staring sightlessly at the sky. While she might not be like Lilian, who’d actually been training under Kotohime to get stronger, her illusions were top notch. A lower-class yōkai like this Amazon wouldn’t be able to break out of them.
“Coea!” One of the women who’d seen their friend’s response to being trapped within her illusion shouted in horror. That horror soon turned to rage when the femme’s eyes landed on Iris. “You damn fox!”
“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?” Iris inquired, idly petting one of her tails. “You damn… whatever you are.”
The woman let out an incoherent scream and charged at Iris. Her friends shouted at her to stop, but she didn’t. Her furious footsteps pounded along the gravel. Her strides carried her forward swifter than the wind. She was upon Iris before the vixen even had time to blink.
Or so the woman thought.
The woman’s body went right through the Iris standing in front of her. Iris’s body flickered once, t
wice, thrice, and then disappeared as if it was a ghost.
“Extension.”
Tails coiled tightly. Bones creaked ominously. Armor squealed as reinforced tails slowly crushed it like a tin can. The woman struggled within Iris’s grip, but she could do nothing. Reinforced with youki, Iris’s tails were ironclad, stronger than steel, and more than capable of destroying the feeble chest plate protecting her foe.
The woman’s struggling increased. Fighting with all of her strength, the Amazon did everything in her power to escape from Iris’s clutches. It was an admirable, if futile, effort. Perhaps if she were capable of wielding her weapon, she would’ve been able to escape. Maybe. However, her arms were pinned to her sides, and without the ability to raise her club, it might as well have been a stick in her hands.
“Gortyessa!”
The Amazon went limp in Iris’s grasp, and Iris didn’t hesitate to relieve herself of the now dangling burden—by tossing the female at one of her friends. The woman caught her unconscious companion, which consequently distracted her, causing her to miss the powerful tail that descended from the sky.
The furry, black appendage slammed into the woman’s cranium, crushing both her and her friend into the ground. Abrasions appeared on the rocky surface. The wide ledge they stood on became unstable. It started to crumble, causing the two females that Iris had defeated to fall.
“Gortyessa! Cynna!”
Two of the remaining three Amazons leapt down the cliff face to rescue their friends. Iris didn’t feel like sticking around to see if they would succeed. She turned, more than ready to get the hell out of dodge, only to find herself on the receiving end of a club.
She leaned her entire body back, narrowly avoiding the attack, which looked like it could have caved her skull in. It cut the air in front of her face. A shrill whistle pierced her eardrums as it passed. Iris nearly yelped when a sharp pain lanced across her face and something warm trickled down her nose. Blood. Carmine liquid from a wound across the bridge of her nose ran down her face, across her lips, and dripped off her chin.
How did she do that? Iris touched her nose, hissing as her fingers grazed the open wound. Her attack didn’t hit me! And I’m positive clubs can’t cut!
“Intruder,” the female said in a young voice, “I do not know how you came to be here, nor do I care. You are trespassing on my people’s lands. Because you haven’t killed any of my warriors, I will allow you to leave with your life intact.”
Iris studied the person before her. Long, blond hair flowed like a waterfall. Bright blue eyes were set into fair skin. Elaborate armor plating with intricate motifs covered a lithe body with corded muscles. Yep. This was definitely the girl who’d taken the stud.
“Sorry.” Iris licked the blood running across her lips and grinned. “But I can’t leave just yet. You girls took something of mine. I don’t particularly like it when people take what’s mine, especially when I still have to convince him and Lilian to let me have a threesome with them.”
The girl looked nonplussed. “What?”
“So you see, I can’t leave just yet, not until I rescue him and teach you girls a lesson for thinking you can take him from me.”
“I see.” The Amazon girl narrowed her eyes. “Now I understand. You are a friend of my esteemed prisoner Kevin Swift.”
Now it was Iris’s turned to make a face. “You actually call him your ‘esteemed prisoner’?”
The girl ignored her words. Raising her club, she pointed it at Iris in a gesture of challenge.
“It matters not whether you are a friend of the esteemed prisoner Kevin Swift. I have claimed him now. He is my village’s only hope and is going to give us many strong children. You will not take him from us.”
Iris stared at the blond girl who didn’t look much older than Kevin. She supposed there was something funny about this situation, but honestly, the humor eluded her right then. At the moment, she was too busy trying to figure out just how the hell she and Kevin had gotten themselves into this mess. Seriously, Amazon women kidnapping Kevin in order to make him their sperm donor? What the hell?
She shook her head. “Look, I don’t really care about your village’s problems. The only thing that matters to me is the stud. My sister has already claimed him. She claimed him long before you even met him. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you take him for yourself.”
“Then it seems we are at an impasse,” the girl said, her eyes narrowed into slits. “In which case, there is only one way to decide this. A battle to the death.” She swung her club around in intricate patterns that carved the air. “The winner takes my esteemed prisoner Kevin Swift, while the loser dies.”
“Yeah, that’s kinda what happens in a battle to the death.” Iris rolled her eyes. She wondered if she should settle into a fighting stance, but the case she was carrying, and her pack made that difficult.
The stud had better appreciate the trouble I’m going to for him.
“My name is Phoebe,” the girl said. “Remember that name, for it’s the name of the one who is going to kill you.”
“Whatever.” Iris settled into a very loose stance. The silvery weapons case in her left hand bumped against her thigh. If nothing else, she could use it as a club. “Let’s just get this fight started.”
Phoebe’s lips curled into an approving smile. “Yes. Let’s.”
***
Kevin had a plan.
It wasn’t the most brilliant plan ever conceived, but he hoped it would work.
“Excuse me,” he said to Polydora, who was still guarding him—and also still eying his wang, which made him really uncomfortable.
“Yes?” the woman said, not taking her eyes off Kevin Junior.
“I have to go to the restroom,” he said. “Could you undo these straps or something, so I can go take a leak?”
“I apologize.” Polydora did sound genuinely sorry, but that didn’t make Kevin feel any better. “However, I was told not to let you out. If you must relieve yourself, then I would be happy to get you a cup.”
“Ugh.” Kevin grimaced. “That’s fine, I guess.” He could work with this. Plan B. It wasn’t the best plan, which had been knocking Polydora out after she released him, but it could work. He could work with this.
“Very well. Please wait one moment while I find something for you to relieve yourself in.”
The woman turned her back and left, the flap closing behind her. Kevin took a moment to eye his surroundings. He gazed upon barren walls made from mud and rock, an uneven brown surface that could do with some smoothing. There was nothing within this room, save his bed. He assumed that was because these women didn’t want anything near him that he could use to escape.
A quick test of the bindings around his hands showed that they were sturdy. The rope they had used was pretty strong, albeit, really old and chafing. His wrists already had a rash from the rubbing and friction caused by even slight movements. Fortunately, they hadn’t seen fit to tie his legs to the bed, and instead had only tied them together.
Sunlight spilled into the room when the flap opened again. Kevin greeted Polydora with a smile as he prepared to enact his plan…
… Only it wasn’t Polydora who greeted him.
“I was wondering if that woman would ever leave.” Dark eyes framed by black hair and pale skin gleamed within their sockets. “You don’t know how hard it was to not just come up here and knock Polydora out cold.”
“What are you doing here, Clymene?” Kevin asked, recalling her name.
The smile she gave him was beautiful but unpleasant. It was the beauty of a cobra spitting poison, of an apex predator readying to pounce on its prey.
“My reasons for being here should be obvious.” Clymene’s eyes glinted in the sparse lighting that filtered through the flap. “Phoebe interrupted me before I could have any fun.” The hunger in her visage was truly frightening. “I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to have a man inside of me.”
“Uh…�
��
Kevin had absolutely nothing to say to that. He wouldn’t get the chance to say anything either. While he lay there, gaping like an idiot, Clymene crawled onto the bed and straddled his hips. Kevin gasped when something warm and wet pressed down on him, causing him to reach the startling realization that she wasn’t wearing underwear.
He bucked and jerked his hips. Rather than throw the woman off or enrage her, the actions made Clymene gasp.
“Yes! That’s it! Squirm! Squirm for me! Oh, it feels so good!”
This woman’s a sadist!
Kevin gritted his teeth as he tried throwing the loon off of him. He also tried to keep from letting her slip his baby maker inside of her incubation chamber. He twisted his body onto its side. Clymene growled as she realized what he was doing.
“Stop twisting away from me!”
“Not happening! Now get off me!”
“Ha! I think not! I’ve waited too long for this! You’re not going to take my fun away from me!”
“I don’t know what your idea of fun is, but leave me out of it!”
“Why are you being so stubborn?! Stop struggling!”
“No! Now get off! Get! Off!”
As they fought against each other, with him trying to throw Clymene off of him and her doing her utmost to steal his chastity, Polydora entered the room. She took one look at Clymene, gasped, and then stormed over to the bed.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” she shrieked, grabbing Clymene’s shoulder and yanking her off. The other dark-haired woman hit the ground with a thud. “Lady Phoebe told you that you are not to go near the esteemed prisoner!”
“And there she goes calling me ‘esteemed prisoner’ again.” Kevin relaxed now that the threat had passed, but he was still tensed, prepared. This might be his chance.
Clymene growled at Polydora, a feral sound reminiscent of a rabid dog. “Stay out of my way, Polydora. I’ve waited a long time for this and I won’t let you or Phoebe ruin it for me!”
“You know I can’t do that.” Polydora prepared herself as Clymene stood up. She spread her feet wide. She raised her arms in an impeccable defense. She was clearly ready for a fight. “I will not allow you to disobey Lady Phoebe’s will. She is our chieftess, and you would do well to respect her decision.”
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