The True Endgame

It would prove to be the perfect opportunity to properly test out his new mastery over Rod.

Or rather, that was the plan. What was supposed to be a small duel for fun then turned into a miniature tournament so quickly that Fenrir still couldn"t understand how exactly it happened. One moment, he was helping some of the workers from the other cities by transporting materials for them. Then he fished for a bit to give everybody there some food. Then he challenged a certain somebody to a duel for practice… and then before the duel could even begin, a tournament bracket was set up and a small crowd had gathered. Some of those from the other cities even decided to register for the tournament themselves!

"Didn"t we agree to duel only like… five minutes ago?" Fenrir asked his opponent, looking at the crowd gathered around them in the field.

"You can thank Tabs for this," Ca.s.siel, his opponent, answered.

Tabitha was just so frustrated at one of her designs" complications that, as soon as she overheard Fenrir and Ca.s.siel having a sparring match, she decided to take advantage of the situation to relax.

And Tabitha"s idea of relaxing was making money by taking bets among the watching crowd.

"This is the most sudden tournament arc that I"ve ever seen," Fenrir said.

"I have a feeling that"s an anime reference," Ca.s.siel replied.

"You know me so well."
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"I know that you can only reference anime."

"Don"t worry. I"ll convert you into being a weeb with me. Since Tabs is taking bets, how about we make a bet of our own? If I win, you have to marathon an anime series of my choosing with me. If you win… what was that thing we heard about the other night?"

"The cla.s.sic drive-in night?"

"Yeah, that. Aren"t they going to have a romance movie marathon or something? If I win, you marathon anime with me. If you win, I"ll go with you to that romance movie marathon."

"I know you"d go with me even if I lose."

"I – you can"t just call me out like that."

"If you"re going to bet me something, it has to be something that is actually a challenge to get you to do."

"You"re going to have to think of something crazy then, because I can"t think of anything that I wouldn"t do for you," Fenrir said, stating it as a matter of fact without any hesitation while the crowd around them waited for the fight to begin.

Ca.s.siel turned bright red from his words, Serra snerked from Ca.s.siel"s reaction, Nell sighed as her hero once more proved how good of a boyfriend he was, Azalabulua felt secondhand embarra.s.sment for Ca.s.siel, and Eva took notes while the rest of the crowd either thought the sudden, unintended romance was cringe-worthy or tease-worthy.

Fenrir wasn"t paying enough attention to notice everybody else"s reactions, though. He was too busy trying to help out Ca.s.siel by thinking of crazy things for her to make him bet. "Something crazy like… making me try to do a handstand. Or ordering a pizza with nothing on it over the phone. Going to a Chinese restaurant and saying that Taiwan is number one. Or making me wear a dress or something."

The red left Casisel"s cheeks as she stared at her lover. The rest of Fenrir"s girlfriends joined in on staring at him with eyes both curious and predatory.

"Wwait," Fenrir said. He already had a bad feeling about their stares. "I mean like… in-game. It wouldn"t be the first time I"ve dressed up stupid on purpose in a game."

"Real life," Ca.s.siel said. "If I win, you have to wear one of Nell"s dresses in real life."

Fenrir wanted to question why it had to be one of Nell"s dresses… but then he remembered that there wasn"t much of a difference between his real body and Nell"s. In-game, he was tall, muscular – an Adonis with canid ears and a wolf"s tail, essentially. In real life… he was considered short for a man and had a lean build. He was huge in comparison to his girlfriends in-game, but he was only a couple of inches taller than Ca.s.siel and Nell in reality, and his body was almost as thin as Nell"s.

As much as he wanted to deny that it would work… he could easily see himself fitting into one of Nell"s looser dresses in real life.

"You said there"s nothing you wouldn"t do for me," Ca.s.siel said. "If I win, you"re going to wear one of Nell"s dresses."

Fenrir looked at his girlfriends to see how they were reacting to this turn of events… only to see that they all looked absolutely in favor of forcing him to cross dress. The rest of the crowd was curious about how he would respond, too.

"It looks like you"re going to become the waifu after you lose, onii-wan," Saya teased. "Sorry, I mean onee-wan."

There was only one thing that he could do.

"Deal," he said. "If I win, you have to marathon an anime series with me. If you win… you can put me in one of Nell"s dresses."

Fenrir blinked his eyes and, by the time that he opened them, Ca.s.siel"s blade was only inches from his neck.

He managed to lean back and jump away just in time to dodge her attack with only a light cut on his neck.

"Did – did you just try to cut my head off?" he asked, one hand on his neck as he looked at his lover-turned-enemy.

"I"m winning this duel," Ca.s.siel said before charging at him for another attack!

Fenrir ducked under the next swing of her blade, only losing a few hairs in the process, and immediately followed up with an attempt to sweep her legs out from underneath her with one of his own.

Rather than dodge, Ca.s.siel met his attack with one of her own by bringing her sword to his leg just before he could kick her.

He saw just how fast she became when fighting, but this was the first time that he got to experience her new speed against him. She was far faster than the last time they dueled.

"Come on, blondie! Kick the wolf"s a.r.s.e!" Tabitha shouted.

Fenrir canceled his kick to roll away from her blade.

"Tch. Come on, I thought you liked up-close-and-personal fights?" Ca.s.siel asked amid her unrelenting attacks.

"Ca.s.s Ca.s.s," Fenrir said, dodging another attack. "You"re pretty hot right now."

"Why – why say that all of a sudden?!"

The answer to her question was because it gave him just enough of an opening to deploy Rod"s latest form. Rod"s metallic chains wrapped around her ankles, tightly constricting her.

"Because it distracts you, but also because it"s one hundred percent true," Fenrir explained before retracting the chains, pulling Ca.s.siel off of her feet and dropping her to her rear.

It was time for his counterattack.

With enlarged arms covered in fur and nails turned into deadly claws, Fenrir swung a fist directly toward Ca.s.siel… only for his fist to slam into the ground instead.

Ca.s.siel disappeared.

It was only when he felt the metal of her blade cut into his back that he knew where she was, turning his head to see her behind him.

The crowd looked distressed as Tabitha cheered Ca.s.siel on.

"They must have thought that my hero was the strongest since he is the leader," Nell said to Serra and Azalabulia.

"Ca.s.s Ca.s.s is the strongest," Serra said.

Azalabulia, on the other hand, didn"t know who to root for. There was her boyfriend who showed off an awesome new ability that she wanted to test her own strength against, and then there was her girlfriend who seemed even more powerful now trying to win so that they could see their boyfriend in a dress.

It was very conflicting.

Then there was Eva. "Did she get even stronger since the cave?"

"She did!" Nell answered.

"When? How?"

"Ca.s.siel has always been one of the better fighters out of us. Whenever she is not around us, she is most likely training on her own."

"Then she must not get a lot of time to train."

"True, but when she does train, she does her best which is what truly matters! Ah, and let us not forget hunting! My hero may be the one who provides us with the ocean"s bounty, but it is Ca.s.siel who provides us with the forest"s!"

"I"ve never seen her bring any animals back from the forest."

"Well, she does not make a big deal out of it, nor do the rest of us. Ah, and seeing as how she has such experience in slaying beasts, my hero should take extra care not to become our next dinner!"

Serra, with the most beastlike eyes of everybody present, said, "I want to eat him up. While he"s in one of your dresses."

"Ah, yes, silly me. I should hope that he does not take extra care!"

Eva lifted an eyebrow at their conversation, not sure what she should make of the fact that her crush"s girlfriends want to play doll with him. She tries to imagine it herself… but all she can picture is Fenrir in a dress, not Ryouta. Picturing Fenrir in a dress gives her the image of a man with bulging muscles ripping through the dress"s fabric while the bottom of it isn"t long enough to cover up anything extra hanging down.

"This is too easy," Tabitha said, sitting down next to the other girls. "I know the folk from these cities are all about barterin" and don"t exactly have much use for money, but that doesn"t mean they don"t keep some on them anyways!"

"What are you going to do with it?" Serra asked.

"Keep it safe. Why would I do anything else with it?"

"Greedy."

"As greedy as a dragon!" Tabitha agreed, a proud smile showing on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest.

While Tabitha placed all of her faith in Ca.s.siel, Fenrir tried his best to spare himself from having to wear a dress. He had many fetishes, but cross dressing was not one of them.

And he was afraid of it becoming one.

"So much for slowing you down," he said, focusing on defending against Ca.s.siel"s overwhelming force. Each attack pushed him back another step and threatened to knock him off balance. "How"d you even get out of my chains?!"

"Healing spells aren"t the only ones I relearned from my days of an aspiring angel," Ca.s.siel answered, once more vanishing from sight only to appear directly behind him.

He was barely able to dodge her attack. Had she not already done it once, it would have worked. "Seriously, how?!"

"I only perfect it a couple of days ago. They used to call it Holy Shift, but I"m not trying to be an angel anymore, so I"m not sure what to call it."

"Wait, did they actually call it that?"

"Livia is… pure."

"Holy s.h.i.t, how pure does somebody have to be to not see that?"

"I don"t know, but n.o.body dared to point it out to her. There was also G.o.dly Rod and Father"s Punishment."

"I"m tempted to believe she"s doing it on purpose."

"Everybody thinks that until they meet her. Anyways, can you surrender already? I won"t hesitate to kill you."

"I"ll punish you with my G.o.dly rod if you try."

Ca.s.siel really did not want to laugh because of how lame that was, but she couldn"t resist. She did, however, make sure to roll her eyes afterward to make up for it.

Then she continued her a.s.sault.

Fenrir hoped that she would eventually tire and slow down, giving him an opportunity to go on the offensive, but he ended up being the one to tire out first against his girlfriend"s endless onslaught.

"He-hey, Ca.s.s Ca.s.s, have I said how hot you are right now?" he tried asking.

"Thanks, but you"re still going to wear a dress," Ca.s.siel replied.

He deeply regretted using the dress as an example of something crazy to make him do. Fortunately for him, the perfect opportunity to attack came when Ca.s.siel"s footing slipped! Another punch was thrown her way as she stumbled!

Or rather, as she did what looked like stumbling.

It was too late for Fenrir to stop when he saw her smile.

She did not slip and stumble; it was all an act. Committing to his attack opened him up, allowing Ca.s.siel to thrust her blade through his abdomen at the cost of getting punched in the shoulder. While it did hurt to get punched, she wasn"t the one with a sword running through her abdomen.

"I"m going to start worrying about our relationship when you can stab a sword into me so easily," Fenrir said, cringing from the pain. At least it was reduced from feeling realistic.

"It"s just a game, and you tried punching me with all your strength," Ca.s.siel replied. "And you tried chaining me up without my consent."

"Are you saying I"d be allowed to tie you up in chains if I got your consent first?"

"I – I… I"m not saying that."

"It"s not what you just said, it"s how you said it. How bright your cheeks are help, too."

She twisted her blade inside of him. "Give up. I don"t want to kill you, but I will if you don"t."

"You"re supposed to be a tsundere, not a yandere."

Ca.s.siel might not have been an anime fan like him, but she did learn about the stereotypes related to tsunderes just from exposure to him. That was why she knew to say, "It"s… it"s not like I want you to surrender or anything, j-jerk…"

Rod knew what was about to happen and began to frantically pulsate his gem. Don"t give up, partner! Don"t let her words get to you! I know she"s your lover, and she"s saying what you like to hear, but look! Her sword is stuck in you and she"s right there! Headb.u.t.t her! Punch her! Bite her! You can win this, partn—

"Thank you for the fanservice. I surrender," Fenrir said.

That was the last time that Rod tried communicating with Fenrir. Well, for a few hours at least. Fenrir was going to get the silent treatment whether he realized that he was getting it or not.

"We"ll pick out a dress tonight," Ca.s.siel said, withdrawing her sword from Fenrir. At the same time, he returned Rod to his normal form and secured him on his hip.

"And there we have it!" Tabitha shouted. "The angelic Ca.s.siel has won her first fight, so she"ll be goin" on to the second round!"

Most of the crowd had no idea how to react to what they just saw. Fenrir"s girlfriends in the audience, though, could not be happier that he lost.

"What"s going on?" Oleander asked, only just arriving after mysteriously vanishing somewhere with Corwin. Corwin was with him, too, albeit covered in bite marks from his jaw down to his chest.

"Fenny is going to wear a dress," Serra explained.

"Game or real life?"

"Real life. He lost so now he has to wear one of Nell"s dresses."

"Pictures. Videos. Both. I need them."

"I"ve got you."

"You"re the best, Serra," Oleander said, wrapping his arms around her while nuzzling his face against hers. Before pulling away, he whispered into her ear, "I bet it"d be even better if you dressed him up in a maid outfit."

Serra"s eyes sparkled at the devil"s sweet temptations.

All Fenrir had to do was look over at them and see that they were whispering to each other to know that he was in danger. Grave, grave danger. And that danger only grew even more serious as Nell joined in on the whispering.

"You better still love me if you can"t see me as a man anymore after this," Fenrir told Ca.s.siel.

"Yeah, like making you wear a cute dress is going to make me stop loving you," Ca.s.siel replied with a sigh.

"Listen, I don"t exactly have much masculinity going for me in real life, and I"ll be shedding the last of it for you. Also, I want to see you wear a tuxedo."

"You"re ridiculous, and why a tuxedo?"

"Because you"d look hot in one."

"You think I"d look hot in anything."

"Exactly. I wonder if there are tuxedo sweaters. I know that there are sweaters with tuxedo graphics on them, but I want to see a sweater tuxedo hybrid. Wait, I"m an idiot."

"You"re only just now realizing that?"

"That shouldn"t have been as hot as it was."

"Yeah, you"re ridiculous. I"m not even going to feel bad for saying that now."

"I may be ridiculous, but what I want is perfectly logical. I want to see you dressed up in an angel costume. A s.l.u.tty Halloween angel costume."

"I"ll wear one if you wear one."

"Deal."

"You agreed to that way too easily! What happened to being afraid for your masculinity?!"

"Who needs masculinity when I can have my Ca.s.s Ca.s.s dressed up like a s.l.u.tty angel?"

"I—"

"Can ya both get out of the center?" Tabitha asked. "We"re waitin" to start the next round. n.o.body"s here to watch ya be all lovey-dovey."

Both Fenrir and Ca.s.siel turned a shade of red when they realized what they were so freely talking about in front of everybody.

While they walked out of the center to join their girlfriends, Tabitha introduced the next two fighters.

"Next up, we have… Nell versus Azalabulia!" Tabitha announced.

Everybody present backed away to make the circle larger when they heard Azalabulia"s name. Azalabulia"s explosive spells were known to everybody. Many knew nothing about her aside from the fact that she could cause ma.s.s destruction with her magic.

"Ah, fun!" Nell said, looking up at Azalabulia and holding her hands. "Would you mind giving me the same performance that you give my hero? I would love to act out a scene with you!"

Everybody was afraid of Azalabulia, including their girlfriends and boyfriend, except for Nell.

And there was nothing that could have made Azalabulia happier.

Nell held Azalabulia"s hand as they walked to the center of the group, only letting go once it was time for them to face one another.

"Tell me! Who is it that wishes to challenge the Dark Sorceress of Twisted Flames, the Breaker of Reality, and the One Who will Set the World Ablaze, the Wielder of the Cursed Flame of Bahamut, Azalabulia?!"

Nell wiped away her beaming smile and cleared her throat. It was clear that she was trying to take this seriously, but the quick swaying of her tail gave away just how excited she was. "I shall be thy challenger, Azalabulia! I, Nell, the Champion of the Western Serpent," she paused, looking over at Fenrir who was cringing but only because they were supposed to keep that part of her as secret as possible. But, it was already too late, so Fenrir shrugged and nodded. "I – I, Nell, the Champion of the Western Serpent," she restarted instead of simply moving to the next part, "will be thy opponent today! I may not have been cursed with such infernal strength as thee have, but the blessing of one of the world"s greatest serpents courses throughout mine body! The cursed flames of Bahamut shall be extinguished by the waves of Manasa!"

Nell, with her tail wagging even more, looked over at the others.

Fenrir gave her a thumbs-up, causing her smile to return against her will.

"Oh? I see. You wish to test the waves of the serpent against my flames of the dragon! Naïve girl! While I will gladly accept any challenge, do you not understand that you stand to make nothing more than a fool of yourself? Both you and your serpent will be shamed in the burning might of my power!" Azalabulia declared, dramatically holding an arm out.

"This may be true," Nell said, "but I shall try my hardest nonetheless! I will not let fear of your twisted abilities deter me from doing that which I must! If I do not stand here against you today, who will? Who will protect those in need of protection if not even I dare to throw my will against yours?!" At this point, everybody watching got their first taste of just how absorbed into her role Nell could become. She swung her arms out, forced tears to run from her eyes, and she even brought her wagging tail under control as her emotions reached the hearts of all watching. "There is a desperate yearning in mine breast, and it is a yearning to protect this world and all of her peoples from you! For as long as air fills my lungs, I will not step aside! I will stop you here, in this very moment, or I shall die knowing that I have done my absolute best! Even if I am not able to defeat you myself, I will weaken you so that others whom come after me may!"

Azalabulia sniffled before remembering that she was supposed to be playing the evil villain instead of being one of the sympathizing audience members. "Your determination is admirable, but you are nothing more than an obstacle to me. Let our duel for the fate of this star begin, Nell, Daughter of the Serpent."

Nell"s eyes widened when she realized what Azalabulia just did for her. Azalabulia helped her out by giving her a new t.i.tle to refer to herself with! To repay Azalabulia"s kindness, Nell stretched out her wings and readied herself for battle.

Everybody watching might have put their money on Azalabulia to win, but Nell was the one who they all wanted to win now.

"I will grant you your wish for death! Survive this impossible attack and I will even admit defeat, but know that it is my most powerful attack!" Azalabulia declared, holding her staff out in front of her.

"Don"t tell me that she"s going to start off with her strongest spell," Ca.s.siel said, taking her hand away from Fenrir now that she was done healing him.

"I think we need to move back some more," Fenrir said.

And so, everybody around except for Nell gave Azalabulia about ten times as much s.p.a.ce as they were already giving her. They made sure to stand far enough away that they would not even hear what the girls were saying unless they shouted.

"Should we save Nell?" Serra asked.

"I mean… I want to, but I think she"d be mad if we did," Fenrir said.

"Or she"d get turned on that you "ruined" something for her. She finds a silver lining in everything," Ca.s.siel said.

"I think I"ll just let her get blown up this time."

"You"re horrible."

"She likes horrible. Like you said, a silver lining to everything. If I don"t get her away from Aza, then I"m letting her roleplay and I"m being a horrible boyfriend who abandons her when she needs me the most."

"You"re right, she"ll love it."

"That"s what makes Nell Nell great," Serra said. "She"s pleased no matter what you do. She"s having a girlfriend on easy mode."

"More like easy mode with all skulls on," Ca.s.siel sighed.

Neither Fenrir nor Serra understood Ca.s.siel"s reference to one of the greatest video game series of all time, causing her to sigh once again.

Ca.s.siel might not have been that huge of a gamer herself, and she might have had some issues with her dad, but at least her dad taught her about some of the cla.s.sics from when he was a child.

Before she could explain the reference, swirling energy gathered above Azalabulia in the distance.

"Let us show this champion of the serpent our ultimate power, Bahamut! Now is time to unleash your rage upon this naïve girl in a devastating display that will rend apart the fabric of reality itself! Let your rage boil her precious oceans away! Let your darkness block out the sun in a darker-than-black shroud even a black hole could not stand against! I, Azalabulia, the Dark Sorceress of Twisted Flames, the Breaker of Reality, the One Who will Set the World Ablaze, and the Wielder of the Cursed Flame of Bahamut, will annihilate this mockery of a threat and put an end to her foolish dreams! This shall be the ultimate showcase of raw power – of the power that is destined to consume this world! Bahamut, together, we shall put an end to the foolishness that this lesser being considers praxis! Now, let us show our true strength! Cursed Flame of Bahamut, Final Attack, Final Verse: Exodus of Reality, the Purging of Life, all who Oppose it, and the Destruction of Reality! Explode!"

The only other time the group saw Azalabulia use this ultimate spell of hers was when she had a mountain to cave in.

This would be the first time they got to see the spell actually detonate.

The shape of a dragon formed by explosive energies appeared above Azalabulia, roared into the heavens, and flew directly toward Nell!

Nell stuck her arms out to her sides and created a dome of waves around her to brace against the attack.

n.o.body knew what was going to happen when the might of the dragon crashed into the barrier of the serpent. Nor would they get to see what happened. All they could see was an explosion of dust and dirt that surrounded both women. Then came the dark flames. A miniature mushroom cloud of darkness reached into the sky above the women as an explosive shockwave knocked all bystanders off of their feet.

By the time that the dust cleared enough for everybody to see through, all that remained where the women stood… was nothing. Neither Azalabulia nor Nell were anywhere to be seen.

It was only when Eva flew up into the air to get a better look at things that Azalabulia and Nell were spotted.

"They"re fine, I think," Eva said. "Azalabulia"s body is way over there," she pointed to the left, "and Nell"s is that way," she pointed to the right. "They still had their shoes on, so they"re probably alive. I don"t think either of them will be getting up anytime soon, though."

"That"s better than I could have hoped for," Fenrir said. "But I don"t know about using the status of somebody"s shoes to tell if they"re alive or not."

"Trust me, it"s legitimate."

Tabitha groaned. "Then it"s a draw and I have to give this money back. Every single one of us bet on the explosions girl."

"Wait, how are you going to make any money if everybody bet on same winner? Wouldn"t you run out of money?"

"Don"t worry about it. I"ve got my ways."

"That sounds shady."

"Less worryin" about me, more worryin" about your girlfriends. Go make sure their shoes are still on."

"Yeah, I probably should do that – wait, what are you doing?" Fenrir asked, watching Serra as she took her boots off.

One boot. Two boots. With her boots off, Serra lied down on her back, sprawled her limbs out, and shut her eyes. "I"m dead. Carry me," she groaned.

"First a cavegirl, now a zombie?" Ca.s.siel asked.

"Zombie cavegirl."

Fenrir c.o.c.ked his head. "What"s this about a cavegirl?"

"Don"t ask," Ca.s.siel answered, picking Serra up to hang her over her shoulder.

It was a less than graceful carry for the zombie cavegirl, but it was still a carry which was enough to satisfy her.

Serra discovered that removing all forms of footwear is a powerful weapon to get others to carry her around. "Being a zombie is great."

Just as they walked away to check up on their girlfriends, another voice could be heard groaning from behind Fenrir.

"I"m dead, too. Carry me, Fenny," Oleander groaned before sticking his tongue out for dramatic effect. He also took his shoes off.

Fenrir did not pick him up.

"I"ll tell them embarra.s.sing stories about you if you don"t pick me up," Oleander threatened.

Fenrir picked him up.