Chapter 36
After the two mages left, Rys remained in the labyrinth entrance chamber. The demihuman guides from Avolar escorted Graem and Mave out, and some demons accompanied them.
Tyrisa dropped a sheaf of notes in front of Rys, and he looked at her.
“Triplicate?” he asked. “You didn’t give them a copy.”
“One for you, one for me, one for Vallis’s records,” Tyrisa said.
“Will she read it?”
“She will if I place it in her inbox.”
“Don’t.” Rys sighed, then stood.
Tyrisa grabbed the notes he left behind. Presumably, she’d deposit them in his office. There was no escaping her dedication to proper office procedure.
“Can they really summon a demon lord? I haven’t heard of one being summoned since the shadowbeasts invaded,” Tyrisa asked, biting her lip as they ascended the staircase to the sub-levels.
“Pacts allow mages to accomplish great things by borrowing power that isn’t theirs. It sounds like Kushan used one to summon a horde of demons a thousand years ago,” Rys said.
“Have you used one?”
“No. I know the consequences of them, so why would I subject myself to one?”
Rys remembered all the too well how pacts had inadvertently contributed to the Empire’s destruction.
Ariel had become increasingly reliant on them, after she lost access to any portals to Hell to summon infernals. The pacts caused her forces to become increasingly aggressive, and Malusian responded in kind. Duar used one, but that only tied him to the portal and led to a false sense of security.
“But could you use one?” Tyrisa pressed. “What if the Malus League succeeds? Can you stop a powerful demon lord?”
“I’ll have to. And it’s not about stopping him, it’s about killing him. I’d prefer it if Ariel didn’t learn that I was alive and kicking.” He grimaced at the thought of Ariel knocking on his door, metaphorically or otherwise. “But yes, in the worst case, I can use a pact with a powerful devil to save my own skin.”
“Like the Darus Twins?” Tyrisa brightened up.
Absolutely not, Rys thought. He imagined their price would be something absurd like a never-ending date.
“In any case, we need to start preparing our military for war with the Malus League. There’s no telling how much time we’ll have or in what state their preparations are. If we fail to stop the pact, then the only choice is to destroy the League,” Rys said. “Find Grigor and let him know. I’ll catch him later, once he’s had time to come up with ideas.”
The first thing Grigor would do upon learning about this would be to tell Fred, and then argue for several hours about the best response. Rys wanted to learn the aftermath, not be bored to tears by their philosophical debate.
Tyrisa trotted off. That left Rys to his own devices, and right now his thoughts weren’t something he wanted to be left alone with.
For the first time since awakening, he had made a grave error. His opponents had seemed weak compared to what he was used to, so he hadn’t taken any of them seriously. Rys had acted as though he was playing chess against children.
Now, one of his enemies was about to flip the entire chessboard. Or perhaps they hadn’t been playing chess at all.
Rys didn’t think he would lose. A single demon lord could be defeated, especially with Rys’s power and the infernals he had available.
But the cost might be too great. If Grishaw survived, Ariel might learn of him. Maybe other powers on Harrium might intervene. The pact might even allow the League to summon other infernals, and demon lords were often powerful due to their armies, not their personal strength.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Rys headed for the hot spring. He wanted to relax in its soothing waters.
Inside the changing room, he found two sets of clothes. Both looked like the robes that foxes wore, which meant Mina and Fara were bathing.
Rys undressed. He wondered if Mina would end up being even more like Vallis, and leer at him while he was with Fara like his Viceroy had when Maria enjoyed herself.
“Oh, Rys,” Mina chirped when he stepped inside. She gave him a wave.
Both foxes sat languorously on the far end of the hot spring, up to their necks in the water. Their tails were surrounded by a film of transparent light that prevented water from turning them into drowned, depressing wet bags of fur.
Naturally, both were naked. Rys saw the substantial physical differences between the two, from top to bottom. Mina’s greater curves and spine-bending bust; Fara’s toned muscles and lithe frame; the several inches of height that Fara had on her niece.
Not to mention that their contrasting hair and fur colors made for pleasant viewing. The two were like yin and yang. Rys knew they’d look even better when he eventually had them together in bed.
“You finally bump into us in the bath together, and the first thing you think about is sex,” Fara drawled, staring at his growing erection. “You can join us, but no funny business.”
“Really?” Mina whined.
Fara glared at her niece, who merely smirked back at her.
“You spend too much time around Vallis,” Fara muttered, sinking farther into the water until her head was covered.
Rys slipped into the water, which was steaming hot and soothed his muscles immediately. A pair of fleshy globes wrapped around his arm a moment later.
Mina smiled at him and pulled him over to Fara. “We can touch, right?”
Fara gurgled something from beneath the water, then came up for air. “Have you always been this thirsty?”
“I’m not the one who gets filled every other night.”
“It’s less often now that Alsia takes turns,” Fara corrected. “You should know, given you spy on us.”
Mina’s face colored, but she didn’t let go of Rys. He leaned against the rocks of the hot spring. Both foxes leaned against him, their tails occupying every nook and cranny around his body and tickling his skin. Their ears twitched as they placed their heads on his shoulders.
He rested like this for what felt like hours. Both women ran their hands along his skin, sometimes brushing his cock and balls, but mostly along his legs, chest, and arms. Fara sometimes kissed his neck and chin.
Mina watched jealously, but restricted her “play” to her hands and breasts. Her body rubbed against him, and he learned every contour of it.
If Rys wanted to, he could play with them in return. Somehow, he knew that the magic would be broken if he did.
Fara remained averse to sex around the other women in the palace. This was the most daring she had ever been, and Rys found it interesting that it was around her niece of all people. But she might become self-conscious if he played with her in return. Better to let her fall into corruption herself.
And Mina still wanted to earn her turn with Rys. While he had the freedom to bend her over and take her whenever he wanted to, it was a reward that needed to be earned. While Avolar remained an enemy city, he kept his dick firmly away from his precocious spymaster.
Time passed. Both women rested against him. At some point, their hands lingered together on his crotch for several minutes. Fara and Mina stared at each other. Slowly, they both backed away.
“Maybe later,” Mina said, with a wary smile.
Fara’s face flushed, but she nodded in response to her niece’s look.
“I think it might be time for us to talk,” Rys said, deciding to shatter the peaceful relaxation they had been enjoying.
A sharp intake of breath followed his pronunciation, and Mina looked at Fara with a sharp gaze. If Fara tried to run, Rys knew he could rely on Mina to stop her.
“You’ve been dodging me for months now, Fara. Why have you been interested in physical transformations, and what does it have to do with Imira?” he asked.
“It’s complicated,” Fara said.
“I once explained basic planar theory to you, Fara. Try me.”
She winced, and Mina giggled.
“Imira is a havoc fox, but she’s one of the few surviving ones,” Fara said. “I’m…” She paused and took a deep breath. “I’m interested in becoming one, if it means gaining enough power to stay by your side. Whether my people are right about the dangers of havoc foxes, I want to try this path for myself.”
Mina closed her eyes. “Um, for what it’s worth, if Fara’s doing it, I want to as well.”
“Mina—” Fara began to say.
“Why?” Rys asked, talking over the older fox.
Swallowing, Mina said, “Because there’s no price too great if it means repaying you for the opportunity you’ve given me, Rys. I don’t know if I can say that I love you, but you are my world right now. If there’s a chance to serve you better, I’ll take it.”
Utter devotion filled her eyes as she stared up at him.
Rys reached out and brushed her cheek. Mina’s entire body shuddered, and she held his hand against her face. Her breathing quickened, eyes glazing over as she stared at him.
“I think you broke my niece, Rys,” Fara said flatly.
“I feel great,” Mina said dreamily. “It’s so rare that you touch me like this, Rys. I’m so clingy, but you reciprocate so rarely.”
“You’re going to die when you have sex,” Fara said.
“I’ll die happy then.”
Rys brushed Mina’s cheek with his thumb, then pulled his hand away. She pouted, but calmed down soon enough.
The fact that she became so excited from so little was precisely why he touched her so rarely. He brushed Fara’s tails on an almost daily basis now, but the couple of times he had brushed Mina’s tails, she had become nearly insensate from pleasure.
Either the succubi had broken her, or Mina was utterly obsessed with him.
The worst part was that this wasn’t the first time he had caused this. After all, there were a pair of knowledge devils who rubbed themselves against him at every possible opportunity when he used their Gift.
“Let’s take a step back,” Rys said. “Explain what a havoc fox is. I can guess, but I want to hear your explanation.”
Fara nodded, but leaned away from him before beginning to talk.
“In simple terms, a havoc fox is a corrupted mystic fox,” she said. “They can use astral power, and their arrays actively corrupt the world around them. Before Gauron was rediscovered, they were actually believed to be connected to black-tailed foxes, but that link has been disproved now.”
“Arrays?” Rys raised an eyebrow. “Havoc foxes use astral power, but they still rely on the same method of casting spells?”
“Yes. I don’t understand how. Havoc foxes aren’t well understood because…” Fara bit her lip. “Everything about them is a secret. Even asking about them is taboo.”
“How do they occur then?”
“Most are born. I mentioned before that we spend our first year as a fox kit? Rarely, a fox becomes a havoc fox afterward,” she said. “But the most famous havoc foxes were once normal mystic foxes. Imira was one—she was an enforcer for the Garrote Clan before she disappeared for nearly a century, and with an extra tail.”
Rys realized why both of his foxes were interested in the transformation.
An extra tail took decades to centuries. Fara expected to receive her fifth tail any day now, but her sixth tail might take another century or more.
To say nothing of what Fara could do if she had astral power. Rys certainly wouldn’t complain if he had loyal subordinates capable of bending reality.
“Do you know why havoc foxes are considered corrupted?” he asked, although he had a theory.
Mina and Fara looked at each other, then shook their heads in tandem.
“We were simply taught that it was a path of no return.” Mina narrowed her eyes. “You thought they might be connected to Pandemonium, the continent that was destroyed in the Cataclysm.”
“Yes. My translation Gift suggests that another possible translation for ‘havoc fox’ is ‘chaos fox,’” he said. “Your race is also a special one that is actively assimilating into Harrium. I’ve never heard of divine beings that actively integrate into the world they emerge into. None of the races from the Emergence did that.”
“That sounds like a weak thread,” Fara protested.
“It is. I have no real information on what you are, or what havoc foxes are. What I need is a chance to learn more,” he said.
Mina perked up, and a sly smile crossed her face. “Oh, I can think of a chance that might come up. There’s a thorn in our side that might be willing to assist us.”
“What?” Fara hissed. “Mina!”
“Oh, come on. A traitor is a traitor. The penalty for betraying the alliance is beheading and tail docking. What does it matter if Rys takes a look first?” Mina’s smile was devilish by now, which was oddly fitting for her position.
“We can decide on that once we confirm if she’s a traitor,” Fara said. “But Rys, what I really wanted your help with was…” she trailed off.
“The transformation process itself. You heard about what the Empire did to create helldragons and vampires and realized I might be able to help you,” he said.
Both women nodded, and their tails splashed about in the water excitedly.
“There’s a short answer and a long answer,” he said.
“Rys,” Fara said flatly.
“The short answer is that I can’t do it without more information, and likely talking to a havoc fox or concrete data on what one is. Not wild speculation, but concrete data that gives me a goal to work toward. Experimenting in the dark can take decades, and I’m speaking from experience,” he said.
Fara grimaced. “The long answer?”
“We won’t know unless we try,” he said.
She glared at him. “Sometimes I forget that you’re an asshole.”
His fingers ran along her skin, and she gasped. When they slipped inside her pussy, she moaned and leaned into his touch.
“I’m the asshole who knows how to make you react like this,” he said.
“Not in front of Mina,” she whined, her ears flapping back and forth every time he flicked her clit.
“Don’t mind me,” Mina chirped, her fingers happily inside herself as she watched them with lidded eyes.
Fara pushed Rys away and caught her breath. “Later,” she said.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied.
Mina pouted and wrapped her arms around him. “I get to watch, right?”
“Have you ever not watched us?” Fara said. “I can’t believe my sex life has become masturbation fodder for you.”
“The two of you have the best sex,” Mina said with a grin. “Alsia is wild, but has no finesse. Maria just likes being fucked hard and treated like a toy. But you and Rys have a real rhythm. I want something like that when it’s my turn. You’ll need to teach me.”
Fara stared at Mina as her words sank in, then groaned.
“Teach you. Right,” she said, running a hand over her face. “Anyway, Rys, what is the real long answer?”
“Something that we need to discover through trying. You already know a havoc fox, even if everybody is apparently scared of her. There’s a mystic fox available for ‘research.’ If you can dig up any books or writing on havoc foxes, possibly under the pretext of fighting one, that would help as well,” he explained. “Then we puzzle out a real answer.”
“But you think you can help?” Fara pushed.
“It might take years, but there’s little I can’t do,” he said.
“That’s the Rys I fell in love with.” Fara smiled at him.
Those sounded like good words to end a serious discussion on. So Rys picked Fara up. His fingers sank into her fleshy thighs, and she squealed. Her hands snapped onto his shoulders.
He deposited her on the edge of the hot spring, her eyes staring at him in surprise. She lay on the stone flooring beside the pool, while he stood on the steps leading out. Mina watched with wide eyes.
Then he pressed his body against hers, causing his rock-hard prick to slide along her slick body. Fara gasped as he pressed his crotch against hers. His balls rubbed against her while she stared at his cock.
A hand closed over his length, and he felt Mina press her body against him.
“Can I?” Mina whispered, her eyes fixed on his cock as she held it between her pale fingers.
He pulled the white-haired fox into a kiss and she moaned in response. Her hand pumped him gently. Fara whined as he paid more attention to her niece than to her.
Rys stood there, pressed against two naked women while their fluffy tails wrapped around his body.
His fingers slipped over Mina’s pussy, and she pulled away. Her slow pumping became erratic. Fara took over, pushing Mina’s hands off and hungrily pushing Rys’s cock closer to climax. Her hands slid up and down his length while her legs wrapped around his back.
Rys slipped a finger into Mina. She twitched. Then he put a second in, and a third. A moan escaped her. He felt her juices pour over his fingers as he opened her up, and she seized up in response.
“F-fuck, Rys!” Mina gasped out. “You’re in my pussy. I can feel your fingers in me. It’s so good. Don’t stop!”
Her hands grasped his, holding him in place. Like it or not, he stopped because she stopped him. Mina spasmed against him, her hardened nipples rubbing against his chest and arm.
“Ohhhh, I wish this was your cock,” she moaned. “Fara, you’re so lucky.” Mina squealed in ecstasy.
“Say that when you’re not creaming yourself five seconds after he touches you,” Fara said. “I don’t think I was ever that sensitive.”
“Should I train you?” Rys asked.
“So you can have two foxes to ruin your bed whenever you touch us? Do you really want that? I feel your ear drums would burst at some point.” Fara winced as Mina squealed again.
Eventually, the younger fox relaxed and let Rys withdrew his hand.
“I don’t think I’m ready for sex,” Mina said. “But I can watch this, right?”
Her hand closed over Rys’s cock again, which Fara had let go during the orgasm. Fara rolled her eyes.
“You enjoy voyeurism too much,” Fara said.
“Not as much as you’ll enjoy this.
Mina pushed Rys back, and he let her, then guided his cock lower. Fara’s eyes followed their movements as the younger fox led him into Fara’s pussy.
Before he entered, Fara spread herself wide. She gasped as Rys’s tip entered her, then moaned when Mina flicked her clit.
A moment later, he slammed himself all the way inside Fara. She held him tightly against her with her legs, bucking against him. Mina’s fingers ran across where they were connected. Her lips pressed against Rys’s neck.
“Rys,” Fara moaned. “I feel so hot. You seem so much bigger.”
“Two foxes are better than one.” Mina giggled. “I bet you’re so excited to have me right here, instead of just knowing I’m nearby.”
Rys grunted and thrust into Fara. The two foxes moaned, giggled, and gasped as he pushed himself to his climax.
Then he unleashed his load deep into Fara, and she closed her eyes and basked in it.
“That always feels so good,” she said, leaning back against the floor.
Mina ran her finger along the white froth coating Rys’s cock and balls. He lightly pumped into Fara, and more built up.
“This tastes like nectar,” Mina said, her eyes lighting up.
“You’re fucked in the head, Mina,” Fara said, then laughed. “Rys, I think you need to feed her sooner rather than later.”
Mina tilted her head, not understand what Fara meant. Then it dawned on her, and her face reddened.
“I can’t wait to be deserving of a feed, master,” Mina said.
“Then you have a city to take,” Rys reminded her as he popped out of Fara. His seed poured out of her, and both foxes lapped it up with their fingers.
“For now, I actually have somebody else to meet. A queen, in fact,” Rys said.
“Then we should clean you up properly, shouldn’t we?” Fara purred as she sat up, keen for several more rounds.