Moonlight assassin a lit.., p.21
Moonlight Assassin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy, page 21
Greater Flight Potion
Drink it to recover 20 minutes of flight time.
Useable by: Land-dwellers
“Leafblade had one of these when we fought in the skies of Faeheim,” Xanthe murmured. “I wonder if he used soul crystals to create them . . .”
“If so, then I think we’ve underestimated the value of soul crystals,” Nijana said, grabbing the second potion for herself.
Xanthe held the sack full of the remaining druid soul crystals and looked at them with concerned green eyes. “Soul crystals are a precious resource that can grant experience points, hold the memories of the dead, and be a catalyst in constructing astral fortresses.” Xanthe peered at the Greater Flight Potion’s green liquid. “And can craft any item without restriction when touched by the White Dragon—”
“This way!” yelled the voice of an imperial from behind.
“That light! It must have been them! They are resting at the oasis!” bellowed another trooper.
It was time to go.
Xanthe and Nijana spread their tired wings and viewed their flight time.
Flight Time Remaining: 6 Minutes 40 Seconds
It had recovered a bit, but not enough to make a long escape. With the potions in hand, Xanthe and Nijana flew from the oasis, and the buzzing wings of imperials followed the footprints in the dark sand they made. Once their flight time reached zero, the two drank the potions and moaned when their tired wings became renewed with energy. It felt like Xanthe had just awoken from a long, refreshing sleep and was ready to fly around the world.
“Incredible!” Nijana blurted out. The fae at Xanthe’s side spun in a quick roll, then giggled while flicking back a lock of red hair that blew into her face. “We could stay in the air indefinitely with enough of these potions.”
The duo continued their flight under the darkness, unseen by the imperials, leaving no footprints for them to follow. After twenty minutes of nonstop flying, a settlement appeared on the nighttime horizon. It almost brought a tear to Xanthe’s eye and made her heart miss a beat or three.
“Is that it?” Nijana pointed out the city’s stone walls, arching towers, and temples.
Xanthe nodded. “Indeed, it is,” she said. “That is Inara.”
Xanthe had returned home to the city of her birth.
“Define missing.”
Commander Summerfield of the imperial army adjusted his posture while placing his hands behind his back. He approached Leafblade standing before an opened window, letting in Ellyllon’s daytime calming breeze.
“She is not here, My Lord,” Summerfield said. “We have searched the fortress up and down.”
Leafblade placed his hands on the windowsill. Somewhere behind in his chamber, he heard Emeraldal chuckle to herself.
Summerfield continued. “Our forces stationed at the astral fortress in the Western Yelrokas Desert claim to have spotted two intruders fleeing the void bubble there.”
“So let me get this straight,” Leafblade said, looking to the window and the forested lands outside. “You are telling us that Princess Averyl surrendered herself to us only to flee again, this time onto the shadow angel world?”
“It would seem so,” Summerfield said. “Two of my men had fallen asleep to a Bard song, the class Averyl was.”
“A Bard, you say?” Leafblade spun away from the window and eyed the imperial officer, who wore a reflective breastplate decorated with red and white stripes, the sign of an officer who registered themselves as an astral fortress owner.
Summerfield nodded. “Yes.”
Leafblade looked at Emeraldal. She had sat on one of the oversized chairs in the chamber’s corner, legs crossed and green lipstick lips, smiling at him. “Thank you, Summerfield. That will be all.”
The commander bowed to Leafblade, pivoted around, and walked to the machina door that slid open upon his arrival. He vanished into the fortress’s halls. Emeraldal stood from her chair when the door slid shut and ambled to Leafblade with folded arms. She still held that conceited grin.
“I told you that you should have paid her a visit.” Emeraldal snorted. “Averyl as a Bard? Come on, you know better. You would have seen the lie . . .”
Leafblade stroked his face in need of a shave. “Averyl is a Cleric. Nijana is a Bard.”
He walked away from Emeraldal and grabbed his red hair, pulling it in a furious rage. A surge of anger compelled him to scream loudly enough to shake birds from the branches of the trees outside. His fury did not stop there. Leafblade’s rampage involved shoving a table on its side, dumping fresh bowls of berries on to the floor, then kicking the bowl into the wall when he realized his meal had gone to waste.
“Fuck!” Leafblade raged. “Serzax will be furious when he learns of this!”
Emeraldal held his left shoulder from behind. “Never mind Serzax.”
He shoved her clenching hand away, spun around, and pointed his index finger to her face. “How dare you!”
Slap.
Emeraldal backhanded Leafblade hard enough to lower his HP by 1 and leave a red mark on his face. Hard enough, he noticed, that her eyes had changed when he faced her again. Emeraldal’s eyes were glowing yellow.
Then that voice called out to Leafblade, the one he had been trying to ignore for the past week. “Listen to her,” it whispered.
It whispered those words over and over in his head. The more Leafblade fought it, the more it took control. He fell to his knees before Emeraldal and screamed again, but not in anger. It was a scream of pain. It felt like his back was about to explode and sprout new wings while removing his fae ones. The demon inside him wanted to play.
Leafblade looked up at Emeraldal. “No . . . Emeraldal, you must resist her.”
But she did not. Emeraldal’s skin turned gray. Her eye glow brightened, while her fae wings withered and fell from her back. Out sprouted her large demonic wings, followed by a long, pointed tail and two horns on the sides of her head. Her fingernails grew long and sharp like the blades of daggers. They sliced into Leafblade’s neck when she grabbed his throat, squeezing it hard.
Emeraldal’s demon spoke. “I said, forget Serzax.”
“Listen to her!” the demon inside Leafblade echoed.
“Never mind the fairy who escaped, whoever she may be,” Demon-Emeraldal said. “We need to reach Earth before Serzax or anyone else.”
Demon-Emeraldal released Leafblade from her grip. He had demonic wings, horns, and a pointed tail when he stood up, followed by a pair of glowing yellow eyes signaling the completion of his transformation. The demon within Leafblade had taken over.
“There we go,” Demon-Emeraldal said to him. “That is better. Are you ready?”
“Indeed, I am.” Demon-Leafblade smiled deviously. “Let’s prepare the shadow angels for their role in carving a passageway to Earth.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Xanthe and Nijana came to a landing outside a three-story wall encircling the majestic city of Inara. Their presence had alerted six shadow angel women wielding bows pointed at the two. Xanthe eyed one of them closely.
Land-shadow angel (Ranger) | LVL: 31 | Rank: A
Her home city had changed because of the affliction.
The women on the city’s walls slung their bows over their shoulders, relaxed their raven wings, and told Xanthe that she could enter with her pet fairy. Nijana’s snarl echoed across the dunes and into the night sky. Xanthe passed through the city’s main gate and strode across its sand-covered roads, eying the various stone buildings and towers, most with no lantern glow from their windows. The majority of Inara’s inhabitants were asleep. Even the six inns Xanthe and Nijana approached were closed for the night.
Nijana crossed her arms. “I don’t suppose you know a home that could take us in.”
“I do not,” Xanthe said, shaking her head.
“Figured as much.” Nijana walked down the main street, eying the homes, camel stables, and various establishments closed for the night. “Seems everyone is asleep, anyway. I doubt they’d want to help us.”
A devious grin stretched Xanthe’s lips. “I know a place that never sleeps.”
Holding Nijana by the hand, Xanthe guided her into the city’s central entertainment district. The ambiance changed when they stepped down a staircase and made a left-hand turn. Instead of a sleeping city, the duo wandered into a lively area bustling with chatter and soft music. Taverns were opened to the public, serving refreshments for visiting tradesmen searching for the region’s rare carpets, spices, and exquisitely designed vases. And Inara’s most visited place.
Xanthe brought Nijana to Inara’s massive temple, sitting in the middle of the entertainment district. Nijana sighed and put her hands on her hips as she glared at the temple.
“A pleasure temple,” she snorted. “I should have known, Xanthe. So what’s the cost of a room? Suck a cock? Get pounded by two men at once?”
Xanthe walked toward the pleasure temple’s entrance. Shadow angel sex workers stood on the temple’s lawn, chanting to lure men into their dens for a price. Most of the girls wore two-piece translucent outfits, showing the interested men what their bodies offered. Two shadow angel girls strutted in front of nearby markets, hoping to captivate visiting merchants. A caramel-skinned woman in a red bikini-like outfit and a red veil grabbed and pulled a traveling elf into her bosom, ran her ring-covered fingers through his blond hair, and insisted he paid her a visit . . . for a price. She did not take no for an answer either, then brushed her left wing’s feathers across his arm, showing him how soft they were.
Two girls, no older than twenty, belly danced before the temple’s pond teeming with fish. Men gathered together and watched her hypnotically waving arms and midriff, their wings spread far apart to display their shiny black feathers.
Most of the girls around Xanthe and Nijana were Bards and Blade Dancers. Their high charisma lured the men to them, then prevented them from leaving. Not all the girls were charisma-based classes. Xanthe and Nijana spotted Mages casting fire-based spells to enhance their performance of whirling fire dances. To the side, a dancing shadow angel used ice spells to forge lovely and lifelike sculptures of flowers that expanded in size when she struck a provocative pose.
A wind-bending Mage used her sorcery to lift the ends of her skirt up when men ambled past or ripple the thin cloth she had draped over her body, exposing the bronze flesh of her under bust. The closer Xanthe and Nijana got to the temple, the pushier and more aggressive the women were.
The pleasure temple was like a vacuum that drew in curious onlookers whether or not they wanted to enter.
“The women here seem to have a lot of power,” Nijana said as flashes of a fire dance brightened her pale flesh. “I thought it was the slavers who called the shots?”
A shadow angel emerged from a gushing fountain, brushing back her black hair and arching her wet and naked olive curves to men who had sat before it. She clenched her left breast, licked her dark nipple clean of the fountain’s clear water, released the busty tit, and cocked her finger at the men.
Nijana was right. Something had changed.
“It was not like this when I was last here,” Xanthe said as the two ambled closer to the temple’s entrance.
Nijana lifted an eyebrow at her. “Last here?”
“I was brought back to the temple by the slavers who took me away. When I was here, these acts were forbidden. The girls had to stay in the temple and wait for the masters to bring in clients.”
“Similar things happened in my universe. It was rare for pleasure temple girls to be seen outside.”
“The masters would summon us out of our rooms, one by one, and line us up where clients would inspect us before selecting their companion. And if that were not the case, they would ask us to dance while clients fed on fine fruits and smoked a hookah.”
“A slave girl restaurant,” Nijana said drily.
“Get seated and order a girl off a menu of sorts. But this?” Xanthe pointed at the girl in the fountains. Two human men swam with her and played with her soaking tits. The girl just moaned. “This is different. This is something that would get the girls in trouble and severely punished.”
“And it looks like these ladies of the night are enjoying themselves. Look at these smiles, laughs, and giggles.”
“Slaves do no such thing,” Xanthe said. “Many of us did not want to be in the temples. But these girls? If I did not know any better, I would say that they enjoy this aggressive flirting. It is as if they are being paid an honest wage to do this. Nobody gets paid to do work that they enjoy.”
Nijana laughed and walked with her hands behind her head. “Speak for yourself, Xanthe. Pirating is quite fun and offers bountiful riches—”
A man grabbed and yanked Nijana to him. He was a shadow angel with salt and pepper hair who held Nijana’s face, peering into her eyes with a smile. “Pixies for sale too?” he said.
Nijana growled and broke free from his unwanted grip. “Fuck off!”
“Hey!” He grabbed her arm and twisted it before pulling her forward again.
Using her free hand, Nijana unhooked her Glimmer Circle and lifted its sharpened edge to the hand that twisted her arm. “If you don’t want to lose that hand, you’ll take it off me.”
He looked at her weapon, then raised his other hand for a slap. “Why, you little bitch—”
“Out now!”
An ebony warrior woman wearing a black and gold battle garb approached with spread, black-feathered wings. She reached for a curved sword dangling to the left of her waist, placed her hand on its hilt, and snarled at the man squeezing Nijana’s arm.
“I said out now,” the woman reiterated. “You know the rules.”
The man released Nijana from his grip. “Oh, Azar! Sorry, please forgive me.” He bowed apologetically.
“Leave.” The warrior woman, Azar said. “You can ask for forgiveness in the morning. If the Matriarch is in a good mood, she might allow you to spend your lira here again.”
The man turned away and left. He wobbled into a palm tree, collapsed, and never moved. Clearly, he had one too many drinks.
Nijana gave her arm a stretch and approached Azar. “Thanks.”
Xanthe nodded to Azar. “Indeed. I really was not looking forward to getting face fucked tonight.”
Azar stared up and down at Xanthe inquisitively, brushing back a lock of black curly hair. She placed her fingers on her chin and narrowed her eyes at Xanthe’s bust. “Actually, I have a client who wants that, and you look like the perfect fit.” She held Xanthe’s hand and spun to the temple’s entrance. “Come with me, new girl. The client is not drunk or aggressive. You will be safe with him should you deem him worthy of your time.”
Xanthe could not break free from Azar’s grasp. She was a Berserker, after all. “New girl? You must be mistaken.”
Azar dragged Xanthe into the temple, forcing Nijana to keep pace. “I have not seen you around here. That makes you the new girl.”
“I was born here.”
“Then get back to work.”
“You misunderstand me. I left, sort of.”
“Nobody leaves.”
“Unless slavers take you away.”
“You speak of the old ways.”
“Old ways?”
“Before the affliction. When we had masters who made the rules.”
“Who the fuck makes the rules now?”
Azar stopped and released Xanthe. She spun to her and crossed her arms over her glittering breastplate. “You really do not know, do you?”
Nijana caught up with the two and stood to Xanthe’s right. “Well, she’s been trying to explain that to you for the last minute, you fucking idiot.”
“That is enough out of you, fae!” the warrior woman spat. “If you were a man, I would have gutted you where you stand for saying that!”
Azar had lost her appeal as a savior in less than two minutes.
“Let’s go, Xanthe,” Nijana said, spinning for the exit back to the streets. “I think we were better off in the desert.”
Xanthe nodded and joined her companion. The two strode away from the temple, putting their wings to the warrior woman’s sudden grimace. Azar raised her hand out for the two. “No, wait. Come with me.”
Xanthe stopped and glanced back at her. “Is my cunt going to get drilled if I do?”
Azar shook her head. “No.”
Nijana snorted. “Is mine?”
“You? A fae? No.” Azar leaned closer to Nijana, raising both her thinly shaped black eyebrows. “How did you even make it here? There is no way the imperials would have let a pretty little thing like you slip here alone and unescorted.”
“Long story.”
Azar’s demeanor changed. She led Xanthe and Nijana into the temple’s primary central chamber. The sounds of a flowing indoor moat echoed through the temple’s open main hall and its pillars painted with swirls of red colors. On a sunny day, one would have been able to see light rays illuminate the large and soft couches in the waiting area. Interested clients sat on those seats with a girl or two. The girls stroked the arms of the clients, whispering ego-boosting words into their ears. Two topless girls wearing only gold necklaces and a blue dress that stopped at the knees offered a pitcher of water to anyone interested or bowls of fruit to snack on. Most of the time the men just ogled their pert breasts with erect nipples before asking if they were available for the night. The half-naked girls just winked and licked lush red lips before offering refreshments to customers entering the temple.
“Oh . . . you are a cute one,” said the sultry voice of a working girl. She grabbed an interested customer by the hand and guided him into the hallway, giggling.
She was not the only girl giggling. Giggles and quiet moans made up the temple’s ambiance as potential customers with pockets full of lira waited their turn to enter one of many private chambers. The closer one got to the shut doors in the connecting stone hallways, the more they could hear erotic purrs and thumping cocks deeply penetrating wet cunts. Xanthe’s ears picked up the “Oh!” moans of at least three different women experiencing wing-fluttering orgasms. It brought back memories of her younger days.
