Free Web NovelChapter 9: The Stakes of Seduction
Vee and Yuki were casually strolling through the woods while chatting. Yuki was eagerly explaining the kinds of content he used to stream on Earth, which naturally transitioned into him describing his specific taste in women. All the while, Vee silently judged him with every step.
"Uh-huh... Yeah, that just sounds like you have a very specific type and a massive fetish," Vee said, giving Yuki a deeply judging glare.
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with me liking older women!" Yuki countered energetically. "They’re hot, and I get to take care of them while they pamper me! Ha!" Yuki chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his chin with a smug grin. "What can I say? I just have a way with words."
"Yeah... that’s just not it... at all," Vee said, her voice dripping with disappointment.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I just don’t think you are actually good at seduction."
"What?!" Yuki gasped, utterly offended. "Want to bet?!"
"Sure," Vee challenged, floating up to his eye level. "What are the stakes?"
"If I can prove to you that I’m a master seductor by making someone genuinely fall for me, you have to call me ’Master’ with absolute obedience for a whole week," Yuki said condescendingly, crossing his arms.
"Fine. And if you fail, you have to treat me like your cherished wife for a week," Vee replied, floating arrogantly in front of him, confident she would win.
"Done! Just don’t cry when I win."
Yuki took a single step forward and suddenly froze, his enhanced vampiric senses picking up a strange anomaly in the air.
At the exact same time, Vee’s internal radar spiked. "Yuki! Someone is here!" she warned, going on high alert.
Thwip!
Yuki reacted instantly on pure survival instinct. He lunged forward, grabbing Vee out of the air and pulling her flush against his chest as a heavy throwing knife flew directly past where she had just been hovering. The blade embedded itself deep into a tree trunk right behind them.
"You managed to dodge that, huh? Well, you’re going to be much more of a threat than I initially imagined," a cold voice echoed through the clearing.
A heavily armored man stepped out from the thick brush, blocking the path directly ahead of them.
Vee froze in Yuki’s arms, her eyes locking onto the polished silver insignia on the man’s chest plate. Her digital core flared with absolute fury.
"The Holy Order... Why the hell are you here?!"
"To rid your filth from this world," the knight stated flatly.
"We aren’t even true demons, so there’s absolutely no need for violence here," Yuki said, trying to salvage the situation and avoid a painful conflict.
"It does not matter what specific category of filth you belong to. You are going to die either way," the knight declared, slowly unsheathing his broadsword. The steel caught the pale winter light, gleaming dangerously. "Don’t resist, and perhaps I will make your end quick."
"Well... it looks like I lost the bet already," Yuki muttered dejectedly, looking at the heavily armed man.
"Not the time for that, Yuki!" Vee panicked, her aura flickering erratically. "We need to run!"
"Oh, no you don’t," the knight growled. He pulled a small, tennis-ball-sized golden sphere from his pocket and smashed it into the ground. The moment the orb shattered, a towering golden barrier erupted around the clearing, completely sealing the perimeter and blocking any chance of escape.
"Well, that’s not good. What do we do now?" Yuki asked, his breath hitching.
"Do what you do best! Survive until the barrier falls, and then we make a run for it!"
In that exact moment, four throwing knives sliced through the air, flying directly at Yuki. Survival instincts flared violently inside his mind, screaming at him to move. He leaned his head back sharply. A split second later, the knight’s heavy broadsword whistled past his throat, cleanly shearing off a massive chunk of the tree standing right behind him.
Without wasting a single beat, the knight gripped his hilt with both hands and brought the blade down in a vicious vertical strike, intending to split Yuki clean in half.
The strike barely missed taking Yuki’s life, but the edge sliced cleanly down his chest, ripping his gown completely open at the stomach.
The knight immediately dropped his center of gravity into a lunging stance and plunged his weapon forward.
’Shit! This guy’s too fast, I can’t dodge this!’ Yuki screamed internally.
Left with no other choice, Yuki extended his sharp claws and placed both hands directly in front of his chest, hoping to catch the blade before it impaled his vital organs.
Squelch.
The heavy steel driven by the knight impaled both of Yuki’s palms. However, Yuki’s plan actually worked—the blade got trapped beneath his dense claws and rapidly regenerating flesh.
He had stopped the fatal blow, but he was now down two hands and trapped in blinding, agonizing pain.
"Tch," the knight sneered. He brutally wrenched his blade backward, yanking Yuki forward into his momentum before slamming a devastating right hook straight into the boy’s ribs.
Crack!
"Agh!" Yuki cried out as his ribs shattered on impact. His body was sent flying through the air before crashing heavily into the deep snow.
"Yuki!!" Vee screamed, her digital core spiking in absolute panic.
The knight paid the small flying creature no mind, stepping forward to finish off the filth writhing in front of him.
"Oh god... my arms..." Yuki whimpered, desperately trying to push himself up. He managed to rise to his knees, but the sharp, agonizing friction of his splintered ribs sent him collapsing back into the snow.
Before Yuki could even register the knight’s approach, a sharp, blinding pain pierced his chest. The broadsword tore completely through his body, lifting his slender frame entirely off the ground.
The knight ruthlessly rammed the sword all the way through him until the hilt was mere inches away from Yuki’s chest.
But Yuki wasn’t dead yet.
With a surge of adrenaline, Yuki’s armored tail lashed out, wrapping tight around the knight’s leg and throwing the man off balance. Yuki followed up by plunging the sharp tip of his tail directly into the soft flesh behind the knight’s knee, slicing the joint wide open.
The knight roared in agony, dropping to one knee as his grip on his weapon faltered. "You filthy creature! I’ll kill you for that!"
Taking that split-second chance, Yuki raised his mangled, bloody hands and shoved them directly into the knight’s helmet visor, smearing thick blood across his vision to blind him.
"You fucking piece of shit!" the knight roared, completely enraged by the monster’s stubborn insistence on survival.
The knight grabbed both of Yuki’s forearms and, with a violent, sickening CRACK, snapped them completely.
Yuki shrieked in pure agony. The knight staggered back to his feet, lifting Yuki into the air by his throat. He ripped off his helmet with his free hand and wiped the blinding blood from his eyes.
"You are one persistent bastard," the knight hissed.
"And you’re... an idiot," Yuki choked out, squeezing out a strained, mocking smile as his face turned a deep purple from the lack of oxygen.
"Oh? How so?" the knight asked condescendingly.
"Heads up," Yuki replied flatly.
"Heads—?"
BANG!
Before the knight could finish his sentence, Vee’s compressed core slammed at full velocity into the back of his skull. The force sent him crashing face-first into the snow.
"Fucking flying scum!" the knight roared, pushing himself off the ground. The moment Vee rushed in for a second strike, the knight spun around and swatted her out of the sky like an oversized bug.
"Agh! Motherfucker—!" Vee cried out as she tumbled into the dirt.
With the knight distracted, Yuki wrapped his armored tail tightly around the man’s bare neck. The barbed, brown tip dug deep into his throat. Every time the knight pulled at Yuki’s tail to free himself, the blade dug deeper, causing dark crimson blood to gush out.
"Die... already..." Yuki wheezed, his vision blurring rapidly from the agonizing pain and severe blood loss.
The knight turned his distorted face toward Yuki, reaching out a hand to strangle him. But in that exact moment, Vee slammed into his head again, driving his face back into the dirt. She did it over and over, transforming herself into a relentless battering ram, never giving him a single chance to stand up.
The moment the knight completely lost his grip, Yuki’s tail tightened like a vice, crushing his windpipe. Yet, no matter how much they strangled and pummeled him, the knight’s reinforced vitality kept him clinging to life.
The two continued their desperate, synchronized assault until the knight’s body finally went completely limp. The light left his eyes, and he crashed into the snow, dead.
"Huff... huff... Well, that was a terrible gamble," Yuki chuckled weakly, before his eyes rolled back and he passed out cold.
"Yuki!!" Vee cried out. Her digital form was dented, cracked, and covered in blood from the brutal impacts against the armor and his skull. She floated over his unmoving body, her voice trembling with absolute terror.
"Please... don’t... die..."
