Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 86 (Patreon)

Before I knew it, I was on the warehouse’s lower floors. It was still empty since I’d built several and didn’t yet have enough workers to fill them all out.

This was one of the few private buildings in Shadefall that would be large enough for a match between D-grades. No wonder Myrina had called me here. She and her family had been planning on us having this duel from the beginning.

There were only four people in attendance. Cyra, Kyrina, Elder Elara the massive shieldmaiden, and Elder Caelia the woman with a sword on either hip.

These were the two elders who hadn’t voted to support Elder Thalassa’s decision to cast me out. Though our audience was lacking in quantity, they made up for it in quality. As far as the Samhain Clan went, I couldn’t ask for more esteemed witnesses.

“There’s our aspiring couple.” Elder Elara crossed her arms, glancing between Myrina and me with a raised eyebrow. “I hope the two of you didn’t do anything you weren’t supposed to…”

“Uh, what? No, never! I’m… uh… an extremely diligent and traditional girl!” Myrina hastily insisted. “Not that I have any idea about what you might be implying because I’m both innocent and fully dedicated to Amazonian traditions. Completely and without fail!”

Elder Elara laughed and shook her head. “I might have believed that an hour ago. But I know the wobble walk when I see it.”

Myrina’s face flushed crimson.

Elder Elara turned to me. “You better not die, hear me? The honor of the Samhain main family is at stake here.”

“I understand.” I reached out and took Myrina’s hand in my own. “I won’t lose.”

Elder Elara nodded in approval. “Well, just in case it seems like you’re not going to win, you should know that a potential lover running away from a losing duel is a thing that happens from time to time. As long as you get away before Myrina pops your head between her thighs, you’ll live to challenge her again a few years down the line.”

I returned her easy smile, showing confidence. “Don’t worry. I won’t need a second attempt.”

Despite Elder Elara’s doubts, I couldn’t afford a second attempt. Doing so would leave Myrina stranded here for who knew what Elder Thalassa had planned for her.

No, I had to win here and now, then take Myrina back home to Earth with me. That was what I decided, and that was what I was going to make happen.

“Ready?” Kyrina asked as Myrina and I squared off against one another.

The two of us met in the center of the warehouse room. Our audience stood off to the side, giving us the majority of the warehouse’s open central floor to fight. I glanced around the room. Less than an hour ago Myrina and I had been in the throes of passion just above our present location.

I glanced at the beam closest to us. Was that a crack running through it? Damn. Myrina had kept her promise after all.

“Whatever weapons you want are right here.” Cyra waved to a rack she’d just finished setting up. She wore a frown on her face as she saw Myrina and I squaring up, and there was a heavy slump to her shoulders.

Myrina picked up a shield, spear, and shortsword. I grabbed only a shortsword but would be sticking with my own wand and staff for the rest of it. When I’d made my selection, I signaled to Kyrina that I was ready, and she gestured to me to the center of the chamber, where Myrina had her eyes closed and was resting with her spear on her shoulder at attention.

“Remember, Carter.” Myrina gave me a loving smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes this time. “Don’t hold back.”

“Begin!” Kyrina brought her hand down, and in the blink of an eye the fighting began.

Myrina struck fast as lightning. Her level hadn’t been reduced by any item this time. But it had been reduced to match my own level.

Though she was faster, so was I. The net result was that these conditions were exactly the same as those when I’d beaten Myrina in the sparring arena. The time the System had given me the Amazonian Conqueror title.

I’d already done this once. Now I was doing it with an audience. No big deal. Not even worth stressing about, really. Soon Myrina would be face down on the ground, toned and perky rear firmly under my boot. Kyrina would call the match over, and then I’d take her home with me.

All I had to do was fight exactly as I had last time when I’d beaten her. I opened with Mana Barrage, spewing out a half dozen Mana Bolts. Last time, I’d overwhelmed Myrina’s defenses by attacking from multiple directions at once.

No matter how good she was at keeping her shield in front of her, she couldn’t use it to block from both the front and the back at once.

Or at least, she hadn’t been able to block from the front and the back at once. The Mana Bolts rained down on her… and struck a bubble of energy surrounding her. The bubble glowed crimson for a moment as it absorbed my Mana Bolts, then faded back into invisibility.

“Defensive Talisman!” Myrina shouted by way of explanation. “Now that Shadefall is under our control again we didn’t waste time hunting down our usual armory. Turns out most of it was in storage right in the city!”

Crap. Of course Myrina was now armed with anti-spellcaster weaponry. Her family’s lack of tools for combating spellcasters was the whole reason they’d been having so much trouble before. Normally, they’d have enchanted items to make up for the lack of magical abilities.

A Defensive Talisman like the one Myrina now sported was an expensive but highly versatile item for a melee combatant. I’d been looking at several artificer blueprints for them. Apparently, they sold extremely well, and for good reason.

While they were pricy single-use items, they performed an invaluable role in every fighter’s arsenal. Mainly, absorbing one unique type of damage before being destroyed. Having one could mean the difference between a swordsman reaching the front lines in perfect condition ready for a fight or arriving already riddled with arrows and missing an arm.

This particular talisman was made to absorb ranged spellfire. In other words, the bulk of the damage I was capable of dealing.

Soulchain Nexus probably could have slipped by it, but without any lesser enemies to slay, I couldn’t use that to apply stacks of Corrupting Mark. Sharky could have ignored the barrier, but Sharky was back on Earth.

I could try flinging Mana Bolts of non-neutral aspects at Myrina’s barrier. There was a good chance one or more elements would slip through. No Defensive Talisman could protect against everything, and this one was probably tuned toward my Neutral Mana. But instead of pulling out my staff, I switched to another plan.

There was only one ability I had that could slip past the barrier without activating it. And both she and I knew exactly what it was.

“Arcane Blade.” I raised my borrowed shortsword, extending it half its own length. Only an eyeblink had passed since my Mana Barrage failed, but Myrina had used that time to close the distance with me.

I could sense a trace of disappointment in her eyes beneath her helmet as she rushed in my direction. She wasn’t happy that I’d tried the same trick as before. I should have guessed that she’d have prepared countermeasures for me. It’s what any good warrior would do, and Myrina was certainly a good warrior.

Sword met spear a moment later. We locked weapons and I flared Eldritch Augmentation to match her.

“I know all your sword moves, Carter. You won’t win with that,” Myrina said as she shoved me backward. “Have you forgotten what happened last time you got up close like this?”

I smiled wide. “Have you forgotten what I enchant?”

If Myrina could use disposable magical items, then so could I. Her family might be rich, but I was an Artificer. This was a game she wasn’t going to win.

I produced a fistful of Mana Bombs. Each of them was loaded to the brim with Neutral Mana and would release large quantities of it when expelled. More than enough to overload a certain talisman Myrina was wearing.

Myrina’s eyes went wide as she suddenly realized getting so close and personal with me had been a mistake. She shoved her shield forward to knock me back, but I used Warp Step to shift behind her. She spun, but despite her speed it took her too long to bring her lengthy spear around. She had to drop it and draw her sword.

Her sword clashed against my Arcane Blade. Our weapons had been the same length, but the spell coating mine gave me a reach advantage that made up for her having a shield. She tried to pull back and disengage, but that was when I threw the bombs.

They exploded one after another, throwing splinters up from the floorboards and widening the crack in the beam nearby.

Myrina yelped as a gemstone hanging around her neck exploded. Her skin hissed like water coming to a boil. Overloading her talisman so fast had made it turn hot enough to burn. She tore the broken talisman free and tossed it aside.

“Not bad! But how about—” Myrina didn’t get another word out before a barrage of Mana Bolts struck her.

The moment my first barrage failed, I’d been charging another. I’d only managed to make six of them in the brief time since Myrina had first charged me, but six was enough. Myrina could only catch two on her shield; the others struck home.

“Ugh!” she helped, lurching forward with the force of the attack.

I held my sword level. “I beat you before, Myrina! Just fight as long as you have to for honor’s sake. Don’t hurt yourself over this.”

Myrina grit her teeth and straightened her helmet. Her lip was bleeding, but she ignored it as she charged me again.

“You want me to give up?” Myrina asked.

“That’d be helpful, yeah.” I shrugged.

She dropped her weapons at her sides and approached slowly, looking like she might surrender.

I glanced at Kyrina. “So, how about we—”

Before I could finish, Myrina lashed out with a kick directly between my legs. She’d unfortunately seen my whole package less than an hour ago, and so she was quite familiar with what and how to kick. I doubled over as a sharp lance of pain shot though my guts.

“Don’t hold back!” Myrina shouted as she dashed back to where she’d dropped her weapons.

That was what Myrina had said to me at the beginning of the fight. I hadn’t listened to her and paid the price. I wasn’t about to make that mistake twice.

I activated Mania to the first level, Dissonance.

Immediately, the pain in my groin faded to the back of my mind. It wasn’t important. My reluctance to hurt Myrina faded away as well. Yes, I cared about her, but right now my objective was to defeat her. Pulling my punches wouldn’t help.

With renewed clarity, the fight began again, this time faster paced and even more intense than before.

Myrina was still better than me with a sword. Even with the enhanced speed I learned at, melee weapons were always nothing but a sidearm for me. But for her they were the heart and soul of her class.

But I wasn’t forced to fight her up close and personal anymore. Now, she was the one being forced to come after me. Now that her talisman was destroyed, allowing me to disengage would only end up one way. With her getting hit by spell after spell until she was exhausted and unable to fight. All she could do was hound and hope to break through my defenses.

I was making no effort to strike her with a sword, and my blade was purely defensive. I threw off the occasional Eldritch Blast to force her to keep her shield up, blocking her own line of sight and slowing her down. Whenever Warp Step was up, I retreated and put a little more distance between me and her.

With our levels equalized, my titles should have been enough to overwhelm her with raw stats. The only reason Myrina could keep up with me was because of one particular lonely and potent bonus. Ironically, I’d been the one to give it to her just an hour prior. I still remembered the details from when Sakura had shown it to me.

You have received an affliction!

You are addicted to [Carter Smith’s Cock] – while ‘suffering’ from this affliction, you receive a +20% bonus to all stats.

Note: While under its effects, Carter Smith’s Charisma stat will be 30% more effective on you.

This affliction will wear off in 3 hours and can be cured by any common-grade rejuvenation potion.

I hadn’t seen Myrina drink anything, so she hadn’t removed the affliction. And from her strength and speed, she was enjoying the boost to her stats. Come to think of it, I’d leveled quite a bit since Sakura shared that status screen with me, so it was entirely possible that the current version of the affliction was even more powerful.

At the end of the day, that meant the main power boost keeping Myrina in this fight was the one I’d given her. A 20% boost was a massive boon, comparable to getting an extra legendary title. Such a thing wasn’t possible beneath the System without drawbacks.

So what were the limitations here? Mainly the time limit. It wore off in just three hours, which meant it wouldn’t even last a full day of hunting monsters without being refreshed. That was less time than many buffs or potions.

But if I tried to drag this fight out for three hours, Myrina’s Tempo of Battle would have long since boosted her stats to the point that losing the bonus wouldn’t matter. That meant there was only one obvious weakness to exploit. Myrina’s vulnerability to my Charisma.

However, unlike Lisette, I had no direct Charisma abilities. I’d always used the stat as a passive ability. It had no impact on my fighting prowess.

But perhaps it could impact Myrina’s?

An idea slowly formed in my mind as I disengaged. A smile slowly spread across my face. I wasn’t sure I would have had the nerve to come up with a plan like this in my normal mental state, but Dissonance was helping me now.

“What’s that smile for?” Myrina panted. “Keep this up, and sooner or later I’m going to get a lucky hit in!”

I pulled my staff from my bag of holding and set it in the air beside me. It hovered there as I suspended it with telepathic power from my Artificer job. Then, I started filling the Mana Bolts hovering around me with wind-aspect mana.

I’d tried these kinds of bolts before. They turned into little blade-like gusts of wind. They were good at cutting weak things, but with her levels in Vitality Myrina’s skin would be enough to resist them. At most she might get a paper cut. But that was alright. After all, I wasn’t targeting her, I was targeting her armor.

I lined up the wand Myrina had given me. I was already wearing the bracelet as well. Between the two of them, my accuracy with spells increased several fold. I’d need pinpoint precision for this.

Six cutting air blades in the form of Mana Bolts shot out at Myrina. Like before, she intercepted two of them. But two more cut at the cloth around her shoulders and waist, weakening it at strategic points.

“I didn’t feel a thing, and now you’ve wasted all your Mana Bolts!” Myrina shouted.

I merely kept grinning in reply.

We danced around the arena, her chasing me and me throwing off a few cutting blades of wind. I could see the elders watching the fight with mixed looks on their faces, and Cyra’s hands had turned knuckle white as she balled her hands at her side.

Whether they were worried for me, Myrina, or the Samhain Clan’s honor I wasn’t sure. But their fears were entirely misplaced.

“It’s over for you, Myrina!” I laughed as I cut the last strategic loop and knot.

“What are you on about, Carter?” Myrina demanded, looking none the worse for wear despite all my Mana Bolts.

I drew on my staff again, this time drawing on water and earth. Mud was not a particularly useful aspect of mana under most circumstances. It didn’t pack the same punch as pure earth, and it didn’t move as well as pure water. But it did a good job of grabbing onto what it struck and passing that momentum to its target.

Naturally, I targeted Myrina’s strategically weakened clothes. Six mud mana bolts struck her. The few remaining threads tore all at once. Her armor fell to the ground and her dress beneath it whipped off her body like a sheet caught in the wind. Suddenly, Myrina was as naked as she’d been an hour earlier.

“Eeep!” She let out a sharp embarrassed yelp. “Carter, really?”

Her cheeks flushed red, and she held her sword hand over her chest.

“Gotta say, the fact that you still didn’t put on any underwear was what made this strategy viable.” I smiled serenely. That only made Myrina even more embarrassed. Without the effects of Dissonance, I probably wouldn’t have dared embark on such a cunning and devious plan as this.

Off to the side, Kyrina slapped her palm to her face as she realized what I was doing. Elder Elara looked intrigued, Elder Caelia seemed scandalized, and Cyra looked embarrassed on her sister’s behalf as she shot a glance toward the elders.

“I like you better this way than in armor,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear me. The taunts were purely for Myrina’s sake, since at the moment I felt nothing.

If I had been feeling anything, I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep my face from turning red at my own words. But the power of my Scholar of Forbidden Knowledge class had granted me true shamelessness.

Myrina’s face flushed an even deeper shade of red, dropping her guard a little more as she covered herself up.

My words were having an effect. Even under normal circumstances, being caught naked in what was supposed to be the most important duel of her life had to be embarrassing. But thanks to the affliction on her, my Charisma stat was making it exponentially worse.

How much harder would it be for her to focus on fighting with this on her mind? Quite a bit, I figured. Especially if she was going to keep using her weapon hand to hold her well-endowed chest in place.

I used Warp Step to dart to the other side of her, then snatched her clothes from the air.

“I’ll hang on to these, Myrina. You’ll need to start a new wardrobe after you move in with me.” I tucked the torn and muddy scraps into my bag of holding.

“This kind of thing is why we Samhains hate magic casters!” Myrina shouted back at me, looking equal parts humiliated for herself and proud of my creative solution. It was an odd combination.

We clashed once more, but this time I had a decisive advantage. Myrina was still a better swordsman than me, but with all the blood rushing away from her brain she wasn’t as fast as before. She made several crucial mistakes, one of which left a perfect opening for me.

I used Warp Step again to circle around her and swung my sword in a wide arc. At the last moment, I twisted it to strike with the weapon’s flat.

Crack!

A tremendous fleshy smack sounded out through the air as I hit Myrina’s naked ass with the flat of my weapon. She fell face forward and landed with her cheek on the floor beneath us. Her sword and shield flung free from her grasp and landed on the ground in front of her.

“That could have been a crippling blow had I not turned my sword.” I shot a glance toward Kyrina and the elders. They glanced at one another at the blow. I gave them a moment, but they didn’t motion to end the duel.

I slammed my Arcane Blade into the wood by Myrina’s side before she could get up, then I pounced on top of her.

“Mhm!?” Myrina helped in surprise, biting her lip as my chest pressed against her naked back.

“I’ve won, just admit it,” I whispered in Myrina’s ear.

Myrina choked back a breath as I shoved my knee between her legs and brushed up against her womanhood.

Instantly, I felt her wetness soak through my jeans. No wonder Myrina was so good at fighting. She enjoyed it a little too much.

“I… won’t… give up so… easily!” Myrina said as she tried to crawl for her weapons. In doing so, she pushed herself up off the ground.

I grabbed one of her nipples and pinched it between my fingers. I probably didn’t need to be quite so rough, but a little revenge from before seemed suitable at the moment.

“Ah!” Myrina let out a loud moan that didn’t sound at all like she was in pain. Nonetheless, it stopped Myrina right in her tracks.

Sensing weakness, I dropped my wand and grabbed her other nipple. I squeezed that one too, then shifted my knee up closer against her crotch. Her arms went limp, no longer reaching for her weapons.

Somewhere in the background, I heard the elders talking among themselves. But I didn’t hear anybody ending the match, so I kept at it.

“Never… give… up… mhmm… I…” Myrina moaned. “Fuck…”

“We can do that,” I offered. “All day every day, in fact. But only if you surrender to me.”

Myrina bit her lip, forcing herself not to shout. But she wasn’t trying to crawl to her weapons anymore.

“Ahem…” Kyrina coughed again.

I kept squeezing Myrina’s nipples and gently rubbing against her clit. This combination would bring her Nymphomaniac trait to the fore. Victory would soon be mine.

“Carter?” Cyra called me.

“I’ve heard of wedding duels getting heated. But never this heated…” Elder Elara laughed.

“Hurry. Finish this!” Myrina pleaded.

“Oh, I plan to.” I smirked. “I’m going to run you through with my sword. But it’s up to you to choose which one.”

Myrina’s heart beat faster. “C-cock!” she pleaded. “Give! Now!”

“Carter!” Cyra called, louder this time. “Myrina! It’s over. You can stop now.”

I looked up to find the elders standing around us, much closer than before. They glanced at one another.

Kyrina pinched her brows. “My fault. I guess I didn’t shout loud enough. But this match is over. Carter wins.”

“Ha! If only all wedding duels were so entertaining! Good show.” Elder Elara congratulated me. Then she slapped Cyra on the back. “No wonder you wanted to get hitched so badly, Cyra! Ha!”

Elder Caelia shook her head. “You are fortunate this was such a small crowd. A duel won so… decisively in a public setting would be a bit of an embarrassment for the Samhain Clan. The main family already deals with enough rumors about being secret nymphomaniacs…”

I chuckled. Hopefully Myrina hadn’t shown Elder Caelia her new title.

“Just…” Kyrina shook her head and sighed. “Carter, well done. I’m glad to have such a clever son-in-law. Myrina, this isn’t the parting I imagined, but I hope you stay safe with Carter for the next few years. I will contact you again when it’s safe for you to return to Themyscira. In the meantime, I’m sure you can keep yourself busy with your new husband.”

“C-congratulations…” Cyra muttered, almost under her breath.