Chapter 199: Consequences (double chapter)
"AAAARGHHH!"
A powerful, pained scream shook the air when Loraz's pridehood burst under the heel of Madam's shoe.
I closed my eyes while having no better option but to hope and pray I could somehow close my ears as well.
Even if this man just tried to kill me… Watching him have his balls turned into smithereens while the fate of the part every man took pride in was left to be determined…
Even if he was trying to kill me just now, I was still a man. And by merely witnessing this sight, I felt a dull, numbing pain appear in my own sack as well, effectively cutting all the arousal Fay's slow cuddling managed to build up over time.
"Hon…" Fay moaned lightly, pressing her chest up to my face while her hand finally came to a stop.
She was worried for she could also perceive this sort of mental, collateral damage of Madam's furious punishment.
And feeling my nearly physical pain of watching it happen, Fay's hold over my erection relaxed. Her hand then slid even further down my pants. And with the tips of her fingers gently reaching out to grasp my sack…
'Shit…'
Between the dull, virtual pain in my balls and the gentle massage Fay offered them…
If only those two things fought for supremacy over my mind, I could somehow manage. But for some reason, having Fay gently, carefully squeeze such a vulnerable and delicate part of me…
As restraining as it was by the very nature of the act, I just couldn't get enough of it!
"Is it good…?" Fay asked in a shy, restrained voice, no louder than the purring of a relaxed cat. Even though she could simply open herself up to our connection to feel it herself… she still decided to ask me instead.
'Does she want to just talk dirty with me?' I thought, struggling to keep my attention on anything beyond Fay's immediate surroundings.
With her fingers massaging my balls, how could I pay attention to anything else, after all? Right now, just turning my eyes away in shame or embarrassment could warrant a reaction that…
A tingle moved up my spine as I imagined Fay suddenly turning more dominant, decisive… Maybe even slightly sadistic?
"Urgh…" I released a short groan, only for Fay's fingers to freeze as she rapidly raised her eyes and glued them to my face.
"Are you okay?" she asked, worry brimming in her eyes… And her presence in our bond grew stronger.
Contrary to when she asked how it felt when worried whether she hurt me or not, Fay didn't hesitate to immerse her soul into our bond, raising her sensitivity to the feelings and sensations we shared.
"I am, but it's getting harder and harder to restrain myself." I leaned forward and rested my head on Fay's shoulder. I then turned my face before burying it into the side of Fay's neck, instantly taking a big whiff of her delicate scent.
'I could get high on just smelling her,' I thought, only for my innate bashfulness to awaken, turning my cheeks red.
"Is it bad…?" Fay asked, her voice coated with uncertainty and hesitation… nevertheless, her fingers started to move once again. And feeling them caress, rub, and massage my balls once again…
"Can we wait, just for a few more moments?" I finally managed to squeeze this important request out of my lips. Against my own desire to either just stand still and let Fay bring me to the world of pleasure or turn proactive, pushing her down right as we stood. "We really need to wrap up some things. But once we are done, I will be all yours…"
Fay's fingers squeezed harder.
My mind turned blank when the pleasure mixed with the dull bit of pain.
And then, as if nothing ever happened, she pulled her hand out of the pants, freeing my mind to once again start working on the actually important issues.
"Are you satisfied?" Madam asked as soon as my mind returned to reality.
She was looking at the two of us with an extremely complicated expression of grief, sadness, anger, fury, and satisfaction mixing in her eyes with… jealousy?
'Oh right!'
Now that Fay released her hold over my mind (and balls), an insanely important point suddenly surfaced right at the top of my mind.
For Madam, crushing Loraz's balls wasn't just a simple matter of punishment. It was one hell of a massive statement all in its own right. A proof of allegiance, one could say.
'After all, she's a celestial fox like Fay,' I thought once the magnitude of this message started to dawn on me. 'Meaning, now that Loraz will never be able to perform again… she won't get any either.'
I saw just how much celestial fox's breading instincts affected Fay. Even her current cuddly approach where she refused to leave my side even after letting go of my balls was the most obvious example of it.
After all, I could hardly imagine a run-of-the-mill human female sticking so close to her partner at all times, even if she really, really loved him!
"Are you really sure about this?" I asked, giving the elegant woman a look of pity.
With Fay all over me, I knew better than anyone the joys of laying down with a celestial fox in heat. And now, thanks to the courtesy of our bond, I could tell just how much Fay felt everything in return.
And with that in mind, I could tell that Loraz's punishment wasn't actually aimed only at the man who tried to kill me.
It was also Madam's way of saying sorry and proving that she was not only on my side, but was also willing to take responsibility for the mishap that happened on her watch.
'It was her who left Loraz to keep us safe while she went off to do something, after all,' I thought as my brain continued to piece together the small bits of info I largely ignored while hidden within the domain of Fay's hair.
"Do I look sure?" Madam snapped back as soon as I asked my question. "But he attacked Fay. And he tried to kill you," she pointed out before taking a step back, resting her hands on her hips, and looking down at the results of her work.
The results were in the form of her ex-husband wriggling in pain with both of his hands pressing tightly against the mess left behind by Madam's heel.
"This is the least I can do."
Madam's words only confirmed my guess.
This was as much a punishment to Loraz for attacking me and Fay as it was a punishment for Madam for leaving us in his care.
But, at the same time, I couldn't help but notice that the air around Madam… No, the nature of her aura changed.
It was only a minor detail, something I noticed only by mere chance. A sliver of clue that was too tiny to be of any use to me right now, but one that could become potentially interesting down the line.
As such, as it was neither something I had to deal urgently with nor something of great importance to begin with, I simply stashed it in the back of my head.
"Either way, I think you guys went through enough for one night," Madam spoke as she tore her eyes away from the growling, pained mess of her former lover and brought them up to the rising sky.
By now, the darkness of the night was so far gone, that I couldn't sense a single bit of elemental darkness anywhere out in the open, save for some spots where shadows lurked, preserving the darkness from the decay of the sunlight.
And no matter how I looked at it…
Madam's suggestion was correct.
What was supposed to be just a simple skirmish that evolved into a simple, rapid battle… Turned into an extended and multi-pronged conflict. Our initial enemies turned into the spectators of our fight with their own reinforcements and now a fight with someone who was supposed to be our ally has just concluded.
It was one hell of a messy night. And as eager as I was to give in to the call of Fay's soul from our bond and pull her away to some privacy in the bushes… There were still things that I needed to take care of before that.
"Since we are done here, I think it's high time to go and have a talk with Claudy," I pointed out before shaking my head and looking away from the forest, down the path currently marked with holes left behind by the discharges of Fay's barrage. "But before that, just one more thing I wanted to ask."
I turned my eyes back to Madam and took a moment to gather my own wits.
What I was going to ask could, after all, put me on a crash course with Fay's mother as well, even if pitting myself against her was never my intention!
But I knew too little about this world. And after Loraz's sudden attack… I wasn't going to let my fear of finding out the truth prevent me from peering into the topics that were not as easy to bring up.
"Can you tell me what were you doing out in the plains?" I asked while simultaneously gulping down my saliva and squeezing Fay into a slightly tighter hug. "I don't mean to say I suspect you of something, but I doubt you went there without a goal in mind. And I do have a feeling whatever that goal was, I should account for it in my plans."
Madam squinted her eyes and looked down at my face… Only for a small smile to appear on her lips as she breathed out, seemingly allowing a huge weight to fall off her mental shoulders.
"I guess there's no point trying to hide it now," Madam sighed before shaking her head a little. "As I bet you noticed, my way of handling aura is different than yours, Fay's or Loraz's. And that's because while you guys are all awakened of varying degrees of mastery, I'm a major step ahead for I am a supreme."
Hearing the seemingly new term, I couldn't help but gulp my saliva again.
For it wasn't the first time I've encountered this particular term. It was only my first time hearing it spoken out loud by the inhabitants of this world and forest.
And judging by the grandeur behind Madam's voice… Being a supreme appeared to be one hell of a deal.
"I went to the plains to talk with the supreme humans brought," Madam revealed yet another massive piece of information without the slightest care in the world. "So, once you get some rest, you should prepare for negotiations, kid," Madam advised before putting a wide, mocking smile on her face and crossing her hands over her chest.
"That's what I did over there," Madam said as her smile only grew larger. "I've hooked you up for a meeting with the imperial golden princess."
Madam's slightly wicked smile quickly gave way to a tense look in her eyes as she looked over away from the forest, to the plains that I've brought to the agenda.
"Before you even ask, we didn't fight," Madam announced, reading into the question I've never voiced out.
And while I was sure I would feel the disturbance in aura if two supremes were to clash… Hearing it directly from Madam bore a much greater significance than figuring that fact out myself.
"We have an ancient saying. Where two supremes clash, Lo'Atkar lurks," Madam said with a heavy sigh before shaking her head away and ultimately turning her eyes away.
"And that's why you didn't fight?" I asked, trying to play it as low-key as I could while intensively committing this new saying, a new piece of potentially crucial information into my memory. "Because of some saying?"
This time, Madam didn't reply. Instead, she threw me a long, judging look before sighing for the third time and dropping her hands from her chest, allowing them to hang freely by her sides.
"It doesn't matter. What matters, though, is that you will have your shoot at ending this war once she comes to negotiate with you," Madam explained, only for the look in her eyes to intensify, and flash up for a mere instant. "Just like you desired, isn't it?"