The True Endgame

Book 6: Chapter 46:

“You really don’t take it easy when sparring, do you?!” Fenrir shouted at Azalabulia as he was put purely on the defensive.

“I, Azalabulia, would never take it easy on somebody no matter who they may be! If you cannot survive my onslaught of dark flames, then you are unworthy of life!” Azalabulia shouted in response as several more exploding beams followed close behind Fenrir. They were similar to the smaller and more precise beams that she used when giving Fraydranth her back massage, albeit in far fewer numbers. She was, in fact, holding back. “If you have the power to cancel my magic, then I will overwhelm you with too much to cancel!”

“We’ll see about that!” Fenrir stopped in his tracks and spun around with a kick straight through one of the beams, proving that this new ability of his also canceled out magic. However, even with a kick and each of his magic-nullifying arms thrust out to intercept the beams, there were more than he could handle. Three different beams crashed into Fenrir before detonating and sending him flying backward in a cloud of smoke. “Why… why am I masochistic enough to leave the pain setting on?” he asked himself as he wiped at the blood coming from his mouth. “And why did I think it would be a good idea to spar with her?”

Before Fenrir could receive an answer to either of his questions, he could see that several more of those exploding beams were heading directly for him thanks to how they glowed through the smoke and dust. Once more, he barely got out of the way in time.

“Alright. If she wants to use everything she has, then I’ll do the same. Rod, let’s teach her who’s the top wolf around here,” Fenrir whispered down to his trusty partner.

You got it, partner! By the way, that last part was kind of cheesy even for you, but we’ll still show her! Rod energetically replied in response, not that anybody could hear him. He then transformed into the new form that worked best with Fenrir’s fighting style by becoming chains that wrapped around Fenrir’s arms. With these chains, Fenrir could shoot one end of Rod out toward Azalabulia in an attempt to bind her through all the smoke.

Instead, the chain was blasted off course by one of Azalabulia’s beams.

“You think that you can bind me, you beast?!” Azalabulia shouted. “You are but a cowardly pup to try such a strategy! It only goes to prove the difference in our power! There is no hope for you to overcome me without relying on such cheap tri—cks?” She looked down and noticed that the chain she previously knocked off course was now wrapped around her ankle.

“Watch your head!” Fenrir shouted before pulling back on the chain, tripping Azalabulia.

She did, in fact, watch her head to make sure that she wouldn’t hit the ground headfirst. Of course, to do so, she dropped her staff so that she could hold onto the back of her head. Without her staff, Fenrir had an opening.

After all, falling headfirst really didn’t mean much when inside of a fantasy-styled virtual world. Such a little injury was nothing compared to the vast majority of other attacks in the game.

And not only did this give Fenrir an opening, but, because he was pulling on the chain, he was pulling her away from her staff at the same time.

“Watch your face!” Fenrir shouted as he came flying through the smoke with his fist readied. Azalabulia immediately switched from protecting the back of her head to protecting her face, leaving his true target, her abdomen, completely exposed.

Now, Fenrir was never would he ever be the kind of man to go and abuse one of his girlfriends. However, when sparring, in a fantasy game, after being subjected to several explosions, he thought that it would be okay to give her one serious punch straight to her gut. The temptation to stop in his tracks and poke her instead was still there, but it was time for some proper gender equality.

Fenrir’s fist came crashing down into Azalabulia’s stomach, punching her down into the ground with enough force to dent the surface below her. Having her hands over her face meant that any of the spit and blood to come flying out of her mouth would land on her hands instead of Fenrir since he was right over top of her.

Then she rose one hand as if to get him to stop.

“You can’t do anything without your staff,” Fenrir said, “can yo—”

Azalabulia’s staff came flying into his head, knocking him away from her and loosening the chain around her ankle. The hand that she raised as if to stop him now held her staff. Even more confusing to Fenrir was that, when he got a look at her mouth and hands, there was no spit nor blood. She didn’t look hurt in the slightest.

That was when he noticed what appeared to be an incredibly thin barrier around her torso.

“How? Shouldn’t I have torn through that?” Fenrir asked.

“You did… tear through the other layers. Did you think I would be foolish enough to only protect myself with one barrier against an enemy capable of breaking through magic?” Azalabulia asked in response.

“Since when can you even use barriers? I thought you were strictly an offensive type?”

“Since the last time we battled one another. I have been preparing myself for our next battle ever since then!”

“You know, all I have to do to win is tease you and fluster you. You won’t be able to fight me if I’m talking about how much I want to do lewd things to you.”

“Si-silence! Tha-that is not allowed!”

“Don’t worry. I want to have an actual fight. The lewd things can be saved for later. I don’t deserve to do lewd things at all if I can’t beat you fairly in the first place, right?”

“Ex-exactly!”

“By the way, thanks for letting me know about the whole multiple barriers thing. I might not have realized what was going on fast enough if you hadn’t told me that.”

“Hah! You think that just because you have figured it out means that you will be able to conquer me?!”

“Well, I didn’t really figure it out. You told me it. Remember?”

“Th-then, in that case, you think that just because I explained it to you that you will be able to conquer me?!”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Azalabulia slumped her shoulders and sighed. “You… you could play along with me a little bit. It’s hard to stay serious when I’m the only one trying…”

“Right. Sorry,” Fenrir said before clearing his throat. “Azalabulia! With my strongest, I will beat your strongest! Or,” he switched to a whisper that only he could hear, “something like that. I should probably come up with my own phrase instead of stealing one from somebody else.”

Fortunately, Fenrir’s theft was enough to perk Azalabulia back up. “Then come at me with your strongest, wolf! Prove to me that your strongest is worth even the slightest consideration!”

“I’ll tear through every last one of your defenses! No matter how many barriers you may use, they’ll all be shattered by my fists!”

A smile spread across Azalabulia’s lips as she pointed her staff toward Fenrir. “We will see about that! But first, you will have to reach me, and I will not allow your cowardly trick from earlier to work again!”

“Don’t underestimate us! Rod, let’s show her how it’s done.”

Right, partner! But I’ve got to admit, this acting stuff is kind of embarrassing, Rod replied, unheard once more. But if that’s what we’re doing, then we’ll do it!

While Fenrir might not have been able to hear Rod’s response, he could still sense that Rod was more than ready to work with him in order to bring down their opponent.

Meanwhile, Serra was having fun with her miniature cannon that she kept on repeatedly summoning. “Heh. Cute. I’ll name you Pew. You have to grow big and strong for me so that you can shoot huge loads. Okay, Pew?”

There was zero response from the miniature cannon that was now named Pew seeing as how it had zero intelligence. Even the random animals and insects found throughout the game’s world had more intelligence than the cannon. Even so, Serra believed in it and was sure that it could hear her.

“Okay. Fire,” she ordered.

The tiny cannon shot one more cannonball out from its barrel before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

“So cute.”

Then, before she could summon it once more, she experienced an unexpected close encounter with death as a chunk of rock as large as her head went flying right in front of her face. It was close enough that it touched her bangs while barely missing her nose. When she looked at where the rock came from, it—of course—came from one of Azalabulia’s explosions targeting Fenrir.

“We’re not safe here, Pew. Let’s go find somewhere safer where I can make you shoot lots in private.”

Even when alone, she couldn’t help but to charge her words with sexual innuendo to make herself snerk.

“You think that these pathetic explosions could ever hurt me?!” Fenrir shouted at Azalabulia after being hit by several more of said explosions.

“Try saying that when you are not bleeding and on the verge of death from them!” Azalabulia shouted back at him.

“These are only flesh wounds!”

“Say that after you are nothing more than a torso and head!”

Azalabulia prepared another group of beams to shoot at Fenrir. Only, this time, there were nearly three times as many of them aimed straight at him.

It was then that Fenrir realized she was, in fact, holding back against him this entire time.

“You know, that kind of pisses me off,” Fenrir whispered. “I don’t like being held back against. We’re going to have to show her what we’re really capable of, Rod.”

Let’s show her, partner! By the way, what are we really capable of? Are we just doing the same usual thing or something different? Rod asked.

“As long as we can get in close again, we’ll win this. And if she can call her staff back to her… then all we have to do is keep it held away from her. Rod, your mission is to hold onto that staff as tightly as you can. Wrap all of yourself around my left arm.”

Fortuantely for Rod, he got an answer to his question even if Fenrir had no idea what the question was in the first place. Ready, partner! I won’t let her get her hands back on her staff! After I get it.

With Rod’s chains only wrapped around his left arm, Fenrir nodded and said, “This is going to hurt, but the only way to reach her is to charge straight through. I’ll try not to die or black out from pain.”

I believe in you, partner!

Fenrir gave Rod’s chain a couple of pats before running straight toward Azalabulia.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?! There is no easier target than one running in a straight line!” Azalabulia shouted before firing off those explosive beams of hers. Each one was aligned on the perfect path to tear straight through Fenrir’s core. If he didn’t try to dodge, he really was likely going to die.

Yet he did not budge.

His death rapidly approached as the beams came closer and closer to him.

There were, however, two things in his favor: one, his speed; and two, the fact that the beam were coming from an upward angle.

Fenrir waited until the last possible moment before jumping up. This denied the beams of enough time to change their course of flight. Instead of pursuing him, each beam crashed into the ground below and behind him. The explosive force sent shrapnel from the ground into his back and legs, and the force alone was enough to rattle his insides and make him feel sick whenever he wasn’t struggling to keep his eyes open. However, he stayed conscious.

“Now!” Fenrir shouted and thrust his left arm toward Azalabulia.

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The chain wrapped around his left arm shot straight at her. Azalabulia tried to knock it out of the way again with another spell, but it was too fast this time. Rod managed to wrap his chain of a body around the top of her staff, and then he reeled Fenrir in at great speed.

Fenrir spotted the barrier cover Azalabulia’s body once more. It was barely noticeable, but there was a slight shimmer and distortion effect that it caused. This effect was even more noticeable as she applied several layers of the barrier around her.

Thanks to that, he didn’t have to feel bad about punching her arm with enough force to shatter it. He didn’t actually inflict any harm on her, but his punch did knock the staff away from her.

Rod immediately and completely wrapped his chain around the staff from bottom to top, making it so that Azalabulia would literally not be able to get it back in her hands. If she were to try and grab it, all she would grab onto was his chain instead. Even then, it would be hard to get ahold of him when he kept the bound staff practically tied against Fenrir’s left arm. She would have to manage to break through the chain in order to get the staff back… and rip off Fenrir’s arm.

Next, Fenrir slammed his first into Azalabulia’s abdomen for the second time. The barriers shattered around his fist, but he lost enough force before the final barrier to not break through.

Azalabulia smiled and said, “See? I told you that—”

Fenrir’s leg crashed into her side, disabling the barrier and then knocking her away as she coughed blood out from her mouth.

“Did I say that I’d tear through them with only my fists? Sorry, I meant my fists and legs,” Fenrir said as cockily as he could with a smug smile on his face as he looked down at her. “And, with that… I think you win.” He might have been in in the winning position, but he wasn’t in any sort of winning condition. Those last explosions might not have hit him directly, but the concussive force from them still did a number on his already damaged body. Now that he was satisfied with breaking through all of her barriers, he dropped onto one knee and used the bound staff as support. “Next time… next time I’ll make you go all-out against me from the start, and I’ll still win.” His arms, hair, ears, and tail returned to their normal states.

“Another hit like that would have been the end of me,” Azalabulia said with a relieved sigh. “I – I mean, you put up a respectable attempt, wolf!”

“Aza, we’ll save the roleplaying for later. Come and pamper me.”

“You – you want me to pamper you? How am I – supposed to do that?”

“Your thighs. Let me use them as a pillow.”

“Ah… I – I see. Well, since you tried your best… I can do that.”

Still with some blood around her lips and on her chin, Azalabulia came over to Fenrir and got onto her knees to offer him her thighs. Fenrir was quick to accept the perfection that were her thighs by faceplanting into them.

“Aren’t – aren’t you supposed to lie on your side or back?” Azalabulia asked.

“I want to feel your thighs on my cheeks,” Fenrir answered, his voice muffled by her thighs. “I’m also requesting some head petting.”

As embarrassing as it might have been, Azalabulia couldn’t help but to smile upon hearing her boyfriend’s needy requests. She was, of course, glad to stroke the back and top of his head as he rested on her thighs. “Any – anything else?”

“Yeah. Instead of rubbing my head, rub my back… and lean forward so that your boobs are resting on my head.”

“Wha-what kind of request is that?”

“The kind of a request that men, and women, of culture would surely understand. Please, Aza. I almost died. I want to feel your boobs on my head.”

With reddened cheeks, Azalabulia moved her hand from his head to his back before leaning forward just enough to press her breasts down against the back of his head. “Li-like this?”

She then heard the most relaxed sigh ever from Fenrir as a response. “Yes… thank you. This must be what Heaven is like. Soft warmers for my face, soft warmers for my head, my girlfriend’s gentle hand on my back – this is worth almost dying for. Hey, Aza, can we fight every single day?”

“Even – even if we spar every day, that doesn’t mean you’ll be getting this every day!”

“Why not?”

“Be-because! Sometimes… sometimes I want to be treated like this, too…”

“You want me to grow boobs so that I can press them against your head?”

“Not that part!”

“I see. Man boobs must not be good enough for you. Well, Cass’s are big enough to make it work if use her lap. Wait, I just thought of something incredible.”

“What?”

“If you and Cass are both on your knees, and you have them pressing together tip-to-tip while facing each other… I could lie down with the back of my head on each of your thighs at once, look up, and then have you both lean forward so that both of your chests are on my face. Bonus points if you’re wearing sweaters during it.”

“That… that sounds like something you should ask for on your birthday…”

“You mean you’re not willing to do it for me whenever I want?”

“That’s not what I meant! It’s just… something that special… i-if you got something like that outside of your birthday then you would be too spoiled!”

“But I wanna be spoiled. Sppooooiiilllll meeee, Azzaaaaa,” Fenrir whined.

“You – you’re already being spoiled enough right now, I think! But… since you did try your best… i-is there anything else you want me to do?”

Fenrir’s mind immediately got to work thinking about what sort of other requests he could make in a position like this. Unfortunately, all of the ideas that came to mind at first were lewd ones, and he was in too much pain to be horny and capable of anything lewd.

Then it hit him.

He had the perfect idea to not only be spoiled, but to get revenge on his girlfriend for harming him so much. Of course, what he wanted was highly destructive and would likely do just as much harm to him as it would to her.

But it was worth it.

“Azawaza, will you do anything for me?” Fenrir asked.

“O-only this once,” Azalabulia answered. “Even… even if you want lew—”

“I want you to tell me a list of reasons why you love me.”

Azalabulia’s face went from slightly blushing to full on tomato in an instant. What he requested was far more embarrassing and difficult than even lewd things. “Wha-why do you – do you want something like… like that?”

“Because I want to hear you be all lovey-dovey.”

“But… I – I don’t know how to…”

“All you have to do is talk about things you love about me.”

“Like – like what?”

“I don’t know. You’re the one who loves me.”

“Can… can you ask me to do something else instead?”

“Nope.”

“Then… then… I – I’ll try my best, but don’t be disappointed if it’s not as good as you’re hoping.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s going to be even better than I could ever imagine.”

Following a deep sigh, Azalabulia began the list. “Umm… well… one, I – I love how… fun you are. You play along with me when I want you to, you don’t complain about how I act, you like to do exciting things and aren’t afraid of danger… I love how fun it is to be around you.”

Fenrir realized after just the first item on the list that this was definitely going to do more damage to him than it did to her. His heart was already beating faster than he expected it to.

“Two,” Azalabulia continued, “I love how kind you are. You’re always so kind to everybody even if you don’t know them… as long as they’re not mean. You always want to help, make sure that people are okay and taken care of, you always make sure that we’re happy and you do whatever we want… I – I know that making us smile makes you smile, and I love that about you. But… three, I also love how you treat people who aren’t nice. You don’t tolerate them and make sure to put them in their place, and that’s… really nice. Four, after you shower, and umm… when your hair is wet and sticking to your head… it’s really kind of… hot. I always love looking at you after you come out of the shower.”

“Wai-wait, how do you know what I look like after the shower?”

“Cass sends me pictures. She showed me one before because she said something like it wasn’t fair for me not to get to see it, so now she sends me pictures of you after you shower…”

“Then if she was taking pictures of me after I shower and thought you’d like it, too, that means she likes it… and has been taking pictures without me noticing. Yeah, I’m definitely teasing her about that later.”

“She sometimes sends me pictures of your sleeping face, too, and I really love those as well…”

“Wait… just how many pictures is she taking of me without me knowing about it? Well, I don’t mind. It’s pretty nice knowing my girlfriends apparently like how I look so much that they want a bunch of pictures of me.”

“That’s another thing I love about you. You’re always so grateful… even if you have every right to be upset about her taking pictures without you knowing, you’re grateful for it. A-and you’re grateful to everybody in general. You always thank everybody, you always make sure that everybody feels appreciated… even if other people don’t treat you the same way, you still treat them with so much respect.”

“Unless they’ve earned disrespect.”

“Exactly. And… you’re smart, and willing to fight for what you believe in even against impossible odds, and you’re maybe a bit too perverted at times… but I like that and – a-and my only regret is that I can’t make myself act the same without drinking, and… you look really good both in-game and in real life, and… I guess… that I just, umm… I love everything about you, Ryouta. There’s nothing not to love.”

As embarrassed as Fenrir might have felt, he still tried to joke around by saying, “Apparently, the way that I leave the toothpaste cap off of bottles is something not to love about me.”

“I – I do the same thing!”

“Then I guess we really must be perfect for each other.”

“Ehe… s-see? I said that I love everything about you… and I mean it. I really do love everything about you… my dearest Ryouta.”

That final part was like an arrow piercing through Fenrir’s heart. If there was ever something so heartwarming and endearing that it could cause a heart attack, it was Azalabulia calling him her dearest. “You’re… you’re way too OP, Aza.”

“E-eh?”

“I wanted to embarrass you… but I think that you’ve made me feel way more embarrassed than you do.”

“It was embarrassing at first, but… being honest and open with my feelings is nice. Who would have thought that the way I teach my kids to be like is something that I wasn’t doing myself, ehe…”

“Aza, I desperately want to kiss you right now, but I know that I’m not going to want to stop once I start. So, want to make out?”

“Tha-that came out of nowhere!”

“What can I say? I feel like giving you even more reasons to love me. A lot more. If every kiss is another reason to love me, then how about… I give you a few million more reasons to love me?”

“That’s too many reasons! We – we would be here for years!”

“My schedule is free. I’ve got the time.”

“Mine isn’t! I have a job!”

“Dang, you’re right. Then… how about we make out until you have to go to work?”

“I need sleep or I won’t be able to do my job well!”

“You’re really making this difficult on me, Azawaza. Alright. How about we make out until you have to go to sleep?”

“That – that… I suppose that I’m free until then…”

“Great,” Fenrir said, finally pulling his head away from her lap to take the lead by gently laying Azalabulia against the ground. Now, he climbed over top of her, his tail swishing in the air behind him, and looked down into her eyes. “Ready for the longest make out session ever?”

Azalabulia struggled to look Fenrir back in the eyes, but she still nodded.

There was no time to waste after that. Fenrir pressed his lips against Azalabulia’s and officially began their fun together.

That was when what sounded like a mighty wave crashing against rocks could be heard from the nearby ocean.

Fenrir and Azalabulia stopped to look at the source of the sound only to see—

“Oh, shit,” Fenrir said.

—one of the ultimate bosses of Fantasy Tales Online—

“Tha-that – we… we’re supposed to defend against that?” Azalabulia asked.

—the Eastern Serpent rising above the waves.

The serpent unhinged its jaw and released an ear-shattering, undulating roar that was powerful enough to blow their hair back and even shake the trees of the forest in the distance.

“Sorry, Aza, but I think our world record make out session is going to have to be put on hold,” Fenrir said.

“Do – do I fire the signal now?” Azalabulia asked.

Looking out to the ocean, Fenrir could see the glowing eyes of the enemy army underneath the violent waves approaching the shore. “Yeah… now would be a good time to fire the signal.”