Chapter 9: ~St. Lucia~

"Why?" Lucia asked, glancing at the two dead agents. There was no judgement in her voice, only curiosity.

"They were probably going to kill me when the Ao Oni were dead, so I killed them first," she answered simply. Syd had seen Lucia's name out there when their fight started, the wolf must have followed her scent here.

Lucia nodded patiently, she took a closer look at Syd from afar. "I wish you chose wolf," she commented wistfully.

"How much do you like me Lucia?" Syd asked. This girl had always been a woman of few words, but her words, while few, meant so much more than most.

"Too much," she answered bluntly.

Syd smirked at the wolf who was now standing face to face with her. She could die happy staring into those golden eyes. "Can you keep my secrets? From everyone?"

Lucia had a really cute puzzled expression flashing across her face for a few seconds. It was like she was saying, 'duh', 'idiot, don't I already do that?'

"I chose both." Lucia gasped in shock. "Yeah, I know it was stupid now. Nobody told me I couldn't choose both, so I drank the blood and took in some of your dna with it." By now Lucia was running her hands over Syd's form and panicking. "Hurt like a bitch, and didn't turn me the way it should've, but I'm alive somehow."

Lucia was satisfied with her health for the moment, so Syd took her by the hand and led them away.

"Can we talk somewhere else? This place is about to get busy."

Lucia gripped her hand tighter, urging Syd to lead on. "Almost lost you..."

Syd didn't respond, instead she massaged Lucia's palm in a calming manner. Lucia inched closer until she could wrap an arm around Syd's waist. Being taller than most girls, it was rare for Syd to get the chance to rest her head on someone's shoulder. So she happily took the opportunity that Lucia presented her with. Lucia on the other hand, sniffed Syd's hair for a few seconds.

"Still human..."

Syd took that to mean that she still smelled like a normal human, which was a damn good thing. Now if only she could get Lucia to talk in full sentences again, this morning's Lucia was one sexy bitch.

On the outskirts of Scottsville is where they found themselves. Lucia had gotten a devious smirk on her face, picked Syd up bridal style, and begun jumping across rooftops.

That was the convenient thing about illusion barriers. They were easy to create and break, so if you wanted to fly or jump somewhere quickly without being seen, pop a few barriers. It was that simple, assuming you don't mind other people who can sense illusion barriers seeing you do it. Although, that's a pretty moot point since so many people use the same method.

On a rooftop that wasn't too high or too low, adjoined to a menacing clock tower that looked over their school, Lucia held Syd in her arms, not quite ready to put the woman down. She had almost lost Syd this morning without even realizing it. People do not survive being infected by a wolf and turned into a vamp, it just doesn't happen. Now, in her arms, was the object of her affections. Said object had just done the impossible, she survived.

Lucia wasn't stupid, she knew how Syd was, a free spirit if you will. It had always bothered her that so many people took for granted what she couldn't have. Sexual secretions didn't pass on lycanthropy, so certain things could be done, but saliva was positively loaded with lycan germs.

A kiss to a werewolf is so much more than that, it's a taste, a promise, sharing your being with another person. When a wolf gives away their heart, it's for life, they choose one partner, one true love to give undying loyalty. Lucia hadn't taken it seriously as a child, she didn't know what sort of phenomenon bound her kind to it. Something like a geass that binds your very being to another person's soul. The worst part, Lucia had done it by accident...

It was a normal day in class, school had just begun again. Students hustling here and there to figure out where their new classes are. Vamps looking a bit under the weather, ghouls taking care of all the vamp's needs.

Lucia was gazing out of her window, she'd always get a window seat, no matter what. This morning she had smelt it in the air — rain, a rare sun shower. A small bit of entertainment was what she had been expecting, panicked students running around like madmen. Drenched rats, spinning umbrellas, and the occasional person wearing a trash bag. Dignity at its worse.

This sun shower though, changed her life. Lucia's golden eyes were sharp, and she could see very far. So when a tall black haired girl was happily twirling about the road, soaking up the rain with rays of sun shining down upon her, it caught the wolf's eye. From that moment on she watched the girl. It was like she was in another world, laughing and smiling, splashing water to and fro.

Then her ears picked it up, the girl had begun to sing. It was beautiful, a song about love, about life. She was no Madonna, but the emotion in her voice as she cheerfully absorbed the rain and spun about was awe inspiring. Everything about the girl called out to her in that moment, this was what it meant to be alive, to be happy, to be loved.

Then it happened, Lucia's heart exploded in her chest, beating more rapidly than she'd thought possible. Gazing at the black hair blue eyed girl had sealed her fate, she hadn't meant to, but Lucia Vulpanthorp had given her heart to another woman, a woman who was already in love...

Lucia had cursed that day for months, falling in love shouldn't just happen like that, especially not for a lycanthrope. However, it had happened, and she did love someone that could never be hers. A human being that loved someone else. So she had broken her own heart by sealing away every emotion tied to the sunshower dancer. Until, one day she'd heard an absurd rumor. A flicker of hope suddenly sealed the cracks in her broken heart...

"I'm telling you it was the best night of my life," the girl said. "You've got to try it."

Lucia's jaw had never dropped so far before. She continued to listen in on their conversation.

"You're not joking, are you?"

The girl shook her head rapidly. "I swear on my life. Sydney took me to her lover's place, we talked a bit, and at some point studying with Sydney turned into a threesome."

Both of them were blushing, and Lucia could easily smell the arousal, it was difficult to rein in her jealousy towards them.

"Best night of your life?"

The girl nodded seriously. "They're lovers all the time, so when I came along they sort of focused on me... double teamed me. I felt things in places I didn't know I had. I'm not even kidding, you have got to find a way to get Sydney to take you home. I had at least a dozen climaxes, and I literally passed out, then I woke up to breakfast in bed. They make my boyfriend seem so... disappointing."

The girl she was talking to nodded seriously. This advice had not fallen on deaf ears.

Lucia had taken the rumors with a grain of salt. Her heart was a jealous heart, and she wasn't sure it would be a good idea to try things with Syd, even on a casual basis. Lucia was worried that when the moment came, she'd lose herself in those azure eyes, and bite her, turn her into a wolf so that they could be together. It just wouldn't be fair to Syd. Of course, her noble sacrifice had to get derailed within the week.

Lucia was being her usual stoic self, her mother had forced her to wear a skirt today, she hated skirts. It also sucked being so tall, skirts and tall just do not mix in her opinion. Then her mother had to go one step farther. In Lucia's opinion, skirts, tall, and thongs, do not mix. She was so embarrassed she'd kill her mother. Why couldn't the woman understand that she didn't want to attract a mate?

So here she was, biting the bullet, being late to every class so that she could walk through hallways and climb stairs when no other students were around.

"By the gods," Lucia heard a whisper, it was a voice she would recognize anywhere. "That has got to be the sexiest ass I have ever seen."

Lucia froze in shock, she was afraid to look, to see who her heart's desire was leering at while whispering that. In the end though, curiosity won, so she turned a bit, and got another shock. "A-a-are you?" Lucia stuttered.

Syd continued to admire the view. "Looking up your skirt?" she asked. Lucia nodded sheepishly. "Why yes, yes I am. I didn't mean to, but I did, and now I can't stop."

Lucia's brain took a moment to catch up. Was she being serious? "Why not?"

"You've obviously never checked yourself out before. It must be the athletic build or something because I have never seen someone with such a perfectly toned rear."

Lucia flexed her legs a bit on reflex and was almost shocked when Syd let out a pleased sigh, almost. Smiling deviously she put her hands on the railing, leaned forward while arching her back, and asked her heart's desire a perfectly innocent question. "Wanna touch?"

Syd nearly had a heart attack.

Lucia thanked her mother with all her heart, skirts weren't so bad in the right company after all. With a gasp, she realized that someone had gotten a bit naughty, and thongs weren't so bad either. By the end of the day, she'd been invited by Syd to two different janitor's closets, and an at home study session. Life was good.

Lucia's contemplative mood was interrupted by Syd poking her belly.

"Gonna let me down anytime soon?" Syd asked.

Lucia smiled gently at Syd and put her down on the roof. Syd peeked around Lucia and saw what she could only describe as a clubhouse. A very well built clubhouse on a rooftop overlooking the school.

"This is?" she prompted.

Lucia absently glanced in the direction of her home away from home. "A safe place."

Syd decided to take her word for it. There really were very few places you'd be able to spot them from up here. Between the surrounding taller buildings, and the school, it was a very nice hiding place. Lucia must have built the clubhouse herself. "Thanks," she said, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "I've been running myself ragged for a while now."

"I figured," Lucia commented as she began to walk up behind Syd. Without even stopping she picked Syd up and continued towards the clubhouse. Syd giggled honestly for the first time in a long time. Lucia couldn't help herself and began to nuzzle the back of Syd's neck.

Syd looked around to quickly take stock of her surroundings. Inside there were pleasant smelling herbs hanging up all around the place. Rugs and furs from various animals, all of them looked way too comfy. In the window was an old air conditioning unit, while strewn about here and there were a few fans, power strips, and a mini-fridge.

Syd quickly lifted her legs when Lucia still didn't stop. Her feet made contact with a solid thud and the door they'd been heading toward swung open. Syd was silently racking her brain about E rank luck becoming A rank luck somehow. In front of her was a huge bed that had more of the furs and rugs, plus comforters and body pillows.

Lucia didn't stop till Syd was kneeling on the foot of the bed. Then she let go and placed her hands on Syd's back. With a swift and powerful motion, she literally tore the woman's shirt to pieces.

Syd yelped and spun around. "Not feeling very talkative, are you?"

Lucia didn't respond. She just slowly removed her own shirt, enjoying the growing sense of anticipation. Lucia had waited so long for this after all.

Syd couldn't help it, she stared, like really starred. Lucia was acting... odd. She'd crawled onto the bed, gotten inches away from her, and just stopped. Looking into one another's eyes. Gazing, as only lovers do. Syd felt like she was missing something, something damn important.

Slowly, Lucia's fingers traced Syd's lips, then pulled her closer by the chin. When their lips met, a similar memory passed through Syd's mind. She'd felt this before, fire coursing through her veins, lightning going down her spine, drowning as your lips connect. That look in Lucia's eyes was reflected in her own months ago, it was how she'd felt for Riley, it was first love.

Lucia and Syd pulled an inch apart after what seemed like an eternity. The sound of their labored breathing as they leaned into one another was broken by Syd's question, an important question that could make or break them. She had always thought Lucia was in it for the fun, for the kicks, but this, this wasn't fun, this was...

"Lucia," Syd began, drawing the other woman's gaze again. "Do you love me?"

Tears fell from Lucia's eyes as she whispered 'yes'. She was afraid that her free spirit, her heart's desire would leave her now. She hadn't been jealous in months, Lucia could live with Syd being a free spirit, but she was afraid of losing Syd the moment that she'd been found out. Until, her lips were brought back into another kiss, a hungrier kiss full of desire. Then the fear was gone, dispelled as though it hadn't existed.

Syd gasped as she pulled back again, their foreheads pressed together. "How long?"

Lucia descended and bit down on the strings of Syd's scarlet bustier. "Since I saw you singing in the rain."

Syd's eyes widened comically. "That was the first day of school, like nine months ago! I've known you for what, five months?"

Lucia kissed her way up Syd's neck again, leaving a trail of purple marks in her wake. "Four and a half. You spotted me on the stairs..." That memory brought a fond smile to Syd's lips. "... at first I was jealous, but at some point you corrupted me."

Syd cocked her head to the side and moaned as Lucia nibbled on her ear. "Corrupted?"

Lucia leaned back and nodded seriously. "Threesomes are one of the better things in life."

Syd couldn't help it, she busted out laughing. 'Them be words to live by right there, uh huh,' she mentally chirped.

Syd silently stared at the wide back of her lycanthrope lover. She had never liked it when people bit her during sex, but the last few hours showed her those people just didn't know how to bite right. Lucia must have been waiting forever to be able to use her mouth like that. Biting without causing pain is an art form, and her favorite lycan was a master without equal.

Syd had been licked, kissed, and bitten all over her body — it was glorious. Lucia's kisses were intense, needy, and passionate. Basically, it was everything that she had wished Riley would give her. Riley had a penchant for rough sex and domination, so she didn't get to be all lovey dovey very often, and never like that. Even as she slept Lucia was curling into Syd, pulling her arms snug against her and humming contently.

Even though her world is all out of joint right now, Syd had found at least two reasons to survive. Lucia and Jules, they were worth living for.

As Syd buried them both in more furs and snuggled closer, she thought of Riley's habits. Riley wasn't used to having a long time lover that could get comfortable with her kinks, so she used Syd like the opportunity she was. That woman loved to dominate, and it had gotten to the point where they had a small trunk for forbidden items. Things that Syd refused to use again.

One such item had been excalibur, that strap-on was just too big, but Riley being Riley, she had found a way... a back way. Syd couldn't sit straight for a week after that. Riley really loved it, but Syd had been crying tears of joy when they agreed to seal excalibur and lock it away. Of course, that didn't stop Riley from using excalibur as punishment, and Syd would never admit that after the fourth or fifth time she loved excalibur just as much, maybe even more than Riley. That secret was going to the grave with her.

Syd's thoughts returned to Lucia as she dozed off for some well deserved rest. She hadn't slept in nearly forty-eight hours now, and she'd murdered three people. Two of them were possibly good people that she just couldn't afford to give the benefit of the doubt. She'd run a man over, brained him with a grav hammer, and fed two people to demons without batting an eyelash. She really hoped that 'A Gamer's Mind' was to blame for all that.

Syd woke up to find Lucia watching her sleep. It was admittedly equal parts cute, and unnerving. Before she could even get out of bed Syd had to endure nearly thirty minutes of kissing. Lucia seemed to be determined to make up for lost time now that Syd was immune to lycanthropy. Not that Syd was complaining.

"So," Syd began, "I have these heightened senses that I can turn on and off at will, but they just confuse the hell out of me..."

Lucia raised a curious eyebrow, she hadn't realized that Syd had gotten anything out of her dangerous incident. However, this situation was common, she could help Syd with this. "It happens to all turned wolves. You need specific training to master the senses without going insane. Although, I don't think you'll go insane since you can somehow shut them off."

Syd did a few happy little hops of joy. "So you can train me?"

Lucia shuffled nervously, she didn't want to let Syd down. "I've never done it before, I'm a natural born and I'm too young to help turned wolves learn."

Syd took a moment to let her heart sink. "I'm glad to see you're back to speaking whole sentences again."

Lucia shuffled nervously behind Syd and wrapped both arms around her. "Stay here, I'll go get help."

Before Syd could protest Lucia was sucking her breath out again. The kiss was short but intense, and then she was gone, out the window at full speed.

You've examined the spell scroll, [Reinforcement]

Would you like to learn the spell?

ConfirmDecline

*Ding!*

A new Spell has been generated: Reinforcement!

Reinforcement Lv.1 ~ 0%Reinforcement, while basic in theory, is often known as the most difficult magecraft. It works by pouring magical energy into a target in order to enhance its existence. Requires a good grasp of internal structure, because if used poorly, magical energy will be treated as a poison.-Cooldown = 0 Seconds

-Range = Touch

-Od cost = Low

Syd reveled in the familiar sensation of knowledge assaulting her now structured mind. It had become easier and easier to make sense of incoming information as her intellect rose. Reinforcement, the bread and butter of all combat oriented magus. This spell, as she ran over it in her mind, was incredibly simple in execution. The problem was what to do with the od your pumping after execution.

Deciding to go for broke, Syd whipped out a shuriken, and hit it with structural analysis. She wasn't really sure what she was looking for here, so far there had been no visual signs of 'existence'. So without giving it much thought, she just pumped od into the weapon using reinforcement...

It promptly exploded in Syd's hand, shrapnel peppered her body painfully and the shirt she was wearing was definitely a goner. Glancing at her health made Syd gag, she'd lost just over four hundred points. If she had done that before getting enhanced vitality, she'd be dead right now. As it was, she only felt half dead.

Syd watched in morbid curiosity, the pain and wounds faded while her health regenerated, handy.

Before Syd continued her experiments she stripped down naked and got comfy on a couple of furs. With safety in mind this time, she pulled out her stuffed snuggle bears, yes, she had taken her toys with her while leaving home. Once again structural analysis failed to show her anything that looked interesting, she had even kept it active while beginning the reinforcement process.

Syd was tapping her finger on the teddy bear to test its hardness as she pumped od into it. Things seemed to be working, she could see how the composition of the bear was slowly but surely being covered in magical energy. The more od pumped in, the harder her bear got.

Unfortunately, Syd's joy turned to sorrow when the stuffed toy exploded in a violent cloud of cotton and razor sharp teddy fur. She'd lost nearly one hundred health, but this time it hurt more, nobody should ever feel a sliver of razor sharp fur piercing their chest. Much less a take a dozen of those splinters to the tits and face. Thank god she missed her eyes.

Syd calmly centered herself in order to block out the pain. Even when her health was full again she continued to meditate. Something was wrong, even a sub par magus could use reinforcement, and she had read the entire scroll. Syd could feel it on the tip of her tongue, she was missing something here, something obvious.

Existence, it hit her like a ton of bricks. The nasuverse is post 'age of the gods' so the existence of everything constantly degrades, leaving behind cracks that can be filled with magical energy to enhance 'existence'. Here, in her world, there are power users and magic. This is likely an 'age of the gods' time period. A world saturated in mana, Syd had sensed and absorbed it from the very air she breathed. That was her problem.

*Ding!*

You have discovered a fundamental difference between two realities!

Wisdom + 4

In light of recent revelations, new information about a spell has become available!

Reinforcement Lv. 1 ~ 37.83%Reinforcement, while basic in theory, is often known as the most difficult magecraft. It works by pouring magical energy into a target in order to enhance its existence. Requires a good grasp of internal structure, because if used poorly, magical energy will be treated as a poison.-Cooldown = 0 Seconds

-Range = Touch

-Od cost = Low

-Maximum Boost = 1%

Syd's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. So existence still remains a parameter, the only difference is that she had to identify the amount of existence an object has, then limit her reinforcement. On a hunch, she looked down at her next item, a piece of paper. Using the smallest amount of od she could, Syd pushed her energy into one corner. For five minutes she stared at it.

The paper was stable, nothing was going wrong so far. Syd pulled out a pencil and swiftly ran it over the corner of her paper. Just as her pencil cleared the corner it was sliced cleanly in half... dangerous. Holding the paper out as far as she could, and keeping structural analysis up, Syd pumped a few units of od into it with reinforcement.

This time she stopped and watched after dropping the paper. Slowly but surely, it was changing, her excess magical energy had made it unstable. All of a sudden she could see what could only be described as an implosion. The paper's structure completely collapsed, then it shredded itself.

On another hunch she took out one more piece of paper and tore off the corner. Syd then used the same amount of od on it as she had the first time, and watched as it shredded itself. Existence seemed to be directly related to the size of mundane objects. Syd had no doubt that magical items, like a noble phantasm, would have insane amounts of existence. But with mundane items, and likely her own body, she would assume the existence is directly proportional to mass.

Syd's next question was how much more she could reinforce per level. With that in mind she pulled out some lesbian porn from books-a-billion, and started reinforcing torn pages as much as possible before they shredded. Once in a while she would see a particularly pleasing page, and not tear it out, but for the most part Syd tore into the porn with reckless abandon. Less than a four minutes in, she had met her goal.

Reinforcement Lv. 2 ~ 0.21%Reinforcement, while basic in theory, is often known as the most difficult magecraft. It works by pouring magical energy into a target in order to enhance its existence. Requires a good grasp of internal structure, because if used poorly, magical energy will be treated as a poison.-Cooldown = 0 Seconds

-Range = Touch

-Od cost = Low

-Maximum Boost = 2%

Syd's eyes bugged out, if there were no diminishing returns on that raise... reinforcement would be insane. So, to answer yet another question she pulled out a second book. Shredding porn was hurting her soul, so this time it was a basic firearm safety manual. Syd was reading a page, then shredding it, over and over again.

Reinforcement Lv. 3 ~ 0.12%Reinforcement, while basic in theory, is often known as the most difficult magecraft. It works by pouring magical energy into a target in order to enhance its existence. Requires a good grasp of internal structure, because if used poorly, magical energy will be treated as a poison.-Cooldown = 0 Seconds

-Range = Touch

-Od cost = Low

-Maximum Boost = 3%

Syd rolled back and forth across the floor giggling like a madwoman. Unless diminishing returns kicked in at a higher level, this meant that she'd be able to boost the parameters of entire objects with reinforcement, no worrying about blowing them up. For now though, she wanted to learn to use a spear and get reinforcement to at least level ten.

For a moment, she almost did just that. Syd had a spear and shield from the european weapon shop she'd looted. It would be fun to hit goblins with gravity and poke them to death, but that wasn't a good idea right now. Syd had forgotten that she was in Lucia's clubhouse at the moment. Evidenced by the fact that two amused lycanthropes were looking down at her as she stopped her rolling on the ground.

"What are you doing, and why does it smell like blood in here?" Lucia asked with obvious concern.

Syd ignored the other woman and yanked Lucia down into a hug. "I was testing some magic. Hurt myself a bit, but it looks like I may have gotten a regeneration factor out of my mistake too," she lied with a straight face. Couldn't tell Lucia the truth yet, not in front of stranger.

The short auburn haired intruder interrupted anything Lucia may have had to say about that. "I'm Kylee Sander's, been a wolf for two years now." The woman grinned down at her. "Lucy tells me you've got a 'sensitive' problem."

Syd sighed playfully when she felt Lucia kissing her neck again, the wolf could not keep her mouth to herself. "Yeah, just a bunch of confusion at the moment."

Kylee raised an amused eyebrow at the attention a very naked Syd was getting. "Well I'm here to help you with that, shouldn't take us too long."

"Thanks," Syd responded, "really, thank you."

In her mind, Syd was ecstatic, training would be so much faster with a mentor... Wait, she couldn't get the mentor bonus while keeping her secret.

'Balls...'

Name: Syndra Shyael

Class: The Gamer

Title: Goddess Slayer

Level: 19Health 1020/1020

Mana 5148/5148Strength: 29

Vitality: 34

Dexterity: 24

Intellect: 117

Wisdom: 61

Luck: 16Points: 44

Money: $4,800

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