“What a glorious day! So wonderful the sun shines on my life today that I got out of bed without coffee!” Enthusiastically, I threw my hands into the air, attempting to hail the occasion itself. My white hair was waving in the soft, artificial winds that blew through the crafted landscape. From the mountain in the distance, to the forests and the grass, it all looked natural. A true masterclass in world-crafting.

The asphalt under my feet was the smooth road to a new segment in my life, leading up to a gothic university. A set of buildings of primarily deep purple, grey and black colouration, dominated by tall clock towers, decorative arches and tall windows. It beckoned me to explore the secrets laying in its splendour. “So, this is Welldark,” I continued to talk, after glancing over my shoulder. “It’s even larger than I thought. A vast complex of arts and crafts and people. More than enough room to unfold my many desires and satisfy my curiosity.”

“Maybe It’ll even fit your ego,” a groan behind me interrupted my monologue. “Karitas, when will you ever be done playing the philosopher?” the same voice continued to berate me. It was distinctly female and fundamentally seductive, although that was somewhat diminished by the chastising undertone. “You know you sound pretentious A-F, right?”

I stood frozen, taking a moment more to just breathe it all in. The many women and few men passing by gave me odd glances. There were almost as many shapes to their pupils as there were colours to their eyes. Nods, gestures and giggles were inspired by my presence, tiny movements accentuated by horns, ears, tails, fantastical and animalistic features.

My fellow students passed by, in their various shapes and forms. All were humanoid, a pair of arms, a pair of legs and one head, but few were actually ‘just’ human. Be it the simple addition of pointy ears or the complete replacement of flesh and bones with slime, the predominantly female crowd was rich in desirable diversity. Welldark was famous among the Cosmic Universities for attracting people from all kinds of worlds.

“What, did you expect that he suddenly fixed himself over the last year?” A second voice, male, asked the initial speaker that had so rudely interrupted me. His voice was less mocking and meek, almost getting drowned out by the chattering.

“Nope, but I had hope,” the first voice pointed out. “It’s been a year, I thought he would grow up.”

“You two are cunts,” I declared and dropped my hands, putting them into the large pockets of my black cotton pants. They combined with a high-quality, red shirt to make up the school uniform of Welldark university. With the hands, my overacting of the situation also dropped. “Seriously, can a happy man not try to have some fun by being sophisticated about the path of his life?”

“Not in the open, you can’t,” said the man. His name was Willt and he was a human – the descendant of a warlock that had stumbled into the Dimensional Truth. I looked him up and down with my sky blue eye, checking if he had changed in any way since I had last seen him. He had long, straight hair of a brown colour and a long, handsome face. If there was one thing a bit off about his looks, it was the red-tinged goggles with their tiny round glasses that sat on his nose. All around, he had an aesthetic fit for the eighties on Earth.

“I mean, he totally can, if he wants to look like a pretentious ass,” the woman next to him added. She was relatively short, but that was by far the most usual of her unusual qualities. Red skin, dark red hair, horns and a thin, spade-tipped tail, all marked Arlethukinia Brimerischtueria as a succubus. As was common for those creatures of sexuality, she was attractive as all hell. That went for her face and her figure. She had large breasts and a general level of thickness to her, without actually being fat in any way.

I opted to ignore her words and instead inspected Willt a bit closer. “Did you buff up over the last year?” I asked him with genuine curiosity. I remembered him being a bit slimmer, not that the extra bulk pulled him out of the lanky category. He was also shorter than me, but I was above average in that regard and that left Willt at a pretty normal height.

“Well, I had a lot of physical exercise...,” he blinked twice, and nodded towards the short and stacked succubus next to him, to signal what he was too shy to say out loud in public. Her tail possessively wrapped around his wrist and she smiled.

“No waaaaay,” I mockingly shouted, stretching the last word like a gossiping high school girl. “You finally confessed, Arlethia? How did you muster the courage? How much did you have to drink?”

“Shut it!” she shouted at me, pulling back her dark red lips and revealing her pearly white fangs. Their colour contrasted strongly with her deep red face. Her demonic complexion almost successfully hid the fact that she was blushing. Almost.

The two of them had known each other for almost their entire lives. Amongst the many demons Willt’s father had contracted in his day, one of them was a succubus. In a somewhat unusual development, they stayed platonic friends. Willt’s father eventually moved to Hell, bought a house close to the succubus, both had their families and kids. The oldest kid of each family became friends early on.

Well, friends was a nice way of putting it. When I had arrived in Hell, the two shared a lot of memories and time, but Willt repeatedly told me that he had no idea why she was always so adamant about hanging out with him. Arlethia (which was what normal people who didn’t want to spend 3 minutes pronouncing ridiculous demon names called her) presented a slightly different story: that of a lovestruck succubus that had no idea how to talk to the nerdy guy.

The fact that it took little old me to help push them together was something I would likely eternally tease them for. I had only entered their life at the beginning of the ascending school. An institution different from other schools within the 16-20 age group in that it taught, along with math, languages and basic civics, how to find and abuse structural weak points in the fabric of reality to hop between worlds. For most races, it took a special person to learn that art. Demons had the special gift that they could travel between worlds as long as they were called, even without awakening to the Dimensional Truth. The three of us were in the lucky club that did, however, come to realize how to penetrate the veil by ourselves.

As a friend, that they finally got together made me happy for both of them. As a man, however, Willt had my honest envy. With a chest that could make heads disappear in her cleavage and hips that strained the cloth of her black skirt tremendously, Arlethia was a true looker. Her black eyes narrowed, the red slit in the middle widening in contrast.

“Was it the pressure of the university years looming on the horizon, mhm?” I couldn’t help but tease her. “Did the lowly succubus fall to the uncertainty of fate, presented in a world full of the luscious female bodies?!” My excited voice rose higher than it should have as my arms rose again and pointed at the many people passing us. “Look at it, the Garden of Eden has nothing on this place! More women than Eve and many sinful acts to celebrate!”

It wasn’t just Arlethia who had a drop-dead body, no; most of the crowd around the three of us consisted of magnificently cute and gorgeous women. From all the worlds that tethered to the cosmic maelstrom, they came here and dressed in the tight shirts and short skirts that composed the school uniform. The guys looked good too, but I didn’t care about them, a surely mutual feeling. Advantageous that the male to female ratio of this place was one to ten. Nobody was exactly sure why the Dimensional Truth manifested in such a skewed manner, but I didn’t care to question something so wonderful extensively. There was a saying about gift horses and mouths.

Grinding her teeth and clenching her fists, the succubus was barely holding back an aggressive outbreak. It was clear that I wasn’t the only one who had barely changed in the year we had been apart. “Ah, I can see the truth in your eyes, creature of lust and darkness; you wanted to claim your man before the harem he builds is outside of your control. You want to be his Queen, it is as obvious as it could ever be!”

“Yeah? That’s completely normal!” the redheaded, red-skinned, red-pupiled demoness attempted to kick me in the chin. Her leg rose high, showcasing her flexibility. Regardless of how impressive that was, the attack was stopped when I blocked it with the back of my hand. Her skirt fluttered upwards. As a gentleman, I did avert my eyes. Not because I didn’t want to look, but because she wasn’t my woman to look at. If she had been single, I would have been all over that. “Tsk,” she made an annoyed sound and put her foot back down.

“I bet you had fun with those thighs, pretty thick,” I immediately turned to Willt and dropped that line. A movement in my periphery alone was enough to make me jump on the spot. The leg-swipe went by under me. “Arlethukinia, you should know me better than that. That was a cheap shot.”

“I can’t believe you got even faster,” she grumbled in response, standing straight and pulling her skirt back into position. “You’re just a human, there is no way you should be able to be that much quicker than me.”

“Hey, we got to Welldark, it’s not like we are average people,” Willt put an arm around his love. For the moment, she was his only one.

“Indeed, we got to Welldark,” I looked around once again, wondering who I would manage to win over to start my own harem with. There was just no end to worthwhile sights. Which ones of the many girls in this university would become part of my Anomalia? Given the gender ratio among those born with an awareness of the Dimensional Truth, male-dominated harems had become the norm generations ago and I fully intended to be in keeping with the tradition.

Places like Welldark, the Cosmic Universities, had three primary purposes. Number one was to educate future dimensional travellers in proper conduct. There were such worlds, Earth, for example, that had a God that didn’t want magic to meddle in its development too much (anymore). Knowing how to behave under each rule was paramount for survival and for keeping things generally peaceful. An angry god was not fun for anybody.

Number two was combat. This happened through classes, tournaments between students and, sometimes, competitions between universities. The cosmos was a vast and often dangerous place. Knowing how to defend ourselves was paramount to survival.

Number three was the forming of a harem or, what it was technically called, an Anomalia. It was a tradition fueled by a special set of powers one got access to once part of one. It was best to forge such a connection in the safety of the school years, rather than in the vast dangers of the wider universe. Especially since only other people in the know about the Dimensional Truth could join.

Strictly speaking an Anomalia didn’t have to be a harem, but it almost always ended up that way. There were conditions and circumstances that made it exceedingly likely.

“What I don’t get,” Willt suddenly said, “is why you went to this university of all places. Welldark is a good school, but with your grades and abilities, you surely could have gotten to Balelight. You could have been the first human in generations there.”

“No, I couldn’t have,” I joked and quickly continued speaking, not liking the topic all that much. “No matter how hard I would have tried. That aside, I used divination to figure out where to go.”

“Oh?” Arlethia’s long, elf-like ears perked up. Although, she would have insisted elves had succubus-like ears. A point not really worth arguing, she had long ears and they had picked up something she found interesting. “Why the hell would you try something that’s notoriously inaccurate and unhelpful. Did you see something nice at least?”

“No, I saw a starless night and a girl with a bleeding back,” I answered, my eyes growing dull and unfocused as I remembered the sadness I felt upon seeing the woman weep under the empty sky. “I lost her image before I could identify her,” I was genuinely saddened by this. “Then I was shown Welldark for just a moment before the sky devoured everything.”

Willt put a hand on my shoulder and patted it two times in an encouraging gesture. “Cheer up, it’s weird to see you in a gloomy mood.”

“Well, I’m intrigued by why the cosmos would show me, of all people, a specific woman,” I told him, and rolled my neck. “Then again, the fact that I didn’t see her face could make what I saw be any number of women that just happen to have that specific overlap of bleeding back. Divination really is a pain in the ass.” Just as I pointed that out, the many bells of the gothic towers of Welldark began ringing.

The first day and I was already about to be too late.

__________________________________________________________________

If there was one thing that immediately had me convinced that universities were better than schools, then it was the lack of a teacher checking if I was in my seat at the start of class. Not having to deal with mandatory attendance was a dream. Dangerous for someone undisciplined, but I very much prefered making my own decisions. I was willing to stand for the consequences of my mistakes, so I demanded some freedom.

Even if there had been someone to check if we were in our seats, there would have been no seat for us to sit down in anyway. Because we were so late, every last chair had already been claimed by someone. This left us, and a whole bunch of other people, with no other choice than to keep to the stair areas. Shoulder to shoulder, we stood with other students.

Welldark wasn’t known for being overcrowded, but cramming all freshmen into one room led to the same short term problem that online games experienced during launch. Somewhere around a thousand people were all gathered in the largest lecture theatre the university had to offer. With its circular structure and the slow elevation of the red-cushioned. black seats, it reminded me of an arena crossed with a cinema. A very luxurious, clean, indoor arena, with a wonderful black carpet and a starlit sky painted on the ceiling, but an arena nonetheless.

The circular area at the bottom only furthered this impression. It was much larger than any teacher could ever need to hold a presentation on, and even had a walk-around around the elevated, central ring. Stairs at every main direction of the compass allowed people to get from one to the other.

Up above hovered ten elliptical constructions. Roman letters counting from 1 to 10 were painted on their burgundy red bottom. Each was sizable enough to contain a small apartment worth of stuff. The only thing I could see for sure was a balcony attached to their fronts. I had to admit that I didn’t inform myself about Welldark as much as I perhaps should have, but I could guess that they served as the watcher’s position for some people that had earned themselves certain privileges.

“Why are those empty?” Arlethia asked in a whispering tone and pointed at those hovering lofts. She was either more curious or even less informed than I was. “We’re packed like charcoal down here.”

Luckily for both of us, she had a boyfriend who actually liked to read up on things before getting deeply involved with them. “Because none here have earned the right to use them,” he whispered back and shifted a bit to look over the person in front of him. He was careful not to bump into anyone while doing so. “Those coves are reserved for the ten strongest Anomalias among the students.”

“Aaaahh, okay,” his girlfriend waved with her spade-tipped tail before possessively wrapping it around his nearby hand again. Given the crowd were currently crammed into, that was an understandable gesture. “I would have thought they would take a bigger interest in newcomers.”

Those that currently owned the flying rooms may not have been there, but the sight of them was a silent promise regardless. Those that worked hard and were successful in their years in Welldark would be rewarded with luxury and only a limited number of people could come to earn the ultimate rewards.

I decided to finally concentrate on the speech that was being held, my eyes landing on the stadium-worthy screens, hovering below the centre of the ceiling, that showed the inside of the ring. The sole target of the camera was a man in the late stages of his forties, physically speaking. He was a truly masculine figure of towering height and build, with bull-like horns growing from the temples of his weather-tanned face. Covered by a suit, his thick muscles seemed able to tear the cloth at any moment.

Headmaster Taurus of Welldark, a person so respected in the interdimensional community that he had a star system named after him, was NOT addressing the batch of new students. His stern, human face was simply staring at the camera. I had picked the oddest moment to finally pay attention. The arena grew quiet and uncomfortable. Taurus’ presence was oppressive even on top of the staircase.

Finally, the perspective switched and I looked, instead, at a person I already knew from the application website. A woman with white hair and green eyes of an almond shape. Either it was a pure coincidence or she had some Asian Earth-blood in her veins, her pointy but not long ears showing that she was some kind of half elf. Wearing a white and black maid uniform of the more traditional than sexy variety, she stood tall and disciplined. I recalled her name to be Derilea.

Her voice had the diligent yet firm tone of a woman who took service and duty seriously. I found it quite pleasant to listen too, even if my eyes were roaming over her form, wondering what she looked like under that uniform. She was a bit older, but I wouldn’t mind a MILF… but I also wouldn’t touch another man’s woman, so there was that limitation.

I finally concentrated on what words those pretty pink lips formed. So far, it seemed I had only missed the mandatory preamble of the speech. “…Each of you will be in charge of your own schedule. What lectures, classes and practices you attend is entirely up to you,” she explained. “However, by the end of your time at this university, a maximum of five years, you need to have gone through the following courses.”

The screens above switched from a focus on her and the podium, to a presentation of several pictures that changed as she went down the list. They had the aesthetic of simple playing cards, the kind used in poker or other such things. A deliberate choice, no doubt.

“You need to have finished the three half-year courses on interdimensional conduct,” the screen showed a picture of a battlefield atop some god-forsaken moon. “Never forget, the world you will enter after this university is one that no government or god could hold sway over. The cosmos is simply too vast. Clashes between you and other Anomalias are inevitable, but you all should have respect for one another’s life and the rules of the place you are visiting. The three base courses are the absolute minimum we require of you to pass.”

The picture flipped and revealed four aces, each of the different categories. “You are also obligated to visit the class on forming an Anomalia bond before you finish your first semester. Most of you will learn the technique before the semester is over. You will have some free time to look forward to for the rest of the semester, once you manage.”

“You better learn that quickly and make me your Queen,” Alrethia stated and poked her boyfriend in the side.

Willt let out an amused grunt, “You know it doesn’t matter if I can do it if you can’t. An Anomalia goes both ways.” He could have left it at that, but I knew Willt too well to expect him to pass up on teasing his succubus, “If you don’t manage in time, maybe I will find another Queen?”

“I will strangle you!” her voice turned a couple of heads and her expression went from angry to forcefully calm once she noticed. “I will make you apologize for that later!” she grumbled in a more appropriate level of voice.

Willt let out a small sigh when the people turned away from us, then he winked in my direction. The gesture basically said ‘I will enjoy it’ and I gave a thumbs-up in return.

With the logic of an annoyed, lovestruck woman, Arlethia decided that only my foot deserved a stomp because of that exchange. I didn’t have enough room to dodge properly. The attempt made me half stumble and fall into the cleavage of some girl. It was a very soft landing, bountiful in its warmth and depth. A single heartbeat I could feel, then I was shoved back. I hastily apologized.

“My lady, I meant not to be so crude,” I stated with a little bow that I hoped would be either elegant or funny. Either could serve as a conversation starter. “Although, if you would let me repeat the feeling, that’d be a kindness. I would be happy to discuss this over some coffee.”

“No,” the woman in question shot me down and I was subsequently ignored. That wasn’t too surprising and I backed off. If she wanted to search for someone less upfront about their desires, then that was her prerogative. Personally, I did think that people that were present on Welldark and not at least somewhat openly perverted were not being honest with themselves.. All of these people would become part of a lifestyle that employed harems as the baseline. Behaving like they were not interested in the erotic in the slightest irked me. They could have just stayed at home and not bothered with learning about the Dimensional Truth, if that was the case.

Admittedly, she did react better than many true prudes. I had not gotten myself slapped.

“This is why you are still single,” Alrethia giggled at my conduct like the schadenfreude filled demoness she was. “Feel up a lady and then go straight to cheesy pick-up lines. How about you behave like a normal person sometimes?”

“This is the normal me,” I grumbled, feeling the sting of truth at her words. It wasn’t like I never had any luck with the ladies. Quite the opposite. To be fair, flirting with succubi was a lot easier than the average woman. Regardless, it was hard to find the right mixture of sexy, openly depraved, loyal, and mindful to stomach my philosophising yet perverted personality. I was willing to bend to get better along with someone, I was young and I was open to bettering myself, but I couldn’t fundamentally change who I was.

If there was any place to find such a woman, or multiple women, it was a place like Welldark.

I concentrated back on the presentation just in time to catch the tail-end of the third mandatory class. “…The battlefield training has a required minimum of two semesters in total. As you can see, you can be done with the mandatory classes and graduate in just one and a half years. The recommended duration of your stay is three years, but we won’t keep you longer than necessary if you are eager to leave.”

Most courses, ranging from alchemy to zoology, were set to relay their knowledge over a six-semester duration, with classes of increasing difficulty, thus the three-year mark. Personally, I aimed to get the forced classes done early and then pick up some things I had fun with and could pick up ladies at, with a dash of professionalism through combat training at the side.

“There are also a few mandatory activities. Every year we will hold a ranking tournament that places your Anomalia in one of the five tiers, dictating your quality of life on this campus. The tournament consists of both practical and theoretical segments. Being the strongest or smartest on its own will assure you a good quality of life, but not the highest. You need to excel at both.”

The picture on the screen switched to a breakdown of the five tiers. Derilea quickly explained all of them.

The lowest tier was called the Wood Division, as their apartments were literally wooden shacks a fair bit off the campus, only the 10% worst of the students had to live there. Although she didn’t outright say it, the implication was that those that ended up in this tier should think about dropping out and going to a less prestigious Cosmic University. They were going to be sent there anyway, if they failed to graduate.

Up from there was the Bronze Area. Most of the students, an entire 40% would end up there. The living standards were acceptable, nothing more and nothing less.

Middle of the road were the Iron Ranks, where people would be treated like one would actually expect at a prestigious school like this. Large apartments with ample space for the Anomalia members and a small number of publicly available luxuries. They took a share of 25%, which was another fairly sizable chunk.

Then came the Silver Knights at 15%, the people there enjoyed a truly luxurious lifestyle. They had large rooms for themselves and their Anomalia at large, easy access to supplies and a large amount of other small benefits.

At the top of it all were the Golden Eagles. They took the last 10%, the best of the best of Welldark, and placed them in a palace so large that they would rarely see more than their own Anomalia. Among the Golden Eagles were also the Elite Ten, those who were handed privileges such as the hovering lofts under the ceiling.

“As first years, you will stay in a separate dormitory until your placements next year,” the headmaster’s Queen continued as the table flicked over and showed a picture of a modern skyscraper. Tall walls of dark tinted glass overlooked a forest and looked generally pleasant to live in. “This is the same design of building as the Iron Ranks will get to inhabit. If you want to maintain your lifestyle, you are encouraged to study hard,” Derilea let us all know in no uncertain terms.

The fact that half of all students were going to be hit by a downgrade by virtue of the system was quite harsh. Only 10% of the total body would come to live in ‘destitute’ conditions, still, harsh was the word I would use. I wouldn’t call it bad, however, struggle was the ultimate motivator. Aside from that, I wasn’t too worried about myself.

“Unlike the Iron Ranks, however, you don’t get to share an apartment with your Anomalia, since you don’t have one yet. Instead, you will be assigned up to nine roommates randomly. Each bedroom will be assigned to two of you, although nothing is stopping you from switching with one another within your apartment.” It wasn’t a new system, but it still caused some commotion as people whispered their displeasure about having to separate from their current friends. Derilea allowed the crowd to get it out of its system by waiting for a moment.

One of those affected was Willt, who made a sour expression, as if he had just mistaken a glass of lemon juice for proper lemonade and thrown it down in one gulp, “Well, guess that apology will have to wait for a while until we get some privacy.”

“I don’t want to be separated from you for a whole year,” Alrethia whined, letting her honest feelings show and nestling against the second-generation warlock’s side.

“It’s just going to be the living situation,” Willt tried to make the whole thing sound less annoying than it was. Personally, I didn’t see the problem, but it was also a thing tailored to me and my single status. With the gender distribution the way it was, the randomized situation would tend one or two guys sharing an apartment with eight or nine girls. It would help many to start talking to potential partners.

“Or,” I, thusly, interjected, “You could assert your dominance and just have sex with everyone else knowing. By the end of the year, everyone is going to be fucking on every surface anyway.”

“Not everyone is as brazen as you are, Karitas.” Willt firmly shook his head, clearly uncomfortable with the idea, “I like remaining clothed in public.”

“Your decision,” I shrugged. Personally, I was open to just having sex wherever, even in public. Not that I was some sort of exhibitionist. I just didn’t see what the big deal was. Sex was perfectly natural and I would do my damndest to satisfy whoever I was with, so I had nothing to hide. I snickered, “Can you imagine the poor guy that has to share his room with another guy?”

“Don’t jinx it,” Willt warned me as the commotion died down.

“I hear many of you are dissatisfied with that situation,” the camera switched back to displaying the white-haired maid’s face. Only for a moment, however, as she stepped back and gestured at a woman behind her.

She looked remarkably alike Derilea. The same straight, backwards combed, white hair, long enough to reach her lower back, pale skin, green eyes, pink lips and overall facial features. Even her bottom heavy figure was similar. The biggest differences were age and that this new woman wore the school’s uniform, rather than a maid one. She still carried a silver salver with her and bowed diligently, however, giving her the same vibe as Derilea.

“This is my daughter Aclysia, she came first in this year’s entrance exams,” there was a hint of pride in the otherwise diligent voice. “As such, she will have the privilege to pick her own roommates for the next year and she will live in a facility more akin to that of the Silver Knights. If she so desires, she can share it with her friends or begin the assembly of her Anomalia,” Although it was the norm, nothing stated that men HAD to be the ones leading a harem. I wasn’t quite sure if this was insinuating that Aclysia was a lesbian, wanted to share whatever lover she picked, or wanted to build herself a reverse harem. The third choice was incredibly unlikely to find a lot of participants; I wouldn’t partake in it, but more power to her if she wanted to try.

“We are willing to extend that privilege – if you come down here and give her a challenge or outright beat her in a battle.” A few arms rose, one of them Arlethia’s, a brazen few not caring about the potential of public humiliation if it meant having a shot at a better lifestyle, but Derilea wasn’t done yet, “Those of you that decide to take the challenge and lose will be automatically placed in the Wood Division for the next year.”

There was a massive deterrent. Anyone who lived out in the shacks would have an incredibly hard time to convince the hot ladies to come home with them. Vice versa, women would have it easier to get back into the graces of some successful man, that was just the nature of gender differences, but it would still be a rather large roadblock in meeting higher profile individuals. It was also just a general inconvenience to live out in the sticks.

“Nobody then?” Derilea asked, looking around carefully. She didn’t seem to expect any more raised hands. Instead, she found someone standing up.

Not me. Well, okay, technically I was, but I was still amongst other people in the seatless space between aisles. The person that solely stood up to the challenge presented by Derilea was a woman. As chance would have it, she was very close to where I was, just a couple of seats into the row to my left.

She was unusual in some ways and too attractive to take my eyes away from her. Everything about her was gorgeous. The red shirt of the uniform stretched around her chest. Just a tad more of the juicy goodness and the buttons would have started giving away some indecent gaps between them, but as they were they fit perfectly underneath.

I could just imagine that they fit more than well into my hands as well. They were large enough that they would spill between my fingers as I squeezed and they would likely be a fantastic jiggle to look at while we were engaged in ‘recreational activities’, to put it in nice words.

Her shirt was orderly tucked into the belt of her pants, making it span over her stomach in a semi-taut fashion. Although that took away some of the details of her waistline, it still stuck close enough to give away that she had a flat and definitely fit stomach and thin waist. That was pretty usual for this environment, basically every person in the room was going to be a fighter of some description. A degree of athleticism went along with that.

Instead of the skirt most women choose to wear, she had opted for the black cotton pants more commonly associated with the male part of the student body. This barely robbed me of any details, as the pants sat perfectly tight around her legs, showing a nice balance between thickness and length.

What really drew my gaze was her ass. A fantastic, juicy piece of art that filled out her pants in their entirety. Two orbs of even size, the seam of the cotton softly sinking into the space between them. The mere outline of it was erotic and I did truly want to know how it would look like naked and jiggling.

She had the complete set of an hourglass figure. Everything about her luscious curves was in proportion. The entirety of her body could have served as inspiration for some mason to create a statue in honour of a goddess. An impression that was strengthened further when I had a look at her face.

A healthy tan tinted her naturally pale skin towards a very light brown and her facial structure had something aristocratic about it. Not in the same way as one of those nobles that kept their nose firmly raised in arrogance, just a sense of distance between her and everyone else that reflected in the high placement of her cheekbones and soft swing of her chin. Even her nose seemed to be carefully crafted to fit perfectly, the bridge running smoothly with an inwards curve until it rose to finalize in the cute tip. Underneath sat a pair of sinfully red lips, the lower slightly bigger than the upper one. Her mouth had a natural glossiness to it.

On her head sat a black tricorne. A piece of headwear with three tips, one pointing forwards and the other two going off to the sides at the back. The whole thing had the shape of an elongated triangle. I had only ever seen those kinds of hats in documentaries or museums.

As rare and odd as it was, she wore it well. Stylish and clean, it sat on her head, black with a grey trim and a large feather fixed on the right side. Black hair flowed out from underneath. Clear effort had been put into taming the silky cascade, showing in its well-combed appearance and the white ribbon that kept it bundled together at her neck, from where it continued down to the middle of her back. Despite those visible efforts, some of the strands decided to live up to their natural inclinations and chaotically ran wherever they wanted.

Her expression was one of discipline, eyes focused and face calm. That the attention of the entire arena slowly shifted to her didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest. Her amber eyes stayed aimed at Derilea. All she did was fold her hands behind her back and waited to be addressed.

“Oh my, we seem to have a challenger, we don’t get that every year,” Derilea spoke with a happy smile on her face and gestured for the woman to approach. I could easily guess that Derilea was hoping to show off her daughter’s capabilities.

The woman with the tricorne moved wordlessly. Turning on her heels, she stepped forwards with the sharp grace of a honey bee. A display equally threatening as she seemed necessary for the completeness of nature. That beauty, sharp and elegant, outstanding even between all other women around her, charmed me. I felt like I was looking at a singular dark blue rose in a field of bright flowers.

Her path brought her up to me and we exchanged a glance. Slit pupils met my blue eyes. In order to meet my gaze straight-on, she had to raise her neck just a little bit. I was about half a head taller than her. I was immediately struck by something. A tuck at the heartstrings, the singing of chords in my soul and the less romantic release of chemicals in my brain. There was more to that than just desiring her body. Although it certainly was a factor, it was more than just a pretty face that had me interested in her.

“I feel like you won’t need me wishing you good luck,” were the words I smilingly presented to her, as I made room to let her pass. I wanted to say more, but this wasn’t the time. She stood there looking at me for one more second, with what felt like curiosity. It was hard to discern, as her stoic expression didn’t change and her red lips remained sealed. Then she passed through the gap I made for her.

“Satan,” Arlethia whispered, “Willt, can you try talking to her after she ends up in the shacks? Would love to have her in your Anomalia. She is sizzling hot.”

“You can most certainly try, but I advise against it,” I told the two of them. “If you want to, you can compete with me. Don’t think that’d end in anything but disappointment for you.” I used my most charming smile to take the edge out of those words, this was still bantering among friends. With a kernel of truth to it.

“Yeah, like you will suddenly land with someone like her,” Arlethia rolled her eyes as she made fun of me. I didn’t honour that with a response. She already knew that I had ‘landed’ with more than one attractive woman in the past, while her boyfriend had struggled to even notice the signals coming from his childhood friend. Instead, I focused on the screen that showed this woman as she entered the ring.

A blue energy field, made up of hundreds of hexagons, flared up as she passed through it. Some kind of barrier to prevent stray attacks from hitting the observers. With long strides, she advanced over the tiled floor, tall boots cladding her feet. They were not a bit sexual, but marching boots made for military purposes and long marches through difficult terrain.

“This is your last chance to back down,” Derilea warned, more out of tradition than necessity.

“I will not retreat,” the raven-haired woman spoke and her voice was like evenly spread honey on freshly baked and buttered bread. Sweet, smooth, and determined with some sort of unidentifiable accent to it that made each sentence an individual line in a slow song. It reached the entire lecture hall through the enchantments on the ring. “I made my decision. There’s no value in delaying things.”

Derilea and her King, Taurus, glanced at each other, nodded and then vacated the platform, leaving it to the unnamed woman and Aclysia.

It was fortunate for everyone that the headmaster’s daughter had not taken after her father in any aspects of her looks. She was purely in keeping with her mother, from the white hair to the green eyes and the maid-like behaviour. Indeed, the only way those two seemed to really deviate from each other was age.

Aclysia took a small bow before her opponent, holding her silver salver in both hands. “I will gladly be your opponent,” she spoke in the same dutiful tone as her mother did. I couldn’t help but want to see her in nothing but an apron making pancakes for me. Her chest seemed a bit on the smaller side, but I wasn’t one to discriminate between chest or hip jiggle. A spankable ass was as good as a nice chest, in my humble opinion. Similarly, the size of breasts wasn’t quite so important that I couldn’t enjoy whatever I was granted to touch. “May I ask your name?”

“Esther,” there was no follow-up to the rest, that single word was all she let them know. “It will be an honour. Do I assume correctly that Artefacts are allowed?”

Derilea answered from behind the barrier, now standing in the lower area between ring and seats. “You may fight with whatever weapon you wish, I do assume neither of you are foolish enough to keep going until your Astrality gives in.” Esther nodded and reached up to her hat, plucking off the white feather with a simple move.

In a sharp movement, she cut the air with it and the sound of singing metal suddenly filled the air. The feather had been replaced with a weapon. Two blades, joined at the handle, one a long sabre the other a shortsword. Grey from one tip to the other, it had winding runes etched into the flat parts of the blades. She held it with one hand, the tip of the sabre pointing at the ground and the shortsword reaching behind her back. It was an odd weapon, one that needed a lot of training and skill to properly handle.

The salver in Aclysia’s hands liquified and transformed as well. Silver and black and covered in a vast array of ornaments, a spear now rested in the white-haired woman’s hands. This weapon was many times more intricate in its design than the weapon of her opponent. The audience began to whisper, as they watched the display.

“There are first years that can already use Artefacts in battle?” Willt shared the public surprise. “I can barely keep mine out for more than a minute…”

“You can’t?” I asked with an overplayed amount of mockery. He and Arlethia gave me disbelieving glances. “What? You should know I am good at most things by now.”

“And what can you do then?” Arlethia challenged, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared up to me. The question was in regard to my Artefact’s ability. Those items were manifestations of their creator’s will and granted them, when wielded, a unique power. Well, as unique as was possible, given the confines of recognizable things in the universe. There was certainly a lot of overlap between similar abilities, but two that didn’t have any differences whatsoever were exceedingly rare. “Knowing you, something whimsical and stupid.”

“You could call it that,” I agreed, “but let’s talk about it after this fight.”

The two women in the arena had begun to move. Their measured steps were taken with care, as if they were taking part in the same waltz. Unknowing of the scope of each other’s abilities, they didn’t allow themselves any careless or hasty movements. In their approach, however, they differed quite a bit. Esther’s path, with each certain step of her heavy boots, carried her towards her enemy, while Aclysia was circling the rim of their arena.

The position of their weapons also differed for how similar they were in overall length. In totality, the spear had the advantage in reach, courtesy of the unusual shape of Esther’s blade. Based purely on the weapon’s match-up, the headmaster’s daughter was favoured to win.

‘This beautiful Esther woman is maintaining a neutral pose,’ I thought, watching their body language intently. A basic grip, arms only slightly stretched, and a focus on balance, all of that made for a pose that could be held quite a while and that could quickly shift into a more appropriate stance to slash, stab or parry. The small runes along the back of her blades began to glow one by one, creeping upwards from the bare-metal guards. ‘I guess she is benefiting in some way from a slow start. I can’t really make sense of what the young maid is doing though.”

Aclysia had her posture and the tip of her spear lowered. In principle, I agreed that this was a good defensive stance to have. Every attempt to charge at her would be met with a swift stab in the guts. However, she had taken the ‘lowering’ part far further than was effective, dragging the tip of her weapon over the floor. That left her wide open towards a close-range charge.

Soon, I got a clue about what Aclysia was trying to do. A switch of camera angle showed the gap between the white tiles she had passed over to be oddly distorted. ‘Size of the area affected seems to be respondent to the time she kept her Artefact in place,’ I observed, wondering what exactly the effect was.

Aclysia suddenly inverted her path. With much quicker steps, bordering on a sprint, she trailed back. The distorted parts of the ground followed along the tip of her spear and once she arrived at her original position, she quickly rotated around her own axis. Liquefied stone trailed after the movement and consolidated into a sphere - launched directly at Esther.

The stone hardened back into its original state. Over a hundred kilograms of rock came flying at an impressive pace at the raven-haired woman. Suddenly, as if someone had pressed the forward button for her and only her, the tricorne-wearing student accelerated. Smoothly, she dodged out of the way.

The rock passed behind her back as she made a quick step forward and thrust her left arm out. Just as the rock smashed onto the ground, the screaming thunder of magical lightning echoed out. Blue light exploded from Esther’s palm, a bolt of electrical energy that struck Aclysia in the stomach.

I whistled, “Combat magic as a melee fighter against a melee fighter? Using her Astrality like that in close quarter combat is pretty brazen. I like this girl.”

“Of course you like her, she has a gorgeous face, big tits and a juicy ass,” Arlethia rolled her eyes, as she remarked this. “Everyone would like her at first glance.”

“You know me so well, we must be kindred souls. I would ask you out on a date, if I didn’t respect your boyfriend too much.”

Aclysia took the punishment well. She didn’t scream or even a whimper from the pain. Her clothing received a bit of searing, revealing some of the naked skin of her stomach under the shirt. An indication that the damage couldn’t have been too bad. An Astral Body maintained one's current physical state, including things worn closely to the body. That being said, the body was always the priority of restoration and things outside of it suffered gradual degradation.

It was common to gauge the remaining Astral Capacity of the enemy through how much more intact clothing they had. The body was protected from lethal blows and wounds in general. The presence of people that knew about the Dimensional Truth was etched into the Astral Plane and reset them to an unblemished state after receiving wounds, as long as they had enough Astrality left. It was important that people gave up before they ran out; once their Astral Body was broken, they could be wounded just like any other being. If they weren’t careful with how they dealt with those wounds, the resulting scars could end up as part of their new true body. There was also the whole ‘dying’ business.

At least at the Cosmic Universities, people either stopped voluntarily or were forced to before it came to that point. Dead students were bad for business, as it turned out. Out in the worlds, all bets were off, but many would rather subjugate their opponent than kill them. Which led back to the whole gauging thing.

Generally talking, a person that entered a fight clothed and ended naked had depleted their entire Astral Capacity. As wounds were healed, less and less of the energy went to maintain that additional layer and more to the core body.

Alternatively, one managed to transform the fight into a whole different activity through successful flirting. Chances of that were rather low, but not zero. I certainly hoped that both of the ladies down low, or at least some that were equally attractive, would one day engage with me in ways that were more fun than brawling.

Anyway, I already liked this reality quite a lot because of this. It meant that all of those strong-headed hotties could be fought earnestly, leaving their bodies unharmed while they got progressively less clothes on. Because this was an ability of the mind that could be disabled, spanking asses until they were red was still a possibility. The best of all worlds.

“Your self-control is respectable,” Esther complimented as they both stood their ground, the distance between them now less than three steps. That voice of hers still sent shivers down my spine. It was like she was wrapping the inside of my ear canals with silk.

Even if an Astral Body prevented damage, the pain was very much real. Aclysia took her battle stance again. “I thank you for the kind words,” the white-haired woman declared, pointing her spear directly at her enemy now. Her Artefact ability was not going to be useful this close anyway. “It is my obligation to emerge victorious regardless of how nice you are, though. I will win.”

“Unlikely,” Esther’s melodic tone made it hard to decipher if she was mocking or just confident. Either way, she charged and bridged the distance between the two of them in a flash. The same effect that had allowed her to dodge so easily earlier was now utilized offensively. Before Aclysia even knew what was happening, the longer blade of Esther’s conjoined weapon was coming for her head.

In a desperate attempt to block, she ripped up her spear. Grey met silver, a singing clash followed by a prolonged screech, the edge grinding over the ornate shaft of Aclysia’s spear and sliding closer to the green-eyed woman’s fingers. Although Astral Bodies prevented even the loss of limbs, proper severance was one large tax on a person’s Astrality.

A chance for relief came when Esther’s blade got stuck in a particularly deep ornament. Exploiting that opening, Aclysia twisted the spear sideways. The raven-haired woman had to jump backwards, to not be hit by the tip of the weapon.

Trailing her spear over the ground, Aclysia retreated until she was comfortable with the distance created. This first engagement had gone clearly to Esther, but the fight wasn’t over. They had their initial positions again, one slowly approaching, the other trailing the rim of the arena. This time, Aclysia didn’t throw an attack out. That water had been tested and deemed too dangerous. Now they were both reconsidering their strategies.

The runes on Esther’s weapon were asymmetrically charged. While the short sword had basically none of them glowing whatsoever, the sabre was almost filled to the tip. Now that I paid some attention to it, they also had slightly different colours. The main blade’s runes were a greyish light, while the short sword was a pale blue. Similar, but not quite the same.

Aclysia kept transforming more of the floor into a liquid state, taking advantage of the prolonged gap between engagements. Everyone was holding their breath in anticipation. For most, it was the first time they saw two wielders of Artefacts fight.

I was slightly more relaxed about things. I hoped for the fight to either devolve into semi-nude catfighting or for them to show me more skillful combat. Either way, I would see something I liked. The art of battle was not my absolute favourite subject to study, but it was up there.

The second engagement started much like the first with Aclysia liquefying part of the floor. This time, however, she only pulled it out of the floor, leaving the ground around her marked by numerous trenches which made the footing unsteady. Esther, who had advanced close enough to charge in, still went on the aggressive. Lunging and leaping over the trenches, Esther aimed for Aclysia’s head. She was quick, but not as quick as she had been with the earlier boost.

This fact allowed Aclysia to dodge to the side. She ripped up her weapon and thrust forwards. Esther blocked the attack by launching a lightning bolt at the tip of the spear, forcing it off its straight trajectory. When she landed, she immediately attempted a counter attack, only to find her feet enveloped by the liquified stone.

It hardened before she could move away, leaving her rooted and at the mercy of an opponent with superior range. Aclysia backed off just enough to exploit that fact and thrust towards her opponent. Robbed of her mobility, Esther could only surrender or be turned into a pin-cushion.

That’s how it should have gone, at least, but Esther suddenly vanished. Aclysia’s spear only penetrated air. Confused, she looked down for a moment, seeing the stone sphere with the foot-shaped empty core under her. Then her head flew upwards in search of her opponent. The order of actions betrayed a level of inexperience.

Just in time, Aclysia noticed her opponent standing where she had a few seconds prior, on the other side of the trenches. The screaming of magical thunder once more filled up the air. Aclysia managed to make the attack hit the side of her shoulder, rather than her chest.

Esther immediately resumed the attack, not giving her opponent any time to breathe. It must have been her conviction that another build-up of liquid materials would only have been to her disadvantage. Better to keep her enemy occupied. Another lunge crossed the distance between them in an accelerated charge. Aclysia gathered herself quickly, knocking aside the now lightless, monotone grey weapon, and retaliated with a swift thrust at Esther’s head.

As certain and graceful as a wise owl, Esther leaned her head to the side. The diamond shaped blade of the spear scraped over the side of her face. Golden blood appeared for a moment, then her Astral Body sealed the wound. Both of them were frozen for a split second, stopping the momentum of their weapons and then reversing it to start a new attack.

A flurry of blows followed. Metal clashed again and again. Lunges were knocked aside, strikes parried and slashes dodged. It was a back and forth dance, both of them playing to the strengths of their weapon, Aclysia trying to keep Esther at a distance while the raven-haired woman aimed to break into close range. A fourth bolt of lightning clashed uselessly against a bubble of liquid stone. With every strike that missed and scrapped the floor, Aclysia built up more of her own resources. The even tiled ground of the arena transformed into a landscape of unnaturally smooth trenches.

She wasn’t the only one continuously stacking up on ressources. The more they fought, the more of the runes on Esther’s blade lit up again. Cacophonous, their weapons cut through the air. Two gorgeous women dancing a deadly waltz to a rhythm neither of them could completely dictate. One of them, however, had considerably more influence than the other.

For the first time in the entire fight, Aclysia took a hand off her spear and quickly aimed it at Esther's feet. Unleashing a blast of cold, she froze the raven-haired swordsman to the floor. Just like the earlier attempt at immobilization, Esther reacted to this by suddenly relocating to where she had been seconds ago. At the pace of this fight, that brought over a dozen metres between them.

Aclysia immediately transitioned into a throwing stance, keeping her already extended arm steady and pulling her right back. With a quick step forward, she unleashed her spear at her enemy. All the liquefied stone in the area was pulled along by the spears trajectory and created a wave of material following in the wake of the silver and black weapon.

Putting both hands on her weapon, the grip running parallel to her head, Esther crouched slightly and let the attack come at her. The tip of her tricorne, her blade, they both pointed directly at what her eyes focused. The spear was about to hit her in the chest when she started to move. With nigh untraceable speed, she darted to the side, only to then weave through the chaotic formation of rocks. Unscathed, she emerged on the other side. Even worse for Aclysia, Esther showed no signs of slowing, not as long as there were still runes glowing on the back of her shortsword. Within the moment, her blade was coming down in a diagonal slash.

Aclysia seemed to have planned a contingency spell, having put her hands closely together and concentrating her magic. A spell that she had to dismiss, the raven-haired woman utterly outpacing even her best efforts. Instead, she had to take one of the costliest actions open to her. Her spear suddenly appeared in her hands again. Re-summoning one's Artefact was a great sacrifice of Astrality.

Nevertheless, it allowed her to guard herself against the quick slash of the sabre. Vibrating from the impact, Esther’s blade sang. It was immediately followed by a sound similar to a church bell that struck the first hour of the day. The handle of the previously joined blades parted. Just as the last runes extinguished along the flat side of the blade, Esther quickly twirled around and then thrust forwards. The tip of the sleek weapon penetrated the air, passed between Aclysia’s arms, still fighting against the impact of the sabre, then stopped under the soft chin of the white-haired woman, the tip a paper’s width away from cutting skin.

They stood still like this for a moment, Esther’s amber eyes always staying in focus. It was over, all that remained to be seen was whether the end would be a clean or a messy one. “…It is my loss,” Aclysia caved and collapsed the moment the weapons were retracted. From exhaustion or shame, I couldn’t say.

“Discarding your Artefact, even for a powerful blow, against an adversary of unknown strength is an unwise decision,” Esther commented, her smooth words between well-meant advice and scolding. The weapons in her hand turned into hundreds of small, glowing fibres that ultimately came together in the shape of the white feather. Putting that feather back onto her tricorne, she looked down at the white-haired woman for a moment. “I do commend your efforts, careless Aclysia.”

Aclysia seemed to take that negatively, but the camera cut away from her before I could pass a proper judgement on that. Walking back into the ring, Derilea made a very slow and strictly unhappy sounding announcement, “…my daughter… has been defeated… Esther gets access to her own mansion for the next year.”

‘Ultimately, she didn’t lose that much,’ I thought. It would have been a bit cruel to immediately banish the person that scored highest on the entrance exams down to the shacks in the outskirts, especially for a fight they didn’t have a choice but to accept. Still, it must have been a massive hit to both her and her mother’s pride.

“Man, now she can pick her room with whomever she wants!” Arlethia grumbled. “I would do a lot just to be able to say ‘I want to stay with my boyfriend!’”

Willt shrugged with a bit of a chuckle. “Look, I am not disagreeing with you,” he let his succubus lover know, “but the thing you had to do was win that fight. Think you could have done that?”

“Not really, no…” Arlethia conceded immediately. Given that she, like her boyfriend, was unlikely to even hold her Artefact manifested for the entire fight, that was no wonder.

“Mhm… you can pick whomever you want, yes?” I said as a daring idea crossed my mind. I could kill two birds with one stone. Arlethia and Willt both turned to look at me with disbelieving eyes. They both knew what my whimsical tone indicated. “Not everyone is handed such an obvious path to their luck and I certainly will not ignore the call of fate. Opportunity cost is not a principle I will let hold me back at a time like this.” With a grin, I added, “You guys will owe me something.”

I was already making my way through the crowd by the time either of them could try to stop me. Not that I would have let them anyway. It was a slow but somewhat pleasing descent. Since people were still standing rather densely, I had to grind myself through an array of butts and breasts. I didn’t get to enjoy it quite as much as I would in other situations, since I had something serious in mind for a change.

“…I am sorry, mother, I have failed your trust in my abilities,” my ears picked up just as I was past the crowd. Aclysia’s voice didn’t echo throughout the entire room anymore, she and her mother were on the non-enchanted rim of the arena. Two security people stepped in front of me and made a halting gesture. Respectfully, I waited.

“You lost, but you didn’t fail me. I checked the records and your loss is entirely understandable,” Derilea’s parental voice reassured her daughter. “Don’t take it too hard.” She took her eyes off Aclysia and spotted me immediately.

“Hello there,” I said, raising my hands in a nonchalant greeting.

Neither of them seemed particularly amused that I interrupted their family moment. I didn’t blame them for that, but I couldn’t wait either. “What do you want, student?”

“I want to fight,” I declared. “The right for my own mansion, I desire to earn it myself.”

“You want to challenge my daughter now that she’s weakened?” Derilea narrowed her eyes. “Such a cowardly tactic will not be-“

“Oh, no!” I quickly interrupted; this wasn’t a misunderstanding that needed to linger. “Between us three white-haireds, that’d be pretty boring and unfair. Her Astrality is basically depleted.” I based that assumption on a series of damages to her uniform that hadn’t yet closed and revealed her snow white skin underneath. “I want to fight her,” I pointed at Esther.

Due to procedures or for whatever other reason, the raven-haired woman was leaning against the wall that elevated the innermost seats above the walkway that surrounded the platform. Upon hearing that announcement, she looked over to me, her stoic gaze consistent. The way she quietly stared reminded me of an ambush predator. If she was surprised to see me there, she didn’t show it.

Wrinkles appeared on Derilea’s forehead and she sighed, “It’s unusual, but we had this kind of challenge before... it would require the approval of the headmaster and the challenged party.” First, she looked towards Taurus, who nodded stoically, then her gaze travelled over to Esther. “Would you be fine with this? You are under no obligation to accept. If you do, you stand no risk of losing what you already earned.”

Esther kept leaning against the wall, arms crossed, chin lowered and pondering. Several strands of her wild hair had freed themselves from their confinement and nestled across her face, running oddly fittingly over the fine bridge of her nose. She raised her head and brushed those strands behind her ear. About half of them immediately decided that they didn’t want to stay there and went back to lying across the ephemeral beauty of her face. “I accept,” she kept her response concise.

“If you need some more time to regain your Astral Capacity, I am willing to wait,” I offered but she was already pushing herself off the wall. Astral Capacity was just another word for Astrality. Mana would also have done it, but was generally regarded as a more archaic term.

“Wasting time is inefficient,” she stated and we both made our way to the ring.

Taurus ascended before us, only to quickly break the situation down for the first years watching. Standing close to him, his deep voice felt like an avalanche “A student decided to challenge Esther to a duel and she accepted. His rewards and punishments remain the same.” With those few words, the headmaster had communicated everything he thought he needed to.

I took a look around at the gathered student body. From down there, it all looked rather unimpressive to me. The mass of watchers was impersonal and distant, like background sprites in a video game. Regardless of appearances, they were, most of them, ladies that now had to take note of my existence. Sure, I wanted to help my friends to stay together, but I had selfish reasons for this path of action as well.

I wanted to leave an impression with any potential partners there were in this university. The most tantalizing of all transformed her Artefact again. A song of vibrating metal echoed in the air as the feather spread out into the conjoined blades once more. Personally, my attention lay with how that motion made her breasts jiggle. All my mind could think about how criminally perfect her breasts looked even under her clothes. They were easily large enough to make the girth of my dick entirely vanish between them. I didn’t dwell on that thought. If I wanted to win, I couldn’t be distracted by her beauty.

“Are you not going to prepare yourself?” she asked, probably perturbed that my own Artefact was nowhere to be seen. It could easily be seen as me either making a fool out of myself or not taking her seriously. Granted, the latter would have preceded the former.

I raised my hand to make clear that I needed a second, then readjusted my pants so they sat as comfortable as they could. “I’ll be ready in a moment,” I said and closed my eyes. I visualized a change in the world, a distortion in the space around me. The world bent the slightest bit to my will, at the cost of my Astrality. Suddenly, there was a weight in my right hand and I came to see a weapon in my hand.

In shape, it was just like Esther’s, two conjoined blades, one a long sabre the other a short sword. The colour was completely off, however. It was a silvery white, drawing the outline of the edges and runes on the translucent surface. At the core, concentrations of light shone like tiny stars, connected through thin lines. It was a copy of her Artefact, one that looked like I had formed a constellation of it and ripped it out of the night sky.

Testing, I swung it a few times. “Since I already figured out your Artefact’s abilities, it’s only fair that I give you the details on mine,” I announced. Personally, I didn’t mind the entire student body knowing about my Artefact. It wasn’t the kind of gimmick that could be hidden for too long anyway. I did skip my realization about hers though, since I didn’t want to step on her toes or anything like that. “I-“

“Stop,” Esther interrupted me at the first word, dropping her fighting stance as she realized this conversation would take a bit longer. “First verify if you got my abilities correct,” she lifted her tricorne for a moment, putting it back on in a manner that better tamed her hair. “An equal confrontation would be honourable. Demonstrate that you have correctly observed my Artefact and I will hear about yours. Fairness is a virtue.”

There was a sharp undertone in that last sentence, a warning that she would let me have hell if I was lying about anything. “Alright then, if you are fine with everyone knowing,” I shrugged and weighed the copy of her weapon in hand. “To put it basically, your Artefact manipulates time in two different ways.” I glided the index finger of my left hand over the runes on the sabre, mine were only glowing due to the material the entire thing was made from “The main blade is used to take you back a number of seconds, restoring your position and maybe even your Astral Capacity to that moment.” That alone was already an outrageously good ability, so the people watching started mumbling once again.

A mumbling that grew louder when Esther confirmed what I had said so far. “Correct,” her tone was as direct and stern as always, softened by her velvety voice. The envy of people around was graspable. Any ability that restored Astral Capacity was immensely powerful. The resource was required for basically every action, offensive and defensive alike.

“The shorter blade’s ability, I am not quite sure about,” I admitted. “It seems you’re accelerating yourself or slowing the world down. Either way, I hope that I’m wrong and that there is a bit more to it.”

She slightly tilted her head, “Why is that, good enemy?” Although it sounded a bit antiquated, the way she called me ‘good’ was just goose-bump inducing. It had nothing of the playful way people called dogs good, just a sign of respect.

“Because, if you keep moving quicker in comparison to the rest of time, you will age quicker. I would hate to see your gorgeous face wrinkle ahead of time,” I answered outright with a flirtatious wink. “The rest of your body, as well, I would love to see firm for as much of eternity as is possible. I love myself the size that jiggles and slumps a bit, but the sagging from age isn’t quite as aesthetically pleasing.”

Most of the room was baffled. The usual reaction and also as stupid as usual. They were all thinking it anyway, I was just honest enough to put it into words. Much to my (very pleasant) surprise, Esther was chuckling into her raised hand, however. Something that only reinforced that adoration I felt for her since I first saw her.

“A crude reason,” her tone broke a little, reflecting her amusement. Her singing accent continued on to make all of her words the audio equivalent of being presented with an oiled up ass for a post breakfast workout. “You need not worry, neither do I seem to age in those instances nor am I of a species that will encounter that issue at any early point in the future.”

“Splendid, the bags of hopes and dreams are safe,” I mumbled, the magic engineering still carrying it all across the hall. Somewhere up there, I could guess that Willt was shaking his head in vicarious embarrassment. “Well then, let me tell you what I can do,” I weighed her weapon in my hand. “My own Artefact… are my eyes,” I revealed, pointing up to my head.

Just because Artefacts tended to take the shape of items didn’t mean that it was a hard rule. In very rare cases, they replaced a body part. That came with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Being unable to be lost in battle was an example of the former, having a massive dragon claw the latter. Lucky for me, mine was rather inconspicuous, for the most part.

“With them, I can manipulate space to a limited degree. I can materialize items from my imagination, teleport, create small distance portals, those kinds of things.”

“THAT IS SUCH BULLSHIT!” I heard a certain red succubus scream from the top of her lungs. Smiling in her general direction, I gave her the nicest display of my pearly white teeth. It only caused a second, wordless roar of anger to emerge. She was such a cutie when she was angry.

“If you want a drawback, it’s that it all costs me Astral Capacity, particularly this,” I waved around the copy of Esther’s artefact. “Matter materialization is no joke, you know. I mean, I get a lot of it back when I dismiss the item, but still!” I turned my charming grin over to the tricorne-wearing lady. “You control time, I got space, I say the two of us were meant to find each other.”

“Perhaps,” Esther sounded more sceptical about this or perhaps she just didn’t have any strong feelings on such arbitrary connections. Maybe I was just misinterpreting her stern tone. “Have you said all you wish?” Although she gave me the option to refute that, she took a fighting stance. Hips lowered, legs bent, one arm extended forwards for balance, the other back, weapon at the ready.

“I suppose so,” I answered, copying the pose. I felt like a bit of drama was adequate at this point, “Let’s have an intimate dance then, Esther, only you and I, to the song of magic and might.” We both crouched slightly and got ready to begin.

I was not going to have a series of slow engagements like the previous fight had been. Many things could be said about me and one of them was that I was a committed fellow. Charging aggressively over the field, I set out to test my copy against the original as quickly as possible.

I put the force of my entire body behind an overhead strike, aiming to use what height I had on her to my advantage. Our weapons clashed and locked, Esther hadn’t even tried to dodge. Our muscles strained, as I slowly pushed her down. In a contest of raw strength, it seemed I had the advantage. ‘Good to know,’ I thought. Normal human expectancy about strength related to size and weight could not be solely relied upon when different races and magical enhancements were involved.

It seemed she had engaged so willingly to test the same thing. Now that she had found out that I would win in a situation like this, She would avoid it for the rest of combat. The rapid movement of her eyes alerted me to the fact that she was aiming to end this current lock. The runes on her shortsword drained away and the bell-like ringing of her blades separating came when I was already retreating. The stab at my gut was just a few centimetres short.

Although I did dodge that attack, I cut into my own arm with the copy of her weapon in the process. I knew my way around a regular sword, but the length of the entire thing made it feel similar to a spear, while the double-tipped nature made most regular slashes difficult.

Esther noticed my struggle to handle her weapon and immediately chased after me. Assaulting me with a constant barrage of quick slashes with both of her blades, she forced me back step by step. She must have remembered the time it had taken her to get used to the unusual shape, as she knew exactly how to exploit every last beginner’s error I made. I had to cede the entire ground my initial charge had granted me. Ground she had freely given and was now conquering as if it had always been hers.

I put both hands on the handle in an attempt to split my own copy of her weapon. Two separate swords, I could handle a lot better. She didn’t give me the time to just do it, of course, lunging straight at me. I relaxed and closed my eyes, for just a bit longer than a blink. Enough time for her to stab me, had I remained in place. Instead, when I opened my eyes again, I was behind Esther, the two of us standing back to back. With a massive tug, I separated the blades and turned around to attack.

Just like she had struck air when I teleported, so did I now find the sabre cut through nothing. Esther instantly appeared two steps back in her time, to my left. I hadn’t committed fully to my attack for exactly that reason, keeping the shortsword raised at her new angle of attack. I blocked and she resumed her relentless assault. Our blades reverberated with every clash. The notes of my blades were far removed from metal, sounded more like the rim of a glass being circled with a wet finger. The song kept shaping, as I moved my copied weapons to parry a continuing flurry of blows. Step by step, she forced me backwards, never locking our blades for long enough to allow a contest of strength.

I didn’t have much more space to retreat into, thus I stood my ground and went on a swift offensive. Sabres crossed, we both went ahead and attempted to stab each other with the short sword. However, she was quicker, both in speed and in reaction, knocking my weapon out of my hand. Her window to wound me was open, the tip of her blade coming for my side. I closed my eyes,and let the Astral Capacity drain from me. The shortsword vanished in a portal. A second opened a moment later, with a sound like shattering glass.

Esther jumped back when the sword re-emerged above her head, falling like the sword of Damocles always threatened to. The small portals I made immediately vanished again and I caught the blade in its fall. I wished the portals came with less of a delay or cost, but then they would have made things a bit too easy.

“This is a pretty difficult weapon to handle,” I once more weighed both halves in my hand, the sabre’s blade was heavier than the handle by a longshot. It made it even harder to swing correctly, but added a lot more force to the impact. By contrast, the shortsword was just light overall, barely noticeable, making it quick but easy to swing in too wide an arch. “On a good day, dual wielding takes getting used to, but even in the one-handed state it has its own complicated set of moves… impressive that you can wield it so accurately.”

“This is no place for compliments,” Esther stated, although she was smiling that little bit. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was having as much fun in this as I was. “We can exchange pleasantries after this.”

That sounded wonderful. “Is that a promise?” I couldn’t help but imagine ‘exchange pleasantries’ to translate to ‘getting to fondle her big, bouncy, beautiful chest’. Pretty doubtful that that was what she had in mind, but I was still in mental jubilation when she nodded. “Alright then, then I should stop fooling around like this.”

My eyes closed and I imagined the type of weapon I normally worked with. My mimic of her weapons disappeared, was reabsorbed into my Astral Capacity and quickly reshaped into something new. It wasn’t anything to sing home about, easily created due to familiarity and simplicity. Fast enough to block the scissoring strikes of Esther, aimed straight at my neck. The unequal twin blades grinded against the backs of my clenched fists. Silver-white, scaled gauntlets now protected both of my arms up to the shoulders.

“You can be pretty cheeky,” I smiled, I hadn’t taken her for the type that would take advantage of me closing my eyes whenever I used my ability. Good for me that I still had taken safety precautions out of sheer habit. Having to close one’s eyes regularly in the middle of combat caused some healthy paranoia.

Esther’s lips curved a bit further, revealing her meticulous, white rows of teeth in a charming display of danger. She did have long canines, I noticed. Not quite on the vampire levels, but more defined than the average human.

“You are too able to not take advantage of your weaknesses!” Esther’s tranquil tone finally broke for one moment of excitement. The challenge between us had now started in earnest. My Astral Capacity had been diminished and she had gotten to observe my abilities in their basic application, levelling the playing field. Now we were both using the weapons of our choice and giving it our all.

Esther backed off just enough to raise her short sword. Accelerated, she turned her weapon around and stabbed downwards.

The strike was too fast to be avoided. I decided to take the forward route and rammed into her with my left shoulder. Rather than the meat between neck and shoulders, the blades scraped over the back of my ribcage. The pain made it rather difficult to enjoy the fact that I was pressing against her chest, squishing against the heavenly pillows located there. As much as I liked the little taste of it that I got, this was still combat and she wasn’t so weak that I could afford fooling around. With a powerful punch in the guts, I made her fly backwards.

I had to force her time shift out of her. The fact that it was both teleport and healing meant that she had to sacrifice one to use the other with maximum effectiveness and I’d rather have to deal with her recovering from a few punches than with her appearing out of nowhere. Esther knew this just as well. Shrugging off the pain, she conjoined her weapons again.

While stabilizing her stance she conjured her electrical magic and sent several waves of it in my direction. Screaming, the bolts of lightning flew towards me. I managed to dodge two of them, willingly taking the hit of a third to bridge the distance as quickly as I could. Bits of my shirt burned away and were mostly restored by my Astral Body.

She met my charge with a lunge towards my chest. The smart target, I had a fairly broad chest. Sure, a hit to the head could decide a fight immediately, but it was much harder to hit a smaller surface that most people guarded instinctively.

I blinked and quickly found myself a step to the right, an easier and shorter teleportation. Infusing my punch with gravity magic, I hit her sabre. The already heavy blade pulled Esther down to the floor. My left foot came for her arms. She had to drop the weapon to dodge and stepped swiftly to the side. I set after her, aiming to separate her from her weapon. Then she was behind me, her weapon in hand and in a state before being weighed down. I jumped and rolled to dodge, stopping in a cowering position ready to launch into a sprint, if necessary.

‘So she can use her abilities even while disarmed… no, that’s not how Artefacts work… perhaps she can still use it while there is a point in time that she could go back to where she was holding it?’ I quickly theorized as I dodged another barrage of thunder bolts. I had her powerset figured out, not quite the rules of it though.

Nevertheless, I had to get back into melee, at that range I was at a disadvantage. I simply didn’t possess any reliable long-range tools without making them and Esther was clearly keeping her speed boost around for any attempt to make one. I don’t even know what I could make. Guns (mostly bullets) were way too intricate to make on the fly, I would only have one shot with a crossbow and a regular bow would mean I’d have to draw the string and repeated ammunition manifesting would be an issue. I arrived at throwing knives as the best option.

I materialized a single one and quickly tossed it at her left side. Didn’t really matter to me if it hit or not, I just needed to interrupt her casting hand. She turned her body to dodge, which gave me exactly the window I needed to sprint at her again. A second throwing knife hit her in the leg, she quickly pulled it out and tossed it aside. It vanished into Astral power while it was still flying. Now knowing that I was capable of weighing down her weapon, Esther’s attack strategy changed again.

By the time I reached her, her weapons were separated, but their usual positions switched. Fending me off with the short sword in her right, whose blade was so light an increase in gravity would affect its weight a lot less, we were once more in a steady exchange of blows. One where I was the favourite. I couldn’t go too much on the offensive, any overly ambitious strike would be punished by the sabre in her off-hand, but the shortsword was easily knocked away by my protected arms, allowing me to get in a number of strikes on her.

I got a light punch in at her shoulder, her waist and her upper thigh. Each time, I used gravity magic to weigh her down. Slower and slower she became and, as long as I kept reapplying and strengthening it, eventually she would become too tired to defy my attacks. She would either have to defeat me before then or disengage me for long enough for those effects to diminish. It would happen relatively quickly, ten to twenty seconds if I stopped hitting her, but that was an eternity in an ongoing engagement.

Esther also realized where this fight was headed if she kept up the current strategy and suddenly accelerated. She was utilizing her trump card while she was still a lot faster than me. She took one more of my strikes, just to catch me at a moment of imbalance, then she struck like a viper. Her short sword was buried in my abdomen down to the hilt. Her sabre I managed to partly deflect with my arm, the impact reverberating in my bones.

It hurt. It hurt a whole lot. However, I had expected to be hit like this at some point and gnashed my teeth. Quickly, I moved to take advantage of what I could. Grabbing the hand that stabbed me, I clenched her narrow wrist, fully intending to break it with a descending chop of my other arm. Generally, I would have been dismayed to see such a pretty lady hurt, but the reality of combat was as it was.

Immediately, Esther teleported back in time, escaping my grasp. Our fight had barely moved in the past few seconds, however. While she succeeded in freeing herself, she jumped back to a moment where my gravity magic still had its full effect on her. Her weapons removed from me, the Astral Body immediately restored me to my natural, healthy state and I pushed the offensive.

The one thing her backwards trips didn’t restore seemed to be her Artefact charges and now I could seriously lay into her without having to worry about her powers. Something that she was only too aware about, trying to get away as quickly as possible.

“Oh no you don’t!” I blinked and was behind her. My elbow hit her spine with the extra force of her own movement. She stumbled forwards and whirled around. I leaned back. The tip of her sabre sliced open my shirt and my skin, the latter closing immediately.

Her balance was off now and I attacked her with a quick succession of attacks. The more of the gravity magic I layered on top, the more sluggish her counterattacks became. I was already certain that I won, just because of how slow she was. Covering her in blunt attacks, I quickly tore down her Astral Capacity. Ruptured tissue wasn’t as good as severed limbs or deep penetrations, but it was still effective. Desperately, she took one step back, two steps, three steps, I followed. Then she vanished again.

I must have underestimated the natural build-up and when I turned around I was met with a simply extended sabre. She wasn’t even trying to attack me, just kept me at a distance to give her the time needed to regain her speed. I couldn’t let that happen, but also had to be mindful of my own Astral Capacity. Teleports were costly, repeated ones doubly so.

With a series of feints, I tried to get around the tip of her weapon, but only found a slight opening after several seconds had passed. Her body got lighter as I dodged under the slice she threw my way. I had spent a whole lot of Astrality to slow her down like that and losing the build-up would put me in a bad position. It was time for desperate measures.

I tackled her down and our dancing back and forth of attacks and countermeasures became a primitive tumble on the floor. We rolled over the stone together, flying limbs and pinned down arms, continuously winding out of each other’s grapples and avoiding any deciding movements. Neither of us were willing to give up. Her tricorne was lost. Her hair became a whip that blinded me for a moment when the ponytail undid itself. I managed to force the sabre from her, only to get hit by a heavy uppercut. We continued to wrestle. In the confusion, I struck her face, something that I would have avoided doing usually. Her sleeve tore, having gotten stuck on my scaled gauntlets. That was when she tensed up and engaged in a last surge of defiance. Suddenly, our tumbling ended. We were at the bottom of one of the ditches Aclysia had made.

Esther’s short sword under my chin, my hands around her neck. We were both breathing heavily. My chest was bare, the smooth, muscular skin revealed. Her hair was fanned out like a halo made from black silk, one rebellious streak laying across her face. Controlled, she inhaled through the nose and exhaled through the mouth. Both of us were sweaty and frozen in place.

I was captivated by her eyes for perhaps too long. Also by the fact that my thighs were squishing her tits between them. Thank all the gods out there for big breasts. As much as I was willing to continue this pose for a little while, I eventually said, “Looks like we arrived at a tie, eh?” Practically speaking, this match would be decided by whether or not I would manage to choke her out before she managed to stab me beyond what Astrality could handle, but since this was only a duel, this situation was as good as a tie.

“No,” she closed her eyes and lowered her weapon. “This is your victory,” on the back of her sensual voice ringing out in a self-deprecating tone, she reached up to her face and tapped against her left cheekbone. A bruise was quickly forming there, almost invisible on her flushed skin, but definitely there. “My Astral Capacity is depleted,” she announced and breathed out slowly. “I failed to request your name, good opponent.”

“Karitas,” I was happy to have her know of me.