Korith sat next to Aclysia outside the house. Their behinds were nicely seated on the bench that Apexus had carved out of a tree log. Slime acid made for a remarkably good surface smoothening medium.

Said slime was currently engaged in his semi-ritualistic wrestling match with Reysha. Rapidly, the redhead moved around Apexus, who calmly turned to keep facing her. He had two open hands raised in her general direction, ready for any kind of offensive.

Reysha went for a sudden, high kick. Her leg slammed against Apexus' forearm. Before he could attempt to grab her in response, the redhead suddenly slipped from everyone’s attention, reappearing one step away, both feet firmly on the ground. The distance was needed, as Apexus retaliated with a swing of his own.

Tilting her upper body to the side, Reysha dodged the straight with calculated narrowness. Apexus’ palm slammed into the tree behind her, cracking the bark. “Uuuhhhh, ya sure ya wanna pound me like that, big guy?” Reysha teased and licked his arm.

“You can take it,” Apexus responded in a matter of fact tone.

A manic cackle accompanied Reysha’s words, “Can I ever.”

Bringing his left forwards, Apexus attempted another grapple, but Reysha escaped off to the side. They resumed their previous game of cat and mouse. Swiftly, the redhead circled around Apexus. Unlike the common rodent, the humanoid chimera was no prey.

“The training continues as before?” Aclysia asked Korith.

“Yeah, nothing much to say,” the kobold answered, feet swaying back and forth. “Just getting better at utilizing what I think of and increasing my ki efficiency. What about you?”

“Similarly, my training is now limited to minimizing my failure rate. It appears most of us have advanced to a stage of training where we iron out the kinks in our approaches.” Aclysia’s analysis excluded only Apexus. The humanoid chimera had not yet been trained in Flow Manipulation. “I must admit that your Class’s approach to mastery intrigues me. Spellcrafting can be exceedingly formulaic. Which does, honestly, fit my personal approach to learning best.”

“Gold is always shinier in the other mine.” Korith stopped the swaying of her legs and sighed. “Really, I wish there was a bit more structure… next time I’m learning from a teacher, I’m learning from a Paladin.” She nodded two times to herself to support that. “For the Hoard.”

“Why did you not before?” Aclysia investigated. “We have skirted around this topic previously, but now it occurs to me that I never truly asked. Your faith is clearly strong, so it surprises me you chose the path of a pure Warrior first.”

“Well, it is kinda awkward… the Paladins back at Hoard said I needed to sacrifice to Hoard first before I was worthy of its blessings. Which is totally fine! I wouldn’t have it any other way, Hoard is the greatest, it doesn’t need to bother with every person out there.” Korith was quick to assure her adherence to the teachings of the Hoard clergy. “Ehem. Anyway, I… did not want to study faith under Pronthin so…”

“No one should study faith under that cynic,” Aclysia agreed.

“…I don’t even know if he could teach me…”

“Fundamentally, the way to channel divine power is the same for all Priests and their derivations, armoured or otherwise. Faith is an enabler of the usage, not the source of power. The vast majority of outside help is provided by the glory of the Omniverse as a whole, rather than a specific god.”

“So, could you teach me?” Korith asked, more intrigued than hopeful.

Aclysia opened her mouth, but was momentarily distracted when Apexus caught Reysha by the neck and pushed her down. “Harder,” the redhead moaned.

“That would be detrimental to your health,” Apexus pointed out.

“If you don’t do it harder, I can do this!” The tiger girl pried his relatively soft grip open and slipped out. Boosting her muscle strength as much as she could, she tackled Apexus and actually managed to topple him over. Rolling over the floor, tiger girl and slime sent bits of leaves flying everywhere.

“The foundation of my powers is more instinctual than learned, I do not believe I can properly convey the necessary skillset,” the guardian angel confessed. Her gaze kept a worried track of the tumbles, more rough than usual.

Korith also kept track of what was happening. With greater interest than usual, she watched as Apexus finally managed to exert his superior mass and strength on Reysha. Once he straddled the tiger girl, it was effectively over. They engaged in some short-lived hand-to-hand exchange. Every wild swing of Reysha’s claws was met by an expert interception by Apexus. Forearms clashed against forearms, leaving the sharp, extended nails too far from him to deal any actual damage.

Once Reysha’s wrists were caught, she was completely pinned down. No kicking or winding offered her an opportunity to escape. Her ki was too exhausted to muster the necessary boost to her strength to overcome Apexus’ iron grip. The demonic arm may have changed things, but that was too much for a spar like this. “Alright, you win this one.”

Apexus nodded and let go of the tiger girl. Before he could decide what to do next with her, to the surprise of everyone, Korith barrelled into his side.

Not even the kobold knew exactly why she had just done that. Something about proving herself or at least testing out what she could do. The reason why ceased to matter entirely, after they hit the ground. Thoughts were superseded by instincts.

The two combatants separated. Apexus pushed the kobold off himself and backed away. Staying crouched, Korith watched her man carefully. Golden eyes tracked every movement. Her tail glided over the ground. Her toes dug into the dirt. Pointy ears wiggled, picking up the sounds of the forest in the distance.

Apexus took a feinting half step. No reaction. He tried a false charge. Still, no reaction. The kobold remained right where she was, breathing calm, eyes trained. She presented a tiny target, low to the floor. Rude as that was, there was really only one option to approach her.

This time properly, Apexus charged forwards and delivered a straight kick aimed at her centre of mass. Korith effectively let his heel hit her shoulder and turned with the impact. Then, she grabbed his extended leg and pulled.

It was almost comical, for the kobold to not only lift a man twice her size off the ground, but to whirl him around. The ground vibrated from the impact, sticks and stones breaking. Skin, turned light grey shortly before the impact, reverted to the regular, slightly tanned colour a moment later.

The small stature that had been her initial boon became a swift drawback when Apexus used the length of his legs to retaliate. Korith was too busy dodging the kicks to repeat the slam. Worse, his leg escaped her grasp. In a storm of limbs, Apexus got back on his feet. Then, their fight transformed into a back and forth of feints and attempted grapples.

Korith could only go for his legs, Apexus had to reach all the way down if he wanted to take hold of her. It was an awkward fight on both ends. With a weapon in hand, Korith could have fought more effectively, but that was true of everyone the slime fought in these wrestling matches. The ultimate truth was that any attempt to beat the tall slime Monk at the close quarters game was near impossible to succeed.

One of his swipes ultimately managed to secure a grab. His palm closed around one of the black horns that extended from the golden hair. Knowing how sturdy those things were, he had no qualms about using that grip to hurl her at a nearby tree. With tail and preparation, the kobold turned in the air, landing feet forwards against the bark and then launching herself straight back at Apexus.

The chimera Monk took a well-prepared stance. Half he caught her, half he let her rip him along. The living projectile of a shortstack was turned around him several times. Every controlled step on Apexus’ part diminished the force behind her movement.

In the end, there was one tall man standing there with a shortstack dangling between his raised hands. There were ways Korith could have gotten out of that, but she had gotten what she wanted – whatever that had been. “I surrender.”

“Good,” Apexus said and pulled her towards his face. Her lips tasted earthy from the tumbling and salty from the exertion. Arms around his neck, Korith pulled herself even closer. Her massive tits pancaked against his chest. Any semblance of thoughts that returned to her head was turned into a jumbled horny mess when the softness of her front came to a complete halt against the solidness of his pecs. A hand slammed hard down on her butt, making her yelp as Apexus secured his hold on her round backside. There was so much to hold onto on a woman this short and stacked.

Aclysia clapped twice, to get everyone’s attention, “If I may request we relocate this inside, now that all the playing has been done?”

“It’s not playing, it’s combat for tribal leadership!” Reysha complained.

“Uhm… do we battle for number two?” Korith asked from her elevated position. As they talked, Apexus carried her inside and Reysha followed. Aclysia was the last in the group and closed the door behind her.

“Fuck no, you’ll murder me!” Reysha declared. “I’m not messing with someone that can throw Apexus around like a sack of grain. I’m crazy, but not that crazy.”

A large reason why they could compete as ferociously as they did was that Apexus could only suffer any serious damage if his core got damaged. Otherwise, any damage they did to him was temporary at worst, insignificant on average. In return, Apexus limited himself to grapples and strikes to non-vital areas. What sores remained after that, Aclysia could take care of.

Things heated up quickly inside the house, in every single way. Aclysia threw additional wood into the dim fire. After a little bit of encouragement through blown air and small-scale magic, the chunks were alight. By that point, Apexus had already stacked Reysha and Korith on top of each other, fucking them both. The aftermath of combat always got their sexual urges high. All the blood was pumping and needed some kind of relief.

Twenty minutes later, they were even more sweaty. In a hugging pile, they laid on the bed. A rolled-up blanket served as their backrest. They looked out into their humble little home, the low table, the set of eating utensils, the fire, the fixed stone floor, the little mats they used as seating on that floor, and the storage corner. The sole window of the house was sealed with a wooden panel.

It was the same position they were always in at the end of a day they all spent together. Apexus laid at the centre, broad and tall as he was. Aclysia was to his right, Reysha to his left. The two rested their heads in the depressions between shoulder and chest. Smiling, the metal fairy just gazed upon his features with love in her eyes. Reysha’s fingers playfully wandered up his side, step for fingertip step. Without any hesitation, she travelled up Korith’s boobs. The shortstack laid on top of the humanoid chimera, eyes half closed and humming. She giggled at the touch.

“I would tickle you to the Hellroots and further if I wasn’t this petered out right now,” Reysha purred.

“We have cracked the secret,” Korith mumbled drowsily. “To make Reysha bearable, just fuck her.”

“That’s not a secret, that’s the first page in ‘how to treat your pussy’.”

“…I hate language,” Apexus groaned, when he got the pun. “Why are those two words related in any way?”

“Beats me.” Reysha scratched Korith behind the horns. Taking a slow, trembling breath, Korith stretched and kissed Apexus’ neck. Aclysia soon mimicked the motion. Apexus returned the attention with little pecks to the top of their heads. His large hands caressed the gentle curves of their midriffs. “Not much left to do, huh?”

“Only refinement,” Apexus confirmed. “A last technique for me.”

“Maltos must have the conference soon,” Aclysia reminded them. “We are to attend that. It is because of us that it happens and we must stand and answer for the difficulties we have brought here.”

“Sounds like we committed a crime,” Reysha grumbled.

“We brought disruption.”

“We had to bring it somewhere.”

Apexus hummed in agreement, a deep sound that rumbled in his chest. Keeping her ear to his ribs, Korith drank it all in. To her, that was the sweetest sound in existence. She was so simple in these ways.

They forgot all about the worries for the moment. They would come back on their own. This time where they lied peacefully in bed would be gone eventually. Further time would see it return. Peace and haste, good and bad times, they would enjoy and weather them together. To let the seconds fly by, to the sensation of Reysha's cat ears between his fingers, the sound of Aclysia’s wings happily fluttering, Korith’s subtle movements, that was the best they could do right there, right then.