Logically, Jadis knew that if she ever intended to enter into a carnal relationship with anyone other than herself, she’d have to address the futanari situation. It was no small matter, pun not intended, that she had both masculine and feminine genitalia. If a woman was sexually attracted to Jadis’ looks, that probably meant she was a lesbian, which meant if she suddenly sprung the fact that she was equipped with a pillar of man-meat, then said woman was likely to lose interest. Now, bisexual women were another possibility and those with such proclivities were more likely to be interested in Jadis’ estimation, but even so, having both sets of equipment could still be a turnoff.
The question that had rattled around in the back of Jadis’ mind for a while was, did she inform her potential sexual partner upfront? Or did she wait a while, get to know them, feel them out, and then tell them? Both ideas had merits and drawbacks. Being honest and open right away meant there was no confusion, less chance of hurt feelings. On the other hand, it meant telling a person who might not even be interested in her in a sexual way about the status of her genitalia. Not exactly a bell that could be un-rung.
In either scenario of how she planned on tackling the hurdle of her unique sexual biology, Jadis hadn’t planned on bringing the issue up by waving a crotch bulge in the face of her future date.
“Sorry,” Jay said a moment after Syd’s attempt at breaking the tense silence. “I—er, we got a little excited. Didn’t mean to be rude or gross or anything…”
Jay trailed off as she uncomfortably turned away from Aila, Dys and Syd mirroring the movement.
“Fuck, this is awkward,” Dys cursed, rubbing the back of her head. “Just, give us a minute to calm down.”
Was this how uncomfortable guys felt when they popped a boner in front of someone they liked? Jadis could heretofore only imagine, her life experience before rebirth being an entirely female one. Now that she had more equipment, she was encountering situations she’d only previously been on the periphery of, mainly a few ridiculous classroom incidents in high school.
Teens could be cruel.
Jadis couldn’t help but fidget a bit as the three of her stood there in the short shadow of the tall cliff, facing away from Aila. What exactly was she supposed to say to smooth over the situation? ‘Ha, yeah, that dancing was sexy as fuck, couldn’t help myself. Don’t mind my throbbing schlong, it’s just a natural reaction.’ Fucking hell that sounded dumb. No way she could say any of that to—
“Are you calmed down now?”
Aila’s question startled Jadis, a surprised noise coming from all three of her selves.
“Huh? Ah, yeah, sorry, better now,” Syd said. The confusion and awkwardness had done a wonderful job of killing her erections.
Turning around, Jadis saw that Aila had her neutral face on, an icy mask that betrayed no emotion. Keeping her eyes up and firmly away from anything below their waists, Aila addressed the three giants.
“It’s okay, I’m not offended. I’m… confused.”
Jadis nearly breathed a sigh of relief at Aila’s words, but kept her own faces straight, waiting for her to finish what she was saying.
“For clarity, and, excuse me if this is indelicate, but,” Aila seemed to struggle a tad with her words, a slight blush betraying her stoic expression. “But, do all three of you have—”
“Cocks?” Dys interjected, seeing how Aila was grappling with the word.
“Yes. That.” Aila said with a sharp nod.
“Correct,” Jay said, shrugging one shoulder. “All three of us.”
Aila took a moment to internalize the answer to her question. Darting her eyes a short distance lower then back up, she motioned towards her own chest, still wearing only her camisole undergarment.
“But, you have… chests. I thought you three were, um, sisters. Female sisters,” she said with a small wince. “I mean, you’re all very beautiful and I didn’t imagine any of you were, um, male examples of your race.”
Jadis perked up at the mention that Aila thought she was beautiful. Did that mean she thought she was ‘attractive’ beautiful, or did she mean that from more of an abstract viewpoint? Jadis couldn’t tell. Aila’s face was practically glowing red at this point from embarrassment. Hard to judge if any of that blush came from any other emotion.
“We aren’t male,” Jay said. “Yes, we have breasts. Yes, we have penises.”
“And we also have vaginas,” Syd joined in, raising her hands up in a shrug. “We’re equipped for all occasions, I guess you could say.”
The blue-eyed girl visibly balked at that admission, her mask breaking for a short moment as her face seemed to twist in a series of conflicted emotions. Was that confusion or revulsion in her eyes?
A second later, the answer revealed itself.
“Is that normal for your kind? Nephilim, I mean? I’ve never heard of anyone like that,” Aila asked, her face showing obvious intrigue, not a hint of disgust or a sign of aversion anywhere.
A wash of relief flooded Jadis. She hadn’t intended to share her dual-sex nature with Aila today, and certainly not in this exact manner, but she had meant to share it eventually. Probably after their date tomorrow. If she’d been rejected right then and there, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. Jadis wasn’t some wilting flower that would crumple under the weight of a single negative response to her advances. However, having one of her secrets spilled in such a way had definitely put her on edge. She could still handle a rejection, though. She didn’t need to be accepted by anyone. She had herself.
Still, it felt good to not be turned down out of hand by a girl she was definitely interested in.
“Yes,” Jay answered with a start. Jadis had probably hesitated a little too long, lost in her thoughts.
“Every Nephilim we’ve ever known is the same,” Dys confirmed.
That wasn’t a lie. She’d only ever know the one, herself, so she was being truthful. Technically.
Fuck, she hated having to tell lies of omission. It made her feel like some kind of double-dealing crook or con artist. Or worse yet, a politician.
Yuck.
“That’s… huh.” Aila started and stopped, clearly at a loss for words. Eventually, she seemed to galvanize, straightening her shoulders. “In any case, we’re wasting sunlight. If we’re still going to hunt demons today, we need to get dressed and get a move on.”
With that pronouncement, Aila began pulling on all of her gear with studious efficiency.
Jadis couldn’t help but stare for a moment. That was it? Are you normal for your race or not? No other questions or comments?
Slowly, Jadis’ three selves moved to gather their things, pulling on her own armor. She couldn’t help but ask, though. The question was burning a hole through her stomach.
“You don’t have any other questions about… our nature?” Syd asked, eyeing Aila sidelong.
She paused in the middle of lacing one boot, looking up and then away again almost immediately. There was a visible flush burning the redhead’s ears, though she was clearly trying to hide it. “Yes, actually, I do. But I’m sure they can wait until our date.”
A brilliant grin burst across Jadis’ three faces. Aila hadn’t thought better of their date. She wasn’t backing out. She was interested.
“Alright then,” Jay said, her voice tinged with the warmth and excitement she was feeling. “First thing’s first. Demons. Any ideas on where we can find them?”
Clearing her throat, Aila took to the change of subject with visible relief. “The hills around Felsen are fairly well cleared out of most demons, but twisted wretches still persist. The demon matriarch that was spawning them was killed maybe half a year ago, but they’re a lingering threat. The roads are patrolled and have wagons and convoys running them, so unless their trying for an ambush, the wretches stay clear.”
Finished strapping on her gear, Aila gracefully stood and motioned to the east. “There are large open spaces to the east, plus only one settlement that’s still inhabited by a garrison of mercenaries. There are far more active settlements to the west. I think we probably have a better chance of running into wretches if we go that way.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jay nodded along.
With her own gear reequipped and her spear, maul, and mallet in hands, she felt ready to slay some demons.
“Okay Blue, piggyback or princess carry?” Syd asked, passing her spear to Dys and approaching Aila.
“What?” she stared blankly up at Syd, no spark of comprehension in her blue eyes.
“Piggyback,” Syd motioned with her left hand, “Or princess carry?” she finished, motioning with her right. Feeling mischievous, perhaps due to her greatly uplifted mood, Jadis did not explain further.
Aila looked confused for another few seconds before tilting her head in question and asking uncertainly, “Princess carry?”
“Princess carry it is!” Syd announced, speedily swooping down and catching Aila under her knees before the redhead could react. In one swift motion, she’d swept the startled girl up in her arms, backpack and quarterstaff included.
“What are you—”
Jadis didn’t wait for Aila to protest. With everything and everyone in hand, she immediately started sprinting eastwards, her long stride and supernatural speed eating up the ground at an incredible pace.
“Like you said, daylight’s a wasting!” Syd half-shouted over the wind.
Aila only squeaked in alarm as Syd carried her, all three of Jadis bounding across the grassy landscape.
As she ran, Jadis kept an eye out for any sign of movement, be it twisted wretches or otherwise. With three sets of eyes scanning the surroundings, there wasn’t much she missed. Other than the omnipresent hills and grass, she saw another herd of the snow elk she’d seen before, untwisted and untainted by demonic influence. There were also a few other animals she saw, such as small gopher-like creatures with greenish fur that blended in with the environment, and a large turtle that had thick spikes all over its shell.
There was also, surprisingly, a flock of birds that looked almost exactly like wild turkeys. In fact, if there was a difference between the turkeys she saw on Oros and the ones she remembered from Earth, she couldn’t tell.
She was almost tempted to detour her run and grab one of the turkeys, just to find out if they tasted the same as Earth turkeys but shook the impulse off. She had more important business to attend to.
After a solid twenty minutes of running, Jadis spotted something she had a feeling wasn’t natural.
“Is that a pig man?”
All three of Jadis drew to a halt along the crest of a small hill, looking down into a shallow valley where she had spotted movement.
Trudging along with a snow elk tossed over one shoulder was a pig walking on two legs. Covered in dark brown fur, it had the classic pig snout one would expect from a porcine creature, with four large tusks curling out of its closed mouth. Its arms and legs were short, almost comically so, giving it an almost unbalanced gait. Based on the size of the elk it was carrying, she guessed the pig man was about the same size as human man, just wrong in all of its proportions. The creature wasn’t wearing any clothes, but it had a large spear in one hand.
“It’s a twisted wretch,” Aila spoke up from her position, still cradled in Syd’s arms. “Boar variety. Wretches take many different animals for their bodies, not just elk,” she helpfully added.
“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Jay nodded thoughtfully, watching the stocky thing plod along.
Jadis had the feeling the elk over the wretch’s shoulder was probably intended as a new body for another demon if what Aila was saying was true.
“Should we follow it?” Syd asked. “Might lead us to more wretches.”
“If we can sneak behind it, that’s a good idea—” Aila started, but was cut off by Dys.
“Nope, never mind. It spotted us,” Dys said with annoyance, tsking.
The wretch had indeed noticed them, having dropped its dead prize and turned to face them. It made no move to charge, instead pointing its spear up at them and squealing horribly, almost like it was challenging them to come face it.
Jadis saw no reason not to accept its invitation.
“Down you go,” Syd announced, gently setting Aila onto her feet.
She was far too graceful and surefooted now to stumble, but Aila still seemed to be a bit weak-kneed from being carried around at such speed.
“What’s the plan? Strike from a distance? Surround it and attack from the rear while one of you gets its attention?” Aila asked, looking up at the three giants as they readied their weapons.
Jay stared back down for a moment and then hefted her wooden hammer up for emphasis. “I was going to go hit it with my mallet. Maybe twice if needed.”
The look on Aila’s face was unimpressed. “It’s a lone twisted wretch. If it’s not hunting as part of a group and it isn’t running away, that means it’s probably of a high enough level it’s confident it can handle itself alone. Don’t you think a plan would be beneficial?”
“Okay, then, here’s the plan,” Jay agreed with a shrug. “Dys, you and I will run down there and hit it from both sides. Syd, you stay here and protect Aila, in case something goes wrong. Ready?”
“Now hold on, that’s not really—”
“Ready!” Dys and Syd chorused.
In the next moment, Jay and Dys were sprinting down the hillside, aiming for the lone boar wretch.
“How in the gods' good graces have you three survived this long if that’s your idea of planning?” Aila asked, watching the two pale giants as they ran towards the single foe.
Syd shrugged, then flexed her arm, showing Aila a bulging bicep. “Muscle and chutzpah. Victory favors the bold, after all.”
Jadis could hear Aila mumble ‘chutzpah?’ under her breath, but by that point, she was within range of the boar and focused on the task at hand.
Approaching from both the left and right, Jadis moved in on the boar, forcing it to pick one direction and defend, leaving the other side exposed.
Making its choice, the twisted boar faced Jay and opened its porcine maw, a yellowish globule of rancid-smelling gunk shooting out like a bullet straight at her face. Dropping into a roll, Jay dodged underneath the hissing projectile, barely getting out of the way as it lobbed past her.
Raising her maul as she approached from the right, Dys moved to strike the wretch when it whirled with surprising speed, thrusting its spear right at her chest. Dys pulled her swing, trying to dodge, but failed to evade the pig’s attack entirely. The sharp iron head of the spear cut through the leather armor on Dys’ left side, the glancing blow driving deep enough to draw blood.
As Dys pivoted and sidestepped out of the way of the wretch’s follow up thrust, Jay finished her roll and turned it into a lunging shove. Haft of the mallet braced between her hands, she tackled the wretch from behind, knocking it forward and onto its squealing snout.
Before it could recover from being pushed down, Dys brought her maul down on the demon’s arm, the wedge-end cutting through the stubby flesh. Black blood fountained out of the severed limb, writhing tentacles poking out of the exposed flesh as the monster tried to roll over and away from Dys.
Less than a second later, Jay’s mallet slammed down on the wretch’s chest.
If Jadis hadn’t been certain of the effectiveness of a giant wooden hammer in battle before, she was convinced now. The wretch popped like a watermelon, black blood, tentacles, and guts spraying outward in a disgusting display, soaking Jadis’ bare feet, much to her displeasure.
“See? Chutzpah,” Syd said, giving a suitably impressed Aila a pat on the shoulder.
| Congratulations! Twisted Wretch Defeated. Bonus Experience Points Awarded for Defeating a Demon Spawn of Samleos. |
A message flashed before Jadis’ inner eye, followed shortly after by another.
| Level Up! Mirror Knight has Reached Level 21. 1 New Skill Available for Selection. |
“Oh, nice! Must have been right on the edge,” Syd grinned.
“What happened?” Aila asked, something in the way her eyes moved telling Jadis she was reading her own system message.
“We leveled,” Syd explained, starting to move down the hill. “And it’s about time! Can’t wait to see what kind of skills we get at level twenty-one.”
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