Fenrir made the journey in less than a day, arriving at the western shore of what could be nothing other than Lake Wrathburn well before sunset. The necessity of remaining unseen had slowed him down a little, but even so, the fact that he had not needed to stop for rest as well as the sheer speed with which he traveled had brought him to his destination much more quickly than he had expected.

  Not wanting to try to cross the river in broad daylight, he decided to rest for several hours and therefore sought out a secluded gde in the scattered timber on the western side of the river. Finding one which suited his purposes, he stretched out under a bush where he was well hidden from possible observation and was soon asleep.

  He opened his eyes to the forms of two women. Fenrir knew them instantly; Menoche and Carnachias, each with their own specific fvor of approval evident on their faces. Like Marstolle before them, he needed no one to tell him these were goddesses. He could feel the truth of it in his bones. Their beauty was darker than that of the Light goddess. Where Marstolle had been the ptonic ideal of feminine beauty with an almost motherly air about her, Menoche had a dark, almost sinister grace, and Carnachias was a succubus turned to eleven. She was all sex, all the time. Every curve of her body, every move she made advertised- nay, screamed debauchery. Fenrir had the distinct impression that if she had actually been standing before him, he would have been utterly overcome with lust. As it was he had enough difficulty containing his arousal.

  Carnachias spoke first. "Nice one, Anon! You got busy, didn't you? Not even here a month yet, and you've already fucked one of those Saintess bitches."

  "And more importantly, she is under your full control. Very well done, indeed."

  Fenrir inclined his head in acknowledgement. "I'll admit I would not have chosen to go after her so soon, but it turned out fine." He looked around, noticing their indistinct surroundings. "Am I dreaming?"

  Menoche nodded. "Yes. This was the best method of contacting you."

  "So, Anon, this is the part where we'd usually give you a strand of each of our hair, buuut you already picked it during character creation. So whaddaya want instead?" Carnachias' speech patterns were as eccentric as they had been the st time he had met her, Fenrir observed. She wasn't finished talking, however. "You wanna add another perk, or maybe you'd like something else? I can get you a pocket pussy modeled after Mel-Mel's cooch, and I can even nerve-link it with her-"

  "Absolutely not." If looks could kill, Carnachias would have been a smoldering pile of ashes on the floor from the gre Menoche turned upon her.

  Carnachias, however, remained whole and unconcerned. "Why not? You'd like it. Nonny here's got the grade A preemo cock. Even I'm tempted," she continued with a knowing smirk.

  "Then use your own twat," Menoche retorted, before turning back to Fenrir, who hid his grin of amusement just in time. "As my sister said before she started spouting nonsense," here Menoche bent another dirty look at Carnachias before continuing, "your actions have earned you another boon from us. Speak what you would wish, and we will provide it. Within reason," she added as Carnachias opened her mouth. Carnachias pouted, and closed it again.

  "Well, tempting as your offer may be," Fenrir nodded to Carnachias dryly, "What I would most prefer would be a full and complete understanding of runeworking, and of the runes themselves."

  "Whaaat? I thought for sure you'd choose something at least a little more exciting," Carnachias groaned. "I mean, you could have asked to see the both of us naked, or a PS5 and a copy of GTA6. ...I think that's the most recent one." She put a finger to her chin in thought.

  "When I 'left' Earth the most recent release of GTA was 5, but regardless, that kind of thing is a luxury, not a necessity, and I can't very well enjoy it if I'm dead, now can I? And besides, what use is a PS5 without electricity to run it?"

  "Oh, details." Carnachias waved a dismissive hand. "We'd take care of all that. But are you suuure you don't wanna see us naked, Anon?" She swayed her breasts teasingly, tugging at the top of the fabric which was heroically struggling to contain them.

  "I'm a red-blooded male, am I not?" Fenrir asked, raising an eyebrow. "But that's not the request I made. And by the way, I have a name, and it was never 'Anon'."

  "Sure, but-"

  "Ahem." Menoche cut off Carnachias' response with a pointed clearing of her throat. "Aren't we getting a little distracted? Unfortunately, due to certain ...circumstances we cannot directly fulfill your request, but we can point you to where you can learn more. The Ancient Dungeon Core knows more about runes and runeworking than anyone else alive. Her current home lies along the eastern coast of the Vesper Ocean, west of the Kharos Mountains. Not so very far from where you have made your home, but to the southwest. As we cannot guarantee she will be disposed to help you, we will also grant you one more request."

  "Well, I wouldn't mind a rger mana pool to draw from. I recall Elemental Infusion tempting me as well back when I first chose my powers."

  Menoche's face fell ever so slightly. "Ah... I'm afraid adding such an ability now would be more than your body could handle. But we can enrge your mana pool without much difficulty."

  "Really? That's it? Out of everything you could have- wait. ...Ohohoho, I see what you're up to, stud. Now that's more like it," Carnachias purred, one hand drifting down to caress her sex as she stared at Fenrir out of half-lidded eyes. "Keep this up, and I might just have to fuck you."

  "What? What do you mean?" Menoche asked, regarding Carnachias suspiciously.

  "Oh, I'll tell you when you're older," Carnachias replied, reaching out a hand to pat her sister on the head.

  Menoche dodged it with something close to a snarl, eyes darting between Fenrir and Carnachias before she seemed to decide it wasn't worth her time. "At any rate, if that is what you wish, we can provide it easily. You have performed well beyond our expectations in subjugating one of the Saintesses already. I believe you will be a worthy Demon King, even if your methods are far more... gentle than I would usually prefer."

  Fenrir shrugged. "If it ain't broke..."

  "Indeed. More than can be said of the brat who now holds the title. But no matter. In due time it will taken by its rightful owner." Menoche gave Fenrir a meaningful nod.

  "If I'm entirely honest, I'm not that excited by the thought of becoming the Demon King. If you've been watching me, as I'm sure you have, you should know it by now, but my primary goal is not either to subjugate the Light or to become the supreme leader of the Dark."

  Menoche gave him an indulgent smile, the kind a parent might give to a willful child. "Yes, we are aware."

  "Don't sweat it, Anon. Just keep doing what you're doing and everything will work out juuust fine." Carnachias gave him a much more mischievous smile. "And just think, if you do decide to take the title of the Demon King, you'll have to fuck what's-her-face into submission first, and just think of how much fun that'll be. Or kill her, I guess, but fucking her would be way more fun."

  "True enough," Fenrir shrugged an acknowledgement. Menoche's condescension grated on him a little, but then even Marstolle had mentioned something along the same lines. If the will of the gods really did hold such weight, he supposed it wouldn't be so very surprising if he did somehow end up as the Demon King. Assuming of course he survived that long. Oh well, if it happened, it happened. He had more immediate concerns to deal with, such as the Twin Goddesses before him.

  Menoche was speaking. "It will not be long now before you attract the attention of several powerful followers of the Dark, and the consequences of your brush with that Saintess will also soon become apparent. You have, I'm sorry to say, shone a rather bright light upon yourself due to your actions in Mavenia."

  "I see." Fenrir paused for a moment. "How likely do you think it that any of those consequences would end up looking towards my castle in the mountains?"

  "Unlikely. While the explosion of magic created by your arrival in this world was significant, only Elmeria Levantine was both powerful enough and close enough to notice it. So long as she does not point any others to it, your hideaway should be safe for the present."

  "Good to hear. I'd rather not lose my succubi if I can help it." Fenrir took a breath. "Well, I'm grateful for your continued assistance. If I'm honest, after you set me loose in Ruyanei I didn't expect any further aid."

  Carnachias scoffed. "Oh please, this is nothing. In fact, you know what? Mel can handle the whole more magic thing, I'm gonna give you my own present." Stepping forward to stand directly in front of him, she reached up and gave him a hard, passionate kiss.

  Fenrir awoke with a start. He was soaked with sweat, his chest was heaving as though he had just run a marathon, his heart was hammering against his ribs hard enough to break them, and his cock was painfully hard. At that moment, had there been any sort of woman nearby, she would been given the most terrifying and most fulfilling fucking of her life. Perhaps fortunately, he was as alone as he had been when he y down to sleep, and several long minutes sufficed to allow Fenrir to bring his lust under some manner of control. 'Fucking Carnachias,' he thought. 'She pys hardball, I'll give her that, but what the hell kind of gift was that?'

  Crawling out from the little copse where he had been sleeping, Fenrir looked up at the sky. He had slept until a little past midnight, he estimated, and that being easily te enough to suit his purposes, he started down to the river. While crossing he washed his fur clean of sweat, being careful not to get his pouch or its contents wet in the process. With his erection finally starting to die down he set his sights on Eldfall, several miles away along the shore of the ke. 'Here's hoping I can find my girls pretty quickly and that they're okay. After the stunt Carnachias pulled I could use some release.' He had been sorely tempted to masturbate, but something, perhaps pride, had stopped him.

  The st few miles to Eldfall were completed quickly, and Fenrir halted on a rise to survey the city. Its wall was a low but strong structure made of stone, almost swallowed by the buildings which had spilled beyond it. Even from this distance Fenrir could see that it was much less carefully pnned than the capital. Whereas Mavenia had had a street yout like the spokes of a wheel with clearly defined districts, Eldfall was a sprawling mess of buildings with no clear delineation between docks, residential, or commercial districts, and roads were pced wherever they could be made to fit. The noble district was clear enough, trailing down from a castle built on a promontory which jutted out into the ke, but even it blended at the lower end into lower quality housing and various shops. There was a certain kind of beauty to be found in the harmonious clutter, but Fenrir was more occupied with how he would go about finding those he sought in such a confusion of streets and structures.

  'Elfall's a pretty big pce. I can't help but wish Marstolle would have been a bit more specific,' Fenrir thought. With no clearer direction, however, he decided to follow the st clue he had found reting to the location of his girls; that being the hint that possibly Katari had been working with the princess. 'I don't have any solid leads, but if the princess did leave Mavenia by boat, Katari's working with her, and Katari's in Eldfall, it makes sense that they made the full trip by riverboat. So that means the docks are my first stop. Operation: Haystack is a go.' This st thought was accompanied by a wry smile, but Fenrir wasted no more time.

  To his great delight, he found the trail, not only of Katari, but also Kira and Chellise, mingled with the scents of the princess as well as her bodyguard hot and fresh in the streets just off the docks. It raised no small amount of concern as well, but with such a strong trail to follow he knew they were as good as found. Like a wraith he passed through the city streets and out into the countryside towards the east. They had preceded him by less than an hour, but his concern grew further as he discerned they had been accompanied by other humans, soldiers judging from the depth of their footprints. This part of the country was mostly made up of farmnd with the occasional noble's estate looming out of the darkness, fenced or walled in and set back some way from the road.

  When the trail he was following abruptly turned off the road and started through a field, Fenrir raised an eyebrow in surprise but followed, albeit with even greater caution than before. Some distance ahead a particurly rge manor dominated a slight rise in the ground, but his quarry steered to the right of it towards a shack set in a grove of trees about half a mile off the road and three-quarters of a mile from the estate. As he approached he saw a light in one of the windows for a moment, then all became dark again. He had been overhauling those he had been tracking, so now he estimated it could only have been about ten or fifteen minutes since they had arrived.

  A man, hooded and cloaked, stood outside the door, but the darkness under the trees made his role as sentry entirely futile as far as Fenrir was concerned. He stole up to a window and attempted to look inside, but thick curtains blocked any view of the interior. Circling the shack, he found another door in the back, simirly guarded, but every window was locked and curtained. His keen ears picked up the sounds of low conversation within, and once he thought he recognized the voice of Katari. He was debating seeing whether he could force a window in silence when he distinctly heard an excmation of pain from within, and just as distinctly recognized it as coming from Kira. At the same moment there was a clinking as of the rattling of chains.

  Fenrir went hot, then cold. With swift but silent movements he stepped around the corner to one of the doors. The man there never stood a chance. Before he knew there was an enemy within fifty paces of him he was trapped in a chokehold by arms like steel bands. He struggled, but Fenrir kept him from making any noise which could alert those inside the cabin. Once certain he was unconscious, Fenrir lowered the man to the ground and turned to the door.

  The tch gave under his hand with a soft clunk, and opening the door a crack, he peered within. The first thing his eyes fell on was Chellise, her hands bound before her by steel shackles. Beside her stood Kira, simirly bound, and behind them Katari, though he could only see her face, which was darkened by a scowl. Three other forms comprised the remainder of the room's occupants, all hooded and cloaked as were the sentries, and standing around a table upon which burned a single oil mp.

  As his eyes fell on the manacles Fenrir saw red. All the rest of his observations were gleaned by a single sweeping gnce as he pushed the door wide open and sprang like a panther at the rgest of the hooded figures. Seeing him, Chellise gave a cry, and instantly all was pandemonium. His target, reacting like lightning, upended the table before which he was standing into the direwolf's face. Fenrir clove it in two with a single strike of his cws, but the move had forced him to check his spring and that was all the time the stranger needed to whip a sword from beneath his cloak. The next instant the room was shrouded in utter bckness as the mp, sent flying by the upending of the table, crashed into a wall and went out. Even Fenrir's eyes needed a moment to adjust, but he could see the outline of his target, so he sprang again. His cws screamed against steel armor previously hidden by the cloak and the stranger smmed into the opposite wall, but by some miracle kept his feet and was not too dazed to frustrate Fenrir's next attack with a lightning-like parry.

  For a few tense seconds they exchanged blows, the hooded figure working furiously to turn aside or dodge Fenrir's attacks while the direwolf tried his best to penetrate the marvelous guard presented by his opponent. The second of the hooded figures attempted to join in, but a ferocious flurry of blows sent him flying across the room to smash heavily into the far wall, and Fenrir returned his full attention to his first target.

  Light fred in the far corner of the room. The third hooded figure had relighted the mp. Cries and excmations leapt from multiple throats, adding to the din and confusion. Now with light restored, Fenrir found his opponent even more formidable than before. From the offensive he was forced onto the defensive, the stranger's sword moving like a blur of silver steel that the eyes struggled to follow. A binding of his cws against that bde and a vicious push forced Fenrir back several steps, and before he could renew the attack a warm soft body smmed into his side.

  He twisted to deal with this new threat but stopped dead as he recognized the wine-red locks of Kira. Her face was turned up to him, her arms were wrapped tight around his middle, and she was shouting something at him that between the noise of the room and his own pulse thundering in his ears he had difficulty making out.

  "-op! Stop! They're friends! You've got it all wrong! Stop!" As her words penetrated the haze of anger, Fenrir's rage faded. Dimly he realized he had fallen into Berserk again, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind for ter. Kira's actions and Fenrir's subsequent pause seemed to calm the commotion in the room, and gradually everyone quieted. The tall stranger with the sword straightened, though he did not sheath his sword or drop its point. Chellise, still bound, unched herself across the room with a choked cry and Fenrir found himself catching her with his free arm in a sort of daze, the other having wrapped itself protectively around Kira. Katari did not move from where she stood, but only looked and looked, as though she could never see enough. Turning his eyes back to his erstwhile opponent, Fenrir realized he was Flint Brandis, the princess' bodyguard, and that realization made him look to the one who had relit the mp. Sure enough, it was the princess herself.

  He looked back down at Kira, who was gring up at him through eyes streaming with tears. "They're friends? But they had your hands shackled," he said, a little uncertainty in his voice.

  "They're fake shackles," Kira replied, raising one hand for exhibition. A pair of manacles dangled from her wrist. "See, I can get out of them as easy as-" she made a deft movement with her hand and the chains dropped to nd jangling on the floor.

  Fenrir blinked. He looked across to Katari, who answered his unspoken question with a simple nod, and then to Brandis, who was eyeing him warily. "If you really have no ill intentions for these girls, then I apologize for attacking you."

  The veteran knight's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by another voice. "I know you!" It was the princess, her voice filled with shock. "You're my midnight visitor, the one who knocked me over in that alleyway!"

  Fenrir somewhat jerkily inclined his head in acknowledgement. He felt thoroughly on the back foot, but he managed to reply, "Yes. I apologize if I caused you distress. I would have preferred to avoid crossing paths with you at all."

  Brandis' face had hardened a little at the princess' excmation, but he made no move other than to eye Fenrir more closely than ever. Fenrir, for his part, returned his attention to the girls pressing themselves to him. Chellise had managed to free one hand and was now hugging him with all the strength in her lithe little body. Kira was still gring up at him, unheeding of the tears which streamed down her cheeks. Her expression began to break. "Y-You're alive." She buried her face in his side, her body shaking with noiseless sobs.

  "Yes, I am alive." Dropping to one knee, Fenrir pressed both succubi to him in heartfelt relief. After a moment he raised his eyes to Katari and invited her over with a gesture. She advanced on unsteady legs, and Fenrir enfolded her in the hug as well. It was some time before any of them moved.

  TheBestofSome