[24] The Battle of Moralities
<span style="font-weight:400">Chapter 24: The Battle of Moralities
<span style="font-weight:400">—
<span style="font-weight:400">What do you think a girl would do, if she was making out with you in the bed, and all of a sudden another girl came out from under the nket?
<span style="font-weight:400">…I rubbed my swollen cheek as I thought over that question, sitting on a couch in the living room between the same twodies.
<span style="font-weight:400">"So you two aren''t dating, really?" asked Tsubasa, making me shrug.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Hmm, let''s see."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Even though you are in her house right now, Aqua?" She gave me a re.
<span style="font-weight:400">I really wanted to point out that I just kissed her too, and since we are not going out, that means I and Mem-Cho aren''t necessarily going out either. But I doubt she''ll react nicely if I do argue.
<span style="font-weight:400">Thankfully, Mem-Cho exined in my stead. "I don''t understand what''s up with your powers, but it looks like you forgot. You were the one who brought the two of them here. They were injured, and you told me… we should sleep with Aqua naked to heal him."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Oh. Huh?" Tsubasa blinked, nervous. "No, never mind that, what do you mean two of them? Isn''t it just Aqua?"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Aqua''s sister, I think her name''s Ruby, is here too," Mem-Cho said. "She lost her eyes, you know? Aqua healed her somehow, I don''t know. She''s in another room, sleeping."
<span style="font-weight:400">Tsubasa began to look really confused now. I sighed and grabbed her by the chin. The aggressiveness I used caught her off guard, but I ignored it since I was talking to the Hanekawa inside her now.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Aunty Kitty, exin to her already. Or can you notmunicate with her?" I said, ring into her eyes, Tsubasa looked like she was having a bad dream.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, she paused. Tsubasa trembled and blinked, letting out a small gasp. I let go of her, that woman must be doing her job right now.
<span style="font-weight:400">I turned to Mem-Cho, "Thank you. I wouldn''t have been surprised if you didn''t help, but you really did."
<span style="font-weight:400">She smiled. "You sounded more serious than ever, dummy. I couldn''t just not help you, not after I joined your faction or whatever."
<span style="font-weight:400">"It''s a Sect, we are calling it a Sect." I said, and she just shrugged in response. She didn''t care.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What happened, anyway? Also, I didn''t know your sister was a mage like you."
<span style="font-weight:400">"She''s a mage, but she''s not like me. I''m a martial artist in general, as in a battle mage I guess, while she''s a witch-type mage." I said. "Yesterday, we coincidentally came across two avatars of Gods, and the fight was the result of it."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Oh," Mem-Cho took the words in. "They must have been strong if they injured you two like that."
<span style="font-weight:400">"They''re dead," I said. "One of them was taken care of by the cat girl, and another by me. Really should have let the cat girl take care of both of them, honestly. But I got… a bit angry when I saw what state Ruby was in."
<span style="font-weight:400">Mem-Cho stared at me for a moment. I''m not sure if she was judging me, regretting letting a killer in her house even. Probably not, from what I''ve observed of her. Though even if she was, it didn''t matter – she''ll know how the world works soon herself.
<span style="font-weight:400">I turned back to Tsubasa. Her expression was odd, a mixture of many emotions. Our eyes met and she broke out of a daze, quickly clearing her throat.
<span style="font-weight:400">"A-are you all right, Aqua-kun? I just got… my memories fromst night." She looked at me, concerned. "Did the healing help?"
<span style="font-weight:400">Tsubasa''s words brought my attention to the reality of the situation. The healing… without it, the damage would have been a lot greater, but that didn''t mean there was no damage at all.
<span style="font-weight:400">From my estimation, I''d have been pushed back to <b>Low Gold</b><span style="font-weight:400"> rank if I didn''t receive such a thorough healing in time. Now, I was still in True Gold, just barely. Earlier, I was almost ready for my next advancement, but now I was pushed back to what should be years of progress for many people.
<span style="font-weight:400">Not an issue. As long as I''m alive, there is nothing to regret. I said it would have been better to let ck Hanekawa fight the Aztec man, but who knew if she''d have been careful enough to not hurt Ruby? It was a situation where I had to act, and I did. The amount of loss I''ve taken can be considered a win if anything.
<span style="font-weight:400">Plus, there were boons from this too. Not me particrly, but my disciple''s growth was as important as my own.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I am fine," I nodded at Tsubasa. "I should be asking you that, instead. Are you…"
<span style="font-weight:400">She hesitated, sighing. "I… I don''t know. It''s so sudden. My mother… she''s… No, I''ll need some time. Everything is sudden. Here I thought you, Ruby, and I were close, but the two of you hid such a secret from me."
<span style="font-weight:400">She looked hurt. I felt hurt seeing her hurt. We never really bothered to tell her, and in truth, there wasn''t any reason to or not to, so neither party can be med.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Tsubasa, I…" I put a hand under her ear, gently grabbing her neck, and she rxed.
<span style="font-weight:400">"It''s alright," she said with a thin smile. "You did save me from my mother, so it''s not as if our rtionship is entirely fake. We all have one or two secrets; I guess…"
<span style="font-weight:400">It may seem she sounded understanding, but really, she just sounded sad. She was taking a jab at her ''secret'' love for me that she never made ''clear'', ording to my nonexistent reply to it.
<span style="font-weight:400">I needed to calm her down. I felt bad, but at the same time, I knew I wanted her now. Strange how a night can change people. But having her as my girlfriend will be… let''s sayplicated, starting with the fact that her mother lives in her body.
<span style="font-weight:400">Though I knew a solution to that.
<span style="font-weight:400">"..."
<span style="font-weight:400">Dammit.
<span style="font-weight:400">Harem route isn''t the way.
<span style="font-weight:400">Don''t do it. Stay in control.
<span style="font-weight:400">It''s better to stay with one girl, I thought. Arge part of me screamed, [Why? It is the only way for us, anyway. Ultimately, in the end, we''ll head to that route anyway. For we are too old and have fallen in love too many times for our hearts to hold only one girl at this point.]
<span style="font-weight:400">Another equallyrge part screamed, [It''s a modern world, and we are always around famous people. Harem is going to be hard, if not impossible. The girl will leave us one by one, as they''ll feel wronged.]
<span style="font-weight:400">My moralities struggled. Another reply came that even if this was a modern world, harem was a widely epted term in the devil world. Then another reply from the opposite side. It continued for a while. But sadly, the one who told me to control had a single mistake, it had provided a weak point in the beginning.
<span style="font-weight:400">The nextrge part of mine, no, thergest part of mine, the part that thought of itself as the <b>Venerable One</b><span style="font-weight:400">,ughed. [Why are we having a skit in our head again? What is this? How is building a harem going to be hard? Impossible, even? Remind me, who are we again? Since when did we fall so low that women will leave us? Pathetic, has this soft world made us weak? The Honored One does not care about difficulty or mortality, he does what he wishes.]
<span style="font-weight:400">Haah. There you go. I really didn''t like the personalities in my memories shing, because there was always only one winner. My empathy from a moment earlier vanished, and the calcting side of my brain red.
<span style="font-weight:400">My hand that was under her ear, around the back of her head, held her tighter and pulled her towards me. She gasped, and that gap in her mouth allowed me to push my tongue inside her. She moaned, unsure what to do, as I held her tight and pressed her down on the couch. Tsubaki moaned as I kissed her, my left hand squeezing her breasts to make her moan like a slut in heat.
<span style="font-weight:400">When I finally pulled back the kiss minutester, she was panting and looking at me with a frown, even as she was blushing.
<span style="font-weight:400">Her eyes trembled slightly as she said, "So many secrets, Aqua. I never knew you could kiss so well. I didn''t know you could be this aggressive, either."
<span style="font-weight:400">"You don''t know many things, love. Maybe you''ll know starting from now on."
<span style="font-weight:400">She smiled, noting the change in my earlier expression. "I didn''t know you could be this harsh, either. So many secrets, really. Who can change their personality this quickly? Kiss me again."
<span style="font-weight:400">I leaned down and kissed her again, and she whimpered in return. This time around, we were forced to cancel the kiss not by choice.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Uhm," Mem-Cho said. "C-can''t you two go back to the bedroom!?"
<span style="font-weight:400">I got up and turned to her, she was still on the same couch as us but had her back turned on us. I grabbed her waist and made her turn around, her eyes widened when I lifted her short figure up in the air and kissed her.
<span style="font-weight:400">I heard a shocked gaspe from behind me, but Tsubasa didn''t run away. So I kissed Mem-Cho and then I put her down, looking back at Tsubasa. She bit her lips, staring at me with dagger-like eyes, much like her motherst night.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You''re such a heartbreaker," she said. "Kiss me again."
<span style="font-weight:400">I leaned down and kissed her again too, as Mem-Cho sat back in silence, her face red.
<span style="font-weight:400">The three of us knew this wouldn''t just end here, something more would happen. None of us cared, no, maybe we looked forward to it. Yet, fate decided to be annoying, as once again, we were forced to cancel the kiss not by choice.
<span style="font-weight:400">"...Onii-Chan?" We all heard a dry voice, and raising my head I found myself facing my twin standing near a bedroom door.
<span style="font-weight:400">Her eyes, red like always, had a brighter glint in them than before. She stared at the scene with deadpan silence as the glint grew stronger.
<span style="font-weight:400">A small part of me yelled to grab Ruby too, but many of my other parts beat that part out ofmission as I stopped.
<span style="font-weight:400">* * *
<span style="font-weight:400">Tsubasa sat beside me while covering her face with her hands, while Mem-Cho had made a run for it with the excuse of brewing tea. Ruby sat on a couch opposite me, wearing a white tee and short jeans, with her arms resting by her side and both of her eyes glinting like stars.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You healed my eyes?" She asked, trying to ignore the scene she had walked into just earlier. "Things look… sharper. Clearer, and I can see the mana in the air better.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Mhm.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I walked over to her and ced a hand on her head. The use of <b>Reverse Soul Reflection </b><span style="font-weight:400">told me all I needed to do.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It grants you some basic eye powers, but the main ability is called [<b>Kagemimic</b><span style="font-weight:400">]. It allows your eyes to track and perfectly replicate any movement. Not bad, this will help your idol career."
<span style="font-weight:400">I read the description out loud, "By locking onto a target''s motion with your gaze, you can capture the intricate details of their movements. This means you can predict their movements, but more importantly, mimic them with exceptional uracy. This ability is not limited to just physical actions; it also extends tobat techniques, dance routines, and even intricate skills like crafting or ying musical instruments. Kagemimic grants you the ability to learn and apply new abilities quickly, making you a master of adaptation and mimicry.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh,” she blinked. “I am at <b>5th Circle </b><span style="font-weight:400">now, by the way. How?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“The eyes must have made you stronger,” I said; she gave me a strange look. “What?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You… feel weaker, though. Why?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh. I pushed myself. Had to make some sacrifices to win the battle.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I was a little surprised when, after staring at me for a bit longer, Ruby threw her arms around my waist and hugged me. She was sitting and I was standing in front of her, as she hugged me tightly.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Ruby?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry…”
<span style="font-weight:400">It wasn’t her fault, but it didn’t take me even a second why she thought it was. She was weak, it was a fact. She was weak for someone trained by me.
<span style="font-weight:400">But then some might argue I myself was pretty weak for being… well, myself. How could I have let some God''s Avatare and mess with me? If it was the God himself, then sure, but that was just his Avatar. My memories that had taken a hit from the Order of the Crimson Abyss have healed a lot, but I still didn’t have all my knowledge. But that wasn''t an excuse, how could mere Avatars force me to take such measures? I had to grow faster.
<span style="font-weight:400">I patted her head, "It''s alright since all’s well in the end. You got better eyes and you are also stronger now, nobody took any permanent injury so it''s fine."
<span style="font-weight:400">We stayed like that for a bit, as soon music began to y. Mem-Cho returned with tea and yed light music, "Snowman" by Sia spread through the room, as we held each other close.
<span style="font-weight:400">A few minutester, I sat beside her and both of us took a cup of tea from the table ahead. Mem-Cho and Tsubasa sat on the couch opposite ours, and I took some time to introduce everyone to everyone properly.
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