Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 1094: Misconception

Yunohana was still smiling when she finally retrieved the cup from Kaiden’s bench.

“I think you have been assigned rather a lot of wedding preparations, Nyx.”

“I’ve seen. Apparently, I’m responsible for making sure he turns up.”

“As if that would be difficult,” Aria murmured, brushing her fingers through his hair before letting him rise. “As if Kai would dare go missing on the big day… Hmph…”

“I’m not suicidal.”

“Good.” Aria smiled softly, yet any man could sense existential danger behind those tender eyes of hers.

“…”

Kaiden stood with a hand at Yunohana’s waist. She screwed the cup back onto her flask, then passed it to him while another procession of Japanese flags swept through the comments.

– KyotoCamellia: SHE’S STILL BLUSHING!! PLEASE LET HER KEEP HIM!! 😭🌸😭🌸

– SakuraShield: Our High Shrine Maiden is working overtime for Japan!! Somebody double her salary!! 🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

“Oh, I’ve seen this sentiment too much. That won’t do.”

The amusement in Yunohana’s voice made him look down at her. She had turned toward Nyx, whose delighted expression suggested the space mage was quite happy to keep sharing the view.

“Thank you for being so happy for us,” Yunohana told the viewers. “Though I fear you are giving my patriotism rather too much credit.”

Luna’s attention left the comments.

“I love my country, and I shall always do my duty to it. But…” Yunohana continued.

Her fingers curled into Kaiden’s shirt. Rising onto her toes, she drew him down to meet her and kissed him, tenderly enough that his smile softened against her lips.

He slipped his arm farther around her waist, keeping her comfortably against him while she lingered. The flask hung forgotten from his other hand. For all his enjoyment of the commotion, having her choose to kiss him in front of everyone left him absurdly happy.

When she lowered herself onto her heels, she stayed close, her next words warming his mouth.

“This, I did for myself.”

“Yuno…”

Her cheeks were pink, but she held his gaze with open affection. He wanted to kiss her again, preferably for long enough that the women waiting to continue their dungeon run started complaining.

“I’m very glad you did.”

She laughed softly when he gave in and kissed her, a hand sliding behind his neck as he drew her closer.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Luna muttered. “We lost them again.”

– MoonThreadFan: SHE SAID HE’S FOR PERSONAL USE!! 😭🇯🇵😭🇯🇵😭🇯🇵

– Lady Leia [Mod]: YES, MA’AM!! KEEP HIM!! WE’LL EXPLAIN IT TO THE FOREIGN MINISTRY!!

– OsakaUncle: THEN BE SELFISH, YUNOHANA-SAMA!! YOU’VE DONE ENOUGH FOR US!! HAVE YOUR HANDSOME MAN!! 🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

– Thirsty247: My brother is getting claimed in front of an entire country. I’m so fucking jealous it’s crazy…

– Kaiden’s Wife [Mod]: The way he’s holding her… Oh, they’re so lovely together.

Against his chest, Yunohana began to giggle. Kaiden reluctantly loosened his hold, allowing her to turn toward the others without quite leaving his arm.

“My apologies. Shall we continue?”

“Of course,” Nyx purred. “As soon as you let go of him.”

Yunohana looked down at her hand, still clutching his shirt, and released it with considerable dignity.

“I was making certain he would come along.”

“Naturally.”

Kaiden returned her flask before Aria caught his free hand and drew him toward the terrace door. Behind them, Nyx lifted the stone lintel she had used to block the entrance and set it aside with [Telekinesis].

Alice waited for him beside the doorway, her arms folded.

“Are we finally going to fight something, or does Stupid Big Brother need more smooch time?”

“If you’ll help me, then we can begin.”

“Hmph. Obviously.”

Golden light rose around her, gathering into the dark halo above his head. Through their shared vision, he could already see the porcelain soldiers waiting in the next gallery.

He squeezed Aria’s hand before letting her go.

“Let’s earn the next break.”

…

They earned several.

The galleries led into towers whose defenders met them at every landing. By the time Kaiden had fought his way through the first, he understood why Yunohana had chosen this dungeon for them. Knowing how to break the soldiers’ formation helped considerably. Doing it while another rank came down the stairs behind them remained hard work.

“Behind us, Kai!”

At Nyx’s warning, he turned to catch a descending sword against his gauntlet. The impact drove his arm down, but he held the blade long enough for Calypso to ram her axe through its owner’s knee.

“Could they take turns?” she complained, kicking the broken soldier away from him. “That would be lovely.”

“We could ask,” he grunted.

“I already did! They stabbed me!”

Across the landing, Yunohana laughed as she drew a spearman’s weapon aside with [Silver Thread], allowing Luna to reach its exposed wrist.

They grew better at fighting the creatures as they climbed. They seized openings as soon as they appeared, and Yunohana began catching the limbs Kaiden was already reaching for, making his next strike easier without interrupting it.

Still, every defended stairway cost them effort. Alexandra closed wounds between encounters while the others drank, caught their breath, and waited for enough mana to return. Kaiden spent those breaks sitting beside whichever woman reached him first, quite content to have company while his muscles complained.

Their last climb brought them to the highest tower hours after leaving the terrace.

Inside its circular hall, a headless porcelain warrior guarded a throne atop a dais. Black columns surrounded it, and a gold wheel around its collar held a red mask facing them, with a blue one behind.

Luna stopped beside Kaiden.

“Oh, lovely. They made a big one.”

Fire poured from the red mask. Kaiden ducked behind a column, then charged with Lust feeding his partners. The warrior met him with a glaive, its returning sweep opening his side.

“Ghh!”

Nyx pulled him clear with [Telekinesis] before the next blow broke the column beside him. His gauntlet gathered blood from the cut, shaping a heavy hammer as Calypso caught the glaive on her axe haft.

“Darling, now!”

Kaiden smashed its elbow, leaving Calypso room to chop into the shoulder. The mask wheel turned before her axe landed; blue armor repelled her blade, and the glaive opened her upper arm.

“Ah, that was good! Well done.”

Smoke curled from Calypso’s wound as Carnage strengthened her arms.

“But now it’s my turn.”

Her answering chop broke through the blue plate and buried her axe in porcelain.

“Yuno, could you hold the blue one toward us?”

“I’ll try.”

Yunohana’s silver threads caught the wheel. Giving up Lust’s buff, Kaiden switched to Envy and forced its suppressive power into the blue writing across the warrior’s armor.

Calypso dragged her axe free to parry, but without the buff, the next glaive swing buckled her knees. Alexandra braced a golden barrier against its shaft, buying Kaiden time to suppress the resisting spell.

As the armor flickered out, Aria drove a moonlight lance through the exposed collar. Luna sprang onto the broken column and severed the damaged mounting with her Stormblade.

“No more costume changes, bitch!”

With both masks on the floor, Bastet scorched an opening through the warrior’s chest with concentrated sunlight. Calypso climbed onto the column beside it.

“Ready, Darling?”

“Naturally.”