NOVPUB"You... must you be so messy? Now is not the time to be worrying about whether or not you can function properly in the upcoming waves..!"
Despite her more predatory self coming out more and more often whenever she took on this red form, Leone still remained Leone as she stood in front of me, her mana washing over me and removing all of the blood and gore from my body as she fussed like she always had.
Of course, there was a difference between the way she cleaned me off now and how she was before; the way her hands brushed against my curves, lingering for a second too long as she remained just a few inches away from me... she wasn't embarrassed by what she was doing.
She was hungry.
Hungry for my body and hungry for my blood, which was probably where some of her frustration with my fighting style was coming from, since there was no easy way for her to get to my neck or my wrist without having to taste some monster blood as well...
And clearly that wouldn't be allowed for her royal palate~!
When she wiped off my chest for the fourth time and just so happened to squeeze my breast, I got a little closer and whispered "Maybe because I like having you fuss over me like this... usually I'm the one doing the fussing, so for once... it's nice~!"
She just looked at me from beneath her lashes before glancing over her shoulder, confirming that Draka was turned away and that Mom was reading over the paper as she took in our rewards, allowing the Vampire to act quickly and silently as she took some more.
Grabbing my waist and pulling me close, her breath warmed up my neck far more than the Ogre's blood could have ever hoped as she whispered "When we get back, I'll shower you in the affection you deserve, my love... Treat you like the Lady you are, hm~? Reciprocation is the minimum..."
Unlike my lover - her usual self, anyways - the closeness of her body and the heat of her breath didn't embarrass me at all; if anything her presence was both soothing and enflaming as she reignited the flames of lust within my belly.
I stepped into her touch and stole away a kiss from the red skinned Vampire as we made the most of these seconds we were allowed to have for ourselves, and her surprise made it worth it as I learned even more about her new self.
She was still able to feel the same shock from these sorts of things, but she just needed them to be a little more... extreme in what was done in order for her to be caught off guard, something that made her all the more cute as I savored her flavor and gave her something to look forwards to like she had done for me.
Before the other two could be burdened by our actions I went ahead and pulled away, noticing how reluctant Leone seemed to be to let that happen and loving how she followed me with those powerful, somewhat glowing red eyes as I made my way over to Mom instead, giving her a moment to reset herself.
"Did we get anything good~?"
"Besides the obvious?"
The way she glanced at me from the side while smirking made me roll my eyes, since clearly the giant blue skinned hunk that stood atop one of the pinnacles of our Empire had seen what Leone and I had done, but if she wasn't going to press it...
"Yes, besides that."
A soft chuckle made me roll my eyes again, but thankfully she wasn't going to make me pester her for it as she said "Well, we got ourselves some neat little trinkets. Apparently they made some kind of rings-"
Immediately my hopes were raised, and I leaned close to her and tried to read the paper for myself, searching for the reward from the previous round and praying it was what I thought it might be.
I leaned against her and read the paper as she continued to speak, though I noticed how she stiffened for a moment before relaxing, while her tone also took on a momentary twinge of hesitation that raised flags in my mind.
Pulling back from her, I bit my cheek and kept my gaze away from hers, allowing her to deal with it herself and not acknowledging it whatsoever lest it lead to something... uncomfortable and unneeded.
"-that all have some sort of like... amplification enchantment that imbue your mana with some secondary element. It doesn't give you access to that element, but being able to cast a fireball that has of its own Wind Mana swirling around its core as someone who doesn't have Wind Mana normally does sound nice."
My disappointment... wasn't that bad, but it was still definitely there as I nodded and looked over the list once more, before turning towards Leone as she joined us; upon hearing of our reward the Vampire hummed appreciatively and looked at the list too, scanning over the four rings we would receive and nodding to herself.
"They'll be rather intriguing. I wonder if we could stack all of them together and use them on a single person? Imbue yourself with all kinds of mana to cast some extremely potent magic?"
"Probably not, and I imagine the damage to your pathways would be rather severe. Just one might still place some serious strain on our pathways, though who knows with these fantastical rewards we're getting..."
As the paper faded and the next wave began, I cleansed myself of all of the blood and gore in a single second, smirking at Leone as I waltzed back to my side and showing her that I could get myself clean before the wave started.
Of course, the 'how' of me getting clean was what mattered here, and I could still feel her hands against my body as she cleaned me off, so really it was her who should be smirking... if it had been the normal Leone she would be blushing, but not now.
Now she was smirking back at me, and the overflowing lust in her eyes made me lick my lips as I wondered just what was to come... only for my brain to switch over to combat instead as I wondered what was to come, thinking the same thoughts but with different connotations.
That mattered in this context, I believe, but it was still leading me towards the same end goal, albeit in a different capacity; it was leading me to pleasure, just with one having me covered in sticky fluids and the other... having me covered in sticky fluids...
Again, different connotations mattered here, I suppose...
