So Many Harpies

Alice did in fact let me sleep in a few extra hours, carrying the pocket castle with her as she, Ilias, and Sonya traveled without me present. The pocket castle's magic was quite impressive. There was no impression of movement as they walked, so long as I was inside. Thankfully, Alice and Ilias didn't try to do harm to one another while I was sleeping. Ilias, if anything, was more subdued than usual. Probably due to our little chat the previous night. The journey took two days and there were no encounters. No hostile encounters, anyway. A friendly rabbit girl stopped for a moment to chat with us. I hadn't met any rabbit girls on my first journey, but I'd met many afterwards and they were all pleasant and friendly. As long as they weren't in mating season. Not that they were mean during mating season, but they didn't take no for an answer when they were in that state. Fortunately, it was not rabbit mating season. We also saw a wolf girl prowling around in the forest, but she apparently wasn't hungry enough to risk a confrontation with all four of us. We arrived at Happiness Village without having to fight anyone. I could get used to traveling in a group.

Happiness Village looked basically the same as it did the first time I'd seen it, except for the fact that there were men everywhere. I wasn't quite sure why Happiness Honey wasn't making it to Iliasburg, given that Happiness Village had the same labor force it had in my world before the harpies had begun kidnapping all the males. The answer proved to be emotional. The men were depressed.

"I don't understand why Peggy left me," one man told us. "I thought she was so happy."

"It wasn't you, sir," Alice said gently. "All of the harpies left. They must have had a good reason. I'm sure it had nothing to do with you, or any of the other men in this village."

The only thing we learned from the villagers was that the exodus had been sudden. The harpies had left in the middle of the night, without explanation, together, leaving behind lonely men and male human children they'd borne the men. Their female monster children had been taken to wherever the harpies had gone.

"Any idea what would make the harpies voluntarily leave like that?" I asked Alice.

"I'm at a total loss," Alice sighed. "I take it this didn't happen in your world?"

"In my world, monsters and humans didn't get along well enough on this continent for the harpies and humans to interact positively in the first place. The mystery there was that the men were disappearing. The harpies had been taking them as mates."

"What did you do when you heard about that?" Sonya asked.

"I had a little talk with the queen and it was all resolved. The men were safe and sound and happy. The villages agreed to work together in the future and became one. It looks like that already happened here, after the Great Disaster. Except now it's the harpies who are missing, rather than the men."

I didn't mention that the "talk" with the queen had involved a lot of punching, biting, scratching, talon slashes, sword strikes, and several kinds of pleasure attacks on my person. I was almost hoping that I'd find the same situation in this village. I was far more confident in my ability to settle things without a fight. Back then, I had no diplomatic skills and couldn't argue to save my life. My moronic rantings had been ignored by the harpy queen, and then I'd pulled my sword on her. I was very lucky things had ended up all right.

"I don't see why the men being depressed means they can't produce Happiness Honey," Sonya observed.

"Humans weren't meant to be mates of monsters," Ilias replied. "It's too much for them. They become addicted to them and can't live without them."

"Perhaps you should have given us male monsters," Alice retorted. "Quite an oversight on your part, goddess of creation, wouldn't you say?"

"Ilias is right about the men being despondent," I said, making Ilias smile. "I'm sure the love between these men and their wives is real, but there is an addictive element that monsters can't help. It's not as if they can turn it off. And as Alice pointed out, with human males being the only way they can reproduce, it's not like they have a choice. I'm just glad that what went on here was consensual."

"I guess the only thing to do now is head to Harpy Village and see if we can find out what happened," Sonya said. "I've always wanted to do detective work."

"I'm afraid that's not one of my strengths," I said. "I doubt I'd be able to figure anything out beyond what these villagers would have already found out themselves. I'm sure they've been to Harpy Village to look for clues."

"Well, let's head over there and see if there's anything they might have missed," Alice suggested. "If we can't find anything new, we'll travel to the other Tartarus on this continent."

The first thing we found upon arriving in Harpy Village was that the villagers would have had a pretty tough time looking for clues. While Happiness Village looked exactly as it had in my world, Harpy Village was much bigger, with many of the houses in the aery difficult to reach for anyone who couldn't fly, or at least climb like a monkey. Fortunately, we had someone who could fly. To my disappointment, I wasn't one of them. I hadn't done it in a very long time. My attempts were laughable. That left Ilias to ferry us to the harder to reach places. We also employed the two imps who could fly to search the higher up houses and bring us anything that looked interesting.

We found very little. Some harpies had kept journals, writing that they had been instructed by the queen to pack a few precious belongings and leave. They had been told they would be gone for a period of weeks. But it had been months, not weeks. What in the world had happened? The houses provided no new clues.

"Maybe the imps missed some things?" Alice wondered.

"I doubt it," Sonya said in their defense. "We've been to two dozen homes and it's the same story everywhere. There's just not much evidence to find. Something happened to make the queen decide to evacuate every harpy from both villages."

"Since the queen made the decision, we're going to have to find her home," Alice mused. "It could very well be that no human villager made it up there. Did anyone catch sight of a house that might be the queen's?"

Remi nodded and pointed at a rather large home on the tallest tree in the village. Sure enough, it looked nearly impossible for a human to reach without good climbing equipment, which the people of Happiness Village wouldn't have had access to. Still, I was surprised none of these desperate men had traveled to Iliasburg to acquire some. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. The humans of these worlds tended to be weaker than Earthmen, as well as less likely to demonstrate initiative. On my first journey, not a single man had so much as gone back to Happiness Village to tell the women they were okay, even though the harpies hadn't been holding them by force..

"That's really high," I said. Now I'm not a botanist, so I didn't know if the tree in question was a redwood. It probably wasn't. But that was the only tree I knew of that was that huge. The queen's house had to be two hundred feet above the ground. "Ilias, do you think you can ferry Alice and I up there?"

"Do I have to?" Ilias whined. "Is this really that important?"

"It is to me," I replied.

"Fine!" Ilias pouted. "I guess I owe you."

With that, she grabbed me by the waist and we slowly made our way up. I was impressed by her strength in that small form. If being able to use a bow made for a man was impressive, flying a fully grown man two hundred feet high was even moreso. She dropped me off at the entrance and began her descent to go pick up Alice.

As with all of the other homes in the aery, the queen's was unlocked. The harpies must have assumed that no one would go to the trouble of robbing their homes. As far as I'd seen, none had left anything valuable behind to steal. What few valuables the harpies had possessed must have been brought with them to…. Wherever they had gone.

Although the queen's house was large, it was still modest. It was made of simple wood, like all the others, with an emphasis on height rather than floor space, probably because harpies liked to flit about their homes using their wings. Humans prefer lower ceilings since we tend to live in only two dimensions.

I began looking around while I waited for Ilias and Alice. Not being much of a detective, I noticed nothing interesting in the living room. Although the queen had shelves that rose to heights of up to thirty feet, I saw nothing on them of interest. Perhaps Ilias could look at them. I decided to move on to the bedroom. To my surprise, I found Nero in the bedroom, calmly seated and enjoying some tea while reading.

"Oh, hey," Nero greeted me.

"Hey yourself," I said coolly. "What brings you to the queen harpy's house? Have you found anything out?"

"Indeed," Nero replied. "But I'll wait for your companions to arrive before discussing that. First I want to speak to you while you're alone. I take it you haven't told Alice about me?"

"Not yet."

"Please try not to let it slip out that I'm her son. It's important, okay? What you know is already dangerous enough. But if she had too much information it would be a thousand times more dangerous."

"Is that all you wanted to tell me?" I asked, a bit annoyed that not only was I being led around by the nose yet again, by the white rabbit, but I was also being denied information yet again, as usual, by people who professed to love me. Although in fairness, it was clear that this Nero didn't feel that way about me, since I wasn't technically his father.

"I've been doing some research on you," Nero said, thumping a rather large tome onto the table. I looked at the cover. It was the Lukas story collection. All four books in one hardcover volume..

"Did you get that from my world?!" I asked frantically. "Is everything okay over there? How are my loved ones?"

"Calm down, dude," Nero answered. "I went back in time to get this. I didn't see the present on that world. Turns out that back where you come from there's more legend surrounding you than fact. I had to find this in order to get the truth, or at least the truth as you saw it. I suppose it will eventually be that way for my dad as well. Seems like every Luka accomplishes great things, at least when they survive."

"So other Lukas have my strange power?"

"Do you really think your power is what makes you strong?" Nero asked, raising an eyebrow behind his spectacles. "I perused this book. You made it pretty far without doing much with it. Which is common across universes. To answer your question, most Lukas have power, just not your particular power. You have a unique origin. You came from yet another world, this Florida place."

"I'm assuming I was brought here because the Luka that was born on this world had no power?"

"You'd assume wrong," Nero said with a sly smile. "This world's Luka was the son of a Seraph. He didn't know he had power, but he had it in spades. Not as powerful as you, but more than enough power to get the job done."

"Then why-?"

"That is the big mystery, isn't it?" Nero asked. "You've been assuming that someone sent you here to save the world, but what if you were sent to destroy it? Your knowledge puts the world at risk. Your power, even moreso."

"I don't see how. Perhaps you could explain it?"

"Nice try," Nero laughed. "Give you even more knowledge? If you were indeed sent here by someone with evil motives, giving you even more information would be effectively allying myself with that person."

"Which probably means that you won't tell me how you can move between universes and travel through time."

"That one I can give you, since you already know who I am. I'm a time mage. From what I've read, your children weren't time mages. Instead, they inherited a portion of your power, but they could only use it together. That gave me an idea. Which is why I'm here."

"What's your idea?" I asked suspiciously.

"Let's wait for your companions. I hear them in the house now."

Alice and Ilias entered the room a moment later and stared at Nero. "Who are you and how did you get up here?" Ilias asked.

"I'm just a traveler," Nero replied, exuding charm. Charm which only made both women even more suspicious.

"A traveler," Alice said. "Uh huh. Have we met? I'm pretty sure I've seen you before."

"You definitely don't know me," Nero said, but I could see hesitation in his eyes. He hadn't expected Alice to say that. "I heard about the harpies disappearance and decided to come and investigate myself."

"And did you find anything?" Alice asked.

"I did. I think I know what happened. The Queen kept a journal hidden here in her houses. According to what I've read, a strange disease began to spread through the village about a month before they disappeared. The disease made them so crazy with lust that they were attacking any man on sight. It appears to be the ALKQ5 Lust Fever, an infectious disease that only affects birds."

"ALKQ5!?" Alice asked in disbelief. "That disease, along with most other monster diseases, was eradicated a long time ago."

Ilias began shuffling her feet again, a sure tell with her that she was feeling ashamed about something.

"Indeed," Nero continued. "The queen didn't even know about the disease. She had to research it. When she discovered what it had to be, she found that the only treatment was avoiding contact with males. As long as no males are within sight, harpies can be semi-normal. Not completely. They constantly live in a state of extreme horniness. I imagine they are playing around with each other a lot in an attempt to relieve it."

"Can this disease infect humans?" I asked.

"He said it only affects birds," Alice replied. "That's what I've read as well."

"So then, what's the problem? So the harpies screw more often. I'm sure the men wouldn't complain."

"I refrained from calling you an idiot before, but now I can't help myself. Idiot. Uncontrollable breeding urges in any monster can be dangerous for a human. They won't know when to stop and they can kill the man they are mating with as a result. You'd think someone as familiar with critical ecstasy as you are would know that."

"Exactly," Nero replied. "Which is why they quarantined themselves."

"Quarantined themselves where?" I asked. "Did you find that out as well?"

"I did. They are in a harpy tower directly north of here."

"A tower? How come the villagers never found it? They said they searched all over this forest."

"I'm sure they found the tower," Nero answered. "But there are several of them. Harpies like towers almost as much as they like aeries, because they can fly directly out of them without having to climb. They are also good for defense. If the human villagers did locate the correct tower, the harpies probably just stayed locked in and didn't answer the door."

"What I want to know is how the virus got here," Alice said. "Ilias, did you have something to do with this?"

"Of course not!" the goddess protested. "At least, I don't think so. My memory isn't perfect. In any case, I don't do science stuff anymore. I've had that job outsourced to Promestein for centuries. Perhaps she did this?"

"Who is Promestein?" Alice asked.

"I know her," I cut in. "And this is definitely something she is capable of. It would be easy for her, actually. The question is, why?"

"Don't jump to conclusions, Luka," Nero warned. "I have a different suspicion. A carrier, possibly an unwitting carrier."

There was silence for a moment. I thought it was shock, but it turned out that Alice and Ilias were simply waiting for him to elaborate.

"And that carrier would be….?" Alice prompted.

"The more pressing matter is that they need a cure," Nero said.

"I see you're just going to ignore her question," Ilias said.

"Truthfully, I don't know for sure. Nor am I at liberty to give you that information if I was. But I can help you with the diseased harpies."

"I'm listening," Alice said.

"I was worried that something like this could happen, so I'm carrying this on me," Nero said, reaching into his trenchcoat and pulling out a large fruit of a kind I'd never seen before.

"Yggdrasil fruit," Alice breathed. "You'd have to be pretty powerful to acquire that. Just who are you, anyway?"

"Please get the harpies to each swallow a bit of it," Nero said, again ignoring Alice's questions. "There should be enough to go around. This stuff is potent. Only give them very small pieces, except for the queen. She might need more."

Nero handed the fruit to Alice, who looked it over and smelled it. "Is this really genuine fruit from the world tree? I don't smell any poison, but I wouldn't know what Yggdrasil fruit would smell like."

"Poison?" Nero asked, offended. "Do you really think I would trick you into poisoning the harpies?"

"You are pretty suspicious looking," Ilias said. "Not that I'm terribly concerned about the harpies."

"Everyone I meet keeps saying that!" Nero exclaimed.

"I trust you," I said supportively. This wasn't my Nero, but at the risk of beating it into the ground, if you know one Nero you essentially know them all. And I'd trust Nero with my life, even if I wasn't happy that he was keeping me in the dark, and now demanding that I keep Alice in the dark. Yet she had recognized him… sort of.

"Thank you, Luka," Nero said gratefully. "I appreciate that. We're all on the same side."

"Are we now?" Alice asked, in the tone of voice that I remembered her using when she asked Nero if he had done his homework. "Well, I guess we should trust you about this fruit. I don't know what fruit from the world tree would smell like, but I know the smells of all known poisons. Thank you. Because of you, we might be able to save the harpies today."

"You're welcome, Alice," Nero said, letting some tenderness slip into his voice. I could tell by Alice's face that she noticed as well. "And good luck to all of you. It's very important that you succeed today."

I thanked Nero one last time and the three of us turned to leave. Sonya would be waiting down below. Before we could leave, however, Nero stopped us.

"Oh, I forgot one last thing!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, Nero?" I asked.

Nero extended his hand and I felt a small jolt. "There," he said with satisfaction. "I just needed to take care of the threat your power posed. I'd love to wipe your mind as well, but I don't know mind magic."

"Wipe my mind?! And what did you do to my power?! Did you take it away?"

I reached inside to try to feel my power and found that I couldn't. I became frantic.

"Calm down, Luka!" Nero urged. "I didn't take your power away. That's impossible. It would be like trying to take away Ilias' holy magic. She's literally made of holy magic. She IS the holy magic. Likewise, you are your power. So you still have it. I just restricted it a little."

"Restricted it?" Ilias asked, also clearly unhappy since I was her protector and I'd used that power to defend her from certain death just yesterday. "How did you restrict it? Can he still use it if he really needs it?"

"The use of his power now requires all three of you," Nero explained. "If you are all of similar mind on how it should be used, then together, you can use it. Luka's an idiot. I can't explain what's going on, but I can tell you that his power is dangerous in the current situation. I have much more faith that his power won't be dangerous if all three of you are required to be in agreement to activate it."

"Binding magic," Alice said, admiration in her voice. "You must have some power. Are you human?"

Alice approached Nero, sniffing. Nero backed away. "Stay back!" he warned.

"Okay," Alice said. "Freaking out much? Did a monster hurt you? I was only going to smell you. Maybe taste you. Just one lick."

"Look, just…. Use Luka's power wisely and cure those harpies. We'll be seeing each other again."

With that, he disappeared.

"That teleportation signature…" Alice said. "It's the same as the white rabbit! Who is that guy?!"

The next step for us was clear: go to the harpy tower and get them the cure. The tower wasn't hard to find, although it was a long trudge through the forest. It was nightfall before we arrived.

"So what's the plan?" I asked, looking up at the tower. It was pretty big. Would we have to fight our way through every level? How many harpies were in there, anyway? "Without easy access to my power, I don't see myself fighting through hundreds of harpies."

"Your power wouldn't have been a factor anyway," Alice replied. "You've already demonstrated that you'd sooner get raped than do serious harm to a monster, and harpies are on the delicate side. And I agree, I don't see you fighting and defeating all of those harpies with Angel Halo. How good are you with a sword, anyway? If you beat Granberia you must be pretty amazing."

"I was at one time, but I don't know that I ever could have beaten hundreds of opponents in a row. Of course, if I had help…."

"I'm with you, Luka!" Sonya said, brandishing her club.

"As much as I hate fighting my cute little subordinates," Alice said. "I may have to make an exception here. The harpies are sick. They need that antidote and may be too far gone to accept it unless I beat some sense into them first. Ilias, I assume you won't mind cracking some heads?"

"I'm always ready to beat on some monsters!" Ilias replied, cracking her knuckles.

"No killing, remember?" I cautioned the goddess.

"If I kill them, they can't remember how soundly I beat them!"

"Do you think we're enough?" Sonya asked, looking a little worried. "I hear harpies are really fast, and almost unbeatable when fighting in groups."

"They are really fast," Alice said. "Some can utilize the power of wind. I'm afraid that you won't even be able to touch those, especially with a weapon as slow as your club. You'll find even the 'slower' harpies to be very difficult opponents. At best, you'll give them a target to attack while the rest of us fight our way up. You won't have to worry about them fighting as a unit, however. The disease will make them crazy. They won't be able to work together at all. And harpies fighting alone are very weak. The stronger humans are a match for them individually. At least if they have the right tool for the job."

"Do you want my knife, Sonya?" Ilias asked. "I'll just use my fists."

"Actually, I had something else in mind," Alice said, smirking.

Alice lifted the pocket castle and pressed the button at its bottom twice, quickly. Every monster in the castle materialized around us. The imps, Lime, Pochi, Nuruko, and Ratty.

"Kyuu!" Nuruko exclaimed.

"Why you kick me out of the castle!?" Ratty demanded to know. "I wasn't stealing food, honest!"

"Then where did you get that piece of apple that's on your shirt?" Alice asked.

Ratty quickly brushed the piece of apple off. "Don't see no apple, Monster Lord."

"Whatever. You see that tower, ladies? Inside that tower are about two hundred, maybe three hundred, horny harpies. I need you ladies to do what you do best. Give them what they want."

"Kyuu??"

"Okay, maybe not you. You, just do what you do. Use those tentacles to beat them up, then put these small pieces of fruit in their mouths."

Alice peeled some small pieces of Yggdrasil fruit off and handed them to Nuruko, who seemed to understand the instructions.

"I'm going to give each of you a few pieces," Alice instructed, handing some fruit to the rest of our companions. "Beat them up, pleasure them, do whatever works. They aren't going to be too violent, so I'm not terribly worried about your safety. The worst that will happen is they'll beat you a little or put you in critical ecstasy. Try to do it to them before they do it to you. They are super horny, so they should orgasm quickly."

"Alice, I thought monsters couldn't experience critical ecstasy?" I asked.

"Where'd you hear that?" Alice replied.

"From you. Or at least, your counterpart."

"Hmmmm… That probably just applies to your world. Here, I assure you, anyone can succumb to critical ecstasy. And those harpies are going to be particularly vulnerable, which is why I'm loving having these imps with us right now. Imp sexual magic is strong."

"We won't let you down, Monster Lord!" Rami said happily, saluting.

"Luka, you're going to be attacked more than any of us," Alice warned. "You're a male. You're going in last. Otherwise you'll get mobbed and screwed to death. We'll tie up as many as we can, so hopefully you only have to handle the occasional one that breaks through. Just be warned, the ones likeliest to break through will have the power of wind."

"Got it," I said, mentally preparing myself to be violated over and over by harpies. I'd actually been gangbanged by harpies for a birthday once, so it didn't sound so bad. As long as they knew when to stop.

Alice knocked on the door of the tower. There was no response.

"Open up!" Alice yelled. "The Monster Lord commands you! I know you're in there, I can smell you! We have an antidote for your condition!"

The door opened and a harpy peaked out. She sniffed the air, then focused her eyes on me. A lewd smile crept across her face.

"Come in! Come in!" the harpy urged Alice. "Everyone come in! I can't wait to hear about this cure! The queen will be so pleased!"

"Maybe they aren't as far gone as we thought?" Sonya wondered hopefully.

Once we were all inside, we found out that they were pretty far gone. They still had enough sanity to be cunning, however, as the harpy who had opened the door led us all into the main foyer of the tower, while another harpy closed the door behind us. That's when thirty more harpies ambushed us.

I'd been in battles before, some that seemed like I was in a movie, others that were all too horribly real, with blood, screaming, and the smell of burnt flesh. This was entirely different. It was mass sexual battle, mixed in with some hand to hand melee more akin to a barfight than a war. Sonya was swinging every which way with her club and hitting nothing. Finally, frustrated, she reholstered the club and connected with a solid right hook to the jaw of a harpy who pawed her breast. Alice took down several harpies with one tail swing, then sent another into critical ecstasy in seconds simply by sucking on a nipple. I'd never seen Alice use a pleasure attack on anyone but me before. Ilias was doing quite well, matching even the fastest harpies' speed with quick jabs, stopping for a moment to knock out one harpy that tried to grab her from behind. An elbow to the face ended that harpy's day. The imps were pleasuring harpies as well as Alice. The screams of ecstasy were almost as loud as the screams of agony that I'd heard on battlefields past. For my part, my sword sealed five of them. I wasn't worried about them. Once the queen was cured, she'd restore them with ease.

As the battle went on, harpies that were still conscious were being force fed the fruit. I couldn't tell if it was working. Experimentally I tried something. A nearby harpy had a particularly frenzied look. I squeezed some of the juice from a small piece onto my index finger.

"You!" I shouted to the harpy, lowering my sword. "I think you're the loveliest harpy here! I want you!"

"Oh, you'll get me!" she cried enthusiastically. "Just lie down and I'll take care of everything!"

"I really like it when a girl sucks my fingers first," I said. "It gets me SO excited!"

She didn't need to be asked twice, taking two of my fingers into her mouth and sucking them enthusiastically. Her eyes changed almost immediately.

"Wh-What came over me? I was so horny before, but now I feel…. Not horny? Is this what not being horny feels like? It's been so long since I wasn't horny."

That was potent fruit indeed! I handed her a couple of pieces and told her to give them to her fellow harpies. Alice and Ilias had advanced ahead of me, dispatching harpies with ease now that they weren't attacking en masse. The herd had definitely thinned. Then I saw Pochi laying on the ground, barely moving. I ran to her.

"Pochi, are you okay?" I asked. "Did they hurt you?"

"I thought I was doing good," Pochi said softly. "I lickety-licked three of them and made them come, but those feathers are just so soft. I couldn't take it anymore. They made me come, Luka. I'm sorry I failed you."

"You didn't fail me, Pochi! Taking out three is pretty good! It looks like the battle has moved on from here. If you have the strength, exit the tower and wait outside for us, okay?"

Pochi nodded and began crawling back towards the entrance. Looking around, I saw no other comrades down. The imps finished with a single very lucky harpy and moved on as well. Ratty was busy searching unconscious harpies for goodies.

"Ratty! No stealing! Go wait outside! Protect Pochi while she's in critical ecstasy!"

"Wasn't stealing!" Ratty protested. "But I'll watch Pochi. Pochi's my friend too!"

"Thanks!" I yelled, and followed after my friends. I didn't see Lime, or Nuruko.

Battles can be chaotic. I wasn't too concerned about the fact that we weren't any more organized than the harpies. How does one organize a sex battle? Each lady was fighting her own way. We were at an extreme numerical disadvantage, but the harpies' extreme state of arousal was making things easy, at least for the monsters who were inflicting pleasure attacks.

I ran into Lime, who was by herself moving down a corridor and about to head up a staircase. "Come with me, Luka!" she urged. "I think Alice and Ilias went this way! The imps took another staircase!"

We ascended the stairs together. Just in case, I rubbed some more fruit juice on my fingers, then thought the heck with it and rubbed some on my penis as well. My pants had already been ripped in the fighting, although they were still wearable, so smearing the juice on was as simple as reaching into the tear where my crotch was. Any harpy that tried to suck me would get some medicine for their troubles.

No sooner had I finished setting my rather unique trap, two harpies flew down the staircase. Lime reached out with her slime and wrapped it around one of them, causing the harpy to cry out in ecstasy as she came. I stopped her barely conscious body from sliding further down the stairs and risking injury. My act of kindness came with a price, however, as the other harpy barreled into me. I desperately clutched the railing to avoid tumbling down the stairs and breaking my neck. Seeing her advantage, the harpy cleanly sliced my pants with a talon and inhaled my dick into her mouth. The trap worked like a charm, as she pulled away looking quite embarassed, and apologized profusely. As well as offering to finish the job if I so desired. Monsters, I thought, shaking my head.

Lime and I found Nuruko and Sonya on the second level. Nuruko was surrounded by fallen harpies, knocked cold or injured by her tentacles. I hoped that she wasn't hurting them too badly. Sonya for her part was simply standing at the ready. The harpies on the second level seemed to judge her neither appetizing, being female, nor a threat, being merely human.

"Luka!" I heard Alice call. "I've been told the queen is up here! Follow me!"

Lime remained behind to fight more harpies on the second level, while Alice and I ascended to the third. The imps had already done splendid work on the third level. Smiling, half conscious harpies were everywhere. Rami's face was buried in the groin area of a harpy that had an absolutely ridiculous look on her face. Did I look like that when monsters pleasured me?

"Stop staring and stay with me!" Alice yelled. I guess I had been enraptured by Rami's performance. So sue me.

Alice batted aside a few more harpies as we advanced up the tower. I sealed a few myself who had been able to make it past her whipping tale. A couple had even had the power of wind. I was glad to see that my reflexes were still that quick, even without Sylph.

Finally we made it to the top of the tower. There were no harpies at the top level. Only Ilias, in a fighting stance, facing the harpy queen, who sat calmly on her throne. No, not completely calm. She was clearly agitated, barely under control. I wondered if it was a good idea for me to be present. Alice must have had the same thought, because she urged me back down the stairs before I was seen. I obeyed and waited. I listened closely, ready to charge in if needed.

"We're here to cure you, you fool!" Ilias raged.

"Why would I trust an angel?!" the harpy queen countered. "Ilias would be most pleased if you eliminated me, I'm sure!"

"I am Ilias!" the goddess yelled. "And you'll take the fruit or else I'll shove it down your throat!"

"Easy, Ilias," Alice said. "As you are now, you won't be shoving anything down her throat. We have to reason with her. Queen harpy! I am Alipheese the Sixteenth, the Monster Lord! I've brought a cure! Already most of your people are free of the disease! Let me approach your throne and give it to you!"

"You are two children! Powerful children, to be sure, but children nonetheless!" the queen replied. "And…. I smell a male. Bring me the male, and I will play your game once I've had my way with him!"

I hurriedly rubbed more juice on my penis and stepped out.

"I'm right here, your majesty!" I yelled. "Come and get me."

"Luka, you idiot!" Alice yelled. "She's too pow-"

Alice never finished, knocked down and out cold by a fist from the queen harpy as she flew at lightning speed to reach me. Ilias took to the air and gave chase, albeit much more slowly. I sidestepped the oncoming harpy, causing her to miss me cleanly. I'd hoped that she'd tumble down the stairs, assuming that no mere fall down the stairs would seriously injure a queen, but she simply caromed off the wall and tackled me.

"It is a great privilege to mate with the queen harpy, boy," the queen said, my exposed penis already rubbing against her crotch. She was distracted for a split second as she swatted Ilias out of the air, sending the little goddess tumbling down the stairs behind us.

The queen harpy immediately dropped her waist and I saw stars. Harpy pussy is extraordinary. Super tight, super soft. Those feathers massaging you as a harpy mates with you makes the experience completely unique. Multiply that by ten and you get an idea of what it's like to mate with the queen harpy. I desperately reached up with my fingers, trying to get them into her mouth. With a savage smile she bit my fingers, So powerful was her magic, that even though her bite drew blood, I felt only pleasure, as if my fingers were penises being sucked by her. If I hadn't been so lost in the sensations, I would have remembered Nero's warning that it would take more fruit to cure her than it did other harpies. The small amount of juice on my fingers did nothing.

Nevetheless, I held out longer than I expected. I had no idea how soon help would arrive, or if it would even be effective. The only chance my friends would have to defeat the queen harpy would be by overwhelming her with numbers. I had to hold on as long as possible. Sensing my resistance, the queen flapped her wings and violently shook her hips. That did it. I came explosively into her womb. A look of supreme satisfaction crossed her face as my seed emptied into her. She didn't let up for a moment, though.

"You have fine sperm," she said, leaning in closer to me, her exquisite breath filling my nostrils. "We shall have superior children. You've probably conceived the next queen."

I sure hoped not. My only hope was that it was very hard for me to reproduce with monsters given my Earth genetics. It had taken Alice and I over a year of trying before Nero and Neris were conceived. Still, my mind was briefly taken off the extreme pleasure by worries about taking responsibility for the children I might be conceiving with the queen harpy.

As if she could read minds, the queen began squeezing me with her vaginal muscles, getting my mind back to focusing on the pleasure. Even after my first orgasm I still had some fight. My sword was out of reach. I futilely slapped at her. My feeble slaps turned into feeling her up, or perhaps in the haze of ecstasy she had grabbed my hands and put them on her breasts, in order to quell my resistance? I came a second time. She still wasn't letting up. If I wasn't saved, I would die. I had no further fight left in me. I couldn't even use my power anymore due to Nero's spell.

Three minutes laster, I came a third time. As my consciousness faded, the queen harpy was pulled off of me. Alice? Nuruko? No, through my dimming consciousness I saw that the queen was being restrained by harpies. Was I saved? I guessed that I'd find out if I awakened.

I did awaken, to find Sonya sitting next to me. I was still on the ground, exactly where the queen harpy had raped me.

"Welcome back, old friend," Sonya said softly. "Or new friend. Oh, this whole situation is making my head hurt."

"He's awake?" Ilias said, coming over. "Good. Luka, we've got an idea, but we need you!"

Ilias and Sonya helped me up and I staggered over to where Alice was standing along with several harpies. The queen was tied to her throne. When the queen noticed that I was awake and standing, if unsteady, she looked apologetic.

"I'm so sorry, Luka!" the queen said. "They told me you were here to cure me, but I didn't believe them in the state I was in."

"Are you cured now?" I asked.

"If she was, would she be tied up?" Alice asked, thankfully leaving the 'idiot' out. I liked this version of Alice. She only called me an idiot about half as often as my late wife had.

"She's right, Luka," the queen said. "I am somewhat sated since I mated with you, but the lust will return."

"We gave her all the fruit we had left after curing the other harpies," Rami said. "But it wasn't enough."

"I am a powerful monster," the queen said sadly. "It woud take at least a whole fruit to cure me, perhaps two."

"I'm afraid we have no practical way of getting you fruit," Alice said. "But Ilias, much to my surprise, had a useful suggestion."

"So!" Ilias said excitedly. "Our magic can't cure this bitch, at least not at our current power levels. But your magic should be able to. Since we all agree that she needs to be cured, according to what Nero told us, we should be able to use your magic together to cure her!"

"I'm afraid I have to understand what I'm doing in order to do it," I said. "Curing a wound isn't too difficult a concept for me to grasp. But a virus? I've tried that before, and I failed. And that was just a bad flu!"

"That's the beauty of it!" Ilias said enthusiastically. "Nero didn't just weaken you for the sake of weakening you! He didn't want you to not use your power. He wanted it to be used more intelligently! He said that we can do things with your power as long as our minds agree on the purpose. I can take care of the details. I know this virus inside and out! I'll do the envisioning, you and Alice can just add the power!"

"Assuming that's how Nero made it work," Alice reminded her. "It could very well be that the magic is only as strong as its weakest link. That's usually how binding magic works."

"And the weakest link is me," I said ruefully.

"It can't hurt to try!" Ilias replied, stating the obvious.

"These bonds aren't strong enough to hold me if I become crazy again, so please hurry!" the queen urged.

Alice, Ilias, and I joined hands and closed our eyes. Technically we didn't have to do that, but it made the envisioning of what we wanted to do easier. Since I couldn't do anything but imagine the queen harpy sane, I simply imagined her as she was when I knew her so long ago. I pictured her lovely, smiling face, her majestic wings, her smooth flying style, so different from her subjects, who tended to flap wildly instead of gliding. She had once thoroughly massaged my whole body with those wings. While naked. Her breasts had….

"On second thought," the queen said, as two of the ropes around her snapped. "Take your time. Three times isn't nearly enough for a boy that tasty! You're going to have lots of daughters, Luka! Lots and lots of daughters as I fuck you night after night after night after-"

I opened my eyes and saw the queen stiffen as Ilias placed her hand on the queen's forehead. Light burst from Ilias into the queen harpy, slamming her back against her throne. The queen sagged, then looked up slowly.

"I-I think…. I think I'm better now," the queen said. "What did you do? Are you really Ilias? Why would you help me?"

"Yes," Ilias said, turning up her glow for extra drama. "I am your goddess Ilias. I heard of your troubles, and in my gracious goodness, decided to bring this boy, these monsters, and this insignificant little echidna to aid me. They are my chosen. Now go! Do my will! Spread my love to all the world."

"But isn't it your will that we should not ever have sex with humans? Don't you want us to go extinct?"

"Oh for fuck's sake! I cured you because the world is in danger and this idiot Luka thought it was important to save you, even though it has NOTHING to do with saving the world, because he loves monsters for some reason!"

"That makes as little sense as what you said the first time," the queen harpy said. "My loyal subjects, if you would?"

Two harpies untied the queen, who rose, stretched her legs and wings, and approached me.

"I cannot tell you how sorry I am for what I did to you, young Luka," the queen said softly. "To think that I treated you that way when you were the one who came to save us. The entire harpy race is forever in your debt."

Hearing the word debt triggered me. The harpy queen noticed my reaction.

"Do not fear, Luka," the queen assured me. "I know that it is inappropriate to offer you sex when you were just forced. When I say 'debt', I mean that anything you ever need from us is yours for the asking. We will lay down our lives for you if necessary to save this world. All you need ever do is ask."

"But sex is always on the table as well!" a harpy in the back shouted. Other harpies giggled as the queen glared at them.