Chapter 58: Losing In More Ways Than One
The metallic hiss of a capsule door echoed through the ruins of the fifth floor.
Rani and Lu Bu stepped out cautiously into the new territory, their eyes adjusting to the stark lighting of a broken, post-apocalyptic cityscape.
Towers leaned like dying trees, their metal skeletons exposed.
Fires burned in pockets around the streets, casting an eerie orange glow against broken glass and scorched concrete.
The sky was a sickly red hue, permanently overcast by a thick, looming cloud of dust and pollution.
"So this is the fifth floor..." Rani muttered, glancing sideways at her Servant.
Lu Bu grunted, the sharp glint in his eyes betraying his excitement.
"I don't like it," Rani said.
Suddenly, a calm, measured voice cut through the static wind.
"Good."
"Then you understand what this floor represents."
From behind a collapsed skyscraper emerged a tall figure in black—a man wrapped in a fur-lined trench coat, his cold black eyes scanning Rani without emotion.
Julius B. Harwey.
He didn't need a theatrical entrance.
His mere presence felt like an executioner arriving to carry out a sentence.
And he wasn't alone.
A taller, red-haired man stepped forward at his side, wearing traditional Chinese robes.
His piercing gaze was sharp enough to cut glass.
Li Shuwen, the Demon Fist Master.
Rani's fingers twitched toward her Command Seal, but Lu Bu had already stepped forward, halberd in hand.
"You're the Floor Master?" she asked.
"Yes," Julius replied.
"Leave."
"Or be crushed."
There was no warning.
No delay.
Li Shuwen blurred forward, feet barely touching the ground as he shot toward Lu Bu with the killing intent of a man who never needed a second strike.
One breath.
He was already there.
A thunderclap cracked across the battlefield as Li Shuwen's spear collided with Lu Bu's halberd.
The impact split the concrete beneath them into a spiderweb of ruptured stone.
Rani flinched, shielding her eyes from the wind blast.
Lu Bu didn't move.
For a moment, it looked like the blow had been deflected.
Then the halberd trembled in his hands.
Lu Bu grunted, metallic and guttural, stepping back with earth-shaking weight.
The halberd swung again, its edge like a guillotine.
Shuwen bent at the waist, letting it slice air.
The next instant, he rose like a spring, aiming a spear-hand jab toward Lu Bu's sternum.
Blocked.
The halberd shaft intercepted him again—but the force carried Lu Bu several steps back.
For all his mass, the mad warrior had been moved.
Shuwen didn't give him a breath.
He followed with a spinning elbow, a vertical kick, a low strike that swept toward Lu Bu's knee.
Each motion came so quickly it left mirages in the air.
Lu Bu barely kept up, parrying with sweeping arcs of steel, his crimson eyes flaring behind the bronze helm.
Li Shuwen's feet danced between cracks in the stone, always in balance, always one inch outside of Lu Bu's lethal range.
Lu Bu's halberd howled through the air, but it was chasing a ghost.
It wasn't enough.
Lu Bu slammed the halberd into the ground, stopping Shuwen's advance.
Then he raised the weapon.
It began to glow.
A mechanical screech echoed across the field.
Lu Bu's body arched backward as golden lightning erupted from his frame.
Gears and conduits shimmered along his armor.
The halberd split into rotating pieces, forming a monstrous hybrid of spear, cannon, and blade.
His voice boomed like a war engine, distorted and unnatural:
"Code: GOD FORCE CRAWLER!"
"The fusion of all creation, the purity of the soul which descends beyond the horizon of qualia."
"Tincture Trismegistus... PRIMARY FORM."
"SHOOOOOT!!"
He became light.
A streak of burning energy rushed forward—Lu Bu, now a comet of annihilation, aiming to crush Shuwen with overwhelming destructive force.
Shuwen's eyes narrowed.
Then—he was gone.
The world twisted.
Lu Bu's halberd struck the space where Shuwen had been—just a moment ago—and collided with a distant structure.
The explosion shattered a row of buildings behind them, blasting metal and stone into the sky.
A crater smoked.
The street behind was obliterated.
But Li Shuwen stood behind Lu Bu, untouched.
His sleeve fluttered from the gust.
His eyes, still half-lidded, were sharp now.
Julius took a single step forward.
"Enough warm-up."
"Shuwen. End it."
Li Shuwen's stance changed. Subtle, but final.
"My lance always strikes true."
"Its absolute infallibility has earned it praise as a divine spear."
"Even the gods acknowledge it."
"A single blow to end all."
He stepped forward—
"Divine Spear, No Second Strike."
Li Shuwen blurred forward, a streak of living precision.
Lu Bu hadn't even turned yet.
His hulking frame was still facing the crater where his Noble Phantasm had landed, golden steam rising from his armor, gears hissing under strain.
The halberd was reeling back into place, but it was too late.
A single step.
Li Shuwen was inside his guard.
A single motion.
His spear was already at Lu Bu's core—right beneath the plated layers of armor, between where human anatomy once met god-forged enhancement.
His strike landed with a dull, harrowing thud—not the sound of metal on metal, but of a shockwave rippling through meat, bone, and soul.
The blow bypassed armor entirely, slipping into a soft spot with pinpoint surgical violence.
Lu Bu staggered.
Not back.
Not away.
He simply froze.
For a heartbeat, the battlefield fell silent.
Only the sound of a faint wind rustling through ruined streets.
Then came the recoil.
Lu Bu exhaled a guttural sound, metallic and wet, as golden fluid sprayed from his mouth grill.
His halberd fell from his hand with a clang, embedding itself uselessly in the broken concrete.
A creaking sound echoed from his torso.
His armor cracked down the center—fracturing like a split breastplate—as steam hissed from ruptured joints.
His entire body buckled at the waist.
Rani was already moving.
She threw a silver sphere onto the ground.
A snap of alchemy—fssssh!—and white smoke exploded outward, covering the battlefield in dense, curling fog.
"We're done here" she called, her voice sharp.
"Emergency extraction"
Through the haze, she reached Lu Bu's side.
The warrior collapsed to one knee, massive form heaving, his systems still running on sheer will.
Rani didn't hesitate.
They disappeared in a flash of light, teleporting somewhere else.
Julius remained behind.
He stood still, hands folded behind his back, watching the fading mist.
His eyes narrowed.
"Cowardice is still a strategy," he muttered.
He turned away, cape rustling behind him, boots crunching on debris as he walked off into the distance, leaving only the sounds of crumbling stone behind.
Far removed from the chaos of the Fifth Floor, in the secluded warmth of a capsule's hot spring, soft moans echoed through the mist.
"Nngh—Rin...! Damn, you're really... ngh—!"
Riya's voice trembled with raw pleasure, his fingers gripping the edge of the spring as Rin sucked him with relentless, teasing force.
The hot spring inside the large capsule bubbled gently, steam rising to the ceiling as Rin arched her back against the edge of the pool.
Her face was flushed bright red, mouth parted in a mix of pride and exasperated lust.
Riya groaned, eyes squeezed shut as Rin bobbed her head slowly between his legs, her twin tails dipped wetly into the water behind her.
"Hnghh—damn, Rin... you sure you're not part Succubus too?"
"S-Shut up! I'm just... proving I'm better than any Servant you've 'connected' with!"
she snapped, glaring upward with watery red eyes.
"Take this as a reward!"
"And Be grateful!"
He didn't respond.
Just another groan.
With a loud gulp and a dramatic pop, Rin pulled back just slightly, her lips still wrapped tightly around him.
Riya's breath hitched, the pressure and warmth overwhelming his senses as he trembled against her mouth.
The moans spilling from him grew louder, raw and desperate, each pulse driving him deeper into the sensation.
His hands gripped her hair gently but firmly, unable to hold back any longer.
A shudder ran through him, and with a final, ragged breath, he released inside her mouth.
Rin swallowed smoothly, her tongue swirling confidently as she kept eye contact with a teasing glint.
When the last tremors faded, Rin finally pulled back fully, licking the tip with a proud smirk that said, You're mine now.
"See? That's how a real woman handles it."
"You're such a tsundere," Riya muttered.
Before she could reply, he grabbed her waist and flipped her over, pressing her body forward over the edge of the spring.
"W-wait, what are you—!"
His hand spread her thick wet ass cheeks apart.
The water clung to her skin like a second layer, highlighting every curve, every trembling twitch of anticipation.
Her heart pounded.
"Riya!? Don't you dare—!"
"Too late."
He entered her with a low groan, sliding into her tight back entrance, causing Rin to throw her head up with a mix of shock and moaning ecstasy.
"Y-you idiot! H-haahh... I didn't say you could—! Mmmnh!"
"But you didn't say I couldn't."
"T-this doesn't count as consent, dumbass!"
Despite her protests, her body didn't resist.
Her cheeks burned crimson as she gripped the edge of the hot spring.
"You… damn idiot…!" she snapped over her shoulder, cheeks burning.
"Don't just—nnnnghh…!"
He pressed into her slowly, deliberately, savoring the moment her defiance melted into a long, muffled moan as he pushed into her tight, resisting rear.
Her fingers curled hard against the stone, breath catching as her body adjusted to the deep, unfamiliar stretch.
"Y-you… animal…" she hissed through gritted teeth, but the tremor in her voice betrayed her.
Her hips rolled back against him instinctively, the pain quickly dulled into an intense wave of pressure and forbidden pleasure.
Riya groaned deeply, gripping her hips.
She tried to shoot him a glare, but the steam and her half-lidded eyes ruined the effect.
"And you're… terrible at aftercare… idiot…"
Despite the burn of her pride, her body betrayed her at every moment.
Every deep push drew out small, reluctant gasps that soon became full, shuddering moans.
The rhythm grew steady, then desperate, splashing water and mist into the air.
The spring became their private stage—moans, wet slaps, and the occasional tsundere insult echoing off the stone walls like music.
"I-if you… ever tell anyone about this."
she gasped, "I'll burn you to ash, you hear me?!"
She bit her lip hard, trembling under him, her pride cracking like porcelain.
He reached around to toy with her chest, massaging her soft mounds as he kept moving inside her.
Her breath hitched again as the sensations overwhelmed her from both sides—violating her pride, pushing her buttons, and indulging in her body all at once.
Her climax hit suddenly, her body locking up as a high-pitched gasp escaped her lips.
Riya didn't stop, riding her through it until he reached his own climax, slamming deep and groaning as he emptied inside her once more.
They stayed like that for a moment—bodies entangled, breaths ragged, steam swirling around them like an afterglow.
Eventually, Rin slumped forward slightly, still panting. "…That didn't count."
Riya blinked, still dazed. "Didn't what count?"
"That wasn't my real surprise."
"That was just… a warm-up."
...
"You're going to kill me one day you know that."
She smirked, breath still heavy.
Her tongue flicked out as she licked her lips in anticipation. "I'm counting on it."