Chio let out a desperate scream, and about ten of the closest frenzied women got yanked up into the sky to then fall down lifelessly, with twisted limbs. The girl was ready to tear through as many foes as she had to... but then from the direction where Arabel went off to, there was the sound of a horn, and the invaders suddenly turned and ran towards it. As this pack of women (mixed with just a few bck-wearing men) was withdrawing, many more were joining them, appearing from alleys and smaller streets on the sides. They were leaving. Chio's first impulse was to chase after them, but she stumbled, fell forward and just y there for a moment, crying silently. She felt raindrops on her body, and as she turned her head to the side, she saw someone's legs passing by her. It was Terry walking mindlessly in the same direction as the retreating invaders, towards the succubus who accidentally doomed him. The angel reached forward and caught his ankle. “Terry, no...”

  “I think they took her alive. Arabel, I mean,” said Friska as she descended to the ground, nding right in front of the angel.

  “I have to get her back!”

  “I'm sorry, Chio, but I don't think you can, not right now. There are so many of them. You need to rest.”

  The girl hugged Terry's leg to prevent him from going anywhere. The rain was becoming heavier by the second as dark clouds hovered over the battered town.

  “They... they did take her alive. Right?” Chio sniffed.

  “They did. We can rescue her ter, but we really need to recharge.”

  “Terry...”

  “I'm so sorry, Chio,” Friska lowered her head. “I guess I shouldn't have thrown that shatterlight...”

  Since the boy was trying to get out of Chio's grasp, the angel got up, and she dragged him back. They struggled until she had to knock him off his feet. Terry suddenly gave up, and just y there with a thoughtless expression and his hands grasping for his erection. Chio crouched down and put her palms on him, beginning to use her healing ability, radiating that warm yellow light from her palms. “Come on!” she cried.

  A couple of locals arrived from the centre of town, with weapons in hand, watching the leaving invaders cautiously from a distance. And from the other direction, the edge of town, Goliath stumbled towards them. He was alone and injured – some of the locals ran to his aid.

  “They took Shreya...” he mumbled.

  “Seems like Warren wanted himself a pair of succubus toys,” Friska shook her head.

  The struggling Chio screamed from the top of her lungs, making many of the locals flinch – the voice was reminiscent of the screams of the maddened female invaders which filled the town just minutes ago. She got up and pulled Terry to a sitting position, then dragged him along with herself, slowly carrying him into a nearby house.

  “The poor boy got succubus-sick, didn't he?” asked one of the locals.

  “Give us a moment, please!” Friska said and she flew after the girl. Since Chio already closed the building's door behind herself, the fairy got in through a broken window.

  Nobody was inside, which was not surprising – in the chaos, many have left their homes to fight or to flee. Terry was in the middle of the kitchen, once again lying on his back, and Chio was on top of him. She gnced at the fairy for a moment, barely paying her any mind, then she undressed, pulled the boy's pants down, took his hands off his hard penis, and slid it in.

  “It's me, Chio!” she said with a shaky voice. “Your beloved Chio! You recognize me, don't you?”

  The boy replied with a whimper that sounded kind of irritated. Chio began to move her hips slowly, and she tried to use her healing ability again too. “Terry, it's me! It's me, it's me, it's me!” she sobbed. She kissed him too, looked into his thoughtless eyes from up close, touched him all over, sped up her hip movements. “Please! please, please...” She was going wild and intense, trying her damn hardest to fuck the boy back to his senses. “Please god!”

  Friska couldn't bear to watch. “Stop it, Chio,” she whispered. She too was tearing up now, and she had a strong urge to drink some alcohol as soon as she could. But she didn't want to leave Chio alone in her state.

  At st, Terry pushed the girl off of himself with unexpected strength, and sat up, turning his back to her. His cock was leaking, but only precum. It was like he couldn't, or did not want to orgasm without the succubus who touched him.

  “You can't help him now,” Friska muttered. “I'm sure many have lost their loved ones today, such is war. I know it's hard, but you need to let him go.”

  “No.” The girl stood up and wiped her teary face. “Not until I've tried everything that I can.” She manifested her wings, as well as her white angelic attire.

  “What else can you try?”

  The angel didn't reply. She grabbed the boy's arm and somehow got him to his feet, then she pulled his pants back up, and fastened his belt. She held his hand and led him towards the backdoor.

  “Chio, you are not supposed to be seen like that!” said the fairy, but the girl walked outside anyway.

  They got soaked in no time in the now raging storm. Chio looked up, then turned her head towards Friska once more. “Take care!” she said, and she hugged Terry closely, flying up with him. The fairy stared at her ascending from the door frame in shock. Chio was thrown around in the strong wind, but she was relentlessly going up and up, holding onto the boy for dear life, until eventually she disappeared.

  She was panting heavily by the time she managed to push through the storm clouds. They were very high up now, so much so that it was getting difficult to breath. But with the grey sea of clouds beneath them, they were now shined on by the bright afternoon sun, which made Chio feel just a little more energized. She kept going up, towards the sun.

  “Gloria! Archangel Ariel! God! Someone!” she yelled. Of course, she knew what she was doing was desperate. This is not how this work, there is the whole beacon of light thing, that's how angels can travel between their world and the mortal one, and Chio did not have the ability to do that anymore. Still, she was not going to give up...

  Noticing that Terry is breathing heavy at this height, she descended a bit after all, just hovering over the clouds. Otherwise, the boy didn't seem to care about his circumstances, if he even understood them. Chio kept yelling, calling out for her fellow angels with determination. And eventually, a beacon of light did appear from above. Chio flew into it without thought, and let the energy take hold of her while she held onto Terry as firmly as she could. A mortal entering heaven in their mortal form was unprecedented, but it seemed like it was going to happen now, the boy too was ascending in the fallen angel's embrace.

  As they were moving upwards in the beam, Chio slowly got more and more rexed. She couldn't know what was going to happen, but at least she will be heard out, and that was already reassuring. Moreover, the beam itself had a calming effect on her, it was a divine energy and she could feel it, she could let herself go in it to a degree. It also made her realise how incredibly tired she was: she felt like she barely had strength to move her body anymore, even her grasp on Terry loosened, but the boy was carried up anyway.

  Suddenly, they were in a white pce, with a very even, smooth, stone-like floor. There was a white fog all around, so Chio could not see very far. She was lying on the ground next to Terry, who's body was strangely flinching. She gathered all her strength and turned her head. The boy was not masturbating, he was shaking and drooling like he was having a seizure. For some reason, Chio did not find that worrying. It felt like it's just due to the divinity of the pce contrasting the horrible curse that was put on Terry, like just by virtue of being here, that brainwashing was being shaken out of him, or something like that. All Chio could do was wiggle herslef closer to him so that her body was in contact with his, hoping that will make him feel a little better. At st, the boy's shaking stopped and his breathing turned rhythmical, rexed. Soon, he was even snoring. Chio would have smiled, if only she had the strength left to move her face-muscles.

  The st thing she saw was two figures walking towards them. At the very back of her mind, she recognized them just before she lost her consciousness: Ariel and Gloria. The two angels watched them silently for a while, and Gloria seemed just a tiny bit concerned, but Ariel put his hand on her shoulder, and the red-haired angel's face turned back to its calm, expressionless state, like how angel's usually were, especially up here in their natural habitat.

  “Let's not beat around the featherbush. Get up, Tanaka!” said a creamy, but confident male voice.

  Chio opened her eyes and sat up. She was on solid ground, yet it didn't feel hard against her body just now. She was inside an enormous building made of some white, smooth, shiny material. There was a gigantic dome above her head, with colored gss mosaic images in a circle, and a strong yellow light coming through them from above. Some tall, human-sized windows stood at the bottom of the construct, but all Chio could see outside was whiteness yet again, as if the whole of heaven was covered in a white fog.

  “Where's Terry?” the girl asked, standing up, only now looking at who even was that addressed her.

  It was a man. Unlike all the angels in heaven, he had no wings, and he wore a toga that was half bck, half white. His hair was bck, straight and shoulder length on once side, white and spiky on the other. His mouth was thin, his eyes strangely wide, his posture more loose than what one might have expected from the inhabitants of up here. Yet, his presence commanded respect. Chio saw that Gloria, Ariel and one more angel were standing around them a bit further back.

  “Do you know who I am?” the man asked.

  “You seem... vaguely familiar,” said Chio, who's memories of heaven weren't too detailed.

  “Oh, you've never met me, at least not directly like this. I'm Ruffauzer.”

  “Ruffauzer... I do not remember what it means, but I do remember that it's a significant name. Whoever you may be, I... I did what I had to. Is Terry all right?”

  “He is asleep, child,” said Gloria.

  “Will he be all right?”

  “What if I told you he won't ever wake up?” asked Ruffauzer, leaning on a cane. (Did he already have that?)

  Chio fell to her knees. “I know it's selfish of me, I know it's against the rules, but this is the only thing I ask. He did nothing wrong, he just followed me, that's all he ever did, and I won't ever bme him for it. Not him, nor myself. I remember what I used to be, and I know what I know. So please...” she gulped. “Do what you have to do to me.”

  “Are you prepared to give everything up for him?”

  Arabel... I know you would understand... But Chio had not strength to speak words now, so she just nodded.

  “Sit with the feeling for a moment!” the bck-and-white man said. So Chio did, she sat with her legs crossed, taking some deep breaths and closing her eyes for a minute.

  “I was fortunate to have met some of you,” she smiled at Gloria through her tears. “It was a privilege to be in your grace, and to have your trust.” She nodded at Ariel, who just barely, but bowed back. “If you could just tell Terry how much I loved him...”

  “Not so fast, girl,” said Ruffauzer, sitting down with his legs crossed, matching Chio's posture. “First of all, you need to understand who I am. I am God's number one servant, his great messenger. Either that, or perhaps I'm actually the very incarnation of God himself. I hope that made things clear,” he winked.

  “Oh,” said Chio. “So... you know a lot, right?”

  “Allegedly. Do you have a question? You can have one.”

  The girl rested her chin in her hand, thinking. Ruffauzer's attitude and his strange description of himself filled her with cautious hope.

  “What are futanari?” she blurted.

  “Futanari are God's answer to succubi. You see, sex-demons are as ancient as the mortal world itself. It's a pne between heaven and hell, a merging ground of sin and bliss. Left to it's own fate and free will, yet influenced lightly by both above and below. The rules were set, the future uncertain, but the journey meaningful either way. Our influence was guidance. When we in heaven saw it fit, we steered the course of mortal lives with dreams, visions, or occasional angelic visits. Hell's influence was based on what they could gain, and so succubi were created to siphon the energy of mortals. Through these sex-demons, hell could be fed with new life, and demons could multiply once again. That's an ability they lost before any of this happened, but that's another story. And so Succubi became their pawns in this world. Cast out of hell to be half-mortals who could never truly belong, nor have a choice but to fulfil their cruel purpose. One could say succubi are a bit like hell's version of angels, except every one of them is a 'fallen' one.”

  The three motionless, calm, almost ethereal angels who stood around them all jerked up their heads, if only slightly. Gloria put her hands on her hips and moved her body a bit while she stared down at herself, as if she was imagining being one of those other kind of angels. She snapped out of it quickly, and listened to Ruffauzer's words intently.

  “And so it all began, but eventually, God decided to create an ever so unlikely countermeasure to the fate of these exiled, doomed to be hated demons. A measure that had to be rare, strange and twisted enough to be allowed in the world of mortals without the disapproval of the below realm. These sex-demons, who are almost more mortal than demon, needed a chance for salvation. Just a chance, however slight it was. That was the idea behind the creation of futanari.”

  “Hmm,” nodded Chio. “I suspected that it's something like this.”

  “Sure you did,” nodded the bck-and-white man.

  “It's just... so cruel,” Chio choked up.

  “Feel free to feel what you feel,” replied the man.

  Chio did. She felt all kinds of things. Sadness, hope, pain, romantic feelings, a sense of love, a sense of beauty. Even some anger. Overall: catharsis. She wasn't quite sure how much time passed when Ruffauzer spoke again.

  “I belie this tale painted a sufficient picture of the delicate retionship between heaven, hell and the mortal world. Hopefully, you understand now the weight of what you are asking for.”

  “It's impossible, Chio Tanaka,” said the third angel who was spectating them, a male one. Chio couldn't recall his name.

  “But... but hell invaded the mortal realm once!” the girl said with returning desperation. “Compared to that, this ask is nothing, surely! Even if...”

  “Hell is hell, and heaven is heaven,” Ruffauzer said. “Of course we won't ever do an interference of that caliber, we know it in our core that's not how things supposed to go. It wouldn't be very heavenly of us.”

  “But...”

  “But! You are not wrong. What you ask for is nothing compared to what the demons once did. And so I will permit it. Not only that, I will let you go back down to the mortal world.”

  That one male angel looked surprised, and he took a step back. Ariel was watching with curiosity, and Gloria looked like she is on the verge of jumping into the air in celebration, but she remained still.

  “Will you really? Thank you so much!” Chio put her palms together and bowed down in front of the strange man.

  “It will still have a price, girl. You know that ever since you left heaven, we kept an eye on you, so to speak. Needless to say, we weren't the only ones, hell was watching too. They know you are here now, and that you brought a succubus-sick boy along. And I made a deal with them. Of course, it depends on whether you agree to it, you could still simply forfeit your life as punishment for your misbehaviour. But if you want to save the boy, and want to have the chance to finish your business in the mortal realm, you will have to give your soul to hell afterwards.”

  “Give... my soul? What does that mean?”

  “Who knows? Hell never had their hands on anything like the soul of a futanari turned angel turned fallen angel. They do some strange things down there, that much I can tell you. I'm sure it won't be particurity enjoyable.”

  Chio gulped. “And... are you all okay with that?” she looked at the angels standing around them. “With hell having someone like me? Is that... okay?” she turned back to Ruffauzer.

  “As far as God and I are concerned, it is okay,” replied the bck-and-white man.

  “Then... be it!”

  Gloria looked shocked, and so did the angel with the forgotten name. Ariel tilted his head as he stared at Ruffauzer.

  “What that means is that you will have to try and finish what you were in the middle of,” God('s messenger) expined. “Save your loves and defeat Warren Crown. Forget about hiding the fact that you are a fallen angel, many know already, and the rumors have spread far. Do what you have to, and try not to die. That would not only mean a failure of your cause, but a disappointment for hell as well, and such a thing might result in some... concerns. For us, and for the mortals too.”

  “Is that something we can risk?” Archangel Ariel asked.

  “Now you get it,” Ruffauzer smiled. “But indeed we can. After what happened three thousand years ago, God's wish has softened, and here we are now.”

  Ariel slowly nodded.

  “Then it really is fine,” Chio muttered.

  “Yes. And if you succeed, your life's work will be complete, your love concluded, and you will be cast down into the under realm. It will be your st adventure either way.”

  “I understand,” Chio straightened her back and looked at Ruffauzer with determination. “I will not fail.”

  “Good.”