Book 4: Chapter 30

The remainder of my free time passed quickly. I managed to speak with Netorase for a bit. I passed off all of the equipment she needed to do her recordings. She may be a goddess, but she was knowledgeable when it came to modern technology. She had Kira as a student president to pull on if she didn’t know the information herself. Then, we went over the plan one more time just to be certain. I told her about Vienna’s surrender. Naturally, she was very suspicious about the entire thing, just as I was.

“It’s a trick,” Rose said, although her expression was uncertain.

“I used Lock Promise on her. Is there some way she could have resisted it?”

She started to shake her head but paused for a moment. “I’m not sure…”

“Actually, now that I think of it, I thought I had used Locked Promise on Kira at one point, but isn’t she a blessed vessel? Wouldn’t that be impossible?”

As far as I knew, she was still bound by that promise. Netorare had informed me that as I leveled, Locked Promise could be maintained on more people. At the moment, I had the ability to use it on three different people. That was one of the other advantages of leveling. Every ability you have grows stronger. However, that didn’t stop the fact that Kira wasn’t simply a blessed vessel, but she was openly functioning as Rose’s avatar when I used the skill on her.

“This is something that Netori probably doesn’t want you to know…” Rose said uncertainly.

“Well, she needs to stop sheltering me from everything>” I shot back. “How am I supposed to grow if she keeps me in the dark all the time.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and then nodded. “Abilities do work on gods and blessed vessels, but only under certain circumstances.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Under what circumstance?”

“Simply, when the powers of the person using the skill exceed the powers of the source of the protection.”

“What does that mean?”

“Remember when we told you about how powerful we were as NTR, and how Matrimony borrowed power to suppress us until she didn’t need to anymore?”

“Right…”

“Well, simply put, we were more powerful that Matrimony in the beginning, and she couldn’t do anything to us. However, we were hurting from the loss and we never realized how vindictive, jealous, and spiteful Matrimony truly is. We underestimated her, thinking we could part amicably. Our split… that was… my fault.”

“Your fault?”

“I believed that we could get Matrimony to share. I believed that one day, we’d have him back, and we could all live together. Netori simply wanted to take him back, while Netorare wanted to wallow in self-pity. When she grew stronger than us, rather than pity us or leave, she decided to deal a fatal strike using her skills.

“That was when we broke into three. She then used a contract written in stone to bind us into our weaker forms. From then on, NTR became the three NTR sisters. Unless certain conditions are met, we cannot reform into our old selves. It didn’t help that Netori still blames me for not being aggressive enough.”

“So, what does that mean for the three of you?”

“It means we’re lower gods. We used to be a top-tier god. We weren’t as powerful as the fundamental laws, but our strength earned us respect. Now, we’re trash gods. Even Matrimony and him, they were incompatible with each other, and as a result, they fell from being top-tier gods to only mid-tier over the centuries since.

“Most of the gods involved in this are low-tier gods. If a mid-tier… or a high-tier god got involved… we’d have no hope of succeeding at all. That’s why it was so important to Netori to keep this all under wraps. If Matrimony found out about it, she would certainly interfere. She is petty and spiteful.” The usually calm Rose had an angry expression on her face when talking about Matrimony.

“So, my abilities are rather useless, aren’t they…” I sighed.

“Not at all.” Netorase shook her head. “You see, most of the gods and goddesses you’re battling are at or near the same level as you. They won’t be able to block your skills, and you won’t be able to block their skills.”

“Yeah? Then what happened to you and Kira?”

She blushed. “First off, I don’t use Kira as a complete vessel, so my protection of her is a bit lacking compared to a pure soul isolation. Secondly, at that time, I had grown weak and temporarily lost control of Kira. I had… overextended my powers here. Since I left with Kira, we had been trying to help you by taking down other gods and goddesses playing.

“Believe it or not, other than Vienna, we had already caused two gods to lose their champions.”

“Seriously!” My eyes widened in surprise.

I had thought I had been doing everything on my own, but when Kira chose to leave, she never stopped thinking of helping me. She defeated two other opponents that now I wouldn’t have to deal with.

“I had used a great deal of my power to defeat the last opponent. It required bending the rules a bit and I received a backlash. That was why Kira took control during our argument. Then, when you to… ahem… I was too week, and Locked Promise managed to bind me.”

“You? Don’t you mean Kira?”

“I was sharing her body. A binding against her soul is the same as a binding against my soul. Even though I didn’t say the words, I cannot defy them.”

I thought back to what the promise actually was.

“I’m yours, forever. I’m Hakaru’s woman.” Netorase said, and then lightly smiled.

“S-sorry… I was just in the moment.”

“No… it made me so happy to swear that, but when I saw that those words were only meant for Kira… hmph… even the goddess of sharing can grow a little upset!” She playfully hit my shoulder, but she had a smile and a blush on her cheeks.

“Ah… I get it!” I held up my hands, defending myself from her until I grabbed her wrists and then pulled her close.

Our bodies met, and our lips started closing in.

“That’s why I had to change how I was doing things.” She continued, turning her head to avoid going too far. “Since I made that promise, I couldn’t seduce men anymore, even if I used trickery and illusions. It violated my promise. So, I decided to help Hakaru instead, first by challenging you and then by helping you. I had wanted to defeat all your enemies myself, to prove I was good enough for you.

“Netorase…” I said, looking into her gentle, loving eyes.

“I-I…” She grew even more flustered, which was very cute. “I was wrong, just like Netori. The two of us were both trying to protect you in our own way. Of all people, it was Netorare who understood it the most. As soon as she realized what she had to do, she gave herself to you. She trusted in you to grow into the man she hoped you would be. She trusted her very life essence in your hands. In many ways, I admire her conviction.”

“Anyway, that’s why I’m saying Hakaru doesn’t need to worry about her breaking her promise. Since you felt that Locked Promise worked, it worked. She might have been able to block it, but once it is activated, even a goddess can’t refuse it.”

“So…”

“So,” She smiled with wet tears in her eyes, “When you finish with that Principal bitch, I’ll give myself to you too, and trust in you to bring us back together. Win my sister’s heart quickly. She’s stubborn, but once you have all of our hearts, you can put us back together.”

For a second, I felt a pang of fear at that. “How? I don’t know what I’m doing!”

“You’ll… figure it out.” She said softly, putting her head down against my chest, “We all believe in you.”

I held her like that for a while. Eventually, it was noticed by some of the girls, who started to grow rowdy while saying lewd things until she was red in the face and even I felt embarrassed. Unrepressed women were surprisingly direct! I fled the dorm room before I drew interest from the Principal and potentially had an interference with my plans.

With that, I started going through my back and picking out my suit. This was the suit I had worn the day I had seduced Maria. I kept it since I felt it was a bit of a good luck charm. Since I was planning on seducing another woman, looking my best sounded like a good idea. I took a quick shower, combed my hair, dressed up in my suit, and even used a bit of cologne.

Well, I didn’t really need to seduce her. Even after thinking through the promise a dozen times, I couldn’t think of any holes. As long as I broke her in front of the students, she’d definitely become my woman and the god who follows her would be defeated. Other than that, I just had to trust in Netorase to handle her part of the deal. For me, I needed to focus on turning Vienna into a slut.

The time came, and I headed to the spot where Vienna was supposed to meet Matt. I had checked to make sure the letter made it, and I managed to get a confirmation through Rose. As far as whether Vienna would choose to come, I felt like she would have to. I’d be very surprised if she decided to blow him off. It was still about thirty minutes before the gathering, so she had enough time.

As for Matt, I kept track of where he was and made sure that Tiana was there to intercept him. I hoped it didn’t come to them having sex to keep him from this meeting. Well, she only really needed to distract him for a few minutes. Once I had her out of her clothing and bent over the side rails, he could walk in and see it. He’d probably be too stunned to say or do anything. It would have the same effect on him as it would on all the other lovestruck guys.

The spot I decided to meet her was on the second floor. There was a large wooden patio that shot off the side of the building overlooking the lake. Mixed with the sound of soft crickets from the forest, and it was an extremely beautiful few. There were several reasons I picked this location.

First off, the sound would be cut off from those in the lodge. Secondly, there were several very large floodlights shining on the deck, giving it bright, clear lighting. These lights also blinded you, making it very easy to hide recording equipment next to them. Third, this was nearby the ballroom where the festivities were being held, meaning the cable running didn’t need to be too excessive. Finally, there were at least a half dozen porches spread around the house. With the darkness outside, the only thing that showed on the camera was the wood floor and the two of us. No one would be able to find us too quickly and ruin the show.

When I opened the door, the light shined past me. Principal Vienna was already waiting there. She was wearing a summer dress now, far different from her usual business attire. When she turned, she put her hand over her eyes and squinted, but she wouldn’t be able to see who I was until I showed myself.

“Some advice… if you wish to give a lady a love letter, you should be on time.” She chastised, although her voice was somewhat gentle.

Who did she think it was? Well, there was no point in it keeping the charade going any longer. I walked out onto the deck, my smile growing as I came into the light and she could make out my face. As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened in shock, and then in horror.

“Actually, I think… I’m here at exactly the right time.” I responded.