Since the massive dragon was still far from satisfied, Ethan naturally wouldn't waste precious dual-cultivation time. However, before he could pull Lucia's tall, sexy body into his arms to storm her warm cavern from behind, Maria stepped forward and seized his erect shaft.
"No way, it's my turn! This time, I'm going to use my transformed body—which is way sexier than Sister's—to dual-cultivate with Ethan-kun."
Lucia looked displeased and opened her mouth to scold her disobedient little sister. But remembering her own depraved performance earlier—especially the part where she agreed with Ethan about her mother, Chisato—she hesitated and eventually yielded her position.
As for the useless, busty rabbit-girl Zest, her first time had involved Ethan using telekinetic magic to open her front and back simultaneously. She was still reeling from the overstimulation and hadn't fully recovered.
Ethan's telekinetic magic wasn't proficient enough yet. It worked on Zest, but against the seasoned succubus sisters, it wasn't effective. Rather than dividing his focus to practice magic, he decided to concentrate on steering his dragon to completely dominate the sisters, turning them into willing accomplices for his eventual conquest of Chisato.
His plan was beautiful, but reality was harsh. First, his telekinesis wasn't quite there for high-level combat. Second, no matter how dirty Maria and Lucia talked in bed, they became total cowards the moment the act was over. Forget helping him take down Chisato; it was already a testament to their backbone that they hadn't sold him out yet.
Because of the special bloodline of the succubus royalty, Chisato's power was stuck at the SSS-rank. However, she had compensated by honing her other skills to a terrifying degree—specifically, her mastery of human psychology. If it hadn't been for a hidden mental magic card and Lucia being used as leverage, she never would have been captured in the first place. She could read her daughters' minds with a single glance.
After conquering the sisters, Ethan tried to test Chisato a few more times. But other than getting himself worked up, he gained nothing. That adorable, white-haired, purple-eyed succubus MILF would always pull away just as things got heated, yet she seemed to be constantly seducing him. Realizing he was no match for this "loli" housewife who was craftier than an old fox, Ethan wisely gave up the active assault for now. She was tempting, but wasting too much mental energy on her was a losing game.
By late September, the weather remained hot, though the first hints of autumn were creeping in. Under the guise of a sparring session, Ethan gave Basara Toujou a sound thrashing. Folding his hands behind his back like a grandmaster, he said, "I have nothing left to teach you. From now on, remember—"
"Cut the crap. You totally cheated at the end there, didn't you?" Basara wiped the dirt off his clothes and squinted at Ethan.
His "cool guy" moment ruined, Ethan glared at him. "What do you know? That was testing your limits."
In truth, he had held back. He hadn't gone as far as Jin Toujou did in the original timeline—beating Basara to the brink of death to force him to unlock his sealed powers.
Basara wanted to talk back, but considering his strength really was growing rapidly, he bit his tongue.
"By the way, regarding your next steps, you should ask your father." Ethan saw Basara's potential. If the boy grew strong enough, rescuing Raphaeline and Sophia would be much easier. One of Basara's power sources was the Elder Dragon bloodline from Jin. Since they shared the same origin, Jin was the only one who could guide him further.
"Got it," Basara scratched the back of his head. He wasn't even sure if he could get a hold of his unreliable old man. Regardless, with Mio and Maria under Ethan's protection, he could focus on training, even if it meant dropping out of school to follow Jin.
"I'm heading back," Ethan said, sauntering away from the Toujou residence. He muttered to himself, "Spent so much time sparring with you that my own schedule is trashed. Finally, I can spend time with my lovely girls."
A few days ago, Yuki Nonaka and Kurumi Nonaka had successfully defected from the Hero Village and moved into the mansion. Ethan immediately performed the peerage reincarnation for them. Yuki became a [Knight], and Kurumi a [Bishop], fitting their combat styles.
Mio Naruse had used the unique mutated [Bishop] piece, Maria used all eight [Pawn] pieces, Levally was the [Queen], and Zest was given the [Rook] piece. With the Nonaka sisters, Ethan had used thirteen of his fifteen slots, leaving only one [Knight] and one [Rook] open. He once worried about finding enough people; now, less than a year later, he felt he didn't have enough spots.
This made him realize his [Soul Contract] slots were even more precious. He wanted to contract everyone in the mansion, but even if he reached the "Evil God" rank—the strongest known level—carrying so many girls into immortality was a tall order. He currently had thirteen contract slots, most of which were filled. The girls from the Occult Research Club had signed on, including Zenobia (Kiba), who had recently returned to her female form. With Mio and Maria added, the slots were almost gone. He wanted to contract Yuki, Kurumi, Zest, Lucia, and Levally too. He could only hope that breaking through to God-rank would grant him more slots.
As Ethan pondered these happy troubles, he rounded a corner and reached the mansion. Upon opening the door, he heard a cacophony of female voices from the living room. It was unusually noisy today.
The atmosphere silenced the moment he entered. Then, a familiar, beautiful girl stepped through the crowd.
"Ethan, please dual-cultivate with me."
The blue-haired holy swordswoman with a streak of green in her bangs grabbed Ethan's hand, her expression dead serious.
Ethan's lip twitched. Even after dealing with countless heroines, he had never met one who asked for sex so formally in front of a crowd. If he didn't know Xenovia was a total airhead—especially regarding her insatiable scientific curiosity about sex—he would have thought she'd lost her mind.
He'd had some contact with her during the Holy Sword incident, but not much. He thought he'd never see Xenovia or Irina Shidou again after they left. Yet here they were. And Xenovia was leading with a request for dual cultivation.
Suppressing his urge to laugh, Ethan looked around and spotted the honey-blonde, twin-tailed, busty swordswoman, Irina Shidou. Unlike Xenovia's bluntness, Irina was looking at him like he was a perverted freak. When their eyes met, she huffed and turned away, though a faint blush crept onto her cheeks.
Ethan didn't answer Xenovia immediately. He smiled and said, "Long time no see, Xenovia. And Irina."
"You left so quickly last time. How long are you staying?"
"I'm not leaving this time," the blunt Xenovia replied. "I've become a member of President Rias's peerage."