The silence stretched heavy after Oliver's words. The girls exchanged uncertain glances, but none dared speak. It wasn't until he ignored them and began talking to Luna, as if the whole matter bored him, that one finally whispered:
"… You can leave?"
Her voice trembled like the flutter of a sparrow's wings. The other two turned to her instantly, but their eyes filled with the same question.
Oliver chuckled low in his chest, tilting his head as though amused they had only just caught on. "Of course. Did you think I was chained here? Bound like the rest of you?" His gaze flicked lazily over their faces, each paling by degrees. "I come and go as I please."
"That's impossible," another blurted, her lips dry. "We've tried everything—there's no way out. None. You're lying."
Oliver's smile only deepened, sharp and cruel at the edges. "Try telling the rivers that when I watched them vanish. Tell the mountains when I saw them crumble. Tell time itself, when it bent around me like a cheap reed. This place holds you, not me."
Kaede's hands balled into fists. Her breathing grew fast and panicked, as though the world had tilted beneath her. "Then… why stay? If you can leave, why would you come back here? Why trap yourself with us?"
Oliver's eyes narrowed, and for a heartbeat his smile vanished. The forest seemed to shrink into his silence, branches bowing like servants at court. "Because it amuses me. Because this place is a cage full of rabbits, and I like to watch how rabbits squirm when the hawk refuses to strike right away."
She flinched, taking an involuntary step back. The others pressed in closer, as if trying to find safety in numbers, but none dared look him directly in the eyes anymore.
Oliver flexed his hand, still faintly stained with the smoke of the herb. "You're shocked at the thought of leaving, but you never asked what price you'd pay to step outside this forest. That's why you're all still prey."
The words hung over them like a blade.
"I can lead you to water," Oliver murmured, voice calm but laced with weight, "but I can't stop you from drowning. If you want to learn, I'll teach you. If you want to leave, I'll show you the way. Just don't complain when you realize staying here was the smarter choice."
Green lights shimmered in the distance. His gaze sharpened.
"There they are," Luna said with delight, her intent brushing against him. I told you we were close. Warmth pooled in her abdomen, expectation coiling tighter.
"You did well," Oliver replied, fingers brushing just below her navel, lingering in promise. "I'll fill you up later—just as I said." He brushed her hair aside, kissed her neck, and smiled. "But first, let's test if these things burn like weed—and whether they'll spike my cultivation."
A curl of smoke drifted from his palm before vanishing. Blue mushrooms, bark, moss… he thought, already scheming. Sounds like the shopping list of a lunatic. Still, pills won't make themselves. And I still need to play the loyal boyfriend hunting for Mika while babysitting these three convicts.
His puppet's bowstrings flexed, and he watched through his savored consciousness as the scarred Alpha stiffened a heartbeat before he blew a hole through its skull. He smirked. Too many Alphas in one nest… I'll cull them all and make the place mine.
Turning, he raised an imaginary joint to his lips. "So—who wants to help me roll the first one?"
Takara eyed him, her mind still chewing on the revelations he'd dropped. Then she smiled thinly. "Sounds like free labor… with lethal side effects if you're wrong. You'll make us the first guinea pigs to smoke poison."
"Fair," Oliver admitted without shame. His grin curved sharper. "How about we let Luna be the first to try? While we wait to see if she keels over… we can have fun another way."
"Oh, fun? "What do you have in mind?" she asked teasingly. "Onee-san's a big girl after all, so our definitions might be different," she said, moving closer and rubbing his thighs.
Her touch was deliberate—the warmth of her palm pressing through the fabric of his pants as her nails scraped lightly against his thigh. Oliver's grin didn't falter—if anything, it widened, his eyes narrowing with a dangerous gleam.
"Oh? A big girl, huh?" He drawled, leaning back just enough to let her advance, his hand lazily resting atop hers. "Then you should know, Onee-san, that teasing has consequences."
Takara's lips curved, close enough now that he could feel her breath. "Consequences?" she echoed, feigning innocence, though her hips shifted ever so slightly, brushing against him as she leaned in.
"Mm," Oliver hummed, his thumb tracing the back of her hand before slipping higher, grazing her wrist. "The kind where you don't get to stop once you start."
Luna, watching them flirt, made her abdomen even warmer; she couldn't understand Oliver when he wasn't using intent, but she didn't need to be a genius to feel his erection pressed against her.
So finally she chimed in with a playful pout, her voice thick with want. "Don't leave me out… I want to play too."
Oliver chuckled low, turning his head just enough to brush his lips against Takara's ear. "See that? Seems like Onee-san's not the only one with a loose definition of fun."
Takara's laugh was soft and sultry, her eyes flicking briefly toward Luna before returning to him. "Then show me, Oliver. Show us both what your idea of fun really is."
Oliver chuckled, moving farther back on Luna's back. "Then let's see whether your mouth is only good for talking."
She laughed, and instead of coming forward, she strutted backwards—
"I said I was a big girl, didn't I?" she whispered, unbuckling her prison pants. "Big girls don't need foreplay."
Takara licked her lips before then walking up to Luna and straddling the space in front of Oliver as she sat on her dear lower half. Her legs were bent close together as she pulled her pants and underwear halfway off while in the fetal position.
She turned on her back and used Luna as support. "Go ahead, cowboy," she purred, her hands moving over her head as she didn't forget about the needy doe and began fondling her breasts.
"I don't get half of this Qi and cultivation stuff you were talking about," she admitted, "but all I do know is that you're strong enough to thrive here, so why don't I just give myself to you and see what happens?"
Oliver's grin turned wolfish as he leaned over Takara's sprawled form. "is this your attempt at suducing a boy you don't even know the age of," he mused, dragging a fingertip up her inner thigh.
Takara gasped but didn't flinch.
"But I can't say I'm not turned on."
He met her gaze; his hands pulled her pants higher off her thighs. "So I don't see why I don't just dive right in," he murmured against her lips and kissed her—his yang essence pouring into her body, while his hands worked at freeing his throbbing length.
Takara arched into his touch, lips parting with a soft gasp as Oliver's yang energy flooded her senses. Hot, too hot—her fingers dug into Luna's fur for balance.
"You talk too much," she breathed against his mouth, hips lifting impatiently. "Just fuck me already."
Oliver chuckled darkly, freeing himself with one rough tug. "Demanding." His palm smacked her inner thigh. "Spread wider."
Luna's breath hitched beside them, antlers trembling when Takara's fingers found her nipples again. She turned her head, watching them with bated breath—her own hips rocked needily against empty air.
"Look at her," Oliver murmured, lining himself up. "Jealous?"
Takara smirked up at him. "She'll get her turn." Then he yelped as he sheathed himself to the hilt without warning.
"Fuck, I'm getting stretched out... God, how I've missed this." Her nails scored Luna's sides as Oliver set a brutal pace. "Hah! S-Slow—!"
"Why?" He pistoned deeper, grinning ferally. "You said big girls don't need foreplay." He lifted her up by her hips, fucking, and pulled her onto him; he slammed her against him.
Takara's back bowed as Oliver hammered into her, each thrust lifting off Luna. "Ngh! Too deep!" Her thighs trembled, toes curling in the dirt.
"Thought you could handle it," Oliver taunted, gripping her hips tighter. His pace never slowed—if anything, it grew rougher.
Luna whimpered beside them, fingers twisting in Takara's hair. Not fair, Oliver; it should be me inside you. Her tail lashed against the air in annoyance.
Takara choked on a moan. "S-Slow down or I'll—!"
"Or you'll what?" He yanked her harder onto his cock, grinning at her gasp. "Cum already?"
She shuddered, nails biting into his wrists. "Fuck you—!"
Oliver laughed darkly. "That's the idea."
He kept fucking her raw, his cock pushing deeper and deeper, forcing her to moan louder and louder as he churned her insides.
His grin turned wicked as he slammed Takara hard against him, his thick length stretching her open with each brutal thrust. "That's it, scream for me," he growled in her ear, fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hips.
Takara's eyes rolled back, a high-pitched wail escaping her lips as she clung to Oliver for dear life. Her inner walls spasmed around him, struggling to accommodate his relentless pace.
Luna whined pathetically beside them, rubbing herself against a tree trunk in desperate need. She gazed longingly at Takara's pleasured form before meeting Oliver's gaze with pleading eyes of her own.
Oliver merely chuckled low in his throat, not slowing down for an instant. "Not yet," he panted into Takara's hair. "I'm just getting started."
"I'm almost there... Fuck me harder!" Takara gasped, spine curving like a drawn bowstring.
Oliver obliged, slamming her down with a grunt. "Beg prettier."
Luna's hooves dug grooves into the earth, stubbornly refusing to accept that she wasn't the one beneath him. Her tail flicked in agitation.
Takara's moan hitched, raw and breathless. "Harder… breed me—fill me until I can't hold another drop. Make me swell, make me yours." Her tongue sought his, and Oliver accepted her welcome with open arms.
The forest air hummed with tension as Oliver suddenly stilled inside Takara, his smirk sharpening when she whined in protest. 'Patience,' he murmured, withdrawing completely despite her desperate clutch at his waist.
Luna's ears perked up—why stop now?— But Oliver was already turning toward the dense undergrowth, his fingers slick with Takara's arousal.
"Someone's watching," he said lightly, licking his palm clean.
Takara froze mid-pant. "W-What?"
"Three guesses who." Oliver's grin didn't reach his eyes as rustling leaves betrayed movement nearby.
Luna sniffed the wind and growled.
Sana's eyes widened. "Macaques. A dozen of them."
"Bingo." Oliver zipped up, unsheathing his sword.
Kaede glanced at Sana. "Why didn't you notice them coming?" she asked sharply. Sana should have picked them up long ago, yet here they were, barely meters away.
Sana's cheeks flushed. "We both got distracted," she admitted. Her panties clung damp against her skin—her spiritual sense had been focused on Oliver and Takara until the abrupt end of their fun.
Kaede wanted to retort but found herself at a loss. "…We'll just have to be more alert from now on," she muttered, turning her eyes to Oliver and his blades.
Oliver caught her look and winked. "I'll lend you one—if you join the fun I was having with Takara onee-san." He drew a sword and tossed it to her. "Just don't let it get taken."
His eyes narrowed as four more blades unsheathed, floating into formation before them. The only one in his grip was his talisman sword. At his will, the other four streaked into the forest.
Four macaques fell instantly, their bodies shredded by steel. But his fun ended abruptly when roots surged from the ground, coiling around the blades and halting them in place.
A low hum resonated, drifting into his spirit sea. It struck against the yin half of the All-Seasons Divine Cauldrons, bouncing like a struck bell. Oliver's pupils sharpened.
This… an Earthly Treasure?