Lewd Ascent - A Futa LitRPG Ch. 126-135

"But I still don't know you," Zoey said. "I just wanted to talk with someone about it all. It's been kind of freaking me out."

"That's reasonable," Helena said. "If the breaking-down of our world doesn't unnerve you, what would?"

"Do you know what it is? How it's happening?"

"The corruption?"

"Yeah."

"It's our sins made manifest," Helena replied coolly—for the second time jolting Zoey with the transition from reasonable-sounding talk into cultish talk. "We've made that clear, haven't we?"

The response took some of the wind out of Zoey's sails. It shouldn't be surprising that a member of this Church would believe in her own doctrine, but Zoey had been hoping for some new insight with this meeting. Maybe she and Delta had found someone who had been to a corrupted shard, but whether the Church knew anything about the shard-eaters themselves? That had been far from a guarantee, and so far, this conversation wasn't promising that they'd dig up more. They might have come here for no reason.

"And is that what you really think?" Zoey asked. "That's all you have?"

"All I have?"

"No other theories? Or specifics how it's happening?"

"It almost sounds like you have one."

"No," Zoey said. "Not really."

"A skeptic. I understand. But what else would explain it? For that matter, how could we possibly know how it's happening? It's a working of the gods. Something far beyond us."

"I suppose that makes sense," Zoey said, disappointed. "I just thought you'd seen something more, maybe. That this wasn't all."

Helena considered Zoey. Her eyes narrowed the slightest amount.

She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms.

"Noticed something else," Helena quoted. "Maybe I have. But have you? In your travels?"

Zoey blinked. The shift in conversation was promising, though for some reason didn't seem to be related to the topic at hand. Zoey asked for clarification. "How so?"

"Not a corrupted shard. Or, in the way we've both seen. A different type of corruption."

"A different type?"

"One that acts aberrantly? I thought that was what you were implying."

"I've seen ... some odd stuff, yes. From other shards." Zoey was mostly fishing for information—though she wasn't lying that she'd seen some bizarre stuff during her short time in this world.

Helena considered whether to answer. "Non standard shards." She shifted in place. The woman had been mostly stoic thus far, so the sudden change in demeanor was immediately noticeable. "Not broken, perhaps, but unlike any other. One that behaves strangely. That's what you're talking about?"

Zoey paused. An idea popped into her head, seeing Helena's shift in demeanor—almost as if she'd grown suddenly embarrassed. Combined with the talk of 'strange shards', Zoey's mind went one place in particular.

"Behaves strangely," Zoey said slowly. "As in ... inappropriately?" It was the easiest word to use that hinted at what she suspected, but didn't outright give her away.

Helena's eyes widened, and Zoey's did in return—because she knew she'd gotten it right.

Helena hadn't just been to a corrupted shard, but she'd been to one of Zoey's shards?

A perverted one?

5.14 - Persistent

The realization was stunning, mostly because Zoey thought her shards were, well, her own. She hadn't known that other wayfarers could enter them—or rather, she had thought the shard would reshape itself to become normal again. But maybe it didn't work like that. Maybe Zoey's presence permanently altered them. Maybe once Mel had gotten a taste of the 'more fun' way to fight, she would start integrating those challenges as a permanent feature. Zoey really needed to talk to that slimegirl as soon as possible.

"So you have been to one," Helena asked, leaning forward, somehow even more interested in this topic than the corrupted ones. For that matter, Helena probably thought the two shards were related—corrupted in different ways, but from the same root cause. The so-called 'punishment from the gods'. Zoey obviously knew better. "What was yours like? Did it include a clone?"

For the second time, Zoey was sent reeling. A clone? Not-Zoey? That was the shard Helena was talking about?

"It did!" Helena said, reading Zoey's reaction. To be fair, Zoey was so caught off guard she'd had no hope of masking it. She was still stumbling to orient to the swerve in conversation. She'd come here hoping to find someone who knew more about the corrupted shards, and while that goal seemed to have failed, she'd found someone who'd been to a lewd shard—which was its own stunning piece of information. "And did it take your own shape?"

"I—I can't believe you've also been. Sorry. Give me a second." Zoey took a moment to organize her thoughts. Should she talk with Helena about this? There didn't seem to be any major reason not to. Maybe Helena could shed some light on something—though Zoey couldn't imagine what. But even if Zoey couldn't get any practical information, she was curious what Helena's trip through a lewd shard had been like. "Yes, it did," Zoey finally settled on. "It mirrored my own body. The reflection."

"Yes! A reflection. That's what she called herself. You really were there. And did she—"

Helena paused, then blushed.

"Well, you know." She gestured down at her crotch. "Have that for you, too?"

Zoey stared at her. She could pick up the implication. In Zoey's situation, Not-Zoey had actually lost her bonus equipment. It seemed when she'd formed an encounter with Helena, she'd gained it instead.

"Yes," Zoey answered—skipping the technical correction. "This is crazy. I can't believe you've been there." It also provided some good news—it meant Helena was either second or third advancement, but probably not higher, since Not-Zoey's shard had been second. It seemed unlikely a fourth-advancement would be delving something so low. Though, could shards reshape their difficulty? The exact mechanisms of shards were hardly a well-understood topic, much less to Zoey, a foreigner.

"I can't believe you have," Helena said. She was the most excited she'd been since the start of this conversation—she had mostly seemed to be tolerating Zoey's talk of the corrupted shard. Helena glanced at Jacquelyn—Delta—as if remembering they had company, then paused. "Give us privacy, please, Jacquelyn."

Delta hesitated, sharing a look with Zoey. Delta had obviously also been shocked at the development, though standing behind Helena, hadn't been seen. Zoey had needed to stalwartly avoid looking at her to avoid giving anything away. At Delta's concerned look, Zoey imperceptibly nodded at her partner, and Delta said, "Of course. I'll be right outside."

When the door closed, an animated Helena turned back to Zoey. "So. Did you?"

"Did I ...?"

"Well, you know. Take up her offer."

"Her offer?"

"Surely it was the same. An easier boss fight in return for—you know?"

Zoey's eyes widened. "Did you?"

Helena laughed. The stoic woman's walls were quickly breaking down. She'd been somewhat stiff during the previous talk, but this one had animated her.

"I couldn't talk about this with anyone, obviously," Helena said. "Even the Church elders. I gave them my report, but—someone who's actually been, it's different. Liberating, I suppose?" She grinned at Zoey. "And you did take her up on the offer, I can tell by that reaction. Good for you. How was it?"

"How was it? Um, fun?"

"Fun? Having your own body-double slapping her hips into you? Yes, 'fun' is one way to put it," Helena said, eyes sparkling with amusement. "Definitely more of a final event than most shards. Bosses in the future simply won't hold up."

Actually, it had been Zoey doing the hip-slapping, but again, she didn't correct Helena on the technicals. She was still adjusting to the rapid change in demeanor.

"You were alone for it, then?" Zoey asked.

Helena blinked. Her eyes widened. "Right. You weren't. Wait, how did that work, then?"

"My teammates swapped bodies. I received the clone. So there was four of us total, including the reflection."

Helena laughed. "Incredible." She paused, then sobered slightly. "I mean, yes, I realize this is a product of our world breaking down, a punishment sent by the gods, but— but really, what an experience, wasn't it?" She seemed slightly guilty, as if she knew she shouldn't be excited—or have had fun—with the shard. "Have you tried finding it again?"

"No. Have you?"

Helena blushed. "I mean— no, of course not. I was just wondering."

She definitely had. But by the sounds of it, to little success.

"And the items?" Zoey asked. "Did you get anything?"

"Anything?"

"You know. Shard related."

"Wait. You got something like that?" Helena practically leaned over the table in a blatant, excited display of interest. It gave Zoey a good view of her cleavage, her shirt drooping down. Zoey could even see all the way to her stomach; it was a loose piece of clothing. "What was it?"

It seemed like the shard Helena had been to wasn't completely the same as Zoey's. Or maybe the items were just rarer. Zoey suspected her class might modify the rewards. Since she had a lust-based class, items of that type were far more common—or possible even unique to her.

"It's really inappropriate," Zoey said. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Please."

Zoey considered whether she should, then, not seeing any major reason to not—and wanting to further gain Helena's trust—she pulled out a reward from the first shard she hadn't used in a while. She cracked open the wooden lid, revealing six matching pairs of growing-in-size buttplugs, made from a clean, polished silver.

Helena gaped, her cheeks tinting pink as she stared at the sex toys—and especially at the largest pair, which were a completely unreasonable size. She didn't seem put off in the slightest. Embarrassed, but still fascinated and even excited at everything she was discovering.

This hadn't been the direction Zoey had intended for this conversation to go, but at this point, she suspected there wasn't anything more to learn from Helena. Unless she'd been purposefully hiding knowledge on the shardeaters, she'd simply been to one of the corrupted shards and survived to tell the tale. And in the case she was hiding deeper knowledge, then Zoey could do little to nothing to draw it out; they were strangers, and Zoey had no intention of joining her cult.

And learning that the sex-shards—lacking a better term—were actually sticking around after Zoey adventured them was a valuable piece of information. Something that made this miniature cult invasion worth it. Lewd shard persistence meant her presence made permanent, possibly irreversible changes to her surroundings. That made some sense, seeing how Zoey was apparently imbued with the essence of a goddess.

Which reminded her of another task she needed to handle in the near future. Ephy had told Zoey that she ought to 'commune the regular way' if she wanted to speak again, and Zoey obviously did. Ephy was her best source of information, even enigmatic and limited in what she could or would say.

"May I?" Helena asked.

"Go ahead? But, uh. They're clean now, but they've been, you know. Used."

Helena only smirked at the warning. "Can't say I blame you. I bet the effect is quite potent. That shard in general seemed generous."

"It's definitely one of the better items we've found." The sex items as a whole had non-stop astounded Rosalie, and Zoey knew Rosalie was a hard woman to impress in wayfaring topics.

Helena took out one of the larger buttplugs, then inspected it. She shook her head, equally incredulous and amused, turning it back and forth as she looked it over. Eventually, she set it back in.

She gave Zoey an interested look. Considering Helena's eagerness to talk about this—and excitement when mentioning what she'd been through—Zoey wasn't surprised to see interest of that sort creeping in. She opened her mouth to say something, a teasing smirk starting to curl her lips, but before she could get out whatever she had planned to say, the door slammed open, and Delta rushed back in.

As in, Delta.

Orange-haired fox girl.

Who should very much be tied up in the utility room.

"Change of plans," she said breathlessly. "We gotta get the hell out of here."

And she'd swapped back to her original body? So Jacquelyn was back in her own too?

Zoey and Helena had both bolted to their feet on Delta's sudden arrival. Helena was completely caught off guard, and Delta didn't waste the opportunity. Neither did Zoey—her wayfaring instincts were becoming at least somewhat honed, and she snatched the butt plug collection off the table and deposited it into her inventory.

"Follow me," Delta said, before taking an inspired path out of the building. Which was to say, she leapt through the window. Glass shattered, and the orange-haired foxgirl disappeared over the ledge. Zoey understood why in the next moment—several black-masked Church members rushed through the door, only seconds behind Delta. One was Jacquelyn, looking furious.

What the hell had happened?

Zoey didn't bother worrying about that; their masquerade was clearly up. She followed Delta through the broken window and out into the alleyway. She'd never jumped through a window before, and was worried about broken glass—but that was a mundane sort of worry, Zoey realized, not something a third-advancement wayfarer had to concern themselves with, even without a physically focused class.

She managed to stick the landing, then followed a sprinting Delta down the alleyway, headed for the streets proper. They were lucky the meeting room had been situated as it was; if it'd been deeper in the building, not on the edge, then escape would have been more complicated.

Though there were still complications; Helena, a wayfarer of some accomplishment herself, was also out the window in the next moment. Zoey thought she was also a third-advancement, so out running her was going to be tricky. It might even turn into a fight.

"Stop! Where are you going?"

Zoey almost paused, and not because of the authority in Helena's shout, but the confusion and even panicked disappointment. She'd found someone who knew about the lewd shards and had wanted to talk with Zoey more—and possibly do a few things other than talk, from how quickly the mood inside that room had been shifting.

Either way, Zoey couldn't explain. She didn't think Helena would be understanding about Delta having borrowed Jacquelyn's body to earn an easy audience with her. It hadn't been some horrible crime—and Zoey hadn't even learned anything important from Helena, besides the accidental reveal of lewd shards working for other wayfarers—so she doubted there would be a massive Church grudge against them, though probably a small one. Still, best not to find out; she and Delta needed to disappear.

Legs pumping as she sprinted wildly down the alleyway, Zoey fled The Church of the Shattered Sphere, a confused Helena pursuing.

5.15 - Arcade I

Losing Helena was fortunately easier than Zoey had feared. Bursting into the busy streets of Treyhull, Zoey and Delta quickly disappeared into the crowds. Helena apparently wasn't willing to leverage any skills or abilities to pursue them, or to start a fight between wayfarers in the middle of the city, and Zoey and Delta had a head-start—and also the advantage of being the ones to flee rather than chase.

Even Zoey had some difficulty keeping up with Delta, though the foxgirl made sure not to lose her. Several streets later, and a good five minutes of winding down random busy pathways, Delta came to a stop, eyes scanning her surroundings. Breathing heavily—and only half from the exertion of sprinting away—Zoey did the same.

Delta took off her mask, which prompted Zoey to do the same.

"Well, that was interesting," the foxgirl said.

"What happened?"

"Got out, somehow." Delta shrugged. "Should've put more effort into the bindings. Or maybe the gag. Not sure. If I had to guess, someone heard her."

"Then how'd you get your body back?"

"Swapped over, then snatched the mirror back from Jacquelyn. Would've been trickier if she didn't come straight to me. They're not great planners, these cultists."

"I think that's hypocritical coming from us," Zoey said. "Considering our own disaster of a mission."

"We're all equally bad at it," Delta amended. "Anyway, we're home free, pretty sure. Lost Helena." She wrinkled her nose. "Probably have to watch out for anyone poking around for us, though. Treyhull's a huge place, and the local guild too, but there's not too many people fitting our descriptions."

An orange-haired foxgirl? Friends with a six-foot woman with short black hair? No, even considering Treyhull's size, tracking down two wayfarers with that information wouldn't be exceptionally difficult, though they at least kept somewhat to themselves, so maybe not insanely fast, either. She and Delta had felt okay invading the cult because they wouldn't be in Treyhull more than a week, but it had certainly opened up a vector of danger.

"We'll keep an eye out," Zoey said.

"You at least learn anything?"

"Not what we wanted, but some important stuff other than that, yeah."

"Oh?"

"You heard the start of it. She's been to a lewd shards."

"Confirmed?"

"Without a doubt. Specifically the one with the reflection."

"So it means when you enter a shard, the change is permanent."

"I guess it is."

"That's insane. Can you imagine the implications?"

"Not in the slightest," Zoey said honestly. "I guess I'm spawning a whole new genre of shards. What the hell does that mean?"

"Not sure, but I expect it'll be popular with some people," Delta said amusedly. "Gods, I can't wait to hear what people have to say about it. Wonder if anyone back at the guild has been to one."

"Dunno if you should just go asking around."

"Yeah, yeah. I won't. Just curious." Delta paused, then smirked. "But long term, assuming we hang out near Mantle for a while? It'll be more than just two shards corrupted by you. You'll have a whole fleet of them as the months tick by. No chance it stays a secret."

Zoey considered that, then shook her head. "It'll be interesting, for sure." She wasn't sure how else to describe how she felt about the revelation.

"But nothing about our vampire friend?"

"Not even a hint. I don't think Helena knows much."

"Guess it was a stretch, anyway. A goddess had to clue you in, so why would Helena know much?"

"At least it wasn't a total waste."

"And a fun adventure," Delta agreed. "Any day we cause property damage is a good day."

Zoey gave her an unimpressed look, which Delta seemed pleased by, her orange tail swishing happily.

"Anyway," Delta said. "Our date. It's time for that, then."

"Now? Not even gonna regroup?"

"Regroup? Why? We got away. We're fine. Time to be on with our day."

Zoey was still a bit flustered from the whole debacle, but she guessed Delta had a point. Still, she was impressed how quickly Delta could brush it all off. That could have gone much worse. And to be honest, Zoey wasn't sure they'd seen the last of Helena. Helena had been exceedingly interested in Zoey and how she'd been to the lewd shard. There might be a blonde third-advancement wayfarer poking around the guild looking for the two of them in the near future.

Zoey wasn't sure that would be completely a bad thing. She'd have liked to finish their conversation. She just hoped Helena didn't show up with any major grudges over how she and Delta had recklessly arranged the meeting.

She'd keep her eyes and ears open, but there wasn't much she could do either way about it. She did, for the third or fourth time, wonder why they'd been so reckless. Sure, they'd arranged a meeting with Helena much faster than normal, but there were many things they could've done to be safer. And even have stayed in the Church's good graces. Zoey couldn't help but feel Delta had been actively looking for trouble—or maybe more accurately, excitement—and Zoey'd let herself be dragged along by the whirlwind in fox-girl form.