Book 4: Chapter 74: Patch 13.0: Operation: Operation

“Why rely on physical techniques for defense when I, the great Azalabulia, Wielder of the Cursed Flame of Bahamut, could teach you dark and cursed spells more than capable enough of decimating entire legions of man and beast in one sweep?” Azalabulia asks before going back to panting and being out of breath from being used in Tabitha’s demonstrations.

“Because you’ll remember this in real life! Don’t ya live in Alaska or somethin’? They’re all men up there! You’ve got to be careful,” Tabitha explains.

“I-it’s not like any of them have ever tried anything with me anyways…”

“Ya make it sound like ya wish they did.”

“Some attention would have been nice!” Azalabulia announces, stomping her feet and pouting. “A-at least I have you all now.”

“Maybe you’re just too desperate. Ya shouldn’t be desperate for men in the first place, and nobody wants a desperate and clingy girl. Not even a girl is goin’ to want that.”

“I don’t mind,” Serra says. “You can cling to me, Aza.”

“You just want her to cling to you because you like her chest,” Cassiel says, poking Serra’s cheek. This is when something awakens within Cassiel. While she has felt Serra’s face before, she’s never realized just how squishy and pokable it is. Unable to resist, she pinches Serra’s cheek and gives it a gentle pull.

“What are you doing?” Serra asks, looking up at Cassiel as her cheek gets pulled.

Seeing Serra looking up at her with such a confused expression while looking adorable from having her cheek pulled is too much for Cassiel.

For once, it is Cassiel who feels like going on the offensive and squealing from how cute Serra looks in this moment.

But that, she does resist.

“Oh! I wish to try!” Nell says, happily skipping over to Serra to pinch and pull her other cheek.

Serra has no idea why she’s surrounded by her girlfriends pinching and pulling on her cheeks, but it’s not like it hurts, so she doesn’t care and just lets them continue doing it.

“You have rather elastic cheeks, Serra,” Nell says.

“That’s good for sticking big things in them,” Serra says.

Cassiel lets go of Serra’s cheek and sighs. “You ruined it. Your cheeks were so cute, but now you’ve made them perverted.”

“I believe that the same could be said for her very being in general! Although, I do still believe that Serra retains her quality cuteness despite having such an erotic mind,” Nell says, still holding one cheek.

“You don’t think I’m cute?” Serra asks with a feigned sadness, looking up at Cassiel with wide eyes.

Naturally, this makes her look extremely cute in the eyes of Cassiel. “I – I never said you weren’t cute,” Cassiel says. “You just had to make your cheeks perverted instead of just cute!”

“What if I do this,” Serra says, gently taking Nell’s hand off of her cheek before closing her lips and puffing her cheeks up.

Nell covers her mouth with one hand as Cassiel takes a step backward.

Serra’s cuteness is a truly fearsome beast.

“I – I can do that,” Azalabulia says, dropping her confident act from earlier to try and puff her cheeks out.

While she may not be as cutesy as Serra when she puffs her cheeks out, being an older woman trying to compete with a younger one half her size by puffing her cheeks out is cute in its own way.

Only, when nobody comments on Azalabulia’s puffed cheeks, she has to shut her eyes and cross them in intense concentration to keep the puffing up.

Rather than get a comment to praise her for her hard work, Serra pulls a crate up to Azalabulia, stands on top of it, and then gently smacks Azalabulia’s inflated cheeks to deflate them.

Azalabulia lets out a surprised puff of air and, when she opens her eyes, is met with Serra’s face right in front of her.

“Se-Serra? D-did you go through a growth spurt?” Azalabulia asks.

Serra rolls her eyes, grabs the other’s cheeks, and places her lips directly against Azalabulia’s. Now she’s the second member of the relationship to actually kiss her.

Now, for a woman who has never considered being with a woman before until recently, Azalabulia had no idea what to expect when kissing a girl for the first time.

But she likes it.

Serra pulls away from Azalabulia, leaving the taller woman with a satisfied-but-needy expression and pursed lips as if hoping for more.

“I like girls’ nights now,” Serra announces, turning around to the rest with a smug smile.

“This isn’t what a girls’ night is supposed to be for,” Tabitha says.

“Now it is.”

“Serra, your lust truly knows no bounds,” Nell says.

Serra gives Nell a thumbs-up before climbing down from the crate and putting it back where it was.

Meanwhile, Cassiel looks out over the water.

Seeing the kiss has made her want to do that, too. Sure, she could do it with any of her girlfriends, but her mind immediately jumps to Fenrir when it comes to kissing and anything sexual in general.

“Is everything alright, Cassiel?” Nell asks, standing next to her now with an arm around her back.

“I just wonder what he’s doing right now,” Cassiel says.

“Being unable to go even a few hours without seeing your love – oh, how wonderfully tragic that is!”

“That just makes me clingy, not tragic.”

“It is alright. He clearly loves clinging to you just as much as you love clinging to him.”

“It’s – it’s embarrassing when you say that. It’s not like I want to be annoying and clingy. I just can’t help it…”

“Fortunately for you, I am sure that he would love if you clung to him even more than you already do.”

“That’s just because he likes my chest.”

“We both know that is not true.”

“H-hmph…”

“You have come a long way in regard to being honest with yourself, but it seems as if you still have some distance to go.”

“I’m trying.”

“And we will continue to support you no matter what! Now then, let us—what’s that? The serpent?”

Both girls look out to the distance and see a dark shape swimming through the water. While there’s no way for Cassiel to know what the creature is going off of what she can see, Nell can feel that it’s the serpent’s presence swimming closer.

Not only that, but once it’s close enough, she can discern that there are two presences overlapping one another: the serpent’s and Fenrir’s.

"Do... do you hear something?" Cassiel asks. "Sounds like... rockets?"

The two girls look up and see a barrage of fiery missiles heading toward The Shoebill.