Dancing with the Suit (5)
While I was in hell, Chang Yeom and I hashed out strategies for conquering the heroines over and over. Take Rydmila, for example—
"Ta-da, how do you like it?"
What the hell was this sudden bunny suit ambush?
"What do you think my reaction would be if you just swooped in like that out of nowhere?"
"You'd ask if I had a reverse bunny suit?"
"Right?"
"Of course."
Chang Yeom knew her stuff.
"But talking about it here feels a bit off."
That's the beauty of mana suits. With enough will, you can whip up any outfit the original story never dreamed of—even a reverse bunny suit on the spot, thanks to the power of mana.
"So what's the deal with popping out of the shower booth in bunny girl gear all of a sudden?"
"I suited up for Gale Rydmila's conquest, but I ducked in here so you wouldn't pounce on me the second I appeared right in front of you."
"Hmm."
She really did know me well.
"Alright, then spill it. Tell me about Rydmila."
"First off, you know what I'm about to say regarding her unique trait, right?"
"Dual core?"
"Exactly. Two baby pouches capable of bearing children!"
If I asked whether that even made sense human-wise, the answer was yes. "You've done it with [Fenrir], so you know—beastkin generally inherit all the traits of their animal counterparts."
"Like how phoenix beastkin give birth to live young like mammals, but coat them in mana shells like eggs?"
"Yeah, pretty much. There are no phoenixes in reality, but birds are all oviparous by default."
Beastkin follow their beastkin nature. As one of hell's dukes and king of the beastkin, [Fenrir]'s traits had "passed down" to every beastkin on the surface world.
"So what's Rydmila's deal? As a rabbit beastkin, she has rabbit traits, but they've become a constraint for her. She just hasn't realized it yet."
"Awakening her beastkin identity is the path to S-rank."
There are many roads to S-rank, but the "constraint" weighing on Rydmila was a core element in conquering her as a heroine.
"You mean dual-core cumming?"
"How about this: she develops feelings for the protagonist through their episodes, realizes her body craves sex twice as much as others, and awakens the second core inside her?"
"Nah, too long. Short version."
"Awakening her female rabbit instincts to hit S-rank?"
"Spot on! Reward: a reverse bunny from over there."
Not right now—this place wasn't ideal.
"Ahem. Rydmila has two baby pouches. One's for her beastkin side. The other..."
"For conceiving an angel."
"Right. More precisely... it's an empty space infused with holy power from heaven."
Before being conquered as a heroine, Gale Rydmila had no romantic feelings for men. Her first pouch went through the usual magical cycles like any woman's, but the second one was filled with something else. Mana. Holy power from heaven.
"If she'd always harbored that burning desire to bear some guy's kids from a young age, her own mana would have filled the second pouch. She'd wield double mana through her heart and abdominal cores."
"But she's a heroine, and heroines are virgins."
"So we target that. One the orthodox way. The other..."
"By purging the angel mana in the second pouch and replacing it with her own."
"Yep, then she'd hit S-rank exactly. Cores aren't physical organs—they're mana forming organ-like structures."
If activating her innate magic organ naturally took too long, just surgically excise the tumor inside. "We remove the angel ability with our power."
"Don't call angel mana 'radiation' like that."
"What, should we call it TS Virus?"
"Stick to the original: holy power."
Yeah. The mana lodged in Rydmila's second core. Mana she couldn't control or even sense. It parasitized the empty space, waiting to implant an egg and one day house an angel soul that would hijack her body. Parasitic mana that siphoned some of hers whenever she used it, all without her noticing. That was holy power.
"You extract the holy power from her body. Succeed once, and she'll get it. Her hunger for S-rank burns brighter than anyone's."
"So the method is..."
The way to remove the latent holy power.
"Cumming."
Regular "discharges" through cumming were the only option.
"You could call it climax-conquest-finale, but in this breadcademy, cumming solves everything anyway."
Cumming is always right.
Click.
The door locked. Suddenly, I was tossed into Rydmila's room for a private chat, door sealed by Rydmila herself.
"What the hell? I nearly suffocated buried in sideboob."
Lucky for me, the soft soap scent wafting from where my face pressed was a blessing. If she'd been some regular academy girl instead of a heroine, I'd have grabbed her waist and suplexed her into the floor.
"...That thing earlier."
"That thing?"
"That thing—blasting mana out of your body like crazy!!"
Rydmila shrieked, thrusting her hand toward the room's center.
"Th-that sensation... is that how you have to feel it to use it?"
Classic Rydmila. She'd grasped a clue on the verge of breaking through and dragged me here for it.
"Until you remove every malignant tumor in your body, yeah, it'll be like that."
"Ugh...!"
She flushed red, trembling all over at my words.
"Th-then...!"
Showing that side to a guy must've been mortifying.
"Y-you should say something like, 'Let's find a way'!"
With a lead on S-rank, she'd swallow her shame and hunt for a solution.
"Finding a way's fine, but you sure about this?"
I pointed at her room.
"Won't you level the dorm like that gale fart earlier?"
"......."
Only after I perched on her bed and patted the mattress did Rydmila start steadying her breaths.
"Or what, start with super slow mana release control practice? Blow out just fan-breeze levels so you don't wreck the training room or dorm furniture."
"Th-that's...!"
She knew.
"J-just teach me the method...!"
She knew exactly what that mana-release sensation mimicked.
"So I can blast that mana out anytime, even without you next to me, Phoenix classmate!"
"Nah, that's impossible."
Some things just weren't doable—I had to say it straight.
"Rydmila. Calm down, sit or stand wherever, and try 'sensing' that mana's location on your own."
"......."
"If you can find that mana without my help, you won't need me—you could extract it yourself."
Even if it was holy power, releasing it let her fill the space with her own mana, yielding more when she drew it later.
"......Hoo."
Rydmila plopped cross-legged in the room's center, straightened her back, and closed her eyes.
"......."
Refining mana through meditation. The basics: absorb ambient mana via breath, skin, and cores, accumulating it in body and core.
'Refining external mana to match your nature.'
If atmospheric mana was pure non-attribute, you'd filter what suited your body and expel the rest. That's when a tiny virus seeped in—holy power.
Not native to mid-realm folk, it infiltrated so subtly it seemed beneficial, burrowing unnoticed.
'As expected.'
In that expulsion process, holy power sneaked into Rydmila, converging on the lump already inside her.
"...Mm."
I wondered if I'd need to step in, but...
"Ahh, this must be it."
True to her A-rank entry, she clocked it instantly.
"Oh, really? Good for you."
She'd sensed the difference between holy power and normal mana. I hadn't called it angel mana, but she felt its alien quality against the non-attribute mana she handled.
"Good for me? Phoenix classmate, shouldn't you be disappointed from your perspective?"
Half-lidded eyes on me, she rose.
"Now I can extract this weird mana from my body without your touch."
"Sure, I'm bummed, but my one touch let you get stronger—that's a win."
"......."
Her eyes went wide like a startled rabbit at my words.
"That's enough. I touched you hoping you'd power up, after all."
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"Why go out of your way to help like that?"
"Why does anyone help anyone—" was the protagonist's line.
"—but you wouldn't buy that easily."
I slipped in some genuine intent with a hint of pity that she couldn't trust it.
"Hitting S-rank means you get stronger and prettier, right?"
Channeling my golden sun phoenix vibe to persuade her.
"A pretty girl getting even prettier? Why wouldn't I help? Even without touching, my eyes feast."
"...Ha."
She let out a hollow laugh, then flopped down beside me.
"Lies."
"Huh?"
"I can filter incoming mana somewhat, but I couldn't find the stuff inside."
"...Oh, gotcha."
"So here's the thing."
She fiddled with her suit for a moment.
"...Among student clothes, there's the 'basic suit.' With that, maybe your hand could reach my body through it."
"Hmm?"
"M-massaging over it shouldn't be a big deal. Probably."
Face red, she mumbled softly.
"If that doesn't work... then..."
"Then?"
"......Go."
"Huh?"
"......Go."
Her whisper was too faint for me to catch: band-aid.