After informing everyone about the location of the Church's temporary base, we spent a little bit of time discussing the plan of attack; however, before we made any concrete plans, Talis and I returned to the base's location and performed a more in-depth observation. Of course, we kept our distance, didn't want anyone to get the slightest bit suspicious; after all, we didn't want to lose the element of surprise. Once we finished, the two of us regrouped back home and solidified our plan, which we intended to initiate in one week, as there were still a few things to take care of.
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Walking downstairs into the basement, I saw Vanimo, Talis, and Jasmine sitting in the secondary living room, casually chatting, though I left them be as I merely greeted them while entering Vanye's room, and I couldn't have arrived at a better time since she had just exited the shower. "Did something happen, Alex?" Asked Vanye with a raised eyebrow as she dried her hair while I locked the door behind me, lest someone else enter. "Yep. I've got a gift for you." Grabbing a box from my space pouch, I tossed it onto the bed and kneeled beside it while Vanye curiously approached, causing me to kiss her hip.
"What's inside it?" "Your new and final set of prosthetics. C'mon, open them; I'm confident you'll be happy." Flashing Vanye a smile, I gently kneaded her small butt while she lightly nodded before unlatching the box and opening it. Inside the box were three prosthetics: one for her arm and two for her leg, though one was only for her knee. Unlike her previous ones, these prosthetics not only looked like true limbs but also felt like them. Seeing Vany's mouth hang open in awe as she caressed the limb-like prosthetic, I smirked while placing my hand atop hers. "Destroy it a little." Although hesitant at my words, Vanye eventually did as I asked; with her mana seeping out of her hand, she destroyed a small piece of the prosthetic before retracting her arm.
"I-It's repairing itself!?" Vanye stood in awe and disbelief as we watched the prosthetic slowly repair the damage Vanye had inflicted upon it. 'Unfortunately, the blacksmith Kurama knew was only able to make these at the legendary tier; otherwise, I'm confident they would be much stronger.' Given the fact that my own limbs were the main ingredient, Mythical tier should've been relatively easy, but there was no mortal alive capable of forging Mythical tier equipment; only gods could do such things, so while unfortunate and a bit of a waste, I was still satisfied with the end-product. "So, are you just going to continue to observe it in awe? Let me put it on you." Pushing Vanye onto the bed, she calmly lay there while I gently removed the prosthetics from her body, which were damaged and worn down from the countless battles.
Grabbing the new prosthetic, I carefully seated it into her shoulder, causing her to scrunch her face in pain before she sighed. I then did the same with the two other prosthetics, tossing the old ones into the wardrobe as she slowly stood up and got accustomed to the new ones. "So, how are they?" Folding my arms with a smirk, I watched Vanye hop back and forth before she suddenly began attacking me, prompting me to follow along as I blocked her attacks; after a minute, Vanye finally stopped and lowered her fists. "They're amazing… The old ones always limited the amount of strength I could use in my attacks, but I just attacked you with everything I had, and they didn't so much as creak." With a faint smile, Vanye opened and closed her fists before glancing at me, causing me to smirk.
"Well, I had the blacksmith use the most durable material available, Adamantium… It was also expensive as hell." I whispered the final part to myself since, while expensive, Kurama paid it off on my behalf as a way to pay for all the excess blood she was able to take for herself. Without warning, Vanye suddenly leaped onto me, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist as she tightly hugged me with her whole body. "Thank you." "Anything for my wife." Brushing aside Vanye's hair, I gave her a few kisses before she removed herself from me. "I'm glad you love them; I will let you get dressed and get accustomed to them. I've still got things to do."
Waving at Vanye, I was about to exit the room, though before I could, she suddenly yanked me backwards, causing me to fall onto the bed; with Vanye mounting me, I couldn't help but wryly smile as I could already tell where this was going. "I know of an exercise that will help me get accustomed to them; I just need you to help me." Faintly smirking, Vanye leaned down and whispered into my ear while destroying my pants with but a tap of her finger, freeing my semi-erect cock. 'I really had things to do, though, Vanye.' However, even so, there was no way I could ignore Vanye, and so for the next hour, we got to work, ensuring she was accustomed to her new prosthetics.
"Haa, why are they so loud?" "Haha, to be honest, none of us has any room to speak, Jasmine." "I-It is embarrassing to admit it, but you do not lie, Vanimo."
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A week passed by in what seemed like a flash, and the day when we intended to initiate the plan had arrived. "Lazuli, you understand the plan?" "Of course, Alex." "Why are you only asking Lazuli if she knows the plan? I studied it." Said Yuki with a slight frown as she folded her arms and eyed me while the five of us hid deep within the forest. "I'm glad you studied, Yuki, but when it comes to executing plans, Lazuli is the best, even better than me… That is also why she'll be in charge of this operation." Yuki clearly wasn't happy at the news of me appointing Lazuli in charge, considering she was the unspoken vice-captain of our party, but if I were to be honest, when it comes to jobs that require technical and logistical skills, I would always choose Lazuli.
"I have no objection." "Yep, I'll follow Lazuli's lead." "Tsk, no one asked you, damn bird!" Before Yuki could strangle Talis to death, I quickly held her back while handing her Zartha, causing her expression to worsen. "Tch, this doesn't bring back good memories. Why are you handing me your weapon?" "Because while Lazuli may be in charge of carrying out this operation, your job will be to protect everyone in case things don't go as we planned… As for why I'm handing you my weapon, it'll let me know how you guys are performing; I'll also be able to inform you guys if Sash decides to return." Although Yuki was still a bit upset, she didn't look like she was going to argue, which was all that I needed. "If you think Yuki's dumb, just say so, Alex." Blankly looking at the smirking Lazuli, I was forced to hold Yuki back once more, though I did allow her to punch Lazuli once.
"Alright, let's be serious now." Smacking both Lazuli and Yuki, they, along with Vanye and Talis, all donned solemn expressions while I sighed in relief. "Nobody forgot anything, right? You all have vials of my blood?" Seeing everyone shake their heads, I lightly smiled before taking a moment to kiss each one of my wives, as this would be the last time I'd see them until the mission was finished. "Listen, I'm not going to ask you all to save anyone from the Church's tyranny in the town, but if possible, please help. However, remember, you, no matter what happens, you four must come back alive; do whatever it takes."
My words were rather hypocritical, but in the end of the day, despite how much I wanted to help people, their lives were priority number one, even if they had to sacrifice the civilians in there, I wanted them to return alive… I may not have done such things, but living without your loved one was far more cruel than merely dying. "Heh, got it, Alex." "I haven't lived this new life of mine long enough to die." With Yuki and Vanye's confident replies, I felt relieved and, without hesitating any longer, I teleported away, reappearing directly inside our house beside Jasmine. I had Michelle and Chloe stay with Kurama and Kana for today, so it was just Jasmine and I in this house.
"Are they ready?" "Yep." "What about you?" "After I recover my mana, I'll be more than prepared." Kissing Jasmine's cheek, I closed my eyes and meditated, quickly absorbing the mana from the atmosphere. As I did, I noticed that the absorption rate had increased slightly. 'Well, that was perfect. Meditation must've leveled up.' Thanks to the slight increase, it would only take roughly twenty minutes to completely refill my mana pool. 'While I'm at it, might as well allocate my thousands of skill points.'