AN: A short, but interesting little chapter I think. The next one will focus a little more on the world and such.

Chapter 8: Critical Arousal

The sound of the hot water knob squeaking echoed through the bathroom. Water trailed down Scott's body as he leaned forward, his head down. Cerene had already left, and he needed time to contemplate about the things that had happened recently.

"Shall I wash you back?" asked the sweetly sensual voice of Rosalynn. Scott opened his eyes and looked to the now open door. The glorious form of his newest associate could easily be seen through the misty haze of steam that permeated the interior of his shower.

Briefly, he balked at the idea. His old world sensibilities tried to rise up and remind him that this situation had to be a trap. However, that world had sucked. It had sucked hard in comparison to his current lifestyle. "Sure, if you like."

Rosalynn smiled warmly then sauntered into the room after closing the door behind her. If the bathroom had not been full of steam before, it certainly would be now.

Scott continued to lean against the side of the shower while the naked demoness began to lightly caress his frame. Her skillful fingers traced the curvature of his muscles with a slow, delicate, grace.

Neither of them spoke for a time. Rosalynn's hands did the talking. She caressed Scott's back tenderly while soaping him down from top to bottom. Near the end of the shower, she slipped her hand down to slowly stroke his manhood in her soapy hand. "This needs to be clean as well." she whispered dulcetly into his ear.

A soft shuddering sensation raced through his body. He leaned back against her and felt the sweet pressure of her breasts pressing against his back.

Emboldened by his sudden acceptance, Rosalynn slipped one hand around to lightly caress his chest while he slowly stroked his shaft. She kissed at the back of his ear a few times then hotly pressed her sex against the curve of his ass.

"Scott." she whispered softly. "There are things you need to become accustomed to in this world."

There was only so much that a man could take before his will was broken. Scott had reached that point. "Teach me?" he asked in a low voice.

Using her skillful fingers she directed him to turn around, then wrapped her arms around him. They embraced warmly in the shower for quite some time. Nothing more erotic than a sensual snuggle in the heart of a steamy bath occurred. Yet, neither of them went unfulfilled.

Fully clothed and back in the living room, Scott and Rosalynn once again sat across from each other. They were soon embroiled in a deep philosophical conversation about the nature of the world.

"Is it really that common?" asked Scott, still surprised by what he was only now hearing about his new profession.

"Of course it is, you silly boy." said Rosalynn. She sat across from Scott, one leg lightly crossed over the other while her arms rested on the arm rests of her chair. She had the air of someone who was used to being in charge.

Incredulous, Scott asked, "How does that even work? Sure, sex can make you tired but how do you collapse from it after a few minutes?"

A delightful laugh echoed through the room. "Sex on its own does not work that way, obviously." She leaned forward then shook her finger at him in a friendly manner. "The special sex techniques developed by many demons and their masters are a different matter."

"I can literally be sexed to death in only a few minutes?" he asked, concern rising up to do battle with his current sense of mirth.

"Yes, though most only lead to exhaustion. There are even official harem battles won and lost in top tournaments due to such things." said Rosalynn in a candid manner.

"How does that even work though? Are you punching people with your vagina or something?" The mechanics of sex battle techniques were interesting, but certainly a confusing concept.

"Shall I show you one?" she asked him innocently. The tilt of her head and the sweetness of her smile hid her predatory intentions nicely.

Scott smiled at her. "Alright, defeat me with your awesome skills."

Her laughter resounded through the room briefly before she hopped to her feet. She placed one hand to her hip then gestured toward him with the other. "Just remember, you asked for it."

Before Scott could laugh or say, "Bring it on." he felt a wave of force wash over him. He gasped loudly as his body began to heat up rapidly.

"W-what?" he gasped as his heart began to hammer in his chest. He looked into Rosalynn's eyes and knew that he was lost. Once she had been a beautiful and exotic woman who exuded a sweet and sexy demeanor. Now she was a veritable goddess. Her every movement and supple curve caused his mouth to water slightly.

Rosalynn lifted her foot then casually pressed it against his crotch. Scott bucked a little and started to pant as her toes skillfully caressed him through the thin fabric of his pants. "Worthless dog." she said, a cruel and beautiful smile upon her lips.

Scott fell back onto the bed. Part of him attempted to resist what was happening, but he could not. Somehow her delicate foot had completely overpowered him.

"This pathetic dick... Did you think it could satisfy me?" She massaged his balls slightly with her toes then pressed down cruelly. "A filthy little hairless monkey like you?"

The naughty professor dominated him with her toes for a brief few minutes before he disgraced himself utterly by cumming profusely with his pants on. Scott fouled himself with his pathetic arousal, and then immediately felt as though the strength had left his body.

It was difficult for him to breath. Moving was completely out of the question. Scott was now completely at the mercy of his beautiful captor.

"You useless child, you've ruined your pants." said Rosalynn with a slight smirk, before she stepped on him a little.

Mercifully, she relented after teasing him for another few minutes. Scott had never been so aroused and so exhausted in the entirety of his life.

"The... The hell was that?" asked Scott between lightly panted breaths. His entire body was aflame with sexual passion, and the desire to claim the woman standing confidently before him. But he could still barely move.

"The most basic foot fetish sexual domination technique. Doom Pressure." said Rosalyn amiably before she sauntered back to her chair and sat down.

Scott struggled to sit up. His exhaustion was quite extreme, however. It took a great deal of concerted effort to reach his goal. Slumped forward like a drunken hobo, he asked. "How did it work, though?"

A casual gesture of her hand was quickly followed by a slow motion effort to cross one leg over the other. "It works on the same basic principle as using mana to reinforce a physical attack. The only difference is that it is designed to inflict overwhelming pleasure that leaves the recipient too weak to defend."

"So, you overwhelm someone with pleasure and they'll be too weak to fight back?" asked Scott.

Rosalynn nodded her head lightly then smiled. "Oh yes, it also leaves the opponent in a state of critical arousal that causes them to be more susceptible to such techniques, and even mental compulsion, for a time."

In response, Scott eyed her critically for a moment then said, "Sounds kind of rapey."

She nodded her head again and her smile grew three sizes. "Yes, yes it does."

He slapped his palm against his forehead then sighed. "My hopes for the future... I don't even know anymore."

Scott and his beautiful companion spoke at length about the nature of how sex battling worked. The key was to link his spiritual powers to his erotic nature. The more he focused on pleasuring someone, the stronger the power would be. The key was sexual confidence.

***

The day had been filled with a quiet sort of adventure. Scott had learned many things about the nature of how the world worked, and about himself. After he had seen Rosalynn off, he returned to the top of the hill to find that Reina barred his path.

The angry raven haired girl stared at him, two fists on her hips, and waited for him to speak. She continued to wait even as he passed her by without even a hello.

Reina turned quickly and said, "Don't you have anything to say, you pervert?"

Scott stopped then glanced back over his shoulder. "Get over yourself." he said. The blue haired harem master in training continued on his way while the angry girl stared openly at him.

The girl's mouth opened and closed twice then she snorted and stalked away. Her grandfather was going to hear about the latest injustice!

He ignored her stomping and headed toward the training hall. His training had been interrupted by the visitation for the day, not that he had minded in the least.

Recently, Scott had been introduced to the basics of developing his mana. A specific diet mixed with lots of focused meditation had led to small steady increases. Soon, he would be able to drastically increase his mana, or so Grandpa had claimed. The main component of his training seemed simple. He needed to clear his mind and concentrate on his breathing.

He situated himself within the training hall and began the first phase. Time passed while he worked, it took quite some time to clear the most recent images of note from his mind. Rosalynn and Cerene were quite determined not to be put aside within his mental landscape. Eventually he overcame his carnal desires. It was time to begin of the second phase. The meditation techniques only prepared the mind and body for what was to come.

Scott began the next step by focusing on a single image. In the uncluttered landscape of his mind, he envisioned a spark of light. His focus became entirely centered on that tiny little spark. The spark soon became a small flame, like that of a candle.

The next part was the most difficult. He had to tie the image to the mana lying dormant within his spirit. In order to do that he had to perfectly envision the most basic seal that he had been taught. It was a focusing rune that was designed with a simple array of geometric symbols. He mentally drew a red square around the flame. Within that square he envisioned a circle. This circle was bright yellow and surrounded the flame completely.

The final part of the symbol was a triangle at the center of the circle. This component was green and perfectly capture the fire.

Two dimensional images were turned into three dimensional variants. The flame was now held within a pyramid. This pyramid was soon held within a sphere. Not long after that all three were within a cube.

His imagery now three dimensional, the final component was to be laid. Scott envisioned a seed within the flame. The seed slowly grew into a flower. Once that flower bloomed a symbol in the shape of a spiral began to rotate slowly in the center of the growing wonder. It was a great deal of symbolism, but it all served a purpose. It effectively acted as a spiritual language, a sort of mental programming.

The cube represented the universe. The sphere represented the Earth. The triangle represented humanity, and the flame itself was the spark of will. Once the flower grew in the center, life and will were connected. The spiral was the sign that all things worked in harmony.

Scott envisioned that spiral flowing upward for a brief moment then visualized the spiral flow reversing course. Immediately, his breathing became labored. His skin became flush. Not long after that his boy began to heat rapidly. Sweat began to pour freely in a desperate bid to force a cool down.

The beginning stages of the practice that Grandpa had started him on where the most difficult. He had to sweat out the impurities and learn to grasp his inner essence without allowing it to escape. Every bit of mana that he could hold onto, he could use to make his energy channels widen.

Time passed. Scott held his mana back, prevented it from leaving his body with every breath as it normally would. It built to a point where he thought that his body might burst into flames. Eventually, it reached a point where he thought that he might simply burst altogether. It was a familiar point by now. Once reached, he was to completely relax his grip on his mana and let it do as it would.

A bright flash of light flared around him. His concentration was disturbed to the point that the image in his mind went out of focus. Scott sighed in exhaustion, but forced himself to his feet. It was slow going at first, but the next part was crucial. He walked slowly around the room. He was not far enough along for vigorous exercise. Instead he simply needed to allow his mana to flow swiftly while he performed normal work.

Ten times around the room, and then back to his spot for further training. Scott began the entire process over again, starting with his breathing. So long as he did not overstrain his maximum mana, but only reached his capacity, he could do this for hours on end. It was tiring, but it also worked quite well.

Grandpa had mentioned more advanced techniques that he might learn in a few months, something to do with meridians. For the moment, however, he needed to focus on the simply building blocks of his power. Tomorrow would be spent as an actual work day. Today, was a day to cultivate his future.