Cultivating Anthro CEO RPG Hero Harem Reincarnation In Another World

Akira faced the [Town Executioner], holding the [Maidé Ball] up slowly with a squeamish look of uncertainty.

"So, do I just...throw it down and…?"

"That is correct, prisoner," the executioner replied. "I know it feels strange on your first try, but you must have faith in the ball's technology. No harm will come to it, regardless of how hard you throw."

"Alright," Akira replied uneasily. "Whatever you say…"

This was it. The moment that would decide everything. The moment when she would get to meet her first Pocket Girl, upon whose shoulders her fate solely rested.

While Chunhua and Vash and Rudolf, and all the rest of the prisoners gathered there watched with bated breath, Akira simply loosened her grip on the thing and let it drop to the ground. In doing so, activating its mechanisms just as it made collision: prompting it to "bounce" off the floor somewhat; in a diagonal trajectory, away from Akira.

It then remained suspended in midair, through whatever strange mechanisms compelled it, issuing forth its form-manifesting beam of bright white light, to conjure a silhouette in possession of what, at most, could be ascertained to be dual pigtails. 

However, there is little need for guessing, as the Pocket Maid became fully revealed within seconds, to the shock of everyone in attendance:

The Pocket Maid in question was of the appearance of a young girl, just like the Town Executioner's own Lorica, but otherwise completely opposite in all regards. Because whereas Lorica was equipped in heavy armor and a giant sword; possessing an overall refined, soldierly air to her: the one summoned by Akira was hunkered like an animal on all fours. Wolfishly growling and snarling, garbed in midriff tribal leathers decorated with plucked feathers. Donning a necklace of strung-together tiny animal bones, and an extravagant headpiece composed of bits of plants: all bent and twisted to form into a bristly, brown wig-like shape with a pair of small, curved horns.

"Woah!" Akira exclaimed. 'She's totally badass, and hot as shit!'

Her wild, billowy, ginger orange pigtails were haphazardly formed out of her messily curled hair, stuck with specks of dirt and twigs. The flesh of her lean, toned torso, well-built arms and legs with wide thighs were tanned a dark peach color by the sun, spotted with light brown freckles—especially across the region of her cheeks, and the rift between her murderously glaring green eyes.

"It's...one of them!" the [Town Executioner] said, his Lorica's mouth hanging open as she stared at it in horror. "Your Pocket Maid is a Forbidden!"

"A Forbidden?" Vash questioned Rudolf, not liking how ominous it sounded.

"Aye. They're a group of savages, living out in the wilds of the Wild Rift, to the West of here," he explained. "Feral madmen, warriors and nature shamans who challenge both us Norns and the Cultivators on their claims to be the rightful rulers of Seaspan."

Vash awkwardly smiled. "Well, I guess Akira's lucky to have one on her side, then."

"Oh, no. I wouldn't say that he's lucky just yet," Rudolf then said, with a dire air. "It is a well-known fact that the Forbidden would rather die fighting than allow themselves to be captured." 

His gaze narrowed, in seriousness.

"For all we know, this one could decide to kill herself on the spot—as Wild Riftmen are known to do."

Akira, hearing this worrisome prediction, eyed the Pocket Maiden nervously. "Please, don't kill yourself. At least not until after I'm safely out of here. Uhh..."—he glanced at the space above her head, expecting to see a name floating there, but curiously seeing only [?????].

"A pocket maid's name is determined by its trainer," the [Town Executioner] said. "Therefore, it is up to you to decide what to call this…" —he grimaced—"creature."

The Forbidden loli hissed in response, arming itself with a dual pair of axes.

Akira, aka the legend formerly known as SexLover69, was surprisingly unsure of what to call her, though; having never so much as owned a pet in his life. Because pets would've gotten hair all over his fancy furniture.

"I guess I'll just call her…"—he paused, his brilliant mind working in overdrive. Until, at last, he found it! Declaring:

"Cindy!"

"Cindy…?" Vash and Rudolf both grumbled, staring in disappointment. Chunhua rolled her eyes, snickering to herself. The executioner stood with his hands on his hips, shaking his head as Lorica frowned in sympathy for her fellow battle pet's misfortune. 

Even "Cindy" peered back at Akira with sulky eyes, as he was beginning to feel like he was being put under the spotlight.

"What? It doesn't matter what I call you."

"Oh, but prisoner, it does matter," the [Town Executioner] said. "Because a Pocket Maid is only as strong as the bond she has with her trainer, and so forcing one to go by a name she doesn't appreciate is already a step in the wrong direction."

Akira scoffed. "Aren't we supposed to be battling with them?" he asked, baffled. "So why are they just standing there, not doing anything?"

"Because we haven't yet properly commenced the battle," he said as he then held out his Maidé Ball before him, pointing it toward Akira. "Now you must do as I do, to show that you hereby accept my challenge to a [Maidé Match]!"

Nodding, his chest pounding, Akira followed the executioner: Raising his [Maidé Ball], pointing it at them in turn. Forcing an outward look of determination.

"That's right!" he declared. "Cindy and I accept your challenge."

Just as the words escaped his lips, a bright beam of light shot out from both his and the executioner's [Maidé Balls], angled upward, to meet at a point in the clear space above the heads of their [Pocket Maids].

As this happened, Akira and Cindy both were stunned to watch as a curtain of light proceeded to creep and protrude outward. Falling downward, in a slope, on all sides from where the beams had intersected, to form a translucent dome shape around where the Pocket Maids were standing; an immaterial structure, formed entirely of the light radiated from the [Maidé Balls]. Through which, despite its weak appearance, Akira was unable to pass his hand through—the surface being warm and gently rippling, like the surface of a body of water, yet solid as a diamond—its intended purpose intuitive enough as to not warrant any further explanation.

"This is...an arena," he mused aloud, as Cindy was observed to be struggling to break free of it—smashing her axes, punching and kicking, slamming her entire body against it. However, to no avail.

A floating HUD then appeared in front of him suddenly, causing him to gasp.

On it, there were listed four options:

"[Fight], [Item], [Switch] and [Yield]," the [Town Executioner] read aloud, from a HUD of his own. "These are your four options in battle. Either to fight, which allows you to select a move to attack with. To use an item in your inventory, to heal or strengthen your [Pocket Maid]. To switch out your [Pocket Maid] for another in your possession. Or—"

"To surrender," Akira interjected. "I know what 'yielding' means, and that isn't even an option for me here."

The executioner smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Not even if it might spare your [Pocket Maid's] life?" he questioned, stroking his chin in contemplation. "The outcome of a [Maidé Match] is only decided through death, or one side's surrender."

Akira was unmoved, as he bore a cruel smirk. "That's fine: I have no reason to care whether this girl lives or dies, so I'll have her fight until the very end."

Stacy, unleashing a furious growl, angrily lunged at the barrier between them while he stood there, not even flinching, with a smug smile. While at the same time Lorica, who had remained respectfully quiet up until now, stepped forward finally in a fit of righteous fury.

"You despicable, cutthroat bastard!" she yelled, slicing her giant two handed sword through the air as he and Stacy turned to her, frozen. "If it can be avoided, I shall not needlessly kill this innocent creature!"

"Eh?" Akira simply squinted, peering down at her. "Little girl, is that really your decision to make…?"

"Little girl?" She gave a wicked, harsh laugh. "Stupid outsider! Every [Pocket Maid] was a fully grown, adult woman once; before we were captured, and the [Maidé Ball] technology turned us into this form!" she said. "It isn't even possible to make a child into a Pocket Maid!"

"Indeed," the [Town Executioner] interjected. "You might be interested to know Lorica was once my wife. And it is only now, because of this godforsaken treaty, that she has been forced to carry out my executions, as well as fight on my behalf."

"Our marriage is strong enough to endure through this difficult period," Lorica said. "We have bested many foes, and you shall be our next. However, not through bloodshed."

"That is why..." the [Town Executioner] went on to say, "I shall propose a condition of disqualification through knockout."

Akira nodded, giving it some thought.

"And, what if I were to refuse…?"

To which Chunhua responded, cutting in: "I'll give my archers the signal."

Akira huffed. 'Of course.'

Sighing, he relented, saying "very well. I agree to your conditions."

And so began Akira's first [Maidé Match].