Another Game! (Jessica Ushiromiya TG Comm)

Battler stared at the most troublesome and annoying woman that he had ever met in his life. Ever since they had met, Beatrice had been nothing but trouble in one form or another and had tortured him, him, and his family. All of the people that he had loved had been torn apart from him by this woman in one form or another. Even now his blood boiled at the mere sight of the Golden Witch. Everything that she had done came rushing forward to the forefront of his mind as if it was happening all over again.

The Golden Witch, Beatrice wore a bow adorned with a rose in her blonde hair that was neatly done in a bun. Around her neck was a black choker. She wore an extravagant black and gold ball gown-like dress. She wore the successor ring of the Ushiromiya on her left middle finger. She had long manicured nails that had a bright red polish on them. She looked like she could have been the perfect example of regal classical beauty. If only she had a gentle temperament to match her looks.

Despite her good looks, her true personality had revealed itself the more they interacted. She was a cruel vile woman who toyed with people’s lives as if they were dolls for her amusement.  She reveled in the despair of her victims and the sorrow that they went through as if it was a fine wine for her to drink. A true psychopath.

“That was a fun game Battler,” The Golden Witch commented with a cheerful smile, that had a tinge of viciousness in it.

“For for you maybe,” Battler spat, recalling everything that had happened ever since he had come to this damn island. He recalled his little cousin Maria’s words that fateful day about the island being cursed and the old woman's words about how Maria could see things that they couldn't. He hadn't given them much thought after, thinking they were little more than a joke, especially with how quick Maria had gotten over it at first.

If he could turn back the clock he would do so many things differently. He would have done whatever he could to get him and everyone else to listen to Maria’s words and leave this place before it was too late, and never come back. Now all he could do was move forward and beat Beatrice.

“Oh don’t worry Battler, this game will be different from the last one,” the Golden Witch informed gleefully as if that was somehow supposed to put him at ease. “This game won’t be another fantasy murder game. After all, replaying the same type of game over and over again, gets boring after a while, no matter how much you love it. Instead, this game will be playing more to your strengths as meager as they might be. We will still be keeping the mystery theme though because no true game doesn’t have that aspect in it.”

“There isn’t going to be another game!” Battler growled as he took a step forward. Whatever game that she wanted to play next he wouldn’t let happen. Not again. Never again would it happen. It didn’t help that she was insulting him further and was going to make sure that she regrets everything that she had said and done.

”Now then let the next game begin!” Beatrice declared as she raised her hands. With a snap of her fingers, the world seemed to ripple around her.

Battler gasped as it suddenly felt like his heart was trying to break out of his chest. He instinctively brought his hand over it and pressed down on his torso, as if he was trying to make sure that it wouldn’t get away. The young man tried to keep his eyes open and fight the pain as best he could, but it was getting harder by the second. He stared at the Golden Witch cursing her in his mind every way that he could. The train of thought that he had finally ended when he could no longer stay conscious.

Battler blinked and looked around wondering where he was. He looked down and saw a large cover was over his body and that he was on a bed. His eyes wandered around, but he didn’t move as his heart pounded, as if he was trying to make his presence as small as possible to anyone else in the room. After a moment, he realized that he was in the room that he had stayed in at the manor, the place looking as clean as it usually did.

With the sudden realization of where he was, he leaped out of his bed and looked at everything intensely to make sure that it was as it should be as if it was all part of a setup or trap. The room looked just like it had before, and was just as pristine. As if Shannon and the other servants had cleaned his room before he got in it.

The young man looked at his body as if he was making sure that it was real. He prodded his limbs and gulped as he walked around. He looked around the room, half expecting some hidden trap to go off for something to pierce his body or something. Everything seemed like what it should be, but he didn’t believe it for one moment.

It would be a mistake to trust anything that she said, no matter what she said. There was bound to be a catch or something. That bitch was easily the cruelest person in the world and no doubt had something set up for it. He wasn’t sure what to expect with her but knew that whatever was the case was, it could only be bad for him. No doubt this was a move by her to set him up to fail and suffer the consequences of her game. Still, that brought the main question he had to the front of his mind.

“Alright what is the game going to be this time?” Battler wondered aloud. All games had rules, no matter how few or many there were, there were always rules to be followed during it.

The problem was that she hadn’t told him what the rules for this game were, or what the full game was. The bitch of a witch hadn’t given him any information to run off of and therefore anything could happen.

“She has to be getting a laugh out of this,” Battler grumbled angrily. He could practically hear her laughing at him right now from wherever she was.

The only way he was going to stop her was by playing this stupid game of hers, even if he would rather not. He would make sure to make up for all the trouble she had done later.

The first thing he had to do was figure out what the game was and the rules. There had to be a mystery to it from what she said earlier. Then again he couldn’t trust anything that woman said, even if it was connected to the game. The first time had been clearer too than a long riddle that he had to decipher. Back then he hadn’t understood it until the murders had started. It had given him a pattern to work off of and how many would die. No matter the case, he wasn’t going to find them here.

Once he had those then it would give him a start and hopefully an outline of what to expect. He was going to need to think ahead if he had to play the entire game that she had in mind. If that was the case then he needed to think of ways to turn the situation in his favor and then flip the board to get one over her.

The young man breathed in and out, wondering what would happen when the game truly began. He knew that the moment he opened that door, that the game would start and he would have to play. Not that he had a choice now, he wouldn’t be able to back out now no matter how much he might have wanted to, even if that was what he wished. There was no way that he was going to let her go unchallenged after all that she had done. Who knows what would happen if she was able to do whatever that she pleased.

Battler left the room, and a small click went off in his mind as if a clicker was right by his ear. The young man sighed, breathing in and out. This was it, the game officially began now that he had left the room. His heart pounded a little faster and balled his hands. Now, where was he going to start, now that the game had begun and he had no idea what the goal was?

The Ushiromiya boy looked around, taking the environment in. Everything was the same as it was, but it was all different now. The memories of all that had happened the first time he had encountered Beatrice came rushing forward and made it all look so different as if it was some sort of distorted macabre environment. It had tainted it all and made the environment almost unbearable. The first thought that he had was to get off of this island so he would never have to come here ever again.

“Not now,” Battler said as he ran his hand through his hair. He couldn’t afford to let himself get lost in the past and what had happened. Things were different now and would be different. He would just have to operate as best he could and ignore the insanity of it all. Once this was over he would bever have to come here again, but right now he had a game to win.

He wasn’t going to let what happened last time repeat itself. He was going to prove that there were no such things as witches. This time he would come out on top and prove her wrong. He would save everyone from her and whatever tricks that she had in her back pocket. There was no way that she was going to make him believe in her witch malarky. She wanted him to believe in her so bad, then she was going to have to do a lot more than she did before he would.

There had to be a clue or something that she left to get him started. All games needed a starting point, no matter how small they were. The big question was what would be the starting point and where would it go. Otherwise, it would take ages before the game would begin again. Suddenly it came to him where he might find the clue he needed and a heavy frown crossed his face as he recalled the start of the last ‘game’.

“A riddle,” Battler muttered disdainfully. The game had truly begun last time with a riddle that told them all about what would happen during the nights. It had been in an order of events that gave a vague idea of what would happen. They haven’t figured out what would happen and if they had paid more attention they might have caught it and stopped her. There was one place that he was sure he could find hints as to what he needed to do. The one place that seemed to be the start of it all for this nightmare and everything else.

The young man ran down the hall, eager to see if his thoughts would be correct. If there was a time limit then he had to move and find it before the punishment that she had in mind came to effect. The big question was what would be the so-called penalties in this game. If he knew what they were and what would happen to him then he could figure out how to avoid them, and maybe bend the rules to his favor. It was no doubt not as clear-cut as he was making it out to be, but the meaning behind it was the same. Then he would take the steps needed to win the game.

A heaviness in his chest that he wasn’t sure what to make of as he reached the main hall. He knew that he would find a plaque here that would tell him everything that he needed to stand a chance and what her goal in this one was. It looked just as he remembered and just as pristine, even if his aunt had died here and what had happened to the others.

The young man stared at the portrait for a moment, almost as if he was staring at Beatrice herself. It looked just like it had before. It had the same dress, smile, everything about it that pissed him off. He was half tempted to grab the bottom of the portrait and tear it off the wall and then defile it any way that he could. He would have loved to do the same with the one in his grandfather’s office.

The memories of what had happened here, what she did to his aunts, Genji, Maria, and the others. Guilt welled up inside of him at what had happened. Would things have been different if they hadn’t fallen for the trap that Beatrice had set? Would she have failed and would they have come out on top if they didn’t get blinded on those other things? He shook his head Getting lost in those thoughts wasn’t going to be any help. He had to focus on the now if he was going to win.

The young man stepped closer and looked down at the plaque and as he thought there was an inscription there, but unlike the one that was there, the words were different but worrisome. Still, a sense of pride went through him at his guess being correct. At least now he had a lead.

You persistently look for rational explanations when there are none to be had.

You keep looking for ways to fight the fantastical and yet you just can’t.

The only way to make you see it is to show you things that are impossible for you to prove.

So let the game be another mystery.

For every failure in your investigation, you shall be punished, and set on a new path.

A new road that will be one that you have never walked before.

The failures will grow and become more severe, setting you deeper on the path until there is no point of return for you.

Let us have fun as you walk down it.

Battler Wanted to pinch his nose and slam his head into a wall as he a migraine came over him. He was a fool to think that this one would be any easier to understand than the last one. This one was a little more straightforward but was arguably even vaguer than the first one that he had read on his first night at the island. Despite that, it told him what she was planning to do this time.

This time she intended to tilt the board more in her favor so that he was the one who would lose the game, despite having won the last game. It wasn’t that unexpected since there was no way that she would let herself get defeated. He would tilt the game as much as he could if their positions were reversed. Still, there was something far more distressing about this new riddle than the old one.

There was one thing that stood out to him, the difference between this new test and the old one. The last one had admitted that Beatrice would kill people on a schedule to be sacrificed for her ritual. This one didn't have anything that resembled a schedule so he might not be on a timer thankfully. For the most part, it seemed like gibberish to him that he was sure had another meaning that he couldn't see yet. Yet the strangest thing was the fact that there wasn't anything that showed she would kill him. It seemed unlike her considering all that he had heard about her, from the servents, and what she had done.

So whatever she had in mind was no doubt going to be bad for him. The only question was, was it going to make him prefer death so much instead of something else. After all that he had seen and what had happened to everyone that he loved her, he doubted that there was anything that she could to do him.

“Well whatever it is, it ain't going to happen,” Battler smirked confidently.

This one hint was a start, a lead that he could build upon until he finally managed to beat her. He just needed more clues until he was able to do it fully. The moment he had all the clutches, then it would be all over for her. The rage that she had when he did would be priceless and one that he would savor for years.

The young man pondered where he might find those hints. It would have to be a place that would have significant value or meaning. He didn’t know too much about her personally outside of what he had seen wasn’t sure if he would be able to find anything if he looked around his grandfather’s office. There was no way that he would be able to sort through all of that before she decided to do something, and he didn’t want to give her that time. It would be time wasted if that were to happen and he didn’t want to waste any of it.

Suddenly an idea came to him about what he might find those hints. A pit formed in his stomach and he didn’t like where it might go, but it sounded like a good possibility. It would fit what he knew about her and he could already feel the bile and anger that he had risen the more he thought about it. He wanted to refute it, but despite how many times he had flipped the board in his head and tried to fight it, but the more he got in her mindset, the harder it became to fight. If he wanted to torture someone like that then he would have done the same thing.

“This is going to suck,” Battler sighed, as the places to his mind again and he wondered which would be the best starting point. The first place that came to him was the farthest but would have the most people, but there were places closer. This hall was where one of the murders had happened, but it didn’t have anything here to show that it had happened, which he was grateful for.

Battler quickly went outside and headed to the shed wondering what he would find out there. The young man prayed that he was wrong and that the inside wouldn’t be like he thought. A loud crack went off and he looked up at the sky to see dark thunderous clouds that were a good fit for his mood right now. He would rather it had all ended before he was forced into this weird macabre game again. Even so, he could see it with so much ease that he wasn’t sure.

At least this time it didn't seem like he would have to worry about any of his family being the killer this time. Now he knew who the true enemy was, what their intentions were, and could fight them. Even if he was stuck doing another lousy game it was far clearer now than it was back then.

To his shock, he saw the same thing that had been there on the first night, as if it had remained untouched. The symbol made his mind flashback to that day and he shuddered as he stepped closer, gulping. His hands twitched and he could feel his body go cold about what was going to happen next. He stepped closer, having to force his body to do so. He looked a the clouds, hoping to see some thunder or lightning go off that would give him a reason to leave this for later, but didn’t see or hear either.

For a moment he braced himself for what he might find in there, despite knowing what he needed to do. He threw open the shed door and braced himself to see the smashed in faces of his father, Shannon, and the rest of his family. It was the only way that he would be able to beat her and that was to play the game. No matter how painful it was. In one quick motion Battler acted, forcing his body to pry the thing open before he could even consider what would happen next. The shed rattled as the door opened and jumped when it slammed into place. He forced himself to look down and truly see what was inside.

The young man froze when he saw the dead bodies of his family there but this time he wasn't hit by the grotesque smell of their bodies. It was as if they were all props that had been left behind by a movie studio. He was afraid to touch them and see if they were as real as they looked. He knew that nothing he did here would affect anything, but even so, he was afraid of what he might receive, he had heard long ago that a dead person’s body would get cold and a small part of him wondered the validity of that. Would their bodies be as cold as he expected? He was fine not knowing that answer and would prefer not to know, no matter how much his curiosity demanded to know.

It was hard to believe that she could move them on her own, but just because she didn't look strong, didn't mean that she couldn't have had some way to lift them. After all specific holds and lifts were done for a reason and a person’s body can be deceiving. She could have used some special hold or an item to help her out. As for clothes, she simply could have replaced them after she was finished moving them and then tossed them somewhere if she didn’t destroy them.

Still, the question was why would their bodies, or convincing fakes he hoped be here. They had to be a part of the game, but the question was how. Due to the storm, the marking should have been washed away like last time.

Suddenly Battler knew why they were here and what she had wanted. She wouldn’t have left the bodies for him to just find. So he had to figure out how she had killed them. She had tried to show him how he had killed his family in a closed room that no one could have gotten into but he refused to believe that was how she did it.

“Maybe she did it by smashing their bodies with a rock,” Battler muttered. With something like that she could do injuries like the ones they had. Now that he thought about it, she didn't even need to be something like that to do this. With the tools here in a shed like this other tools could suffice as well. Any one of them could work with the right force and power behind them. He could leave out of the sharper implements. With how devastating the injures were there was no way that they could do it. There would be some sign of a cut he was sure, instead of just the mess that it was.

The more he thought about it, the more confident that he felt in his answer. Besides if magic was involved, then that just meant that it was sort of technology or something that he didn’t know or understood yet. The more he thought about it, the clearer it would become.

“You killed them with a rock or hammer didn't you?” Battler said, even though he was by himself. Images of the battle between her and her victims played out in his head, he imagined the look of panic on their faces before they were struck down by the tool that she used. He didn't know if she was here or listening from somewhere hidden close by, but it would explain how she was so close and able to see everything going on.

Suddenly Battler shuddered as it felt like someone had breathed down his neck. He turned around expecting to see Beatrice with a weapon of some sort. Something seemed to have fallen on his head and he jumped as he looked around, expecting to see the madwoman herself, but didn’t.

Battler’s auburn spiky hair started to change and feel off as if someone had placed a wad of chewing gum in his hair and was spreading it out. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, frowning at the idea that a piece of gum had gone in. The young man froze at the feeling of his hair. It was softer than he remembered it being, even though he did take good care of his hair. It now felt like it could rival silk.

He raised his eyes and lowered the front of his hair as much as he could, and his eyes bulged at what he saw. His red hair started changing as if he had applied an entire bottle of hair dye to it. It continued to change, and brighten by the second, making him hold it tighter. Soon his hair had become bright sunny golden locks. The young man blinked at the change to his hair. He scratched as if they were painted on, but they remained the same shade of blonde hair, much to his dismay. Suddenly his hair started to grow longer and billow out. It brushed his ears and his neck as it traveled down past them, making him shiver as if Beatrice was gently tracing his neck.

“Ahh!” Battler cried as his hair traveled down his skull. He grabbed the growing locks of hair not sure what to do. He pulled at them and his face twitched at the feeling of his skull being pulled on. The young man let go of them and breathed out as the hair traveled down his body. He watched as they traveled down his body with a heavy frown, not sure what to do. His hair finally finished growing when it reached down to his upper back.

Battler blinked, his hands raised as he stared at the new hair that rested on his body. Again he pulled at the locks, trying to make sense of it all. His head hurt from the strangeness of it and he couldn’t help but blink. His mind still tried to register what was happening to him, but he couldn’t.

“What kind of punishment is this?” Battler questioned. It hadn’t hurt, but it was so unusual and out there that he couldn’t help but worry. Especially with how devious, Beatrice could be. Still, there was nothing painful or humiliating about this. It was a far cry from any of the punishments and the suffering that she had inflicted on the others. There wasn’t any pain from this, only confusion at the sheer oddity of it all.

“The first of a set boy,” Beatrice remarked naughtily.

Battler turned to the voice, glaring at her, all thoughts on the strangeness of what just happened to him long gone at her presence. She stood there completely at ease as if he posed no threat at all to her, despite what had happened in the previous game. When she was standing like that and with such an attitude, that was when he needed to be the most on guard.

Beatrice hummed as if she was trying to think about what she should do. The smirk on her face made it clear that she had no plan to tell him what the punishment was, but was content to drag it out. Her body trembled with childish glee as if she had to stop herself from letting a bellowing laugh.

“I could tell you what would happen when you fell, but then what would be the point of having our game? Besides it is far more amusing to see your incompetence reveal itself, and watch how you flounder about,” Beatrice laughed sadistically. And then just as quickly as she came she was gone again, leaving Battler alone.

Battler’s nostrils flared at how heavy he was breathing, anger again filling his being. The young man slammed his hand over his face with such force that it left a red mark. He slowly dragged it down his face. He hated how he had to continue this stupid game that she wanted to play and there was nothing that he could do to truly combat her. The young man just hoped that he would be able to figure out what the game was and how the punishments worked before the next one came in. He had no idea how intense they would get, but they were bound to get worse as they happened more often.

He continued his journey and frowned as his hair whipped at his body as it moved. It bounced lightly up and down and his eye twitched. He slowed his pace to try and make it stop, but it still bounced against his back, he sped faster, hoping that it would somehow make it end, but again it still hit him.

“How do people with long hair deal with this?” Battler wondered aloud. He didn’t understand how people like his cousin Jessica could stand having long hair like this with the way it hit him. It was just so distracting like it was trying to get his attention. Short hair was nowhere near as distracting and was far easier to manage.

Still, that was just because he had to deal with it now. He would be a fool to deny when it suited a nice pretty young girl. Especially if it was a nice beautiful shade and added to their appeal. When this was all over he would get his hair fixed by going to a barbershop and getting it dyed. He liked his normal hairstyle anyway, and long hair like this just didn’t suit him.

“Ok think about what was on the plaque earlier?” Battler hummed. He easily recalled what was written on it, and yet was still just as confused as to when he first looked at it, despite having suffered one of the punishments. These punishments were supposed to take him down a new road. There weren’t any specifications about what kind of road that it was, just that it would be different. It did absolutely nothing to hint at what was happening. What kind of road was he going down that would turn him into a blonde? It was such a small thing that it gave no hints about the truth. Again he had too little information to try and solve what was happening to him.

It might have been time-based, like on a timer, but again there was nothing to support that theory. All he could do was make assumptions and that wasn't going to do anything good for him. All it would do was make him run with those assumptions and easier to set up in what traps that she wanted him to be in. Flipping the board didn't work when all he had going was assumptions.

At the very least he wasn't getting hit with one of those demonic stakes that she had. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to last if he had gotten one of those in him. There was no way he was going to let himself get stabbed by anything especially if it was her’s. Not to mention he didn’t know if they had anything special on them like poison or something.

‘Then again she wouldn’t want the game to end like that,’ Battler thought. If that's what she wanted then the game would be over already. She wouldn’t have done all of this setup and preparation that she had. No after the failure of last time a quick death would be too good for him in her eyes. She would draw it out and make sure that he suffered as much as possible before whatever she had in mind came to an end.

As he went back to the mansion, he thought about what happened to his aunt and uncle. He still had no idea of how she could have done it for real. She had shown him something that had to be a lie to make him think that it was magic. From the weight alone throwing it at someone wouldn’t work, even if they were an expert.

Instead of focusing on them for the moment, he should think more about the easier scenario with Kanon. Maybe then he would have a better understanding of how she was able to get them, despite it being a closed room. After all, there wasn’t as much locked away and more variables that he could consider in that one before he tried to figure out what he could do for them and maybe apply it.

Kanon’s situation would be easier to break down and get an answer for. Unlike his family’s situation, there were more numerous ways that he could have been killed. The room could have been set up before he had even entered the room. He hadn’t spent too much time in there, since he was trying to find her before she had escaped, but by then he couldn’t bring himself to stay and look. The more he thought about it being a trap, the more likely it seemed to be, it would be the best way to pick one of the group. It would help sow more discord between the group as it had done.

He had been stabbed in the chest by the same weapon that they had and was a little familiar with the weight. It wouldn’t have been a good choice to try and see if throwing them was an option. It was uneven, messy, and he was sure that someone wouldn’t have been able to throw them without having some trouble.

The distance between when he had entered and when he had been shot wouldn’t be an easy cross by any means. The way that he could see someone using that was to take the weapon and stabbing them herself. She could have been a fast runner but in a dress like that, it would no doubt certainly impede her movements.

Kanon had to have died due to a lock spring trap that went off after a trigger. The moment it was set off it would launch the arrow or in this case the dagger at him and pierced his body. She could have pressed down on a button that would cause it to fire as well. Both were possible, and unless he found the mechanism himself, then he couldn’t say for sure. The young man entered the building and with a resolved expression he looked around as if she would reveal herself.

“You led him in there, used his rage to get him in there since he was emotionally unstable. You moved him into place and then fired it off,” Battler said, sure that was how she had done it.

A cold chill went down his spine and he knew that it was her again. He could feel a pair of eyes on his body and turned around to see her standing there. She had the same evil mischievous grin that she always had and her eyes were lit with absolute glee.

“Oh, you think that I would rely on something like that to kill him? How...stupid? Naive? Oh well, it doesn’t matter now. Now, what should be your next punishment Battler?” Beatrice questioned coyly as if he might give her an answer. “Let us clean you up a little more Battler. I don’t want to keep seeing a filthy mongrel like you.”

Battler growled and suddenly shivered as if he was standing under an air conditioner. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt up and blinked at the sight of his arm hair disappearing. The young man pulled the front of his shirt and saw the chest hair that he had was getting smaller as if he was shaving it off. All of the body hair that he had was disappearing. He did the same with his pants legs and saw that the hair on them was disappearing as well. He shivered as the changes progressed, not sure what to do. Soon he could feel all the hair that had been on his body below his eyebrows was gone as if it had been waxed off of his body.

“There we go now that all that dreadful hair on your body is gone, I can actually stand looking at you,” Beatrice laughed devilishly as her body started to fade away, until she wasn’t there, her voice coming over. “Well, at least more than I did a minute ago at any rate.”

Battler growled, wanting nothing more than to lash out at her as she disappeared again. This was getting old fast with how often she had been keeping up this damn disappearing act.

This didn’t seem at all like her normal angle. Considering what she had done earlier during the first so-called game, this was completely unexpected. She had shown a pension for killing her victims in horribly gruesome ways that would have made many people. He still recalled the first night that she had started her massacre with painful clarity. Those bodies that he had seen would haunt him for the rest of his life, he was sure of it. Especially the emotions that he had felt afterward.

Right now, he had to flip the chessboard and think about what her plan was. In the last game, she had lost to someone that she had looked down upon and hated with her entire being. At every turn, she had looked down on him and the others as if they were ants. She hadn’t taken them seriously as if she was going up against a small kid.

Now that there was a second game going on, against the one that she had lost to, her main objective had to be different. She would want him to suffer for besting her last time. In that case, it had to be connected with her punishments. The new punishments that she had in mind were no doubt meant to keep him off balance. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, so far it was working. He couldn’t quite piece together what changing his hair was for in the long run aside from some shock factor, but there had to be more to it.

“That still doesn’t explain what the mystery is.”

That was the key to all of this. The mystery. If he could find that out, then hopefully turn things around and put her in her place. Hopefully, by then, it would all come together and you’ll be able to understand everything that she had planned. She did admit that these punishments were all part of a set. Still, he couldn’t explain how clean skin and new hair was supposed to make it unbelievably painful for him.

If that was the case then this had to be a game that she wanted him to fail. A game that would lead to him failing at every turn so she could punish him. All of the information that he had gleaned could be incorrect and just ways that she had set him up to throw him off, just like with the letter.

“Just great,” Battle muttered sarcastically.

As much as he would like to drop out of the game now he simply didn’t have that option. If he did that meant she won and he couldn’t let that happen. There was too much at stake to walk away from this. Besides he was willing to bet that she had ways to make him play even if he didn’t want to. At least if he played then she wouldn't mess with him and he could still act as he pleased with some freedom. He would need every little advantage he could get to win.

He entered the manor again but still didn’t have a fully thought-out solution to how she had killed them. It was agonizing trying to think of an explanation that would tell him how she had done it with so much uncertainty and stuff that went against what should be possible.

He went back to the hallway and thought about his aunt and how she had died. Unlike the others, she didn’t have any sort of stab wound. Still, that could easily be solved. Due to the sheer distance between them, she might have done it with a ranged weapon, like another gun. He couldn’t quite remember everything that had happened there since he was a little lost in his anger the suddenness of it all. For all, he knew there might have been a blood-stained or a gaping hole in her that he was to distraught to notice properly.

“You shot her didn’t you,” Battler said. “There wasn’t anything on the others that indicated that she had with one of your knives. “So you had to use a different means of doing so.”

He was going a bit out on a limb, but it made sense and would hopefully reveal something else that she might have up her sleeve. It would be good to know if she had another sort of weapon.

Again Beatrice suddenly appeared as if she was a ghost, making him frown and wonder again how she seemingly kept popping in and out of reality like that. Did his grandfather have some secret passages set up that none of them knew about? It would explain why she was able to essentially pop in and out of places like she had, though that wouldn’t explain for places outside. Unless there were places nearby. The love story that he had for her, and with her being his mistress. He would probably want ways to go behind grandma’s back to get to her without knowing how. If he had that sort of thing going on he would probably do the same, even if he would never try to do that.

“Oh, again you think so narrow mind. Even after I told you how things happened, you keep limiting yourself,” Beatrice remarked. “Now then time for the next punishment to come in to play.”

Battler grimaced and braced for whatever else the next change might be and then groaned in pain as a sudden sharp pain formed in his gut and sides as if a large professional wrestler had grabbed him and was trying to crush him like a soda can. He held himself and moaned again, as the blonde woman’s insufferable laugh reached his ears again.

The young man’s waist slowly contorted and shrank in on itself, making him gasp and shudder as if the woman was rubbing her hands against his body, her nails digging into his flesh. He rubbed his body up and down as the changes progressed. He wanted to take off his shirt and see for himself how much it was changing, but he couldn’t bring himself to move his arms right now. The slight twitch of his arms hurt his body and he was sure that it did move his limbs it would feel much worse than it already was. He could feel the changes slow to a crawl as the assault on his body lessened and wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

When the changes stopped, the young man fearfully patted his transformed gut, shivering from the difference. He could still feel some muscle there but there wasn’t anywhere near as much as there was mere moments ago. The hard abs that he had gotten to impress girls were gone now.

He pulled up his shirt and froze at the sight of his transformed waist and stomach. It was smaller, slender, looking far more womanly with how narrow his waist was now. The young man could only stare at the change of his body’s mass. He touched it and flinched as if he had just been struck. He couldn’t feel anything off there like a hidden corset that would explain the sudden change. Something like this couldn’t have just happened all of a sudden. There had to be some way that he could explain this sudden slenderness but he drew a blank no matter how hard he tried to think of a logical explanation.

“There we go, such a nice waist,” Beatrice laughed. “If my body wasn’t so perfect then I might have been jealous of it.”

Battler growled and let go of his shirt as he stomped to Beatrice, determination fueling his being and giving him the strength needed to carry on. Smoke filled the area from places he couldn’t tell and stepped back. He coughed as he filtered through the smoke to find her, but couldn’t see anything. Shortly after the smoke dissipated and saw that the woman was gone.

“Ahhh!” Battler screamed as frustration coursed through his being. This woman and her damn hyena laughter were getting out of control and more annoying the more he had to put up with it.

The young man continued walking. He didn’t have any idea of where he was going and just tried to think of where he could go. He needed to think, no matter how hard he tried to think about their conversations and her words as if it would give some clue. He entered a room, just needing to be somewhere that wasn’t out in the open for her to mess with him. He found himself in a large office with a desk and books laying on bookshelves. He could see a bathroom and a bedroom for someone to use. It took him a moment to realize where he was.

“Grandfather’s office,” the young man said as he looked around at the books.

He thought back to how it started and the moment they had truly lost. The moment that had found that letter and sent them away, was the moment they lost the more he thought about it. They had fallen right for her schemes and paid the price for it.

There had to be a way that the paper got in here, and he already had a good idea how. She had to have placed it in here when she killed his grandfather. It could have just been placed on the desk until it was moved by something, but that would be too easy. They would have noticed if there was something on there that shouldn’t belong. There was so much occult stuff there that something like that letter wouldn’t have stood out too much.

“You had slipped it here after you dealt with my grandfather. If we had gone looking for clues or something we would. It was just chance that we had found it,” Battler stated, willing to bet that she would just show up out of nowhere again.

The young man’s face suddenly felt off as if he had put his head in the freezer, right against the ice. He brought his hands up and patted his face. Everything suddenly felt as if he was touching someone else’s face rather than his own. He ignored all of his body’s instincts as he kept his hands on his face and squeezed, digging his fingers into his head as the bones in them shifted. His lips felt off, and his nose did as well as if someone was pinching them, but he refused to relent.

The moment it finally stopped, he kept his fingers there as if something might happen next, and after a few seconds, nothing came. Knowing for sure that it had stopped, Battler ran to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. He gasped when he saw the face that was looking back at him wasn’t his own. The face looking back at him was that of his cousin, Jessica. He touched it, making sure that he wasn’t seeing things.

He flinched when he saw the reflection in the mirror copy his actions and touched his own. The face that he was presumably touching was different than his own. The curvature of it all, the softness of it, it was all different from that he had known for years.

He looked for another reflective surface, something that couldn’t have been tampered with easily or at all. It had to be some sort of scheme or play to make him freak out and throw him further off balance. His eyes landed on the sink and an idea came to him. He filled the sink with water and waited for it to reach a good point. The moment that it was filled he stopped filling it and looked at himself, freezing again when he saw the face of his cousin.

The young man breathed out and tried to think of something that he could think of to explain this. He hummed as he thought hard about everything that could explain it all, however, there was nothing that he could think of to explain this right off the bat. Which meant that he was falling for whatever her scheme was and that grated him.

It was possible that this was one of those weird things involving a computer. Maybe it was something related to a computer and a TV screen. Though quite a few TVs would have to be set up in some of the strangest places it would help in her schemes. Not to mention the cameras that would follow his movement and all. Still, that might not explain the water, unless there was something else that he just didn’t know about.

It only explained part of the changes and why he visually looked different, but not why his face felt different, but it was a start at least. There was the chance that there was a second part of it that he just didn’t know, like some sort of flower, or something that messed with his sense of touch. He would admit that he was pulling at stings for some explanation, but he would take everything that he could to explain her mysterious tricks.

The young man rolled his jaw as he continued going through the house. His mouth felt so familiar and yet so different at the same time like he had just gotten out of the dentists after they had spent an hour working on it.

“You had come in here and you looked so much like the love of his life he was completely unprepared for when you decided to stab him,” Battler said, thinking about how his grandfather had been taken down.

Right now the young man was desperate for any sort of distraction that he could get. He needed to focus. To flip the board and think about everything that he could from different angles. That was one thing that they hadn’t found out. It was a gamble, but all that he knew was that he was dead from the body they found. If she would admit that and the story behind her, then maybe he could think of something.

“He did let me in, but you’re wrong about one thing. He was prepared for me. He held me and offered himself to me. Now then since you look so much like a woman, it’s only right that you truly are,” Beatrice teased.

Battler gasped as a sudden sharp pull formed between his legs that made him gasp as if he had just been struck down below. He held his hands down below and winced as if another painful kick in the crotch had happened. The young man quickly deduced what was happening to him as he could feel a change happening between his legs that made him pale, despite how hot he was getting. He could his manhood rise, making him wince as if someone was grinding against his manhood with their heel. It didn’t last long as he could feel his erection getting smaller because his dick was.

A small slurp filled the room and making him spasm as he could feel a fresh batch of juices down there as his pants moistened. All that was left between his legs were his balls which were getting smaller and rising higher.  The moment they entered his body, he could only shudder as a new fresh wave of wetness hit the front of his pants and make him shudder more as if he had just been slapped.

The new young woman could only bemoan the loss of what made her a man, feeling a strange emptiness now that there wasn’t any trace of it. It was strange not to feel anything brush against her legs or something dangling down there. A part of her wanted to press down to see what it was like, but she couldn’t bring herself to.

“Don’t mourn what you had lost there. Whatever you had down there certainly wasn’t impressive by any means,” Beatrice mocked with the same sarcastic smile that she had whenever she was savoring the sorrow of her victims.

“Hey, I'll have you know that my sword was of a respectable length!” Battler cried, defending her manhood even if it wasn't there anymore. It was a matter of pride and even if it was gone, she still had a duty to defend it from those that would insult it.

“I'm sure that you have told yourself that many times,” Beatrice refuted giggling naughtily.

Battler growled as he glared at her, wishing nothing more than to slug her as hard as he could. He was sure that he would get his revenge, in the end, he just had to wait for the right moment to flip the board on her. Then he would savor her rage at her loss as if she had just won a medal.

Her anger abated as one of the balls of her manhood slithered inside of her, distracting her. The other ball quickly followed and the young woman screamed as her last one moved into her body and  Battler screamed as pressure greater than ever before went through her and fresh wetness came from her body. Her new vagina was moist and eager for attention that she had half a mind to answer.

“Now how would you explain this one Battler?” Beatrice asked smugly. “It's not every day a man becomes a woman isn’t it?”

“I...I don’t know how, but I know for sure that it isn’t magic!” Battler said as she struggled to stand up, shivering like a leaf on the wind.

“.../You still don’t believe in witches, even after a change like this?” Beatrice said angrily. “How...tell me how you think that a normal person could change into a woman this quickly without it being some form of magic!”

Battler hummed in thought, ignoring the weirdness of her new opening as best she could. It was strange not to feel her manhood there, but she had to ignore it. “With the way the world progresses you must have gotten your hands on a special drug or something to make this happen.”

Beatrice stared at him as if she was trying to comprehend a joke that completely went over her head. A snort left her mouth that was immediately followed by a full-blown cackle that once again grated on Battler’s ears. The blonde woman bent over, exposing a little of her cleavage, and slapped her knees, despite ruining her dress’s appearance.

“You are just too precious and delusional,” Beatrice sighed, with the same pretty smile that would have charmed many.

“I ain’t delusional, you are pretending that witches are real!” Battler said.

“Then perhaps we should go straight to the point,” The Golden Witch sang teasingly. They're only a few things left before your transformation is done. I wonder where should we start.”

Battler growled and moved to lunge at her, but stopped as a sudden awkwardness came over her body.

“Ahh!” Battler cried as a sharp sudden smack hit her on the rear end. The young woman jumped and quickly looked over her shoulder with an embarrassed red glow. She held her rear as tight as she could as if she was trying to shield it from some pervert’s sight, but didn’t see anyone there. She blinked only to receive another spanking as someone held her in place.

“A naughty girl like you deserves a good spanking,” Beatrice giggled, as Battler continued to get spanked repeatedly.

Battler glared at her through the pain, tears in the corner of her eyes as they strung, but she refused to relent. Crying out would only give her satisfaction that she didn’t want to give. Anything that would spite her was worth more than the family’s gold. As soon as the sensations of that spank ended another came just as hard if not harder than the last one had been. Another moan left her mouth and again she instinctively covered her rear as if it would shield her from the spanking that she receiving.

The quick repetition of the hits vaguely reminded her of a day when she was younger when her father had gotten angry at her for breaking a vase and spanking her. It was just as fierce, the blows just as strong, but there was something playful behind the attacks. Another smack resounded through the room and the pain on Battler’s rear exploded again, stronger than before.

Battler’s butt expanded with every smack. It continued to grow larger as if the strikes on her posterior were causing it to swell. The young woman’s face darkened immensely from the hard spanking that she was receiving and wanted to struggle and try to find a way out of this situation, but couldn’t do anything as the punishment continued. Small beads of pleasure went through her, as more jiggle came from her sensitive arse. The moment the spanking stopped and her bottom stopped growing, the young woman never felt more relieved.

The moment the spanking finally stopped, her pants shifted into a small skirt that that showed off her rear end and plush legs. The woman would have freaked out if she wasn’t too far lost from what happened to her rear. The pain of her engorged butt was like a spotlight in her mind and became her main concern.

The young woman looked down at her inflated derriere which would have been enticing to look at if it wasn’t her own rear that she was examining. She stared at her new rear in horrified aw. She didn't care about butts as much as she did about boobs, but she would admit that it was a nice one, though it lost some of its appeal because it was her own ass.

Battler forced her mind elsewhere and realized that there were only one pair of things left before the transformation was finished. The young woman gulped. She had long since admired them for the sheer size and had talked about groping them with his cousin and even doing so to Shannon’s. Now that she might get them herself she was sure that they wouldn’t have the same appeal.

“I got to stop this now,” Battler said quietly, balling her hands in determination. There was no way she was going to let this finish like Beatrice wanted.

“You think you can stop me now? That foolishness and stubbornness is worthy of the final punishment!” Beatrice laughed giddily, clearly enjoying what was about to happen to the young man.

Battler glared at the witch and mentally prepared herself for the change that was about to happen to her body. She was sure that if she prepared herself mentally that she would be able to handle the feelings that she might get from the next change. She just had to be strong and not show what she was thinking. That was what Beatrice truly wanted. Suddenly her top shifted and she could feel something form underneath that had to be a bra and knew it was about to start.

Battler’s face burned and her body shuddered as the feeling of her chest being massaged came over her. Her hands clenched and her toes curled at what was happening. There was no way that she would have been able to properly prepare herself for this sort of effect on her body. The closest comparison she could think of was getting hit right in the face. She could feel her nipples grow under it, brushing against the bra that had formed there to support the breasts that would be coming shortly.

She gasped as suddenly the mass there multiplied and she could feel her pecs push out and gain a roundness that wasn’t there before. Her body shuddered and the former boy panted as the feeling of being massaged only continued to get worse as time passed. Suddenly she could feel a little more cushion there as if someone had stuffed the bra she had been forced to wear.

The blonde breathed and turned to the side. She felt a little more movement there than she had just a mere moment ago as if more stuff had been placed in the bra, to add more volume. Battler slammed her hands down on the developing boobs and her legs quivered in arousal. The heat between her legs worsened as it did, but she refused to relent and continued to press down on her rounding breasts, even if it was a futile gesture. Her boobs finished growing when they reached the size of large healthy apples and rested comfortably in the cups of her DD-cup bra.

The young woman let go and shuddered, and they bounced for a moment since she had held them so tightly. They were so big and looked even larger from this angle. The first instinct she had was to touch them and recoiled at the idea that she would have loved to do. The fact they were her breasts made her flinch.

She had become her cousin Jessica entirely. If her cousin was in front of her right now she was sure that she would be called her twin sister if strangers saw her.

“Hahahahaha!” A familiar voice cackled gleefully, which the former boy recognized immediately.

Battler turned to where it came from, growing angrily at the owner. For a moment embarrassment filled her system as she noticed that her chest took a moment longer to stop, just like her butt had. It flustered her and ruined any sense of confidence that she had displayed with the image of her own breasts or butt swaying about. The image dazzled her for a moment as if they dominated her mind with the possibilities that were there.

“Looks like I win this one!” Beatrice laughed maniacally, and Battler’s eyes twitched in annoyance.

Her laughter was like nails on a chalkboard to him and he wanted nothing more than to shut her up.

“Now do you understand Battler? The new road was the road of womanhood,” Beatrice answered. “What better way to convince you that witches are real than by making you into a woman yourself?”

“Despite how different everything I still don’t believe in witches Beatrice!” Battler yelled her anger fueling her actions.

“Then you're welcome to try again Battler in another game, but you'll have to play in the body that you currently have,” Beatrice taunted. “If you win then I just might consider turning you back to your original form! Or you might finally accept that witches and magic are real!”

The former young man doubted that she would very much. After all that she had done, why would she turn her back to normal if she won? If anything she would only make what she was going through even worse than it already was. It would be stupid to think that she would, and she didn’t need to flip the board to see that.

Battler forced a smile on her face. She would find a way to change back to her old self and defeat Beatrice once again. If she defeated her once then there was no question that she would be able to do it again. She just had to find a way to flip the board again and turn things around. She wasn't going to let this transformation stop her. The bounce of her bust made itself known again and she blushed. Her boobs sorta ruined the good mood that she had set up for herself.

At the very least she would be able to play with the girls on her chest without any fear of retribution from her cousin. It was a small blessing considering everything else that was going on with her, but it was one that she welcomed immensely. After all, with them she would be able to decompress and have a little fun whenever she wanted, however, she wanted, even if she was the one that would feel the full repercussions.