Story: Hentai Crystal

 My goal here was to establish a few things about the villains. If you feel there's more detail that could be added, or suggestions to make them a little less generic, I'm all ears.

Running a store is not an easy thing to do. Indeed, most stores on the high street run at razor thin profit margins, barely able to keep themselves afloat. This is especially true when you cater to a luxury good. The foot traffic is lower, which means the prices have to be higher to compensate. But not too high, or you'll make everyone rush off to the competition.

Today was one of the bleak days. Very little foot traffic. Also, the city was constantly forming and reforming itself around her, which was turning her on something fierce for reasons beyond her comprehension. This was bad. She'd been hoping today would have been a bit better. All signs said it should have been. Was nobody getting married? Were there no husbands or boyfriends doing stupid things in desperate need of a gift that needed more than flowers to apologise for? No birthdays? No window shoppers?

Actually, it turned out that everyone else in the city was as horny as she was getting, and those who would usually visit her store were busy getting laid. Even those who would normally have difficulty were finding it pretty easy to get some action because <i>fuck</i> if they didn't get off in the next few minutes heads would roll. Alas, some people had other priorities like, you know, working for a living to support their families.

Ah, but then the bell over the door opened, and a customer walked inside. A tall and wide man, wearing a pinstripe suit. He flashed her a toothy grin. Not exactly her usual fare, but she would take anything that was given to her right about now.

"Such a nice store," the man said, extending his hand. A Western greeting? How unusual, but she shook his hand nonetheless. "Seems pretty empty out there. Everyone cleared off the streets the moment things got a little weird. Can't say I blame them. You want a little help with some advertising? We might be able to work a deal."

"Ah, I can't really afford any major marketing campaigns right now," she said, waving her hand. But the mystery man merely smiled at her. Funny thing, she could swear she could see many, many rows of teeth, all razor sharp, rather than just the one set. How strange.

"Then how about a free trial?" he offered. "I'll get some customers in your store within a minute flat, then you can try me out for real. You'll find my rates are perfectly 'reasonable', won't cost you as much cash as you think."

Well, alright. It was a little strange, but she agreed to those terms - and then he left without making a purchase. Hang it all, what on earth was she meant to do? Might as well close up for the day -

Or... A sudden influx of customers could enter, each making a seemingly random purchase before departing. All inside a minute, she had more customers in her store than she'd had all yesterday. Half an hour later, more customers than she'd had all week.

This was... Wonderful! That man came back in, smiling even wider than before, as if he knew she'd want to see him. She was so giddy that she made a beeline for him right away to ask "how much for your services?"

"Think of it like a loan," he said. "At a perfectly reasonable rate. One favour, at a rate of... 9% per hour? That means, each hour the amount of 'favours' you owe me increases by 9% of whatever you owed the previous hour. That's all it is. A mere... simple... collection of favours. No money at all."

The world turns on money. It's a sad truth, but without money we simply cannot function as a society. Try to take it away? Then you'd better have a perfect system to replace it, because the first person to betray the new rules will wind up with everything. And yet, with that money we cause greed and we cause corrupt people to grow more and more powerful, rewarding them for breaking the rules under the pretense that they earned every penny. Meanwhile, the poor wind up running the Red Queen's race, working themselves down to the bone for the privilege of staying exactly where they are.

Under such conditions, beings like Loan Shark thrive and flourish. Wandering the waters and eating whole the helpless little fishes swimming exactly in place.

<hr>

Loan Shark left the store content that he had yet another happy customer. The city was full of them, and growing all the time. A simple favour, that's all he asks, at a perfectly 'reasonable' rate. Of course, when a loan shark calls in their loan, nobody with sense ever dares refuse. They knew the risks. They knew the price. They knew the interest rate... Or at least, they think they do.

I mean, think about all those customers there just now. A bunch of favours he'd pulled in from yesterday. They had let their interest accrue, and accrue, and accrue without doing him any favours at all - letting the amount grow exponentially. The power of exponential growth is hard to overstate. All he had them do was a single small favour, btu while they were doing that, within that time they already owed him a couple more.

Get them on the hook. Get them to take out a 'loan' with a ridiculously high rate, then pull in some favours to help convince other people to take out loans. Like a shark smelling blood in the water, all he had had to do was -

Pomf! Pomf! Pomf!

- Was deal with this... irritating distraction. As an Agent of Order, it was extremely frustrating to behold. Something was rhythmically annihilating and then perfectly reforming the city, leaving it awash with potent perverse magic. Was it any wonder that the people wandering these streets were so incessantly aroused? If not for his own high level of spiritual protection, even he would have been reduced to a mindless, rutting animal by this point.

Whatever agents of chaos were at play here, they had a great deal of raw physical power, though their reasoning behind this was far beyond Loan Shark. Then again, he did not seek meaning in their actions. He doubted there were any. A rational mind with rational goals seeks order, yet this power - those slutty girls - they defied order. All that mattered was this one simple truth-  that they be brought to heel or obliterated outright. For their crimes against reason, that was the one thing they absolutely had to do.

To that end, he had engaged in a bit of rational thinking himself while hitting up new marks. Something lie this had to have a source, right? That's why, one of the favours he had pulled in was to head out and find the outer limit of this city destroying nonsense. Send out ten or so lendees in all different directions, then get them to report in when they found the outer edge. Check the centre, and you can triangulate the source easily.

His phone rang. More information coming in. He stopped a customer coming out of the jewellry store, and held up a map to him. "Do me a favour," he said. "Let me rest this against your back for a bit."

The guy's eyes fell. Shouldn't have accepted the contract if you're not happy with the results, pal. He did lean over and let Loan Shark use him to support the map while he marked off the points. As he thought, there was an outer limit. It was only an approximation, but like this he could narrow it down super quickly. Around about here, huh?

Still... Loan Shark wasn't stupid enough to think he could tackle something like this on his own. While his subtle approach could bring this perverse idiot to their knees, it never hurt to be a team player. A quick phone call to report in.

"Hello boss," he said. "Good news. I've triangulated the likely area the city annihilator is in. I'll move in to investigate soon."

<i>"I knew we could rely on you, Loan Shark,"</i> his boss said. <i>"Show caution. There is a decent chance this is a trap."</i>

Heh, just like the boss. Thinking one step ahead like that. "Something tough enough to pull this, I am not planning on taking on head on. I'll send you regular updates. If I should die in the cause of order-"

<i>"Technically, you have already died numerous times in the cause of order"</i> the boss interrupted. <i>"You, and I, and everyone else in the city have been reconstituted nigh-instantly. It's a miracle that they have not taken the opportunity to fundamentally change anything. It has already been a gross example of chaos and anarchy, indulging in such pointless activity. A further demonstration - as if any were required - that only true order and stability cna provide safety to sentient life. Unpredictabiliyt, foolishness, irrational behaviour... these things are to be erased, promptly, for the good of all. In the case of our current enemies, it is clear they are relying on an untrustworthy breeding instinct that is based on evolution rather than design - providing illogical criteria for selection of breeding partners."</i>

"Will you be adding that to the agenda of the next meeting?" Loan Shark asked.

<i>"Indeed. We shall need to examine and test other means for inducing the mating response, something that selects for intelligence, physical athleticism and suitability to raising offspring - rather than raw physical appeal or random fetishes. Have you further business?"</i>

"None at this time," Loan Shark said. "To be perfectly honest, my hands are sweating a little. This power is unlike anything we have faced before. For once, I'm feeling like the underdog even though I've basically got an army at my back. I think I'm a little afraid, boss."

<i>"A logical physiological response. Do not allow it to undermine your responsibility. For the sake of Order, we shall prevail!"</i>

The call ended, and Loan Shark really did feel the stone in the pit of his stomach bouncing around. Thing was, the city annihilator wasn't the only source of perverted magic he'd noticed out there. There was a bunch of other magic that had felt strong. Really, really strong. But compared to this, it got totally dwarved. He sort of wanted to check out the other source - but triangulating that was going to be basically impossible until this bigger one was sorted out.

Not the best situation to find himself in, but... Heck, he had a plan. Time to cash a few loans in.

1. Meanwhile, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask are banging while Libra watches nervously aware of how powerful they both are now.
2. Back to Sailor Mercury at the temple.
3. Back to Mars, Venus and Jupiter.
4. Loan Shark makes his move.
5. Something else