Chains of Corruption Pt. 02

Nero laughs and throws his head back as his chest begins to open. He splits apart and reforms as two separate bodies, but unlike the numbered clones, this one doesn't have a head. The headless clone holding Astrid rips off her other wing but before you can react, Nero crushes your arm.

You scream as you feel the bones tearing through muscle and skin as your sword falls to the ground. Nero bends down and picks up your blade admiring it for a moment before imbuing it with his corrupted, black energy. You limply struggle but Nero has an iron grip on your forearm.

Nero presses the tip of the blade against your armor and leans in close, studying every little detail of your agony as he slowly drives your sword into your gut. The pain is more intense than anything you've ever felt and you can't hold yourself back any longer. You let out a bloodcurdling scream and tears stream down your face as Nero smiles and sinks the blade to the hilt.

You try to scream again as Nero twists your sword, but blood fills your lungs and you choke. Your legs feel like rubber and you struggle to stay upright as you feel yourself becoming lightheaded. Without a weapon, your only defense is magic. You don't bother trying to restrict the flow of energy and release it in full, but your mangled arm triggers an explosion.

You open your eyes and are lying on your back a few feet away from Nero, who drops your sword and watches you with a grin. You cough up blood and try to get to your feet, but as your right arm touches the ground, you are met with incredible pain. You look down in shock as you see you right arm has been blown off just below the elbow. Blood is pouring from the wound and you try to cup your other hand over the wound.

"I was expecting more from you, oh well, you're only human." Nero says in a disappointed tone.

You use your left arm to return to your feet in time to see Astrid in about the same condition as you. Nero walks into his clone and they merge back into one as he raises Astrid by her horn and his fist crashes against her cheek. Astrid's horn snaps and she is sent flying into the wasteland. Nero turns his attention to C.C., Kira, and Mara cowering near the frozen Priscilla. You can barely keep yourself on your feet, but you stumble closer to Nero.

Nero stops his advance and looks irritated as he says, "Maybe Iliya wasn't such a weakling after all, you just won't die when you're told, will you?"

In a flash, Nero's arm extends and he grabs you by the throat before it retracts, dragging you along with it. You have nothing left and limply hang as Nero lifts you above his head and slams you into the ground. Blood fills your vision as you feel Nero pummeling you into the brittle terrain.

The crunching of the dirt around you and Nero's maniacal laughter are all you can hear until suddenly everything goes quiet. You still feel the impacts of Nero's attacks, but you feel yourself slipping in and out of consciousness. The world goes black and the last thing you think of is Gwen's smiling face.

You faintly hear voices but can't open your eyes, or even move. You drift back unconscious and sometime later, you awaken. Your head feels a bit clearer now and you struggle to remember what happened. Suddenly, you remember Nero's face and it snaps you back to reality.

You sit up and immediately cough up blood. You try to wipe your mouth, but as your arm comes close to your face, you nearly have a heart attack. Your arm is mostly regrown, but not all of the muscles are regrown and there is still no skin.

"M-mika, please.. don't move." Mara says weakly.

You try to respond but your throat is very dry so you lay back down. C.C. notices you're awake and glides over to your side.

"Mika... are you alright?" C.C. asks timidly.

You motion for water and a few moments later, C.C. brings you a glass and you drink it quickly.

You take a few deep breathes before saying, "I... think so, what happened? Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, you were in the worst shape. Astrid was beat up pretty badly, but she's ok now. When they brought us down here, the heat helped thaw out Priscilla without harming her." C.C. says.

You look around and notice you are in some kind of a small room. The walls are made of uncut stone, making you believe you are underground but it is very warm.

"Where are we?" You ask.

"Just get some rest for now, Mara has been working really hard. After you're all better, we can figure out what to do next." C.C. replies.

You nod and as she exits the room you look to Mara and say, "Hey, I think I can take over now. You should get some rest."

Mara looks exhausted and says, "Are you sure?"

You smile and nod but as Mara stops healing you, the pain returns in full. You do your best to hide it from her as you quickly begin healing yourself. You are nowhere near as adept as Mara is and the pain doesn't fully go away, but you can at least see that it's healing. Mara climbs onto the bed next to you and a few moments after resting her head on the pillow, she is asleep.

Your mind is racing with all the unanswered questions about Nero, but you do your best to focus on recovering. A few hours later, a demon enters your room. You are apprehensive at first but the woman calmly grabs a small towel and kneels down beside you. She begins gently cleaning the area around your stomach where Nero stabbed you. You had nearly forgotten about that, but it must have been healed by Mara.

"Thank you." You say to the woman.

"It's no trouble. You saved some of my friends and I am repaying you, that's all. Do not think I have forgotten who you are." The woman says without looking at you.

You think for a moment before saying, "I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry for the way things turned out. There was a lot more going on than I realized."

The woman looks at you for a moment before saying, "You're right, it's not much, but it's something at least. I don't want to be considered the same as Iliya, and I'm glad you turned out not to be just another bloodthirsty killer."

You smile and reply, "I'll make things right, I promise."

The woman looks confused and says, "What do you mean?"

"The people, I'll convince them demons can be trusted. Maybe someday we can live together in peace..." You respond.

The woman laughs and says, "I doubt that will ever happen, but enough about that. I know a few healing spells, would you like me to take over?"

You shrug and say, "Sure, if you don't mind. I was getting pretty tired and my friend is still asleep."

"Yes, she is remarkable. Who is she? Where are my manners, I'm Nami." The woman says with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mika, but I guess you already knew that." You reply trying to divert her attention.

Nami smiles and says, "There aren't many demons that don't know who you are. Sit back now and relax."

You nod and lay back down as Nami releases her energy. You drift back to sleep after a while and when you wake up, Mara is hard at work healing your wounds. The flesh has mostly regrown and it looks much better than the last time you saw it.

Mara weakly smiles and you say, "I think I can do the rest myself, try to get some rest."

Mara gets into bed as you slowly rise to your feet. You look at your arm and see that it has mostly healed, although it still feels a little strange. You decide to continue healing it as you exit the room. When you open the door, the temperature increases dramatically, and you immediately see the source of the heat.

You are standing in a massive underground cavern and rivers of molten lava flow below the thick stone pillars. Each column has a few small buildings carved into them with long, thin stone bridges connecting them. You gaze over the edge and about a hundred feet below, the lava flows around the pillars and travels deeper into the earth.

From behind you hear Priscilla say, "Watch your step."

You turn around and say, "Yeah, no kidding. What is this place?"

"It turns out I was wrong, this entire city has been out here in the wastelands and no one knew about it. The tunnel that Nero came from led down here." Priscilla says marveling at the landscape.

"I don't remember what happened after we started fighting." You say trying to recall.

"It seems Mara saved us all. When I was finally thawed out, C.C. told me that she unleashed her powers and Nero fled." Priscilla says.

"She saved us again? So has she regained any of her memories?" You ask.

Priscilla shrugs and says, "I don't know, she's been preoccupied pulling you back from the brink of death for the last two days."

You shudder at the thought of how easily you were defeated, when suddenly you remember Gwen.

"Where's the Valkyria?" You ask with concern.

Priscilla shakes her head and says, "I haven't heard from them, we've been down here since the demons dragged our bodies from the surface."

You sigh in relief and say, "So the demons rescued us then?"

Priscilla nods and says, "Yes, if not for them, we would have died out there. They patched us up while Mara recovered enough to heal us."

"Where is everyone?" You ask looking around.

"Astrid and C.C. are resting now, they've been helping the injured while you recovered. Kira learned a simple healing spell from one of the locals and she's been practicing nonstop. How are you feeling though, you were in the worst condition out of everyone." Priscilla replies.

"I'm ok I think. It's strange, I know how close I was to dying, but right now I feel pretty good. Mara's magic is really incredible." You say while looking at your injuries.

Priscilla nods and says, "Yes well, if the pattern holds true, Mara should regain quite a bit of power this time. I've noticed a connection between her using energy and her memories returning. It seems like the seal on her powers wasn't unintentional, rather, it's as if it can be turned off as needed."

"What do you mean?" You ask.

"Think back to when Mara has used her powers. Usually, she starts hiding behind one of us but when there is no other choice, suddenly she can expertly wield any kind of magic. It seems awfully convenient, don't you agree?" Priscilla says.

You think for a moment and say, "You mean she's been lying about her powers this whole time?"

Priscilla shakes her head and says, "No, I don't believe so. What I meant is maybe the corruption isn't responsible for Mara's current state. Perhaps she imposed these restrictions upon herself."

"What? Why would she do that?" You ask in confusion.

"To safeguard herself from corruption, to prevent people from discovering her identity, there are plenty of reasons but I don't think she remembers anything about that yet." Priscilla responds.

You sigh and say, "I still don't get it, wouldn't it just be easier to have access to all of her powers from the start?"

"You saw what Nero is capable of. If he was able to find Mara before she ran into you, all of us would probably be dead by now." Priscilla says.

"Yeah, you're right." You say with a sigh. You look around before continuing, "So what should we do now? We can't let Nero roam free, but we don't stand a chance against him."

Priscilla sighs and says, "Yes, it's a difficult position to be in. Hmm, what about his clones? We've defeated two already, maybe that's why Mara was able to repel him? It's only a theory, but taking on his clones will allow us to gather more information and will give us time to come up with a better plan."

You nod and say, "Yeah, that makes sense. Do we know where any of them are, or how many are left?"

Priscilla shakes her head and says, "No, but I don't think it will be very difficult to track them. I've been thinking about why they killed Hakon and attacked Cyldell. I believe they are consuming those with the highest concentration of energy first, eliminating our ability to resist. If I'm right, they will find us sooner or later."

"Great, so now we're being hunted?" You reply.

Priscilla nods and says, "It's very likely. We need to be on guard at all times and stick together."

You take a deep breath and say, "Alright, I'll go get Astrid and C.C., can you take Mara and get Kira?"

Priscilla nods and says, "Of course. Should we meet here?"

"No, let's meet outside and I'll call the Valkyria." You reply.

Priscilla agrees and you walk across one of the bridges toward where Astrid and C.C. are supposed to be. The bridge is narrow, only about five feet across, and you carefully make your way to the other side as tiny stones fall from the walkway down into the magma below. At the other end of the bridge, you open a small wooden door and see your friends sitting on a nearby couch.

"Look who's awake." Astrid says with a smirk.

C.C. glides over and inspects your arm as she says, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks to Mara." You reply.

"She healed Astrid too, but she was too stubborn to sit still. I think she wanted her to heal you first." C.C. says with a smile.

"Shut up. So you ready to get out of here?" Astrid asks.

You nod and say, "Yeah, Priscilla and I were thinking about trying to take out some of his clones before fighting him again. We need some kind of plan."

Astrid gets up and says, "Good, we need to pay that asshole back ten fold."

You let C.C. take the lead and follow her through the tunnel back into the wasteland. You emerge into the daylight and feel much cooler now.

"What's that?" Astrid says as you pull the beacon from your pocket.

"Sid gave it to me. He said it would let him know where we are and then he can come pick us up." You reply.

"Well, maybe he isn't so useless after all." Astrid says.

You press the center of the small silver coin and you hear a click. An emblem on one side of the coin flashes red and you sit down against a rock as you wait. Priscilla and Kira exit the tunnel a few minutes later and Priscilla sets Mara down next to you.

About an hour later, you hear the familiar sound of an airship approaching and you stand up. A few minutes later, the Valkyria lands in the wasteland and your group heads inside.

As you enter the bridge, Ulyena cries out, "Thank the gods you're all alright!"

Sid grabs her by the ear and pulls her back before saying, "You had us all pretty worried, you alright?"

You nod and say, "Yeah, thanks. How have you been?"

"We're fine, we didn't run into any trouble. We stayed in the area as long as we could, but we needed to refuel. We headed back to Valen and stayed there until I saw the signal from the beacon." Sid explains.

You think for a moment and say, "Have you heard anything about those men?"

Sid nods and says, "Yeah, they're everywhere. Ships have been coming into Valen from all over saying the same thing, some guy in a gold mask is eating people. Thankfully besides the refugees, there hasn't been much going on in Valen."

You nod and say, "Where was the last sighting?"

"A ship coming from Cyldell saw two of them heading towards the island." Sid replies.

"Then that's where we'll go." You say confidently.

Sid doesn't look thrilled about heading towards danger, but he agrees and sets a course. As the ship takes off you head to the lounge and see Gwen sitting on the couch. She jumps up and hugs you and you let out a soft laugh as you return her embrace.

You sit down and Gwen happily joins you as you look at your friends. Priscilla seems alright, although who knows how being in that ice affected her internally. Astrid is acting like her usual self, but her broken horn and severed wings tell a different story. With no magic, she's in worse shape than anyone else, although she would never show it.

C.C. and Kira however, seem to be struggling with the fact that they could do nothing to help during the fight. They seem overly attentive to your every need and treat Priscilla and Astrid the same.

'Iliya was one thing, but Nero... I don't know how we're supposed to beat something like that.' You think to yourself. You clear your mind of doubts and decide to check on Mara. Without her there is no hope, and you owe it to her to do everything in your power to help her stop Nero. You walk down the hall and lean against the doorway of your room where Mara is sleeping soundly.

Thin arms wrap around you from behind and you hear C.C. say, "I'm sorry Mika, there was nothing I could do. I just froze up. That's never happened to me before."

You turn around and say, "You did everything you could, we all did. I'm just glad we're all ok."

C.C. looks sad and says, "I wasn't much help against Iliya, but at least I could take out her soldiers. I can't do anything against Nero though, I feel like I should just stay on the ship so I won't get in your way."

You put your hand on C.C.'s shoulder and say, "I don't know how we're going to beat him, but I do know that it's going to take every little bit of power we have, and that includes you. I would never have been reunited with Gwen if it wasn't for all of you helping me. This is the same, we just have to work together."

You see your words had the intended effect as C.C. smiles and says, "Thanks, I needed to hear that."

"I think we all need a pep talk right about now." You say with a soft laugh.

"What you need is C.C.'s special service." C.C. says with a grin.

'What else can you expect from a succubus?' You think to yourself.

You smile and say, "Alright then, lead the way."

C.C. grabs your hand and leads you into her room across the hall. She disrobes in an instant and quickly pulls your pants down.

"Hey easy. I'm not going anywhere." You say.

"Sorry, I'm just really horny. I haven't had sex in a few days and I feel like I'm going crazy." C.C. says before taking your soft cock into her mouth.

The sudden pleasure makes your knees weak and you sit on the edge of the bed as C.C. readjusts herself. She flicks her tongue against your clit and runs it up your shaft. She tenderly kisses the head of your cock and pre cum coats her lips. C.C. takes the head into her mouth again and expertly teases you as she slowly brings you closer to orgasm.

You know she would spend all day down there if you let her, so eventually you lift her head and kiss her deeply. You taste your own juices on her lips, but you couldn't care less. You pick up the small succubus and lay her on the bed. C.C. grabs your cock and begins rubbing it against her pussy. She's already wet and after coating your cock, she presses it against her ass.

You gently push it in and C.C. moans softly as she wraps her arms around your neck. She leans in and kisses you again and your tongue mashes against hers as you slowly increase your pace. C.C. runs her fingers through your hair and tries to match your rhythm as you break the kiss and focus on her incredibly tight hole.

It feels like her insides are milking you, trying to get every last drop of cum out of you. It reminds you of when you first met, when she woke you up in Andere. C.C. cries out as her pussy spasms and you feel her juices flowing onto your stomach. Another few thrusts and you are shooting your cum inside C.C.'s ass to her delight. After your orgasm has subsided, you pull out and clean up as C.C. rubs her stomach, almost as if she were pregnant.

You hand her a towel and say, "You ok now?"

C.C. smiles and says, "Yeah, I can't really explain the feeling. It's like having an itch you can't scratch, but I feel much better now."

C.C. cleans herself up and sits next to you as she says, "Hey Mika, will you... sleep with me?"

"What?" You ask.

C.C.'s cheeks become flushed as she says, "Only for a little while, it's just, most times I don't get to just lay with someone. It's a nice feeling."

You let out a soft laugh and say, "Sure, we have some time to kill so why not?"

You lay back in her bed and C.C. cuddles you with a smile on her face. You wonder if it's really that hard for her to go without sex, but in this world, that won't really be a problem for her. You take a deep breath and after a few minutes, you fall asleep.