Chains of Corruption Pt. 02

You are speechless. You knew this world must have had a rough patch, but from what Mara says, the situation has only been getting worse for hundreds of years. Now Nero, the very embodiment of what Mara has been fighting her entire life, is causing chaos and destroying everything she has worked so hard to protect.

You wonder how she must have felt, living for so long and watching everyone around her grow old and die while she had to continue fighting alone. Suddenly, her outburst about you being her only real friend makes a lot more sense. From her own words, you know Amelia didn't get to have a normal life. It's no wonder Mara has grown so attached to you, you're the only other person in the world that can understand what she has been through.

Priscilla speaks up and says, "I'm curious, how was Iliya able to overpower a goddess?"

Mara looks ashamed and says, "I was still learning my limits and I pushed myself too far. I needed a place to rest without being disturbed and so I created a special chamber for myself on the island. Unfortunately, I chose a poor location, as an unfinished monolith was beneath the structure I was in. While I was still asleep, my power must have resonated with the unstable portal and caused it to activate. From our journey to the demon world, I learned it was a part of Astrid's castle that fell from the sky that fateful day. My chamber was broken and I was in a vulnerable state when Iliya found me. She wasted no time and imprisoned me with large chains. I should have been able to break free, but the chains seemed to drain my divine energy."

"So that's what you meant when you said you've caused me problems, huh?Anyway, that spell sounds like Astratta." Astrid chimes in.

"Like what?" You ask.

"Astratta. It's a sealing magic unique to demons, but only the royal bloodline should be able to use that technique." Astrid explains.

"I see, perhaps Nero was able to utilize this ability even if Iliya herself couldn't." Mara suggests.

The conversation dies down and Mara says, "I think Mika could use some time to... think about things. How about we leave her be for a while?"

C.C. glances toward Gwen and says, "Yeah ok, how about we go to the bar and celebrate?"

Mara smiles and says, "If you'd be willing to pay, I'd like to try an ale. It's been a few thousand years since I've had one."

Astrid laughs and says, "That's way too long, no wonder you're so uptight."

"Drinks are on me then!" C.C. cheers as she leads your friends out of the room.

It's just you and Gwen now, and you look over to her with a smile. There are so many things you want to ask her, but before you can think of what to say, Gwen breaks the ice.

"I don't know how I can thank you Mika... Nothing I do will ever..." Gwen says.

You hug her and say, "You don't have to do anything. I'm just, so glad that you're alright."

Gwen looks up with tears in her eyes and says, "It was awful, it's like I was trapped in my own body, I couldn't talk even if I tried. But no matter how I felt, I knew it was nothing when I saw how much pain you've been in. You almost died trying to rescue me and you've been injured who knows how many times. I'm so sorry, all of this is my fault, I..."

You interrupt her by planting a tender kiss on her lips. You don't know how things are going to turn out, but you feel like you need to get this off of your chest.

"Gwen I... I love you." Your cheeks burn with embarrassment as you continue, "Every single sacrifice I've had to make to get to this moment, I'd make them all again in a heartbeat. I want you to be safe and live a happy, peaceful life more than anything, and if that means I can't go with you, then that's just another sacrifice I'll happily make."

Gwen smiles as tears stream down her cheeks and she says, "I... love you too."

Gwen kisses you passionately and you spend a few minutes holding each other until you break the hug.

"Mika, I don't want to be a burden to you, but I don't want to leave if you're not coming with me." Gwen says.

As much as it kills you, you say, "Gwen, you have to go back. Your family and everyone else are waiting for you back home..."

Gwen looks angry and says, "I'm not leaving without you. I have a say in this too you know. You can't just say you love me and then tell me I have to leave, it's not fair."

You sigh and let your appearance revert to it's natural state. Gwen gasps as your hair turns bright white and your eyes turn blue. Seeing it happen again, you notice your skin also gets a little lighter.

"W-what happened to you?" Gwen ask fearfully.

"When we first came here, Mara gave me some of her energy and that's how I was able to rescue you, but I lost my powers after that. Then while we were chasing Nero and his clones, Mara was able to reawakened my energy. I ended up relying on it too much, and now I'm... a goddess. I don't really know what that means yet, but I can't go back. I want to, more than anything, but I can't anymore." You explain.

Gwen looks at you for a moment and says, "Does it hurt?"

You laugh and reply, "No, I feel really strong and I can sense things from far away too."

Gwen smiles and says, "That's good, I don't know about your new look though. You look like an anime villain or something."

You share a good laugh, something that was sorely needed to lighten the mood. Taking her advice, you focus and change your hair back to black and your eyes to green.

"There you are." Gwen says as she wraps her arms around your neck. She look into your eyes and says, "You know, I could see and hear everything this whole time, like when we were in bed, and you said you loved me."

Your cheeks burn and you take a step back and reply, "I, um, I'm sorry about that. Sometimes I was just so stressed and you would come onto me and I couldn't resist..."

Gwen smiles and leans in close as she says, "When you said that to me, I came, and even though I couldn't say it back, I wanted to tell you I loved you too."

You cock stirs as the words leave her mouth. You've never heard her talk like this before and it sends a shiver down your spine. You get embarrassed for a moment when you realize Gwen knows you have a cock, but it passes when she steps closer and wraps her arms around your waist.

Gwen looks up and after planting a kiss on your lips she says, "I'd like to try that again, for real this time."

You smile and take Gwen's hand and lead her back upstairs to the room you woke up in. You close the door and lock it before turning around and see Gwen leaning against the bed while she takes off her shoes.

"Well come on, get naked already." Gwen giggles.

She pulls her shirt over her head and you quickly remove your armor.

You disrobe and Gwen stares at your cock before she says, "I don't know how you got it, but don't worry, I... I kind of like it."

Your cock twitches and you step closer and take Gwen into your arms. You look into her eyes and feel something you can only describe as pure love. You kiss her deeply as you slowly make your way to the bed. Gwen kisses your neck and you close your eyes as she makes her way down to your breasts. She tenderly licks and sucks your nipple making you moan as her hand slides down your belly and grabs your cock.

She gets down on her knees and spreads your legs enough so she can fit between them. Gwen leans in and plants a kiss on the tip of your dick before taking the head into her mouth. You feel her tongue swirling around the head and you softly moan as you lean back on your elbows.

Gwen starts lowering her head and as more of your cock disappears down her throat, she makes slurping noises and looks up to you for acknowledgment. There are no words to describe the pleasure you feel, but your expression lets Gwen know you are enjoying yourself. The fact that it's really her and not the other, more dimwitted version makes this much more satisfying, even though it was apparently her the entire time.

You're on the edge and every time her tongue flicks across the head of your cock you think you're going to cum. Gwen notices you're close and slowly lifts her head off of your cock with a wet slurp. She leans down and presses her lips against your clit and as she plants kiss after kiss while slowly stroking your cock, you finally cum.

Your cock erupts and shoots cum into the air as Gwen looks up and smiles. It gets everywhere, the bed, your breasts, and even in Gwen's hair, but she just smiles and continues licking your clit. She licks from your ass all the way up your cock and giggles when it sprays one final thick rope of cum onto her face.

You pull her onto the bed next to you and lean over to kiss her. She looks so cute with your cum on her face you can't resist, and begin licking your cum from her soft cheek. Gwen smiles as you clean her and when you're finished, she pulls you in and kisses you deeply. Cum dances between your tongue and hers as your cock becomes hard again.

Gwen softly moans and says, "Put it inside Mika, I want to feel it for myself."

You respond with a kiss and begin rubbing your cock against Gwen's soaking wet pussy. She's wet enough for you to slide right in and horny enough that she pulls you in with one motion. Gwen gasps at the sudden intrusion but quickly reveals a smile.

You've had sex plenty of times here in Thanos, but this time is different. It's something special between you and the one person you care about more than anyone else. From the look on Gwen's face, she feels the same way as she moans in delight.

You cum hard and fill Gwen's womb with your warm seed, but as tired as you feel, you don't want it to be over just yet. Hours pass and you're pretty sure anyone passing by outside would be able to hear the moaning and wet slapping noises coming from your house, but you couldn't care less. Eventually, you are too exhausted to even hold yourself up anymore and you lie down next to Gwen.

You breathe heavily as Gwen stares into your eyes and says, "I don't care if I can't go back home. I just want to stay with you, forever."

You smile and give her a quick kiss on her forehead before saying, "That... would make me happy."

You fall asleep some time later, still lying on the cum soaked sheets.

Chapter 17 - Exodus

In the morning, you wake up when you feel Mara's energy enter the brothel. This new ability will definitely be useful, but you wish you could turn it off sometimes. You climb out of bed and wake Gwen before getting in the tub. Last night's adventure is still plastered all over your body and as you step in, Gwen joins you.

After cleaning up, you and Gwen head downstairs where you see your friends are gathered around Mara. She is sitting on a couch holding her head with both hands.

"What's wrong?" You ask, fearing something has happened while you were with Gwen.

Mara looks up and quietly says, "It seems even goddesses can get hangovers, you should remember that Mika, oohhh."

You softly laugh and say, "I'll keep that in mind."

C.C. calls out that breakfast is ready and everyone moves into the dining room. As usual, she has prepared a buffet that could probably feed half the city. After eating, Mara seems to be doing better and you smile, trying to imagine her getting drunk.

A few of C.C.'s girls come in to clean up and as Priscilla finishes her drink she says, "We should discuss our options with Mika."

"What, did something change?" You ask.

"Priscilla brought up a good point last night, Mary knows exactly what we were planning and has no doubt told Nero everything by now." Mara explains.

You sigh and say, "Yeah I guess you right, so now what?"

"I may have an idea, but it would be very dangerous." Mara replies.

"More than our first plan?" You ask jokingly.

Mara nods and says, "Yes, I believe I can trap Nero in my own divine realm, but since he knows we are going to seal him away, we will have to trick him."

"Your divine realm? What's that?" You ask.

"It is a space created entirely from my own energy, isolated from the other worlds. I brought you there once, when you were fighting Iliya." Mara explains.

You think back and say, "That empty white room? Do you think that will work?"

Mara shakes her head and says, "I'm not sure, but I believe it's our best chance. Now that Nero knows our plan, he will most likely leave a part of himself behind before entering the demon world. If a part of him remains outside the seal, he would be able to escape given enough time, but when he transitions between worlds he will be vulnerable."

"So we still need to get him into the demon world?" You ask.

Mara nods and replies, "Yes, but I will also need some time to gather enough energy to fully contain him. Instead of simply leading him in and then cutting the links, you will need to buy as much time as you can. It will be difficult, but we will need to split into two groups to accomplish this."

Mara looks to you and says, "Mika, I will need you to go to the demon world with Astrid and stall Nero for as long as you can."

"How am I supposed to do that? Aren't I going to be powerless over there now?" You ask.

"Normally yes, but while we were there, I sensed Raith is similar to divine beings from this world. I believe he can unseal your powers like I have done for Astrid. While we were talking last night, Astrid said she believes that if she works together with her brother, they will be able to temporarily restrain Nero using their Astratta seal." Mara explains.

You nod and say, "Alright, but why just us?"

"Astrid needs to help Raith perform the seal and you are the only one capable of facing Nero other than me. I will need to remain here in Thanos and accumulate energy. While I am gathering energy, the rest of you will need to protect me and destroy whatever remains of Nero after he has entered the demon world." Mara says looking around the room at your companions.

Astrid seems frustrated and says, "I don't get why you're making this so complicated. Going back and forth like this doesn't make any sense."

Mara sighs and says, "Let me try to explain, every world connected to Thanos has a link leading back here, but this world is special because it has several. In the demon world for example, Nero could open a portal back to Thanos, but here, he would be able to open a portal to anywhere and it would be impossible to cut every link before he escaped. However, even Nero has limits, like only being able to use one portal at a time. If our timing is perfect, we should be able to begin sealing him before he has a chance to fully enter this world."

You think for a moment and say, "I thought Nero wasn't able to travel between worlds?"

Mara sighs and says, "I don't think he can fully transition between worlds. He was able to enter the demon realm, but I believe it was due to the unfinished state of the monolith beneath the island. It's likely that instead of opening a portal to another world, he would instead travel to one of the anchors. Even with an airship we would be at a severe disadvantage if we had to chase him all over Thanos, and that's assuming we were strong enough to keep pushing him back."

She's right, this is way more dangerous and the entire plan hinges on you being able to hold Nero off on your own. You don't like the idea of leaving your friends behind to fight without you, but as you look around the room, you realize you have to trust them just as much as they're trusting you.

Mara looks around the room and says, "I understand that facing someone as powerful as Nero is a daunting task, and so if any of you wish to decline, know that I will not hold it against you."

Astrid laughs and says, "No chance in hell I'm missing this fight."

"Yeah, we're all in this together!" C.C. and Kira cheer.

"It certainly sounds dangerous, but nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose." Priscilla says with a smile.

Mara bows her head and says, "I am truly blessed to have friends like you... It makes everything that I've done seem like it hasn't been in vain."

"Of course it hasn't. We're going to stop Nero, I promise." You say reassuringly.

Mara looks to you and smiles, but says nothing.

"So if we aren't trapping Nero in the demon world, do we still need to bring the demons to Thanos?" You ask, thinking aloud.

Astrid steps forward and says, "Raith said there's hardly any food or water left over there. They wouldn't last very long on their own, so I still want to bring them back with us."

You nod and say, "Alright then, how about you stay here and tell the mayor we're coming back with guests."

"What, why me?" Astrid complains.

"You already told him about the stym right? He should be more open to the idea since they won't be coming empty handed." You explain.

Astrid sighs heavily and says, "Fine, I'll make him see things my way."

Astrid walks outside before you can say anything else and all you can do now is hope the mayor doesn't rile her up even more.

"Let's head back to the island, we shouldn't waste anymore time." You say as you rise from the table.

You lead your group to the docks and take the lift to the top floor. After entering the Valkyria, you make your way to the bridge and explain the new plan to Sid.

"So this is really happening huh? I'll be respectful, but you'll have to forgive me if I want to keep an eye on them." Sid says.

"That's fine, just remember that they have nothing to do with Iliya or Nero." You reply.

Sid nods and says, "I'll keep that in mind."

The ship lifts off and as you make your way down to the lounge, Mara stops you in the hallway.

"Mika, I think we should speak privately." Mara says as she takes your hand.

She leads you out onto the deck and as the wind races through your hair you ask, "What's going on?"

"I thought you would like to know how to use your powers." Mara says with a warm smile.

You nod and say, "Yeah, I guess that would help since I don't even know what I'm capable of now."

Mara nods and says, "Well first things first, you need to understand that your body has undergone a dramatic change. Divine energy has completely overtaken every cell in your body, meaning that it will be much easier to control the concentration and distribution of energy. Creating a weapon or even armor for yourself should be trivial now, why don't you give it a try, but first you should return to your natural form."

You nod and let your hair and eyes take on their godly appearance as Mara says, "It will be easier if you're not restraining yourself. For now get used to your powers and in time you will be able to hold your appearance while using your power."

You close your eyes and concentrate, feeling your energy build up until it feels like it's overflowing.

"Take it slow, we don't want to bring the ship down." Mara says with a smile.

You hold your hand out in front of you and see bright white energy swirling around it. Unlike before, now you can feel exactly how much energy you are releasing and a perfect sphere begins to form in your palm. You realize that you can change it's shape quite easily, and almost as if it was responding to your thoughts, the sphere begins to lengthen. It extends well past your hand and takes the shape of a katana, very similar to the one hanging from your waist.

You grasp the handle and the blade of energy is immediately enveloped in an aura of white fire. After taking a few test swings, you release the handle and the sword immediately dissipates. 'Guess I don't have to worry about dropping my sword anymore, but I should probably get better at this so I can do it quickly if I need to.' You think to yourself, almost forgetting Mara was watching you.

After a few more tries, you feel confident enough in this ability so you ask, "You said I could also change my armor?"

Mara nods and says, "Yes, although it's not a change so much as a manifestation."