Chains of Corruption

C.C. laughs and says, "Attacked? I'm a succubus, there's only one thing people want from me and I'm more than happy to oblige." C.C. smiles and adds, "Besides, after I'm done with them, they won't even have enough energy to stand, let alone hurt me."

It seems like her powers are a double edged sword. She can overpower her enemies using their own lust against them, but she hardly has any control over her own. You wonder if this girl is really happy, but decide not to worry about it, maybe things will change once the demons have been defeated. Time seems to drag on and the desert heat reaches its peak.

C.C., who is leading the group, suddenly stops and raises her hand before saying, "Wait."

You focus and in a moment, you can sense something big under the sand a few feet in front of C.C.

"Come on out, I know you're there." C.C. says wagging her finger towards the sand.

The ground erupts as a snakewoman appears and says, "So much for a surprise, oh well, I really do love it when they scream!"

C.C.'s eyes begin to glow a dark purple color and she says, "You look like you need to relax."

The snake woman stops advancing and looks flustered. Her hands move to her breasts and soon she is writhing around on the sand pleasuring herself.

C.C. turns to you and says, "See? I don't have much trouble traveling alone. She'll be busy for a while so let's keep moving, Ardent City isn't far now."

Your group moves past the snake girl lost in ecstasy and makes it to the top of a large dune.

"There! See it in the distance?" C.C. says as she points to the horizon.

What look like giant cranes stick up over what you assume to be another large wall, similar to the other major cities you've been in. Finally, your destination is in sight.

A new sense of urgency hits you and you say, "Alright, let's get over there and find this demon."

It takes the rest of the day, but you arrive at the gate to Ardent City just before nightfall.

"Hey." C.C. says just before you approach the stairs leading to the gate. "There are a lot of demons here but they aren't the only ones to watch out for. If anyone gives you trouble, just tell them you're with me, that should make them back off."

Kira chimes in and says, "Really? Are you that strong?"

C.C. just laughs and says, "No, nothing like that. I told you, I own the brothel, which means I control who gets to have fun and who doesn't. Since we're the only brothel for miles around, no one wants to get on my bad side."

You can't help feeling uneasy about how she describes the city, but there's no turning back now. There are no guards outside and upon entering, you stop to admire the architecture. Everything, from the buildings to the street you're standing on, looks like it is part of a machine. The lamp posts lighting the city are made of gears that spiral upwards into a globe. The turning of the gears combined with the other mechanical sounds of the city make it feel almost like it's alive.

"The whole city is one big machine, it generates its own electricity and everything. Come on, I'll show you my place." C.C. says enthusiastically.

You reply, "Actually, we're looking for someone, that's why we came here."

C.C. looks a bit disappointed but says, "Ok, well I know a lot of people here, so what's their name? Maybe I know them?"

You look down, realizing you don't have much to go on, before saying, "I don't know their name. All I was told is that there was a demon living here that was different than the others, one that has fought against the demons to protect a village."

C.C. grins from ear to ear as she says, "Yeah I know who you're looking for."

"Really who is it? Are they here?" Kira asks looking around.

"Yeah, she works part time at my brothel, she's kind of a bitch though. I'll introduce you to her, come on!" C.C. says and leads you down a few streets before stopping at a luxurious looking building.

"This is your brothel? It looks more like a mansion." Priscilla says looking at the ornate metal trim around the dark wooden building.

"It was, until I bought it and made it my business." C.C. says nonchalantly as she opens the doors.

"Welcome home Mistress!" Two cat girls quickly walk over and begin fawning over C.C., who ignores them even as they begin rubbing her pussy.

"I don't know if Astrid is here right now, let me go check the schedule. I'll be right back." C.C. says as she removes one of the girl's hands and walks out of the room.

You and Priscilla take a seat on an expensive looking couch while Kira continues to buzz around, looking at the various paintings and sculptures. You notice all of them depict something sexual and just write it off as normal for this crazy world. You hear heavy footsteps coming down the main staircase and turn to see a demon making his way toward you. He stares at you as he makes his way down the steps and stops. Your heart is pounding as you sit there, not knowing what he intends to do.

Then C.C. returns and casually approaches the demon while saying, "I hope you've had a wonderful evening. Next time, maybe you can play with some of my new girls?"

The demon scoffs at you before turning around and walking out. You sigh in relief and thank C.C.

"Don't thank me, I enforce a very strict no violence rule here. Wouldn't want to ruin the furniture now would we?" C.C. says with a smile. "I looked at the schedule and Astrid already worked today. She's probably at her house, or at the bar, but I think it would be better if you met her here, so maybe you should just sleep here tonight? Astrid has a shift in the morning so you can meet her then."

You shake your head and say, "I don't have a lot of time, I need to talk to her as soon as possible."

C.C. replies, "I understand but Astrid is, well, she has made quite a few enemies over the years and isn't the most trusting person. She always has to be on the defensive because the demons have tried all kinds of dirty tricks to get her to lower her guard. If you try to talk about fighting demons and things like that, she will probably assume you are there to kill her and she won't hold back. However, under my roof, she respects my rules and would probably be more willing to hear you out."

You don't want to wait anymore. Healing your injuries from the Elysium and crossing the desert took long enough, but you can see the point C.C. is trying to make. If she's a demon, you would rather avoid having to fight her if possible, especially since you are trying to convince her to join you.

"Alright, we'll wait til morning then, thanks for the warning C.C." You say.

"No problem, I'm still holding out hope you will come around and work for me." She says with a sly smile.

"We have a few rooms that aren't used for the customers, you can sleep there tonight." She says leading you upstairs and into a lavishly decorated room. "The restroom is down the hall and I'll send one of the girls up with some food in a bit, make yourselves comfortable."

C.C. closes the door and you sit down on the edge of the bed.

"So, any ideas what we should say to Astrid?" You ask, hoping Priscilla has an answer.

Priscilla sighs and says, "It would be more productive to think about what we are going to do next. Whether this Astrid joins us or not, we still don't have a plan."

Damn, she's right. Hakon said he would fight with you, but will this really be enough? Would it turn out any differently than when the Guardians fought the demons? The fight against the scorpiongirls wasn't that bad, but you remember the gaping wounds you saw on the goblins when you first discovered Gwen had been taken by the demons. Would your armor fare any better?

The negative thoughts swirl around in your head until Priscilla says, "First, we need to get back to Valen city. It's the closest city to the island and we would need to stock up on a few things anyways."

You sigh and look up at Kira and Priscilla and say, "I don't know if I'm ready, but then again, I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready to face something like this."

Priscilla puts her hand on your shoulder as she sits beside you and says, "It won't be easy, but we knew that from the beginning. None of us are alone and if worse comes to worse, we'll just save your friend and get out of there. We can always try to defeat them some other time, the most important thing is your friend right?"

Again, Priscilla cuts right to the heart of the matter and her words instill a sense of comfort.

"Yeah, you're right, but I'm still going to give everything I have to try and stop the demons." You reply feeling more determined than ever.

A knock at the door interrupts your conversation and you get up to see who it is.

A girl with light blue hair smiles at you and says, "C.C. said to bring you guys some food, can I come in?"

You step aside and look at the girl's wings as she enters. They are the same color as her hair, but they seem to have replaced the girl's arms. She has three small claws near the end of her wings and they look almost like small fingers. Her legs are covered in tan colored scales like a bird and she has a similar bird like feathers just above her ass.

"I'm Remi." The girl says wheeling in a cart of food behind her. "C.C. told me to get you whatever you wanted, so just let me know."

You look at the huge cart and then back to Remi and say, "Thank you but this will be plenty."

Remi moves close to you and smiles. "Are you sure I can't do anything else for you?" She says, putting emphasis on anything.

"Uh, yeah we'll let you know if we need something." You reply.

Remi doesn't seem to mind and says, "Ok then, eat up! Oh yeah, I stay in the room next door so if you need me, that's where I'll be."

You thank her again and Remi leaves the room. The meal the harpy brought is just as extravagant as the brothel itself. Platter after platter filled with delicious looking food puts your strategy meeting on hold for a while as the three of you dig in.

You lay back onto the bed after a satisfying meal and Kira says, "I'm stuffed, and I didn't save any room for dessert."

"Indeed, that was quite the feast C.C. prepared for us." Priscilla adds.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." C.C. says as she enters the room.

"Yeah, it was great, thanks." You say as you sit up.

C.C. makes her way over to the bed and sits beside you.

"So what's up?" Kira asks.

"Well I wanted to know what brings you all the way out here. Why do you want to meet Astrid?" C.C. responds.

You explain your situation and how you hope Astrid will help you fight against the demons.

"So the demons took your lover and you want Astrid to help you get her back?" C.C. asks with a smile.

"No, it isn't like that. She's been my friend since childhood." You try to explain.

C.C. ignores you and says, "That's really romantic and all, but I don't think Astrid will help you just to save someone she doesn't even know. However, she is sick and tired of always having to watch her back, so maybe she will go, even if it's only to better her own situation."

You guess you couldn't expect her to put her life on the line for you, but if she's willing to help fight, that's good enough. Maybe that's how you can convince her to join you, not necessarily as an ally, but you would both be going there to kill demons, so you wouldn't be enemies either.

"So you're gonna save your lover and then what? Go back to your world?" C.C. asks.

"Well, I heard that the factory on the island is spreading the corruption, and since we will be there already, we're going to try to destroy it." You respond.

C.C. is surprised and says, "Wow you're really taking it all the way, huh?" C.C. looks at your companions and then says, "And it's just the three of you?"

"We have another powerful ally that said he would fight with us, but yes, even with Astrid, there would still only be five of us." You reply.

"Well count me in too!" C.C. exclaims.

"Wait, what? You want to fight the demons?" You say in disbelief.

"There's going to be a lot of them, you know that right? Besides, I'm a succubus, I can 'distract' quite a few of them and make it easier on you." The succubus says with a smile.

You remember Hakon and Priscilla describing the near endless amount of soldiers the demons have and you suppose she could be useful. Your eyes meet Priscilla's for a moment and she gives a slight nod. You both know you will have to keep an eye on her.

"I still don't understand, why do you want to help us, I thought you had a deal with the demons?" You say trying to determine her motives.

C.C. crosses her arms and says, "The deal I made was the demons could use me however they want in exchange for leaving my girls alone. I never said anything about having loyalty to them. I won't lie, I do enjoy it when they fuck me, but I'm a succubus! That's just how I am. I'd rather not have to worry about them betraying us one day, so if you're gonna go kick down their front door, I wanna help too."

C.C. seems really fired up and you suppose at this point, you need all the allies you can get.

"So, will you let me help you?" C.C. says looking around the room.

Priscilla says, "If you intend to help us then we will accept, but if you try anything, just know I will be watching you, we can't afford anymore setbacks."

"I know that it seems sudden, but I've been unhappy with this 'deal' for a while now. Besides, I can use a special kind of magic." C.C. says and waits for a response.

Priscilla's ears perk up at the mention of 'special' magic and she says, "What kind of magic, can you show us?"

C.C. nods and raises her hand as a black sphere forms in her palm. "It's dark energy and it's really strong, but the cool thing is..." C.C. changes the sphere into black fire and shows it off proudly saying, "I can mix fire energy into it and it makes it burn hot enough to melt almost anything!"

Priscilla looks skeptical and says, "Anything?"

"Well, I tried using it on the wall surrounding the city once, just to test it out. It spread more than I thought it would and when I finally put it out, there was a big hole all the way through the wall. Astrid was really mad and she made me stand guard with her while they repaired the wall. Ugh... that was the most boring month ever." C.C. whines.

"A month to repair the damage from just one fireball?" You ask trying to imagine how big the hole must have been.

"Well, not entirely, the workers kept getting distracted, I told Astrid it would happen but she just gave them a scary look and they got back to work pretty quick." C.C. giggles.

You shake your head and say, "Well, thank you C.C., we need all the help we can get."

C.C. walks to the door and says, "I'm gonna go take a bath now, I'm glad we talked. When Astrid comes in tomorrow, I'll arrange a meeting. Get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

As you wonder if C.C. can really be trusted, Kira says, "That sounds nice, I'm tired after all that food."

You agree, feeling tired after walking though the desert all day. The bed is king sized and there is room for both you and Priscilla to stretch out.

"This is certainly a nice change of pace." Priscilla says laying down on the opposite side of the king sized bed.

"Yeah, better enjoy it while we can." You add as you get comfortable and close your eyes for the night.

Chapter 22: Assassin

When you wake in the morning, your stomach feels strange, but there is nothing outwardly wrong. As you get up, you feel like you are being watched, but there is no one besides Kira and Priscilla in the room. You dismiss the feeling and wake Priscilla and Kira. Remi returns a short while later with more food and takes last night's cart away. Eating only makes your stomach feel worse so you decide to skip the meal.

"Are you alright Mika?" Priscilla asks.

"Yeah, just a stomach ache. I'm fine." You reply.

C.C. enters the room a few minutes later and says, "Alright, Astrid is here. I told her to wait in the meeting room, are you ready?"

You nod and C.C. leads you downstairs and through a huge door into a large room. There are long tables end to end forming a square in the middle of the room. Sitting in one of the chairs is a woman with red skin. She has two large horns on her head and small black wings on her back. Her black hair goes down to the middle of her back and her tail ends in a spade like shape. She's wearing a tight black corset and has matching long black gloves and boots.

"Hey Astrid, these are the people I was telling you about." C.C. says as Astrid's dark pink eyes meet yours from across the room.

Astrid crosses her arms under her massive breasts and says, "So who are you supposed to be?"

As you are about to answer, you get lightheaded for a moment and then shake it off and say, "We're going to fight the..."

Your voice trails off and the next thing you know, you are in Priscilla's arms.

"Mika, what's wrong? You just collapsed, are you sure you're alright?" Priscilla asks.

You feel like the room is spinning and struggle to your feet.

"Ha! This is who you wanted me to help? She can't even stand! What's wrong with her?" Astrid says mockingly.

You hold out your hand and say, "Wait, I need your help to..."

Suddenly, a darkness appears around you and in the blink of an eye, you are no longer in the brothel. Your stomach feels like it's turning inside out and you vomit onto the floor. After catching your breath, you realize you are standing in what seems to be a cathedral that lies in ruins. You quickly look around but you don't see anyone, so you concentrate and feel Mara's blessing awaken. Something is coming so you turn around towards the doors and as they open you see a demon.

She has very long, light blue hair and her eyes almost glow with the same color. Her skin is pale and she has long black wings on her lower back. She gracefully flies over to you as you step back and brace yourself.

"That power should be mine you know, I would put it to a far better use." The woman says without emotion.

This must be Iliya, with those eyes, there's no doubt about it.

You quickly look for any way to escape while you say, "Why do you need my power?"

Iliya grabs your chin and pulls you close before saying, "Humans don't deserve power, they are my pets. They should be chained up and obey my every command." She smiles while looking you over and then says, "But you just don't know when to die do you? I sent that little ship into the sand and yet you crawled out and survived. I was curious to see how far you could make it, but I've grown bored now. I've decided to kill you and put an end to this rebellion of yours."

Thunderous footsteps echo through the cathedral as another demon walks in. He is easily eight feet tall and is insanely muscular. One of his horns is broken and he stands with his arms folded, staring you down.

"This is Vestix, my best assassin. Have fun you two." Iliya says before vanishing into the darkness.

You draw your sword but the hulking demon is much faster than you anticipated and he lands a vicious blow, throwing you across the room. You slam into the benches and lose your grip on your sword as the pews slide across the floor and pile up against the wall. Vestix lets out a guttural roar and charges in again as you rush towards your sword. You realize you aren't going to make it and barely evade the demon's claws as you roll to the side. You remember the huge stream of electricity you produced when you were with Hakon and decide on fire this time.

You unleash a continuous stream of searing flames and it hits Vestix full force. Instead of being burned however, his skin begins to crack open and glow like fire. He growls and walks into the flames, coming closer to you. You cut the flow of magic and take a few steps back. Fire isn't working against him, it isn't even slowing him down. You look towards your sword again, it's too far to get without leaving yourself open.