White Knight's Burden Ch. 01

Chapter 1

>Yikes and big oof!

>I've discussed the issues of tone and harsh language in these last couple of threads with the other moderators, and we have decided to ban all further posts regarding a certain popular voice actress. I sincerely hope that those of you who will proceed to feel angry or upset at this decision can one day understand that an adult woman has the full right to her own body. That includes the right to sell her nude pictures without being insulted or slut shamed. This is a sex positive community. It's 2022 for heaven's sake!

>Apologies for the rant, everybody. I know most of you who frequent this sub are great people! Let's all try to do better, guys, gals and non-binary pals! Locking this thread.

Smothering the ugly opinions of trolls before they could fester and spread--another good deed done! I chewed some more on my breakfast toast and leaned back in my computer chair. It was probably about time to get ready for this afternoon's class.

>smh tho that seiyu bitch is a whore who cheated on her boyfriend and now fishes for sympathy. fucking dumb simp mods and ur SJW propaganda shit

The sender of the direct message that defiled my computer screen was banned and blocked before the notification tune had finished chiming in my headset. I smirked to myself. Incel troglodytes like that seemed to think being called out as an "SJW" was somehow insulting. Hell no! It was fucking cool to be a warrior under the noble banner of social justice.

A loud bang and an unfamiliar, booming voice from out of nowhere suddenly shook my room! In shock and terror, I swiveled on my chair and coughed out half-eaten pieces of bread.

"Blasted and most accursed mortal plane! Truly?! This unimpressive speck of waste is blood of mine? Unending curses and agonizing bloodletting!"

A thick smell of charcoal and sulfur bored into my nostrils as I witnessed a man with skin red like blood and hair--and horns!--literally on fire coalesce out of grime and smoke. The creature fully formed stood more than 8 ft. tall and sneered at me, his bulging arms crossed like an "X" of disapproval and malcontent.

The imposing stranger's sneer intensified as he opened his palm. A small shining bead rose from it, up into the air. He then flicked the bead at my forehead while I remained frozen, still in shock.

The impact hurt, and helped sober me up to the extreme absurdity that something that looked very much like a demon straight from the cover of some old fantasy novel had materialized before me. The burning pain from the impact soon subsided, but the hit left me with a hard-to-define sense of purpose and strength--a potency I could not completely wrap my head around.

"The grim work has been duly executed. The ancient contract fulfilled, and the mortal blood-of-my-blood has been granted true dominion over his beloved." The creature on fire proclaimed loudly, as if he was talking to someone that was not me. His yellow eyes then locked with mine, and cold shivers ran up my spine.

The demon held up three of his fingers that ended in long claws that looked sharper than knives. "Questions three, asked within the hour, must now be answered. Then, I may at last leave this hovel, to never return."

Barely a minute ago, I had been in my element, moderating anime discussion subs and making the world a better, more decent, place. Dealing with this terrifying creature was as far as I could imagine from what I would think of as my safe space. "W-what the hell is this?" I stammered out.

"This is the room of a dim-witted mortal man. 'This' is the man-made invention called a computer, which you spend so much time in front of that it may as well be your lover. 'This' is also an extremely unimpressive question that leaves for me to decide what answer I wish to provide you, ant." Two claws remained up. "Two more questions, disappointing supposedly-brood of mine."

"Ugh..!" I had no clue what was even really going on, but refusing to ask this burning man the remaining questions he demanded seemed like a bad idea. He had done something weird to me just now, my forehead still stung a bit and I felt... strange. "What's umm... then, what did you just do?"

A heavy sigh and a shake of his head on flames followed. "I granted you true dominion over your beloved."

"But what does that mean?!" I shot back in a frustrated cry.

"At last, the more-than-insignificant ant asks a question that I could oblige with an answer that will enlighten you. A little, at least." He pointed towards me with the last claw, scraping the air between us. "You now and forever hold absolute dominion over your beloved's everything--her very soul--mortal. Nigh-unlimited strength and influence begets the owner of the soul of another."

"There are some limits to the power you can muster by manipulation of your belonging, but unless you threaten the very fabric of the cosmos I strongly doubt your meager mind could ever reach the peaks of what true subjugation over pure mortal essence could bring." The creature's face contorted in another grimace of revulsion. "Your insectile countenance would suggest you being far, far from ever posing a threat to cosmic order and stability."

A puff of dark smoke that smelled so terrible it stung my nose and throat and made my eyes water, and the demon was gone--his dark deeds completed. I remained sitting down for a while, just massaging my forehead, trying to rationalize or at least somehow grasp what in the world I had just experienced.

***

"Yo Greg!" Claire gave an energetic wave as soon as she spotted me waiting around outside our classroom.

"Clairebear! Kimiko!" I laughed in response to my best friend's enthusiastic greeting. Claire got a hug, Kimiko a nod. "What's up with you two? How was your trip? Ready to start educating yourself with some exciting uhh..." I glanced at today's curriculum on my phone, as if I did not already know the schedule for this semester's classes. "3D Modeling and Rendering for output in 4k and above!?"

"Never been more excited, my dude! Like, even when sipping drinks on a sunbed, enjoying the perfect sunset, I just couldn't stop gushing to Kim about it. Freakin' extremely hyped to spend hours upon hours making crappy 3D art I'll trash as soon as I'm allowed to." Claire gave a grimace and playfully jabbed an elbow into me.

Hearing her mention lazing about in a sunbed brought my attention to my best friend's tan. She had always been a pale girl, so seeing her all golden-skinned like this was new. The healthy tan fit Claire's sidecut, dyed in more colors than the rainbow, and long and breezy summer dress very well. Being prompted to notice the skinny girl's tan like that also got my mind racing, imagining Claire sunbathing, wearing just a bikini, her skin glazed with sweat as she wiped-

"Right." Kimiko nodding in agreement with her girlfriend's sarcasm thankfully gave me something else to focus on, halting the onslaught of forbidden fantasies that the mention of sunbathing had just sparked. "It's dumb that this class is obligatory, especially for someone like Claire who's already kind of established and does paid work as a concept artist. Waste of time and talent."

For a second, I held myself back as I didn't want to be accused of mansplaining. The struggle to press down my desire to correct the giantess' dumb remark was too hard however, and soon my words bubbled free.

"Sure, sure, Kimiko. But it's very important for the entire art team to understand the process of creating functioning models, no? Even an extremely talented illustrator like Claire should have some basic knowledge in how it works, to more easily find jobs in the game biz."

Kimiko glared daggers at me and brushed back a thick curtain of her raven-black hair, but before the know-it-all "artist" could open her mouth to reply with something snide and ill-thought-out, my shoulder got a light and playful punch from Claire, defusing the situation. "Extremely talented? Shucks! Laying it on real thick with the compliments just because we haven't seen each other for a couple of weeks huh, Gregory? You must've missed me!"

"No! I mean, uhh... yes? Maybe? W-well, never mind, we all agree that you're great at this, right? I'm- Oh! Seems class is starting!"

***

Claire and I had been best friends for so long that I could hardly remember a time before her. My strongest memory was still the beautiful sight of the new, tomboyish transfer student dashing to my aid, threatening the bullies that had made younger me's life a living hell. She had been pushed to follow through on her threats a couple of days later, and the ensuing broken nose of a nasty bully had rewarded the child rebel with the first of many visits to the headmaster's office. The awesome sight of Claire breaking my tormentor's nose had also rewarded her with me trailing after her from that day onward, like she was the coolest person in the world. And honestly, she was.

Growing up together, we had influenced each other a whole lot. We soon found our clique among the alternative crowd, spending weekends hunting dragons and exploring new worlds together in pen-and-paper roleplaying games, computer games, or in the comics we read and drew together. Claire was a fantastic artist, a genuine talent who from a young age had no trouble drawing realistic scenes but equally effortlessly sketched fanart of our favorite anime characters.

Being close to such an outstanding girl had resulted in a short, yet awkward, teenage phase when I had been a little infatuated by her. Obsessed in a way that suggested I wanted to be more than friends. I had gotten over that since long ago, though. Besides, Claire and Kimiko had been together for almost two years now, and since a little while back they even lived together off-campus.

The multi-talent currently struggled a little, as always signified by her squinting and a cute little wrinkle playing on her forehead. While Claire may be a true, born-for-it artist, she had never really needed or bothered to develop skills like mine at using computers. Her tech know-how was limited to basic use of the more popular programs necessary for digital artists, so when it came to delving deeper into the digital world she relied on me (and I had always been more than eager to help her out).

I shifted my focus from my own current project, "Yumina, the Dark Elf Huntress", and leaned over to peek at Claire's screen. Her work looked like a jumbled mess of weirdly colored lines and spheres. It could perhaps pass as some sort of unique 3D-take on abstract art, but the familiar (and adorable) wrinkle on my best friend's forehead and how she chewed her lips betrayed frustration with the final product.

"Uhh... What're you trying to build, Claire?"

"Oh god, this is soooo frustrating! It's supposed to like, be this tree bearing fruits that are a cross between pears and cows. But... drawing that, sketching out what's in my head, would be so easy! Why's this clicking and dragging and typing stuff so weird and tricky, Greg?"

I laughed at her extremely "Claire" idea for a model. Kimiko, who also sat beside her weirdo girlfriend, chortled, but remained focused on her own work.

"I could send you some video tutorials. It's pretty easy to be honest, Clairebear. You'll master this in a day."

You'll master this in a day.

The encouragement I laughed out made my forehead throb, a dull sort of pain that forced me to reflect back to my absolute lunacy fever dream of a devil throwing something at my forehead just before I had headed out. Such a weird (and oddly realistic) dream. I should probably visit a doctor or something, to make sure my brain was doing alright.

Claire took note of how I winced in pain and gave a pained expression herself. "It's... pretty terrible, I know, I know! You keep talking me up all the time, but you're the real star, figuring out all this computer stuff, Greg. Like, that fantasy game you're working on looks so freaking cool!"

"O-oh, yeah. Thanks! I mean... I spend a lot of time tinkering on it so--"

"I really love how well-designed the characters are!" Now it was Claire's turn to lean over to check my screen. "They look both cool and capable! Plus, they're sexy but still feel 'realistic', y'know? Like this character," She pointed at the dark elf huntress that I was currently working on. "She's like... hot, but still wears cool armor and pretty clothes. She's got some well-defined muscles and looks like a badass warrior! Not a plastic toy with T'n'A in some chainmail bikini! That snoozefest male gaze stuff, y'know?"

"Even if the industry's gradually getting better, there's still so much game stuff that's incredibly sexist, especially in the foreign games. That's why your game feels like, important!" She grinned, her white teeth shining like stars. "Yup! This model is yet another example of what a great guy you are, Greg!"

My cheeks flushed with heat, and I thought back to some very "not-woke" and much more salacious female character models I had saved on an encrypted drive, most of them made a year or so back when I tried to learn this program. Back when Claire and Kimiko had just hit it off.

I banished further thoughts of guilt and forced out another laugh. "Of course, Clairebear. We ought to do what we can to change this industry for the better." To emphasize that I meant what I said, I shrunk the bust of my model a little.

To my disappointment, Claire did not seem to notice my sacrifice of chest-width on the altar of more inclusive video games, and had already turned her attention back to her "cow-fruit tree".

"Kim, Greg! I'll be sure to have this figured out real soon, no need for you two to worry your cute heads about computer-illiterate Claire!" She said with determination.

I gave her a thumbs-up and turned my attention back to "Yumina". Making sure neither of the two girls looked, I upped the dark elf's bust size back to what it had been. Then, I expanded it a little more. My sacrifice had gone unnoticed by the goddess I wished to appease, so no harm in just taking it back.

After a long time of concentrated silence among us three, I turned to my best friend. "You wanna watch a movie together tonight? Been a while since we hung out. I mean, if you're tired or something from your trip, I totally get that. No pressure!"

"Oh, umm... that'd be real fun, Greg, but me and Kim are like, going out together tonight. Aren't we, babe?"

"Huh? Oh yeah!" The girlfriend/third wheel looked up at us again, her intense focus broken. "Sickeningly pretentious feminist art thingy. Only women allowed, so I'm afraid you can't tag along, Greg." After a second, she realized her mistake and the usually gratingly aloof girl stammered out: "W-well, I mean unless you're, uhh..?"

For a spell, I considered lying just to see Kimiko squirm in further embarrassment and shame at having assumed my gender. But then, I thought better of it and simply shook my head. "I identify as a man, Kimiko."

Kimiko's relief was palpable. She returned to her work while Claire and I exchanged smiles.

***

>How is it? Any super-hot art chicks for you to drool over?

>Totes! If I were into grannies it'd be an all you can eat buffet! Kim would probably complain tho ;)

Claire and I had sent messages back and forth through the evening, but my phone's constant buzzing had eventually died down. Guess she was busy doing something else. Together with Kimiko.

I had come home late, but I was still hard at work trying to make my dark elf model passable. I gave a heavy sigh and rubbed my forehead. Despite my best efforts, I could not stop thinking of Claire. She had been abroad for almost a month, and now she was back but still didn't have time to hang out.

My best friend lived rent-free in such a big space of my mind that I eventually took note of how the face of "dark elf Yumina" that I worked on had gradually begun to look similar to Claire's. I shot yet another futile glance at my still silent phone and groaned at not having received any updates on what they were doing. Without me.

I needed to clear my head, and navigated to some random sites to kill time. I browsed through some news articles about the latest superhero movies, the new graphic novel adaptation airing on streaming sites, and a couple of tech sites with tips on how to improve my workflow.

Soon, I had abandoned any pretense of doing something more productive that night. Tab after tab of porn screamed out for my attention! Yet despite the veritable (and virtual) buffet of boobs and ass and pussy and cocks and fucking and sucking that I had laid out before me, my appetite was for something else.

I fired up an early prototype of my game and loaded in an alternative, much earlier model for who would later become "Yumina, the Dark Elf Huntress". As by the wave of a magic wand, gone was the pseudo-realistic and capable female warrior that Claire had praised, instead replaced by what looked like a dime-a-dozen hentai dark elf straight out of a budget porno game from circa 2005. Long white hair (that clipped terribly through her body) adorned by a gilded tiara. Huge breasts and wide hips barely covered by armor so skimpy that it may as well be underwear.

I moved the model around in the mostly empty environment and was rewarded by extreme sway of hips, creamy milk-chocolate thighs brushing against each other as the CGI-slut strutted around in her high heels. Jiggling her tits and ass for me.

This porno skin had been hastily thrown together a long time ago, so it was primitive, amateurish when contrasted to my current work. To my horny eyes in that moment, the lack of details and the crude craftsmanship just helped emphasize how everything about the "current Yumina" screamed of sex. Signaled that she had been sculpted solely to please the male gaze. To satisfy me.

I grunted, easing off on crazed masturbation, tabbed out of the game session and made some quick modifications to the model. Soon the digital girl I controlled had had her feminine charms expanded even bigger. Her boobs, ass, thighs--her everything--bounced wildly at every little movement!

I steered the game's camera, letting it wander so close to her that I ought to be able to lick the hentai dark elf's dusky skin. With inexhaustible hunger I explored the low-poly dream body I had sculpted. The realistic model that Claire had praised me for--the model I struggled so much to get perfect for her approval--in the blink of an eye replaced by this ridiculously bouncy, porno slut.

"Your game feels important, Greg." "This model's an example of what a great guy you are, Greg." Claire's praise echoed in my mind and I made the model jump repeatedly, tits and other jiggly parts bouncing out of control at each press of the button. I controlled this. I controlled her.

I came over fantasies of this crude prototype. A raw distillation of my unbridled lust. Even before the surge of endorphins had settled, I felt disgusted by myself.

***

"So how fun was yesterday?" I asked my two friends. We had decided to meet up on campus in the afternoon to keep working on our projects from yesterday. The duo both appeared hungover. Kimiko was hollow-eyed and wore some black-colored thing so loose and comfortable that it may as well have been a pair of pajamas. Claire had at least bothered to dress to impress, wearing a pastel skirt and blouse combo that matched her dyed hair.

Despite the aftereffects of free art exhibit alcohol still clearly taking its toll on her, Claire stifled a giggle and pulled at the hem of her skirt as though she was a mischievous little girl. "Tons of fun, Greg! Well, I guess we were kind of asked to... errr... leave after a while. Turns out some washed-up artistes can't handle harsh, but honest, critique."

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Calling someone else a quote 'pick-me girl' unquote is not exactly critique, Claire. Neither is throwing canapes at her. Way to act your age, by the way... 'Pick-me girl'?!" Kimiko scoffed. "Why do you always have to do this? Sabotage your chances to make valuable contacts?!"