Seeds of Heroism - Chapter 44
Chapter 44 – content: >!death, general violence, rupture, slavery!<
*[A guide to the world of Bythos!](https://imgur.com/a/poZLPkK)*
Her sword struck his with enough force to produce sparks, a sudden flashing light in the darkness. The strength made his knees shake and he had to brace his lower body to withstand the blow. Just like Leonia had planned.
Her rising knee started from an almost squatting position, and her whole body rose along with it. In truth, it’s like she was doing a standing high jump, her knee swinging upward to propel the rest of her body along with it. It just so happened that William’s groin was in the way.
The current knight-captain’s eyes bulged out as the former knight-captain’s knee slammed into his testicles.
To her surprise, he managed to land on his feet, although he was bent forward, his knees buckling as he tried to keep his legs from crossing. If they weren’t in a fight, his wide-eyed stare, the tears in the corner of his eyes and his trembling lip while the bulge in his pants still pointed at her would have been hilarious.
“Y-you, how dare you,” he squeaked.
“Oops, was I ‘cheating’ again, as you called it?”
“Lord Fieramosca never would’ve lost if you had just fought fair!”
His high-pitched yelling reminded her of a small dog yipping at her. “Mind you don’t choke on your stones, William. I wouldn’t want our duel to be cut short before I get to break you like I did your lord.”
“Why are you so obsessed with kicking me in the crotch?”
“If you didn’t want me to kick your spuds, you should’ve cut them off. That’s all there is to it.” He growled before she added, “although Andria taught me about boys and their stones…” She pointed her sword at him. “You have given me plenty of motivation to kick you down there! Without their stones, boys become more respectful towards women! I will break your manhood and make sure your threat of raping the princess will never come true!”
As she launched herself at him, her sword a silver blur in the gloom, she realized that William still standing must mean that he had jumped away from her knee, just enough to lessen the brutal strike. But that must mean that she had at least softened the gonad up. After all, if she managed to rupture it, this fight would be over.
“The princess told me what you did to the queen! How you took your pleasure with her back in Calvino!”
He grinned, though his eyes were still furrowed in pain. “Hah, she gave herself willingly to me! Isidora was a lusty fool, she just managed to hide it well enough! When I drilled her ass for hours on end, she squealed like she hadn’t since the king passed away. You should’ve seen her, she-”
“Lies, not even an elf would squeal for a puny lance like yours, let alone the queen!” It was conjecture, but Leonia felt she had heard enough women say something along those lines that it must be true. “You raped her, and who knows how many other women because they wouldn’t spread their legs for someone worthless like you!”
“Shut your whore mouth, you disgraced wannabe knight!”
*Almost got him.* “Little William can’t find a girl that lets him put his stick inside, and so he betrays country and crown to rape with abandon! How ironic that lord Fieramosca still has more balls than you, despite me breaking them!”
William lets out an animalistic scream and charges at her like a wild beast. His attacks are wild, clumsy. Leonia dodges them with ease and unleashes a push kick that catches him completely off-guard. But still, he managed to pull his hips back right before her foot impacted his crotch, lessening the blow.
“Huuu!” he gasps as the toe box of her boot squishes his nut against his body, pushing it into him before the rest of his body follows, freeing the ball from underneath her foot. A small ripple runs through his genitals and Leonia feels it through her boot. It wasn’t the big pop she had hoped for.
*Irksome, but I felt his right testicle split. It might not have popped, but there is no way he isn’t feeling that.*
He stared at her, eyes wide as dinner plates. He stood stock still, sharply breathing in and out through his nose. His face was pale as a sheet.
“What’s the matter, William? Feeling something crack and give?” Leonia said. “I think we both know that half of your manhood has just lost the fight. Righty split open, didn’t it? Surely you know what that means.” She grinned. “Every move you make now carries the risk of tearing the rupture further. You’re going to be spilling the contents of your nut into your sack every time that fractured orb gets jostled too much.”
For the first time, she saw fear creep into his eyes. The sight was like a drink of water in the desert. “You know, if you find a skilled priestess, she can probably save your testicle before it’s too late. But keep fighting and even they can only cut it off. So what will it be?”
His breathing settled, and the fear on his face made way for grim determination.
*Foolish boy… He’s probably not saying anything because he would puke otherwise. At least you have the stones to see this through, I will commend you for that. But that also means you won’t have any stones left at all.*
Leonia spread her legs in a deliberately wide stance and raised her sword to a high guard position. She pushed her hips out, knowing that it would put her smooth loins on display.
“Very well, then come at me. Just know that you can never hurt me the way I just hurt you!” His harsh stare flickered to her crotch, then back to her face.
It made her smile.
This time, she charged him. The swings of her sword were, in all honesty, just for show. Two strikes, that’s how many he would block before he would deliver himself to her.
The first strike he met with an equal swing from the side. Their blades bounced off each other, leaving them both open for a backhand swing.
They struck each other’s crossguard, then led their blades to the side, both weapons neutralizing each other. Then it was time.
Just as Leonia had predicted, his eyes fixed on her crotch with a wild stare. He drew his foot back, wincing at the movement.
*I bet that feels like hell for his split testicle.*
But William powered through the pain, tensed the muscles in his leg and let his kick fly, straight into Leonia’s crotch.
At the same time, Leonia’s iron-clad leg smashed into his balls.
For a moment, the two fighters froze, each with their leg buried in the other’s crotch. Then they both felt his testicle pop.
It was a disappointing rupture, all things considered. Since the shell of his nut had already cracked, there was no loud, satisfying crunch. Instead of a loud bang, half of his manhood ended with a whimper, a small *squick* as the rest of his ball’s structural integrity collapsed. Chunks of ripped and squelched nutmeat bubbled around Leonia’s greaves. But while his right nut had without the shadow of a doubt just disintegrated, Leonia was annoyed to feel his left ball was still alive. Bruised and battered, with a definitive slant towards the middle that she was sure would never buff out again, but still a whole testicle.
William squealed and plummeted to the ground. He clutched his half-broken sack, convulsing and dry-heaving.
Leonia allowed herself to hunch over and gently rub her aching pussy. “Ow, that’s the second time you hit my flower... For that alone, I should finish castrating you.” She looked at the pathetic mess of a man before her, crying and kicking his legs like a little boy throwing a tantrum.
She sighed. “But I’m worried about Despina, and you’re in no condition to fight any more. Tell you what,” she said and kneeled next to him. “If you’re still here when I come back, I promise I will crack the second one… well, not painlessly, but it will be much quicker. I’m not a cruel woman, just one quick stomp and you won’t ever have to feel your manhood hurt like that ever again. Who knows, without your stones, maybe you’ll realize the error of your ways and fight for good again.”
[She left the broken man in the dark and headed towards the lights.](https://imgur.com/a/egTDVnN)
---
“We need to run!” Jim yelled.
“What? No way!” Liriel said and slammed her knee up into an adventurer’s balls. He bent over her, his head resting on her shoulder like a drunk trying to find his balance. Another knee to the nuts made him sink to the ground, his face buried in the elf’s cleavage. Then she knocked him out by slamming her pommel into his neck. Sighing, he fell face-first to the ground, ass in the air with his swelling nuts on display. “We just have to fight our way through her minions and then we take her out!”
Jim disarmed one of the knights and kicked his legs out under him. “Even if we manage to get to her, we can’t defeat her! Did you forget what Zenobia told us back in Seduttri? We need light magic!”
“I agree!” Aramis squeaked. He weakly hammered the pommel of his dagger into the heads of two adventuresses that had sneaked up on him. Each of the girls had grabbed one testicle, yanking on it and trying to crush it in their fists. “The more we are, the- huurgh, better!” One of the girls tried to pull the nut in her grasp towards her mouth, the only reason she didn’t succeed was the other girl pulling her half of Aramis’ sack in the other direction.
The elf knocked the girls out for Aramis and huffed. “Fine then.”
The foxkin took a moment to extricate his balls from the girl’s hands, which was harder than anticipated as even unconscious they retained a vice-like grip on his genitals.
“But once we’re with the others, we’ll make her pay,” Liriel said and plodded in the direction of Despina and Zenobia, careful not to let any of the adventurers and knights under Raum’s control get too close.
When Jim and Aramis followed her, they heard the demoness’s resounding laugh. “You cannot run! Your doom is inevitable!”
The men and women she manipulated trudged after them, in no hurry to catch them. It seemed Raum truly believed them cornered.
The three of them found the princess some distance away. The ground beneath her feet was littered with grey iron balls. She was bent forward with glowing cheeks, breathing heavily. From her right hand, more projectiles shot out in a steady rhythm.
The iron spheres slammed into Badri’s exposed testicles over and over and over again. The fabric of his pants was torn away where it was supposed to cover his manhood, leaving his ballsack without what little protection the coarse wool offered. His right ball was grossly swollen, easily double the size of its sibling, mottled with bruises and pitted all over like a hammered bowl. It was a surprise that the oval shape of his nut was still discernible, dented as it was. The goblin weakly keened as one half his balls was broken down at an agonisingly slow speed.
Despina meanwhile had her left hand between her legs, roughly pressing, prodding and groping her own sex. Her own breeches were partly undone, exposing an intricate sigil covering her crotch and lower stomach that pulsed with light with each shot she pelted Badri’s nuts with.
Whereas Zenobia’s sigil had generally taken the shape of a heart flanked by wings, with a path leading from her loins to it that had reminded him of an outline of her vagina, Despina’s looked much more… ferocious.
There was no silhouette of her walls leading up to a larger crest, instead the sigil sat much lower than Zenobia’s – practically entirely on the mound of her pussy. Instead of a heart, its centre was dominated by something that looked like a spinning, spiky circle. It made Jim think of a spinning Catherine wheel, the sparks of the windmill firework forming curved trails. Inside the circle was a hollow, to which several small arrows pointed.
*No, wait, the arrows are penetrating the hollow*. The sides of the sparking windmill were flanked by deer antlers. They rose along the sides of the sigil’s centre, then curved when they reached the top and bowed to the side before ending in a small bend downward. In that, they still gave the entire sigil the same womb tattoo look Zenobia’s sigil had.
The masturbating princess didn’t notice her companions arrive until they were right beside her. When she did, she screamed in surprise. Her hand shot out of her crotch, shimmering wetly, and the goblin’s balls were granted a stay of execution.
“W-wha-what are you guys doing here?” Despina stammered. Her pants took the opportunity to take their leave, exposing the redhead’s equally fiery bush and dripping lips. She shrieked and turned around, then bent to pull her pants back up. Unfortunately for the princess, that meant she was giving Jim, Liriel and Aramis an even closer look at her nethers. The movement made her cleft spread invitingly, revealing her wet and narrow passage. Her clit proudly peaked out from under its hood.
For once, Jim was thankful he was currently caged. He assumed he would’ve ripped his pants otherwise. “You’re a sorceress!” he exclaimed, focusing on the first thing that wasn’t Despina frigging herself.
“Y-yes?” she asked with glowing cheeks. “How did you think I deflected his arrows before?”
“When did you- No, never mind. We need to go! Raum is following right behind us!” Jim shouted.
“Raum? What?”
Liriel clasped her wet hand in hers. “She’s a demoness. She pretended to be a Cillian baroness and tricked the other nobles as well. Remember Seduttri? We need to find Zenobia so we can defeat her!”
A prism of emotions was reflected on the princess’s face. Lingering embarrassment, of course, but also anger and fear at the memory of how she had been taken in by Malphas, controlled like a puppet. Guilt that her careless actions back then had compelled Leonia to lay down her title.
The knot of emotions unleashed in a fierce kick to Badri’s nuts when she turned and slammed her foot toes first into his bruised ballbag. The kick forced some fluid out of his limp dick, a little wet spot forming on the front of his breeches
“Despina?” Liriel asked with concern.
“This isn’t over, you little rat! When we’re done with this demon, I’m coming back for your nuts!” The barely conscious goblin’s only response was some incoherent babbling. She turned back to Liriel, Jim and Aramis. “Alright, I’m good now. Let’s go.”
More of the demon’s mind-controlled henchmen made their way towards them and with a horny and frustrated princess in tow, they ran.
As Zenobia and Inacea before them, they noticed the ground gradually growing softer as more and more mycelium covered it, the thin white roots growing thicker and sturdier until they were walking on a fungal carpet.
Next to a pair of tall steps, where the surrounding ghostly blue mushrooms crowded close, they found Ina, pale and breathing shallowly, but alive.
“Ina? Are you alright?” Liriel asked, bending over the injured auf while Aramis gently placed two fingers on her neck, feeling her pulse. Knowing he wouldn’t be of any use fussing over the hurt girl as well, Jim ascended the steps and to his surprise, Despina followed him.
They had got about halfway up the strange stairs before they heard a sound like a lightning strike, then someone screamed. The twang of a crossbow followed.
Despina and Jim hurried towards the scream. His lungs burned, he was tired from the continuous fighting he had done and his legs felt heavy as lead, but he still flew up the remaining steps. He hadn’t even noticed when he had drawn his sword. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this.
His vision shrank to a pinprick of focus. A stone-faced maid, holding a crossbow. Harald von Haller lying in front of a statue, his crotch a mess and on fire. Zenobia, lying across from him. And the bolt that had pierced her chest right where her heart was.
He heard someone scream and was surprised to discover that he was hearing his own voice. Jim felt strangely numb. His body moved of its own accord, closing the distance to the maid in a few long strides. He watched himself cleave off her hand before a second strike took off her head. The maid’s body slumped to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut.
“ZENNY!”
Despina’s scream sounded muffled to him, as if he was just watching a scene play out on a film screen. It all seemed so unreal. Zenobia’s ashen face, that he had seen laugh and pout and gasp. It was entirely still now, not even her eyes moved as Despina held her, crying her name over and over. Her dark robe was dyed red and the princess’s tears were unable to wash the unwanted colour from her friend.
He wanted to say something to her. Something that would ease her pain, but the words wouldn’t come to him. *‘Don’t hug her so tight, you’ll ruin your clothes.’* What nonsense. Jim would be laughing if his stomach wasn’t a knot of spikes.
He saw the others make it to the platform. Aramis and Liriel braced Ina between each other and together they stumbled towards Despina and Zenobia.
*They’re all crying so much.*
It didn’t even occur to Jim to walk over to them, not until Liriel turned her head. Her large emerald eyes swam with tears and desperation. Slowly, he stumbled forward until he could hold her in his arms, somehow trying to quell the sobs quaking in her chest.
“My, I hope I’m not interrupting something?” Raum said.
With disgust ripping through his body, Jim forced himself to stand and pick up his sword. He faced the demoness and was surprised to see his weapon did not waver.
“You will pay for this, demon.”
Raum feigned shock. “Me? Don’t be unfair, boy, I didn’t do anything. It is of no concern if your little friends die. If anything, this was your-”
“Shut up!” He could feel his blood thumping in his ear like a drum.
She clicked her tongue. “I see you’re in no mood to talk. Whatever, I’m not he-”
“I SAID SHUT UP!” His sword arced through the air and her head fell much like the maid’s had, hitting the floor with a dull *thud* and Jim sank to his knees. It wouldn’t bring Zenobia back. He was too late for that. He should’ve stuck with her, he never should’ve led them down here in the first place.
The body of the demoness fell forward onto her knees but then stopped. Her hand reached out and grasped her own head, lifting it to her neck. Fleshy strings sprouted from the wound and reattached Raum to her body. A second later, it was as if nothing had ever happened.
“That was quite rude, you know. When you cut diagonally like that, neither my body nor my head have the tools to even speak any more, you know?” Raum stood back up. “Ah well, what can you do. You’re a little emotional at the moment, I can forgive that. I will give you a minute. Right now, I need to talk to one of your friends anyway.”
Raum’s crimson feet softly padded on top of the roots the forest of mushrooms formed all around them. She walked over to the kneeling statue and lovingly caressed the cheek of the man hewn in stone. Then, she turned and smiled at Liriel.
“I think it’s about time we complete our deal, don’t you think?”
“W-what?” Liriel stammered.
“Oh come on, do I *really* have to spell it out for you? You can’t tell me you didn’t see this coming. Or have you really not figured it out yet?”
“Liri, what’s going on?” Jim asked.
“I don’t know, she-” Her voice faltered. Following her gaze, Jim turned back to Raum, where a yellow-brown bird sat. It tilted its head curiously, its red eyes boring into the elf before ruffling through the quills it had for feathers.
“Ah, that rings a bell, now, doesn’t it?” The bird fluttered up to Raum’s hand where it perched, then suddenly vanished. “You didn’t think Helene was my only way of fooling mortals, did you?”
“No… no! That can’t have been you!”
“Who else? You think Buné cares what happens to the mortals she gives her stupid gifts to? My sister’s careless meddling almost killed Jimmy over there, all because she had to make some girl a necromancer. Luckily, I was watching over you all. And resourceful like I am, I turned her blunder into a boon. I took control of her zombies, saving Jim, and even got a little pact out of it. Smart, aren’t I?”
Aramis put a hand on her shoulder. “Liriel, what did you do?”
“I didn’t know, I-I…” She turned to Jim. “You have to believe me! She tricked me, I- AH!” She clasped her hand on the back of her neck, stumbling in pain.
“Liri! Stop hurting her, Raum!”
The demoness shrugged. “I have no control over that. It’s just the pact recognizing that she’s struggling against paying her fair share. You remember what your end of our bargain was, right?”
Liriel bared her teeth in anger and pain. “You wouldn’t tell me, you only said…”
“That you’d owe me a favour. Well, I’m calling it in now.” Raum swept her crimson hand over the statue next to her, over the black and lustrous liquid it cupped. “Drink.”
“… what?”
“You heard me. Chop chop, girl, all this dramatic tension you kids have going on here is bad for my skin. Drink up.”
Despite her protests, despite trying everything in her power to turn and run away, Liriel put one foot in front of the other, slowly walking towards the statue.
“Stop! Let her go!” Jim ran, sword in hand. He would keep striking the demoness down and down if he had to, until she relinquished Liriel from her control.
“You’re starting to annoy me.” Raum slashed her hand out to meet his blade. She chopped through the steel, bisecting it into two clean pieces.
Jim held his sword in front of him in disbelief, but Raum wasn’t done. She grasped what remained of the blade, her black nails digging into the weapon until it shattered in her hand. Next, she closed her hand around the bulge in his pants and yanked him towards her as if he weighed nothing. Holding him aloft, he dangled from his manhood in her grasp.
“I *am* renowned among my sisters for my strength, you know.” Her head turned to Liriel. “Time to pay. Drink the ambrosia.”
The elf did as she was bidden and lowered her head to the statue’s hands. Silently, she drank.
“Now, Ina!” Aramis said.
With a flick of her hand, a heart black as pitch appeared in the auf’s hand. She wobbled and sank back to the floor before Aramis was able to hold her. Blood flowed from her nose, but she smiled.
Despina, holding Aramis’s dagger, stabbed the demon’s heart over and over again, each wound closing as fast as it was rent.
Throughout, Raum watched them dispassionately. “Cute. You just saw the boy decapitate me, but you thought that would work? I suppose I should applaud you for trying.”
“Fuck, there has to be a way we can hurt her…” Aramis said. “Maybe… if we…” he began. But each idea he could think of was less likely to work than the previous.
Then Liriel stood up.
“Done, are you?” Raum asked.
Slowly, the elf turned. Her eyes were closed and a trickle of the ambrosia still trailed from her mouth.
When she opened her eyes, Aramis, Despina and Inacea shuddered. Then she turned to Jim.
[Her eyes were a void of shadow, without pupils or irises](https://imgur.com/a/drJZLej). She blinked once, twice, then walked towards Jim and Raum.
“Liriel…” he said through gritted teeth, dangling from Raum’s grasp.
“Feeling strong now, aren’t you? Like you could rip a tree out of the ground?” Raum reached for Liriel’s head to ruffle her hair.
“Do not touch me, filth.” Her voice was cold and unyielding. It made Jim and the others flinch, and even Raum drew back her hand.
She knelt beside him and reached out for him. Her voice was cold and barely a whisper, but he could hear every word.
“Finally, I can make you mine. No one will get between us now, not this time. There will be no more uncertainty.” She brushed a stray lock out of his face. “No more secrets.”
Her fingers touched his forehead and the world fell away.
*“ Liri? Liri! What’s going on?”*
*“ Hey shrimp dick, stop jerking off, you gotta go pick up groceries.”
His sister leaned against the door frame, chewing gum and typing away at her phone.
*“ What? Sis, is that you?”*
She seemed to ignore him. *“ I can’t, I gotta get ready for the party, Melissa is picking me up in half an hour.”*
This was wrong. Wasn’t this how his last day on earth ended? Sure enough, he noticed himself get up when his sister was done insulting him and grabbed a list of groceries his mum had written. A quick peek into his own boxers before he left the house confirmed his once tiny dick was back, so small that it stopped about halfway towards the end of his equally unimpressive nuts and thin as a felt pen.
He felt himself step out of the house and into the street, not bothering to pay attention until it was too late, until the truck driven by a strange woman wearing horns hit him.
A sharp pain shot through his head and days and weeks rushed past him, then suddenly he was standing in a forest. Zenobia was kneeling in front of him and for a moment, he was overjoyed. Then he realized what she was doing, how her hand was flying along his length and he realized this was another memory. Before they had even fought against Malphas.
For a second, he thought he saw somebody move in a bush, but then he had closed his eyes, the old Jim back then had, and he could no longer see who it was.
Another jolt of pain shot through him, faster than before and more intense. He was on top of a tower ruin, a harpy bouncing on his cock in ecstasy, squawking triumphantly while her claws penetrated his balls.
More pain, then he was bound and lying on cold stone. Chloe straddled his hips, mouth agape as her brain tried to comprehend the massive size that was splitting her apart. Slowly, she dragged herself off of him, Jim’s cock sliding out of her before he thrust up into her again, making her knees buckle and causing her to foam at the mouth.
Pain. Bruna sat on his stomach, tensing her pussy as she came on his plugged up dick.
Pain. Pain. Pain was all that he knew.
Then he was in a place he didn’t recognize, in a body that wasn’t his own.
*“Miss Oreias, can you please help me?”*
*“Please, Sanna, I’m barely older than you. Call me Liriel,”* he heard himself say in a familiar girl’s voice.
*“But, you’re our master, at least until we’re sold. That would be disrespectful, I know that much at least.”* The girl was ghostly pale, and judging by her pointy ears, an elf.
Jim felt himself grimace in Liriel’s body. *“Sanna, you know I only became your master to look out for you all, right?”* His gaze drifted over the pens where more of his, no, of Liriel’s tribe were imprisoned, men and women with collars around their necks, bound like animals. *“When they came and raided the village, I thought that would be our end… when they said one of us can join them, I thought…”*
The young elf put her hands over Liriel’s. *“It’s alright, miss Oreias, I know why you volunteered, even if the others refuse to see it. I believe you.”*
*“Thank you, Sanna…”* He felt Liriel wipe a tear away. *“Now, what did you need help with?”*
*“You see, they said I would be sold to a noble to serve as her cupbearer, but I keep forgetting in what order I need to serve people drinks and I always mess it up. Can you help me learn?”*
[Liriel smiled.](https://imgur.com/a/lw3JQDI) *“I did hear of a little trick to help you remember, but it might be a little painful. But you know what? The men I heard this from said they would never do something they weren’t supposed to again because of this trick.”*
Sanna’s eyes practically glowed. *“Really? What is it?”*
Liriel’s hand flew up and struck the elf between the legs. Sanna bent forward, eyes bulging out, gasping a little. The familiar reaction told Jim that ‘she’ was actually a boy.
*“I see…”* Sanna squeaked.
*“Good trick, right? Let’s go through the order and every time you make a mistake, I’ll hit your berries. There’s no way you’ll forget after that.”*
*“Th-thank you, miss Oreias…”*
But thanks to Liriel’s thoughts, Jim knew at that moment she would have to hurry and teach Sanna as much as she could, before they took him away from her. Just like all the others from her village. One by one, they would be taken from her, until Liriel was all alone.
Jim closed his eyes and the next time he opened them, darkness surrounded him, and Liriel stood before him.
Her eyes were pitch-black and her expression unreadable.
*“I do not understand. You were not supposed to see that.”* She looked him over. *“I suppose it makes no difference. In the end, neither of us were who we said we were.”*
*“Liriel, what’s happening? Why did I see all that?”* He left his real question unspoken.
*“I did say there would be no more secrets between us. And yes, I saw your memories.”* She said, reading his thoughts. Liriel paused for a moment. *“I saw your lies.”*
*“Lies?! Are you talking about what happened with-”*
*“You had sex with them. With that monster. With Bruna. Even with Chloe… I genuinely thought you hated her.”*
*“I do! But I had no choice, it was the only way I cou-”*
*“There’s always a choice, Jim. Don’t try to deny the pleasure you enjoyed with her, I felt your memories as you felt them. Every time you held me, you lied to me. Every time you kissed me, you lied to me.”*
He didn’t know what to tell her. He had been a victim of his circumstances each time, but a small voice in the back of his mind said she was right. As strange, humiliating and terrifying as they had been, he had also taken pleasure in the sex.
*“You lied to me, just like I lied to you. I guess that makes both of us scum.”*
He wanted to argue, but guilt burned in his throat.
*“I suppose we deserve each other, then. But I can’t let you out of my sight again. Never again will I lose you.”*
He blinked and she only stood an inch away.
*“Thank you. For pretending all this time that you loved me.”*
With her kiss, her dark magic surged once more, invading his mind.
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*...*
*[A guide to the world of Bythos!](https://imgur.com/a/poZLPkK)*
Her sword struck his with enough force to produce sparks, a sudden flashing light in the darkness. The strength made his knees shake and he had to brace his lower body to withstand the blow. Just like Leonia had planned.
Her rising knee started from an almost squatting position, and her whole body rose along with it. In truth, it’s like she was doing a standing high jump, her knee swinging upward to propel the rest of her body along with it. It just so happened that William’s groin was in the way.
The current knight-captain’s eyes bulged out as the former knight-captain’s knee slammed into his testicles.
To her surprise, he managed to land on his feet, although he was bent forward, his knees buckling as he tried to keep his legs from crossing. If they weren’t in a fight, his wide-eyed stare, the tears in the corner of his eyes and his trembling lip while the bulge in his pants still pointed at her would have been hilarious.
“Y-you, how dare you,” he squeaked.
“Oops, was I ‘cheating’ again, as you called it?”
“Lord Fieramosca never would’ve lost if you had just fought fair!”
His high-pitched yelling reminded her of a small dog yipping at her. “Mind you don’t choke on your stones, William. I wouldn’t want our duel to be cut short before I get to break you like I did your lord.”
“Why are you so obsessed with kicking me in the crotch?”
“If you didn’t want me to kick your spuds, you should’ve cut them off. That’s all there is to it.” He growled before she added, “although Andria taught me about boys and their stones…” She pointed her sword at him. “You have given me plenty of motivation to kick you down there! Without their stones, boys become more respectful towards women! I will break your manhood and make sure your threat of raping the princess will never come true!”
As she launched herself at him, her sword a silver blur in the gloom, she realized that William still standing must mean that he had jumped away from her knee, just enough to lessen the brutal strike. But that must mean that she had at least softened the gonad up. After all, if she managed to rupture it, this fight would be over.
“The princess told me what you did to the queen! How you took your pleasure with her back in Calvino!”
He grinned, though his eyes were still furrowed in pain. “Hah, she gave herself willingly to me! Isidora was a lusty fool, she just managed to hide it well enough! When I drilled her ass for hours on end, she squealed like she hadn’t since the king passed away. You should’ve seen her, she-”
“Lies, not even an elf would squeal for a puny lance like yours, let alone the queen!” It was conjecture, but Leonia felt she had heard enough women say something along those lines that it must be true. “You raped her, and who knows how many other women because they wouldn’t spread their legs for someone worthless like you!”
“Shut your whore mouth, you disgraced wannabe knight!”
*Almost got him.* “Little William can’t find a girl that lets him put his stick inside, and so he betrays country and crown to rape with abandon! How ironic that lord Fieramosca still has more balls than you, despite me breaking them!”
William lets out an animalistic scream and charges at her like a wild beast. His attacks are wild, clumsy. Leonia dodges them with ease and unleashes a push kick that catches him completely off-guard. But still, he managed to pull his hips back right before her foot impacted his crotch, lessening the blow.
“Huuu!” he gasps as the toe box of her boot squishes his nut against his body, pushing it into him before the rest of his body follows, freeing the ball from underneath her foot. A small ripple runs through his genitals and Leonia feels it through her boot. It wasn’t the big pop she had hoped for.
*Irksome, but I felt his right testicle split. It might not have popped, but there is no way he isn’t feeling that.*
He stared at her, eyes wide as dinner plates. He stood stock still, sharply breathing in and out through his nose. His face was pale as a sheet.
“What’s the matter, William? Feeling something crack and give?” Leonia said. “I think we both know that half of your manhood has just lost the fight. Righty split open, didn’t it? Surely you know what that means.” She grinned. “Every move you make now carries the risk of tearing the rupture further. You’re going to be spilling the contents of your nut into your sack every time that fractured orb gets jostled too much.”
For the first time, she saw fear creep into his eyes. The sight was like a drink of water in the desert. “You know, if you find a skilled priestess, she can probably save your testicle before it’s too late. But keep fighting and even they can only cut it off. So what will it be?”
His breathing settled, and the fear on his face made way for grim determination.
*Foolish boy… He’s probably not saying anything because he would puke otherwise. At least you have the stones to see this through, I will commend you for that. But that also means you won’t have any stones left at all.*
Leonia spread her legs in a deliberately wide stance and raised her sword to a high guard position. She pushed her hips out, knowing that it would put her smooth loins on display.
“Very well, then come at me. Just know that you can never hurt me the way I just hurt you!” His harsh stare flickered to her crotch, then back to her face.
It made her smile.
This time, she charged him. The swings of her sword were, in all honesty, just for show. Two strikes, that’s how many he would block before he would deliver himself to her.
The first strike he met with an equal swing from the side. Their blades bounced off each other, leaving them both open for a backhand swing.
They struck each other’s crossguard, then led their blades to the side, both weapons neutralizing each other. Then it was time.
Just as Leonia had predicted, his eyes fixed on her crotch with a wild stare. He drew his foot back, wincing at the movement.
*I bet that feels like hell for his split testicle.*
But William powered through the pain, tensed the muscles in his leg and let his kick fly, straight into Leonia’s crotch.
At the same time, Leonia’s iron-clad leg smashed into his balls.
For a moment, the two fighters froze, each with their leg buried in the other’s crotch. Then they both felt his testicle pop.
It was a disappointing rupture, all things considered. Since the shell of his nut had already cracked, there was no loud, satisfying crunch. Instead of a loud bang, half of his manhood ended with a whimper, a small *squick* as the rest of his ball’s structural integrity collapsed. Chunks of ripped and squelched nutmeat bubbled around Leonia’s greaves. But while his right nut had without the shadow of a doubt just disintegrated, Leonia was annoyed to feel his left ball was still alive. Bruised and battered, with a definitive slant towards the middle that she was sure would never buff out again, but still a whole testicle.
William squealed and plummeted to the ground. He clutched his half-broken sack, convulsing and dry-heaving.
Leonia allowed herself to hunch over and gently rub her aching pussy. “Ow, that’s the second time you hit my flower... For that alone, I should finish castrating you.” She looked at the pathetic mess of a man before her, crying and kicking his legs like a little boy throwing a tantrum.
She sighed. “But I’m worried about Despina, and you’re in no condition to fight any more. Tell you what,” she said and kneeled next to him. “If you’re still here when I come back, I promise I will crack the second one… well, not painlessly, but it will be much quicker. I’m not a cruel woman, just one quick stomp and you won’t ever have to feel your manhood hurt like that ever again. Who knows, without your stones, maybe you’ll realize the error of your ways and fight for good again.”
[She left the broken man in the dark and headed towards the lights.](https://imgur.com/a/egTDVnN)
---
“We need to run!” Jim yelled.
“What? No way!” Liriel said and slammed her knee up into an adventurer’s balls. He bent over her, his head resting on her shoulder like a drunk trying to find his balance. Another knee to the nuts made him sink to the ground, his face buried in the elf’s cleavage. Then she knocked him out by slamming her pommel into his neck. Sighing, he fell face-first to the ground, ass in the air with his swelling nuts on display. “We just have to fight our way through her minions and then we take her out!”
Jim disarmed one of the knights and kicked his legs out under him. “Even if we manage to get to her, we can’t defeat her! Did you forget what Zenobia told us back in Seduttri? We need light magic!”
“I agree!” Aramis squeaked. He weakly hammered the pommel of his dagger into the heads of two adventuresses that had sneaked up on him. Each of the girls had grabbed one testicle, yanking on it and trying to crush it in their fists. “The more we are, the- huurgh, better!” One of the girls tried to pull the nut in her grasp towards her mouth, the only reason she didn’t succeed was the other girl pulling her half of Aramis’ sack in the other direction.
The elf knocked the girls out for Aramis and huffed. “Fine then.”
The foxkin took a moment to extricate his balls from the girl’s hands, which was harder than anticipated as even unconscious they retained a vice-like grip on his genitals.
“But once we’re with the others, we’ll make her pay,” Liriel said and plodded in the direction of Despina and Zenobia, careful not to let any of the adventurers and knights under Raum’s control get too close.
When Jim and Aramis followed her, they heard the demoness’s resounding laugh. “You cannot run! Your doom is inevitable!”
The men and women she manipulated trudged after them, in no hurry to catch them. It seemed Raum truly believed them cornered.
The three of them found the princess some distance away. The ground beneath her feet was littered with grey iron balls. She was bent forward with glowing cheeks, breathing heavily. From her right hand, more projectiles shot out in a steady rhythm.
The iron spheres slammed into Badri’s exposed testicles over and over and over again. The fabric of his pants was torn away where it was supposed to cover his manhood, leaving his ballsack without what little protection the coarse wool offered. His right ball was grossly swollen, easily double the size of its sibling, mottled with bruises and pitted all over like a hammered bowl. It was a surprise that the oval shape of his nut was still discernible, dented as it was. The goblin weakly keened as one half his balls was broken down at an agonisingly slow speed.
Despina meanwhile had her left hand between her legs, roughly pressing, prodding and groping her own sex. Her own breeches were partly undone, exposing an intricate sigil covering her crotch and lower stomach that pulsed with light with each shot she pelted Badri’s nuts with.
Whereas Zenobia’s sigil had generally taken the shape of a heart flanked by wings, with a path leading from her loins to it that had reminded him of an outline of her vagina, Despina’s looked much more… ferocious.
There was no silhouette of her walls leading up to a larger crest, instead the sigil sat much lower than Zenobia’s – practically entirely on the mound of her pussy. Instead of a heart, its centre was dominated by something that looked like a spinning, spiky circle. It made Jim think of a spinning Catherine wheel, the sparks of the windmill firework forming curved trails. Inside the circle was a hollow, to which several small arrows pointed.
*No, wait, the arrows are penetrating the hollow*. The sides of the sparking windmill were flanked by deer antlers. They rose along the sides of the sigil’s centre, then curved when they reached the top and bowed to the side before ending in a small bend downward. In that, they still gave the entire sigil the same womb tattoo look Zenobia’s sigil had.
The masturbating princess didn’t notice her companions arrive until they were right beside her. When she did, she screamed in surprise. Her hand shot out of her crotch, shimmering wetly, and the goblin’s balls were granted a stay of execution.
“W-wha-what are you guys doing here?” Despina stammered. Her pants took the opportunity to take their leave, exposing the redhead’s equally fiery bush and dripping lips. She shrieked and turned around, then bent to pull her pants back up. Unfortunately for the princess, that meant she was giving Jim, Liriel and Aramis an even closer look at her nethers. The movement made her cleft spread invitingly, revealing her wet and narrow passage. Her clit proudly peaked out from under its hood.
For once, Jim was thankful he was currently caged. He assumed he would’ve ripped his pants otherwise. “You’re a sorceress!” he exclaimed, focusing on the first thing that wasn’t Despina frigging herself.
“Y-yes?” she asked with glowing cheeks. “How did you think I deflected his arrows before?”
“When did you- No, never mind. We need to go! Raum is following right behind us!” Jim shouted.
“Raum? What?”
Liriel clasped her wet hand in hers. “She’s a demoness. She pretended to be a Cillian baroness and tricked the other nobles as well. Remember Seduttri? We need to find Zenobia so we can defeat her!”
A prism of emotions was reflected on the princess’s face. Lingering embarrassment, of course, but also anger and fear at the memory of how she had been taken in by Malphas, controlled like a puppet. Guilt that her careless actions back then had compelled Leonia to lay down her title.
The knot of emotions unleashed in a fierce kick to Badri’s nuts when she turned and slammed her foot toes first into his bruised ballbag. The kick forced some fluid out of his limp dick, a little wet spot forming on the front of his breeches
“Despina?” Liriel asked with concern.
“This isn’t over, you little rat! When we’re done with this demon, I’m coming back for your nuts!” The barely conscious goblin’s only response was some incoherent babbling. She turned back to Liriel, Jim and Aramis. “Alright, I’m good now. Let’s go.”
More of the demon’s mind-controlled henchmen made their way towards them and with a horny and frustrated princess in tow, they ran.
As Zenobia and Inacea before them, they noticed the ground gradually growing softer as more and more mycelium covered it, the thin white roots growing thicker and sturdier until they were walking on a fungal carpet.
Next to a pair of tall steps, where the surrounding ghostly blue mushrooms crowded close, they found Ina, pale and breathing shallowly, but alive.
“Ina? Are you alright?” Liriel asked, bending over the injured auf while Aramis gently placed two fingers on her neck, feeling her pulse. Knowing he wouldn’t be of any use fussing over the hurt girl as well, Jim ascended the steps and to his surprise, Despina followed him.
They had got about halfway up the strange stairs before they heard a sound like a lightning strike, then someone screamed. The twang of a crossbow followed.
Despina and Jim hurried towards the scream. His lungs burned, he was tired from the continuous fighting he had done and his legs felt heavy as lead, but he still flew up the remaining steps. He hadn’t even noticed when he had drawn his sword. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this.
His vision shrank to a pinprick of focus. A stone-faced maid, holding a crossbow. Harald von Haller lying in front of a statue, his crotch a mess and on fire. Zenobia, lying across from him. And the bolt that had pierced her chest right where her heart was.
He heard someone scream and was surprised to discover that he was hearing his own voice. Jim felt strangely numb. His body moved of its own accord, closing the distance to the maid in a few long strides. He watched himself cleave off her hand before a second strike took off her head. The maid’s body slumped to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut.
“ZENNY!”
Despina’s scream sounded muffled to him, as if he was just watching a scene play out on a film screen. It all seemed so unreal. Zenobia’s ashen face, that he had seen laugh and pout and gasp. It was entirely still now, not even her eyes moved as Despina held her, crying her name over and over. Her dark robe was dyed red and the princess’s tears were unable to wash the unwanted colour from her friend.
He wanted to say something to her. Something that would ease her pain, but the words wouldn’t come to him. *‘Don’t hug her so tight, you’ll ruin your clothes.’* What nonsense. Jim would be laughing if his stomach wasn’t a knot of spikes.
He saw the others make it to the platform. Aramis and Liriel braced Ina between each other and together they stumbled towards Despina and Zenobia.
*They’re all crying so much.*
It didn’t even occur to Jim to walk over to them, not until Liriel turned her head. Her large emerald eyes swam with tears and desperation. Slowly, he stumbled forward until he could hold her in his arms, somehow trying to quell the sobs quaking in her chest.
“My, I hope I’m not interrupting something?” Raum said.
With disgust ripping through his body, Jim forced himself to stand and pick up his sword. He faced the demoness and was surprised to see his weapon did not waver.
“You will pay for this, demon.”
Raum feigned shock. “Me? Don’t be unfair, boy, I didn’t do anything. It is of no concern if your little friends die. If anything, this was your-”
“Shut up!” He could feel his blood thumping in his ear like a drum.
She clicked her tongue. “I see you’re in no mood to talk. Whatever, I’m not he-”
“I SAID SHUT UP!” His sword arced through the air and her head fell much like the maid’s had, hitting the floor with a dull *thud* and Jim sank to his knees. It wouldn’t bring Zenobia back. He was too late for that. He should’ve stuck with her, he never should’ve led them down here in the first place.
The body of the demoness fell forward onto her knees but then stopped. Her hand reached out and grasped her own head, lifting it to her neck. Fleshy strings sprouted from the wound and reattached Raum to her body. A second later, it was as if nothing had ever happened.
“That was quite rude, you know. When you cut diagonally like that, neither my body nor my head have the tools to even speak any more, you know?” Raum stood back up. “Ah well, what can you do. You’re a little emotional at the moment, I can forgive that. I will give you a minute. Right now, I need to talk to one of your friends anyway.”
Raum’s crimson feet softly padded on top of the roots the forest of mushrooms formed all around them. She walked over to the kneeling statue and lovingly caressed the cheek of the man hewn in stone. Then, she turned and smiled at Liriel.
“I think it’s about time we complete our deal, don’t you think?”
“W-what?” Liriel stammered.
“Oh come on, do I *really* have to spell it out for you? You can’t tell me you didn’t see this coming. Or have you really not figured it out yet?”
“Liri, what’s going on?” Jim asked.
“I don’t know, she-” Her voice faltered. Following her gaze, Jim turned back to Raum, where a yellow-brown bird sat. It tilted its head curiously, its red eyes boring into the elf before ruffling through the quills it had for feathers.
“Ah, that rings a bell, now, doesn’t it?” The bird fluttered up to Raum’s hand where it perched, then suddenly vanished. “You didn’t think Helene was my only way of fooling mortals, did you?”
“No… no! That can’t have been you!”
“Who else? You think Buné cares what happens to the mortals she gives her stupid gifts to? My sister’s careless meddling almost killed Jimmy over there, all because she had to make some girl a necromancer. Luckily, I was watching over you all. And resourceful like I am, I turned her blunder into a boon. I took control of her zombies, saving Jim, and even got a little pact out of it. Smart, aren’t I?”
Aramis put a hand on her shoulder. “Liriel, what did you do?”
“I didn’t know, I-I…” She turned to Jim. “You have to believe me! She tricked me, I- AH!” She clasped her hand on the back of her neck, stumbling in pain.
“Liri! Stop hurting her, Raum!”
The demoness shrugged. “I have no control over that. It’s just the pact recognizing that she’s struggling against paying her fair share. You remember what your end of our bargain was, right?”
Liriel bared her teeth in anger and pain. “You wouldn’t tell me, you only said…”
“That you’d owe me a favour. Well, I’m calling it in now.” Raum swept her crimson hand over the statue next to her, over the black and lustrous liquid it cupped. “Drink.”
“… what?”
“You heard me. Chop chop, girl, all this dramatic tension you kids have going on here is bad for my skin. Drink up.”
Despite her protests, despite trying everything in her power to turn and run away, Liriel put one foot in front of the other, slowly walking towards the statue.
“Stop! Let her go!” Jim ran, sword in hand. He would keep striking the demoness down and down if he had to, until she relinquished Liriel from her control.
“You’re starting to annoy me.” Raum slashed her hand out to meet his blade. She chopped through the steel, bisecting it into two clean pieces.
Jim held his sword in front of him in disbelief, but Raum wasn’t done. She grasped what remained of the blade, her black nails digging into the weapon until it shattered in her hand. Next, she closed her hand around the bulge in his pants and yanked him towards her as if he weighed nothing. Holding him aloft, he dangled from his manhood in her grasp.
“I *am* renowned among my sisters for my strength, you know.” Her head turned to Liriel. “Time to pay. Drink the ambrosia.”
The elf did as she was bidden and lowered her head to the statue’s hands. Silently, she drank.
“Now, Ina!” Aramis said.
With a flick of her hand, a heart black as pitch appeared in the auf’s hand. She wobbled and sank back to the floor before Aramis was able to hold her. Blood flowed from her nose, but she smiled.
Despina, holding Aramis’s dagger, stabbed the demon’s heart over and over again, each wound closing as fast as it was rent.
Throughout, Raum watched them dispassionately. “Cute. You just saw the boy decapitate me, but you thought that would work? I suppose I should applaud you for trying.”
“Fuck, there has to be a way we can hurt her…” Aramis said. “Maybe… if we…” he began. But each idea he could think of was less likely to work than the previous.
Then Liriel stood up.
“Done, are you?” Raum asked.
Slowly, the elf turned. Her eyes were closed and a trickle of the ambrosia still trailed from her mouth.
When she opened her eyes, Aramis, Despina and Inacea shuddered. Then she turned to Jim.
[Her eyes were a void of shadow, without pupils or irises](https://imgur.com/a/drJZLej). She blinked once, twice, then walked towards Jim and Raum.
“Liriel…” he said through gritted teeth, dangling from Raum’s grasp.
“Feeling strong now, aren’t you? Like you could rip a tree out of the ground?” Raum reached for Liriel’s head to ruffle her hair.
“Do not touch me, filth.” Her voice was cold and unyielding. It made Jim and the others flinch, and even Raum drew back her hand.
She knelt beside him and reached out for him. Her voice was cold and barely a whisper, but he could hear every word.
“Finally, I can make you mine. No one will get between us now, not this time. There will be no more uncertainty.” She brushed a stray lock out of his face. “No more secrets.”
Her fingers touched his forehead and the world fell away.
*“ Liri? Liri! What’s going on?”*
*“ Hey shrimp dick, stop jerking off, you gotta go pick up groceries.”
His sister leaned against the door frame, chewing gum and typing away at her phone.
*“ What? Sis, is that you?”*
She seemed to ignore him. *“ I can’t, I gotta get ready for the party, Melissa is picking me up in half an hour.”*
This was wrong. Wasn’t this how his last day on earth ended? Sure enough, he noticed himself get up when his sister was done insulting him and grabbed a list of groceries his mum had written. A quick peek into his own boxers before he left the house confirmed his once tiny dick was back, so small that it stopped about halfway towards the end of his equally unimpressive nuts and thin as a felt pen.
He felt himself step out of the house and into the street, not bothering to pay attention until it was too late, until the truck driven by a strange woman wearing horns hit him.
A sharp pain shot through his head and days and weeks rushed past him, then suddenly he was standing in a forest. Zenobia was kneeling in front of him and for a moment, he was overjoyed. Then he realized what she was doing, how her hand was flying along his length and he realized this was another memory. Before they had even fought against Malphas.
For a second, he thought he saw somebody move in a bush, but then he had closed his eyes, the old Jim back then had, and he could no longer see who it was.
Another jolt of pain shot through him, faster than before and more intense. He was on top of a tower ruin, a harpy bouncing on his cock in ecstasy, squawking triumphantly while her claws penetrated his balls.
More pain, then he was bound and lying on cold stone. Chloe straddled his hips, mouth agape as her brain tried to comprehend the massive size that was splitting her apart. Slowly, she dragged herself off of him, Jim’s cock sliding out of her before he thrust up into her again, making her knees buckle and causing her to foam at the mouth.
Pain. Bruna sat on his stomach, tensing her pussy as she came on his plugged up dick.
Pain. Pain. Pain was all that he knew.
Then he was in a place he didn’t recognize, in a body that wasn’t his own.
*“Miss Oreias, can you please help me?”*
*“Please, Sanna, I’m barely older than you. Call me Liriel,”* he heard himself say in a familiar girl’s voice.
*“But, you’re our master, at least until we’re sold. That would be disrespectful, I know that much at least.”* The girl was ghostly pale, and judging by her pointy ears, an elf.
Jim felt himself grimace in Liriel’s body. *“Sanna, you know I only became your master to look out for you all, right?”* His gaze drifted over the pens where more of his, no, of Liriel’s tribe were imprisoned, men and women with collars around their necks, bound like animals. *“When they came and raided the village, I thought that would be our end… when they said one of us can join them, I thought…”*
The young elf put her hands over Liriel’s. *“It’s alright, miss Oreias, I know why you volunteered, even if the others refuse to see it. I believe you.”*
*“Thank you, Sanna…”* He felt Liriel wipe a tear away. *“Now, what did you need help with?”*
*“You see, they said I would be sold to a noble to serve as her cupbearer, but I keep forgetting in what order I need to serve people drinks and I always mess it up. Can you help me learn?”*
[Liriel smiled.](https://imgur.com/a/lw3JQDI) *“I did hear of a little trick to help you remember, but it might be a little painful. But you know what? The men I heard this from said they would never do something they weren’t supposed to again because of this trick.”*
Sanna’s eyes practically glowed. *“Really? What is it?”*
Liriel’s hand flew up and struck the elf between the legs. Sanna bent forward, eyes bulging out, gasping a little. The familiar reaction told Jim that ‘she’ was actually a boy.
*“I see…”* Sanna squeaked.
*“Good trick, right? Let’s go through the order and every time you make a mistake, I’ll hit your berries. There’s no way you’ll forget after that.”*
*“Th-thank you, miss Oreias…”*
But thanks to Liriel’s thoughts, Jim knew at that moment she would have to hurry and teach Sanna as much as she could, before they took him away from her. Just like all the others from her village. One by one, they would be taken from her, until Liriel was all alone.
Jim closed his eyes and the next time he opened them, darkness surrounded him, and Liriel stood before him.
Her eyes were pitch-black and her expression unreadable.
*“I do not understand. You were not supposed to see that.”* She looked him over. *“I suppose it makes no difference. In the end, neither of us were who we said we were.”*
*“Liriel, what’s happening? Why did I see all that?”* He left his real question unspoken.
*“I did say there would be no more secrets between us. And yes, I saw your memories.”* She said, reading his thoughts. Liriel paused for a moment. *“I saw your lies.”*
*“Lies?! Are you talking about what happened with-”*
*“You had sex with them. With that monster. With Bruna. Even with Chloe… I genuinely thought you hated her.”*
*“I do! But I had no choice, it was the only way I cou-”*
*“There’s always a choice, Jim. Don’t try to deny the pleasure you enjoyed with her, I felt your memories as you felt them. Every time you held me, you lied to me. Every time you kissed me, you lied to me.”*
He didn’t know what to tell her. He had been a victim of his circumstances each time, but a small voice in the back of his mind said she was right. As strange, humiliating and terrifying as they had been, he had also taken pleasure in the sex.
*“You lied to me, just like I lied to you. I guess that makes both of us scum.”*
He wanted to argue, but guilt burned in his throat.
*“I suppose we deserve each other, then. But I can’t let you out of my sight again. Never again will I lose you.”*
He blinked and she only stood an inch away.
*“Thank you. For pretending all this time that you loved me.”*
With her kiss, her dark magic surged once more, invading his mind.
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