Persuasion

Trigger Warning: this chapter contains scenes of extreme torture.

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I woke up tied to a bed. I recognized the room immediately. It was the classic style of a guest room at the Monster Lord's Castle. I was completely naked. I still couldn't find my power and the spirits were gone, or at least silenced. My sword was nowhere to be found. Damn! Even if I get out of this, how will I get Angel Halo back? I thought. Alice will be pissed!

My bonds were strong. Probably magically enhanced to be unbreakable by brute force. At least they were comfortable. Great care had been taken in making them soft and flexible, so that I could be comfortable in the bed and not chafe or suffer fatigue. I could even turn to either side to sleep if I wanted.

There was nothing to do but wait and keep trying to access my power. I tried Emma's way, pretending that I had a ring on my finger that channeled it. Nothing. I tried simply willing my bonds to break. No dice. I wished for whatever seal they used to hide it from me to be dispelled. That didn't work either.

I began frantically thinking of options. All I could think of were things that had nothing to do with me. Maybe Alicetroemeria hadn't been blocked. She had said that her binding spell was almost unbreakable. Maybe she'd come for me when she saw I hadn't returned on schedule. But no, she wasn't going to fight Ancestors. I remembered how Ariana, with no powers whatsoever, had come to rescue me from the Ancestors on another world, so long ago. That had been an act of incredible bravery. If she could do it, why not Alicetroemeria? But no, courage wasn't really her thing.

Eden then? Eden was all the way in Sabasa, but separated from the negamite under her encampment, she should have the full power of a Seraph. But that assumed that she knew I was being held prisoner. It further assumed that she was willing to risk her neck to save me when she hated me.

Could my friends perhaps find a way? They were smart and resourceful enough, but it would probably take time. Tamamo and Promestein were probably already working tirelessly to find some way to get to me.

Regardless, none of those scenarios involved me actually helping myself. With no magic, no spirits, and no Angel Halo, I was in no position to fight Ancestors. As Alice had said, an armlock wouldn't get me out of this one.

It didn't even look as if I'd get much time to think. The door opened and Minagi walked in. Ah, persuasion is what Saja said this was. I knew exactly what kind of persuasion Minagi specialized in. I also knew that she was wasting her time. If they weren't wiling to tell me what they wanted from me, they must have known that I'd never agree to it. No matter what kinds of temptations Minagi dangled in front of me, I would never write a blank check like that.

"Ah, you're up!" Minagi said genially. "You've been out a long time. More than a day and a night. I hope you aren't sore. We tried to make the bonds loose enough so that you could turn over."

"I'm fine, thank you," I replied. "This is actually pretty comfortable. Pointless, but comfortable."

"I'm sincerely sorry it had to be this way, Luka," Minagi said. "I really like you. I'm not the only one. There's no reason for this to get unpleasant."

"You like me, but you make threats. So how did you seal my abilities?"

"Now, now, I'm not giving away our secrets that easily," Minagi laughed, sieating herself on the edge of the bed. She was completely naked as well. "Suffice to say that your prolific use of your abilities in the battle with Hiruko, as well as your little project out in the desert gave us all the information we needed to develop countermeasures. I assure you, you're completely helpless, and no one is coming to save you. Your friends are trying, I'll give them credit for that, but any time they make a little progress we just change the seal."

"So what are you going to try to persuade me to do, exactly?"

"You'll just say no," she answered. "That's why my job is to make you so infatuated with me that you'll do whatever… I…. say. I think I'll enjoy the challenge. I've never failed to conquer a man. But you've not only received the best of pleasures from the most powerful beings in the universe, I understand you've even experienced mine. So I'll have to up my game."

"Look, Minagi, I'll be honest with you. I'm going to love every minute of this. But I'm not going to just agree to anything. I have higher loyalties. To my friends. To innocent people who need me. I don't know the details, but I already know that your plan is to destroy other worlds. You've rationalized that that's okay, because most people will merge with their counterparts here on Makai. But not everyone will. And even those that will merge, they'll be stranded on a world where they'll be nothing but prey."

"You mean the humans," Minagi said. "What protections, enforceable protections, would you like to see? We can discuss that once you've joined with us."

"And what about the angels?"

"The angels just die, of course. Although I'm sure there are parallel worlds with angels on them besides Angel World. Just so long as they don't live here. You do realize Angel World sees things the same way."

"Don't I know it!" I agreed. "I had to take a poor little fox back with me because she would have been hunted and killed on Angel World."

"Oh really?" Minagi said, impressed. "You're a great person, Luka. That's why I really want this to work. We can be such good friends, you and I. You've just given me even more reason to be super nice to you."

"Nice to me would be letting me go and giving me my power back. Where are the spirits? At least tell me that."

"Since you rescued a little kitsune, fine, I'll tell you that much," she sighed. "The spirits were simply sent back to your world. They were deposited right outside the Tartarus, where you and your friends are building… whatever it is they are building. When the spirits showed up, your friends found out right away what happened. They've dropped everything to try and rescue you. Given enough time, maybe they'll even succeed. They won't have that time. One way or another, this will all be settled by tomorrow."

Minagi crawled over me. Her body only touched me slightly, and yet I shivered at her touch. There was no sexual magic stronger than Minagi's except for a goddess. If she wanted, she could make me come instantly and without respite, killing me in minutes.

"Excited, huh?" Minagi said seductively. "I have that effect on men. When I'm fighting, I just make men come right away. But during the nightly feedings, when I get a volunteer, I like to make It last. So I had to develop spells for that. Men are so weak. Or maybe I'm just too strong. It doesn't really matter."

I felt something similar to what Alma Elma had done to me in the colosseum. That was dangerous! If the pleasure got too intense without me having release, my brain could break! Minagi noticed my look of alarm.

"Oh, you seem familiar with this magic," she purred. "Don't be afraid, it won't stop you from coming. It will just take more pleasure to get you there. I'm not trying to torture you, at least not in a bad way. I just want this to be the best you've ever had. The intensity of being made love to by the ultimate succubus, but as long lasting as being made love to by a human woman."

"Go ahead," I said. "Show me a great time. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but no matter how good you make it, I won't kill for you."

"That sounds like a challenge. Men are willing to kill their mothers, their wives, their children, for me. I've never made them actually do it. I'm not a barbarian."

As she said this, she reached behind and began stroking my penis with her silky hand. She kissed me deeply, causing my mind to cloud. I had to be careful. I might make promises I didn't mean to make. Not that I would hold myself to them. Temptation was one thing. Rendering me unable to make rational decisions was another. She could consider it dishonorable if she wanted, but if I made a promise to kill my friends and didn't even remember doing it, it wouldn't count as far as I was concerned.

She began moving down my chest, her tongue trailing saliva all the way down. The saliva caused incredible pleasure just sitting there, as if my chest was being melted by it. Everywhere her hands touched continued to tingle at least a minute after she stopped touching me there. My previous encounters with Minagi had been so quick and intense that I'd never really noticed just how much more powerful her magic was than Alma Elma's.

When she reached my penis she lightly kissed the tip, then slowly licked from the base to the tip. I had a mini orgasm as her tongue reached my tip. If not for the spell, I would have come twice just from that.

Then the real blowjob began, as her mouth played about the top half of my dick, her tongue executing acrobatic maneuvers tirelessly. She was gentle and patient, wanting it to last. Even with the spell in place I was feeling like I might explode any second, but I kept retreating from the edge whenever I thought I was close.

"You want release, don't you?" Minagi asked. "Don't you want to feel my tongue swirling all around you, while I suck it hard. Or maybe you want to come down my throat?"

"Is that the game?" I asked. "Make me beg you to finish me? I've been here before. I said no to her, I'll say no to you."

"No game," Minagi replied. "You saying yes isn't conditional on you getting release. Like I said, this isn't torture. This is… persuasion. Whether you say yes or no, it's going to be great. But if you say yes…"

Minagi deep throated me, her tongue licking my balls as her throat constricted around the head of my penis.

"If you say yes, the things you'll experience will be things I've never done to any man that I didn't intend to kill," she finished. "Except you won't die. You'll get to experience when whenever… you… want."

She resumed sucking, sending me to new heights of euphoria. She knew that my weakness was blowjobs. I didn't have to tell her. My reaction was enough. She had that knowing smile as she made eye contact that told me, 'So this is what you wanted. I'll be sure to give it to you, then.'

Experiencing Minagi this way, I was sure it was the best sex I'd ever had. It had all the intensity of Alma Elma's best and more, but with a more refined spell that would allow me to come if she tried hard enough. Although if I was being honest, Alma Elma had better technique. I guess she worked harder.

Not that Minagi was any slouch. She had a knack for finding my happy places, her tongue focusing on my frenulum when she noticed my reactions and how my dick kept twitching when she licked it just right. She edged me expertly, focusing elsewhere along my shaft when I seemed to get close. It was torture, but it was wonderful torture. Knowing that I would eventually get release made it all the more wonderful.

"Imagine getting this every day," Minagi said, taking it out of her mouth. "Say yes and I'll be your sex slave. I'll let you take my ass as hard as you want. Have you ever wanted to pound a succubus' pussy? For most men, that's a death sentence. She has to control the pace to protect her lover. But with my magic, I can make it so you can fuck me with abandon. Would you like that, Luka?"

I loved it, but friends came before getting my rocks off. Did she really think I would make that choice? Then again, maybe every other man would have. Maybe I would have if this had been one of my first experiences. I was thankful for the 'training" I'd received from Alma Elma, Alice, and Tamamo. As great as this was, it wasn't so much greater that I couldn't live without it. I had Alice back home. And apparently now Tamamo on birthdays and our anniversary. Plus Alma Elma whenever she got it into her head to be naughty. Why would I sell my soul to Minagi? Who did she think she was messing with?

Or maybe she did know and just loved the challenge, as she had said. As if sensing that my mind was wandering despite her insane oral pleasures, she decided to refocus my attention by sucking harder and deeper. She stopped moving her tongue, instead folding it along the underside of my penis, cupping it, letting me slide along it from her lips to her throat.

"Oh, that's incredible!" I gasped. "Please, finish me that way!"

She stopped, much to my disappointment. "All you have to do is say yes, lover," she said.

"You know I can't do that."

Minagi sighed. 'This one's free, because you're a nice guy and because I want you to like me. But as much as you evidently like blowjobs, this isn't even close to the best I can do. Just remember that while you're coming down my throat. It gets a lot better."

She went back to work, doing it exactly the way I asked her to, until she felt me stiffen and shoved my dick all the way back. She swallowed while I came, the pleasure nearly causing me to black out. That wasn't her best?

As it was, I was having trouble seeing. The room had become blurry. I felt her licking the remaining semen off of my dick. Then I felt my dick crushed between two soft pillows. Boobs, I thought wistfully.

Minagi said nothing, gently moving her breasts up and down. It was so nice I wanted to go to sleep. I might have even dozed a few times. She wasn't insulted and she didn't stop. She could have done that forever, as the stimulation wasn't enough to take me over the edge with her spell in place. This was just giving me a relaxing good time. I had to admit she was a fantastic and generous lover.

I definitely must have fallen asleep, because one minute her breasts were hugging my penis and the next I felt her warm breath in my face.

"Still not ready to say yes?" she asked. "You are a challenge."

She placed my penis in between her legs and began moving, sliding her breasts along my chest and letting my penis slide between her thighs. My whole body reacted to her, much to her satisfaction. It was beginning to become easy to imagine myself as hers, getting this anytime I wanted. I would get even more, actually, since Minagi had said that she wasn't even giving me her best. That was a tantalizing thought. I shook my head. No. Friends. Lovers. Companions. Innocent people. Focus, Luka! You're stronger than this!

Then I sank into her pussy. She slowly lowered herself all the way down, devouring my penis completely. Her vaginal walls formed a perfect seal along the entire length of my penis. I knew that even with Gnome, there'd be no breaking out until she let me go. Even using my power would have dire consequences, as if I blasted her off of me, my penis would be left behind, trapped in her vagina.

Minagi moved oh so slowly, a centimeter at a time, letting me feel every detail of her pussy as my penis moved in and out of it. There were no special techniques. She didn't squeeze me, or do anything crazy with her vagina. She just looked at me as she slowly moved, taking a full minute to go from tip to base, then back up again. My penis grew more and more sensitive, to the point where I felt every fold, every membrane, every detail of her magnificent pussy.

"Every… day…." She whispered. "Whenever you want. And not just me. All the Ancestors. All the monsters, even. None would refuse you even the most perverted requests if you were the one to save them all. 'No', would not be in their vocabulary. Every pussy, every mouth, every ass, all yours. All the tentacles, the fluffy tails, the breasts… Yours to command."

It was a powerful temptation, but there was more to life. That didn't stop my mind from going there, imagining the largest harem ever. Every monster girl in the world. All serving me.

"Could I even have angels?" I asked.

"If that's your fetish, why not?" she replied, still moving infinitesimally slow. "But let's talk about what you want now. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to keep doing this, all night? I'll never get tired. I never get impatient. I'm the perfect lover, Luka. I'll just keep going slow like this and you'll feel good for hours. Or maybe you want me to speed up, to ride you hard? I can do that too. You'll come over and over. Or perhaps you want me to use my succubus techniques? I have an endless variety. Or maybe you just want me to suck you more? Or how about you say yes, I untie you, and you can flip me over onto this bed and fuck me until I scream?"

"Or you could go fuck yourself," I said.

Minagi stopped. That tone wasn't normally me. Minagi hadn't been mean, quite the opposite in fact. My decision to say that was calculated, I simply wanted to see how she'd react.

Her reaction was swift and revealed a lot about who she really was. My penis fell out as she shifted. She put her hands around my neck, her face twisted in rage.

"Now look here, you little idiot!" she raged. "I am trying to be nice to you! You're turning down something no man in history has ever been offered! Do I need to show you my best? Show you what you'll be missing if you don't join us?!"

"You can," I said. "And I'll tell you how wonderful it is. I might even beg you to do it more. But I won't… kill… for… you."

She screamed in frustration and got out of the bed. She turned to me, her expression still furious. "You do realize that you're only human, right?! And you know what makes all humans the same, no matter how heroic or strong they think they are? They all break. All of them. You could have surrendered to my temptations and lived a wonderful life here! Now you can talk to Tamamo!"

"I've had Tamamo's best, too!" I shot back.

Minagi laughed derisively. "Her best?! What do you think is going to happen here?! Because we're monsters, we're just all going to take turns fucking you and you'll resist all of us, and we'll say, 'oh, he's just too powerful for us, I guess we'd better join him since we can't beat him!' Dream on! I'm the best there is! I was your one chance to make the right decision! Tamamo's not going to fuck you! We already know you've already been fucked by her thousands of times! You're not going to get her best! You're going to get her worst! You'll break, I promise you! And you'll never be able to look at your beloved Tamamo the same way again! Think on that! If you should change your mind before Tamamo gets here, just call me. The offer is still on the table."

She slammed the door behind her. That sure didn't sound good. Tamamo had already promised to kill me in very sadistic fashion, so I knew what she was capable of. And while I could resist the finest pleasures, pain was another matter entirely. I knew it would not be a very manly sight. I'd cry, I'd plead, I'd beg to make it stop. But would I sell out my friends? Was I even capable of doing that? Fear started to well up in me. Either I'd kill my friends, or I'd endure endless torture. Maybe not endless. Minagi had said the issue would be settled by tomorrow. What did that mean? Would I be tortured to death if I didn't align with them?

I began shaking in fear, sweating, drenching the bed. It didn't help that I was still horny, my body extra sensitive from Minagi's ministrations. I prayed for Tamamo to take her time getting here. The way my body was now, pain would be even more awful.

My prayers went unanswered, or maybe they had been. I cursed my stupidity. My prayers would have been heard by the Dark God. I probably had brought Tamamo to my room more quickly than otherwise would have been the case.

"Hello there," Tamamo said, smiling wickedly as she entered the room. Unlike Minagi, she was not nude. She was weaing a kimono and had her little fan. "I was hoping I'd get to spend some quality time with you."

"Tamamo," I pleaded, desperately searching for my power. "Whatever you're about to do, this isn't who you are! I've known a lot of Tamamos. Some good, some bad. They all had good in them."

"What is this, a morality play?" Tamamo sneered. "Let me clue you in on something. This isn't about good or evil. This is about survival. You've been on a quest for months to save people. Maybe you're still questing because you're so focused on 'doing good' rather than actually saving everyone!"

"As if you want to save everyone!" I shot back. "You only want to save this world!"

"Oh, is that why I worked hard to get as many people as possible evacuated here? It does nothing for us. Their semen tastes the same no matter how many parts of their soul they have. You're awfully quick to judge."

"Torture and genocide are always wrong. No matter why you're doing it."

"I disagree," Tamamo said. "I would do anything to protect my mother and my sisters and my children. You mean nothing to me. Less than nothing. I would kill you a thousand times if it would save just one of my children. You have no idea what I'm willing to do to you to get you to cooperate with us."

"How about tell me what you want me to do?" I asked. "I understand the gist of what you're trying to accomplish, but what's my role in this?"

"I guess there's no point in keeping it from you now," she shrugged. "You're going to say yes, if only to make me stop. That body of yours is so soft. Sure, it's well muscled now, and you don't have an ounce of fat on you, but it's still so vulnerable. So fragile. It's not fair, really. My body is even softer than yours, and yet you couldn't cut it with the sharpest knife unless it was enchanted. You, however…. Your skin will slice like butter."

"Well I don't want that," I said. "So tell me what I have to do avoid that."

"Simple. We need your power. We.. I, more accurately, have built a superweapon. It's capable of destroying worlds. Now even without your power, it can probably do that. We Ancestors are no slouches in the power department. But as it stands now, we'd have to all work together and in perfect coordination to make it work. First we're goin to destroy the Angel World and scatter those angels' souls all over the multiverse. Then we're going to destroy that Paradox world, the source of chaos. That one we need you for. It poses… an insurmountable problem."

"And what problem is that?" I asked.

"Specifically, the Goddess of Chaos. You see, while we Ancestors are perfectly capable of using the weapon to destroy our hated enemies on Angel World, the Goddess of Chaos calls the Paradox world her home. She's using it to spread chaos throughout the multiverse. But if we destroyed your world with the weapon as it is now, it wouldn't kill the Goddess of Chaos. She'd just move to another universe. Possibly ours. No, to be sure we kill the Goddess of Chaos, we need to add your power to the weapon. Now would that kill people you love? Sure. But we can work around that. If you give your word that you'll help us, you can move your friends physically to Makai. None of them have to die. You'd save almost everyone."

"And my human and angel friends would live on a near lawless world where monsters do almost anything they want. No thanks. Not to mention all the people on Angel World. And would you stop there? What about all the other worlds?"

"If we do this right, we don't need to destroy any other worlds," Tamamo insisted. "The cancer will be cut out. Our hated enemies, who I assure you are busily working on destroying Makai, will have to die as well, of course. I won't lie to you and tell you that you won't be committing mass murder. But let me be clear: you WILL be committing mass murder. It's just matter of whether you do it willingly, or I have to break you."

"Tamamo, this isn't the way!" I pleaded. "You know I can never… WILL never, agree to this! You'll just be torturing me for nothing!"

"You're human," she repeated. "Humans always break. There's only so much any man can take. Don't worry, your friends won't judge you. Not when they see what I've done to you."

Tears in my eyes, my voice whimpering before she even got started, I trembled in fear as Tamamo leaned over me. She ran her soft hands all over my body.

"Mmmm….. so hard and firm, yet so soft," Tamamo purred. "My counterpart was a very lucky woman. Not as lucky as you, of course. Oh! Look what I brought? Do you know what this is?"

Tamamo flashed a power tool in front of my face. Oh, God.

"Th-That's a drill," I said, my voice shaking.

"Actually, it's an electric screwdriver," she said. "I don't want you to think I'm enjoying this too much, so I'm not going to be too sadistic just yet. I want to give you ever chance to be a wimp and surrender before I get serious. What, did you think I was going to drill into your skull? I guess that would hurt. A lot. But you wouldn't be of much use to me afterwards. No, I have something different in mind. Something not entirely unpleasant, but nevertheless humiliating."

Tamamo bent down, reached into her torture supply kit(at least that's what I was callilng it), and attached a soft…. Something to the end of the electric screwdriver. Instead of a drill bit or an actual screwdriver, it looked like…. Huh?

"Since you actually get laid more than any man should," Tamamo explained. "I probably need to tell ou what this is. It's a pocket pussy. A rather high quality one, I must say. I deided to start by sexually humiliating you. Now I could do that with my own body. I'm very good at it. I've reduced thousands of men to tears. But you're used to that kind of pleasure. It would just be another great time for you, like you just had with Minagi. Since this little doohickey doesn't have any magic, it'll only feel good the first time. Then it'll get unpleasant. Here, let me show you."

She placed the pocket pussy over my penis and turned the power tool on. The pocket pussy began spinning at high speed, providing incredible stimulation to my entire length. Tamamo leered at me as I moaned in pleasure, enjoying the unique sensations. It wasn't on par with a monster pleasuring me, to be sure, but in its own way it was incredible, much like the first time Hild had extracted semen from me. But then she kept doing it….

I came quickly, and even as I came that first time it already was too much. Monster magic made my overly sensitive head feel good even as it was being overstimulated. Without that magic, a pocket pussy spinning at high velocity was massive overstimulation, to the point where it was torture. I tried to shift my body to reduce the stimulation, turning from side to side. Tamamo pressed down hard with the power tool, adding even more pressure. I screamed as I came again, the spinning unrelenting, Tamamo laughing as she bore down.

When the second orgasm passed, the spinning continued. Tamamo was smiling at me creepily.

"This is how losers get off, Luka!" Tamamo said. "Didn't you originally come from a world with only humans!? Is this how you got off before you met monsters, loser!?"

I squirmed and twisted my body, trying to escape the now unpleasant stimulation. It was forcing pleasure and pain into me at the same time, overloading my senses and forcing me to come even though coming was becoming painful as well.

"To be honest, I was saving up when I got brought… to that world!" I admitted.

"Oh?" Tamamo asked, a little surprised. "You caught me off guard. I didn't expect you to admit to being a loser."

"I married a Monster Lord and then an Ancestor," I argued, still trying to get the terrible spinning sex toy off of me. "I think my life has been pretty successful. I'm the envy of men everywhere."

"Must feel good, after being a loser for some many years!" Tamamo said, bearing down again, forcing another orgasm out of me. The other problem I was experiencing, ironically enough, was no critical ecstasy. I would not be saved from this torture by passing out.

"I'm incapable of being humiliated, Tamamo!" I said. "I knew I was a loser back then. I'd accepted it. I was prepared to be single my whole life. And I was still happy."

Tamamo turned off the power tool. She slowly withdrew it from my penis.

"Well, that went nowhere," she sighed. "And I was going to bring out a vacuum next. Oh well, guess we have to jump to the real torture."

"Tamamo, wait!" I pleaded. "You don't have to do this!"

"I assure you I do," she said calmly, rifling through her torture bag.

"No, I mean it! There's another way!"

Tamamo paused. She put her bag down and put her hands in her lap. "Okay, I'm listening."

"Those deposits, out in the desert! That were under Eden's rebel camp!"

"Negamite?"

"Yes, negamite!" I exclaimed triumphantly. "I was gathering it, moving it to the Paradox world! We were going to inject iinto the planet's core! It would destroy all magic! I would end chaosization! Make the Goddess of Chaos powerless! Everyone lives! Help me! With you earthpower we can get the rest of it out of the ground and get it done in a day!"

"Wow!" Tamamo said. "That's a brilliant plan! I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"Anyone can miss something," I said reassuringly. "My team only just found out about it."

"How brilliant!" Tamamo said. "Why, what an elegant solution! How could I have not thought of it myself? Oh wait. I DID!"

"You did?"

"Uh huh."

"Then… why?" I asked helplessly.

"Why didn't I do it? Well, let's see, how much do you know about particle physics?"

"A… little? I know that Hydrogen is atomic number 1, helium 2, and negamite is 132."

"Excellent!" she said mockingly. "That's more than most humans on Makai know. Are you familiar with the term, 'isotope'?"

"Um… yeah? Different isotopes of elements have differing numbers of neutrons. For example, Uranium 235 and Uraniaum 238 have different properties."

"You had good schooling and you actually paid attention!" she said. "Excellent! Now, which isotope of negamite is in that deposit?"

"I don't know."

"You… don't know," she said.

"It negates magic! What else do I need to know?!"

"There's negating magic and there's negating magic. The negamite that naturally occurs on this world is negamite 281. It does indeed inhibit the flow of mana, but only slightly and only if a person trying to perform magic is near it. Now what do you think would happen if you injected negamite 281 into the core of a planet?"

"Promestein said It would change the properties of the magnetic field, negating magic planetwide."

"Hmmm… I see. No, that's negamite 294. An artificial, theoretical element that can only be created in small quantities in a lab. Believe me, I've tried! Sure, if you could manufacture a hundred or two hundred tons, and then get it into the core, that would do the trick. Do you know how long it would take to make that much negamite 294?"

"A while?"

"Try four thousand years! So now I ask again, what would happen if you injected the naturel isotope, negamite 281, into the core?"

"Less than we hope?"

"Nothing. That's the effect it would have," she said. "Now lest you think your Promestein is an idiot, she wouldn't have known that unless she ran tests on the metal, which she was probably going to do before she tried injecting it into the core. At that point, she'd have some very bad news for you. But I give you credit, it was a nice try. It's a shame you worked so hard gathering all those tons of negamite for nothing. Now can we get real?"

I sagged in resignation. Tamamo had no reason to lie to me. I was certain that if I ever got back, Promestein would tell me the same thing. I had thought we'd stumbled on a brilliant idea that the monsters had missed. Turns out, they hadn't missed it at all.

"So now you see," Tamamo said. "You can't beat the Goddess of Chaos. If we can block you from accessing your power, it's a certainty that she can as well. The only chance you have it so provide your power to our weapon and destroy that world, and her along with it! So let's avoid any more unpleasantness, shall we? Say.. yes."

"No," I said, although with less certainty.

"What did you say? I respectfully urge you to reconsider."

"No," I said with more confidence. There had to be another way. There just had to be. I just needed time to find it.

"You farting fuzzbucket!" Tamamo yelled absurdly, straddling me. She began slapping me with both hands. With her strength, the slaps were like being punched by a heavyweight boxer.

"You'll kill us all with your do gooder bullhockey!" she yelled, continuing to slap me again and again. "My sisters! My children! My mother! Your Tamamo! Don't you give even one single fuzzy mitten!?"

While it seems ridiculous to point this out in such a dark moment, Tamamo never curses. Had I not been dazed and in pain from getting the absolute shit beat out of me, I would have laughed. I always did at Tamamo's faux curses. It seemed so strange that a being so diabolical, who had corrupted kingdoms, committed murder, and was now willing to commit genocide and torture, drew the line at cursing.

She made a sound very similar to the one Minagi had made when she stomped out of the room. She went to the corner to collect herself. When she was finished, she turned bacjk around. That wicked smile had returned.

"You've brought this on yourself, Luka," she said. "I promise you, within the next hour, you will be saying yes. I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to hurt you real bad. And there are no healers here. The longer you let me torture you, the more pain you'll continue to be in, even after you say yes. So do yourself and me a favor and say yes, you flipping fartknocker!"

I looked at Tamamo through an almost closed eye and smiled. Even this Tamamo was so cute in her way. I could never love someone like this. But there was still something about her. She was impossible to truly hate. She was about to prove me wrong.

"You know what?" she said. "I know what you're doing. You're playing mind games with me. But I won't be beaten by the likes of you! You're weak! I'm strong! You're frail! I'm invincible. And I'm going to burn the knowledge of that frailty into your thick skull! Okay, calm down, Tamamo. Calm down. Never torture anyone in anger. It actually doesn't work when you do that. Woosa…. Woosa….."

Tamamo took several deep breaths, then sat back down on the bed and rummaged around in her bag again. After a few seconds of looking, she made a decision and put the bag down.

"You know what?" Tamamo said. "As fun as torture implements can be, I don't need them. I want to get personal with you. Really personal. I want to hurt you with this body. I want you to look at your Tamamo and see only how her body can cause you pain. I want you to hate her like you're going to hate me. Because deep in your heart, you'll know that she IS me. And I'm her. The real her."

"No," I said, absolutely certain. 'This world… this total victory you won over Ilias… It's corrupted you, Tamamo. There are no other Tamamos as bad as you. Only you would do what you're about to do."

"Still trying to play mind games, hero?" she laughed. "I'm immune to your games, now. I an in control here."

Tamamo flashed a sharp nail. She ran it lightly down my chest. It left a thin white mark where it passed, pieces of skin flaking off in both directions, but drawing no blood. She then did it again, making a line right next to it, this time cutting deep enough to draw blood. I whimpered as she slowly cut me with her nail, from my chest down to my navel.

"Boy, you're weak to pain," she said. "You're already about to cry just from this. Do you really think you can bear this? I don't think so."

She brought her bloody nail to her mouth and licked it. "Mmmm, so delicious. I could just eat you up. I think I will."

Crawling forward to where my hands were tied up, she grabbed a finger and began to suck on it. The contrast from the pain to the pleasure was jarring. I moaned as her wonderful mouth sucked my finger. It was nothing new to me. Tamamo had loved to do that back on my world. But it was such a relief after this Tamamo had hurt me that it felt like heaven.

I screamed as she bit down hard. I screamed even louder as I felt bones break, and then yet louder when she ripped my index finger out of its socket. She smiled at me, her mouth bloody, still chewing on the finger. To my horror, she finished chewing and swallowed it.

"I'm afraid I can't eat you the way some monsters can," she said, blood dripping from her mouth onto my face. "We kitsunes, those of us who are willing to kill prey, we have to do it the way animals do in the wild. We have to rip it. Tear it. Eat it piece by piece. You're just a little bit smaller than me, Luka. Do you know how long it would takeme to eat you all up?"

"Go ahead," I said, the anger and adrenaline reinforcing my backbone. 'No matter how bad you hurt me, I won't give in. Never. Never. Never! So if you keep going, it's because you want to, not because you have to!"

"Oh, honey, that was just a finger," she said. "You have nine more. And last I checked, two testicles. We'll see what you say when I'm chewing on them while they're still attached to you."

Oh, God, I thought. She's going to do it. Would I break? I honestly didn't know. I kept the thought of all the people I'd saved front and center in my mind. I even thought of Ilias. Ilias would have no place on this world. She'd certainly be destroyed. She'd made so much progress! I couldn't stand to see her genuine change rewarded with death. I steeled myself, preparing for the worst.

Tamamo moved down my chest, lightly nibbling as she went, causing a little bit of pain, but also a little bit of pleasure. She was toying with me, making me dread the moment she would bite down again. I'd always looked at her canines as another feature that made her lovely. She'd always been careful to never hurt me with them. Now I was experiencing what they were like when used as weapons. I tried to remember the kind face of my Tamamo. Whatever this evil Tamamo did, I would never hate my beloved.

Tamamo paused at my penis, licking it lightly, biting it softly. I was sweating profusely, fearing that she would bite it off. She moved down further, to my balls, sucking one into her mouth. I felt teeth, but again, she didn't bite down. The soft nibbles continued down my leg. I stopped watching. I wasn't sure whether watching her, trying to see if she would telegraph when she was going to do it, was worse, or not seeing at all was worse.

I felt my big toe enter her soft, warm mouth. Her rough tongue savored it for moment. Then pain shot through my body as her powerful jaws pulverized it.

"AHHHHH!!!!!!" I screamed."Tamamo, please! No more!"

Tamamo had no mercy. The toe was tougher to remove, so she began shaking her head back and forth violently, magnifying the pain tenfold. For a moment, I thought I felt my power surge a little, but the moment passed. I was frightened, angry, and disgusted. I resolved that if I felt even a hint of my power, I was going to hit her with everything I had.

"Very crunchy," Tamamo said, swallowing my big toe. Maybe it's time for something… softer."

She went back up to my penis, sucking it lightly with her bloody mouth. I was so disgusted that even her magic couldn't make it erotic anymore.

She left my penis covered in blood, but still unharmed, as she moved back up to my chest.

"I'm in the mood for something…. A little more tender," she said.

She flashed that wicked nail again, slowly cutting me across the left nipple. My skin parted easily. The pain was indescribable. She then cut across the nipple again, making an X shape. She stared at her handiwork for moment, watching the blood leak out. Then she bared her teeth and viciously clamped down on my mutilated nipple.

My screams must have been heard all over the castle as she twisted her head, chewing, tearing at my breast. She ripped a chunk out of it and chewed it in front of me.Her face was covered in my blood. She looked like a demon. Like a vision out of my worst nightmares. I had long since been taken past my endurance. I wished for death. But I still would not give her the answer she wanted. As long as my friends still lived, they would find a way to win, even if I wasn't with them.

"My, my, but you are delicious," Tamamo said. "You bleed a lot, too. I might have to treat these wounds before I continue. Can't have you bleeding to death before you give us what we want. But I think you can take one more. Hmmm… other nipple? No, that tasted too good. I think I'll save that one. Another finger? You've got nine of those. Or maybe a testicle? Wait, I know. There's this sensitive little part of you between your balls and you anus. I wonder how it would feel if I bit a chunk out of that."

"Tamamo, please," I begged, tears streaming from my eyes. "It hurts so bad, Tamamo. So bad."

"You know how to make it stop, Luka. I'm going down there now, Luka. Can you feel me? Can you feel my teeth nibbling on you? I'm going to eat your taint, Luka."

I began to pray again. I knew the Dark God would hear me, but I also hoped a higher power would hear me as well. It was the only thing I had left other than surrender. And I would sooner die than betray my friends.

"That is enough, Tamamo," I heard a voice say. Tamamo stopped. I opened my eyes. Standing over us at the foot of the bed was Alipheese I, the Dark God. Had she answered my prayer?

"But mother!" Tamamo protested. "Just a little bit more and he's ours! He's so close to breaking!"

"He is already broken," the Dark God said. "I can see inside his heart. And yet, I can also see that his friends, even that infernal goddess, mean too much to him. This necessary evil has ceased to become necessary. And frankly, I do not approve of how it is changing you."

"Yes, mother," Tamamo said.

"By all that is unholy, Tammie, wash your face!" the Dark God said. "You were given tools for a reason! I see inside your heart as well. You were beginning to enjoy it! You, an Ancestor, were letting your predator instincts rule you. Get out of my sight!"

Wordlessly, Tamamo left the room. Although my body was still wracked with pain, I sighed in relief. It was over. Or was it?

"So what happens now?" I asked. "You obviously don't want to torture me anymore. You know I'll never give in."

"You seem surprised yourself that you can say that."

"I guess I am surprised. I didn't think I had it in me."

"The torture of knowing you were responsible for your friends' deaths would be worse than anything any of us could do to you."

"Then let's try another way," I pleaded. "You've lost. Instead of asking me to join you, why don't you join me? Give me access to my power and let's go fight the Goddess of Chaos together. She can't take all of us!"

"Ah, but she can, Worldbreaker," Alipheese said. "I'm afraid there is no other way. Fortunately, we have a backup plan. Your consent was necessary for the weapon to work at its full capacity. But since we cannot attain that, we will have to settle for simply forcing you."

"And how do you propose to do that?"

Alipheese began to change. I had never seen the Dark God's true form before. She had always chosen a rather drab, plain appearance, a human form, always wearing black. She was still vain enough to make herself beautiful, although not in a classic way. But the Dark God I was looking at now was taking her true form. It was beautiful and terrible at the same time. Despite my pain, my lust was reignited. She was everything all at once. The tentacles were the most prominent feature, but she also had parts of every other monster that had ever existed. My brain could not comprehend her full form. What was she going to do to me?

"I am truly sorry, Worldbreaker," she said as her form moved over me. "At least you will not be responsible for the genocide. You are only the power source, as blameless as a battery."

As she lowered herself onto me, my body exploded in agony, both pain and pleasure at the same time, both ten times more intense than anything I had ever felt. My brain felt as if it cracked in two. The sensations lasted only a few seconds. And then I wasn't just unconscious. I felt as if I was no more.