The night chill crept beneath her robes, but Elarienne scarcely felt it.
The brisk, steady march from the outskirts of the Green Forest had warmed her muscles, and the satisfaction of a successful hunt infused her with energy.
Behind her, in a disciplined, even formation, marched the five demonic workers.
Each of the crimson women bent under the weight of a massive load - slung across their broad, muscular shoulders were the carcasses of forest beasts, bound with thick vines.
There were over a dozen horned beasts, several mutated wolves with woody growths, and two large, bizarre mutated birds that had the misfortune of crossing paths with the elf's wind blades.
In the twilight, the hunt had proven trivially simple; the animals did not anticipate a soundless hunter aided by magical incantations.
As they crossed the stone boundary of the hollow and the monolith of the Sovereign Nexus came into view, Elarienne raised her hand, halting the squad.
"Drop it here," she commanded in a cold, matter-of-fact tone, pointing to a paved square. "Gut everything, divide the meat into equal portions, and stack the hides separately under the roof. Report to the altar upon completion."
"Yes, mistress," the demonesses replied in unison, dropping the limp bodies of the game to the ground with a loud, dull thud, and without a moment's hesitation, reaching for sharpened knives from their storage.
Elarienne adjusted the folds of her green robe, leaned on her carved staff, and headed toward the dais.
She took only a few steps before suddenly freezing mid-stride.
Her emerald eyes widened in mute stupefaction, and her eyebrows shot up toward her hairline.
Atop the altar, Nyssara was kneeling on the hard stone.
The mighty, proud Demon Empress - the very same who, mere hours ago, had crushed wolf skulls against solid rock with a single punch - was now on all fours with an expression of boundless frustration, clutching a snow-white cloth and polishing the floor with furious intensity.
On a boulder nearby, curled into a ball beneath a thin blanket, Liselotte was fast asleep.
The maid was wearing a pink nightgown, her long elven ears twitched slightly in her sleep, and a small trickle of drool seeped from her parted, full lips.
Elarienne stood rooted to the spot for a solid five seconds, blinking slowly.
"Umm..." the blonde began uncertainly, taking a step closer. "May I ask what exactly you are doing?"
Nyssara didn't even look up. With a loud pant, she wrung out the fabric in her hand and scrubbed the floor once more.
"Do not ask," the Mistress growled hollowly, a thick vein pulsing on her forehead. "After that little whore experienced her first orgasm, it literally cut her power. I was gracious enough to wipe her entire body dry, lay her here, and cover her so she wouldn't freeze... but in all the commotion, I forgot to put her panties on."
Nyssara finally raised her head, looking at the elf with an expression of pure murder.
"Barely an hour has passed, Elarienne. One damn hour! I come to check on her, and beneath this boulder, I found a literally massive, glistening lake! She flooded half the altar in her sleep!"
Elarienne blinked, staring at the freshly wiped stone, and then at the innocently sleeping servant.
"Wait... she is that excited even in her sleep?" the shocked elf choked out.
"It is because of that cursed succubus race of hers," the Empress snorted with irritation, furiously pressing the cloth against a dark stain.
Elarienne furrowed her brow, looking at Liselotte with skepticism.
"You know... in my previous world, I had the opportunity to encounter several succubi. True, their biology caused their vaginas to produce significantly more moisture than other races, but the majority of them slept completely normally at night. The organism does not expel fluids without a distinct stimulus."
Nyssara waved her hand dismissively in the air, as if swatting away a persistent fly.
"I beg you, we are talking about Liselotte! You know perfectly well what an irredeemable degenerate she is. I would bet my life that right now, she is dreaming about me ruthlessly taking her from behind on this altar, or lying on the ground blissfully licking your feet."
Elarienne looked at the sleeping maid's face.
At that exact moment, Liselotte sighed quietly in her sleep, her little nose wrinkled adorably, and her lips formed a smile so shameless, goofy, and dreamy that the elf involuntarily offered a crooked smile.
"Well..." the blonde murmured, shaking her head. "I concede, that scenario sounds all too probable."
Nyssara finally finished polishing the stone where the girl was sleeping.
The Demon Queen stood up from her knees, straightening her aching back, and stowed the cloth back into Liselotte's inventory.
She approached the reclining girl, lifted the edge of the satin nightgown, and nodded with satisfaction - this time, high, powder-pink panties with black lace, which Nyssara had equipped her with moments earlier via the panel, rested securely on Liselotte's hips.
"I only sincerely hope there isn't some hidden capacity limit to her underwear," the Mistress muttered under her breath. "Because if I wake up in a pool again tomorrow morning, I will personally throw her into the gorge."
The Empress glanced at the woolen blanket, which had already soaked through completely in the lower section.
With a quiet sigh, she stowed it back in the stash, then pulled a new, thick, fluffy blanket in a light pink hue from the inventory. She draped it carefully over the servant's body, pulling the fabric right up to her chin.
Finally, Nyssara hesitated for a fraction of a second.
She looked around as if checking to ensure no one was watching, then slowly leaned down and placed a soft, almost imperceptible kiss on Liselotte's smooth forehead.
In response, the sleeping girl purred quietly, and her smile grew even wider and warmer.
Nyssara smiled to herself, straightened up, and took two steps back.
Elarienne observed the entire scene with unconcealed, deep curiosity. She rested her hands on her staff, tilting her head.
"You are surprisingly protective of her, Nyssara," the blonde noted quietly.
The Empress looked at her, a calm, mature expression appearing in her crimson eyes.
"And why shouldn't I be? The little one may be an absolute degenerate and walking chaos, but no one in this world can deny her absolute loyalty and the heart she puts into it. She surrendered literally everything to me, including her own free will. If, in exchange, I could not ensure she had a clean bed and a warm blanket, I would be a wretched ruler. It is the absolute least I can offer her."
Elarienne nodded slowly, appreciating the words.
After a moment, however, her gaze returned to the limp silhouette of the girl, and a hard wrinkle of thought appeared on the elf's forehead.
"Nevertheless... one thing is bothering me. Is it because of that half-blood of hers?"
Nyssara raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"What are you talking about?"
"The fact that she fainted," Elarienne explained matter-of-factly, stepping closer. "Succubi are demons of pure lust. Their physiology is engineered for perpetual stimulation; they can achieve orgasm ten, fifteen times in a row without the slightest trace of exhaustion. Even we elves, despite our sensitivity, do not possess such a fragile constitution as to lose consciousness after a single orgasm. It is illogical."
Hearing this, Nyssara snorted with a quiet, predatory laugh and shook her head.
"Ah, that is what you mean. No, that is not an issue of her biology."
"Then what is it?"
"Before I touched her, I opened the management panel for her curse," the Empress explained with stoic calm. "And I dialed up her neural conductivity by exactly five hundred percent, and to the orgasm itself, I appended a command for immediate sensory overload, forcing sleep."
Elarienne literally froze.
"You... you did what?"
"I secured the situation," Nyssara replied with disarming honesty, shrugging her shoulders.
"You know perfectly well what she is like. Had I allowed her to act naturally, she would have demanded ten subsequent rounds, begging for more on her knees. And seeing her in that state - completely naked, defenseless, and dripping with juices - I certainly would not have been able to refuse her or restrain my own hands. Rather than sacrificing the entire night to pointless games in the ruins, I severed the issue at the root."
Elarienne stared at her, paralyzing shock painted across her face.
"You... you can impose systemic body modifications and punishments on us?!"
Nyssara blinked, and a quiet sigh escaped her lips.
"Ah, yes. I forgot that you are unaware of the details."
The Mistress quickly, in a few concise sentences, summarized the conditions of the [Total Surrender] curse.
Immediately after, Nyssara placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder, adding in a reassuring tone:
"Rest easy, Elarienne. This does not concern you in any capacity. You are a free support unit, bound to me exclusively by a standard loyalty contract. I do not, and never will, possess such control over you."
Elarienne let out a long, held breath from her lungs, nodding slowly.
She looked at the sleeping maid with a mixture of pity and a profound, incomprehensible admiration. She herself would never in her life place her fate and body in another's hands in such an absolute, defenseless manner.
To do so required one to be either a lunatic... or someone infinitely trusting.
"Very well," Nyssara waved her hand, cutting off the topic. "Let us leave it at that. That is not what I wished to discuss with you."
The Empress reached into her inventory, pulling out an oblong, heavy object, and without a hint of warning, tossed it toward the elf:
"Catch. A gift for you."
Elarienne reacted with pure, honed reflexes. Her hand shot into the air, catching the flying shape.
Only when she felt the cool, perfectly smooth surface in her hand did she lower her gaze.
In her hand rested a massive, heavy, crystalline transparent dildo.
The blonde stiffened in a fraction of a second. Her emerald eyes locked onto the glass phallus with such boundless stupefaction, it was as if she were holding a live scorpion.
"A g-gift...?" she choked out, her aristocratic voice cracking slightly for the first time.
Nyssara laughed out loud at her expression, waving her hand:
"Liselotte ordered me to pass it on to you. She said you are to thank her appropriately for it later."
Elarienne looked at the Mistress with such cold, murderous skepticism that the Empress had to avert her gaze for a moment to suppress another burst of laughter.
"Before you start hurling curses at me, check its system description," Nyssara advised.
The elf narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
She focused her gaze on the transparent shaft as she looked at the system notification.
[Item Name: Crystal Phallus of Imitation (Special Grade Artifact)]
[Description]
A crystalline artifact capable of spatial manipulation and skill replication. Activation requires applying a continuous coating of saliva around its circumference.
[Active Effect 1: Absolute Teleport]
Instantly teleports the user to a designated location, bypassing all physical and magical barriers.
Condition: Requires a 100% accurate mental image of the destination. If the visualization is flawed or missing details, the skill fails to activate.
[Active Effect 2: Skill Copy]
Replicates any previously witnessed ability or attack.
Condition: Requires complete understanding of the replicated ability's core mechanics. Failing this comprehension check triggers a System Anomaly, inflicting a random curse.
With every line read, Elarienne's facial expression underwent a rapid transformation. The initial embarrassment and chill gave way to pure, reverent disbelief.
Her fingers tightened on the crystalline glass.
Nyssara observed her with a satisfied smirk.
"Well? Not bad, this new acquisition of yours, is it?"
"This... this is unbelievable," Elarienne choked out quietly, looking up. "That girl is truly abnormal, but the items she created in that madness of hers are an absolute miracle. Bypassing spatial barriers? Copying any spells?"
The elf looked at Nyssara with slight hesitation:
"But... is she truly surrendering such a powerful, divine artifact to me? Knowing her predilections, she should be keeping it with her at all costs. She would be in seventh heaven, being able to constantly lick a massive dildo on the battlefield."
The Mistress snorted with laughter, recalling the maid's earlier monologue.
"We both know perfectly well that Liselotte possesses the mentality of a golden hamster. With its requirements for exact mechanical analysis of a spell and perfect memory, upon her very first attempt to copy anything, she would catch a systemic curse. You are the sole individual in this team possessing the intellect and senses capable of harnessing this item. Besides... each of us received one divine artifact."
Nyssara reached into her inventory and presented the small pink orb on her palm, allowing Elarienne to glance at its stats.
"I took this," the Empress explained. "And as for Liselotte... she already has a living butt plug in her ass that allows her to permanently steal up to five spells. So believe me, no one here was wronged."
Elarienne looked down at the sleeping girl, and the corner of her mouth twitched in a rare, amused grimace.
"In that case, I will have to thank her sincerely tomorrow."
Nyssara took a step toward her. She leaned in slightly, bringing her lips directly to the elf's long, pointed ear, and whispered with venomous, sensual mockery:
"From what she said... Liselotte's greatest dream in the world is to see exactly how you lick that dildo on all sides. You can always put on a little private show for her."
Elarienne flinched, and her emerald eyes flared with a cold, confident fire.
"That would certainly be her style," she noted calmly.
The blonde, however, had no intention of waiting for an audience.
As a pureblood mage, she treated magic with the utmost seriousness - if a tool required a specific activation ritual, it had to be tested immediately, without unnecessary shame.
Elarienne raised the crystalline shaft to her face, and her full lips parted slowly.
Without a shadow of hesitation, she slid the rounded head of the dildo into her mouth, closing her lips around the glass.
A moment later, she pushed it deeper - with an expertise that rendered Nyssara speechless, she took nearly the entire several-centimeter shaft deep into her throat, executing a few slow, fluid back-and-forth motions to generously coat its entire surface with thick, warm saliva.
When she finally pulled it from her mouth with a quiet, wet smack, the glass gleamed with a thick, sticky layer of moisture.
Nyssara raised her eyebrows and let out a long, appreciative whistle through her teeth.
"Well, well... Someone here seems to have quite a bit of experience with deep throating."
Elarienne didn't even look at her.
She ignored the mockery with impeccable dignity, immediately closing her eyelids.
She focused her entire mind on the artifact's first effect: [Absolute Teleport].
She attempted to recall the clearing in the Green Forest from which she had just returned.
She visualized the trees, the scent of pine needles, the layout of the trunks... She waited for the spatial jerk.
However, nothing happened, and the air around her remained perfectly still.
Elarienne opened her eyes, staring at the crystalline shaft with profound irritation.
"Perhaps not enough saliva?" Nyssara suggested with an innocent smirk, resting her hands on her hips.
The elf furrowed her brow.
With a determination worthy of a true scientist, she raised the dildo back to her mouth.
She began to greedily, methodically lick the glass on all sides, running her tongue along the grooves, spitting on the tip, and spreading the moisture with her fingers, until heavy, glistening drops of saliva literally began dripping from the transparent base.
Nyssara watched the sight with pure, hypnotic fascination.
If Liselotte could see this right now... the Mistress thought with amusement.
She would trade everything she owns for one second of this spectacle.
The proud elf, dripping with saliva, with a massive dildo in her hands...
Elarienne pulled the moistened artifact away and closed her eyes again.
This time she decided not to risk it with the complex forest.
She opened her eyelids, very carefully and methodically scanned the stone floor beneath her feet, trying to memorize every scratch on the stone, then took exactly one step backward.
She closed her eyes and attempted to teleport to that single, specific spot a meter in front of her, which she had tried to memorize perfectly a fraction of a second earlier.
A long, dead silence fell over the ruins.
Sixty seconds passed, but space remained utterly unmoved.
Elarienne sighed heavily, lowering her arms. Tiny beads of sweat from mental exertion glistened on her forehead.
"Activating this spell is incomparably more difficult than I assumed," the blonde admitted with a note of frustration. "The requirement for one hundred percent congruence between the mental image and reality is a monstrous filter."
Nyssara approached her and patted her on the shoulder with a smile.
"No one said divine artifacts surrender their power for free. But out of the three of us, you possess the only mind capable of achieving such precision. It is likely a matter of practice. Everything is in your hands."
The Empress turned and began walking slowly toward the square where the demonesses were finishing stacking the meat.
Along the way, she tossed out quietly under her breath with amusement:
"...Or rather: in your saliva."
She smiled to herself at the joke, then looked over her shoulder.
The sight was truly priceless: a tall, elegant elf in an exquisite robe stood alone in the middle of the rubble, in absolute stillness, with her eyelids squeezed shut and a furrowed brow, holding a transparent dildo dripping with a thick layer of saliva in both hands.
Nyssara shook her head in disbelief, a quiet, warm laugh kindling in her chest.
"Holy hell..." she muttered to the emptiness of the night. "I never in my life would have thought my second life would be this absurd."
Immediately afterward, she approached the demonesses working by the wall.
At the sight of the approaching Mistress, all five workers froze in a fraction of a second, straightened up like bowstrings, and struck their fists against their chests, standing at attention.
Nyssara waved her black-gloved hand dismissively.
"At ease. Get back to work. I will help you finish this faster."