With his hands chained up, the nameless white-haired succubus forced her kiss on Donovan. Her tongue wormed and forced its way through his mouth. Satisfied, the succubus sat back up with a devilish smile. All the while, Donovan's mind was becoming blank as he stared at the cave ceiling, surrounded by the bodies of dead demons.
********
All those feelings he still remembered, as if it were yesterday. He clutched his hands and tried to force himself to do something. Anything.
"I can't let that happen again! Moved! Damn it! Move!"
Charla's lips drew ever closer, and as hard as Donovan tried, he couldn't control his body.
"Damn it!"
Even more distant, unsavory memories of his stepsister resurfaced, her laughter echoing in his head.
"Damn it all! Why am I so weak?"
"
Charla stopped short of contact. She stiffened, hearing a woman's voice, and looked straight into Donovan's eyes.
"
Finally regaining control of himself, Donovan grabbed Charla's wrist and tried to push her off.
"G-... Get off me!!"
Charla fell straight on the floor. She looked back up with glistening eyes as her face turned a deeper crimson. Despite his hostile demeanor, she couldn't help but admire Donovan.
Suddenly, a tremor erupted. It was as if a one-sided war was about to be waged, and Charla was its next victim.
Charla bolted out of the window in an instant. And the woman, Myno gave chase, nearly grabbing the seducer's tail from the window. Myno could only scream and curse at a fleeing succubus.
A wave of relief washed over Donovan, but a flash of intense heat appeared just as quickly along with new urges he was barely able to manage.
Unexpectedly, Zelak spoke up from behind the door. "Sorry. Myno and I got a bit distracted downstairs. We never expect that the sister of that incubus would come by and target you for her own pleasure."
"Z… Zelak?" Donovan glanced back at the door and noticed the blood dripping from Zelak's eyes, who quickly wiped his face clean. "Wh- whats going on?"
Myno joined Zelak and stared at Donovan. Panicked, Donovan covered his face in vain.
She then turned back to Zelak. "
Zelak sighed and agreed.
"Zelak!" Donovan called.
Zelak slowly turned back to Donovan, who was completely shaking. "You can put that mask down. She already knows you're human." Zelak rubbed the back of his head. "It's kind of my fault with that since I forgot how good her hearing was… And it didn't help that I taught her some of the human language some years back. But you shouldn't worry, she can keep our little secret."
"W-wait! Th-that woman was the sister of the demon holding Bjorn??"
"Yes. Honestly you probably have some of the strangest luck I've seen in a long time." Zelak joked.
Slowly Donovan pulled down his mask. "So those two demons in that shop earlier… They were the ones holding Bjorn?"
"But there's a much bigger issue we'll need to talk about." interrupted
Zelak averted his gaze. "It involves that damned Bjorn and the incubus that has him. Apparently, he's planning to sell him to a pair of ogre demons that have it out for him. Not only that, but according to what Myno heard, it seems like that companion of yours was put under an enslavement contract."
"What!?" Donovan looked on in shock.
"You wouldn't know this, but here in the Pit, we have one additional bit of magic outside the normal elemental magic and blood magic. In the olden times, they called it contract magic, but today we just call them contracts."
"Contract Magic?"
"Yeah. It's a form of a life-binding agreement. It's the kind of magic that punishes the oath breaker if they don't follow their obligations. Usually, there has to be some sort of exchange within them. It's a magic that we use for our weapons too."
Zelak became more grim. "But there was a specific contract called the 'Zorbian Contract'. It was a contract used to garner a one-sided arrangement without the consent of the other person. In most cases, this type of contract was used to enslave others and bend them to your will for whatever you desired. Since then, it was abolished because of the chaos it caused these last five hundred or so years."
"Wait! So… Bjorn is put under one of these… contracts? So what do we do now?"
"The only thing we can do is bargain with that Incubus and hope he transfers the enslavement contract to us."
"
"
Myno narrowed her eyes and pointed to a black parchment sitting atop Donovan's leg. Shocked, Zelak rushed to Donovan.
"What is it now?" Donovan asked. His eyes drifted to his pants, where he covered his crotch, embarrassed. "Are all you demons perverts!"
Zelak ignored his complaints and moved to grab the parchment from Donovan. He examined the parchment, examining the symbols on it.
"Tch…! Yeah. It looks like an enslavement contract." Zelak glanced back at Donovan. "Looks like your new friend was trying to keep you exclusive to her."
Donovan grew pale, shocked by this news. He clutched his hands and brought his head down shamefully. "Damn it…" A frustration began to boil over.
Myno stepped up and looked at the black contract as well. She glanced at Donovan, who sank deeper into despair. "
Zelak agreed, then turned back to Donovan.
"You're lucky. "Zelak said. He brought the contract to Donovan and pointed to a specific symbol on it. "You see this symbol here? It is where the contractor has to sign. Lucky for you, she was forgetful enough not to sign it. Otherwise, you probably would've been her personal sex slave."
"He's right…" Donovan clenched his hands. The urges he once felt dissipated, replaced by a deep sense of resentment and disappointment.
Not hearing a response from Donovan, Zelak sighed. "For your own safety, you should probably stay here. Myno can look after you while me and the champion handle everything. A human like you will be too vulnerable if you come with us.>"
"No!!" Donovan shot a glare at Zelak. "I made an important promise, and I intend to keep it! I know I'm just human, but I'm not staying here while you and Kalika handle something so important. I can't!"
Donovan gazed at his shaky hands and clenched them. "I..I have to get stronger…. Even if I have to, I'll use that demon sword if things turn for the worst."
"Humans can't handle our blades. If you use it, you could die just by swinging it."
"Then what else am I supposed to do!? If I keep going like this, I'll only drag Kalika behind. If I do that…" Donovan's eyes drifted down with thoughts of the promise he made. "I… I have to get stronger. As her friend, I don't want her to see her suffer any more than she is now."
Zelak laughed. "You think she's suffering? Naïve."
Myno turned her eyes to Zelak. "
"
Donovan pumped his fist up. "Damn it if I wasn't cursed, I'd kick your ass!"
"Hey, I'll cut you a deal," Zelak said, instantly cutting any tension.
"A deal?" Donovan calmed and listened.
"I might have an idea that can help you get around those restrictions."
Donovan narrowed his eyes with a newfound determination sparking. "I'm listening."
********
Kalika slowly opened her eyes. "Nmm…. Rakon?" She woke up, holding the bed sheets tight in her arms. "Where is he? Where am I?"
Dazed, Kalika flipped on her back and stared at the ceiling dreamily. Her cheeks flushed and she felt her lips as her mind drifted to the clouds. Alarmed, she jolted and sprang up from bed. "Rakon!?"
Her eyes darted around the unfamiliar room. With clenched teeth, she bolted out of the room and dashed through the empty hall with her recent dream lingering in the back of her mind. "I'll kill him. I-I'll kill him!"
Kalika tore through the hall and into an indoor balcony with stairs leading down. Her breath shuddered and as she glanced down, she was struck with an even deeper confusion. Down below were demons eating and drinking to their heart's content. She then saw a familiar face tending to the bar counter, serving food and drinks to everyone around.
"Oh yeah… This place. So I'm back in that other dream…"
Brynolf spotted her and pointed her out to Myno. She chuckled and moved into her kitchen.
"
Although hesitant, Kalika came down the flight of stairs. As she did, some of the demons that caught sight of her pointed and laughed.
"
"
Kalika ignored the blabbering demons and met Myno and the counter. She sat on the stool And a plate of bread, meat, and a strange, charry yellow slosh was on her plate.
"< What's this yellow thing?"
"
Kalika cringed and poked at the meal. "A…Alright… It's supposed to be like meat, right?"
Myno seemed to ignore her as she prepared more dishes to serve out.Growing impatient, Kalika bravely took the first bite from the eggs. The taste of salt was clear but not overbearing, and despite some of the chariness, it was more pleasant than expected.
"Mm... It's passable." Kalika continued to eat away.
Myno suddenly passed Kalika, a small cup willed with a brownish liquid. "
Kalika stared at the small cup. "It's so small…" She gave a quick glare and returned to her food. "
""
Kalika grumbled, but as much as she pretended to ignore her cup, Myno could see how Kalika's gaze kept drifting on and off the cup of ale. It was an amusing sight to behold, even some of the patrons caught sight of this and started chuckling amongst each other and placed bets.
Myno rolled her eyes as she saw the karnal demons passed around bags of crystals, placing them in the center of the table with labels.
A hundred crystals were put on Kalika not drinking, four hundred were on her downing the whole cup, and a joke bet was put in for a hundred that she'd get drunk on the first cup.
It wasn't long before the temptation became too strong for Kalika. She slowly reached for the cup, looking at the eyes of the betting demons, too.
With temptation too high, Kalika finally took a sip from the beverage. The demons quietly waited for her reaction as she sat the cup back down. And after a moment, Kalika slowly spat out the drink back into the cup, disappointed. "This tastes horrible."
Disappointed groans and boo's drew Kalika's ire as she saw a demon collecting his prize with a hardy laughter.
"What the hell is wrong with those demons…?" She wondered
""
Kalika turned to the inn door and saw Zelaks approach. "
Zelak sat by Kalika and spoke quietly. "In a few hours, we'll be going to see the incubus I sold Bjorn to. But there's a couple of things you should know."
Kalika perked her ears and peeked at Zelak.
"This incubus is already planning on selling Bjorn to a couple of ogre brothers. Apparently, there's a grudge against the Bjorn's family and theirs. So I doubt they'd be willing to let Bjorn go that easily."
"If they want to die, I don't care," Kalika said. She bit into the boneless meat, uncaringly.
As much as Zelak wanted to retort he decided against it. "And then there's the issue with incubus himself. He might not be willing to make a trade unless we trade that human."
Kalika stopped.
Zelak continued. "Just last night, his sister discovered your friend to be human; we scared her away, but if she tells him, he'll likely want to keep your friend for himself."
"That's not happening. Where's Donovan right now?"
"He's preparing himself. If possible, I prefer to shed no blood. I've known that man for a long time, so let me handle the talks."
Kalika turned away her gaze, annoyed. "Fine. But if we have to fight to get Bjorn, so be it. I'm not leaving here without Bjorn or Donovan."
"So you made up your mind already?"
"
Myno stopped serving and glanced in Kalika's direction, and saw her holding up an empty plate. "
Zelak couldn't help but cast an awkward glance at Kalika.
"So, how long until we meet this incubus man you keep talking about, again?" Kalika asked.
"A couple of hours."
"Good. I want to change out from these clothes… I'm starting to feel dirty. Then I'd like to see Donovan."
Zelak gave a slight bow of the head. "Your word is my command, Champion."
********
Donovan huffed and puffed as he hunched over, exhausted. He looked at the stick in his hands. "It looks like Zelak was on to something, but it's still so energy draining…"
"Perhaps I could use those crystals…" Donovan glanced at his pouch of crystal tied at his waist.
"There you are."
Donovan jumped. He whipped his head around and saw Zelak approaching with Kalika, who wore much different clothes.
Her open skirt was patterned with the symbols of the demon tribe and was much longer than her previous leather skirt. She also wore a top more finely woven, which barely reached her stomach, and had fur covering her neck and shoulders. And her shoes seemed much sturdier than the ones Donovan made for her.
Throughout her clothes, she accessorized herself with some of the fang necklaces and other feather accessories. The only thing that she didn't have was her favorite fur robe, which she always wore and kept her blade holstered for all to see.
Donovan slowly turned his gaze, his face becoming flushed as Kalika strutted over with expression as unreadable as ever.
"H-h-hey Kalika. W-what are you doing here?"
"We're going to get Bjorn now. Are you ready?"
Donovan jolted. He gazed back just as determined as he was before and nodded.
"Alright then," Zelak said as he took point. "Let's get that demon scum back."
********
"
Blood splattered across the room— a demon, crushed by a hammer the size of a door. A blue ogre demon slowly opened his eyes and stood up. His patience as thin as paper broke through the floor, landing on the main floor of the home they stayed in. He glared up at a red ogre demon with deep irritation.
""
"The deal with Zigfred is coming up, so we have to go… Don't forget the last time. You know who he gets."
Brom snorted. "Fine! But if that bastard goes back on our deal again, I'll level this entire settlement." A Brom approached the door and grabbed its frames. With all his strength, he tore through, resizing the entire door. "
Gorm chuckled and agreed. He watched as Brom stepped outside, leaving him to grab two of the oversized leather bags and haul them out. All the while, the demons around kept their distances, watching as the two giant demons marched through with intense blood lust.
"