A/N: Yoooo, here we are in Week 4 of Breaking Providence with Chapter 10! Back to Marcus' POV~
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Marcus is both stricken and relieved at the same time. On the one hand, someone is finally acknowledging that he's the Dark Lord. He's not gone insane. On the other hand… someone is finally acknowledging that he's the Dark Lord. He almost wished he had turned out to just be crazy after all. At least then he could just fake it until he made it, right?
Except… he was currently balls deep inside of a demon of all things. Erised wasn't a bad sort, Marcus had quickly learned. Hearing about all she'd been through, the hardships she'd endured, his heart had gone out to her. Knowing that she'd fought tooth and nail to be by his side right now, it made him feel pretty damn good in all honesty.
Still, according to the Church, she and those like her were a corruptive and evil influence on anyone and anything they touched. By all counts, he should not be consorting with demons. Yet here he was all the same, losing his virginity to one. It was nice that Erised was losing her virginity as well. Made it feel almost lovey dovey in a way.
… You know, if one ignored the facts of the matter. Like how he was a half-orc and she was a demon, and he was pounding her into the bed from the very start as she moaned and begged him for more, arching her back and squirming under him. Erised bucks her hips into his thrusting cock again and again, but not in an attempt to get him off of her. No, her hips rise to meet his hips and his thrusts meet her own as he holds her by her itty bitty waist and goes to town on her.
One might say he's finally given into his orcish instincts. Those instincts he spent his entire life fighting against. Marcus likes to think he didn't really give into them. He's just… compromised. It was necessary. With a smoking hot demon like Erised quite literally begging for it, and his arousal already peaked by her sucking on his cock, Marcus couldn't hold back any longer. She was just too eager and too excited. And he wanted… he wanted to make her happy.
Marcus was beginning to think he had a weakness for the fairer sex. First Serafina, now Erised. The Holy Pope's approval had come to mean a lot to him VERY quickly. And though her treatment of who she thought was Eris the Thief had caused his opinion of her to take a blow, it was hard not to want to make excuses for her all the same.
Meanwhile… Erised had so far proven to be a fount of knowledge beyond Marcus' wildest dreams. To think, it wasn't like everyone always said. His entire life he'd been convinced that his mother was a human woman who survived an orc attack and dropped him off at the orphanage because she couldn't bear to look at him, let alone raise him.
To be fair to him and everyone else, it WAS the only thing that made sense on the surface of it. Finding out that his mother was not only an orc instead but also the previous Dark Lord… Marcus had been shellshocked to say the least.
… Did Serafina know? She must have, right? But then, why had she and the Church let him live? Did they know everything?! That he was the Dark Lord after all?! Were they trying to… cover it up or something?! Part of Marcus wanted to run back to the Cathedral and demand answers right there on the spot. But a far larger part urged caution.
He didn't dare risk his and Erised's safety. As he drives his member into the lithe, diminutive demon, feeling her moan beneath him and clench up around his shaft, Marcus knows he'll do everything in his power to keep her safe. He finally has someone besides himself to protect. For that alone, he wouldn't dare expose her to the Church.
But on top of that, he truly believed that Priestess Angelina, Paladin Eric, and even Bishop Archibald's reactions had all been genuine. Even if Marcus had long since caught on to the fact that Archibald was a bad sort, he knew the rotund man hadn't been faking that genuinely shocked look on his face after performing the Identification Sign.
Serafina… Serafina might know the truth. It hurt to admit as much, but she must have known his heritage, so Marcus had to acknowledge that she was more than capable of lying to him. But as for the rest of the Church? He didn't think they suspected a thing.
But then, what did it all mean? If his mother was the Dark Lord, an orcish woman named Gral-Ra, then why the fuck was the Church's Identification Sign showing his Job as Destined Hero? Could he possibly be both? But then HOW could he possibly be both? Your Job was supposed to be who you were down to your very core. It was also supposed to make you better at whatever it was centered around. The more you leaned into the strengths of your Job, the stronger you would in turn become.
… For the Destined Hero, Marcus imagined that the strengths of the Job would be fighting, mostly. And for the Dark Lord, he envisioned it being much the same. So then what? He would become an unparalleled warrior or something? Capable of conquering anyone and everyone on any battlefield?
That was something of a problem because Marcus didn't really want to go around conquering anyone. He wasn't immediately inclined to try and take over the Holy Empire or anything like that. And he was pretty sure that was precisely what Dark Lords were supposed to do. At the same time, he wasn't sure he was the saving people type either. All his life, he'd been surrounded by derision and hatred. And now Marcus was supposed to be their Hero? Part of him longed for the acceptance and accolades that would no doubt follow. Part of him balked at the very idea of having to earn their worship and adoration.
But then, that was the rub of it, wasn't it? Marcus felt like he was being split in two. Even as he splits Erised in two upon his cock, continuing to drive into her ceaselessly and unthinkingly, Marcus can't help but wonder what the fuck he was supposed to do next.
"Nnngh. I-It's obvious… m-my L-Lord~"
Blinking, Marcus looks down to see Erised looking up at him with a truly lewd expression on her cute demonic face. But even as he's apparently fucking her brains out, she's still managing coherent sentences. Giggling at his dumbfounded look, she reaches up and runs her claws down his chest. Belatedly, he realizes he must have asked that question out loud by accident.
"F-Finish fucking me and I'll be happy to tell you. Don't, nngh, hold back now… I want it all!"
Well, when she gave him an incentive like that, who was he to say no? Not that Marcus necessarily needed an incentive to rail the demon further. Erised is so damn tight and imminently fuckable. Even after plowing her pussy for who knew how long, she was still wrapped snugly around his cock while being wet and slippery enough for him to piston in and out of.
Increasing his pace, Marcus huffs and snorts and snarls for a time before finally letting go. His seed flows out of him and into her, and he throws his head back in a half-groan, half-growl as he fills and fills her. He doesn't stop cumming for what feels like an eternity, though probably isn't more than a couple minutes. At the same time, that's still quite long, isn't it?
When he's finally finished and pulls back at long last, Marcus flushes at the state he's left Erised in. Her belly is rounded, positively stuffed to the brim. It's a wonder the lithe demon hasn't burst like a fucking bubble! More than that… how is she keeping it all inside of her?
Erised moans and runs her hands over her visibly gravid belly for a moment before giggling.
"Mm… thank you, your Lordship, for this delicious meal."
Marcus blinks, only to watch in stupefaction as Erised's belly shrinks right before his eyes. Not a single ounce of his creampie leaves her flexing slit, but her bloated belly disappears in mere moments all the same, his cum going… somewhere that he can't even begin to explain. It's clear that he doesn't know very much about demons at all. But then to be fair, all the Church taught was 'demons bad, demons corrupt, report demons'. So it wasn't like he'd gotten the best education on that front.
Dropping onto his back beside her on the mattress, Marcus grunts as he stares up at the ceiling for a moment, just trying to… collect his thoughts. Erised, meanwhile, is quick to cuddle with him, curling into his side and running a hand over his chest. After a beat, she pipes up with a teasing tone.
"Are you ready to hear my thoughts on your next steps, my Lord?"
He was, but first…
"Yes. But you need to stop calling me that. At least while we're in town."
Erised pouts for a moment at that. Then, she gives a little wiggle against his side and smirks at him wickedly.
"… I suppose while we're in town I'll call you Master then, won't I? To keep up appearances."
Marcus groans at that, having managed to completely forget her disguise and how they originally met for a moment. When he'd initially tried to release her from slavery, he'd not really known what he was going to do afterwards. He just knew he couldn't abide by owning a slave for one moment longer.
In hindsight, if Erised had actually been Eris the Beastkin Thief and taken the opportunity to flee that he'd wanted to give her… wouldn't Serafina and the Church have just assigned another 'sneaker' to his party to replace her? He supposed he'd gotten lucky that his 'sneaker' turned out to actually be the daughter of his nanny and a capable infiltrator in the form of a Demon Assassin as well. Still…
"Do we have to? Couldn't you just call me Marcus?"
Erised's teasing smirk remains on her face, even as she continues to dance her fingers up and down his broad, green chest.
"Master Marcus, maybe."
In an instant, she's become Eris the Beastkin again, looking at him with big, doe-like brown eyes as her cat ears twitch in an amazingly lifelike fashion atop her head.
"M-Master Marcus? H-Have I been a good girl?"
Marcus stares for a moment before growling.
"Fuck you."
Erised's lips curl back into a wicked grin while she continues to keep up her Beastkin guise.
"Any time and any place, Master. Just let me know."
Alright, so he definitely walked right into that one. Still, now it was time to exercise restraint and do something that he was unfortunately quite good at from years and years of discrimination and prejudice. Quit while he was behind.
"You said you had an idea of what to do next, Erised. Please… enlighten me."
Immediately dropping her teasing look, though remaining in the Beastkin Glamor, Erised bobs her head in agreement and sudden seriousness.
"It's simple, really. To start, we need to get rid of that Holy Priestess they collared you with."
Angelina?! Marcus' eyes go wide at the thought, though Erised is far from done explaining her idea.
"Obviously, you can't just dismiss her. She'll go crying back to the Church and they'll send another Cleric to join your party. Or worse, a Cleric AND a Paladin, to keep a closer eye on you. That's why we need to kill her."
Kill her?! Marcus tenses up, but Erised is on a roll by now and is staring up at the ceiling, unaware of how he's reacting.
"We'll make it look like an accident I figure. Take her out into the woods as planned, go on our first 'adventure' as it were… and she'll die. Very sad. Then, we continue on our way with the Church none the wiser. Eventually you'll have to tell them, but so long as they continue to think you're the Destined Hero, then it'll be fine. They'll let you get away with murder, Master. Literally."
Now she looks at him, her eyes twinkling and her smile… positively evil. Suddenly, Marcus wonders if the warnings from the Church weren't so wrong after all. But even with Erised counselling him to outright murder one of his companions, Marcus didn't really feel like he was being corrupted or anything like that. After all, no part of him wanted to go along with Erised's plan.
"… I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to kill Priestess Angelina. She's innocent in all of this."
He speaks those words with complete conviction. Sure, there had been the way she acted towards him back at the Chapel during his Awakening, but Marcus didn't hold that against the Holy Priestess. She wasn't a bad sort. Neither was Paladin Eric. Marcus didn't… he didn't want to hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. Full stop.
When he finally allows himself to check on Erised, glancing down to see her reaction, it's clear the pouty demon is a little put out by him vetoing her idea. She frowns for a moment, furrowing her brow in thought… before brightening up again and looking excited once more.
"I see, I see. Then you'll have to corrupt and break her instead!"
"W-What?!"
Giving him a grin, Erised's tail, which currently looks like a cat's, comes up and around and wraps around his cock. Displaying far more dexterity with the appendage than a Beastkin would normally have, she strokes his length up and down.
"Sexually, if you didn't catch my meaning."
Her tone is sultry and her gaze is smoky as she hums in the back of her throat, clearly already approving of her own idea greatly.
"Bitch like her… bet you with a few doses of your delicious orc cum she'll be willing to forsake the Church and the Holy Light. We'll convert her, Master. Make her into your woman, and she'll never betray you."
… His orcish instincts find this idea more appealing than the last, but even the last they weren't bothered by. Blood and Violence, those were the currencies his orcish half traded in. Sexual violence was just as good to those darker impulses of his as normal violence, Marcus supposed.
Except, while he might have compromised and let SOME of his instincts run rampant, Marcus once again found himself balking at this idea. And ultimately, he found it easy enough to resist temptation and refuse Erised's newest plan. Once again, the supposedly corruptive influence of demons sure left a lot to be desired. But hey, maybe the Church hadn't lied about demons being corruptive. Maybe it was just his Dark Lord Job just protected him from it or something. He had no way of knowing for sure, but he knew how he was going to respond at least.
"I'm not going to do that either, Erised."
When the disguised demon scowls at him over that, Marcus just shakes his head as he explains.
"I've spent my whole life being told I was the product of rape. They always liked to says that it was only a matter of time before I followed in my imaginary orc father's footsteps. Even knowing what I know now about my parentage thanks to you, I can't bring myself to prove them right."
He would not rape. He would not pillage. He was not a savage, Dark Lord or not. Maybe if he'd been identified as the Dark Lord by the Church and forced on the run his opinion of these things would have been changed by now, or at least sooner rather than later. Maybe he would have ultimately submitted to his worst impulses and become the very monster the Church claimed every Dark Lord was.
Maybe he still would.
But right now, Marcus didn't know what the fuck he was, nor did he know who he wanted to be. Dark Lord? Destined Hero? Having people tell him he was the latter had Marcus wishing it was the truth. He'd always wanted to be more than those around him said he could be. And as the Destined Hero… he was.
Erised falls silent again at his second denial, looking mulish and contemplative for a moment. Marcus waits patiently for another idea from her corner. Barring that, he supposes he's going to finally have to make a decision of his own. He's not looking forward to it though, so he just lays there for a long moment, quiet and resting.
It's in this temporary silence that a sound startles him and Erised out of their restful states completely. For it is in that moment that the door begins creaking open. Not the sound of a key being fitted into the door. Not the sound of it being unlocked and the handle turning. No, it is the sound of the door… creaking open. Shit, had he not locked it when he'd first entered?
Sitting up on the bed now, a naked Marcus and a naked Eris watch as Holy Priestess Angelina steps into the room, closing and locking the door behind her. The beautiful buxom blonde's face is flushed and her cheeks are burning hot as she stares at Marcus in particular.
"What… what if it was not rape, Sir Hero?"
What?
Blushing even harder, the innocent-looking Holy Priestess clasps her hands together as if in prayer, framing her busty chest between them as she slowly lowers her gaze to his massive green cock.
"I would not mind… submitting to your magnificent phallus, Sir Hero."
No! Hold on a second! What?!
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A/N: Oh hey Angelina. What a surprise~
There are actually only three more chapters in the first Arc of this fic btw. When we get into Arc 2, things pick up a bit more and we start getting into the action.
As far as setup goes, what have you guys thought of Arc 1 so far? Too slow? Too fast? Just right?
Hope everyone is enjoying, and be sure to let me know what you think through a Like or Comment!
Chapter 11 will be out on Wednesday as usual, or you can read six chapters ahead right now over on the P atreon!