Plunging into the darkness of the crimson liquid, Aria and Moglit struggled against the decay of the Corruption.
Aria's Aura was practically completely exhausted.
Moglit clasped her hand and delivered his Chaos into her, the fight against the Abyssal Power of that heart continued as they dove deeper into the liquid.
Not to mention the darkness this deep, their vision was also growing blurry from the lack of air; they had been holding their breaths for 10 minutes already.
Large shadows slipped by them as they sunk further but nothing attacked them.
As their breaths began to reach its limit...
Fwoosh!
They dropped out of the water and plummeted through the air.
Thud-
The duo slammed into the ground, beating the rest of the air in their lungs.
Gasping for breath, Moglit separated from Aria and pushed himself up with his massive sword; his eyes beamed across their surroundings at full alert.
Clap! Clap!
A palm slapped into the cheek of a decapitated head.
Reynauld smiled at them warmly, "Welcome!"
Moglit's Chaos burst through his greatsword; the crackling, chaotic black energy thrust through the sky as he gripped it with both hands.
"Who?!" His voice exploded like a hurricane.
Even a baby would know that a hunched-over middle-aged man holding a decapitated head in a lab coat, and speaking through that head-
"A Demon?" Squeezing his teeth together, Moglit took a step back toward Aria, covering her body with his.
Aria struggled to push herself up, her Aura had completely run out; she was battered.
Her black ponytail spread open, drifting on her shoulders and sticking to her face from the sweat.
"M-Mo-Cough!" Small droplets of blood splattered out of her mouth.
Heaving her breaths, Aria forced herself over to lie on her back. Pissed off, Aria squeezed out every last droplet of stamina remaining in her body.
Turning back around, she crushed her hands and feet into the ground, into the crimson liquid, she eventually pushed herself into a crawl.
"Oho-! She's a feisty one! Look at those eyes!"
Reynauld teasingly leaned his body over to get a good look at the average-sized specimen behind the short specimen.
Moglit dragged his sword through the ground, dashing a splash of crimson liquid up.
His dark eyes spun with Chaos, dripping out the black barbaric energy.
"Wow! You're an amazing specimen! Perfect!" Reynauld was full of smiles.
Moglit's berserk energy began dripping into his brain, pulling out the true power of the Barbarian.
He could feel that he wasn't Reynauld's opponent.
But that didn't change anything.
If death was the only outcome then why not try?
He had nothing to lose!
Tap...
A very light step echoed from behind Reynauld.
Flutter-
Strands of black and white hair drifted with every step she took.
Squirm-
Those infinitely swirling black eyes...
They pulled them in.
Drew them in.
Beckoned them in.
He felt like he was staring into the Abyss.
And the Abyss was staring back.
"Aranea...?"
Moglit recognised her instantly and so did Aria.
"My Saintess! My Lord! My Heavens!" Reynauld abruptly turned into a devout believer, stepping aside as he let Aranea walk toward them.
Their initial shock rapidly changed.
From shock.
To confusion.
To pure anger.
"Ya bitch-!"
Aria couldn't hold herself back, even with the exhaustion she had to pour those words out. She already thought that this girl was strange, from the moment Charles hated her to the moment she almost killed him.
The latter made her wariness increase to the limit.
But now?
She had betrayed Humanity.
She was working with a Demon!
Moglit's face was as ugly as Aria's, but he was more the type to reveal his emotions through action than words.
Even more so when the Chaos was barreling through his brain.
Except-
"Reynauld, the preparations require the rest to arrive first, correct?"
"Yes, My Lord."
Aranea let out a small smile, "We can have some fun with them then, right?"
Aria and Moglit shivered at those words; they were completely ignoring them, they didn't spare Moglit's greatsword a glance.
"As long as they live there's no problem!" Reynauld chuckled.
Aranea nodded.
"I didn't know My Saintess had a taste for this, you like the dainty little boy type My Lord?" He curiously glanced at Moglit.
But Aranea's face grew ugly, "Do not desecrate my taste with your measly mortal opinion, I don't hold a like for the Male species."
Aranea inwardly apologised.
Reynauld verbally apologised.
Moglit stared back at Aria behind him, they had a bad feeling about what they were about to do.
Before they could do that-
Moglit cracked the ground beneath the crimson liquid, his body rushed through as airwaves exploded around them.
The metallic glint of his greatsword glimmered in crimson as Chaos drowned his surroundings.
Reynauld and Aranea casually glanced at him.
Then.
CRACK!
His body slammed into the ground, rattling his brain as pain slithered through his body; Chaos backlashed in his veins, and his narrow-visioned brain instantly returned to normality as the Chaos was pushed out of it.
Ringing noises plunged through his brain, he was too dizzy to comprehend what happened just now.
Aria clenched her teeth as she prepared to fight back.
"The one I want is her."
"Your taste is-?"
A grin rose on her face, "You already know."
Reynauld chuckled and stepped back, allowing Aranea a direct path toward Aria.
Aranea stepped towards her, past the cracked ground of the laboratory.
"S-stay awa-Cough!" Kneeling on all fours, Aria despaired as the eerily smiling tiny girl stepped toward her.
"You know..." Aranea smiled at her as she spoke.
"When I first saw you, I thought..."
Aria coughed out another mouthful of blood, her heart rate speeding up rapidly.
"...wouldn't it be lovely eating her?" Aranea kneeled, her face practically hugging Aria's as her warm, pleasant breath wafted into Aria's breath.
Aria gulped the blood in her mouth, she wanted to say something; screaming something...
But she couldn't.
She was too tired.
As the despair pulled into her station, Aria chuckled inwardly; a chuckle of someone who had accepted their fate.
'This is how I go.'
"...Aria, do you have someone you like?"
Aranea's mildly smiling face cutely squinted her eyes but in Aria's eyes, it looked vile.
The face of a predator.
"Or... Have you lost your virginity already?"
Aria's heart dropped.
'No.'
'This bitch-'
She'd rather die.
Reynauld listened in silently from behind, his eyes holding unknown emotions as he watched this act play forth.
"K-kill..."
"Hm?" Those eyes flourishing with the Abyss gazed into Aria's.
"Kill?"
Blood sputtered from her mouth, "...m-me."
Aranea planted one of her hands over her wide-open mouth, "How could you say that!"
"Your life is precious! We need to..."
Her left hand reached out at Aria's face, Mogu~
Squeezing her soft cheeks, the girl's warmth spread through Aranea's fingers, "...show you what it means to live first."
Mana was always running through her fingers; Aranea sensually kneaded Aria's face, "Smile a bit more."
Running her finger over her cheek, Aranea reached for her lips.
Pop-
Pushing her thumb into her pretty lower lip, Aranea erotically plucked her lip, pulling it out and playing with it.
Her Mana rushed through Aria's body, paralyzing it and preventing it from moving.
Aria could only watch in horror as Aranea played with her, she couldn't move her mouth nor speak any longer.
Only faint gurgling escaped her throat.
Parting open Aria's mouth, Aranea looked inside, at the pink, wet tongue slightly stained with blood.
Squelch...
She pushed her index finger in and rolled it around her tongue, playfully twirling it around like a doll.
The warm, wet saliva wrapped around her finger, sucking it in.
"Pretty tongue." Aranea smiled at Aria again, her eyes twirling slightly.
Pulling her finger out, a string of saliva mixed with blood drooped down; Aranea held her finger above Aria's mouth, allowing the saliva to slowly drip back into her mouth.
"There, good girl."
Shutting Aria's mouth, Aranea looked back.
Moglit was staring at her with hatred oozing from his eyes, great.
As for Reynauld, he was clapping his hand on his head in excitement, "As expected of our Lord, you're perfect no matter what."
"Let us return, I want to play with her a bit more..." Aranea cheekily looked back at Aria's dishevelled posture.
To think that just a moment ago Aranea had played with her tongue while the girl lay on the ground like a dog-
How fucked.
Surrounding Aria in her Mana, Aranea raised her and followed Reynauld in; Moglit was carried on his shoulder.
As for his greatsword, it was left behind on the ground.
---
Reynauld drove them down the stairs back to the Ascension Pool.
Dropping Moglit like a sack of rice beside the pool, Reynauld restrained him and returned his eyes to his Lord.
Aranea grinned back, "I'll be needing a bit of privacy, enjoy the sounds."
Waves of Mana cautiously drew a small cube around them, the set of Mana Barriers had conditions placed on them, they'd prevent vision but not the sounds from within.
Aranea had to do this to keep Reynauld on his toes but contain his aggression.
Cushioning the ground beneath Aria, she gently lowered her on her back.
Aranea removed the paralysis.
Having rested a bit, Aria had enough energy to speak a few words again.
But-
"...kill."
-it wasn't pleasant.
"...me."
Her eyes were dull, lacking in soul.
She was sprawled on the cushions, her limbs opened to the side as if drawing Aranea in.
There was a reason why Aranea did this.
Reynauld would never be interested in Moglit or Aria.
But.
If he took them down there.
To where Revshika Drowned.
Aria would be broken.
Both physically and mentally.
Aranea dropped down between Aria's spread legs, her small, dainty fingers caressed Aria's thighs, running them up closer and closer...
A weird, hot, tingling sensation electrified Aria's innards; she clenched her mouth shut, holding back her voice.
Mana seeped from Aranea, rising into the air above Aria's eyes.
Aria's dim eyes captured it forming something but she couldn't care.
She wanted to find a way to end herself.
Before she lost what was precious to her.
Until...
[Play along with me, I can't save you otherwise.]
Hope rekindled in her heart but she still couldn't trust it.
Not from what she knew about Aranea, not from what she'd seen from her.
[You would have been raped and worse by a Deformed Demon if I hadn't done this.]
Aria still struggled to trust her, what was the difference between that and what Aranea was doing to her?
[Reynauld is my enemy.]
Still...
[His goal is to consume me.]
...maybe she could trust her.
"Ah~"
A sensual heat throbbed in her thighs, spread to her tailbone and sprinted into her mouth; she couldn't stop the moan from escaping.
"Lick- Nice voice." Licking her lips, Aranea spoke in a slightly enchanting voice.
[Don't hold back your voice, Reynauld isn't someone we can fool so easily.]
Another mind-numbingly erotic feeling spread into Aria's heart, and-
"Fuck!"
Her eyeballs curled up as she bit her lips, her legs squeezed into Aranea, entrapping her.
Steamy breath drifted out of her mouth as she took multiple, fast breaths in a row. Aranea held her legs down, she could feel the vibrations from her tender leg coming into her hands.
[Keep my intentions a secret. That's the cost.]
Then-
"Ahk-! Fuckk-! Huek!"
Maddening pleasure erupted through Aria's veins, her crotch was burning hot; immeasurable shame, the urge to rub her thighs together, to play with herself, all of it filled her brain.
But Aranea stopped her from doing so.
Neither did Aranea ever touch anywhere except her thighs.
This was the least Aranea could do in exchange for sexually assaulting the girl.
And outside...
Moglit's screams filled the cave.
Uncountable slurs echoed back and forth while he could only stare at the enclosure and listen to the sounds from within.
As for Reynauld.
Reynauld was just smiling.