AN: Cut most of the lewd scene out. Didn't like how I'd taken the story. Let me know what you think about this new version.
My eyes blink away the scorching burns from flashing light, watering desperately to keep themselves from drying out as I stumble to one foot on a shaky leg. My body heaves each breath, the air chilled to a crisp as each exhale brings with it a cloud of fog, worsening my already diminishing vision.
If this was a spell intended to hurt, then it's failed miserably beyond giving me some mild retinal pain. If it was intended for ruining any tourism here for the next few years though, then it's succeeded with flying colours.
The world around me is nothing more than a husk of ice. For miles in each direction, every inch of land visible to the naked eye lay frozen over beneath a tidal wave of rime. Except, of course, the exact spot I happen to be stood upon, an intentional act on Serafall's part I've no doubt. My Flesh Parade lay shattered amongst the frozen landscape, my connection to it severed.
I try to catch a glimpse, any sign at all of Serafall's presence as I scan the frozen wonderland around us, but between the thick layer of foggy air and my own retinal damage, I'm left with nothing. I rub my eyes, once, twice, before giving up and casting a Prayer to fix the irritation, my Precursor's Eye not enough to see through the veil.
Unfortunately for me, that was exactly the window Serafall had been looking for.
Her body blurs in my direction through the thick fog, her grin wider than I'd ever seen it prior. Her arms are almost completely blue, her skin pale as a sheet and hair white as snow, only serving to accentuate the sapphire of her eyes. She lunges forward, trident poised to tear through my chest as she cries out in exertion.
I block the strike with a hastily summoned Caduceus, skidding back on the ground from the force of her blow as the impact makes my blade groan, dashing forward to meet her next attack halfway and shatter her weapon. I raise my blade barely a moment later, sword poised to stab her through the wrist, before my Instinct screams.
DANGER!
Blinking, I Sonido to the side and roll afterwards to catch myself against the slippery ice, eyes snapping up to see Serafall's pout as her fingers twitch, her blade having reformed itself from the ice behind me and stabbed forward.
Suddenly, the world around me shifts beneath my feet, my body enclosed in a cage of blades with no escape before I could even blink. Thousands of razor sharp points dig into my skin, threatening to tear into flesh as they sit in the air.
Distantly, I realise that this was her true plan, the reason she flash-froze the world. Every inch of rime coating the ground is a weapon for her to control, a threat to be addressed.
A threat I hadn't known existed.
"What's the matter, Ali?" She says, her grin smug when she notices my brief moment of hesitation. I stare at the wicker basket of blades as it looms over me, her voice sing-song with giddiness as she continues.
"Getting cold feet all of a sudden?" She taunts, the terrible joke making me smirk against my own wishes as I watch the cage closing around me like a hawk.
"I see now why they call you Whorefrost." I taunt, grinning now as she steps forward lazily to bridge the distance between us, laughing all the while at my words.
"Really? You think you're in a position to be insulting me?" She murmurs, her trident slipping through the cage, frost bending to her will and lifting my chin to meet her gaze as she smirks victoriously.
"...Do you concede, Ali?"
The question cuts deeper than any wound she could inflict on me. I almost wince at the sound of those words, at the visceral satisfaction in her tone. The idea of submitting, of admitting her place above me, sends bile rising in my throat.
My hands are trapped between the rapidly tightening bars of my cage, needles digging into the flesh of my palms ever so softly. Caduceus has long since fallen to the ground beside me, torn from my hand by a torrent of needle-like ice shards.
"Concede? I'd never. Not when we've been having so much fun." I say, a drop of blood trailing down my cheek after a blade digs across it. She leans a step closer, her smug grin overwhelming.
"That's a shame. I was hoping you'd learn your lesson like a good little dog and sit."
My jaw tenses at her words, at the blatant taunting, all while she presses the cage of blades an inch closer. They dig into my flesh enough to draw blood, a small groan escaping my lips.
Not quite enough to damage me, but just enough to hurt me.
She takes another step closer. Her eyes glimmer with amusement as they meet my own, but there's a distinct pleading beneath her gaze as well. Not for me to give up, no, but for me to keep fighting. She's loving every second of this.
Just like I am.
My grin widens, breaths coming out in short, heavy gasps through my nose as the pain grows with each second, pain of my own causing, pain that I relish in as I stare at Sera with a wide smile.
Serafall herself stands just a few inches away from me, the blades having stopped in their slow advance as she watches on in confusion. Mana begins to swell from my body, and Serafall readies herself to form a shield at the feeling of it permeating the air, block whatever Magic I throw her way.
Her plan never comes to fruition, cut short by the Doppelganger's sudden appearance, my duplicate appearing of his own volition and taking the fallen Caduceus into his chitinous hand.
His body is torn apart in the blink of an eye, ripped to shreds by the sea of knives under Serafall's command, but as his form vanishes, Caduceus falls to the ground, embedding itself in the frozen earth.
My smile widens even further, cheeks straining to facilitate such joy.
Sera watches on with narrowed eyes, but never once does she panic, even as the Circle of Life rises and traps us within it's radius, because she's been waiting for me to have a trick up my sleeve; there's always a trick, always a new power to watch out for.
This time, it's the same power I used to earn my freedom so long ago. The same power that carved out my infamy in blood.
Grinning triumphantly, I slowly open my jaws, revealing a Magic Circle glowing and spinning violently on the back of my throat as Serafall's eyes widen imperceptibly. The cage tightens around me one last time, but the searing heat of the Freikugel that tears from my lips burns away every inch of the frozen bladestorm around me.
The pain is overwhelming, my maw burned and blistered, throat aflame with agony, but every ounce of suffering disappears just as quickly as it arrived when I Sonido into Serafall's stunned form, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her body into a nearby frozen tree, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
18000HP!
She groans, the crystalline shards of the broken tree suddenly shifting in the air, now flying towards me like an ocean of swords, every last one of them vaporised by another Freikugel cast from my palm.
My flesh sizzles, the scent abhorrent, but once again I heal myself with a firm punch to Serafall's jaw. It's weaker this time, Blood Sacrifice no longer active to even the scales, and Serafall immediately notices, her elbow slamming into the crook of my arm.
I drop her with a pained grunt, her forehead crashing into my nose a half-second later as she kicks me in the chest, sends me skidding along the ground as I dig Caduceus into the ground to stop my momentum.
Pained, wounded, and bleeding from a broken nose, I still find the strength to smile at her. She does the same, watching as I wipe the blood away from my lip, relishing in the sensation for a long moment before finally casting a Prayer to fix the damage.
"You had me." I bite out a moment later, every word burning across my lips.
"I admit. It would've taken just a twitch of your finger, and I'd be forced to surrender. If this were actually training, that is."
My voice cuts through the deep panting between the both of us, fog lessening now as the ice recedes ever so slowly. Serafall's skin shifts back to a healthy pallor, her limbs no longer frozen over and the white of her hair rapidly fading as we remain tense and readied to continue at any moment, both having long since abandoned the idea of this being anything close to training.
"...So what stopped you?"
Serafall takes another deep breath, her eyes locking onto where the blood she drew out once ran down my nose as she licks her lips and smirks.
"Haven't you already answered that question? Why would I want to stop when we've been having so much fun?"
Her smile widens, hand gesturing to the frozen desolation around us, a destruction I'm sure just about everyone in the Underworld has noticed by now.
"...Don't you still want more?" She follows up a moment later, her voice a breathy whisper, sinful temptation for my ears as I think yes, I do want more.
In lieu of responding with words, I settle for action instead. Far more smug than I should have any right to be, I lock eyes with Serafall and activate Mirror Mirror, feeling a cold chill seep into my heart, the tips of my fingers freezing over as I slowly shape the ice at my feet into a bastard sword.
Serafall's eyes widen, mouth agape and laughing with something akin to astonishment, before that same predatory grin settles across her lips and she matches the gesture, drawing an exact copy of the blade I'd formed into her hand as well.
"Always so full of surprises, aren't you, Ali?" She says, her words muttered but perfectly audible as we now stalk one another in slow, steady circles.
"You know, when Ajuka told me his theory about your Trait so long ago, I chalked it up to just another bizarre idea of his. I never imagined it would lead to this."
Serafall's a mage at heart. She's far more powerful at zoning, keeping distance, demolishing targets from a safe place. I would ask why she's bothering to indulge me in a melee duel, but I know exactly why.
It's the same reason why I've barely put a dent into using my myriad powers, the same reason why she's earned her name as Wicked Witch to the Officio Satanorum, the same reason we've been beating one another bloody with our fists this whole time.
This is far more intimate. Far more personal. It feels much, much more satisfying to shatter your knuckle against someone's jaw than to throw a Spell at them, in the same way as it feels a thousand times better to stab a man up close than to skewer him with a construct from several meters away.
"Like you said..." I start, stopping our slow circling to lift my blade, "I'm full of surprises."
She smiles, the back of her sword braced against her arm in a reverse grip as she tenses her knees.
"Oh, you're full of something alright. I'd sooner say it's shit than surprises though."
Her insult, teeming with venom, leaves me laughing openly, tension somewhat dispersing - the woman herself following shortly after with a fit of giggles.
We pause for this one brief moment to laugh together softly, indulge this temporary ceasefire, before my fingers tighten around the frostborne blade anew.
My smile then shifts to a smirk, eyes working overtime to track her muscles tensing as I spur her into action, two short words portraying every thought that lingers in my mind at this moment.
"Let's dance!"
Her response is drowned out by the sound of ice shattering as our blades clash and break apart against one another's thousands of times per second, reformed and re-shattered faster than either of us can blink as we dash across the battlefield, always on the move.
The whole time, neither of us lose our smile.
Even when I catch a Mana signature several hundred meters away, watching us from high up in the air, I just can't bring myself to stop. This danger, this battle, this violent clash, it all makes my heart sing with glee.
------------------------------------
[Sirzechs Gremory]
"So? Any signs of life?" Ajuka asks from my side, his voice almost enough of a shock to break my connection to Hereward after several long moments of silence.
"They're definitely both still alive, though... I'd be convinced if you told me they wanted to change that." I respond, watching the tense battle unfold from a distance.
I would say I'm shocked they haven't noticed me given how much Mana it requires to form a connection like this with Hereward's eyes, but that would require them to be aware of anything outside their own little world.
...and what a world it is.
The forest North of Chastinal is closer to a wasteland than a wonderland, frozen over completely under a thick blanket of Sera's ice, every tree and bush for miles left nothing more than a glistening crystal as the duo dash around the battlefield like flickering lights, disappearing and reappearing constantly to unleash a barrage of attacks on one another.
Hereward's eyes can't keep up with them.
I sigh, realising that yes, it seems Serafall and Alistair are far, far too entranced with their duel to pay me and my familiar any mind. They fight like monsters given flesh, their every clash visceral and relentless as they battle one another with- hold on, is that ice that the Demi-fiend is manipulating?
...that shouldn't be possible. That should absolutely, definitely not be possible.
"Ajuka, you came up with a theory for how Alistair's 'gift' works a while ago, right?" I ask, suddenly far more invested with what I'm seeing through my bond with Hereward.
"Yes. His mutated Trait, the 'Siphon', taking power on a permanent basis. Why? Has something caught your eye?" He asks.
I struggle for a moment to word my response properly, the thousandfold implications of what this means for the Underworld if Alistair has managed to permanently copy Serafall's Mutated Clan Trait leaving me dizzy in the mind.
"He's using Serafall's Frostweaver against her. I- I don't have any idea how, but he's actually using it against her!" I say, laughing partway through at the absurdity of it.
Ajuka bolts to my side immediately, hissing in annoyance soon after as he realises he can't share in my view from Hereward's perspective.
A moment later, the edges of my vision are tinted green, a thousand different numeric equations scratched along the corners of my sight as he alters my connection to Hereward such that both of us can see through his eyes now.
Hereward, a true pal in every sense of the word, doesn't complain at the sensation of two separate pairs of eyes bonding with his own, keeping his focus steady on the combatants brawling beneath him.
Ajuka, on the otherhand, is giddier than I've ever heard him be in our many decades of knowing one another.
"Unbelievable." He mutters, no doubt grinning maniacally as he once again alters our shared perspective to zoom in on the duo, his Kankara Formula etching itself into my field of vision anew.
"Utterly inconceivable! He has Frostweaver, he's using her Mutated Trait, but there's not a single change whatsoever on the genetic level! This... if this is permanent, then..."
His voice falls away mid-sentence, the sheer weight of this revelation no doubt just as heavy on his mind as it is my own. If the Demi-fiend can permanently copy the Clan Traits of others as his own, then he will either be worshipped as a God, or hunted down by every faction among the Abrahamic, maybe even the larger Supernatural world.
For his sake, I truly do hope neither come to pass. I hope that this is just some... late manifestation of the Andromalius Trait that Ajuka spoke of, that this power is only a temporary one.
As of now though, all we can do is watch the rest of this duel between them unfold and hope for the best.
Ajuka's muttering at my side is the closest thing to a calming presence I have at the moment as the duo continue to tear away at the world around them, throwing themselves at one another like rabid animals constantly.
If things go too far though, I won't hesitate to step in. I can't just sit by and allow them to hurt eachother any worse than last time.
In all honesty... I won't deny that I'm rooting for the Demi-fiend this time around.
I just love a good underdog story.
------------------------------------
[Alistair Mammon]
Another swing, another satisfying shatter as our blades break apart into smithereens, my fist supplanting the blade as it crashes into Serafall's nose, finger twitching to raise a shield of ice from the ground as she immediately regains her footing and throws herself at me like a bullet.
Taking this Clan Trait for myself has made me intimately aware of the singular weakness it has now. Summon more ice than you can reasonably handle, and you'll suffer the cold - my fingers long since covered in a thin sheet of frost and hair whitening in long streaks.
...It's all about knowing your limits. My lack of inherent experience just means that my limit is much, much less than her own.
Serafall's body crashes into the shield like a train, the construct broken apart as if it were never even there as her body continues to surge forward, her wings drawn out and speed building by the second. I match her energy as best I can, sword raised and wing drawn as I Sonido into her, our hands lashing out in tandem at the last possible moment to catch one another's wrist.
We float in that spot, panting for breath and chilled to the bone, still smiling like fucking idiots, our foreheads then slamming into one another's as we wrestle for control.
"That the best you got? You're weaker than I remember, Alistair." She taunts, tongue slipping out to lick a drop of blood that falls from her nose onto her lip.
"Weaker?" I repeat, incredulous as I grit my teeth, "Oh, really?!"
Serafall's smirk deepens as the insult finally breaks through my composure.
Incensed, I do the first thing that comes to mind: summon the Doppelganger behind her and watch him slam his fists down on her back in a double axe-handle. She gasps, spittle flying from her mouth, her body cratering into the ground immediately after.
Not giving Serafall a moment to breathe, I drop down directly beside her and slam my foot into her back as she struggles to a knee. My boot crashes against nothing but ice, the world shivering for a brief moment as a result of the force, Serafall having rolled away at the last second and lifted herself to her feet against a spire of ice.
She pants, her eyes drilling into mine as she tries to summon those same blades we'd clashes so many times with.
I don't give her a chance, a Sonido bringing me directly to her feet as I slam my fist into her chest, the sword she tried to form taken into my hand a moment later as I fly forward and chase her momentum.
Crack!
The sword lands mere millimeters away from Serafall's neck, embedded in the trunk of a frozen tree she landed against. The woman heaves with each breath, trapped between me and the crystalline woodland, my free hand restraining her own by the wrist, held tight above her head.
Companion Quest: Satanic Submission has been initiated!
I look down at her, smirking victoriously, the blade drawing a single drop of blood as it slides against her throat with each deep breath she takes.
"Point to me. I'm in the lead."
She grins in response, her free hand sliding up my chest and resting a tiny blade against my throat.
Sera relishes in our current position as she tilts her chin up in feigned superiority, my body looming over her with a hand still clutching the ice-sword as it lay embedded several inches deep into the tree trunk.
"Where did you learn to count? We're even."
Through the quick, panting breaths of an exhaustion I didn't think myself capable of, I quickly find that I've started grinning.
"You sure? We both know I could've gotten out of that cage at any moment. What could you possibly do to get out of this situation?"
She hums, her expression shifting to something smug as she glances around, eyes darting between her bound hand and the blade sitting against my neck.
"I can think of a few ways."
My brow raises, incredulity no doubt spilling from my body in droves as I begin to laugh openly at her misplaced confidence.
"Wha- I'm being serious!" She says, pouting.
My smile, far more chesire than I'd like, only seems to widen as I lean down even further, barely any distance remaining between us.
"...Go ahead then." I start a moment later, her every warm breath against my cheek a stark contrast to the chilled air.
"Prove it to me."
Her smirk shifts briefly into something softer. Something hesitant. She trembles slightly in my grasp, her fingers raking along my neck as they settle lower against my chest, her eyes glowing as they stare into my own, smirk returning a moment later.
"...nah. I think I like it here."
I can't stop myself from grinning deeply at her words, a feeling of triumph tearing through my heart as she relaxes in my grasp. Her knee lifts ever so slightly, leg braced against the frozen trunk behind her, body shifting near imperceptibly toward me.
For a moment, I almost want to match her movement. To take the spoils of my victory, to indulge the Devil in my heart.
...but as she leans her head forward, eyes shut and aching for my touch, I find that I just can't bring myself to fully close the distance.
Every time I close my eyes, I'm met with Grayfia's smile. I hear her softly spoken words as she tells me that she loves me. When I open them, all I can see ahead of me is the same person who would sooner kill the woman I love than ever listen to her pleas for mercy. For forgiveness.
My body screams at me to throw my reservations away, to abandon any ideas of human restraint and take this beautiful Devil in front of me as my own, but I can't bring myself to.
Serafall immediately notices my hesitation.
Her eyes open slowly, the air quickly returning to that same frigid chill it had once been as she tenses her jaw. Any warmth the situation may have previously had vanishes.
"...you're thinking about her, aren't you?"
Her words are spoken softly, but are sharp as a knife. I wince, eyes glancing to the side as I struggle to find a way to word what I feel, but she doesn't even give me a chance to.
In the blink of an eye, her hand is against my chest, pushing me several feet away with a soft burst of Mana, her head now in her hands as she mutters to herself.
"Even now... even at a time like this, I can't have a single fucking moment of peace without Grayfia ruining it."
I scoff before I can stop myself.
"You're blaming her? Really? How long is it going to take for you to realise that you're the reason why I hesitated as well?"
Her eyes snap to me, a fire in her gaze that I'm certain would burn the glacial landscape around us had it been real, a finger pressed to her chest in incredulity as she steps toward me.
"Me? I'm the reason?! Grayfia's the one who stole you away, stole everything I've ever had away! My friends, my life- I can't even let myself be happy for just a single fleeting moment without her fucking ruining it!"
Her finger shifts to point at me towards the end of her speech, something I take great offense to as I toss it aside.
"She never stole me away, you- Serafall, I would have fought the world for you! I owed you my life, my future, everything I had. All I ever wanted was to be your friend, but you were the one who ruined any chance of that happening! It was always you!"
She blinks, stumbling over herself to find the words as I continue my tirade.
"I tried again and again, to find some sort of redeeming quality, a reason to keep trying with you, for so long! Even after you beat me into the dirt! Yet every time, you gave me nothing. You're a husk, a facsimile of a person. So lost in your own hatred that you can't stop for a single moment and think about the consequences of your actions!"
She rolls her eyes, arms folded, infuriatingly ignorant to the words I've said.
"Oh, because you're just so much better than me, aren't you? Because I need you to come down and redeem me like some holy fucking saviour, is that it?" She starts, laughing derisively.
"You don't even realise how far you've fallen, do you? You still think you're some- some paragon of virtue, high up in the clouds; Alistair Mammon, can't do anything wrong! Mr fucking Perfect, in the flesh!"
My response is spat out through gritted teeth, fists clenched tightly at my sides.
"I do my best! That's all I can ever do, and it's far more than you ever will, far more than you have any right to chastise me for!"
She barks out a laugh, the sound like nails to a chalkboard in my ears.
"You- even now, you still won't acknowledge what I said! You just ignore it and move on, disregard the things you don't like and do the same damn thing you condemn me for! You aren't some righteous hero, Ali, you're just a sociopath who won the genetic lottery!"
My body moves on instinct, stood mere inches away from hers now as hatred seeps into my veins, my blood warm with fury.
"I condemn you for being an animal! A rabid dog, lashing out at any hand that reaches out to help you! I tried to be your friend, tried to be something more than that, tried so hard despite all the alarm bells that came with that decision, but still you pushed me away at every opportunity - then complained about how lonely you were, complained that I abandoned you! You can't help yourself!"
My words are spoken through heaving breaths, fury growing with every second at the sight of Serafall's smug demeanour.
"So tell me Sera, am I truly at fault for finding comfort in someone who actually loves me after everything you've put me through?"
She scoffs, eyes wide with disbelief. My hand twitches with the urge to strangle her, missing the visceral satisfaction of cracking her jaw with my fist as she stares at me with this infuriating look in her eyes.
"Yes! That someone is a mass murderer!"
I hesitate. Only for a second.
"...What do you think it says about you as a person, then, if I'd happily choose that mass murderer over you?"
Her jaw tenses.
She goes silent for several long moments. For a while, I'm almost led to believe I've won our latest bout of verbal sparring.
But then she grins again. Infuriating.
"I think it says a lot more about you than you realise. You wanna talk about animals?" She starts, sounding coy as she steps into my personal space again, a finger at my chest.
"You're just like a wounded stray, you know that? Latching onto the first hand that'll treat you with any kindness, so desperate for affection that you let her do whatever she wants. She's using you, Ali, using you like a fucking puppet and-"
"-Oh, spare me the bullshit, please!" I cry out, grabbing her wrist and holding it aside.
"Grayfia isn't some vile puppet-master, she's a fucking maid. She bakes cakes whenever I say I'm feeling down! When are you going to realise that she's just as much a person at heart as you were before the War started?"
My shouts leave me breathless, panting as I stare down at her, arm still held in my grasp.
She stays silent for several long, quiet moments, never once trying to pull away from me or slip out of my hold over her.
Eventually, after enough time passes to leave me slightly concerned, Serafall looks back up at me - signature pink hat bouncing ever so slightly as she whispers her words, eyes filled with uncharacteristic hesitation.
"I just... I don't understand why you're trying so hard to pretend you don't want this, Ali."
Caught off guard, I don't have enough time to react before her hand slips away from my grasp, sliding up my arm to intertwine our fingers as she stares into my eyes, a vulnerability in her gaze beyond anything I'd ever seen from her before.
"I've seen the way you look at me. The way you've always looked at me. I'm not an idiot."
The words are like poison in my mind, my restraint slowly withering with each second as she presses her body into mine, legs rubbing softly against my own as she looks up at me, so desperate and needy.
...Soweak. So pathetic.
My fingers twitch at my side.
Her free hand lifts to rest against my chest, touch soft enough to give me whiplash, faint memories of a time long since passed flashing through my mind - thrown aside just as quickly in favour of worse memories, those that only fuel my hatred further.
She doesn't care about you, Ali. She isn't doing this for love, she's just doing it for release, to get one up on Grayfia. To get one up on you. She wants to watch you fall.
Are you really going to let her continue laughing at you, Alistair?
"We're both Devils. We both feel the same hunger, the same lust in our veins... so why are you trying to deny it? Don't you think you've earned this?"
...another piece of my restraint snaps.
She pulls at the wires of my heart with such finesse I almost think her a seasoned ventriloquist.
"There's no point in trying to ignore your urges, Ali. You've wanted this just as long as I have, ever since the day we first drew blood in the gardens together. You still remember it, don't you?" She murmurs, grinning, her speech that same ichor to my ears as she whispers luridly to me.
Her words linger on my mind as she watches on through lidded eyes, knowing full well how much of an effect she has on me, and how painfully true the things she's said are.
...Sera still knows exactly what buttons to press to make my inhibitions fall apart.
That's the inherent problem, though.
She's trying to pull my strings.
The thought rings through my mind constantly, overlapping on itself and blaring in my ears again and again.
A fresh wave of hatred for her sears through my veins, matched only in intensity by the scorching heat that tears away at my flesh as well the longer she speaks.
The world around me soon falls to nothing more than distant static and white noise as I ask myself a simple question:
Will I refuse my Devilish desires? Turn and walk away from her?
Or will I take control? Put her in her place?
Sera's eyes glow. Her breaths come in shallow pants as she leans into me.
Her fingers continue to tap rhythmically against my chest, the other hand still tightly intertwined with my own as she stares at me with those desperate, needy eyes.
She watches my inner turmoil with a giddy smirk as the question continues to burn through my mind, withering away at my already dwindling restraint with each passing second, her smug superiority still so viciously infuriating.
The last, dying remnants of my self-control then vanish entirely after a familiar thought forms in my mind, one that leaves me grinning in much the same way as she is.
...kill the man, so the Devil may thrive.
------------------------------------
I blink, and our position has shifted completely.
Her body slams into the same tree we once rested against, both wrists held tight above her head in my hand. She wriggles against my hold, biting back a guttural moan upon making impact and still fucking smirking.
"You're right, Sera." I start, breathing heavily as I lean down towards her, "I have wanted this. Wanted you. For so, so long. Just so you know... I won't be gentle."
Deeper language seems to fail me, unable to produce anything more than short, grunted sentences as I slide my free hand around her waist, lifting her hips flush against me.
Sera giggles at my words, her eyes teeming with excitement as she crosses her legs around me and bites her lip.
"Go ahead then, Ali." She murmurs, breaths as heavy as my own, hot against my cheeks as she shivers in my grasp and begs like a common whore.
"I'm all yours... So hurry up and take-"
Her desperate words are all the permission I'll ever need, cut off midway through in my haste. I close the short distance between us in the blink of an eye - and quickly lose myself in her taste, a taste I've missed far more than I'd like to admit.
She moans into the kiss, hungrily devouring my lips and slipping her tongue out to brush against my own barely a moment later, my hand sliding down to squeeze her thigh, pressing her further into the tree.
Her hips grind against me, body trembling like a leaf in the wind as she wrestles my tongue for control and tries to slip a hand away from my hold over her to feel my body.
I slam her bound wrists into the tree once more before she can finish, heart pounding with an intoxicating degree of satisfaction at the way she moans into my lips, Sera loving the pain just as much as I love inflicting it.
Wanting more, more of her pain, more of her voice, I tighten my hold ever so slightly, biting down on her bottom lip enough to draw blood as she bucks her hips against me at the feeling. Blood and saliva swap between us, the taste of copper an addictive one as my hand drags up her thigh, taking hold of her firm ass and squeezing as hard as I can, her thighs clenching around me and a whimper slipping past her lips.
I break the kiss a moment later, the sight of Serafall Sitri panting and sweating, arms slack above her head and her cheeks red, one that I'll never forget as she smirks at me.
"That the best you got?" She taunts, biting her bloodied lip and trying her best to look disinterested, the damp warmth of her core as it bucks against my hardening cock betraying her true desires.
"Keep talking, Sera. I'll have you begging for more by the day's end."
Her body shivers once again at my words, grin widening as her legs lock tighter around my hips, dragging her core against me ever so slowly as she heaves shuddering breaths out one after another.
"The day's end? Someone's optimistic. As I recall, you barely lasted fifteen minutes with me the first time around."
Her taunt only fuels my desire to see her break apart entirely even further, my free hand slipping away from the paradise of her firm ass to shove her legs away from their spot around my waist, allowing me free access to the heaven between her thighs.
Sera blinks in confusion, glancing at me, before I crash my lips into hers and silence any words she may have had, the Devil moaning eagerly into our renewed kiss. The taste of her blood fills my mind all over again, her breaths so desperate and needy as she twitches against empty air.
My hand then rests softly against her thigh once more, Serafall bucking into my touch, my fingers trailing along the soft and tender flesh of her long, shapely legs. She whines into my lips, her tongue growing feverish against mine as my fingers reach ever closer to her damp, scorching core, her skirt hiking up against her waist.
I drag out the moment for as long as I can, hand ghosting along the thick meat of her thighs, squeezing and groping the flesh, before sliding further up, brushing against the fabric of her thin, sodden panties and resting atop her mons, just an inch away from nirvana. She whines into my lips again, her breaths coming in thick, heavy gasps as she trembles beneath me.
I relish in the power I hold over her. The control. She's nothing but a needy slut in my hands, begging for more, begging for me to touch her. Watching the great Serafall Sitri act like nothing more than a common whore- fuck, it brings me more pleasure than a thousand of the bloodiest battles ever could.
Oh how I hate her. I hate the way she burns away at my inhibitions, hate the way she talks down to me, hate the way she burdens my most sinful thoughts, hate the way she makes me a worse person day by day...
...but I still just can't get enough of her.
That feeling, the simmering, Devilish desire for her inside of me, it only makes my hatred burn brighter. A self-fulfilling prophecy, a cycle of spite and lust, she's the cause and the cure to a sickness I've fallen ill with now.
...Curse this Devil's Lust.
"Mmnh!" She cries out into my lips, her voice muffled, gasping and breaking our kiss a moment later to let out a deep, guttural moan as my fingers finally brush against her sopping wet vulva in wide strokes.
"More..." She whimpers, eyes lidded as she stares up at me, panting. The sight warms my blood beyond recognition, pants straining as my cock hardens instantly, her head settling against my shoulder as she moans and gasps pathetically.
My fingers have already been left a sopping mess by now, coated in her nectar and riding further down against the heat of her wet cunt, two digits teasing at the entrance as she spreads her legs open ever so slightly, inviting me to go deeper.
I wait for a long moment before doing so, delighting in the slow agony my inaction brings her, eyes begging me for more as her pride stops her lips from doing the same. She writhes in my grasp, helpless to do anything but sit there, before my fingers slip into her cavernous folds and she gasps against me, biting down into my shoulder.
"Look at you." I murmur demeaningly, caught up in the moment, lost in the power.
"The great Serafall Sitri, the Wicked Witch. Shaking in my hands. Desperate. What would your soldiers think if they could see you now? If they knew you were just a needy little slut behind their backs?"
Her folds clench around my invading fingers the instant I whisper in her ear, thighs twitching as her hips buck and roll with every press of my digits against her tight walls.
"They think you a warrior. Insurmountable. None of them would ever guess that you're just a lustful fucking whore."
She looks up at me again, biting her lip enough to draw blood anew, my name whispered on her lips in desperation.
"...Ali, please... stop teasing me."
Feeling uniquely sadistic, I tear my hand out from beneath her sodden panties the instant she begs for more, ignoring the desperate whine she gives the second I do. Instead, I take that same hand, lift it high, and smack her across the face with it, my heart swelling with glee as I do so.
"...Be patient." I spit out, failing to hide just how viscerally satisfying the blow felt.
Serafall's competitive streak is finally reawakened by the act it seems. She turns her head back to look at me, smirking in defiance as she licks at a drop of blood that spills out from her lip.
"Or what?" She asks, breathless.
I don't respond with words initially, hand sliding up her collar to wrap around her neck, tightening further and further with each second as she gasps silently and rolls her eyes back at the feeling it brings.
My lips rest an inch away from her ear, slamming her head against the tree once more to rouse her from her lustful ignorance, to have her focus put back on me.
"Or I'll make it hurt." I finally respond, the words causing her to shiver in need once more, thighs clenching around empty space.
She stifles a moan through bitten lips, struggling against another wave of pleasure when my thumb teases at her jugular, pressing down against it in soft strokes.
"What if that's what I want?" Sera murmurs in response, a temptress that lives on the edge of my mind, one I just can't get enough of - her words making me grin yet again.
"Then that's what you'll get."
She giggles luridly again, a tremble running through her body as she looks up at me, her every breath a shallow pant.
"I promise I'll scream louder than Grayfia ever has for you."
Clarity hits me over the head like a brick.
The grin on my lips vanishes the moment I hear her say my servant's name. It feels as though a cold bucket of water has been throwing over me, my hand pulling away as if struck. I stumble back a few steps, blinking away the haze of scorching heat.
"...we have to stop. I can't- I won't go any further than this. I'm sorry, Sera."
The heat fades from her gaze, replaced instead with a petulant annoyance as she stares at me, her cheeks still violently red.
"What? You're just gonna leave me like this? What, are you a fucking coward, Ali?"
I let out a shuddering sigh, hand scrunched in my hair a moment later.
"It's not about anything like that, Sera, I just- I can't do it. I can't do that to Grayfia. I don't want to be that type of man."
She scowls. Her eyes bore into mine with an odd mixture of hatred, and... reluctant respect? I don't get to ponder on her expression very much before she vanishes into a Teleportation circle faster than I could say another word.
I'm left alone now, thousands of thoughts running through my head as I fall to the ground and summon Caduceus in the hopes of finding some brief comfort.
Kill the man, so the Devil can go fuck himself.
...One sentence was all it took. What the hell is wrong with me?
------------------------------------
I push the thoughts of my own betrayal to the back of my mind as best I can.
There's a pain to my every step now as I try to forget how close I came to forgetting every word of affection I ever told Grayfia, a pain that only seems to grow as I shove the thoughts away.
By the time I finally reach the edge of the forest, frozen wasteland now giving way to luscious greenery, a small, hesitant smile rests on my lips at the knowledge that today, I managed to beat General Sitri.
...and all it took was for me to bring myself down to her level.
...
...
...
My fist slams into the nearest tree with reckless abandon before I can stop myself, shattering the wood into thousands of tiny splinters, thicker chunks of the log exploding out and colliding with the rest of the forest as my strike kicks up the air violently for several meters around.
A hundred different curses spill from my lips, a manifestation of my anger at how easily I gave into the worst parts of myself, anger at how quickly I forgot every vow I'd ever made, every word I'd ever spoken, anger at how much I loved every second of it.
So what if I have Grayfia's permission to do as I please? What does it change? I still gave into my Lust, caved to my own desires temporarily. These fucking Devilish Instincts, these urges, this body I've been cursed with...
I don't even try to stop myself this time, my fist obliterating another nearby tree as I shout my frustrations to the air yet again, another curse spilling out from my lips.
Crash!
The fury I feel is only worsened by a voice in the back of my mind that laughs with visceral satisfaction, laughs as it says: How easily I forgot my own vows. I'm an animal, just like they all said. I'd have betrayed her trust completely had Serafall not said her name.
I shove those traitorous thoughts to the back of my mind as best I can as I continue the slow walk back to Chastinal, resolving to never again give into the worst parts of myself, to never again indulge the Devil inside so thoroughly, so easily.
...the words are hollow, even to my own ears.