The sharp snap of latex against skin echoed like a whip crack in the silent, magically constructed bedroom.
Marcus swallowed hard. His Adam's apple bobbed nervously against the cold metal of his gorget. He tried to summon his Holy Aura, tried to call upon the Goddess to smite the demon straddling him, but his mana pool felt like a dried-up well.
"Elena, stop this!" Marcus pleaded, his voice cracking. "Think about what you're doing! We were... we were teammates! We shared bread! We slept back-to-back in the Goblin Trenches!"
Elena paused. She tilted her head, her crimson eyes softening for a fleeting second.
"I remember, Marcus. I remember you giving me your last piece of jerky because I was 'too skinny for a mage.'" She chuckled darkly, running a gloved finger down his chest plate. "I also remember watching you throw yourself in front of a Fire Drake to save me. You were so foolish. So brave."
"Then why?!" Marcus shouted, pulling uselessly at the glowing pink chains binding his wrists to the bedposts. "Why betray humanity? Why become this?"
Elena's expression hardened. She leaned forward, her heavy breasts pressing against his armor, her breath hot on his ear.
"I didn't become this, you idiot. I was always this."
She sat up straight, peeling off the illusion spell that masked her aura completely.
The room temperature plummeted. The shadows in the corners of the room seemed to stretch and bow to her. The pressure was immense—a suffocating gravity far greater than any monster Marcus had ever faced.
"I am Elena vorn Ashborn, Seventh Queen of the Night. I joined your little party because I was bored. I wanted to see the famous 'Hero' the Goddess sent to kill me."
She smirked, tracing the faded scar on his cheek.
"I expected a monster. Instead, I found a puppy. A loyal, broken, suicidal puppy who kept trying to save everyone but himself."
Marcus stared at her, his world shattering into pieces. "It was all a lie? The three years... the laughter... the tears?"
"The feelings were real. The identity was not," Elena said dismissively. She grabbed the bottom of his breastplate. "Now, hold still. We're wasting time, and your condition is critical."
CRUNCH.
With a strength that defied logic, she didn't just unbuckle the armor; she ripped the heavy silver breastplate off his body as if it were made of wet cardboard. Metal groaned and twisted under her grip. She tossed the legendary Armor of Saint George onto the floor like trash.
CLANG.
Marcus was left in his torn, sweat-stained undershirt. He felt naked. Exposed. Defeated.
"Condition?" Marcus spat, trying to salvage a shred of dignity. "The only condition I have is being tied to a bed by a traitor!"
"Wrong," Elena said clinically. She placed her gloved hand directly over his heart.
"AURA SCAN: ACTIVATE."
A complex purple magic circle materialized over Marcus's chest, rotating softly.
"Heart rate: 140 beats per minute. Cortisol levels: Lethal. But that's not the worst part."
She pressed her palm harder against his sternum.
Marcus gasped. A sharp, searing pain shot through his veins—not from her touch, but erupting from inside his own body. It felt like he had swallowed molten lead.
"Argh! What did you do to me?!"
"I didn't do anything," Elena said grimly. "Look at your veins, Marcus."
Marcus looked down. Beneath his skin, his veins weren't blue. They were glowing with a sickly, blinding gold light. It looked like liquid sunlight was trying to burn its way out of his flesh.
"That," Elena pointed at the pulsating golden veins, "is the Goddess's Blessing. Or as I call it, The Divine Parasite."
"Blasphemy!" Marcus yelled instinctively, reciting the scripture. "The Light gives me strength! The pain is just a test of my faith!"
"The Light is eating you!" Elena snapped, losing her playful tone for the first time. Her voice cracked with genuine anger. "Why do you think you're always tired? Why do you cough up gold-flecked blood after every battle? The Goddess isn't lending you power, Marcus. She's burning your life force as fuel!"
Marcus went silent. The denial died in his throat.
She was right. For the past year, he had felt like he was dying from the inside out. He had told himself it was the burden of a Hero. He had told himself it was holy suffering.
But looking at the concern in the Demon Queen's eyes... he realized he had been livestock waiting for the slaughter.
"If I don't extract this excess Holy Yang energy from your body right now," Elena whispered, her voice returning to a sultry purr, "you will explode within the week. You'll be nothing but a crater of holy fire."
She ripped his undershirt open, buttons flying everywhere like confetti. Her hand moved lower, past his navel, toward his belt.
"Extract?" Marcus squeaked, his voice jumping an octave. "How... how do you extract it?"
Elena smiled. It was the smile of a wolf looking at a very delicious, very confused lamb chop.
"Well, basic magical theory, Patient Zero. To neutralize an overflow of Holy Yang (Light/Heat), you need a massive infusion of Primal Yin (Darkness/Fluid)."
She unbuckled his belt with a practiced flick of her wrist.
"And as the Demon Queen, I happen to be the purest source of Yin energy in the world."
She pulled his trousers down.
Marcus panicked, thrashing against the chains. "Wait! Wait! There has to be another way! A potion! A spell! A ritual!"
"This is the ritual," Elena giggled. "It's called Dual Cultivation. It's very ancient, very effective, and very... wet."
"No! I took a vow of chastity!"
"The Goddess who made you take that vow is trying to kill you. I'm trying to save you. Who gets your vote?"
Elena didn't wait for an answer. She tossed his pants aside.
Marcus squeezed his eyes shut. He expected pain. He expected torture.
Instead, he felt something cool and smooth.
Elena was examining him. Not with magic, but with her hands. Her latex-gloved fingers traced the inside of his thigh, teasing, checking his reactions with maddening slowness.
"Hmm," she hummed professionally, like a doctor looking at a fascinating chart. "Significant swelling in the lower region. The pressure is building up rapidly."
"That's not the curse!" Marcus gritted his teeth, his face burning hotter than a fireball. "That's... that's natural biology!"
"Is it?" Elena teased. She moved her hand to the center of the problem. She gripped him gently but firmly.
Marcus let out a strangled noise. "Guh!"
"Pulse is strong here too," Elena observed, leaning down so her face was level with his terrified, aroused member. "Very strong. The Holy Energy has concentrated in your... life creation center."
She looked up at Marcus, her crimson eyes glowing with lust and hunger.
"I'm afraid I have to drain the poison directly from the source."
"Elena... please..." Marcus whimpered. He didn't know if he was begging her to stop or begging her to continue.
"Shh," she soothed, peeling off one of her gloves with her teeth. She tossed it aside. "Doctor's orders, Hero. Just lie back and think of the High Priestess's boring sermons."
She lowered her head.
The moment her lips touched him, Marcus felt two things.
First, an electric shock of pleasure so intense his toes curled, and his back arched off the mattress. Second, the burning pain in his chest began to subside, replaced by a cool, soothing darkness.
The corruption had begun. And God help him... it felt like salvation.