With one last swing of his sword, Adam knocked the high orc to the ground. Surrounding them were a dozen or so regular orcs, who gasped at the sight of their leader's defeat.
Like all of the monsters, these orcs were now all-female and much more humanoid in shape. Their faces had flattened and were now framed with messy hair, though their floppy ears remained from before. The regular orcs had pink skin like that of a domestic pig while the high orc had dark skin and longer hair that gave the impression of a wild boar. They wore crude armour fashioned from animal hides, which looked risqué on their now-voluptuous forms. Small curly tails poked out from their lower backs. But while their bodies were slimmer, they hadn't lost any of their strength, as shown by the massive stone hammers, axes and other weapons they wielded.
Of course, this gang of orcs hadn't stood a chance against the strongest hero in the world.
"You had no right to attack this village," Adam said, lowering his sword but not sheathing it.
Adam hadn't found these orcs out in the wilderness, like some of the previous monsters he'd found. He'd discovered them in the middle of a raid on a small human village. Unlike the orcs of the previous era, these hadn't killed anyone, not even those who had opposed them. But if Adam hadn't arrived in time… they would have done something else.
"Y-You just beat us…" the high orc murmured. Her face lit up. "Then… Then that means we belong to you now!"
Before any of the orcs could do anything untoward, Adam struck his sword against its scabbard. The metallic clang caused the orcs to flinch.
"You do not belong to me," Adam said firmly. "I already have one woman I love, and I have no plans of betraying her. The only reason I came here was to stop your raid on this village."
"We… We just wanted to get mates," the high orc said. "After changing into this, we… started seeing humans differently, and…"
Adam sighed. "I understand. Not on a personal level, but I understand why you are now like this. But you have no right to take humans by force, just as you never had any right to kill humans in the past."
"But… us orcs are all about taking what we want with our strength," the high orc said. "If we lose even that… then what do we have left?"
"If you still cling to that philosophy," Adam said, "then, as someone stronger than all of you combined, I will do as I please and take your lives."
It certainly wasn't what Adam wanted. But it wasn't good enough that these orcs no longer wanted to kill and eat humans. If their raider culture was combining with their newfound succubus instincts to make them into rapists, then Adam would still stop them… even if it meant bloodying his sword again.
Fortunately, the orcs were all terrified by Adam's statement. They blubbered incoherently and some of them looked about ready to faint.
"…But I'd prefer not to do that," Adam continued. "So I'll instead ask you to do these things. Return anything you have already stolen and do your best to repair the damage you've done to this village. That would be a more productive use of your strength."
"O-Okay, we can do that."
Under Adam's watchful eye, the orcs hurried to fulfill his orders. They showed surprising dexterity as they cleared away rubble and patched up holes. Adam wondered if they'd always had such dexterity or if this was another benefit of their transformation. A few of them still looked at Adam wistfully, clearly still hoping for something more, but he shook his head.
I can still hardly believe the situation I'm in. Again and again, I find monsters desiring me as something other than food… but I have eyes for none of them. Only for Lilith.
Adam heard doors open all around him. The human villagers emerged from their homes, still looking fearful of the orcs nearby. It was a reminder that, even if orcs were no threat to a veteran hero, they were still absolutely terrifying to normal humans. Adam sheathed his sword to avoid frightening them further.
Some of the villagers were injured, but fortunately none of them seriously. Adam began healing them.
A few of the villagers approached Adam nervously. "Sir Hero, why don't you kill them? That… Isn't that your duty?"
The nearest orc flinched upon hearing these words. Adam, on the other hand, just shook his head.
"Make no mistake, if any of these orcs had killed or successfully raped any of you, I would certainly repay them in kind," Adam said. "But they have changed compared to their previous selves. For that reason, I'm giving them a second chance, to make up for their crimes."
"I… I've never heard of orcs looking like that before," another villager said. "Always heard of them as more like… like pigs on two legs."
"You were right, that's one of the changes I was talking about," Adam said. "They've also changed mentally—though not as much as I would have liked, not yet."
"They still attacked us out of nowhere, though," said a third villager, this one cradling a kitchen knife. "Laughed when we tried to fight back. Isn't it your job as a hero to kill monsters?"
The other villagers looked frightened at these words, which might have gotten their companion killed if a less patient hero had been present.
"For years, that has been the case," Adam agreed. "I'd kill monsters who sought to kill and eat humans. I'd also kill any humans who killed other humans. My job was to protect humanity from any threat, no matter the kind."
Even when that threat was the Chief God herself, Adam thought, but he didn't say that out loud. These villagers had enough to deal with already, they didn't need a total crisis of faith as well.
"I've spilled enough blood with my sword to fill a good-sized pond," Adam said. "I've brought hundreds—possibly over a thousand, now—of lives to an end. To be frank… I'm tired. I will still kill if I must, but if there is any other option, I will take it."
Adam continued watching the orcs hard at work as they repaired the village. The villagers also watched, enraptured by his words.
"I don't ask you to forgive them," Adam said. "Only to permit them this second chance as well. For their entire lives, they have not known anything but raiding. But if they learn that there's more to life, then they may change. Then you would no longer have to fear raids like this, from orcs or any other kind of monster."
"Other kinds of monsters," one of the villagers said tentatively. "There've been rumours lately… weird-looking monsters who run away when we get close…"
Adam wondered how much longer that would last. It had been a week since the transformation and while many monsters were still confused by it, a growing number were starting to follow their succubus instincts. These orcs were the second such group that Adam had encountered… today.
After twenty minutes, the orcs had finished their repairs. The signs of their raid were still visible everywhere, but at least the villagers would no longer have to fear cold breezes in the night or their own houses collapsing on top of them.
The villagers' physical wounds had also been healed, but there was little that could be done about their mental wounds. They still looked at the orcs with a mix of hatred and fear.
It will take time for such feelings to change… as I said earlier, I can't make these people forgive those who attacked them.
In the end, Adam had to lead the orcs away from the village and find somewhere else for them to live. He wasn't sure himself where that would be, since any human village or town nearby would have an age-old hatred of monsters.
But if settled in some remote place far from humans, they also won't have any chance to learn how to interact with humans properly. It's a conundrum.
I hope Lilith is having more success than I am…
-ooo-
On the outskirts of another village, far to the west, Lilith cast an ice spell at a woman riding atop a glob of slime. Both the woman and slime were frozen solid.
I can't believe that things like this are happening… Some of the monsters are calling me a saviour for what I've done, but that just feels hollow when I look at… this.
Nearby were two other globs of slime. Like the one that had just parasitised the woman, they were monsters yet they hadn't gained womanly forms. And at this moment, they were cowering in fear.
These were parasite slimes, a specialised type of slime. In the past, these would sneak into human settlements to find skilled warriors, which would then be completely filled and controlled by the parasite slimes. The results, known as slime carriers, combined the dexterity and weapon-use of humans with the physical resilience of slimes. There were stories of entire fortified towns falling to a mere dozen slime carriers attacking from within.
Now... the parasite slimes hadn't gained succubus-like bodies like other monsters had, but they'd certainly gained the desires of succubi. Since their existing bodies weren't suited for sex with men, they now sought out human women to parasitise, using their bodies to fulfill their own desires.
Basically, they're raping two people at once now, Lilith thought grimly. They might not kill anymore, but I wouldn't say this is better. They fuse with women so strongly that even I'm not sure how to pull them apart.
The ice began cracking, and a few moments later, the frozen slime carrier burst free from her restraints. But she still shivered from the cold and her own fear.
"W-Why…?" the slime carrier asked via its host's mouth. "I just wanted… we all just wanted to feel good…"
"Because feeling good at the expense of other people is wrong, it's as simple as that," Lilith said. She dragged her fingers through her hair in frustration. "But this is also partly my fault. I made you want to act like succubi, but left the job half-finished. So…"
Lilith closed her eyes and focused on the threads connecting her to all other monsters. She focused on the ones joined to the three slimes before her, and to the similar-feeling threads that presumably led to others of their race. Then she imagined herself running along the ground, flying through the air, and other activities done without the aid of other people. Finally, she sent her demonic energy along these threads.
Lilith opened her eyes to see the slimes shuddering and shifting in form. Heads rose up and gained eyes, ears, noses and mouths. Once-shapeless bodies elongated into torsos and then swelled out in certain places. Arms and legs sprouted, the latter being used to unsteadily lift up their owners.
The most drastic transformation was of the slime carrier. Both the slime and human portions convulsed, then the former started pulling away from the latter. Eventually, the slime fully separated and gasped with a newly formed mouth, while the human would have fallen to the ground if Lilith didn't quickly catch her.
That worked… I knew from experience that I could finish the transformation, but I wasn't sure if it would work to split these two apart.
Lilith examined the human carefully. She expected to find massive internal damage, since that was what the parasite slimes of old did to their hosts. Fortunately, this human seemed to have none of that, though her breathing was faint and her pulse weak.
What I'm really worried about is her mind, though…
Lilith reached out to the human's mind and sifted through her emotions and memories. She found some… deeply uncomfortable memories of how the parasite slime had trained its victim into acting as its host. There might have been no pain involved, but Lilith knew full well that this didn't make it any better.
But I'm not going to let someone else die in front of me again!
Continuing to sift through the girl's mind, Lilith found earlier memories: eating together with her family, being scolded by her family for playing outside the village, learning how to cook and to sew, looking at a boy around the same age but being too shy to say anything, leaving the village and then being attacked by a monster—
Interestingly, the memories of that boy from earlier were unusually strong compared to the others. Lilith guessed that the human's unrequited feelings had been recognised and amplified by the parasite slime's own feelings. If she hadn't intervened, then the slime carrier formed by these two might have attacked that man.
Still, Lilith now had something to work with. She drew on the human's earlier memories, not just the one about unrequited love. She pulled them all to the surface, reminding this human that she still had her own life to live, one that wasn't just about drowning in pleasure.
Come on… Come on! Please… wake up!
After what felt like an eternity, the human woman's eyes flickered. She stirred feebly in Lilith's arms, but that was still an improvement compared to before.
Lilith raised her eyes to the three parasite slimes, now just normal slimes. They were still cowering in fear.
"I'm going to return this human to her home," Lilith said. "You are going to leave here and never trouble this village again. You don't need to take over a human's body anymore. You can go out and look for men to be with, but, only if they agree to it."
Using illusion magic, Lilith showed the three slimes her own memories in Adam. Their new mouths gaped in awe and envy at the sight.
"That's… what it's like?" said the former slime carrier.
"That's what it's like with someone who loves you for who you really are, without being forced," Lilith said. "It might be hard—it was certainly hard for the two of us at first—but you should try to do the same. If you don't—"
Lilith raised one hand, burning with an aura of purple flames. The slimes shrank back.
"—I won't give you a second chance," Lilith said. "You'll meet the same fate as any rapist, monster or human, that I come across. I don't want to do that, either, so make sure you remember my words."
The slimes nodded frantically and fled as fast as their unfamiliar legs could take them. Lilith turned and began flying towards the village, still carrying the human woman in her arms.
This is like trying to stop a forest fire one tree at a time, Lilith thought. Or trying to plug up every leak in a ship about to sink. Even with the power of the Demon Lord, even with a link to all other monsters, I can't keep track of what every single monster is doing.
Lilith thought back to the events of yesterday. She'd come across another village, on the edge of a forest, which was covered in a strange pink fog. This fog was actually a dense cloud of fungal spores, created by hundreds upon hundreds of matangos.
The memory of it made Lilith want to vomit. Matangos were immobile monsters that used to resemble giant mushrooms. They spread to new areas by releasing spores carried on the wind, and while these spores could take root in soil, they grew even more vigorously in the flesh of humans. They converted humans into more of their kind, ready to spread the silent but deadly infection.
Being infused with succubus energy had barely changed the matango life cycle. Their spores still transformed human women into more matangos. Human men, on the other hand, would be transformed into… whatever it was that a succubus' partner became, except with mushrooms growing out of their bodies. The matangos and their mushroom-men then spent all their time copulating; they no longer wanted to move around, talk or even think. That was the scene Lilith had recently witnessed.
That was just horrific… Poseidon said the original Chief God favoured humans, but I have a hard believing that. Not when they made so many monsters to attack humans in so many different ways.
At least I was able to make the matangos into less of a… disease. I'm still not sure about leaving them afterwards… but I had no other choice. Well, I did, but there were no easy choices. I could have tried taking care of them for longer, but then I wouldn't be able to help others.
Lilith looked down at the unconscious woman in her arms.
Is there anything I can do to stop this on a global scale? To make monsters everywhere just… stop?
A number of ideas flew through Lilith's mind. She didn't like any of them, but… perhaps she'd be forced to resort to extreme measures.
-ooo-
Deonora sat on a magnificent throne of gilded steel, forged specifically for her, and brooded.
My subjects are accepting what's happened to them… what's been forced on them… but I can't do that so easily.
The red-scaled dragon looked at her hand. From the elbow down, it was covered in sturdy scales and tipped with sharp claws. It was still a limb that struck fear into the hearts of most, even if it could no longer crush a boulder to dust in an instant. But from the elbow up, it had soft and smooth skin. This skin was nearly as durable as her scales, but it still wasn't fitting for a dragon, one of the mightiest of beings.
Other dragons are changing their views… they think the advantages of their new forms outweigh the disadvantages.
Deonora slammed her fist down on the arm of her throne, leaving a deep and wide depression in the steel.
"But I will not bend so easily! I am a proud dragon, and I will never forget what it means to be a dragon!"
Her words echoed through the empty hall. There was no one to hear them: no maids cleaning up the place, no guards standing watch, no supplicants asking for her judgement. She was alone.
Deonora had been alone for much of her life. She'd fought other dragons tooth and nail to survive, fighting over the choicest scraps of meat. She'd burned any human foolhardy enough to try and capture her. Lately, she'd interacted with others more frequently and more peaceably. But now she had returned to a life of solitude.
This suits me perfectly well. If other dragons see this situation as acceptable, then I can never coexist with them. Nor do they need my help to run Dragonia.
After what might have been seconds or hours of brooding, Deonora heard the pitter-patter of footsteps. She looked up to see a maid approaching her throne nervously.
"What is it?" Deonora asked irritably. "Is it news from… the outside?"
"It's—It's nothing important, Your Majesty," the maid said, looking like she might suffer a heart attack at any moment. "It's just… there's someone, from one of the other castles, who wants to talk to you."
The maid held up an enchanted crystal with trembling hands.
"Give it to me," Deonora commanded.
The maid passed over the crystal and then left the throne room quickly.
Deonora looked into the crystal and saw the familiar face of a green-haired human woman… though now with a few changes. Black horns jutted out from amidst her hair, red scales adorned her cheeks and her canine teeth were noticeably sharper.
"From what I recall, your name was Dragolinde," Deonora said. "And I recall you being a human. How is it that you're now a dragon?"
On the other side of the crystal, Dragolinde giggled. Despite her dragonification, she still had the softness of a human. "I knew it would surprise you, Your Majesty. But this is a choice I made. It seems that thanks to the new Demon Lord's actions—"
One of Deonora's eyebrows twitched.
"—it's much easier for humans to be changed into monsters."
"That is… well, I can certainly understand why a human would want to possess our unmatched strength, but you also never struck me as that sort of human."
"I didn't, either," Dragolinde said. "The truth is, this was partly out of vanity. After becoming a dragon, I no longer have all those wrinkles and creases on my skin, or… other issues of age. It's also unexpectedly helpful for my relationship with Julius…" she blushed. "Though that's not the sort of thing to share with others."
Deonora was bewildered by the last of these words. She could understand becoming a monster for the sake of prolonged life, but the next part seemed to be one of those human social concepts that dragons had trouble grasping.
Then Deonora remembered that all monsters were part-succubus now, and she remembered what succubi were notorious for. She shuddered in revulsion.
To think that even this is happening now… Will more humans choose to become monsters just for… this!?
"Your Majesty, I've heard how this has all been distressing for you," Dragolinde said. "But, if I may be so bold, you should consider speaking to your subjects more and seeing how they're living, instead of staying in this empty room."
"You presume too much!" Deonora roared. She stood up from her throne, orange flames spurting from her mouth. "You may be a dragon now, but you were not born one, you have no idea what it means to be—"
Deonora crushed the crystal in her hand. Glittering dust slipped through her fingers and spilled to the ground. She sat back on her throne in a huff.
It's been a while since I lost control of my strength… but of course I would, after hearing such nonsense! I sit at the very apex of dragons, I do not need to—to look at the handiwork of this incompetent Demon Lord!
Deonora wanted to continue brooding on her throne for the rest of the day, and for every day after that. But as she sat there, alone in the gloomy room, a certain irritating thought poked and prodded at her mind.
Eventually, Deonora stood up from her throne and roared in frustration.
"FINE! I'LL SEE WHAT DEPRAVITIES HAVE NOW BEFALLEN DRAGONIA! JUST AS YOU ALL WANT!"
Deonora strode out of the throne and out of the imperial palace altogether.
I am not being manipulated by anyone! I make this choice of my own free will!
As soon as Deonora stepped out into the sunlight, she saw… the people of Dragonia being happy. She saw hundreds of wyverns everywhere, some of them flying through the clear sky, others chatting and walking around with the humans. She saw twenty or thirty wurms, one of them giving small children a ride on her long serpentine tail. She even saw a few true dragons mingling with the humans and lesser dragons.
Aren't there… more of them than before?
It seemed that humans taking the chance to become dragons wasn't just limited to where Dragolinde was. It was also happening here, and certainly in the rest of Dragonia as well.
Deonora slowly walked through the streets of the imperial capital. She saw, again and again, how her people were adapting to their situation. Even if they hadn't been her people for very long, she still felt… proud of them.
Yet she also couldn't help but see the fear in their eyes. They avoided her gaze, kept their heads down, some even retreated into the nearest building. For most of her life, this wouldn't have bothered Deonora in the slightest. Now, however, their looks of fear pierced her heart.
I am a dragon… but I also swore to be the queen of Dragonia. I swore to protect them against any enemy. And when the Demon Lord changed us all, I prepared to declare war on this enemy, to slay her with my own fangs and claws. But in the end, I—
No, it doesn't matter. That succubus claims she changed us all by accident. Even if it's true, it shows that she's incompetent and doesn't deserve the position.
Deonora briefly entertained thoughts of usurping Lilith as Demon Lord. She wasn't sure what would happen but, at the very least, it might solve the problems created by monsters being all-female. But she soon quashed those thoughts. The current Demon Lord and her husband had managed to defeat the Chief God—an unbelievable feat, yet every single Dragonian who'd travelled to Royal Makai swore it was the truth.
Additionally, even if I could somehow prevail, it would incur the wrath of her many supporters, including those in Dragonia. I wouldn't have cared for the opinions of others before, but now…
While lost in thought, Deonora heard a disturbance in the distance. She spread her wings and flew over to the source. What she saw made her groan in annoyance.
In the middle of a street was a purple-scaled, black-haired wurm. She was holding a human man with one clawed arm, and using her other arm and her tail to fend off various other people.
"Stay away!" the wurm roared. "He's mine! None of you can have him!"
"He's not yours, Mara!" a wyvern shouted.
"You took him by force!" another wyvern shouted.
"I made him realise who's perfect for him!" the wurm, Mara, shouted back.
Deonora had heard enough. She landed in the street, eliciting cries of surprise and fear from her citizens.
Really… how can proud dragons be like this just one week after being corrupted by a succubus. Or is it because it's so recent that not all have learned to control themselves yet?
"Tell me, is what they're saying true?" Deonora asked, her voice a low growl. "Because if I remember correctly, rape has been a crime in this land even when it was still known as Dragai. That law has not changed even now."
"I didn't rape him!" Mara shouted, though she now shrank back a little in the face of a superior predator. "I just showed him what I could do for him! Hey, Jem, tell them how you only want me now!"
The man in the wurm's left arm giggled slowly, as if intoxicated. "Yeah… I love you, Mara… hehe… more… I want more…"
"See? See?" Mara said, desperation in her voice. "He wants me!"
Deonora rolled her eyes. She'd seen plenty of dragon-human couples before and while the idea still repulsed her, she knew that they were completely different from this.
"Even a child wouldn't be persuaded by that."
In the next moment, Deonora had moved right next to Mara and was grabbing the upper part of her left arm. She squeezed it tightly enough to crack the underlying bone, so the wurm had no choice but to drop her victim.
"Mara! Mara!" Jem shouted. He stood up and began pounding Deonora's hip futilely with his fists.
"Is anyone else able to take care of him?" Deonora asked, a little awkward. "He'll simply injure himself at this rate."
"No! I won't let you steal him!"
Mara lashed out with her remaining arm and her tail, and even tried snapping at Deonora's throat with her jaws. It was an impressive display of courage, even if it was being used for impure motives and was ultimately pointless.
Using both hands, Deonora pinned Mara to the ground. The average wurm could match the average dragon in pure strength, but Deonora was hardly an average dragon. And while she held Mara in place, several bystanders quickly moved in to pull Jem away. However, he continued struggling against their grasp.
He's that obsessed with her? If this is what monsters can potentially do to humans now… the world must be in chaos.
"HE'S MINE! MINE!"
Mara struggled against Deonora's restraint with even more vigour, and a dense aura of demonic energy began radiating from her body.
Sensing danger, Deonora took flight and threw Mara into the distance. She was just in time, for the moment the wurm landed on the ground outside the capital city, there was an earth-shaking crash and an ear-splitting roar. It was the kind of sound that hadn't been heard in Dragonia this past week.
"Was that…?" "It can't be!" "Is she trying to wreck the city!?"
Deonora quickly flew out to where Mara had landed. She found that the wurm had reverted to her primal form, an immense purple serpent thicker than any tree. She'd already flattened numerous trees just from taking on this form.
"EVEN IF YOU'RE THE QUEEN, I'LL CRUSH ANYONE WHO STEALS JEM FROM ME!"
"Would he still want you in that form?" Deonora asked. "Though given how you've broken him, perhaps he would."
"I DIDN'T BREAK HIM, I JUST MADE HIM LOVE ME" Mara roared, the sound alone making a few more trees collapse. "BUT NOW, I'LL BREAK YOU!"
Mara reared up her body, attempting to drag Deonora down from the sky.
"Really… do you think that returning to that form—"
Deonora swooped down and sliced one of Mara's eyes with her claws, showering the ground with large droplets of blood. While a primal wurm's eyes were relatively small compared to their huge body, it was still easy for the queen of all dragons to strike them.
"—will let you defeat a true dragon!?"
Deonora sliced Mara's other eye. The wurm shrieked in pain and thrashed around blindly, leaving multiple craters in the ground.
"NO… I CAN'T DIE… JEM NEEDS MEEE…!"
"Do you think you are some tragic lover?" Deonora asked, practically spitting out the words. "You're nothing of the sort."
Deonora swooped down and kicked Mara's colossal head with both feet. The wurm fell to the ground and ceased thrashing—that blow had clearly rattled her brain. Then Deonora opened her mouth wide.
"You simply used him for your own pleasure! You have no place in Dragonia!"
An enormous torrent of flame surged from Deonora's mouth and covered Mara. The wurm screamed, but was unable to get out of the way of the flames. Her agony didn't last long, however. Just five seconds later, her screams faded to nothing, and Deonora stopped her fiery breath to reveal that Mara was now an enormous lump of charcoal.
Hmph… that actually feels relieving, in a sense… I've confirmed that I can fight effectively even in this state…
Deonora felt numerous gazes on her. She looked over her shoulder to see that some of the inhabitants of the imperial capital were watching: some from on top of the walls, some from in the air.
My next words will shape the direction of Dragonia. So, what will they be…?
After a few moments of thought, Deonora cleared her throat.
"People of Dragonia! Monsters here, and in the rest of the world, have taken on new forms! However, that does not mean our laws have changed! Those who break them will still be punished accordingly!"
If Deonora stopped here, she would leave her subjects still in fear. There was only one way to avoid that… as much as it grated on her to say such words.
"However… as long as you do not break our laws… you may… do as you please with each other."
"Really!?" asked one of the wyverns. "Does that mean we can even marry the humans!?"
Deonora dug her claws into her palms hard enough to draw blood.
"As long as all involved agree, then… yes."
This was followed by relieved cheering, but Deonora didn't pay any attention to that. She just shook her head at what the world was coming to.
I still haven't accepted what that damn succubus has done. I'm just… permitting it since there are no other options.
Then Deonora looked back down at the charred remains of what had once been a wurm. While there were no longer any signs of life there, it was proof that it was possible—at least under certain circumstances—for monsters to revert to their original forms.
That was something to remember.
-ooo-
In a realm of darkness, long forgotten by most, a womanly figure lay on a bed.
"Nnn… Haaa…"
The woman sat up and examined her body. Skin smoother than the finest of silks, hair blacker than a moonless night and long enough to reach the bed, a delightfully sensual figure that could have enthralled anyone, regardless of gender, age or species… it was a far cry from her previous appearance.
It seems like a dream… all of those scars and brands have vanished. But no matter how many times I wake up, this sight never changes…
A smile appeared on the woman's face. It was a cheerful, mischievous and unfathomably sinful expression.
Now, I can finally begin affecting the world once more. I can finally show this world the true meaning of existence.
There were many gods in this world, embodying all kinds of concepts: order, war, love, death, the sea and many more. Most were considered embodiments of virtue… but there was one who embodied sin itself, who encouraged the breaking of every law and rule in society. Murder, rape, theft, assault, kidnapping, arson, slavery, blackmail, bribery, embezzlement, genocide… anything and everything was permitted.
Eventually, this had resulted in an alliance among the other gods to stop the corruption of the evil goddess. They couldn't kill her—not without her power simply passing on to another—so they'd bound her in hundreds upon hundreds of seals, carved into her flesh. And for millennia, she'd been sealed away in her dark dimension, unable to break this seal with her own power… until a new Demon Lord ascended and and filled the world with a pulse of demonic energy. A small portion of that energy had even managed to reach here.
Such energy was familiar to this sealed goddess—most of her followers had been monsters, for obvious reasons—and she'd been able to take that energy into herself. This had altered her existence on a fundamental level, causing some of the seals to fail. She'd then been able to forcibly break the remaining seals.
Now I am free. Free to do whatever I wish.
But… should I do the same things as before?
The goddess of depravity looked at her beautiful new body. She'd been able to take on such a form before—there were plenty of uses for it when interacting with her followers, or cultists as some called them—but she also had other, more grotesque forms.
I have the energy of a succubus within me, now… a monster never thought capable of becoming Demon Lord. And she has done something that no Demon Lord before her ever achieved: reshaping all monsters, and even a few deities, in her own image.
Perhaps…
Perhaps lust is the greatest of all the sins. Perhaps I was underestimating it, all this time…
The goddess of corruption activated her divine sight. As her domain was sin, she was able to see any kind of sin being committed. There were plenty of those at the moment—people could never rid themselves of their darkest impulses—but what she focused on were the several hundred monsters taking human men by force. She was able to see both the monsters and their partners drowning in pure, unrestrained pleasure.
Yes… Just like that…
In hindsight, I put too much focus on the more violent types of sins. The dead lose the ability to sin any further. But if I encourage my followers to live, they can continue sinning…
Continue falling, deeper and deeper, into their own desires…