Warning: Explicit content
The mayor's mansion is the most well-guarded place in the inner district of a fortress city, but that is not a problem for a master assassin. Tira observed the movement of the servants and guards from a distance for an entire day. The guards are professionally trained, but still not as good as Imperial knights. There are more servants than necessary for a man who is not always home. Come nighttime, Tira used the shadows to quickly sneak inside. There are not enough torches and magical lights to cover the entire estate.
The temple's priests paid Ijaniya 500 gold coins upfront to kill Ariel Sanguine, the so-called Oracle, and 500 gold after the job is done. An extra 500 gold if the job was done well, and an intimidating message left behind to convince the public to not mess with the temple.
They requested Ijaniya to send their best as a condition, and the best is Tira. A hard-working and talented assassin who stayed with the organization when her sisters left to become friends with their target. She worked extra hard trying to wipe away the shame brought by those traitors, until she became its leader.
Her target's living quarters did not take too long to locate. It was a place with the most foot traffic from the servants. It also looked the most different from the other parts of the mansion. Tira prepared many methods to assassinate the target. She could simply put poison into all the food and drinks meant to be served to Ariel, but she wanted to get into contact with her just to be sure. If she left a message by using her corpse, that should net her the bonus for sure.
Tira hid inside the sitting room next to Ariel's bedroom. She used her shadow technique to hide her presence. It was a specialty of hers to remain hidden in the shadows for a long time, not to emerge somewhere else, but just to wait for the perfect opportunity. She could still move around slowly if the shadows are connected.
When Tira heard a maid bid goodnight to lady Ariel, she concentrated to stay absolutely still. The door opened after a while, entered a small girl wearing simple but well-made skirt and shirt. She got a book from a bookshelf and sat down, turning down all the lights except for the one close to her. Tira waited a bit longer. She wanted her target to get into the reading a little bit. She kept one ear to the wall, listening to any signs that a servant might come.
She felt it was time. Tire creeped slowly in the ceiling towards Ariel. She mentally readied herself to pull out her twin daggers coated with extremely potent poisons, which only herself and a handful of others within Ijaniya knew the antidote of. She emerged from the shadows silently behind Ariel and unsheathed her daggers slowly. Her legs were still in the shadows, to not risk making any sound by putting her weight on the floor. She made sure her body did not cast any shadow in Ariel's sight, and no reflective surface would expose her.
The daggers are poised to strike, each about a foot from the target's neck. They would be thrusted downward at 45-degree angles, overlapping each other to precisely sever the target's windpipe and main artery at the same time. Normally a dagger meant to deal the most damage can have a star shaped blade. But because Tira decided to coat them with poison, having the victim bleed out faster is counterproductive.
Tira risked a slow intake of breath, held it, then thrust her weapons home in the blink of an eye, almost as if they were reflexive movements. Her target did not have the chance to make a sound because of the severed windpipe. Within the same second, Tira pushed the daggers together and cut the spinal cord like they were the blades of scissors, to prevent any movement the brain might have ordered the body to make.
Everything is over. The room is deathly silent. Time returned to normal for Tira. This might have been the most perfect assassination mission she has carried out. Now she can diligently paint a message with her victim's blood. Maybe mutilate the corpse in an artful way to leave a strong impression. As she thought of this, she noticed something strange. There was not a drop of blood coming from the wounds.
"That was an impressive job."
Tira jerked her head up to find the source of the voice. Her target! But… she looked down and saw her daggers embedded inside a damaged chair cushion. 'A trap!' She thought. Tira considered escaping, but the mission was a very important one, to both her reputation and her organization's income. And the target is right there! 'Screw it,' she thought. She decided to risk it and make another attempt, this time not worry about stealth anymore.
She emerged completely from the shadows, took a stance quickly, then threw her daggers at Ariel and launched herself at her at the same time. Ariel moved her body a little, the daggers glanced past her and stuck in the walls. That was fine, they were distractions. Tira had a small vial of alchemical concoction in her hand, smashed it before Ariel's feet, and created a cloud of purple vapor. It was designed to paralyze the target and blind them. It was especially irritant to cause the target to cough, inhaling more of it.
Tira threw a few small flash bombs and jumped out of the way, putting herself between Ariel and the door. If her target could still move after being blinded and deafened, she would have to go through her to escape. She covered her ears and opened her jaws wide, closing one of her eyes to save it from the flash, while keeping the other one on the thick cloud of purple. The entire mansion should have heard the explosions, she thought. She must finish this quickly.
Her left eye hurt and seeing stars. She pulled out two serrated daggers, jumped in as soon as the purple smoke cleared enough for her to see Ariel's silhouette. She thrust her daggers, one high, one low, targeting the head and heart. Ariel lowered herself and caught Tira's arms. One in her hand, the other wrapped in her opposite arm. Tira was surprised for a moment.
'How is this happening?! What am I dealing with?'
Ariel crushed Tira's right wrist and broke her left arm at the elbow. Tira silently screamed as her right wrist was crushed, but couldn't hold back an agonized grunt when her left elbow was broken. She fell to one knee, supporting herself with her right arm.
'I really screwed up. Can I still escape?'
"No, you cannot." Ariel stood there casually. Not a drop of the purple poison was on her. Around her feet, a small circle of clean floor surrounded by vile purple stains could be barely seen from the one light source in the room.
"What?! How… What are you? What did you do?"
"A simple trick, on your mental perceptions. No matter how you train, or what skills you acquire, your human self will always be your weakest link. You may think you were one with the shadows, but you cannot deceive someone like me."
Tira gritted her teeth and slowly got up. As long as she can breathe, she would not give up fighting. She could not hear the sounds of shouting and panic outside. Maybe they are still far away.
"I'm still not finished. There will be others if I fall here. You will never be safe."
"Hmm, that would be a problem. I don't want pests to annoy me, even though they could provide some entertainment in the short term. [Hold Species], [Levitate]."
Tira's free will was taken away from her. She could not even bite her tongue. She was suspended in the air slightly off the ground spreadeagled. Her wounds hurt a lot more from the new position. She moaned painfully. It seems her sensation did not diminish the slightest with the loss of volunteer motor function.
"Now I will ask some questions. Compliance will get you mercy. Defiance will bring you pain. To demonstrate, [Heal]."
Tira's broken parts grew back to full health. Her body felt a lot better. She didn't know she was that tense from the mission. Ariel also relaxed her hold so she could talk. It still felt awkward to stay in such a vulnerable pose and not being able to move. "I will never say a word. Do your worst. We all have gone through intense trainings. My comrades will finish the job before you break me."
Ariel saw vague images from Tira's mind. Dozens of young men and women, dressed in simple training gear, ganging up on willing individuals and beating them all over, while their victims tried to stay still. The victims then had to go through obstacle course while still wounded. It didn't matter if they had broken joints or internal bleedings. They had to finish the course in time, or they will repeat the training after being healed. After they pass that, it would be simulated torture session that required a lot of healing potions afterward.
'The normal methods might not work. These are not normal people. This does not mean I can't get information from her. I have methods they have not prepared for.'
"[Minor Lightning Resistance], [Minor Cold Resistance]." Ariel applied buffs on Tira.
"What are you doing?"
"Something new you are about to experience." Ariel used her weakest lightning spell on Tira.
"AHHHH!" Tira felt burning pinpricks throughout her entire body. She could not prepare for it. Top assassins like her in Ijaniya were trained to distance their minds away from whatever body part is being tortured, as if it were not of their own. The electric current woke up every nerve fiber in her body. She could not control them. As soon as the lightning spell ended, her body was fine again. Nothing was different except an increased heart rate.
"That was only a taste of what's to come. Don't worry, we have the entire night to ourselves. No one will bother us. You can scream all you want."
"Shu…shut up! I can handle this. Don't underestimate my resolve!"
Ijaniya did not include lightning spells in their simulated tortures. It was impossible to find a mage who can cast the spell on someone repeatedly without killing them. Most people wouldn't waste mana to torture someone with magic anyway.
Ariel continued to shock Tira, altering in duration and interval. Sometimes Tira felt her body would melt from the prolonged shocks. Sometimes she gets surprised by short bursts. She tried to figure out the patterns, but they were never the same. When she thought she would get jolted after a prolonged shock, she got another long shock and felt suffocating because she didn't take a deep breath. When she prepared for a prolonged shock but got a few quick jolts, she let out several short girlie screams pathetically.
"You can start with your name. I will let you rest for a while after that. I have no intention of retaliating against your organization." Ariel already guessed her captive to be related to the twin assassins from Blue Rose because they look very similar. She wondered if everyone in Ijaniya dressed alike before peeking into Tira's past.
Tira's clothes were soaked with sweat in several places. It was an outfit similar to the ones worn by Tina and Tia, except it has the color green in place of blue or red. she was also wearing green ribbons on her blond hair.
'Who thought this would be a good outfit to sneak around in?' Ariel thought. 'It has orange pants and loincloth. Orange!'
The outfit had bare shoulders. The abdomen and lower legs were covered by fishnet. A simple black halter top that looks to be made of soft armor. Individual sleeves made of flexible hexagonal plates. And finally, armor plating on the forearms and the top of the shoes, of all places. You would think a fighter would place the armor over her most vital parts if she decided to wear any.
'This outfit looks more useful for fan-service. I have seen some outfits like it in Yggdrasil when I was building my character. Don't tell me, they were copying the style of a Player?'
"Tira."
"What?"
"My name is Tira. You may have heard of Tia and Tina from Blue Rose. They were my sisters."
'Bingo!'
"What do you mean they 'were' your sisters?"
"They are dead to me. The filthy traitors."
"Do you have anymore siblings or other relatives?"
"No. They were the only biological family I knew of."
"So who raised you?"
"I…"
"Is it Ijaniya?"
Tira stayed silent.
'Their parents could have been killed by Ijaniya, or they could have used the girls as payment when they were babies. Who cares? I need to move on to the important topics soon.'
"You have earned your rest. Want to drink something?"
"Go to hell!"
Ariel walked up to Tira and stroked her clammy face. Her ember eyes looked away.
"Do you know you are kind of pretty?" Ariel felt annoyance from Tira, but also relief from not being tortured. The nerves in Tira's body are fully alert and on the verge of fraying. Ariel stepped back and cast [Frost Wind] on Tira.
"Ghhh! *Huff*Huff*"
All the sweat on Tira's body became ice. Her clothes turned solid from the cold.
"Break time's over."
Ariel used [Frost Wind] on Tira until her heart almost stopped, then hit her with [Lightning] again. Ice soon melted and became steam from the current. Ariel switched between the two, making Tira hot and cold. She restored Tira's lost voice with minor healing from time to time. Despite all the torture, the resistance buffs kept Tira's HP damage to the single digits, which were also healed. She finally gave up the name of the priest who contacted Ijaniya and her position in the organization, but still refused to call off the mission, saying they had a reputation to keep.
"That's alright. I think Ijaniya will have a new reputation soon." Ariel morphed her form. It became a blob of bubbly mess, growing taller, until another Tira stood in front of the original.
"What! You…No! You can't! You MONSTER!" Tira tried to use all her willpower to break free. This is a disaster!
"You don't have to answer questions anymore. I want to get to know you better. You are a really interesting person. I was feeling kind of bored lately." The Doppel-Tira walked closer and began to remove Tira's clothing.
"What are you doing?!"
"Shuuu."
Sensations were returning to Tira's body after the last "cold" session. Ariel conjured some fire balls to float around Tira, warming her up. Tira's body is super sensitive right now. She was somewhat glad that she didn't receive another "shock" session. It hurt 1000 times worse than having a numb body part waking up after it fell asleep.
Ariel stripped Tira of everything from her neck to her upper legs, along with all her magical items and potions. She pinched a hard nipple, bringing a sharp yelp from Tira. She molested Tira all over her exposed skin, moving her hand to stroke her crotch at last.
"Eeek! Ah! Ugh, ugh, ugh."
Ariel's hold on Tira was relaxed some more to free her torso. Only her limbs are secured in the air. Tira could not stop herself from gyrating back and forth. Ariel used her Trickster racial ability to increase Tira's perceived sensation. Combined with Tira's already hypersensitive body, it overwhelmed all Tira's mental defenses. She felt nothing like this all her life. She was trained to handle pain, not pleasure. Who thought a torturer would make their victim feel good? Not even the Eight Fingers brothels were this "generous."
The assassin moved her body like a bitch in heat. Ariel's hand is drenched. She looked down from Tira's scrunched up face. She could see Tira's pussy juice flowing down the inside of her legs. Ariel knew she was close.
Tira was trying hard to not degrade herself any further in front of her captor. She considered biting her own tongue, but Ariel would probably heal her right away and punish her with more of the hot/cold cycles. She couldn't hold it in anymore. Her breasts swung lewdly in the air. Her nipples swelled from the increased blood flow. Her butt cheeks clinched and un-clinched from humping the air. Ariel suddenly inserted two fingers and hooked them back, at the same time mashing down on Tira's clit with her thumb. That broke the dam. Tira felt intense pleasure to the point of being painful shoot out from her crotch to her toes, then back up to her head in an instant.
While Tira was being stiff as a board, shaking uncontrollably through her orgasm, Ariel took out a bull whip from her inventory and hit Tira across the chest. It was enchanted with [Quick Healing]. Whatever damage it would cause is healed instantly. Only the pain remains. Tira spit out her tongue and rolled up her eyes. Her mind was overloaded for an instant. Girl juice squirted from between her legs and bounced off Ariel's physical attack nullification shield.
'Is that an ahegao face? Let's see how many of those I can get from her.'
"This is punishment for making an attempt on my life. Regret it. You were ready to kill someone who helped innocent people, in cold blood, all for money."
Ariel continued to whip Tira. On her front, her back, the back of her legs, her armpits. Wherever she thinks could be a sensitive spot. Tira lost control of her bladder and peed on the floor. The healing effect of the whip is also replenishing her overall life force, preventing her from passing out. She tried to talk, but they all became screams and grunts.
"Ple…please stop! I will call off the mission. We will leave you alone forever! We will never harm you or anyone close to you, ever!" There was a lull in the torture. Tira finally gathered enough strength to speak after her wind was kept being knocked out of her.
Ariel let go of the whip and shoved her hands into Tira's belly, squeezing her kidneys and twisted them. Tira foamed at the mouth. Ariel picked up the whip and swung it upwards, hitting Tira right between the legs. Foam and fluid flew from her mouth. She came again, much stronger this time. Howling-like grunts came from her bouncing head like she was possessed. Her body humped so hard it looked like it was about to snap.
"It's a little late for that. I already have a plan. Your job for now is to entertain me and sate my curiosity, before I dispose of you." Ariel jammed something squiggly and slimly into Tira's cunt. It was a Restoration Worm, similar species to the Lip Bug. It is useful for healing large creatures from the inside out over time. Ariel walked behind the squirming Tira.
"Now let's see what can I do with this other hole of yours."
Throughout the entire night, Ariel played out many of her fantasies on Tira. After trying some other forms of torture, she morphed into different types of men and took liberty with Tira's nubile body. She bent Tira over with her arms hanging in the air and legs crossed together, then took her from behind with two unnaturally shaped penises. Tira clenched her holes as Ariel poked her around with fingers wrapped in electricity. She has successfully turn Tira into a pain slut.
"I can drop you like this in the slums. The thugs from Eight Fingers would love to have you as their plaything. It might even ignite a war between Eight Fingers and Ijaniya. Such a wonderful thing, to have two rotten organizations taking each other out. Imagine your comrades getting killed or captured by the biggest underground syndicate."
Tira begged for death, begged to serve. She told Ariel all the secrets of Ijaniya, their hideouts, their code words, the info on the other operatives within the Kingdom. Ariel was no fool. Service gained by coercion is not wise. Even if everything goes well, they will still hold a grudge. They may betray you at the least expected moment.
"Like I would trust some sneak-thief to serve me. You only care about money, and murder. Did you not take enough after you broke into my suite?"
"I…. Ugh! I didn't… That wasn't us! We never broke into any suite of yours! This is the first… time…the first time I carried out a mission against you!"
"What did you say?" Ariel stopped her movements and pulled Tira's head back sharply by her hair. "You did not sneak into my suite in the Shiny Golden Pavilion and look into my strongbox?"
"No! The temple priest directed us to the mayor's mansion. They have some worshippers among the city guards. We had no reason to infiltrate an empty place."
'Then who was the one?' Ariel stepped away from Tira and morphed back into her original form. "We are done here."
The next day, Ariel paid a visit to the priest who put a hit on her in Tira's form. She claimed the job was done and received the rest of the payment. The priest asked for proof when she demanded the bonus for leaving behind an intimidating message. She proceeded to beat the priest into giving her the money instead. Ariel left the temple, leaving behind a badly beat-up priest.
Later that day, a partially naked Tira ran through the crowded streets of E-Rantel, attacking anyone who got in her way. When she saw anyone resembling Ariel, she screamed like a maniac and ran away. Guards chased her around until evening. The adventurers stayed out of it, afraid of getting entangled in some sticky business. Tira's appearance reminded them of certain powerful individuals not to mess with.
When the guards finally managed to land some hits on Tira, she dropped her weapons and convulsed lewdly on the ground. They tied her up and covered her with a piece of cloth. She blurted out gibberish in her cell. The only things people were able to make out were "The Oracle is a monster" and "Ijaniya will leave you alone." The guards wanted to punish her for killing several of their men and some civilians. When they realized what was happening with her body, they took more time enjoying "questioning" her.
Alone in her bedroom, Ariel twirled a shiny crown around her finger.
'This thing allows the weaklings to use seventh tier magic, but at a high cost.'
The Crown of Wisdom is similar to a cursed item. There were some things like that in Yggdrasil. People equipped an item to give them a special buff, at the cost of some negative status effects. Efficient usage of such items can help Players beat tricky dungeon bosses and such.
The negative status effects went away after a certain time passed or were removed by restoration magic. Ariel had tested the Crown of Wisdom's effect on live subjects. All she had to do was grab some corpse, resurrect them in a secluded area, then put the Crown on them. She found out that she could remove the curse. She still didn't regret killing Nfirea before removing the crown from his head. It was better to be safe than sorry.
'I used [Control Amnesia] on her to remove most of her memories of that night before turning her into an idiot. I need to be more careful from now on. It was a coincidence that I found out about another party targeting me.'
Ariel decided it was time to get more serious. She must get back to work gaining more pawns and learning more information. She already learned a great deal about other countries by reading the books inside the mansion.
'Ijaniya should be off my back for a while. No one would want to hire a double-crossing organization led by a pervert. Do they still want their leader back? They can rescue her or kill her. I can track them down and keep tabs on them either way.'
Tomorrow, Ariel decided, she will start working on other projects. While the world keeps moving on, she is not the only one who can scheme in the dark.