Saber stumbled home in a daze that night.
Her employer had made use of her body for what was left of the afternoon and all the evening. Saber had lost count of how many time she had been made to climax.
Through the entire ordeal she managed to hold onto her consciousness for the most part, though she blanked out more times than she was willing to admit.
The entire affair was a travesty to begin with, although a necessary one, but it didn't help that she had been thoroughly dominated the entire time.
She had underestimated the power of the raw sexual act because she had considered it animalistic and thus beneath her dignity, but the sharp fangs of a beast are every bit as dangerous as a steel blade.
In hindsight, that had been hubris. To think that just because she despised a thing that would not be able to do her harm had been at best an unforgivable oversight. It is a common failing of the human race to denigrate and put down that which they consider beneath them. That contempt can easily become arrogance, the assumption that something is lesser or weaker than oneself.
She was a complete novice in the field of loveless intercourse, while Howard was a true master.
Still, regardless of her rationalization, it didn't change the fact that Saber felt evermore a stranger within her own skin.
As much as she would have liked to state otherwise, it had felt good. From a purely physical standpoint, it had been the most intensely pleasurable thing she ever experienced. Even now, small ripples of pleasure danced through her body.
She couldn't fathom how that could be possible.
Necessary as it was, it was still morally wrong and things that were wrong weren't supposed to be pleasurable. Not that much at least.
Of course this conundrum was the fruit of Saber's naivety. From the beginning she an ideal incarnated. She did not understand that vice was hardwired within people because she never gave herself the leeway to experience it.
Therefore she had no defence and no resistance against it once she allowed (or forced) herself to taste a forbidden fruit.
There is nothing easier to stain than something completely white. The brightest ideal is the most easily tarnished.
Saber could not understand this because she had elevated herself above humans her entire life. She simply lacked a reference system, something or someone to compare her reactions to. As a King she had judged the lustful, she had cast them down and ignored their pleas... but now she couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of sympathy for them. Was this then, what they had felt? Was this soft, wet and warm bliss the drug which had ensnared so many?
Unfortunately, she was utterly alone and just as vulnerable, surrounded by people who wanted nothing more than bring her down to their level. With Rin gone there was no one reliable she could go to for advice.
She didn't know this and retired for the night after taking yet another shower. It was only because she was mentally drained that she managed to close her eyes at all. She drifted off, still feeling the oddly hollow sensation inside her core.
As far as she could remember, Saber had been a very light sleeper, a side effect of her draconic aspect.
Having had to deal with all manners of assassins she would wake at the slightest noise. Even just the mere presence of someone completely silent would rouse her from her sleep.
However, this was true only of external threats. As the Trojans had proven, no defence is perfectly proof against sufficient guile and an attack from within.
Underneath her white nightgown, right above her crotch a heart shaped mark became faintly visible, emitting a soft, pink light and a tiny amount of energy.
Energy that was being harnessed from its own bearer. A-Ranked Magic Resistance or not, no one was immune to their own power.
The first priority of the seal was preventing Saber from waking, as it could only operate while she was unconscious.
Under its power, a soothing warmth dragged her deeper and deeper into slumber. Soon, her eyes began to flicker under her lids, as she began to dream. It took an hour to ensure that she was deep enough that she would not awaken prematurely.
Once she was lulled deep enough, the seal finally began to increase its power. It shone bright enough to be seen through her nightgown, casting a pink-red glow across the room.
Under her skin, itl burrowed its tendrils of sensual pink and violet deep into Saber's body, wrapping itself around her nervous system. It was a well known fact that prana could travel along nerves. In fact transferring power along the nerves was a mistake often made by beginner mages. Normally the sensation was accompanied by burning pain... but reversing this had been simplicity itself. The prana forced its way along her nerves, heralded by signals of blazing pleasure as the seal extended its reach throughout her entire body.
It stretched towards her torso to her small breasts, converging to her nipples, which became instantly rock hard. It progressed towards her mouth running wildly over her lips, leaving them tingling as if freshly kissed before taking a dive towards her tongue which twitched like it had gained its own life.
As if that wasn't enough it crawled down her throat. It dwelt there for a long time before going further down into her stomach where it once again paused, fulfilling its dark purpose. Saber's sleep was so deep that even as she writhed in her bed, gripping the sheets in her petite hands, there was never even a hint of wakefulness in her demeanor.
Then and only then it progressed even further down, towards the natural conclusion of its journey. Saber's pretty little butthole. Her ass had been extensively twisted and tormented by the Witch of Betrayal's cursed touch during her time in captivity. Her ministrations had left it abnormally sensitive, the dark, lustful cruelty of the witch had transformed it into an erogenous zone. Saber had not realised this of course, her intercourse with Rin and Shirou had always been painfully vanilla... and as a servant, a spiritual being, she had not needed to use it for anything else.
The seal did not care. Its purpose was to make everything better (or worse) in accordance to its creator wishes, so it did exactly that disregarding the fact that the current focus of its effort was already much more sensitive than normal.
Only after spending an inordinate amount of time on that particular orifice it deemed itself satisfied and turned to Saber's spine.
It crawled with painful blissful slowness through it towards her head. Each pulse of pink light pushed it deeper and deeper into her head. Then, with one final push, it forced its way into her brain. The moment the seals tendrils penetrated the defences of her mind, Saber came. The pleasure was too intense, too intimate. It throbbed and pulsed through the very core of her thoughts and being. Her back arched and with a breathy moan, her pussy convulsed and drenched the bedsheets in her cum, even as her toes and fingers curled into the mattress.
With access gained, the seal began its final work. It was more subtle here but its behaviour was substantially not different: suppressing certain signals and and enhancing others. With its work completed, the seal went dormant, its glow vanishing, leaving the room finally cloaked in darkness.
Saber's svelte form finally went still on the bed, her ragged breathing slowly returned to normal. Her nipples however, did not unharden. Without the seals active manipulation, her subconscious took over. Her arousal left only one route for her dreams to take. As the night progressed, a careful listener would have heard Saber moan periodically as she dreamed of making love to her boyfriend and girlfriend, while in the corner a shadow watched and waited.
Come morning Saber would find that her body would have become even more her enemy than she ever thought possible.
When Saber opened her eyes again the next morning, the sun was already quite high.
She felt rested in a way she had never felt before. A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was well past ten. It was barely midnight when she retired for the night.
She had slept for almost eleven hours. Her next shift would not start until the afternoon, so she wasn't in any particular hurry to do anything.
That didn't mean she wasn't greatly shocked.
She pulled herself up and got off the bed, immediately marveling at how light she felt. Although she could operate at peak efficiency with only a few hours of rest, that didn't mean she would feel tired. Over the course of many years she had gotten so used to being in this state that it no longer registered in her mind, but now that she had gotten one night of complete rest her body felt as light as a feather.
"How can this be?" she wondered aloud. She always struggled to get decent sleep, but tonight she slept like a log. What had changed?
Try as she might, there was only one thing that she could think of that might have affected her. The previous day affair with Howard.
A dreadful thought wormed its way inside her head.
"Could it be that I, no, that my body needed that?"
Saber had already accepted that her body had enjoyed the experience she had put it through. However thinking that it was not a mere response to a stimuli but an actual need of her being appalled her.
'Could it be that I have been missing this my whole life?'
It was not something she could just accept. She could not just acknowledge that something that she deemed wrong could be necessary to her.
There had to be something else at work that she didn't understand. Some other key factor that she was missing.
She shook her head. Regardless of it all, at least she got herself the Mana she had been looking for.
Granted, her reserves were still dangerously low. She could not fight for long in these conditions and using her Noble Phantasm was out of the question.
She still had to harness more, with all that it implied.
She forced herself to disregard the heat that pooled at the bottom of her stomach at the thought.
She picked up the phone that Gerard had given her and dialed his number.
It rang several times before he deigned himself to pickup.
"Saber? What is it?" he asked.
"What progress have you made?" she asked.
"What progress could I possibly have made in two days? I moved some of my agents and told them to gather information, but if whomever took Rin was so sloppy that I could pick up on their trail in a couple of days they wouldn't have gotten to her in the first place."
"... fair enough," Saber conceded.
"Relax, Saber. Whatever their purpose is harming her is not it."
"You can't be sure of that," she protested.
"I can be fairly sure of it, actually. Keeping a Magus captive is a dangerous proposition on its own. One with a Heroic Spirit as their familiar all the more so. No one would take their chances unless they absolutely needed Rin to stay alive. I can't vouch for what she's going through but, again, I believe that harming her would not benefit whatever scheme they've got going. Even as mere research material her physical integrity is invaluable."
"Do you speak of it from experience?"
"Yes," he admitted shamelessly, "and let me assure you that working with a voluntary test subject bears far more fruits than coercing someone. I'd be willing to spend months trying to convince someone to cooperate with me, because forcing them would slow down my research by years. This is common knowledge in the Magi don't brute force our way to results, strangely enough."
"I see... That doesn't mean we can take it easy."
"It never even crossed my mind," he replied. "However I know that things take time to come to fruition. Fretting needlessly will only work against us."
"That... is correct," Saber conceded. She didn't like it but she knew it to be the case.
"I'm glad we are in agreement. Now I really should go. There's a number of things that require my attention."
"Of course. I shall call you at a later time."
The line went dead and Saber exhaled slowly. She hadn't expected things to be much different, but that didn't mean she wasn't disappointed all the same. Yet at the same time she felt reassured. She did not trust Gerard but his argument made an inordinate amount of sense.
She tossed the phone on the bed and went to get ready for the day. The fact that she was in no hurry didn't mean that she had time to waste.
Meanwhile in his Workshop, Gerard sat on a wooden armchair with glass of scotch in his hand.
He put down the phone and took a sip, while he glanced at the sleeping form on the bed on the other side of the room.
Naked from head to toe, she laid on her stomach with her face buried into the pillow with her black hair sprawled around her.
It was a sight for sore eyes.
Just a few months ago such a situation would have seemed impossible. Tohsaka Rin, the exemplary Magus wouldn't have had sex with Gerard DuFall for all the money in the world.
Now look at her. Naked on his bed, sleeping soundly; thoroughly satisfied by the previous night romp.
If this wasn't how victory looked like then he didn't know what did.
Even though it was still a work in progress, he even knew how absolute triumph would look to him: laying the King of Knights herself next to her Master, side by side. Equally naked and equally satisfied.
A man needed dreams, goals, to have a meaningful life. Long term ones, certainly, but short terms ones as well.
"Rin," he called out softly, leaning forward on the chair. "Rin."
She stirred briefly and then her eyes opened, distant and unfocused. Slowly her consciousness emerged truly from her sleep and her eyes regained clarity.
"Hmm... morning," she muttered, burying her head back into the pillow. She was still not a morning person.
"Slept well?" he asked.
She nodded. "I could use a little more."
"Now, now," he scolded. "Taking it easy every now and then is fine, but there are things that need to be done."
"Hmrr... like what?" she asked, sounding all too unconvinced.
"Well, for one thing-" he leaned back on the chair, unzipped his pants and let out his semi-erected cock, "- this isn't going to suck itself."
Even across the room, Gerard didn't miss the way she licked her lips.
She pulled herself up and threw her legs off the bed, her dainty feet brushing against the stone floor. She made to push herself up, but thought better at the last moment.
Rather than standing she lowered herself to her knees, then with painfully calculated slowness she crawled on all fours towards him.
By the time she got there, Gerard's cock was completely erect. She nuzzled it with her face, taking a long whiff of its musky smell before giving him a dazzling smile.
"Way better than coffee," she said reverentially, which made him chuckle. Then, her mouth was too busy guzzling her new morning pick-me-up to add anything else.
Being the gentlemanly sort, Gerard pulled her hair up for her to facilitate her work and so that he could admire her better.
Indeed, it's the small (and not so small) things in life that make it worth getting up in the morning.
Saber arrived at work that afternoon and immediately headed to the changing room.
She came in much earlier than her colleagues, as usual, and she quickly got changed. Even though it was a clean uniform, putting it on immediately gave her flashbacks of the previous day.
As she slipped on the shoes, she could recall in vivid detail how they had clacked and echoed in the hall as she had approached his study. She could still feel in her hand the weight of the pen that she used to sign away her body. She could still feel the warmth of his body close to her. She could still feel the pressure of his shaft against her womanhood.
She could still feel the heat of his seed burning her unprotected womb.
The same heat that was once more spreading through her right that moment.
She pulled herself away from those thoughts. They were, much to her dismay, incredibly alluring. She had a hard time believing how easy it was to lose herself to them.
'Why am I like this?'
If she didn't know better, she could have thought she was under the effect of a spell, but that was simply impossible. She had refused to seek the help of a Magus to prevent this scenario.
Besides, she had been having these kind of thoughts for several weeks now, long before any act of malevolence that could steer her suspicion elsewhere took place.
Saber was not one to shift blame or deny her own shortcomings. If the problem didn't not originate from an external force - and she had no reason to think it was - then it had to come from the inside her. Saber had no one to blame but herself.
Certainly, the situation had exacerbated the problem, forcing her hand. However she was no relativist. Right and wrong, good and evil do not change in time of hardship.
Necessity does not bend morality.
She knew that at times compromises needed to be made, that something had to be sacrificed to save something else, but having to pick between a bad choice and a worse one does not make anything right.
So, where did that leave her? What did this make of her as a king, as a knight and as a woman? Where was she supposed to turn to for answers? Who in the world had experience about such matters but no interest in swaying her opinion?
Sadly, only one person came to mind.
Veronica Vincenzi was a woman of Italian origins with long auburn hair and eyes of a deep hazel color. Despite being almost thirty five and having given birth to two daughters one wouldn't think her any older than twenty five.
Part of it was due to good genetics and a healthy lifestyle, but mostly it was due to being unknowingly part of Gerard's Mana Network.
Women within this network would assimilate their partner's Mana, giving the greater portion to Gerard to use as he saw fit (mostly powering ongoing Mysteries), while the rest was consumed to optimize their bodies.
It did so partly by slowing down the aging process and partly by enhancing certain aspects of their physiognomy and mentality, making them more desirable, which in turn made them even more promiscuous.
With very few exceptions, no one who bore the mark was aware of it as it was almost always the case when it came to Magecraft.
Veronica was unaware of the seal, but that did not stop her from enjoying its effects.
When she acquired it through her employer, she quickly embraced a life of debauchery. Of course, she rationalized her change like people are wont to do when confronted with something outside of their own experience. This innate human behavior served to keep Magecraft a secret more than the entire apparatus set up by the various organizations of the Moonlit World.
Nowadays for Veronica, enjoyment of carnal pleasure was her number one priority in life. If asked, however, ter second one would be spending time with her family, however that was a misconception.
The thing that Veronica enjoyed the most other than riding cock after cock into oblivion was inducing other women to her lifestyle. She wasn't quite aware of it because chances to do so were few and far between, even at her workplace where such behavior was encouraged.
There wasn't much change in personnel at Howard's mansion. The job paid too well and there were too many benefits to consider quitting.
In two years, the only new hire was Saber and her unapproachable aura and strict demeanor discouraged even a raging slut like Veronica from broaching the subject with her.
She felt it was quite a shame. Saber was way too beautiful not to embrace 'The Truth' as Veronica had come to call it.
Therefore, she was more than excited when Saber came looking for her to inquire about her lifestyle of her own volition.
"Veronica, do you have a moment to spare?" Saber asked during her break.
"Of course Miss Saber, what can I do for you?"
"Before I begin, I must ask for your complete confidence. It's... an extremely personal matter."
Veronica's eyes widened. She was all too familiar with that hesitancy. In the past ten years of employment she saw it on the face of every new female employee, just as she saw it on her own face the day she first cheated on her dear husband.
Veronica held back the smile that threatened to split her face in two. However, she couldn't prevent herself from licking her lips in anticipation.
"But of course. You have promised to keep my secrets so the least I can do is return the courtesy."
Saber nodded stiffly and looked around for any eavesdroppers. Finding none, she took a seat next to Veronica.
"Yesterday you told me that your extramarital affairs have no bearing on your family."
"I did," she nodded. "My duty to my family and that as a woman are two separate matters."
"Duty?"
"Of course. As a wife and as a mother I must care for my husband and my children, don't you think?"
"Yes, that is a matter of course. I was asking about the other duty you mentioned."
"Oh, ahah! I'm sorry. Silly me. Hmm... how should I put it? I'm not very good at explaining these things."
"Take your time," Saber encouraged.
"Well, for starters, I think that there's a huge misconception these days about men and women being equal," Veronica explained.
"Do you think they are not?"
"Of course not, that's just silly. Men and women are nothing alike. They have different bodies, different biologies, different needs and different wishes. Different duties as well. Can you imagine a man bearing a child?"
Saber let out a snort. "Obviously that's impossible."
"Exactly! Bearing children is a woman's duty. When something like a war breaks out, who gets mobilized to fight first? Men do. There's very few women in the army because by far and large we aren't suited for that role."
Saber nodded. She clearly didn't quite agree, but she nodded nonetheless. "Go on."
"What I'm trying to say is that we have very different dynamics. We want for different things. Men, for instance, have an insatiable drive for women. They go to impossible lengths for the mere promise of getting some. It's such a primary impulse for them that they'd go at war for a woman. Just think of Helen of Troy. Granted, it's just a myth, but no one who reads the Iliad finds strange the concept of two civilizations going to war over a single woman. History and mythology are riddled with things like that."
"Your point being?" Saber asked.
Veronica leaned forward.
"Men spend way too much time and resources chasing skirts," she whispered conspiratorially.
Saber blinked and snorted. "I suppose I cannot argue with that."
"Yeah, but you can't really blame them either, can you? They are hardwired to be like that. It's a need as much as it is a want. Actually, from a purely biological standpoint, it's a man's duty to tirelessly seek as many mates as possible."
"That is a... interesting way too look at things. Regardless, how does this related to your…"
"Unfaithfulness. Don't worry, you can call it what it is. I won't be offended by The Truth."
"Then you know that is wrong of you to cheat on your spouse."
"It's a sorry state of affair, but one that cannot be helped. It's a matter of priorities."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Saber confessed.
"How should I put it? For instance, should the need arise, between my husband and my children who do you think I should prioritize? I have a duty towards both so which one is the greater one? If I should sacrifice one, which one would it be?"
"I would like to say none, but I understand that it is not possible to succeed at everything simultaneously. I believe that in such case you should prioritize your children, because they cannot take care of themselves on their own."
"That's right. In the end, one duty is greater than the other. More noble. More important."
"I still don't understand how this relate to your extramarital affairs."
"Well, this is the difficult part. See, the way I look at it as a woman I have a duty towards men, towards humanity as a whole. When a man approaches me filled with desire, it's my duty as to give him relief."
"That is... simply preposterous."
"I can't convince you of this with words, Miss Saber. I know from experience that I'm correct."
"And what experience is that?"
"Well, pleasure of course."
"... excuse me?"
"Pleasure. I know that I'm doing the right thing because it feels good."
"Pleasure is hardly an indicator of right and wrong," Saber protested.
"And why is that? Do you not trust your own body? When you do something that harms you, does your body not let you know through pain? Or do you think that pain is something that needs to be pursued?"
"No, of course not."
"Thank goodness. Pain is the indicator that something is wrong. The greater the pain, the greater the harm. Conversely, the greater the pleasure the better I'm behaving. And it's not just my pleasure either. There's the pleasure of the men I lay with to keep in mind. Why would an act that give all parties involved a great deal of pleasure be wrong?"
"Because you are already married," Saber pointed out as a matter of fact.
"So what? When you see something that need to be set straight, that you can set straight, do you stand aside and hope that someone else will take care of it?"
"It's not the same thing."
"It's exactly the same thing. Your opinion is colored by your belief that sex is something that should be done sparingly and with a selected few."
"Because that's how it should be," Saber insisted.
"That's just the limit of your own experience. As far as I'm concerned that's not the case. I know I'm right, Miss Saber. The more men I have sex with the more at peace I am with myself. My body knows what's right for me. I'm in a better mood than ever and in turn I can take better care of my family. I'll have you know they want for nothing."
"Don't you feel guilty at all?"
Veronica snorted. "You must be joking. I even sleep better at night since I've started giving my body away."
Something she said seemed to get Saber, because she balked slightly.
"Ah, I see," Veronica smiled. "You have already experienced it, haven't you?"
Saber's face turned a crimson red.
"I… I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.
"Oh, you don't need to lie to me. I can see it on your face. Sir Ogdenson got to you, didn't he? If you have only made love before and never actually fucked it's no wonder that you feel confused. Having your eyes suddenly opened can be quite scary. It was the same for me at the beginning."
"You are mistaken," Saber insisted, but her agitation was telling.
Veronica smiled. "For someone who is adamant about not lying you sure do it a lot, Miss Saber."
"I said that you are mistaken!" Saber insisted, jumping to her feet.
"Is that so? Then why did you come asking me all these questions if you weren't looking for answers for yourself? Look at me in the eyes and tell me that you did not have Sir Ogdenson's fat cock rammed up all the way to your womb and that you didn't enjoy every minute of it!"
"I… I…"
It was evident that Saber wanted to deny it, but her words died in her mouth. She stared into Veronica's unflinching eyes - the eyes of a woman who knows that she's correct - until she could no longer bear it and looked away.
"You don't need to feel bad about it. Your nature as a woman is finally expressing itself. Pleasure is the path to pursue. Satisfaction is the rewards for duty. You have done well, Miss Saber. The sooner you accept this, the sooner everyone around you will be happy."
Saber's face turned pale and morphed into a horrified look.
"No… just…" she shook her head. When she looked up again, her face was a stony mask. "Sorry for taking so much of your time, Veronica. We should go back to work now."
"Of course," Veronica replied, smiling knowingly. "I am always ready to do my duty."
Saber's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. She turned around and stalked away without another word.
Veronica bit her lip. Truly, Saber was a diamond in the rough. It would be a delight to watch her crash and burn against reality.
She could hardly wait for the day she would introduce the regal-looking woman to all of her friends. That was the perfect recipe for a party if she ever heard one.
Her hand slipped into her skirt, gently teasing her pussy through her panties.
She could hardly wait.
XXX
AN: Sorry about the late update. I haven't been well these past few days and I only just recovered. Anyhow, here's another piece of Saber's corruption. Lots of people expect her to fall slower than Rin, but it's the opposite, after all her own Master is conspiring against her. Of course, the nature of Saber's corruption is going to be different from Rin's. It would be boring if they turned out the same, am I right?
Anyway, make sure to leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter and consider visiting my profile at "pa treon [dotCOM] / ichaichasennin" if you are interested in supporting me.
PS: I'll probably start a forum soon to discuss my stories, so stay tuned yeah?