Subjugating Lorella
The whirling wind made Lorella's fine black hair flutter.
"Hehe..."
Lorella's mana sucked in the forbidden book's power like an electromagnet.
[That's why you lost all your power!]
A forbidden spell that stole the opponent's mana and made it her own. It was an atrocity only Lorella could commit.
[You think I'll let you do whatever you want?!]
"What? Why isn't the absorption... working...?"
Mahel, well-versed in spells, immediately deployed a defensive barrier to block the mana drain. At the same time, it turned Lorella's own magic against her in a counterattack.
"Ack?!"
A fast, fierce gust of wind targeted Lorella's feet. It wasn't meant to kill—just enough controlled force to avoid injury.
"Ah, dangerous..."
Lorella lost her balance, staggering as she toppled over. She nearly bashed her head on the floor but caught herself on the side table.
"Phew..."
Her sigh of relief was short-lived. Her fingertips brushed the forbidden book—a fatal mistake.
The trigger for tentacle release activated in that instant.
[You're finished now!]
"Hik..!"
A blinding flash of light pulsed, too bright to watch. She panicked and tried to flee, but the hand gripping the table wouldn't budge.
[Idiot! Moron! That guy lost to a bitch like you?!]
"Wh-what...?!"
A small, round purple tentacle appeared before her eyes. It spoke in human tongue, clamping tightly onto her hand.
"Urk..!"
No time to think. Lorella thrust out her other hand to blast it with magic, but...
"Ugh?!"
Regrettably, Mahel's leaping speed was far superior.
"Ubuuuugh!!"
A thin membrane of tentacle enveloped her entire face. It was just enough to stifle her breathing.
"Ugugugh..! Buup..!"
Breath cut off, Lorella flailed backward in panic, thrashing wildly. She clawed at her face with her nails, desperate to peel it off, but the tentacle held firm.
[Ailri must've peed herself right about now... Huh?]
"Gulp..! Uhup..!"
Unlike the helpless Ailri, the grand mage Lorella was a different beast. A veteran of countless trials, she raised both hands over her face and began casting.
[Wow~]
Black thunderclouds swirled above her head. Space-time warped, filling the air with crushing pressure.
"Buuup!"
High-gravity magic. Lorella tried to physically rip the tentacle membrane from her face.
[As if!]
"Kuhak..!"
The spell nearly activated when the previously dormant Mahel sprang into action. The membrane was merely a light threat. To truly break Lorella's defiance, Mahel extended tentacles into her nostrils and mouth.
"Ugaeaeak..! Uuaek..!"
Her throat pierced by thick tentacles, Lorella let out grotesque screams as she writhed. The intrusion in her nasal passages was especially horrific, prodding her sinuses before linking up in her mouth.
"Uk..! Uuuk..!"
Even the toughest human has limits. With her face flushed red from oxygen deprivation, Lorella spasmed, limbs splaying out straight.
On the brink of death.
[I'd love to kill you right now... but no choice!]
Mahel withdrew the throat tentacle and pried her mouth slightly open.
"Kuhueaak!! Heeeak!!"
Lorella wailed in agony as she gasped for air. She still refused to yield, twitching her fingers to cast another spell.
[Where do you think you're going!]
"Uuueaak! Ugeup!!"
Mahel jammed the tentacle back down her throat, cutting off her air once more. The terror of suffocation hammered utter helplessness into her mind.
[Keep fighting back, and I'll do this over and over?]
"Uguuup..! Buuuup..!"
Lorella thrashed on the hard marble floor. Her knees and elbows bruised, but pain was the last thing on her mind.
"Puhaak!! Heeak..! Uuwup..!"
One inhale, one exhale. The only breath granted to her.
Stripped of even the freedom to breathe, she teetered on the edge of life and death time and again.
"Huuueaak!! Heeeak!!"
Her desperate gasps sounded like pleas to be killed outright. With her will to resist fully shattered, Lorella went limp, her mouth hanging slack.
[What? Can't hear you!]
"Pl-please... st-stop... stop it..."
Instinct told her this tentacle was different from before. Whatever the cause, she sensed it was the 'true body' that had emerged as the forbidden book vanished.
"Please stooop..."
[Stop?! You turned innocent women into sex slaves without a shred of guilt?! This is all your karma!]
"Uuk..."
Every word rang true, yet it felt wrong coming from a lowly tentacle monster.
"What... do you want... How about a contract with me...?"
[Contract? Spill it!]
"If you... give me your power... I'll grant you... freedom..."
[Freedom my ass! Lock you in a dark pit and slave you forever?! You think I look like that brainless tentacle?!]
She flinched. Lorella's body betrayed her attempted deception.
Dialogue failing, she swiftly cast a spell to blast her own face.
"Uuk..!"
An ultra-fast explosion spell. Willing to burn her own face, she aimed to incinerate the tentacle—but...
"Huh?"
The tentacle was unscathed. Not a single scratch.
[What... you scared me!]
"Wh-why..."
[Why? Surprised?! Hit me again! Thrash all you want!]
"Huik..!"
No room for hesitation. Lorella unleashed every spell in her arsenal: fire, ice, gravity, wind, petrification. Every trick and tactic failed—the tentacle remained untouched.
[That's it? Disappointing~]
"Ugeup!"
Last resort. Lorella clapped her hands, invoking an advanced teleportation spell to shunt the object to another space. She tried to warp her own body to safety, but...
"Uup?!"
For some reason, the teleport failed. No, she couldn't even feel her mana flowing anymore.
Clap clap—her frantic clapping looked utterly ridiculous. No trace of the grand mage's dignity remained.
[Puhaha! What an idiot! Still don't get it?! There's no mana left in your body!]
"Uup?!"
[Dummy! You thought you were the only one who could absorb mana?! I took back what you stole—don't act all wronged!]
"Guuup!!"
Mahel now brimmed with 'another me's' mana plus Lorella's—easily ten times stronger. The swollen tentacle smugly crushed down on her face.
"Kuuuuup!!"
[You're useless now. Die?]
"Uup! Buup!!"
Lorella had delved into forbidden arts for immortality. More than anyone, she dreaded death—and that terror hit her hardest.
"Kuuuup!!"
She wanted to scream for mercy, to beg that she'd do anything if it just spared her. But her tentacle-blocked mouth couldn't even wail.
[Wow~ you're tough! But it hurts like hell, right? Don't wanna die?]
"Kuuup!"
[Then pee yourself good and hard! Just like you made Ailri do!]
The cruel orders she'd forced on others her whole life were now turned on her. Shame burned her face red, but hesitation was a luxury she no longer had.
Splashhhh—
[Puhaha! You actually peed when I said to?]
"Guuup..!"
Pee? She'd shit herself gladly if commanded.
[Puhahaha!! This is hilarious!]
Mahel mocked the grand mage's pathetic struggles, loosening up as if to spare her... only to crush down harder than before.
"Kuuuuup!!"
[You really thought I'd let you live?! After stealing my power, you thief bitch?!]
"Wup! Buup!"
Her flailing body deflated like a punctured balloon.
The moment she truly believed death was coming...
[Nah, wait! Too much of a waste to kill you like this..?]
"Kuhuueaak!! Heeeak!!"
Mahel's whim shifted; it spared Lorella.
[On second thought, you've got massive utility! Way beyond some Ailri nobody!]
Ailri: a lowly court mage at the bottom rung.
Lorella: the underworld queen, true power behind the slave markets.
No comparison in influence.
"Heak... Heeeak..."
[Alright, Lorella! Listen up! I'll spare you if you become my slave No. 2!]
"Y-yes... anything... I'll do anything..."
Slave No. 2? She wondered who No. 1 was, but it was pointless curiosity. The mage Ailri kept coming up in the tentacle's ravings. It didn't take long to realize she was the culprit.
[Pay attention! I'm gathering all the forbidden books to wipe out humanity! I need your help for that!]
"Ah..."
Ailri's hunt for the books. Her claim of no kingdom ties. Enduring torture while protesting innocence.
All the puzzles clicked into place—but it was far too late.