In the Shadow of the Promise
Bilena's face was half-hidden in the shadows of the promise, but she casually pulled out a pair of scissors and sliced off my pants without a second thought. I freaked out thinking it was physical castration at first, only to relax for a split second—until that suspicious machine's trumpet-like nozzle slowly approached and clamped right onto my lower half.
"The moment you came back on such intimate terms with Esen, this research was already underway."
"...?"
"A machine that artificially induces 'gender transformation' by harnessing the power of sealed succubi. Made exclusively for you. Now it'll suck out every last bit of your masculinity."
"What the hell... guoooh—!"
The trumpet began draining my vitality. It wasn't the pleasurable kind, like getting milked. No ejaculation, no sensation at all—just a steady fading of whatever made me a man. If there'd been a mirror, I probably would've seen my face draining white as a sheet. This was a crisis on a whole different level from anything before.
Among the ordeals people joke about with "how much money would make you endure this," "dying for life insurance" and "becoming a eunuch" are often ranked the same. I agreed with that sentiment. I loved my sexual function. I didn't want to lose it.
"Gaaah, damn it—! Stop—!"
Bilena sipped her coffee leisurely, watching my desperate thrashing like it was someone else's problem.
"Your party registration lists you as female anyway. What's the big deal if your gender changes a bit?"
"What's not the big deal?! What did I ever do to you—?!"
"Nothing?"
Bilena smirked.
"A solid claim needs solid proof. Have you never laid a hand on a fellow party member?"
Her finger pointed at Esen, who was dangling upside down, flailing and screaming.
"You bitch! Nooo! Taaaaan—!"
"Esen! Can you break out with brute force?"
"You think that meticulous freak set up a trap you could bust out of with strength?! Hey, Bilena! Let my porter go right now! I haven't even used him ten times yet—!"
Bilena leaned in with a sinister whisper at Esen's desperate, unhelpful cries.
"You've touched her, haven't you?"
"..."
I had. But I'd never deliberately seduced her or plotted anything criminal. I protested vehemently along those lines, but Bilena didn't seem to hear a word. Hell, it didn't even sound convincing to me. A crossdressing porter joins an all-girls party and fools around with two women? Factually true. Socially? Good luck defending that.
"Odd."
Bilena brushed off my pleas and fiddled irritably with the machine.
"It's not absorbing your essence properly. At this rate, it'll just stop at natural recovery..."
She smacked the back of the device in frustration and pulled out a small crystal orb. Inside were two pea-sized succubi, sealed away.
[Urp.]
[Thanks for the meal.]
"...What's going on here? The succubi are saying they're full?"
Bilena's face hardened.
"I went through smugglers to import these from Bitsurk with great difficulty. They should turn a couple average guys into women without breaking a sweat—ferocious ones."
So that's what happened. She got her hands on the succubi that fled Bitsurk and planned to use them on me. I shot a meaningful glance at Esen, who'd been through the Bitsurk incident with me. She nodded as if she'd pieced it all together, looking oddly touched.
"Even succubi are too full to continue. Your stamina's insane."
...I wasn't fishing for compliments on my manhood.
"Even low-rank succubi shouldn't act this lazy!"
[Huh? What'd we do?]
"Your release condition was to drain this porter's essence clean until he turned fully female! I even fed you scraps on the brink of death, and you have the gall to leave leftovers?!"
[Food's food, but not all the same. You can't expect us to finish a feast that'd break the table.]
The tiny succubi in the orb murmured drowsily, bellies full and eyes heavy with sleep.
[Mines have different ore yields—just like men have their 'essence capacity.' Too much, and even we can't swallow it all in one day.]
[Where'd she find essence this fresh? Even guys who walk and run all day aren't this potent. Thanks, sis. This'll last me days.]
"Days? If only we had days! Damn it, I need to finish this before the party members come looking!"
No. Don't.
Bilena huffed and chucked the orb into a pile of books. A pitiful kyaaak echoed faintly.
She raked her hair in irritation, then suddenly looked up with a madwoman's grin.
"Luckily..."
And said something utterly not lucky.
"I know where to find something to replace these low-grade succubi."
Bilena approached Esen and picked up the pouch she'd dropped. Esen's face went pale.
"Don't."
"It's in here, right? No use denying it. I've been wiretapping you the whole time."
"We came here to purify it. If anything goes wrong and they break free, this place turns into Bitsurk. Everyone becomes women...!"
"That's exactly..."
Bilena pulled Esen's crystal orb from the pouch and smiled. Our reason for coming to this city. A dangerous artifact sealing the Succubus Queen and her hundreds of followers.
"...the world I've dreamed of."
I didn't know my essence capacity, but no way could I handle the ones that drained Bitsurk's adult males dry. I closed my eyes in resignation. And recalled a certain name. Looked like it was time to cash in one of the two wishes I'd been putting off.
Ishtar, please—
"What in the world is going on here?"
Before I could even pray properly, the miracle happened. A soft voice accompanied the ajar door to Bilena's hideout swinging wide open on its own. Bilena flinched back, and Nidroga, dead drunk and asleep, grunted as she rolled off the sofa.
...Now that I think about it, you're the root of all this, you damn dragon. Don't sleep so soundly.
"How? How did you unlock the triple locks?"
"They were pretty loosely secured."
Bilena gnashed her teeth, but Esen and I exchanged joyful glances at our savior. Clutching the long hem of her nun's habit in both hands was Sister Monica.
"I should be the one asking, Bilena. What are you doing this time?"
"Sister, I'm so thrilled to see you I'm about to cry."
"Tan, are you okay? What are they doing to you?"
"Call me Ran—nah, no point now."
I cleared my throat, took a deep breath, and bellowed at the top of my lungs.
"Bilena's trying to turn me into a woman—! Save me—!"
Monica's eyes flicked to Bilena's hand. But Bilena just giggled defiantly.
"Ah, aren't you a faithful servant of some nameless god."
"I often feel like you have a problem with my devotion, Bilena."
"No issue with the devotion itself. It's just hard to understand priests entrusting their fate to the whims of fickle gods over solid laws."
"Why's she like this, seriously. Total nerd."
Bilena flinched at Esen's jab but ignored it, snapping her fingers twice. The chandelier dropped from the ceiling—not crashing loudly, but landing softly on eight legs. Not just the chandelier. Bookshelves spewed tomes before sprouting limbs and standing. The table creaked upright on its legs, swinging table-leg fists at Sister.
The living furniture threatened her. Esen roared like a tiger, straining against her bonds.
"Hey, Bilena! You know assaulting a party member gets you expelled!"
"First, it's not me touching party members—it's my home's defense system handling intruders. Second, we'll just politely escort you out. As long as you don't resist needlessly."
Bilena shook her head with a laugh and moved to slot the Succubus Queen's orb into the machine. Then came the Queen's terrified voice.
[Oh... oh... she's coming!]
"Coming?"
Bilena scoffed as she opened the device. That's when—
"The City of All Gods borders the divine realm, Bilena. Not sure if you'd care."
A sticky, constricting sensation enveloped us all. Breathing felt strangely labored. Even unbound parts wouldn't budge. But... it wasn't entirely unpleasant. And I'd felt this before somewhere.
"In simple terms, this place is practically a playground for the gods. And yet you dare, in such a spot..."
Sister's eyes, opened anew, gleamed a pure violet.
"...to touch one under divine favor."
The furniture legion around her shuddered, sparked, and collapsed. Weird. Some illusion? Like an impossibly vast being crushing Bilena's machine guards with a finger...?
Hello, Tan Bantai. We meet again.
Bilena dropped to her knees. The orb slipped from her hand and rolled away. Shrieks and clamor from the succubi inside—like baby birds spotting a feral cat. Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, beyond our flawed comprehension, smiling down at us. If not for two things, I might've confessed my love on impulse.
First, she was too big. Second, those massive goat horns sprouting wildly from her forehead triggered primal fear, warning that getting too close would burn me like a moth to flame.
The goddess of lust, Ishtar, had torn through the veil of reality.
But why aren't you keeping your promise?
"Pardon?"
Didn't I tell you to fuck, ravish, and breed?