Lucy's Training at the Succubus's Hands (2)
***
"Ah... ugh."
When consciousness returned, it came with a splitting headache and a dull ache deep in her belly.
She wanted to cradle her stomach with both hands, but for some reason her arms wouldn't move.
"Wakey wakey?"
A woman's voice drifted up from somewhere below her, tinged with mocking amusement.
Lucy felt that something was very, very wrong.
Why is the voice coming from below me?
She had only just come to, and her vision was still a blurry haze. Her thoughts swam sluggishly. She wanted to rub her eyes clear, but her hands refused to obey.
Why?
"Nnnh... ugh..."
As awareness gradually returned, Lucy realized that she was hanging naked from the ceiling, completely exposed.
Her wrists were bound tightly together above her head, stretching her body out into a single rigid line, toes barely brushing the floor.
Luciella gazed up at her from below, her face lit with undisguised delight.
"How does it feel, losing to a succubus you dismissed as some trivial little monster?"
Only then did the memories come flooding back—everything from just before she'd blacked out—and Lucy bit down on her lip, fury flashing across her face.
She swept her gaze slowly around the room.
It was a broad, dungeon-like chamber, and along one wall sat a rack of every manner of grotesque implement.
They weren't instruments of torture. Not exactly. These were devices of a different kind entirely—outlandish contraptions apparently designed for indulging carnal desire—and to Lucy, every single one of them looked absolutely horrifying.
In a word, this place was that shameless woman's private playground.
A chill crawled up her spine.
She glared down at the succubus.
"You... do you really think you can get away with this?"
"And what happens if I can't?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? You die."
At that, Luciella burst into giggles, utterly without a trace of fear.
Where does this woman get the gall?
Was the Hero not frightening to her? Or did she have backing powerful enough—a demon lord, perhaps?
Some nobody like her couldn't possibly shoulder the consequences of kidnapping the Hero party's mage.
Either way, Lucy would have to dig herself out of this dismal situation alone. The thought of what humiliations might await if she simply sat idle was too dreadful to entertain.
Truthfully, she was terrified inside.
Stay calm. Don't provoke her. Make an offer.
Lucy looked down and summoned her friendliest smile.
"Untie me, and I'll give you anything you want. Everything unpleasant between us—we'll wipe the slate clean, like it never happened."
"Is that a negotiation?"
Something flickered across the succubus's expression—a subtle shift of interest.
Lucy seized the opening.
"Half my fortune. How about it? I've saved up quite a bit over the years. You know as well as I do what a Hero's companion earns."
"Oho?"
The devil smiled.
She prowled slowly back and forth before her captive, clad in gleaming leather pants and stiletto heels. With every step, a crisp clack-clack-clack echoed through the dungeon.
"And what else?"
"What else...? Hmm. Half my fortune, plus I'll grant two favors of your choosing. Fair enough?"
"Two wishes, hmm..."
But the succubus didn't accept readily; she simply drew it out, savoring Lucy's mounting impatience.
Anxious, Lucy babbled on.
"Perhaps you'd prefer land? I hold territory of my own. I'll build you a magnificent residence on my land—fit for a queen. You have my word of honor."
"Are there many men there?"
"Of course. So many it's a headache, honestly."
"Hmmm."
"The air is clean and lovely. No adventurers, no Heroes. Perfectly safe."
"If there are truly enough men to trip over, I wouldn't mind seeing that for myself."
There it was—a reaction, at last.
"Just free me, and I'll round them all up for you. Come on, get these ropes off first. Yes?"
Lucy waited for the succubus's next words, her face glowing with hope.
But Luciella only shook her head with a sorrowful little smile, as if pitying her.
"You should have said something sooner. It's far too late now."
"Too late? Too late for what?"
"You can never return to the world of humans. Not anymore."
"Why...? What do you mean?"
"You still haven't figured it out?"
The succubus pointed one slender finger at Lucy's lower abdomen.
Lucy tilted her head and looked down at herself.
At that instant, her eyes went wide and her whole body locked up.
"Wh-what is that...?!"
Across the soft swell of her lower belly, a vulgar brand burned crimson—a woman's womb drawn in the shape of a heart, flanked on either side by sweeping, wing-like waves.
It looked like a heart taking flight.
Lucy screamed at the unbearable reality of it.
"KYAAAAAAAH!"
"AHAHAHAHAHA!"
Luciella doubled over, slapping the floor with her palm, laughing until she could barely breathe. The despair written across Lucy's face was simply exquisite.
Panic seized her completely—she thrashed and writhed where she hung, straining against the ropes in a continuous, futile struggle. The will to survive curdled into despair, and Lucy could feel her self-worth plummeting into a bottomless pit.
The fall of a woman who'd had it all.
Where else in all the world could a devil find better entertainment?
"Get this thing off me right now, you mangy bitch! Before I blast your skull apart with magic!"
Lucy had abandoned all reason, spewing curses without restraint. Her life was already in the gutter—apparently she'd decided to go down swinging, consequences be damned.
Luciella simply watched her rant, smiling serenely, right up until the abuse swept Maru into it as well. Then her patience ran out.
She strode to the table covered in every lewd adult toy imaginable and picked up a whip.
Then she brought it down hard across Lucy's backside.
"Eek!"
Lucy twisted in agony, writhing against the pain.
The succubus turned a pulley and lowered her captive down until they were nearly eye to eye—though Lucy's feet still dangled a hair's breadth above the floor.
"Now listen carefully. Starting today, I am your teacher, and I am going to teach you to show proper respect to my Lord. Understood?"
"My Lord? You mean that mangy dog? Forget it."
Luciella struck her across the back without a flicker of mercy.
"Eek! Ah—it hurts! I said it hurts!"
"From now on, every time you dare call my Lord by a demeaning name, this whip comes out. Remember that."
"Damn you! Did Maru order you to lock me up? Is that it?"
"My Lord doesn't even know you're here. This is entirely my own initiative."
The succubus smiled and leaned in close, studying Lucy's face.
"A few days ago, I watched you plant a scrying spell in my Lord's chambers. A nasty little girl who torments my Lord needs a proper education—that's all there is to it."
"Bullshit! Get lost! I just won't do it again, okay? Let me go! Let me go, I'm begging you!"
"And go back to the world with that body, doing what, exactly?"
The succubus pressed her finger firmly against the brand on Lucy's abdomen.
Lucy flinched violently, startled.
"Ugh!"
"That mark on your belly is a slave's crest. It binds you to obey me and my Lord without question. Defy us, and you will suffer agony. You don't even have the right to choose your own death. Only my Lord and I may ever permit you to die."
Lucy's eyes bulged and she shook her head frantically from side to side.
"Then just kill me! I won't serve that man! I won't! I won't do it!"
Smack!
"Eek!"
The succubus drew back her whip and spoke with terrible calm.
"How many times must I say it before it sinks in? You will address him as Lord Maru. And I am your teacher. Learn some manners."
"No! I will never, ever call him that! Never! Never!"
Lucy's defiance was ironclad. Like a cat refusing to be tamed, she fought every ounce of it.
Luciella concluded that what was needed here was something far sterner than a whip.
"If words won't teach you, I suppose I'll have to teach your body."
Without a moment's hesitation, and right before Lucy's eyes, she undid the buttons of her leather pants.
Lucy stammered in alarm.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Relax. I'm simply going to demonstrate what succubi do when they drain a man of his essence."
Luciella flashed a sweet smile and slid her pants down.
***
"Oh dear. Already? That was even faster than last time. I'm disappointed."
Luciella sighed with theatrical regret as she stepped off the bed set in the middle of the dungeon. Wiggling her luscious hips, she sauntered over to the table and poured herself a glass of water.
The sheets lay crumpled in a heap, adult toys of every variety strewn carelessly across them, and Lucy sprawled flat on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling with eyes gone utterly vacant. Tears were sliding silently down her cheeks.
"So, this time—"
"D-don't come near me!"
The instant Luciella spoke, Lucy jolted in terror and scrambled to the far corner of the bed, shivering uncontrollably.
Watching her, Luciella burst out laughing.
"I was only going to ask how the toy I used this time worked out. Why so frightened?"
"It was g-good! So p-please stop now...!"
"Doesn't sound very sincere~"
"I-it is sincere! Please believe me!"
Over the course of several hours—pleasure (?) she had never once known in all her years of living, patiently taught and garnished with plenty of torment—Lucy had, at some point, been transformed into a docile little pup. Thankfully, she was a mage, and mages are clever; it hadn't taken her long at all to accept her wretched new reality.
"And what did I tell you to do if you didn't want this to happen again?"
"T-to serve Lord Maru... faithfully and devotedly, sirs... I mean, ma'am."
"Good, you've got it. There, well done."
Luciella tossed a small crystal orb onto the bed.
"Defy me or my Lord again, and next time I'll hand you over to the incubi. So be a good girl and behave."
Within the crystal, incubi starved for flesh writhed in graphic clarity—crowded around some poor beastkin woman, tormenting her without end.
"I'll do anything, please just spare me! Please, spare me...!"
Terrified out of her wits, Lucy rubbed her palms together in desperate supplication. Not a trace of the proud, haughty woman from a few hours ago remained. Like someone broken somewhere deep inside, she begged with everything she had.
Luciella watched her and smiled with deep satisfaction.
"Your education seems adequate for now, so I'll return you to the royal palace."
"R-really?"
"In exchange, I'm assigning you a task."
The succubus's lips curled wickedly at the corners.
"I want to see my Lord call you a mutt. You barked that word at him hundreds of times, didn't you? It's only fair you take your turn at receiving it."
"Excuse me...?"
"Don't like it? Then shall we go pay a visit to our incubi friends instead?"
"N-no! I'll do it! I'll do it! Whatever you order, I'll do it all!"
"On any day you fail to answer when called a mutt, your punishment that evening will be an hour hanging from the ceiling. Burn that into your memory."
"The moment I reach the palace, I'll go straight to Lord Maru. L-leave it to me!"
"Good attitude. Hurry and get dressed. We're returning to the royal palace."
Lucy scrambled off the bed and began frantically gathering up her clothes. Through every fumbling second of it, her long, beautiful crimson hair hanging in tangled disarray, she grinned like an idiot.
Her situation was dire—but at the same time, she was overjoyed to be returning to the world of people at all.