Chain of Corruption (1)
It felt as if she were trapped in some pitch-black swamp, flailing helplessly. In that nightmare, her arms and legs refused to obey her will as the mire slowly swallowed her whole.
From within the endless nightmare she thought she could never escape, Aquamarine awoke with nothing more than the simple act of opening her eyes.
“Haa…”
No matter how heavy the burdens that tormented her heart, she had never fallen into such a horrifying nightmare before.
“Uuu… That was a scary dream.”
Magical Aquamarine always protected the citizens with a bright and gentle smile, the very image of a righteous hero. Yet in moments like this, she revealed the vulnerable side of an ordinary girl.
“Seraphina…? Seraphina, where are you?!”
The moment she opened her eyes, Aquamarine searched for Seraphina first. The two girls had met as fellow test subjects at the research institute. Though not blood sisters, years of living side by side had forged a bond as close as any real family.
They knew each other’s likes and dislikes, understood each other’s personalities. Because Seraphina was prone to panicking and acting clumsy, Aquamarine had long since made it a habit to look after her.
“She’s not here… Where did she go?”
The bed Aquamarine had been lying on was far too large for one person. A few strands of Seraphina’s green hair, tinged with blue light, still rested on the neighboring pillow.
“She woke up before me and went somewhere else. Maybe she left to scout out this place first?”
The sheets still held a faint warmth, so Seraphina could not have left long ago.
“I remember… we were attacked by those people who hunt heroes and collapsed. How long have I been out…?”
Her body was so stiff that her fingers had lost all sensation for a moment, and her fine sky-blue hair was tangled and dry. For Aquamarine, who maintained strict self-discipline as a hero, the stiffness and disheveled hair felt deeply wrong.
“Right… My hair isn’t important right now. Finding Seraphina comes first.”
Aquamarine roughly combed her messy hair with her fingers and carefully rose from the bed, wary of tripping or falling.
“This place… doesn’t really feel like somewhere you’d keep prisoners. What kind of villain puts captives in such a luxurious room?”
The room was far too clean and opulent to be a prison cell.
Loosening her stiff limbs, Aquamarine took slow, careful steps and began to assess her surroundings.
— Creaaak…
‘It’s huge and luxurious… Is this someone’s villa?’
At a glance, the mansion looked like the kind of high-class residence only the wealthy could afford, or perhaps a private retreat for vacations. The atmosphere was unnervingly quiet. Pressing her back against the wall for cover, she still could not tear her eyes away from the elegant, pristine interior.
‘This isn’t the time to be impressed. I need to find Seraphina quickly…’
She might be deep inside enemy territory, and the mansion was far too silent. Shaking off her momentary distraction, Aquamarine sharpened her focus and scanned the area with quick, darting glances.
‘Not here either… That room looks closed.’
She peeked through slightly open doorways and pressed her ear against closed doors to listen for any sounds within.
“Haaah…”
She found no trace of Seraphina on this floor. Moving as quietly as possible, she descended the stairs.
“Slurp…♥”
‘W-what was that sound…?’
While carefully exploring the hallway downstairs, a strange noise reached her ears—like someone sucking on a drink through a straw.
‘It’s a person’s voice… Someone drinking something through a straw.’
Following the sound, she crept closer. It grew louder as she approached a room noticeably larger than the others.
“Sluuuurp…♥ Haa…♥”
‘This… sounds a little too suggestive.’
Accompanied by wet sucking sounds came the unmistakably sensual breathing of a woman.
The door was only slightly ajar, making it hard to see inside, but Aquamarine could already guess what was happening.
“Haa…♥ It feels so good…♥ Master’s touch…♥”
A woman’s voice, sweet and intimate, as though engaged in tender skinship.
‘Wait a second…’
Normally such words would make her blush or feel embarrassed, but Aquamarine was focused on the voice itself rather than the words.
‘Strange… That voice is far too familiar.’
There was only one reason she was concentrating so hard on the voice. It was the very same voice she had heard countless times before—now coming from inside that room.
‘Seraphina…? Seraphina would never say something so vulgar so casually…’
Yet the voice was identical. Aquamarine found it impossible to believe.
Outside of battle, Seraphina usually grumbled or whined, and her tone was sharp rather than obedient.
“Aah…♥ Master says he likes my breasts… I’m so glad…♥”
No matter how many times she listened, the voice was unmistakably Seraphina’s. A cold wave of unease began to rise in Aquamarine’s chest.
‘That can’t be… It can’t be!’
If the owner of that voice really was Seraphina, then right now she was being toyed with by some unknown man.
— Crash!
“Seraphina…!!!”
Because she cherished Seraphina more than anyone, Aquamarine lost all composure and violently shoved the door open.
“Ooh…♥ Right there…♥ It feels so good…♥”
The shocking, obscene scene that greeted her was impossible to ignore.
Seraphina, completely naked, clung to an unknown man with an expression of pure ecstasy while he kneaded her body. She looked utterly lost in pleasure.
“So you’re awake, Magical Aquamarine.”
The unknown man was, of course, Si-yoon. After rapidly raising Seraphina’s Stage 1 Slave Brand to 100%, he had been enjoying the feel of his new cute female slave’s body.
“W-what happened…?! What did you do to Seraphina…!!”
Seeing her worst fear confirmed, Aquamarine could only stare in disbelief, unable to look directly at the scene.
“What did he do?♥ Master is just giving me a massage, that’s all.”
Seraphina clung tightly to the man she had never met before in her life, calling him “Master.” Aquamarine turned her face away, her expression pale with shock. Yet in that brief glimpse, Seraphina’s eyes had looked… wrong.
‘Does he have some kind of psychic ability…? Then the people who attacked us were his subordinates too…?’
While Seraphina’s strengths lay in agility and reflexes, Aquamarine’s lay in adaptability and quick situational judgment.
‘The mansion was strangely quiet… but I don’t think anyone is lying in ambush.’
She had carefully checked the third and second floors on her way here and sensed no presence. Even when she burst through the door, no one had come running. There were no hidden guards.
But the biggest problem was Seraphina herself.
‘If Seraphina is in that state… I can’t approach or attack recklessly. She might even attack me instead.’
It was clear Seraphina’s mind was no longer normal. Any hasty attack could easily backfire.
‘Fast… quiet… and powerful.’
She needed a single technique that could neutralize Si-yoon in one strike without giving Seraphina any chance to notice and counterattack.
‘My condition isn’t great, but… I have no choice but to try!’
She extended her fingers like a gun barrel. From their tips would shoot a single, ultra-high-pressure stream of water.
‘The ultra-high-pressure water jet that fires from my fingertips.’
After completing her mental image training, Aquamarine finally turned her head toward Seraphina and Si-yoon—the sight she had been avoiding.
She aimed her fingers directly at Si-yoon’s head.
“H-huh…?”
But not a single drop of water emerged from her fingertips.