The Darkness That Brought Down the Moon
Oh, praise be.
A high and mighty crescent moon, so unreachable that men could only dare to pen sorrowful love songs about her, unable to even cast their eyes upon her form. From Titans to Olympians, from legendary heroes to the most ordinary of mortals, not a single soul had ever dared to reach out and touch her.
The Goddess of the Hunt, the protector of maidens.
The daughter of Zeus, the goddess of Olympus.
Artemis.
And here, the demon who brought that noble crescent moon crashing down, stood before her.
Legend has it that in the old days, hunters who accidentally trapped a white stag—a sacred beast—would be so overcome with guilt at its pitiful, beautiful form that they would take their own lives on the spot. But the scene I was witnessing now made those hunters' experiences seem like the difference between the moon and a firefly.
Clear beads of sweat rolled down her flawless, snow-white neck. Her finely braided black hair, which looked so soft, swayed in a pitiful rhythm. Her firm yet supple female form was pinned and bound, crushed under the weight of my Sura-Yeokcheon-gong. Even a mere glance at her cold, divine beauty was enough to stimulate a man’s desire for conquest to its absolute peak. Her black eyes, fierce yet brimming with tears of helplessness and despair, were enough to melt a man’s heart.
The maiden goddess, whom any man or woman would admire at least once in their life, lay like a prisoner at the feet of the man sitting upon her own throne. It was sinful, depraved, and sadistic—and more than enough to ignite the carnal desires of any man.
"How have you been?"
"Ugh!"
Hatred and despair. The very emotions that those pathetic fools who opposed me and tried to kill me eventually wore when they looked up at me—they were overflowing from Artemis’s eyes. But does Artemis know? That there is nothing that stimulates a man more than the rage and resentment of a helpless beauty who can do nothing?
Whatever trick she had used, the Eum-mun (sexual seal) I had personally carved into her body had weakened significantly. But judging by her ragged breathing and the red flush spreading across her white face, she had clearly not forgotten the ecstasy and humiliation of that day, which still writhed in my hands.
"Tsk, tsk... my apologies. I’ve been a bit busy, and I didn’t get a chance to check on you after I left a virgin to spend such a restless night."
"Y-you vulgar, wretched creature! What have you done to my brother?!"
"If I were you, I’d worry about myself first."
Think about it. In this great war, a chaotic mess incomparable to anything in Greece, I had used ancient sorcery—crafted when all sorts of gods and demons were entangled—to drag the most beautiful maiden goddess here.
"Do you really think I called you here to have a cup of tea and chat?"
"....!!"
"You remember, don't you? The wager we swore upon the River Styx that day."
Twelve nights of the full moon rising and setting. The wager was that I would summon Artemis during those twelve nights, and she would have to endure without falling into depravity.
"If you endure, you are free. I even promised to throw in my own life as a bonus."
And if Artemis fell?
"You know the answer without me saying it."
"Ugh..."
The oath of the Styx is absolute law. Even for a god, breaking an oath sworn in the name of the Styx leads to a sleep deeper than death, causing one's status as a god to plummet. Even for me, still caught between god and demigod, I would not be able to withstand the backlash and would be annihilated.
"Now, today is the first night of the full moon."
Does this delicate doe know? That from the moment she was cornered and accepted a wager with a devil, her past, present, and future all fell into my grasp.
"Y-you... I-I thought that seeing your feats and divine power, you would be different from the common breed of heroes..."
Good grief. To think I’d hear the classic line of every arrogant upstart here.
"Fine! Even if this body of mine is defiled by you, Artemis will never let her pride and soul be stained!"
Artemis raised her voice, straining to put strength into her eyes, but does she even know?
That her eyes are already trembling with deep, dark fear.
'Yes, gods. You were born noble, only to be swayed by the seven emotions and six desires. My enemies tried to overcome them to ascend to the ranks of gods. I devoured those sins and became a demon that transcends even the gods.'
The one who is swayed, and the one who sways. This maiden goddess, who is sinking into the abyss without even realizing it, will suffer through another night of nightmarish ecstasy today.
What happened?
What did that monster do to my brother?
Artemis’s head felt like it was spinning, as if it were about to burst.
If her brother was the sun, she was the moon. Born together, they were two and yet one, an inseparable bond.
No matter how much she loathed her brother for touching every woman he saw, no matter how much she felt scrutinized by her sister whenever she drew her bow at the women he seduced, they had always relied on and leaned on each other.
But the fact that her brother might be in danger at the hands of that wicked man was enough to make Artemis momentarily forget even her own current situation.
However, those eyes.
Though they were black like her own, they were so deep and dark that they were terrifying. Being caught in his rough hands and forced to face them again... as if those abyss-like eyes were sucking away her very spirit, she could think of nothing but the heat of his hands and the darkness of his eyes.
'N-no!'
How much effort had she put into erasing and weakening the filthy curse carved into her body? She had purified her breath in the sacred forests, refining her body in the holy springs and sanctuaries she had protected for so long. She had managed to calm the heat in her lower abdomen and the ecstasy that pierced her lungs, little by little.
Yet, at the mere touch of this man, her body was betraying her again, writhing in agony.
'It cannot be. I must first check on my brother's safety... I will play along with his game and wait for an opening...'
-Whoosh!
"Hii!?"
Her body, which had been bound and unable to move, suddenly floated into the air. Before she knew it, Artemis was sitting with her back resting against Dianes’s chest.
"Ho-ho..."
"Ugh..."
One was admiration, the other, fury.
Dianes could not help but praise the soft yet firm, beautiful body of the goddess, which bore no resemblance to her fierce temper. Artemis, though she had braced herself, could not endure being handled like a toy in a man’s hands.
"G-get off me!"
The place where that insolent man was sitting was originally her throne, offered to her whenever she rested her chariot here in Erytheia. Not only was he occupying her seat, but he intended to defile the goddess of maidens, the very owner of that throne?
"Get off! Even if you swore an oath on the Styx...!"
"My, we haven't even started yet, and you're already losing your strength?"
-Squeeze!
As soon as his hot breath whispered against her ear, his hand ruthlessly kneaded her breast, sending a searing, burning pain through her as if she had been touched by fire.
"Hyaaaah!!"
It felt as if she had been struck by her father’s thunderbolt; the sensation piercing her spine was so intense it was painful. Yet, for some reason, her body did not hate it, and Artemis was terrified of that very fact.
"No, no, n-no..."
"We're not playing games here. Why are there so many things you 'can't' do?"
Artemis struggled to escape the situation, but her entire body remained tightly bound like a prisoner, and Dianes’s arms, which held her firmly, showed no sign of letting her go.
'W-why? Why does it feel like this...'
Back then—that day she had tried so hard to bury in the back of her memory. Even when she was first molested that day, she hadn't been this sensitive. To think she would be writhing like this just from having her breasts kneaded?!
"Ho-ho? Are you really a maiden goddess? With a body this sensitive?"
"S-shut up...!"
Artemis gritted her teeth and glared at Dianes, who was whispering sarcastically with his chin resting on her shoulder as if he were molesting a harlot. But that was her tactical error.
"If you say so. I actually find this more fun than boring provocations."
"W-what?! W-wait...!"
Was he going to violate her breasts again? While Artemis was still reeling from the throbbing phantom pain, what if that stimulation came again? As that thought crossed her mind, Artemis jumped in surprise. But this attack came from a place she had never expected.
-Chomp!
"Hyaak?!"
Dianes had suddenly buried his teeth into the earlobe where his hot breath had been sending shivers down her spine. Normally, it should have felt like nothing but pain. Why was a chilling ecstasy sweeping down her spine along with that pain?
"Y-you have a bizarre taste... Hyaak!?"
Artemis tried to throw a reproach at him as he slowly bit and chewed on the goddess’s ear, but the hand that bound her was not idle either.
-Knead, knead, knead.
-Chew, chew, chew.
"Ugh... hnnng...!!"
Artemis felt as if her mind were flying off to some distant place. Above, the strange sound of wet chewing echoing in her ear and the static-like ecstasy piercing her head. Below, the destructive stimulation hammering her lungs, accompanied by a touch that strangely seemed to be considerate of her. And the man’s embrace, holding her firmly so that she, bound and writhing in helplessness, would not collapse—it was the only thing she could rely on right now, even though she cursed and loathed him.
"Hieeee..."
It hurts.
It’s painful.
It’s terrifying.
But.
It feels good.
I can rely on him.
It feels good.
It feels good.
It feels goo...
-Squeeze!
As her mind slowly began to drift into a hazy daze, the hand kneading her breast suddenly pinched the tip hard.
"Hieeeek!"
A fatal blow struck in a moment of unguarded weakness. Like a stag pierced by a spear, Artemis’s body arched like a bow as she let out a cry.